Bandanas-A quick add to 72 hour kit

So why is the Bandanna such a good survival item? Here a few reasons:

1. Great to keep your head warm in the cold or cool in the hot sun.
2. It can be used as a Emergency Bandage or to wrap a Sprained Ankle
3. Soak in cold water and wrap around the neck to prevent heat exhaustion
4. Cleaning (use as a napkin, wash cloth or towel)
5. Pot holder or dish towel
6. Wrap gear in your backpack to prevent it from making noise
7. Bum Bag to carry supplies
8. Cover food
9. Fire and Light - Use as a wrap for a handmade torch or lamp, or use as emergency tinder.
10. Dust Mask
11. Tuck into the back of a ball cap to protect neck from the sun
12. Water filter
13. Signal Flag
14. Looking like a bad-!@#
15. Bib for kids
16. diaper in a REAL pinch
17. Headband, for out of control emergency hair.
18. Spontaneous square dance party...
    

There are so many uses, add a few to your emergency kits!!! You can make your own cute ones very easily, instructions HERE

Pandemic Freak Out Part 2

In the first part of Pandemic Freak out, I talked about what would happen if there was an outbreak. The Population affected would be quarantined and cut off from the rest of the population, so as to contain the virus, and try to minimize outside spread. If you have seen the movie Outbreak, it gives a somewhat accurate depiction of the steps taken. People would have a curfew, and large gatherings of people would be discouraged.
The second question I posed was, how can you prepare? Preparation for a pandemic is pretty straight forward.
1. Purchase and stock some handsoap, not the kind that is pretty and smells good, get the antibacterial kind that is weapons grade, just kidding. It needs to contain the ingredient Triclosan, which kills e-coli & salmonella, and flu virus. Dial Complete has 0.46% triclosan, and I found a generic, cheaper version at CVS, that has the same amount.
2. Store clean water. Add eight drops of household bleach (containing 5.25 percent sodium hypochlorite) per gallon of water. This will kill microorganism, but is safe to drink.
3. Make sure your food storage is up to date, sheltering in your home is the safest way to get through a pandemic.
4. Purchase medications for storage. Fluid loss, and deydration is why death occurs as a result of the flu. Anti-diarrhea, anti-nausea & pedialyte are good things to stock up on. The shelves of the store will be empty if there were an outbreak. Plus, being out in public would be exposing you to possible infection. Other things to stock up on, cough and cold medicines & vitamins.
5. Teach everyone to wash their hands & practice good hygiene. Stay home if sick, and cover mouth wish tissue when sneezing or coughing. This teaches prevention to kids, and stops the spread of germs.

There are plenty of other things to do to plan for a pandemic, the main thing though is asking yourself, if I was told there was a flu pandemic today, do I have the supplies to make it two weeks in my home, cook without electricity, and drink water from storage? If someone were to get sick, how would I isolate them & make sure they were ok if I was cut off from outside resources.
Please don't take this as the alarmist call to go out and get a gas mask, and full hazmat suit! Just stock some Immodium AD & Pedialyte in your pantry if that is all you can manage today.

Give me your tips and ideas, also I'll answer any question I can about Incident Command, and what Emergency Management would do in the event of pandemic.

Valentine's day Present

CLICK THE IMAGE TO GO TO THE WEBSITE
I was really wanting to get this counter top food saver. It just makes it more convenient to package stuff when I don't have to dig all the parts out and try to get everything setup. It is also great to vacuum seal loner term items as well, it increases shelf life from 6 month items to 2 years! So I will be sealing a whole bunch of raisin bran & pretzels for rotational3 month food storage supply!!! Any questions you have about possibly purchasing one, feel free to ask on the comments page!

Yucky Food Storage

Here is a reason to always test your food storage before an emergency compounds the problem with stress and hunger. We busted open the KIT we purchased from Costco a few years ago to try out some of the different foods inside. I decided to make up the Cacciatore, it was the nastiest thing I have ever seen, tasted, thrown out in years. It had the taste of boiled shoes and the texture of, well, puke. I think I would choose starvation than ever eat this, even in an emergency situation. I will be throwing all of that particular item out. I am now defiantly going to make up some of the other things from the bucket to see if they are even palatable!

Pandemic Freak Out PART 1

As some of you may know, this weekend, my kids, husband and I were totally infected with the Flu, and all the glorious symptoms that go with that. Luckily grandma was there to save the kids while mom (me) was completely useless, reduced to the blubbering whining and moaning of a 4 year old, (oh yes, I wanted my mommy)
Something about fever, body aches, and the dreaded barf that really reduces a person to the state of just wanting to die. Well, I can joke about wanting to die, but in the United States VERY few actually die from the Flu these days, and even then mostly from complications. We know a little over the counter remedy will lessen symptoms, and we will ride out the Ick with fluids and TLC. This got me thinking, what would I do if I heard on the news today that there was an outbreak of a disease in the U.S., one that could really kill?
Called a pandemic, when an infections disease spreads through a wide population, across continents, or the world, it is not preventable and happens in cycles throughout history. Typhoid Fever, Cholera, Bubonic Plague, and Spanish Influenza are a few of the diseases that have devastated populations.

However, in other parts of the world, there are strains of illness not yet discovered, and in fact some that are discovered, but have not completely evolved into the kind that humans can contract or spread, one in particular is known as Avian Flu, or Bird Flu. There are in fact 3 strains of this type of influenza that you can read about in more detail HERE. The basis of the article is the spread to humans, there have only been a few cases, and they are isolated, however, this is something that is being closely monitored by the CDC and WHO.
We do live in modern times, with hand washing, modern medicine, and vaccinations, but we also have a large flaw in our culture as well, it is our special ability to think we are impervious to things happening in other parts of the world. Well, as vigilant individuals, we must ask ourselves, if this were to happen today, what actually would happen, and how can I prepare?

The first question, is answered by opening remarks given by Mike Leavitt, Sec. of Health and Human Services.

"That Great Pandemic also touched Nevada.In 1918, Nevada's statewide population was less than four percent of what it is today-just 77,000 people. Yet between mid-October and late November, the state reported several hundred cases of the Spanish flu, as well as scores of deaths from it.The exact numbers of Nevadans affected by the flu will never be known, because regular reports to the U.S. Public Health Service were never made.

Yet Nevadans reacted to the flu as those in so many other states did: City ordinances were passed that mandated the wearing of facemasks in public. All public gatherings were banned. In White Pine County (located in east-central Nevada), a countywide quarantine was enforced for over two and half months to help quell the spread of the pandemic.Nevada even considered establishing quarantine stations along the state's borders to secure it from the disease.However, these precautionary measures were not always popular.

In Elko County (located in north-east Nevada), a schoolteacher named Eleanor Holland complained to fellow teachers that mandatory mask wearing was a ridiculous burden.A short time later, she contracted the flu and nearly lost her life. She later recalled, "It didn't seem so funny when I came down with the flu and nearly died. Fortunately, none of the other teachers got it though they all helped take care of me."When it comes to pandemics, there is no rational basis to believe that the early years of the 21st century will be different than the past. This is not Stephen King. It happened in 1918, and if a pandemic strikes, it will come to Nevada."

Well, what do you think? What do you feel would happen in your city if there were an outbreak? How would people react? How would you react?

More to come...

HARD time finding a place for food storage?

I am a huge advocate of not letting my food storage become some weird stacked tables with a junkie piece of fabric! I use the space under my stairs for most of it. But I found on you tube the coolest idea ever! For some reason sometimes the video wont play, but you can see a pic of it, you put it behind your couch as a table sofa. And It does not look like a piece of crap. Its better than can stack furniture. Check is out HERE

Or you could also just make can castles in your living room! What are your ideas for good storage?

Do you know where your children are?

Part of being prepared isnt just having food storage and water, it is also having information. And part of that is your children. I just enrolled my son in preschool today. I received a packet from the preschool of all the things that he would need to bring with him. I also got a checklist of things that I needed to read and sign to bring back. One of those things was the location that my son would be taken to if there were ever an emergency, and the contact information that I would need. The first location was still on the campus of his preschool center, just not in his specific building. The second location was a high school located about 5 miles away from his center, so if there was a need to take the children away from the scene, they had a preplanned evacuation site, with the address and phone number. I decided to take the business card of the center and write all this info on the back, so I have all the information in my wallet, just incase something ever happens, I have it handy to get to him quickly. Take some time and find out the schools shelter in place policy, evacuation policy and any other emergency plans they have, they are required by the state to have those available for review. The other thing I am going to do is take a pre-assembled 5 gallon bucket to put in his classroom, as a "gift" to the class, in california all classrooms have an emergency earthquake kit. So, I'm a little careful, hey, it is my kid, not a goldfish, I want to know he is safe! Not only him, but all the kids at his center.