new kid - me - Event Date: October 05 2006

  First, let me thank all of you so very very much for your posts and wealth of information!  While I'm a very newbie at this, I'll never be able to thank you enough for bringing me this far.  I've only been prepping for about a month but honestly wouldn't be prepping at all had it not been for this forum, truly.  During the last week our local news, here in New Hampshire, has been methodically spooning out info in a special series at the end of each morning broadcast relating to various issues concerning the AF.  While I have so very very much left to do, at least I'm started and any success we achieve to this end will be in complete credit to all of you.  You are my heroes!

Hello Thankful...

Thankful4u:  Don't sell yourself short ever...We really do want your Ideas...Under the pandemic survival tips section of this forum, there a topic called  prepping on a budjet...It has a great Ideas and it's a start...I used it to prep and then when I had about 3 mouths supply I start to add comfort food...Like cake boxes and frostings.  Chips and dips and of course chocolate...

Hi Happy Camper!  Thanks so much for the encouragement; it means a great deal to me.  I've read all of your posts since I've discovered this forum and you've helped me so much already!!  Right now I've been focusing on life essentials:  cigarettes, -candy icecream and lots of Jack Daniels -- lol!!  Just kidding--water, rice, canned goods, etc.  People have often mentioned a  "boogie bag"--I take it a suitcase or backpack in the event of evacuation, whatever?  I have a seasonal campsite and have been wondering about the validity of heading for it should things get bad around here.  I live in my own home but in the past 15 years our area has really overdeveloped to the point that a city has grown up around it and I'm getting a little unnerved with our rising crime stats!  Any thought s?  Just asking because of your userid.  Thankful4u  Pam 

thank

Hi gghugs!!    Thanks for the hearty welcome!!  I absolutely agree with you that while it's  progress that they're atleast finally getting it in our news, it hasn't seemed very helpful.  I may be cynical right now but I think the agenda is and will always be the health of the economy (not necessarily the number of lives that can be saved at its cost).  What has really troubled me in its presentation is that they continue to say "in the event of" and not "when".  Isn't it the general consensus by all the experts that this will, in fact, happen?  Tommorrow, WMUR will be focusing on how schools will be affected which is of GREAT CONCERN to me as I have a 16 year old who attends a high school with 2000+ students.  Like her contemporaries, she is of the "undestructable, wouldn't happen to me mindset.  Sadly, at the expense of what should be a a wonderful, fulfulling 11th grade educational and social experience, I'm getting closer and closer to choosing the home schooling option...UGGH  Apart from bf exposure,  there's always the school shootings, abductions and terrorism to think about each day...so depressing!  On a better note, hope you're a neighbor here in NH (most of the time I feel like I'm the only one on the alert around these parts!!  Thankful4u  Pam 

HEY, Thankful, welcome aboard, this is a wonderful group with lots of info, answers, questions, and a general sense of family, which is so unusual in this life, especially on the internet. Looking forward to your posts, and thank you for the one on using powder for shampoo, good one  that I will use.

Welcome thankful4u :)  Glad you are with us and please don't be shy to post -- I like your humor and upbeat attitude!

Words like "generic" "storebrand", etc.  all MUSIC TO MY EARS!  Thanks, GulfcoastMama--Didn't know a generic form existed for cetaphil.  That will save alot of money!!  I've got to sharpen up...just realized Walmart sells water for 50 cents a gallon.  Up to now I had been paying double at our local supermarket.  I'm hoping this is the beginning to a WONDERFUL FRIENDSHIP!!   Have a Great Weekend!  Thankful4u

Now that you mentioned water thankful4u I'm going to take this off-topic and ask what people are doing for water - are you buying/storing water now?  Or just storing water containers? 

jofg, water was a big concern for me for a long time. The gallon containers have a shelf life of only about 6 mos. Someone tested water stored in a 2 litter drink bottle and it tested good after 15 years. I don't use many such drinks but refill every one I get with water. The key is to just rinse it out and fill it to the brim so- no air.
You can take reg Clorox and purify water. I bough a Berky Water Purifier to use after that. With a nearby creek we'll survive the water issue but even so the thoughts of where the water came from may make me sick. Also, I'm collecting 55 gallon drums to use as rain barrels. One can usually pick these up for free from truck stops or truck service areas. They come with degreaser or window cleaner and must be cleaned. But even if just used for bath and flushing the toilet to the septic tank it would help. Search any subject and you'll get lot's of answers.

No ones knows if we are going to have power or water or how long water will last from the tap after they run out of chemicals to treat or they loose power. But I would guess it would go quickly maybe before you could get home if you happened to be out.
I hear they passed legislation that will put water and electrical workers  in the category of first responders in a disaster. I don't know how much that will help but all is a wait & see.
Good luck

jofg wrote: Now that you mentioned water thankful4u I'm going to take this off-topic and ask what people are doing for water - are you buying/storing water now?  Or just storing water containers?    I'm wondering how likely it is that we will lose water service without a lot of notice.  I would expect we would have plenty of time to fill water containers once TSHTF.

thankful4u wrote: Hi jofg!!  Water was the first thing I started stocking up on.  I heard on the Oprah show that most cities in the US only have about 1 week of backup to support an emergency.  I've been getting it by the gallon and storing it under my beds (much to the displeasure of my family members, so be it).  They recommend 1 gallon per person per day (which doesn't include pets).  I'm not even close as yet so I've invested in a water purifier (miox) and have gotten some water purifier tablets as I do live nearby our reservoir.  Hope I won't need an ice pick as my physical strength is not as strong as my spirit.  Finally, learn from my mistake and get your water at Walmart for 1/2 the price.  Bottled water isn't regulated yet, is it?  So who really really knows which brand is better?  I've heard on the who wants to be a millionaire show that Dasani is made from tap water!!  Haven't figured out the rain water yet as I don't know what the 55 gallon drums are yet that everyone's talking about and where to get them?                       Pamie

It breaks my heart to hear people have never even heard of the Avian flu..Way to go Thankful...

This just reinforces my argument that the government isn't doing enough to educate the public...How hard would it be to have commercials on this subject.  How about a public broadcast.. 

 

Welcome Thankful! I've been away, so sorry for the late welcome, glad to have you!

Rodin33    I've been reading your posts for awhile and have gotten a great deal out of them!  Many thanks to you for all your contributions.  This forum sure is fortunate to have you as a member.  Best regards, Pamie

Hey Timber!  Thanks so much for the warm welcome (especially in the form of spiffing up my username! - you have all been So Great!!  I've always read your posts and have always benefitted from them.  Thank you!  I was spending so much time here as a reader - sort of kind of lurking - it was akin to what I would imagine a stalker might feel like (hah!)  Didn't like the feeling so figured it was time to show my face & see if I couldn't contribute in my own little way--if only by default!  I agree with you wholeheartedly that it truly is a life style change and have come to admire our ancestors so much more!!  Just in the short amount of time I have been diligently (I mean diligently) cutting corners, I've come to the realization that I've lived a very wasteful life  - that embarrasses me and saddens me as the quality of the lives who depend on me most could have certainly been better.  I would pride myself on whipping up a multi-million $ high tech leasing deal but ask if I could make a loaf of bread from scratch?   You probably know the answer, no!!  And I'm a Mom!  I recently heard a quote that all species teach their young to live in the wild - with the exception of humans.  Not quite true, just sadly a lost art thanks the all powerful $ which has crossed the line and changed our priorities for the worse in my opinion.  Well, better late than never.  Take the good and leave the bad I always say.  I'm not the quickest study on most of this, but I WILL LEARN HOW TO MAKE MY OWN BREAD and I will see to it that my daughter learns too--this experience is also teaching me that I've come up short in this category too!  And you're right, Timber maybe it's all about time.  Take care,   Pamie  

Hey Roxy,  Thanks for the welcome and so very much for your advice!  I'm sitting here feeling like a stunned deer, though.!!  Didn't know they would leak--how long do you suppose they hold up before that starts to happen?  I've proudly used up all the space under one king bed and one full and have been working on the space under a queen.  What's even worse is that they're all sitting on hardwood floors (which under no circumstance are very tolerant to water spills).  Thought I was so smart discovering the 50 cent 1/2 gallon jug water at Walmarts--eeeek.  I wonder if I should just bite the bullet, get the big drums this week and start filling them with this water (would free up more storage too)...Gee, I'm going to have to brain storm on this one.  Wonder if they could be reinforced by dipping them in hot wax?  Do they typically leak in the same place, i.e. only the bottoms?  I am SO BAD AT THIS!!!  Thanks so much for telling me, Roxy.  This is significant info for me at this point - I so appreciate it! Yours truly, VILLAGE IDIIIIIIIIIOT!!   pamie

Thankful, I don't know where the weak spot is and don't remember how long it took, but  but wax coating, seems like a lot of work, , may I suggest, take the plastic shopping bags from the stores and bag them ,use more than one ,  and tape the top, so if it leaks , you may catch it before you have a flood, believe me it's alot of water to leak,  the best way for new people  to not make our past mistakes is to read the forums from the start , I know it will take time, but it will save you money in the end. i still go back , when I  want to find infro. and find whats best for me in my situation,I'm in a urban area, whats good for me, can be wrong for you, best of luck, roxy

may,