Ready Blog

I remember reading this magazine as a teen. My older brother had a continuous subscription and I would devour them when visiting his house. Now, years later I find they have also jumped on the survival bandwagon. An entire submenu devoted to Survive Anything. They list several clear tools including:

The writers even include several printout guides and gear comparisons that are simple starter documents for protecting home and family. Those more experienced in reading and setting best practices for continuity will appreciate the refresher course. Well worth a visit to the site.

A Project of the Federation of American Scientists, ReallyReady is a project created weblog that somewhat mimics Ready.gov, but goes into a few deep dives of areas that the government site doesn’t cover as in depth.

Water, we take it for granted. In an emergency where you are asked to boil water or if it is just unavailable, city systems are unreliable. Here is an article for designing your own rain and catchement barrels with easy to follow directions. Follow the directions online or download the pdf.

We have had lots of rain in the Gulf region lately, but it really doesn’t give us an excuse to squander what we have been given. Recycling and taking care of basics seems like a little effort we could all put forth.

Remember to have a safe and reliable water filter or chemical water treatments on hand if you ever need to provide safe drinking or cooking water in emergency situations.

We keep a good set of spare gas cans (containers) around with treated fuel in them in case of emergency. One of the worst places to be is stuck in a filling station line with a bunch of nervous people all trying to do the same thing. Get gas, pay exorbitant prices for gas cans IF they are available, and get where they want to go. Not a good plan. But, the thing with storing extra gas is you just can’t let it sit there and be done once you have your containers all filled up. It feels good to be all prepared and maybe one step ahead of the other smarter bears, but…You have to rotate it out now and again.

We have been waiting for the gas prices to, well… not exactly drop, but not be at the top end of the scale. Gas prices in Texas are down a bit, so we emptied gas containers into all the vehicles and refilled the containers yesterday. We immediately treated the gas with a fuel stabilzer to protect it from gumming up. We use Sta-bil, but there are several good brands available. Check your local auto-parts store and follow the directions on the label.

Texas has had a gigantor amount of rain lately. We are all convinced we have been suspiciously transported to London, but the food still seems okay? Hmm…

I watched several times this weekend as the saturated ground pushed water up near the house. We discussed the need before, but of course were not quite prepared. Fortunately, we didn’t need the dreaded Sandbag. But, there were moments when a second train of showers may have made the decision less flippant. We are not quite sure how to prepare for this. Do we keep a pile of sandbags and fill handy? It wouldn’t exactly fit into the regular landscaping. Maybe we build a special landscape feature that would be our fill if we ever needed and store the sandbags in a safe and accessible manner. It seems like a reasonable option. I would hate for a few inches of water to cause so much damage.

In the meantime, our forecast calls for more rain. Whew. Checking my feet for spontaneous web toes.

We lose power here for lots of reasons in the Gulf Coast area. Among other inconveniences, it often makes food preparation a little troublesome. I came home from work the other day to a temporary power outage in my nieghborhood. I had some great leftovers of soup and I was a little under the weather from fighting off a cold. Since I knew the outage was temporary, I didn’t really want to go to the trouble of pulling out the grill or making a big fuss, but the yummy soup just wasn’t going to have the restorative properties I wanted while it was cold. Yuck.

I had recently purchased an overstock Brunton Optimus multi-fuel stove from REI, and these are readily available from other sources. It is not the absolute cheapest stove on the market, but considering it’s functions… it may be the best value.

Brunton has since released a newer model that is still muti-fuel, but nearly twice the price. This little jewel includes:

With that little jewel, I was quickly and without much frustration able to heat up my soup and I am convinced I did not succumb to the lurking cold because of some fantastic chicken soup going into my body and warming me from the inside out. The power did come back on later that night, but I was well fed and rested by that time.

Besides my little story about chicken soup, having an effiicent and alternative way to heat food in the is the most critical lesson. Many people store food or have available many resources, but don’t think through all the necessary ways to heat and prepare in case of an emergency. Do you have an electric stove and microwave? Gas stove to the house? better… but not during long storms, hurricaines or floods. That won’t work. Outdoor Grill? very inefficient and how do you refill propane tanks or gather fuel in a long-term situation? These small camping stoves are efficient and easy to work with after a little practice. Fuel is cheap and easy to store. Purchase a few spare parts at the same time, and you will be set for most emergencies.

I began reviewing more information related to security and technology recently. This is one area that I often put on blinders and visit the River Denial. I can deny the implications easily as long as things are running smoothly. Like so much of the areas of our life, this is fine until something happens to propel security into the forefront of our priorities.

I hope to keep teaching myself and implementing small changes to make our technology safe without locking down the robustness of new applications. I have started reading a book by Bruce Schneier to go back a little “old school” and focus more on the bigger picture. So far, the book Secrets and Lies is exactly what I needed even though I crave the more nuts and bolts implementation models.

I am planning a trip this coming spring and have already started to plan both in excitement and preparation of safe travels. One of my main concerns was protecting my belongings while not having the benefit of a home or automobile to keep my valuables. I won’t be packing much, but the things I will carry will be important to me. I found the answer.

PacSafe uses an Exo-mesh technology they have developed to protect luggage and travelers. I will be getting a few of the motorcycle accessories as well as a new improved version of document and money belt/purse. I have alway been a little concerned my helmet lock was easy to defeat. Their purses, belts and other products all sport a wrapped stainless steel cable to prevent slashing or being slipped from your notice.

The best way to describe the main product, the PacSafe, is a mesh of high-tensile stainless steel cabling that you wrap around your belongings while out of your sight. This net protects your backpack or bag while be transported on top of a bus, in a cargo bin, or locked to a street pole while you venture quickly into a shop. If traveling and staying in hostels or similar establishments, this would be worth the very reasonable price. Various sizes and other travel accessories make their site worth visiting.