Good questions to start your thoughts moving on what-if scenarios in general, but certainly along the mutated flu strains that *will* be coming our way in another 3 months or so.
What would you do?
Could you stay home...really stay home, not just limit trips but seriously stay put at home for your safety...for 6 weeks?
How would you eat?
Do you have enough storage without going to the store for at least 6 weeks?
What if you need to be homebound longer?
In our case, particularly, we need more water. Right now we go every other week and refill at least half our containers, but in the current heatwave, we'll be filling about 21 of them. On a prep scale of a minimum gallon per person per day, we'd only make it about 6 days. That's not going to cut it. Now, we can fill containers from the hose and tap and boil them, or simply allow the chlorine to dissipate and such...it's not a lost cause completely, but still.
When Katrina hit, even our area as far north as we are had several shortages. We learned a lot about how unprepared Mississippi is as a whole. Meats, staples like flour, sugar, coffee and the like were hard to get -- and not just at Mom&Pop stores, but large chains as well, including Sam's Club.
With the movement of the "swine flu" and all its variable mutations there is a fairly decent probability of localized State issued warnings and maybe even quarantines on some levels. If anything like that leaks out folks are going to start jumping into panic mode and shelves will clear quickly. You can't rely on waiting to the last minute to get things you want, let alone basics. We see that here whenever a serious storm is even looking in our direction.
I'm sure more than a handful think I'm just paranoid and a plain nutcase. That's fine with me. I like to figure the worst-case, most outlandish scenario in my mind and use that as my prep focus.
If and when it's necessary, I'll have what I need, the things that are important for my family. If nothing happens and the (fill in the blank) never strikes and becomes an issue, I'll still be ahead of the game. I stock and prep for a new way of living, not the traditional way of doing things :o)
The questions to ponder:
Thanks for sharing this here, I appreciate it!I really encourage people to stop and think about this. People need to have a plan of action and know answers to questions like:
~When would I consider keeping my family at home, away from all functions (school, church, etc), should the flu outbreak start to get severe in my area?
~How close / how many cases would it take in my area before we decide to "self-quarantine" our family?
~Do I have everything on hand that I might need to stay put, in my home for up to a month or longer?
3 comments:
Deanna, you have always been so convicting for me on this topic. We are closer than we were to being sustainable here. We have 2 pigs that we raised ourselves in the freezer now, and plenty of eggs from our chickens. If you have been to my blog in the last couple of days you will see the harvest going up. So we are closer but we still have so far to go. Thank you for reminding me of the goal.
Do you have access to any of the 55 gallon barrels? If you check Craigslist, you can sometimes find them that held corn syrup or other food-safe items.
We've purchased a few of them - make sure to get a color other than white, which can promote algae growth. Green and Blue are good colors if you can find them.
The going price for them used is about $15-$20. We found some once that had dialysis concentrate in it - which was just essential electrolytes and nothing poisonous.
Also, if you send me an email, I might know someone who has a 125 gallon water storage tank that is about 4ft x 4ft (wooden pallet size) that had corn syrup in them (white, but you could tarp them) - I believe they are $75.
Also, I forgot to mention this GREAT water option, called The Water Bob. Basically, it is a large plastic bladder that will fit in your bathtub - it works as a liner and you fill it with up to 100 gallons of water. Developed in Florida to help people with their hurricane preps, it has a multitude of applications. http://www.waterbob.com - reasonably priced too!
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