Preparedness...

Even when I was supposed to be studying for my sedimentology & stratigraphy exam, I was worrying about my lack of preparedness for regional or global disasters. My first thoughts were: Do I know how to find water? How do I make it safe to drink? So, I immediately abandoned my study and Google-d my new quest. Oh, I DO know how to find water, and apparently, boiling water for at least two minutes will destroy any ill-seeking pathogens in the water. Boiling longer than two minutes is a waste of water unless you are capturing the steam. The water needs to be at a full rolling boil... need to get temperature above 185* F, and I did not remember that water boils at lower temps at lower air pressure (higher elevations)... thermal dynamics was not my favorite subject.

Ah-hah! okay! but on the way to learning how to make "wild water" potable, I also learned how to make sandals from truck tires and how to sort and prepare acorns. I furthermore stumbled upon several websites (mainly blogs) about being prepared because "it could happen tomorrow." Okay, I thought about the many to-do lists... do I have a first aid kit? how complete is it? do I know where it is? Do I have food for 3 months if I suddenly had no way to get any more? (well, no... ). Do I keep my gas tank filled on my car? ummm... not really,so  in case you were hoping to take my car in an emergency, it will likely be low on gas, and if you need it tomorrow, the tires are worn and my mechanic tells me I need brakes all around!

Clothes, boots, food, WATER... the heaviest of all necessities! even heavier than the essential cast iron frying pan! which is why (you/I) would need to be able to find a reliable water source.... food... after awhile, (I/we) may have to forage for food. I can't kill an animal even for my own survival. I will dig for roots and berries and suck on tree bark before I kill something to eat! ... However, if I was lucky enough to have a hunter as a post-apocolypse partner.... LOL

So, now I have found some Y2K preparedness manuals and magazine articles... remember when the world was going to end at the end of 1999?... like asteroids, comets, Messiah, etc give a hoot about how we crazy folks have numbered our years? LOL still makes me laugh.... but what's NOT funny is political unrest and widespread economic crises keep me up at night worrying about water...and health...and nutrition..and foraging skills... and physical fitness... and sturdy shoes.... and bandaids... and... and... and...

another blogger "Ferfal" has a preparedness blog I stumbled on today http://ferfal.blogspot.com/

I accidentally found it while seeking the answer to: where's the (corned) beef? It used to come from Argentina and Brazil... Argentina overhauled agriculture and is no longer a major exporter of corned beef to the USA, and Brazil was drugging the cows and has been banned from shipping to the USA (as of a year ago)... somehow, I have only just now been affected by the shortage! :(