primitives try to survive

[franksolich]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=353x2210

Oh my.

silverweb  Donating Member  (1000+ posts) Wed Sep-17-08 04:00 PM
Original message

Can you survive...?
   
Interesting thread over in GD regarding emergency preparedness.

Can you survive without electricity, gasoline, and grocery stores for three days? Would you know what to do and how to get what you needed?

The Ohio River valley is just coming out of days of a massive power outage. There are still 1/2 million people without electricity in the area and some of those are without water. We were blasted by the remnants of hurricane Ike, which no one predicted would cause so much damage. We had winds gusting above 80 miles per hour which downed trees and power-lines all over the area, causing a massive blackout for at least 1,000,000 people.

I think it's fair to ask; are you prepared for the sudden halt to civilization as you know it.

One suspects most primitives couldn't survive three days if their welfare check is late getting to them.

Warpy  Donating Member  (1000+ posts) Wed Sep-17-08 04:27 PM
Response to Original message

1. I was snowed in for a week in 2006
   
thanks to an unpredicted 18 inch snowfall in a town that has absolutely no snow removal equipment.

I missed salad by the end, but I was fine even when the power was out.

A friend in western Kentucky says it's been bad there, though, lots of wind damage from the remnants of Ike.

silverweb  Donating Member  (1000+ posts) Wed Sep-17-08 05:44 PM
Response to Reply #1

2. Anything could happen at almost any time.
   
My son has always been after me to keep a good week's supply of all essentials on hand at all times, since I'm in earthquake country -- water, nonperishible food, pet food, candles, flashlights, batteries, first aid items, etc.

Sad so say, I'm not as diligent about it as I should be, although I do always have between 9-12 gallons of drinking water on hand.

As planetary stability deteriorates and as conditions in the nation become more uncertain, we should all be paying much closer attention to preparedness. It's way too easy to procrastinate and then it could be too late.

sandsavage  Donating Member  (68 posts) Wed Sep-17-08 07:42 PM
Response to Original message

3. We could survive for perhaps a couple of years.
   
What a really interesting place this is.

My husband and I have been retired for years.Both of us grew up poor. In fact my folks were so poor, I thought his family was rich. My family did not have electric until I was 13 years old. I owe my dear departed Mom for knowing how to survive just about anything that comes our way.

My husband and I did our time working for the Man. Saved enough money to buy 35 acres of land. Land no one in their right mind (as some folks would say) would buy this property. We have the State forest on 3 sides of us.

We really do live in the woods.

Drilled 3 wells

Built two houses,two barns and a garage with workshop. We built these ourselves

Chicken coop

Outhouse- Have to keep that hidden, but its a cutie. LOL

We also built a really nice greenhouse.The greenhouse is attached to the main house. We keep a window
open to the main house and are able to grow vegies all winter.

We are very blessed to have our land flush with trees. We harvest these in a manner that has served us well.

We will never run out of wood.

We have a wood stove that heats our whole house.

The herb pantry is well stocked. This is my medicine and comfort pantry.

We can hundreds of jars of good wholesome food, from the garden every year.

Ok, now I know this must be getting on your nerves so going to stop.

We live in Michigan and really have to prepare for the cold winters. We do have electric and all the things that go with this. Our electric goes out at least 3 to 5 times a year. Anywhere from a few hours to ten days. For some reason we are the first to have the power go out and the last to get it back on. in our area.

Could we get off the grid? I think we could do very well, for at least two years.

Have a huge garden

Well, one hopes the salvaged sand primitive has firearms, too, lest someone else with firearms takes it all away from them during a great national discombobulation and disorder.

silverweb  Donating Member  (1000+ posts) Thu Sep-18-08 12:54 AM
Response to Reply #3

5. Your setup sounds wonderful.
   
I'm completely envious, and can only begin to guess at the ingenuity and hard work that went into what you've built.

Those of us who are stuck in more populated areas also need to create a backup survival system.

The way I figure it, we need 4 essentials immediately in a disaster: water, food, sanitation, and energy. Backup planning if outside sources for these things are compromised is critical.

zuzu98  Donating Member  (390 posts) Wed Sep-17-08 10:37 PM
Response to Original message

4. We lost power for 5 days in 2006. Taught us a lesson.
   
Now I keep an "Emergency" kit in a big plastic tote: flashlights & candles, batteries, crank radio & lanterns, first aid kit, collapsible cooler, sanitizing gel & wipes, cash, etc., plus several gallons of water, pet food and non-perishable food items.

Whenever we have a big rainstorm in the forecast and are likely to lose power, I gather the dog's leashes, pull out the emergency kit, put out containers to catch rain water (to use for the dogs and to flush the toilets) and put gallon jugs of water in the freezer (once frozen, they help keep things cold and when they melt again we can use the water). I also make sure that the car is full of gas (I have a hybrid that has an AC outlet. We plugged the coffeemaker into it in the morning and charged up the cell phones when needed).

[Lord Undies]

I keep my MasterCharge and BankAmeriCard handy.  If the power goes out, I go somewhere where the power is on and get a hotel room.  Order room service.  Watch the weather on TV.

[asdf2231]

I keep my MasterCharge and BankAmeriCard handy.  If the power goes out, I go somewhere where the power is on and get a hotel room.  Order room service.  Watch the weather on TV.

GBY Sandy that was my first belly laugh of the day!

We have enough junk on hand to run comfortably for close to 3 months.

Disaster recovery work has made me a functional paranoid about preparedness.

Plus we have plenty of boom sticks and things to feed them to make sure that our stuff stays ours.  O rto go visit the Hippy Survivalists with if we run low. 

[DumbAss Tanker]

Three days is nothing.  The food in the two freezers wouldn't even get above fridge temp by then.

[JohnnyReb]

You know, DUmmies just don't stop and think, they get hysterical and demand "someone" do something, "NOW.!!!!! ....DAMMIT".

I've been without power a week to 10 days several times, usually due to ice storms or wind. Once it was 3 weeks after hurricane Hugo. I did however have running water after Hugo, so not such a big deal. I had a welder/generator but loaned it out to 2 families worse off and they had more to loose than me. Cold showers are not that bad if you hurry........

Anyway, say you aren't prepared, done nothing to prepare. So What. The fridge will hold things for 2 days minimum and the freezer for 3 days minimum if you don't fan the doors to much. Shoot, you know where everything is in the fridge so plan how to get it out and back in in the least amount of time possible. Drinking water? If you have an old style high volume toilet, you can rob 3 or 4 gallons of water out of the tank to drink and cook with. Cut off a garden hose and use it to rob drinking water from the drain on the hot water heater. You can flush the toilet with dirty rain water scouped up from mud puddles or road ditches, nearby stream/lake. It's good enough to poop in. Cooking, no real problem if you have a fireplace, if not, do it in the yard. No charcoal, no gas, no nothing, old newspapers, magazines, communist political pamplets will do in a bind. Someone might have to roll papers and stoke the fire but it can be done. No shelter outside and weather to bad for cooking, a tarp or piece of plastic tied to the trees, edge of house, anything will do in a bind.

NO! DUmmies aren't going to stop and think, they're just going to sit on their ass and scream/demand, "Somebdy needs to do something."   

[franksolich]

I dunno.

On October 31, 1997, Lincoln was struck by an unanticipated massive ice storm.

Omaha was struck too, with somewhat more severity.

The leaves were still on the trees.

The sheer weight of the ice brought hundreds of thousands of trees crashing to the ground, at the same time bringing down everything under them, blocking streets, yanking out power lines, bursting gas lines, smashing buildings, crushing automobiles, whatnot.

The whole entire city of Lincoln (population then circa 225,000) was brought to its knees.....for weeks.

Only about half of Omaha was brought to its knees, but Omaha's a major city.

Where I lived, we were without electricity for three weeks.  Some in Lincoln had it even worse.

(Besides the ice, there was constant snow too.)

I made it okay without electricity, heat, cooking, and water.....but then and again, this happened shortly after I had spent nearly two years wandering around the socialist paradises of the workers and peasants with free medical care for all, and I was used to it.....in fact, utterly nonchalant about the whole deal.