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helenofsnowball
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| Posted: Aug 10 2007 at 12:06pm | IP Logged
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Hi Everyone,
I haven't been here in a very long time and haven't posted to any topic either. Lately there has been a lot of talk everywhere I go about stocking up. I mean Catholics are talking, non-religious are talking,etc. about needing to prepare for a nearby time of difficulty. I mean such as power outages, finanacial institution problems.
While I don't want to get too far out there as far as sounding like a doomsayer, what do you all think??? It has come up so often everywhere I go that I am wondering if my guardian angel is directing me to get a message.
I would love to hear what you all think. What you might be hearing, seeing, etc. and what ways would you be preparing? Like what would you put in an emergency box? I decided I would make one and put holy water, blessed salt, blessed candles, a crucifix, a laminated copy of a Prayer Against Storms, money, meds (if anyone needed them), water, and a three day supply of food for our family, personal items like kotex, toothbrushes, shampoo, my small missal and a few small prayer books. Any thought, ideas, words of wisdom etc. please share with me. Any websites etc. I would be interested in. Articles whatever.
Thanks and God bless everyone,
Love in Jesus through Mary with Saint Joseph,
Helen
who doesn't want to sound like a wacko, just get others feelings, thoughts and opinions 
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CKwasniewski
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| Posted: Aug 10 2007 at 3:25pm | IP Logged
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Helen,
Its funny, I've been thinking about this lately too. Your list is good--though I don't know where I'd get blessed salt.??
The little research I've done says to have a week of food and water. 1 gallon per person of water per day. And also a first aid kit and sleeping bags for everybody. And don't forget Toilet paper!!!
I try not to be too apocalyptic, but the fact is that we should be prepared for something going wrong--really wrong. Hurricane Katrina is a good example of that.
blessings,
CK
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helenofsnowball
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| Posted: Aug 10 2007 at 3:55pm | IP Logged
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CK,
I would send you some blessed salt. I just had our priest bless a big bag of it. I put it in food, sprinkle it around our property, house and I even put a little in our regular salt shaker.
Oh yea!! Toliet paper! That might seem like a luxury if we really had to be prepared for something quickly and left home without it! 
Well I don't live on a coast but we do live in Arkansas and we do have a fault line that runs up the Missisppi on the eastern coast of our state. And we did have an earthquake early one morning a couple of years ago. Funny though everyone in my family slept rhrough it but me. It was so odd, I heard it coming because things began to rumble and then everything in the house began to rattle and shake like you were standing on jello and it was like a wave. I heard it coming as I felt things shaking more and more and then I heard it leaving as things began to settle down again. I just wish everyone else had experienced it but they all were sound asleep! Maybe it was better the kids might have been really upset. As it was everyone thought I was joking until dh got to work and heard others talking about it. Then he called me to tell me I wasn't crazy 
I hope others will post. I know it seems apocalyptic but I am interested in what others are doing if anything at all. Both physicaly and spiritually.
Another quick thing I wanted to share. In 1999 our priest told us not to worry about Y2K, he was certain that there would be no crash at that time due to the fact that a known problem as they were talking about with the computers would not be left to cause such chaos. Too much money was at stake. So I stocked up ..... with 10 cans of tuna
But this time it feels spiritually to keep trying harder to move toward holiness and it also feels to be as wise as serpants but as innocent as doves so I want to think about this and do some type of preparation.
Ok I'll be quiet now and wait for others to post.
Love in Jesus through Mary with Saint Joseph,
Helen
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guitarnan
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| Posted: Aug 10 2007 at 4:24pm | IP Logged
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Well...my dh is of like mind. I've mostly been working on survival items (camp stove, cookware for the stove, propane) this summer. I always have a bunch of canned food and bottled water around - don't forget the manual can opener. Dh reminds me that if a hurricane is predicted, I'm supposed to gas up both cars and get cash ASAP.
You should keep your important papers in one place so you can get to them easily. Precious photos, too. A household inventory (photographic if need be) is also a handy thing to have.
Pet supplies should go on the list, too. I'd also include sunscreen, bad weather gear, comfortable shoes for everyone, a fire escape ladder for your upstairs rooms, flashlight and radio with batteries.
(Navy people go through evacuation training, can you tell?)
Great thread.
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Nancy in MD. Mom of ds (24) & dd (18); 31-year Navy wife, move coordinator and keeper of home fires. Writer and dance mom.
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SuzanneG
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| Posted: Aug 10 2007 at 7:02pm | IP Logged
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September is National Preparedness Month, so this is quite timely!  
Emergency Essentials is dh’s favorite bedtime reading . The catalogue is great, if only for educational purposes.
It’s smart to be prepared and have things stocked up. Around here we could have earthquakes, and I suppose Mt. Rainier COULD blow .
Here are some of the things we do/have:
o Every January we go through and “re-stock” and double-check.
o 2 cases of toilet paper up in our garage rafters, cycling through it. But, there are always 2 extras.
o Boxes of baby wipes.
o Ammunition
o Pantry stocked, including MRE (Meals-Ready-To-Eat)
o Portable Toilet in the basement
o 55-gallon-water drums on our back porch. And other smaller containers in the basement. Some for drinking, some not. They recommend 14 gallons of water per person is the suggested amount to store for a 2-wk period. This is only for subsistence. More is recommended. Here is a good article on Water Storage
We also have lots of camping stuff, left-over from our camping/hiking days that we keep for emergency purposes. (As we sure aren’t camping much these days! )
There is a big Rubbermaid bin in our basement that is ready to GRAB in a hurry, containing:
o Toiletries
o Medical Supplies and First Aid Kit
o Suturing Kit
o Butane Cartridges
o Stove
o Duct tape
o Rolls of plastic tarps
o 100-hour-plus-candles
o Ax
o Gas Masks
o Gloves
o Safety Lightsticks
o Short-wave, battery poweder, hand-crank, solar powered Radio
o Potassium Iodide
o Matches
o Extra Pocket Knives
o Flashlights
o Batteries
o MRE
o Vial of holy water, crucifix, prayer book
January is also when we re-evaluate what things should be in our fire-proof safe and in the safe-deposit box. Also, add photo negatives (now discs) to the safe-deposit box. And, update home binder, will, financial info.
Ready America has basic checklists, things to think about.
Emergency Preparedness Center has a guide to download.
Signing off now....and hoping y'all don't think WE'RE a bunch of wackos over here!
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Suzanne in ID
Wife to Pete
Mom of 7 (Girls - 14, 12, 11, 9, 7 and Boys - 4, 1)
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folklaur
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| Posted: Aug 10 2007 at 7:23pm | IP Logged
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I'm curious, do you feel you are getting ready for a natural disaster, or a man-made one?
I have to admit - we are probably not prepared like we should be. I have no idea where I would store a weeks worth of water. Here where I am in the Phx area, we get no severe "natural disasters." Some areas have flooding, but not where we are. However, I guess we should still be ready for a man-made one.
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SuzanneG
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| Posted: Aug 10 2007 at 7:33pm | IP Logged
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cactus mouse wrote:
I'm curious, do you feel you are getting ready for a natural disaster, or a man-made one?
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Both.
Even if we weren't in an earthquake zone, we would still prepare. there are terrorist threats, fire, financial, etc.
We're not of the mind of being convinced that something is going to happen. We're not "dooms-dayers" (sp?) The chances of us ever having to use these things is pretty low.
It's just that now we are so dependent on our infrastructure (roads, distribution, information-highway/computers, food, water, money, etc) that we are not ready to take care of ourselves if those things were interrupted. It would have to be back-to-the-BASICS, and most of us live so far from the basic-neccessities.
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guitarnan
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I grew up in earthquake country and was raised to prepare for disasters. My parents are probably California's most prepared citizens. My dh worries about a terrorist attack near our home (I have a driving plan that takes prevailing wind patterns into account), but I worry more about hurricane-related power outages. That's probably because I've had to endure two hurricanes without dh.
It really doesn't matter, in the end, as long as you are prepared to feed your family and fend for yourself for a couple of weeks. I've known too many people who weren't ready for hurricanes, and very few who've materially suffered after an earthquake.
My thought is, first, I should be prepared for whatever God might send my way. Second, if dh wants us to be thoroughly prepared (with driving plan), it's my job to support him and teach our children to cook on an open fire, camp, etc. in case they need those skills later.
I don't dwell on disaster; I'm confident my son (15) would be a great help in a crunch, and my daughter is learning to camp, cook, etc. We'll manage. If nothing else, they will be able to take their families on great road trips later!
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Nancy in MD. Mom of ds (24) & dd (18); 31-year Navy wife, move coordinator and keeper of home fires. Writer and dance mom.
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MarilynW
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SuzanneG wrote:
September is National Preparedness Month, so this is quite timely!
Signing off now....and hoping y'all don't think WE'RE a bunch of wackos over here!
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Suzanne - you have inspired me - I was very prepared at one time - now I do not even have water stored up. Thanks for all the links and information. And for reminding me about safety deposit box updates etc. I definitely do not think you are a wacko In fact after all our recent postings - I was going to suggest you might like to move to No Va (and no it is not because I want some of that nice paper - though I have a lot of colored sand to donate if that will tempt you!!)
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Marilyn
Blessed with 6 gifts from God
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Jamberry77
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Another thing I like to keep is cash -- I tend to use only debit card and credit card and rarely have cash, so I get an extra $20 every so often from the grocery store (with debit card) and store up cash. What if the electricity is out, everywhere around you? No credit card machines will work, and the ATM's won't work, either. I have ours hidden in an ordinary household product box so no thief would ever think money was there.
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Mare
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Helen,
Everyone has shared some great ideas.
We often get hit with severe storms where power can be out for days at a time. Last summer, many families in our area were without power for 2 weeks. Fortunately, our family had lost power for only 1.5 days. Having done all the preparation ahead of time paid off for us.
Planning can be so overwhelming. I once ran an Emergency Preparedness Plan Challenge on one of my email lists. Below is what I sent out to my group:
Emergency Preparedness Plan Challenge
Day 1
For today, we'll print off FlyLady's 11 Points to Preparedness for Evacuation. I have put my Emergency Preparedness Plan in my Household Notebook aka Control Journal. I have a tab at the end of the book titled Emergency. I'm sure a folder or a separate notebook will work out just fine to hold these papers together.
To think about: Who are the people I'd want to contact in an emergency? If I couldn't return to my house, do I have all the phone numbers or email addresses of people that I'd want to contact? mailing addresses?
FlyLady's 11 Points to Preparedness for Evacuation
"We can FLY in the face of Danger and Emergency if we are prepared. Don't wait till you are being asked to evacuate. Everyone thinks that it could not happen to them. Well it could and it is up to you to make sure you are prepared. Don't wait! DO IT NOW!!" -- FlyLady
1. PEOPLE: Have a plan for getting out of the house and make sure everyone knows it. Have an emergency bag of food and water for your family. Include wholesome snacks and treats for the children: dried fruit, nuts, peanut butter, crackers and granola bars.
2. PETS: Keep pet carriers and leashes readily available to lead pets to safety. Also take pet food with you.
3. PICTURES: Keep negatives or CDs of pictures in a lock box or at a family member's home. Have picture albums in one place ready to grab and go at a moments notice.
4. PAPERS: Have all your important papers in a lock box at a bank and only keep copies at the house. This keeps you from panicking. If you have them at home then put them in a folder that you can easily grab if you have to move fast. Color code it so you can find it!
5. PRESCRIPTIONS: Take your medications with you. Don't forget the ones that have to be refrigerated like insulin. Have small ice chest and cold packs readily accessible to pack and go. If you have babies; remember their formula or medications.
6. PURSES and PETROL: This is where you keep your identification, credit cards and cash. Keep a stash of cash for emergencies and grab it. You may not be able to use an ATM in the event of a power outage. Make sure your car always has a half a tank of gas.
7. PROPER CLOTHES and COMFORT ITEMS: According to the weather conditions; gather up a change of clothes along with outer clothing: coats, rain gear, boots, gloves and hats. If you have babies remember diapers. Remember to grab your children's favorite blanket, stuffed animal or toy. A game or a deck of cards could keep them occupied and calm too.
8. PLANNER/CALENDAR/CONTROL JOURNAL: These documents have all the information you will need from phone numbers, insurance numbers and important dates. They are small and filled with things you don't have to try to remember.
9. PERSONAL PROTECTION: Many of us still have that time of the month. Be sure and grab a box of your preferred protection. It may be hard to find if you have been evacuated. Stress can cause our bodies to do strange things too. So be prepared. Take medication for cramps too.
10. PHONES and RADIOS: Many of us have cell phones now. Always keep them charged up and have a charger in the car or an extra battery. They may not work in the event of power outages, but then they might. Know which local radio station has emergency bulletins. Keep your battery powered radio tuned to that local station and have plenty of batteries for it.
11. PATIENCE: This is one of the most important things to pack. Keep it inside of you so that you have a clear calm head. Having your P's to Preparedness list guiding you will keep you patient. In the event of an evacuation there will be lots of displaced people. Being patient will make things less stressful. Your children need to see you calm and collected. This will help keep them calm too.
Day 2
Let’s gather all the landline numbers, cell phone numbers and email addresses of family members and put it into our notebooks. You many want to include phone numbers for your church, your doctors and your dentist.
Can you exchange cell phone numbers with a neighbor? It would give you the opportunity to call one another and get updates on the neighborhood’s situation.
(This came in handy with the flooding a few weeks ago. Our neighbors were vacationing in South Carolina. We called them to see if they wanted us to check their house for flooding. Luckily their house was fine!)
To think about: What will I do if I am separated from my family in an emergency? Do I have a family communication plan set up? Do I have an out- of-state contact for each family member to notify that they are safe?
Day 3
Let’s figure out a Family Communication Plan. If I were separated from my husband or if my children were separated from me during an emergency evacuation, how do we contact each other? Do we have a meeting place set up?
To think about: Where are my insurance policies? Where are all the legal papers like the deed to the house, vehicle ownership papers? What is my bank account number?
Day 4
To do: Do you know where your important documents are? Gather up what you can find and keep them together.
Here’s another site that has a listing of important documents on the list page: http://www.fema.gov/pdf/areyouready/appendix_b.pdf
To think about: What kinds of foods and other items do I have in the house that I’d like to put in an Emergency Kit?
Day 5
Let’s look through these sites and print off anything that would be of help to us if we lost power and had no internet access.
Food and water in an emergency
http://www.fema.gov/pdf/library/f&web.pdf
Diaster Planning Kit
http://www.fema.gov/pdf/areyouready/appendix_b.pdf
To think about: What items do I already have for a First Aid Kit?
Day 6
Let’s use this day to catch up on the Emergency Preparedness Plan.
To think about: What haven’t I finished with exercise that I would like to finish up?
Day 7 – Week 2 - Food/Water Supplies
I think we are at the point where I can send out weekly reminders. For this week, let’s look at what food and water supplies we need to purchase for the Emergency Kits and begin purchasing them.
To think about: If it is easier for you to buy everything at once, the FEMA list is a good place to start.
http://www.fema.gov/pdf/areyouready/appendix_b.pdf
Here are the reminder topics for the upcoming weeks:
Week 3 – First Aid Supplies
Week 4 - Hygiene/Medication Supplies
Week 5 - Equipment/Tools
********************************************************
I have a firebox with all important papers, etc. in it. I also keep an 18 gallon Tote filled with trashbags, a can opener, matches, wipes, plastic plates and utensils in our pantry area. This way I can grab the can goods and dry goods and throw them in there if we have to evacuate.
I also had the children make up their own kits using their backpacks. It's filled with hard candies, gum, snack bars, playing cards, those neon tubes you can wear around your neck, a whistle, a foldable rain coat, sunscreen, bug repellent, note pad and pencils. There is still enough room in there that they could grab a few of their favorite things if we had to evacuate. The last thing I want to mention is that we keep the bike helmets near the car in case we have to evacuate.
HTH,
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JodieLyn
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I worry less about being prepared to evacuate.. it took my sister and I about 2 hours to be ready to evacuate earlier this summer (didn't have to) so with what we'd deal with in the area we are.. I'm close enough to ready for evacuation.
But I think they've done people a disservice by keeping the "recommendations" of disaster preparation so low.. 3 days worth of food won't hold you long enough for anyone to get in to help out if it's widespread enough. I've lived in one place where an earthquake could take out all methods of transport except helicopter.. if there's a blizzard or a hurricane.. you have to make it through the storm before help will be able to get to you
So while 3 days worth is a reasonable amount for having to carry with you in an evacuation, if you're gonna be staying put.. you need more than that.
A week will only get you to having others come in to help you.
If you want to weather a disaster you probably need a good month's supply of food. That much water is harder to do.
With my dh's income being somewhat cyclical anyway.. we tend to follow the agrarian lifestyle of stocking up on foods "in season" and then using them up through the off seasons. Which means that about the beginning of Nov. I probably have most of a year's worth of food. The beginning of summer sees us rather on the shorter side.. but because different foods have different seasons.. you're never really low on everything at once. The best part is that is saves me money too.. since I'm buying in season and on sale vs buying it when we need it which gives me less wiggle room for when I make the purchase.
Though if you really want to have a year's worth of food stocked up all the time.. you have to go beyond that to stocking for 2 years so that you could have the year's worth you're working on plus the year in backup.
Having that food is a great safety net. Ever had a week where your dh was sick and the paycheck was short? or when some emergency sucked up the funds and you were searching the backs of cupboards for something to fix without spending money?
It makes sense between the natural disasters, the less stable job market and terroist attacks and such.. that people would be more concerned about actually being prepared.
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Jodie, wife to Dave
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All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
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folklaur
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Where I live in Arizona, there is a large Mormon population. They are taught to have a years worth of supplies on hand at all time. So we have stores dedicated to helping them do just that.
Thank you, ladies, for bringing this up! I brought it up with dh and we are now talking about how to go about setting up a plan for our family. I don't know that I would have thought about it otherwise. So, again, thanks!! 
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SuzanneG
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| Posted: Aug 12 2007 at 12:31am | IP Logged
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MarilynW wrote:
| In fact after all our recent postings - I was going to suggest you might like to move to No Va (and no it is not because I want some of that nice paper - though I have a lot of colored sand to donate if that will tempt you!!) |
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Oh, YES....it DOES!
It's killin' me to order colored sand from Sterling, VA! 
All the very important things ...survival water, colored sand, paint brushes, and square paper!
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Suzanne in ID
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Mom of 7 (Girls - 14, 12, 11, 9, 7 and Boys - 4, 1)
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momwise
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The unbelievable happened to my dh last winter: He actually became stuck in a blizzard in a several mile long highway jam with no way to get out. He was there almost 7 hours...way after dark too. We are the first ones to tell anyone "You never know what the weather will do in CO," and yet that day he neglected to take along gloves, a hat or water, or any other supplies, except his coat.
So, I would say in addition to a household emergency kit, please prepare your autos this fall to be sitting in the bitter cold, dark and possibly white-out or ice conditions. Blankets, gloves, hat, dry socks and sweat shirts, non-perishable food, small shovel, etc. Candles in a coffee can can provide some heat but always crack a window.
In our van we have a blanket, flashlight, dry clothes, etc. but our stash has been "borrowed" from over the last couple of years and needs to be replenished. Although water is a given in the summer, always bring it along in the winter too.
And you know what I never would have considered before last winter? A big coffee can and t.paper. The women were mortified to have to get out and go on the highway in front of a few thousand other commuters
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Gwen...wife for 30 years, mom of 7, grandma of 3.....
"If you want equal justice for all and true freedom and lasting peace, then America, defend life." JPII
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SuzanneG
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We always kept dog/catfood in our car. In case you were stranded in cold weather you had some nourishment. Gross, I know. Why not keep REAL food? Well, that would inevitably get eaten in non-emergency situations! And, then in a REAL situation, you'd have nothing!
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Suzanne in ID
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JodieLyn
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Good point Gwen.. We're usually better prepared on long trips in winter.. but short trips should be prepared to.
But then.. I will take my sling in the stroller when we go for a walk using the stroller.. it would get awful tiring carrying the baby without the sling if the stroller should break (of course my stroller is 7 years old and seen hard use )
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Jodie, wife to Dave
G-18, B-17, G-15, G-14, B-13, B-11, G-9, B-7, B-5, B-4
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onemoretracy
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| Posted: Aug 13 2007 at 11:40am | IP Logged
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SuzanneG wrote:
| We always kept dog/catfood in our car. In case you were stranded in cold weather you had some nourishment. Gross, I know. Why not keep REAL food? Well, that would inevitably get eaten in non-emergency situations! And, then in a REAL situation, you'd have nothing! |
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You are cracking me up!! Seriously though, that is a good idea. I keep granola bars in the car to give out to homeless etc.. that we might see and the kids bugged me for awhile to eat them. Now that we have given them out a couple of times they realize what they are for.
Dog or cat food though would be safe for sure!
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Tracy
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DD Mary Clare-3
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helenofsnowball
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| Posted: Aug 14 2007 at 6:46pm | IP Logged
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Wow!
GREAT INFO y'all!
Well it seem many of us need to address this issue. What I found out this weekend as we stayed at a VERY inexpensive cottage that you can make due without a lot of things and still have a wonderful time!!
So I wanted to run home and start cleaning out my schoolroom which in all truth is the "other" storage room right now. We couldn't use it for school if I had to!! In fact every room in my house has some clutter like this so I'm going for simplicity and minimalizing what I have in my house. We are going to be doing cleanout in the a.m. and school in the afternoon. Hey any suggestions on this? I want to do it thoroughly but not get overwhelmed which is VERY easy for me and my ADD mind.
At the same time I am cleaning out I can add to a couple of cheap 18 gallon totes from these great lists you all have shared. I really need to do this because we have been out of electricity for more than three days before. We had an ice storm once and another time the main substation that serves our area blew up! That made the whole county south of the river in total darkness. We were coming home from north of the river and had seen lights until we crossed the river and there was not one light to be seen. I thought this must be what it was like 50 years ago before our rural area had electricity. Yes, it's only been in the last 50-60 years that the rural areas of Northern Arkansas got electricity. Still a new innovation for our area.
Shucks we still had party lines on our telephones until just about 10 years ago. That was a hoot! For those of you who don't know what a party line is well everyone has their own phone number but they are all connected to the same line. When anyone got a call on your line everyone's phone jingled slightly but your phone rang loudly. Then we could all just pick up our receivers and start listening to whatever you were saying!! Talk about invasion of privacy!! We had an elderly lady who when she wanted to use the phone and anyone elsse was on it would click click click the receiver and yell, put the receiver next to the radio with it turned on until you got off!!! What an entertaining time that was!!
 
But back to the issue at hand, we need to be prepared because we do have real things that can happen and we need to physically be prepared for them as much as possible. Be as wise as serpents but as innocent as doves. Even if it is a terroist attack some preparation will help us to get through what we need to go through.
My next question is what are you all doing spiritually??? Are you being more diligent about getting to confession more often? Are you doing more daily spiritual reading?? Are you structuring your days a little differently to include more prayers such as Angelus, Divine Mercy that have specific times that they can be said?? What are you doing or are planning to do as many start school again soon? I'm just curious because as I was reading through a disaster preparedness site and one thing I got out it was be afraid. The disaster shows like It Could Happen Tommorow feels like it is saying the same thing, be afraid. I know in the scriptures it says "See to it that your heart be not troubled." So let's talk spiritual too.
Thanks to everyone for the great ideas and lists! I like the weekly/daily assignments for preparation Mare. Maybe we should post those daily in a seperate topic discussion just for that. What do you think?
God bless everyone!
Love in Jesus through Mary with Saint Joseph,
Helen
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aiereis
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| Posted: Aug 14 2007 at 11:05pm | IP Logged
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This is a difficult question for me because I was raised with dooms-dayer parents so I have a somewhat paranoid mentality, but at the same time, my husband is totally opposite. I have joked with my husband that I would like to move to rural Wyoming so I don't have to worry about terrorists or biological warfare and we can stock up and have our own mini-compound. However that is just a joke and I try not to think of emergency situations very often because I grew up very frightened of those type of hypothetical situations my family was always talking about.
Since we live in an apartment it is very hard to store up extras of anything. I don't even think we have a three day water supply, which I think is a bare minimum. The other minimum I would like is to have evacuation bags ready and go through them every couple months to rotate food and make sure the clothes and diapers still fit.
As for spiritual preparation, I mostly try to follow St. Pio's advice of "Pray, hope, and don't worry." However, that isn't entirely prudent because we know that disasters like Katrina do happen. Depending on how seriously you are concerned, at the minimum you should have a rosary, crucifix, and a Bible or prayerbook. If you are more seriously preparing, get a missal that has both the Sunday and weekday readings in it as well as wine with the proper alcohol content for Mass. Maybe even a mini-Mass kit should you be able to host a priest during a disaster. Of course, we should try to always live in a state of grace at all times so I don't see any reason to do things different spiritually beforehand.
--Christina
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4Real Forums : Tea and Conversation
Topic: Preparing for Future Difficulties
