Watching the news we find there are still nearly a million people without power. They lost it last Sunday, so they are on day five. I watched a Mom in Vermont as she hung laundry to dry on her first floor railings, had her sons playing board games, and basically chilling waiting for the power to get turned on. She was in obvious stress, and didn't know how much longer she could take it.
I know its probably hot and they could use a fan. What if it were winter? There's a lot of daylight now and no one's wearing a ton of clothes, laundry is minimal.
This is just a dry run. We got plenty of warnings, and had everything at our disposal to get ready for it.
Is anyone thinking about how to become more self sufficient and get off the grid for next practice run?
We back in the woods don't have cell phone coverage. A person should be able to survive without that. The other nice things in life, like hot water, food, lighting and entertainment should all be things well within our control, obtainable, suppliable.
Hard to imagine folks running out of food in less than a week. Apparently it happens. With all that rain and flooding, hard to imagine anyone out of water. The real problem comes when people don't know how to purify it. Strain the debris out of it first by pouring it through a netting, then through a clean cloth.
Take that strained water and add common household bleach. Let it sit at least half an hour.
You can boil it if you don't have bleach.
No electricity? Does anyone have candles, propane burners or solar powered yard lights? A kerosene lantern should be issued with your marriage certificate.
But seriously, you hear people bitching about our "nanny state". They don't want to be told what to do or eat. But then when a well publicized storm rolls in, these people won't prepare (they should be prepared all year round, if you ask me) and wonder out loud, in public, where the hell is the National Guard?
If you got caught with your pants down this time, pull them back up and get with the program.
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They made their beds.....
ReplyDeleteI agree for most folks what you say is true, but I wonder if some of the poorer folks had the money to prepare. I've dealt with the poorest of the poor in my career. Not all of them have the capability to do the long range planning, let along the money to carry it out. God really did not distribute basic survival skills or the ability to even learn them equally.
ReplyDeleteYou're right, Paula, not all of us have the time, money, skills to prepare. But running out of food or water is pretty sad. Sometimes I think what one calls running out is more like, there's no more bananas and milk. If there is still oatmeal or rice, you're not out.
ReplyDeleteThen, what is the answer, do you think, for better national preparedness? Perhaps we should have community classes and awareness programs that help others be enabled.
I watched a big fat black woman loading her nice new car with food from the food pantry. She said she didn't know what they would do without the help of the pantry free program.
Something seemed very wrong with that picture.
Yep - my husband's car turned 300,000 miles this week. No new cars for us until our daughter graduates from college! Mine is pushing 200,000. And clearly I'm no where close to the head of the line on the new car stuff!
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love it, Paula! A couple months ago, a website was doing a contest on cars over 200,000 miles. Mine wasnt even close, so I forget the details. But photos, stories and repair history were given, and the bottom line, if your car is running good, keep it.
ReplyDeleteLove the nanny state point, very true.
ReplyDeleteWill show my wife the kerosene lantern note when I get a chance. Too funny.
Thanks for posting, glad I found your blog.
-Stephen
Thanks Stephen !
ReplyDelete