Contacts
 

Read all the way through to Pat's post about drinking the wine:D .

OK, just a thought here. I think I picked this up from the Red Cross or FEMA site after Katrina.

With all the active families with cell phones now days you need a contact plan. Everybody just assumes they'll call all the family in the area. The towers may be down, phones decharged, lost and individuals making their way out of the area to evacuation shelters.

Every family member that runs around town by themselves needs to know the number to a contact person outside the area/state/region. In a disaster call that number and "check in". Little ones should be able to give "Granny Mary Johnson in Bugtussle, MO."

Pete

I went to my local farm supply store (Rural King) today and bought some used plastic 55 gallon drums for $8.99 each. They have industrial grade 55 gal trash bags you can use as liners. Requires a bit more effort but seemed better than shelling out $50 for a food grade drum.

They also have large water tanks in various sizes that were not unreasonably priced. Many people that live in the country buy them to haul water from the city out to their farm. They ranged from 35 gal on up to 3000 gal

How long will the sealed 5 gallon water containers for office water coolers last. And cost?

Where's The Reaper? I'll try to fill in...

Good question; I don't know. Find out and report back.

When I ordered the 2.5 gal springwater I was told to keep it in a cool dark place like a closet and the shelf life was indefinate so long as the seal was not damaged.

A coworker at the Fire Dept I work at sells water like you mentioned. I asked him about the same thing as I am about to purchase several of the 5 gallon containers full of spring water. The 5 gallon containers will be good for about 2-3 years as long as the seal is not broken and they are stored in a cool dry place.

JJ

I just received this link from work. The "Be Prepared" and "Take Action" sections look like a good place to start. There are checklists, downloads, etc.

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/HAW2/english/intro.shtml

Just a smart thing to do
 

I treat my 23 gallon gas tank on my jeep as a 10-12 gallon tank always refilling at the earliest convenient time when it hits the half way point. If something looks un-easy in news I might top off, or if prices dip for a day or two in town I top off. However no mater what happens I know that I have a 4x4 with ½ a tank or more ready to go weather a family member is put in the hospital and I go to be by their side or WWIII puts gas at $5+ a gallon.

I hope The Reaper comes back soon...we don't seem to do very well without close supervision. :munchin

Another good set of books for backwoods medicine and other survival info are: The Foxfire Books - Ithink ther are about 10 of them.

Useful links to download and print...
 

Sequence for donning and removing personal protective equipment

Protective clothing; adaptations and local expedients

Infection control guidelines for influenza A, disinfection, etc.

Disinfection protocol using bleach or hypochlorite

Protective clothing

Handwashing, more complicated than you thought

Disinfectant solutions, expedient (this uses 70% HTH which is hard to get, use the formula in the Pandemic Flu thread and then follow the guidelines here for uses)

Emergency disinfection of drinking water (if you are using the hypochlorite solution from the Pandemic Flu thread, follow the instructions there -- this still has useful information beyond that in the thread and for use with purchased bleach)

25 buck downspout diverter

Smart downspout diverter - it better be for 65 bucks. It diverts the first several gallons overboard, so you don't get bird crap washing into your rain barrel.

Power
 

I live in a densely populated area and this is a big concern of mine. Our freezer is stocked, at any given time, with 20 pounds of beef, 5 to 8 pounds of pork, 6 to 8 chickens, 2 turkeys, 2 to 3 packages of corned beef (thanks to St. Paddy's day sales :D ), a duck or two, several game hens, etc. We don't need electricity except for the freezer and perhaps battery chargers.

We have a natural gas quick-connect for the grill. I looked into doing a "3 fuel" conversion for a gasoline generator but that would let my neighbors and would-be looters know that I have electricity and something I want to keep cold. Refrigerated items are less important unless they are medications.

I'm leaning steeply towards an inverter and deep cycle marine batteries and a small, quiet, generator to keep them charged.

Pat

Don't worry about the noise. If you are cooking beef my wife will smell it even if it's 200 miles away. :D

Hmmm, didn’t consider that. I may have to open up a restaurant called the "Pandemic Pantry." :D

Pat