Tag: Preparedness

April 25, 2022 – Readiness vs. Preparedness

April 25, 2022 /

Sorry, but it is going dark again. I will try to keep it high level for privacy reasons. We had a huge family blow-out with my mother-in-law last week. We were trying to convince her that she needed to start the power of attorney process and try to engage hospice. My opinion is that we are within weeks of needing to invoke power of attorney and hospice is needed now. She is no longer able to walk, she is eating very little and is going back and forth with her faculties. In fact, we had to call 911 the other night because my wife thought that she had a stroke.

The next day, when we had the discussion she was firmly obstinate and declared that she was not ready to die and therefore formalize power of attorney. That is where the genesis of this topic came from. In most people’s mind, the terms are synonymous, including mine until that moment. They can mean the same thing but they are distinctly not.

I am reading between the lines in the interaction but here is the reality. I don’t think that she is ever going to be ready to die. She insists that there are good days and bad days, which is true. But, every good day is less good than the last one. In her mind, she is still defiant that she is going to beat this even though all of the doctor’s opinions are otherwise.

Not being ready has led to not being prepared. You can be ready and not prepared and you can be prepared and not ready. You can also be ready and prepared and the opposite, you get the point. To me, preparedness has an ‘if’ component to it whereas ready has a ‘when’ component. When those two circles merge you have the if and when.

Let’s say that you are preparedness minded and you are all stocked up for a hurricane. You have procedures in place for this scenario and that variation. However, if the hurricane strikes while you are on a business trip, you are not ready for it. You are not there to execute those procedures and direct your family and turn on the generator, etc. By the same token, you could be home and prepared and the hurricane misses you so you don’t lose power, it wasn’t necessary. If you happen to be home and not prepared, you know the hurricane is coming so it is too late to do anything about it. You are ready but not prepared.

What other topics can we relate? How about life insurance? I have some but it doesn’t mean I am ready to die, it means that I am prepared in case I do. You have a will, you have other legal documents that just in case I get into a car accident tonight, I have made steps to mitigate the other problems that go on with the situation.

The theory of life insurance is that it replaces income in the event of a loss. As we age beyond our income earning years, life insurance is only there to protect assets for estate planning. So, the if is dying while you are making money and you have a family or spouse that needs it. But, even that tapers off eventually unless your spouse can manage the cash flow without you and you invest the life insurance.

I think the best corollary that most people can relate to is parenthood. So many people of my generation (X) opted to wait to get married or at least waited to have children. I know that we did. Some advice that we got was that you can really never be ready for your first child. It is hard to imagine being a parent when you have no context of what it is really like. Despite all of that, you can be prepared in terms of equipment, training, plans and education. Just because you don’t know if you are ready, that baby is coming and you take it day by day. What you don’t know, you make up and keep trying to learn and get better. This is really all you can do.

I like to think that I have possibly learned something about this interaction. Who really knows what we will be like when we get to this point. I can only imagine what I would feel like if I felt like I wanted to give more and needed more time. Unfortunately, all of this time is really wasting the remaining days. I am expecting this to be a clusterf*ck by the time it is over.

End Your Programming Routine: I suppose ultimately where I am at is that readiness has nothing to do with this situation, it is inevitable. All fighting does is make it more difficult to do the right thing at the right time. Ideally, you would have both states, but if you are going to opt for one, pick preparedness over readiness.

November 17, 2021 – What Does Two is One Mean?

November 17, 2021 /

There is a saying in preparedness that is turned into of a nursery rhyme. It ultimately starts to get ridiculous but I think I can build a reasonable use case today. It goes like this “Two is one and one is none, three is for me…” Apparently, it is a saying from the Navy Seals.

As promptly as I noticed my desktop working last Saturday, it stopped working again. I was able to post on Monday and I was back to the laptop yesterday. There was an update Monday night that I purposefully ran and then things stopped working. That of course re-ignited my quest to resolve the problem for a number of reasons. The first was that carrying two laptops was heavy. The second is that we are off to to Texas on Friday and I am going to be working several days while there, so that means two laptops again.

The truth is, I could probably get by using my issued computer, but I don’t really want to do that. All of my linking to One Drive and other services I use to make this work would mess with my business configuration. I still suspect that this problem is something to do with WordPress for reasons I will outline below.

So what does two is one, one is none mean in this scenario?

DeviceOSBuild
DesktopWindows 10 Home21H1Not Working
LaptopWindows 10 Home20H2Working
iPhoneIOS14.8.1 Not Working
iPadIOS15.1 Not Working

The reason I am thinking the problem is with WordPress is the apparent ‘random’ behavior of it working. Doing nothing over the course of a week and it works, after not working for two weeks prior. Then running an update and it stops working.

The real reason however is that it works on one device and not three others. Device problems should manifest as working on three out of four devices or working on one operating system and not the other or working with one browser but not another. There are of course other variables that I have also tried

  • WAN connection type
  • Browser
  • Hardware configuration
  • Other installed applications

Looking at my list of variables, I do have some things that I haven’t tried. For instance, I have tried wired and wi-fi but I haven’t tried cellular. Although, for my one device that is working is on wireless. Low and behold, when I switched off of wi-fi to cellular only, I can login to the post editor on my phone.

That potentially rules out operating system. It also narrows down my focus to something to do with the internet. I have already rebooted my equipment, refreshed my DNS setting and cleared my browser cache, but I will keep looking in this area for the answer.

End Your Programming Routine: I am sure the Navy Seals meant that if you didn’t have an extra magazine and the one you have is broken, you are ‘f’-d. In this case, I am trying to convey that without extra devices and connections, I would never be able to troubleshoot, let alone continue to post. Maybe, I would put more urgency if I only had one device but I have tried pretty hard already. I do think I am getting close.

May 20, 2021 – ‘Tacticool’ Thursday

May 20, 2021 /

As I was trying to figure out what to write about today, I was cleaning up some miscellaneous stuff that I have drug out for various reasons. One was a tow strap that I loaned out a couple of weeks ago and the other was some ratchet straps that I was using to tighten the framing on my project. Both of those things belong in my vehicle kit which the contents were in a bit of disarray as a result.

Now, I should say that I used to carry this box around in my pick-up. When I moved to the Mustang, I took it out and never has it gone back permanently. It gets put back in for camping and hunting trips or if I have to grab and go to maybe help someone stuck. Truthfully, it is not much help if you don’t have it when you need it. But, I do make a point to carry some gear in each vehicle.

Vehicle preparedness gets some coverage, typically in the beginning of winter. Every couple of years, there seems to be a story about someone getting stuck with their vehicle for a couple of days. I really started considering the possibilities of being stuck with a vehicle about 15 years ago when a guy took a wrong turn and ended up freezing to death.

I did have one occasion where I did something kind of foolish and got my vehicle stuck in the woods. I left without saying where I was going and ended up getting my pickup stuck. My decision was to walk 12 miles out and eventually, I got some help. Mind you I was out of cell phone coverage, which is quite common when you get off of the paved roads here.

As with all topics in preparedness, it starts with what are we preparing for? In my case, I would say it is sort of a general preparedness. The categories I have made are getting stuck, mechanical problems, sheltering in place. I still do carry jumper cables and the like in the vehicle, but this box augments what I always carry. Lets take a deeper look at what is in here.

From the top, I see two wool blankets, a tarp, a fleece and a collapsible fishing pole (that is for fun mostly).

Things get a little more busy after the top layer. But from here there is a first aid kit, automotive tools, folding shovel, container with ratchet straps, tow strap, a spare jacket and then a bag containing who knows what. I think there are some matches, fire starter kit, cordage and other small things. I probably have a knife and multi-tool in there somewhere too.

I suppose the number one (and two) thing that is not in here is food and water. My original idea for that was to carry a separate bag, sometimes called a ‘get home’ bag where I would always have it with me. Because of temperature extremes and perishability, I wouldn’t want to leave that stuff in the car for an extended period of time.

One of the reasons that I haven’t put this back in my vehicle is that I realized having all of the tools in the world isn’t helpful if you also need parts. Sure, there are some field repairs that could be done but you have to have some knowledge about that stuff too. Other reasons include it is bulky and heavy and I don’t have a good way to secure it (to keep from being stolen). I needed my extra cab space for passengers at this point and it is too cumbersome to put in and take out all the time.

I will say that when I carried it, I probably got into it every month or so, mostly for tools. Despite not routinely carrying this box, items that are always in the car are a flashlight, a 110 voltage inverter, spare charge cords, small notebook with pens and tire gauge, flares, space blankets equal to the max number of passengers, fire extinguisher and a couple of tools.

Change Your Programming Routine: I have to say, it is not likely that this is going to back in the car full time. But the exercise is definitely valuable from a mental standpoint. I helps you visualize the possibilities and how you would adapt by what you have or not.

February 16, 2021 – Lessons from a Winter Storm

February 16, 2021 /

It has been a long time since I talked about preparedness. We had a major storm roll through last Thursday and still feeling the effects on Tuesday. It really wasn’t too bad in my local area, we had probably 1/4″ of ice twice from freezing rain on Thursday night and Friday night. But the effects have been devastating around the region.

Of course, as an Amazon driver I was at the tip of the spear for trying to get life back to normal. On Sunday, I was sent to the hardest hit area of our delivery territory to try and deliver packages. I saw power poles broken off with lines across the road, many crushed cars, trees and limbs blocking state highways and cellular service was near zero.

First, I have to say that I have lived in my house for over sixteen years and have never seen a power outage more than a blip in that time. I can count the number of times we have have a blip on my hand. So, the electrical service is pretty reliable from that standpoint. We had an outage that lasted from 5AM-3PM Saturday. Other areas that I was delivering to yesterday were expecting to get service restored on Thursday, a full week after the event began. Those were the areas that were accessible.

People were generally cold and tired but in good spirits. There were neighbors helping clean up. People used their own resources to flag downed lines, danger areas and clear roads. Everywhere I heard chainsaws and generators. Brush, limbs and lines littered the roads and right of ways. Now that I have set the scene, I really wanted to talk about the lessons from the storm.

  • Leave refrigerators and freezers closed. A deep freeze can remain cold enough for several days with no power as long as the door is not opened. I would advise not to open it for any reason if you suspect that an outage will last more than several hours.
  • Keep your freezers full. The more mass that is inside the unit increases the time to thaw significantly. If your freezer is not full, fill old containers with water to add. You can always use the ice as block ice later as a secondary benefit.
  • If you don’t have the money to buy a generator, start with an inverter. One 800 watt inverter is enough to power one refrigerator or freezer and can be found for as low as $50. Then you can use your vehicle to power the inverter and in turn keep your investment safe. Freezers only need to powered for a few hours a day to stay frozen. One more thing, appliances draw more energy when they start so a refrigerator may only use 3 amps but may need up to 7 amps to start. For those of you non-science types Ohms law is Watts = Volts x Amps; 800 = 120 * 6.66
  • Don’t forget to have extension cords that can reach from your vehicle or generator to the device that you want to power. For power hungry appliances, thicker cords are better. There is a power drop over every cord so the inexpensive 16ga cords have a maximum wattage that they can power (something like 1000 watts).
  • If you are having an ice storm you can use the ice to put in a cooler and move the refrigerator contents if necessary. Ice is a much more efficient way of keeping those items cold that doesn’t require additional electricity. From an energy consumption standpoint, making ice is more efficient than trying to keep a refrigerator running, regardless of the method.
  • I live in an all electric house. I do have camping equipment and a kerosene heater for the shop. Do have a carbon monoxide detector that works on batteries. I brought in my detector to use in the house as we started a fire and cooked breakfast on the camp stove.
  • I never got to the point of starting the heater as the fireplace warmed the living area enough, but have fuel for heat and cooking. You need wood to burn, if you have wood burning appliances. You need propane or kerosene for heaters and stoves. That stuff can go fast. My 20000 btu heater will burn through 2.5 gallons of kerosene in about 40 hours. It heats up my 16×20 space nicely during that time but it’s only going to be effective in a room.
  • When the real work needs to get done, a gas powered chainsaw beats a battery powered saw hands down. Battery saws are great for day to day pruning, but underpowered compared to gas and when the power is out, you cannot charge your batteries (at least not without a generator, inverter or solar). That is not a great justification to own a tool that you rarely use but sharing or bartering with a neighbor might be in order. Don’t forget fuel for that either.
  • We never got to the point where we needed much lighting but have flashlights, lanterns and batteries. Headlamps are good for task lighting, lanterns are good for area light and handheld flashlights are good for carrying around. I also have lights that use my rechargeable tool batteries that mostly get used for job type work. But they are convenient, powerful and long lasting as well as share batteries with other tools. With LED, battery powered lights are some of the most efficient use of power conversion there is.
  • When the power is out, so are the Point of Sale (POS) and ATMs. Even though businesses may be running on generator power, it can often be a cash only proposition. Have cash on hand with change if possible to get those things that you really need.
  • Cell communications continue to be spotty. Carriers have different levels of service and towers are in different states of operation. The best service seems to be around major traffic corridors, which were also the clearest to drive. I cant speak to land lines however but our internet was down and by far and away it seemed like the biggest losers were the cable TV connections.
  • Stay home if you can. I am not one to be squeamish about much but I thought that it was kind of ridiculous trying to deliver packages when you cant drive on the roads or even use the software to deliver. I had to run over countless downed lines (that I didn’t see until it was too late) and maneuver around road hazards only to be turned around by a roadblock. Road updates were close to nil as data service was down everywhere. Unless you are part of the solution, you are part of the problem in the cleanup and restoration effort.

These are some of my thoughts and tips around my experience. Hopefully we will all be prepared better for a next time.

October 19, 2020 – Store what? Why?

October 19, 2020 /

If you are like most people, including myself then you have municipal supplied water at your house. And when that is the case, the quality and frankly safety of the water is completely dependent on another entity the water provider. Now, that is normally not a problem but consider when there is one, you are potentially days away from the beginning of the problem.

It potentially seems wrong but I have seen more problems with water than any other utility outage. Last year, there was about a four month boil order in place for the state capital residents. That is over several hundred thousand residents affected by water quality.

When that incident first occurred, there was a reverse 911 call put into effect. This was in the mid-afternoon and by the next day, water was sold out throughout the entire area. We were not effected because our town has a different source of water, nevertheless the water was gone in all the towns in our area.

This was the beginning of a chronic culture of panic behavior. It was the same with toilet paper or hand sanitizer. People are not prepared to deal with any sort of outage or service disruption. Inventory in stores are not deep enough to service the needs of the entire population.

This is why I store water. Just plain tap water put into seven gallon jugs. I dump the water about once a year to inspect the containers and just refresh the supply. This usually happens in conjunction with our annual hunting trip, because we use the jugs to bring water to camp for the trip.

A minimum recommendation is to store one gallon per person, per day. That is for drinking, cooking and sanitation. I’ve got enough water to last about a week at that rate.

When I was in college, we had a localized flood turned landslide that wiped out a bunch of infrastructure including water delivery. In that case, the water was out for around a week. National guard had setup portable toilets and water distribution within two days of the event and showers came about three days later. While I am not saying any event will follow the others, there are two examples of what can happen.

Water can be saved in any clean container. Opaque is better than clear because it restricts light causing growth of biological life. You can put up some amount of water almost free. Even if you are paying for it at a store, it should be less than $2/gallon. The mark of someone that is prepared is that they are taking advantage of this time of plenty to accommodate if there is scarcity.

September 8, 2020 – Survived the Apocalypse, Now the Nuclear Winter

September 8, 2020 /

It’s late today. Without getting into too much irrelevant detail, we are currently surrounded by wildfires.

Growing up in the west, fire is an annual event. The mountainous and forested areas are the places that most frequently affected. Lighting and fuel combined with low population density are a common recipe for the big western fires. Typically the area of the state that I live in is a greener and wetter climate. But, when the coast is on fire, you know that there is trouble.

As my wife and I were enjoying a Labor Day drive, I got a reverse 911 call warning of high winds (known as red flag winds). In about two hours the smoke stared blowing in from fires in the central part of the state. Overnight, too many fires to mention kicked up and started burning out of control.

6:45AM, 7:15AM, 8:30AM, 12:30PM, 4:00PM

From what I have seen, the municipal services have done a pretty good job of jumping into action and keeping us to date. It’s no joke, towns have burned and my brother evacuated earlier today. I think that I am in a good position, but I wanted to talk about more concrete actions you can take.

First of all, have a plan. A plan is a place to go and a route to take that is going to be safe. If your party is going to separate, discuss alternate routes to arrive at your destination safely.

Be prepared for evacuation. I would recommend that you gather important documents, medications, glasses, mobile chargers and communication devices and essential non-replaceable items. Pack a bag for extended time away from home. Include items for pets as well like food, bowls, carriers, etc. Make sure your vehicle is fueled and serviceable.

It might be too late, but here are some of the things that are helpful to protect your home. Keep brush and vegetation away from structures. If possible, keep landscaping watered. It has sometimes been beneficial to wet structures with sprinklers or hoses. Native plants tend to fair better to fire either resisting or recovering.

There is too much information to summarize tonight, I will provide some information that I am aware of.

Don’t panic, this will pass.

April 23, 2020 – ‘Tacticool’ Thursday

April 23, 2020 /

There is a saying in preparedness “two is one, one is none”. What does that really mean? It means, have redundancy in your life. Because if you count on one item/system and it fails, and you have no ability to fix it or work around it then you are in trouble. The other reason to look at redundancy gives you the ability to breathe and assess the situation. There is nothing more desperate than someone that has nothing to lose… so to speak.

During the pioneering era, it was said that an ax was life. With an ax, you could grow food, contain livestock, cook, build shelter, etc. Without an ax or the ability to use it you were in a tough situation. Looking out a bit farther than that consider a file to sharpen the ax, tools to replace the handle. That is the kind of planning that redundancy leads to.

If there is nothing that this pandemic situation could have taught us, that is having income that is resilient to the economy or multiple sources of income. This can be an intricate and deep subject however, having savings is one way to weather the storm. That is not redundancy per se but using this gap time to build redundancy would be a good idea. If you can get a little bit of traction going, then you have the ability to ebb and flow into making more or less of an income when you need it or want it.

To get a little ‘tacticool’, there is a saying that goes “There aren’t many situations that $5000 and Glock cant get you out of”. I am sure that you are not dense but you can only buy or force your way out of tough situations. I really don’t recommend force except for the gravest extreme self defense. As we all know, we live by exchanging money. It is the number one redundancy to have in place.

In today’s society, it is hard to justify items as a place to focus. Most people have enough in the way of clothes or cookware or even critical tools. I would say a vehicle is maybe the only ‘necessity’. It allows us to work, obtain food or seek help for medical or security reasons.

Nevertheless, examine your situation. You may have others that depend on you such as livestock or pets. What do you need to do to ensure their safety and security. Is fencing critical to protecting them? You might need to have the ability to repair a fence in the middle of the night. Having lights and wire and staples makes your fence redundant.

Municipal systems are fairly robust. In most cases water, gas and electricity will be the last systems to fail. But they do. Having a generator to run your freezer in the meantime so a year’s worth of meat isn’t ruined seems like a good idea. Having alternate ways to cook or heat and now you have the ideas to evaluate.

I hope that this makes an impression on your needs assessment and encourages a look at redundancy. Focus on the things that really matter in your life like food, water, shelter, safety and sanitation. Having a backup Xbox is great but you might get a little thirsty.

March 19, 2020 – ‘Tacticool’ Thursday

March 19, 2020 /

The good news is that everything is relatively orderly. People are being helpful, friendly and even kind. Stores are rationing high demand items to distribute them as widely as possible. The bad news is that if you weren’t ‘prepared’ before this it is a woeful time to do so.

One of the categories that is manic right now is firearms and ammunition. I went to a chain sporting goods store just to see the local scene today and there was literally a line to the gun counter, with lots of buyers, not just lookers. I am not sure what people are expecting to happen or why there is panic buying.

I remember the ‘good old days’. Before 2009, ammunition was always available, plentiful and generally pretty cheap. As soon as Obama took office, the shelves were bare. It took two years before a box of ammunition was seen on the shelves. The supply lasted for a year or so and then in 2012, the Sandy Hook tragedy occurred and 22LR was literally absent for four years.

I have talked about my typical consumption in previous posts. So, of course I want to make sure that I can pursue my hobby in the next four years. But, adopting a prepared lifestyle means that you purchase in times of plenty so that you can ride out the lean times. It means that you don’t stand in line or panic buy just because other people are doing it (kind of like paper products as well).

Supplies acquired through the years

Whether building a pantry or pursuing your hobbies, the principles of preparedness are the same. Evaluate your long term usage, set your thresholds, replenish when convenient and plentiful and leave the panic buying to the tin foil hatters and less fortunate.

There are people out there that think they will take what they need/want because they have some weapons. This goes without saying, but that is a poor substitute to proper preparation and downright evil. They might get away with it for a while, but it is a good way to end up with a dirt nap.

I am speaking for myself but I watch out for my neighbors and they do likewise. Build community and redundancy in your life and we will get through this and whatever happens in the future.