Self-reliance, self-awareness, the emotional bank account and getting along with the neighbors, it's important.

  The wind blows a lot here on the California Delta, it's a very rural area, some of the islands do not have a single person on them. Others like the one I live on has a small population, 1500 people total, after being here for 20 years we know a lot of them. There are a lot of people that live here for a while and leave, come back and stay, others are never heard from again. There are a number of natural events that are always present, the levees protect us from flooding, there are earthquakes regularly, high winds, and storms are all threats. If we have a major occurrence, I don't like words like "disaster", "catastrophe", and the like, they sound way too permanent. Being in the middle of nowhere most of the people I know living here have a high level of awareness. We all know on the first Wednesday at 11 am of each month the evacuation siren goes off, every time I lift my head until I remember what day it is. I sometimes wonder what would happen if an extreme coincidence took place and an evacuation event happened at the exact same time. Well, that would be a huge coincidence, especially considering that a levee breach has a chance of happening which is below 1%.

Our Levee top, yep they want to make it a road. I like it the wayit is, I do really have great neighbors. 

In other words, yes we are aware of the possibilities of it happening, but will it? Chances are it will not. I am aware that the news networks are quite often running stories on the poor condition of them throughout the country, on our island they are sound. It still may happen, but if it does it would most likely be due to human error. Our Municipal levee district came out a few weeks ago with some declaration that they want to asphalt the top of our levees, they are all privately owned. Some of us own halfway across the slough, and the District wants the homeowners to foot the bill, of course. I don't think they put enough thought behind the proposal, the levees were built in the last quarter of the 1800's, by the same Chinese laborers that built the railroads. There is no way they can be built simply by spreading asphalt on them, rolling it out and calling it good, engineering must be done. Once a month there is a meeting, and very few people show up unless it's a major issue, sometimes they do weird things. But what if some event was to happen and force us to evacuate.
  We have a 3-mile hike out to the bridge, then across the slough to a muster point, for an old guy it's a pretty good walk. There would be dogs, cats, people, and vehicles moving along as I see it. Most of the people have no preparations at all, maybe grab a bottle of water and start walking, if we could not gain access to our homes even that would not be available. That's when getting along with the neighbors pays off, and that starts well before any event were to happen. If you are a student of "Steven Covey's" 7 habits of successful people, one of the habits is called the "Emotional Bank Account", (Link) I have taught it to each of my grandkids. What it entails is building good feelings with all of the people in your circle of influence, in this case, I am talking about getting along with the neighbors. The spirit is not to just do it because you may "need" them at some point, but because in our everyday lives it makes living a whole lot better. There is an old custom that has grown out of use in most areas, including our island, I had a neighbor that knew of it, and he and I used it until he passed away. I miss old Bob, he was a character, and he pretty much stayed upset with me for various reasons, none of which I ever knew. We were always friends although he would

There's the rock on the fence, that is Old Bob's place.

"snub" me, then I would give him something and within a few days he would chum up again, it defies description. The old custom was to place a rock on a shared fence if the neighbor wanted to talk to you the rock would be removed and set on the ground on your side of the fence, he knew it was seen because it would be set back on the fence. The meaning is that the neighbor would be over to see you soon, or if the rock was on your side, you would go to his house. It is a good way to start communications, at least the problem would be known and it can be talked about. But the reason may be completely opposite of a problem, he may have something for you, or need help performing a task. Mostly with Bob, it was because he was upset with me, the poor guy was in a lot of pain before he died of stage 4 cancer.
  I know a man that has lived in the California gold rush country his entire life, his 20 acres or so has been in his family for generations. It is a very rural area as well, but it's in the mountains, it's rocky and not real receptive to farming, livestock yes but farming no. A person from the City bought a piece of property about 1/2 mile from him and decided to have it surveyed. The last time it was surveyed was in the 1800's, around the gold rush time which was in 1849. The survey was done later than that, few markers could be found. The people living there had a meeting and the consensus was not to survey, however, the newcomer decided to do it anyway. They had another meeting after the survey to decide what to do about the results, it did not turn out well for anyone. Outbuildings were in the neighbors' pasture, fences ran right through properties, the porch of one house was on another neighbors land. It was a mess, it would have cost a lot of money, time and effort to correct it, no one lost any property the lines were just off. They all decided to leave things as they were, they dusted themselves off and went back home never to revisit that situation. It worked out due to the "emotional bank account" they each had built up with one another, it's good to get along with the neighbors. Fences, repairs, and common areas all have to be agreed upon, and we all know some people just can't be pleased.

Yeh, that's the fence.

  We end up with problems often, it seems as if people always find something to be upset about, right now it seems to be politics. My neighbor is in a minor dispute with his neighbor because he did not get a survey, the fence is less than a foot over the line. I had pounded a pipe in the water side of the levee to anchor a derelict boat, he thought it was the property line and set his fence to it. He was asked to remove the fence and put it on his side of the line so he pushed his fence over into the lot next door, about 2 years ago and it lays there still. It's a problem that is festering and may very well become bigger than it should. They are not talking to one another, it's not a good situation, I suspect it will be resolved successfully somehow. The emotional bank account is not as full as it should be.
  The neighbor on the other side is not here very often, he's a good guy and lives in the City. (San Francisco) He rebuilt his dock, it looks good, and the old dock is tied to the new one, old docks are hard to deal with. The days of cutting them loose and letting them drift away are long gone, he does want to be rid of it, so do I.

It's not really bothering anything, I'm helping him find someone that may want some of the floats and other parts they may be able to use. We will resolve that issue it's just a matter of time. So what does all of this have to do with anything?
  I write about self-reliance and self-awareness as it relates to knowing ourselves, most of the people living here are river people, not a great amount of wealth, and for the most part we all get along well. An emotional bank account that is not empty will pay off if we ever do experience a natural or manmade disaster, especially if we have to walk out. If problems are not ironed out before an evacuation is in effect, it will be very hard to move along and to assist one another. Personally, I do not want to deal with a bunch of festering wounds when emotions are sky high already. The situation could be much worse if it was a situation that involved a shortage of water, or food. It would have to be an extreme event but still, it is possible, most people do not have supplies to last over a week. No matter how improbable it may seem, we should still hold that in our minds as a possibility, our emotional bank account needs to be healthy. I won't outline the numerous events that could take place to initiate a food shortage, but if one does occur we may have to make stone soup.
  Sometimes little groups form, and they sustain themselves for a long while but soon problems within the group start to form. Many times it's due to a new member that has recently moved into the area and decides things need to change, the backbiting and insecurity begin. We all need to guard against that happening, one toxic person can become cancer and doom is not only brought to the group. Many times it is like an octopus with tentacles running all over the place affecting people that have no knowledge of what is happening. There was a few weeks back a problem with a Hibiscus plant, yep, a plant, tempers flared, arguments ensued. There were at least a dozen people involved by the time our local contractor and everyone's friend was enlisted to deliver it to the person who thought they were treated unfairly. It was actually a huge misunderstanding and a short conversation would have resolved it in a few minutes, literally a few minutes. As it ends up blows were nearly exchanged, and hard feelings are abundant in our little area of the world. I will never understand why some people feel as if they have to take their problems "to the street" and involve everyone they can influence.
  It's unfortunate that these types of disagreements take place, but hey, we're human after all. If we all just take a while to think about things a lot of minor issues would stay minor. We have a three-day rule in our family. If we get upset with another member we give it three days before we confront them, we don't always though, because after all, we are just human. However, if we put effort into getting along during our regular day to day interactions, we are polite (yes politically correct) treat one another with respect and communicate with each other, when a highly charged event does take place we will at least be on the relatively level ground with one another. So let's work on our emotional bank accounts, and if nothing ever happens we will have a great atmosphere to live in at least.
  Thanks for reading and sharing, tell me what you think in the comments, have you ever had a dispute with someone that seems there is no resolution? If we communicate there may well be one.
jacquesandkate  emergencykitsplus.com

How much pre-planning do you do for your commute? It's more than we are lead to believe in my opinion.

  We are back into winter, the false spring ended and the temperature went back down to about 30 F as a low and 60 F high. The wind is blowing making it feel much colder, especially for an old man who is cold all the time anyway. I have to keep a fairly close eye on the worm farm when it cools off, they do best between 40-80 degrees F. (the beds reflect the temperature of 3 days ago.) I am almost to zero garbage, organic waste is all I feed them, no meat, bones, fat, oil, or feces of any kind. The chance of creating pathogens is increased, the reason I'm concerned with pathogens is that I make "worm tea" and spray it on the plants and in the soil. If I used it only on plants that are not for food I would not care as much about what they are fed, pathogens on vegetables is not the desired outcome. Another goal is to use all of the incoming cardboard, newspapers, and the boxes of business papers we have, I'm a long way from using all of it up. It takes minimal time to take care of my colony's, I have four in the garage, one large outdoor bin 4'x4'x4', (1.2 m square), and 9 raised beds I have unobservable worms in. I don't know how many "head" I have, (worm farmers have a sense of humor too), I estimate it must be in the 100,000 worm area. I tend to them twice a week, once to feed them and once to make sure everything is going well, bedding moisture, making sure they are not attempting the "great escape", and the colony's have not been compromised by varmints, (mice love worms.)

Yep, like this lovable little guy. 

I spend a few hours a week making sure they will make it through the next few days, and I study them, I am trying to figure out what level of conscienceness they possess. (don't worry I won't go there.) My diligence with them is a real part of my self-reliance activities, and one I gladly share with others, it's funny how attached I have become to them. They are my wards and they are totally dependent on me, I want them to be healthy, and happy. I follow the same pattern in most of my life, in fact, I believe most of us do.
  When I was a working person I was in a real deep routine, some people call it a rut, but after years of getting up early and getting ready for work, I enjoyed the structure. I write a lot about unexpected natural disasters, not so much civil unrest, or heading for the hills at the first sign of a problem. I'm here to stay no matter what takes place unless I have to evacuate. Getting out of bed at 4 am every morning for 40 years is hard to break, I still wake up at that time, but I stay in the "no zone" for two more hours. I have names for a lot of stuff in life, the "no zone" is the time of the morning when I don't want to stay in bed and I don't want to get out of bed, so I stay there. Old Skunk Puppy comes next to my side, she thinks she's waking me up, still in the no zone.
  When I worked I would look out the window to check the weather, and dress for it. I made oatmeal, and coffee, yes every morning, then I walked out to the road to get the paper and water the dog. (That's my catchphrase for taking old Skunk Puppy out to go.) I would prepare for the day, my wife made lunch for me, which I set out and got ready. I would eat, drink coffee, and read the newspaper. If the weather forecast was for rain, I would make sure I had my rain gear, if it was predicted to be hot I would add more water to my lunch box. I would prepare for the day using the best information I had, I believe most people do that, we learn after a few years of working every day. I drove old cars, I'm more mechanical than anything else, and I thought I was saving money by driving them. (I have discovered I probably didn't save very much). I always had almost a complete set of tools in my truck, I drove old Chevrolet Suburbans, the last one was a 1972 3 door, I drove it all over California. I broke down all over California as well, many an hour on the shoulder of a road fixing something, sometimes it caught on fire for various reasons. (Yep, I was that guy.) I had all the stuff in it, fire extinguishers, tools, jack, and spare parts, when I got into the truck I knew all of that stuff was in it. I am sure I'm not the only person that did that, or still does that. Part of my routine prior to backing out of the driveway was to check all the fluid levels, oil, radiator, and brake fluid, I'd look at the tires, then get in and drive off. (Link to more information on road trips)
  I tried to be as prepared for the day with as much information that was available to me, I have been stuck away from home. One April it rained hard every day of the month, I was working 12 hour days, we got flooded, going the 15 miles or so to home took me 3 hours. Everything was shut down, stores, gas stations, and most of the traffic lights were out. I probably don't need to tell you no one knows how to drive with no traffic lights, so accidents were everywhere. The freeway was deep in flood water, every intersection was jammed up, I listened to music, ate granola bars, and drank water. That was the supplies I had in my truck all of the time, and when I got off of work normally I was very hungry.
  There was another time that a house burned down near where I lived, I was on my way home at that time as well. I was not able to get to the house for 6 hours, again I relied on the supplies in my truck, all of the stores in our small town were open. The few restaurants in town were as well, and they were crowded, so I stayed away and waited at the local golf course. For a lot of reasons normally when one house burns down here, one or most of the time two more suffer the same disastrous result.

This looks amazingly like the road I live on, but I know it isn't
there are not enough potholes in the asphalt, it must be a High
Rollers area.

  I brought all of that up because during the no zone period this morning I began to think about the 33% of people who have no planning or preparations for a natural disaster at all. I began to think maybe that percentage is not accurate in all situations, if I believe most people do much the same as I did, preparing for the day with the best information available, then I must believe they are indeed prepared. I have been thinking about the level of preparation a person should do, a blog I wrote a few days ago I mentioned different levels depending on where a person lives. (Link) In the instance of getting ready (isn't that the same as preparing?) for work in the morning we are actually making a plan for unknown events. Maybe preparing for our day is much the same as determining the level of readiness we need for our drive to work. If a person drives 3 hours one way, (yes I knew people that did that), then they must have some sort of preparation in their vehicles. Many times we stop on the way home from work to get a soda, water, or maybe eat dinner, but how much do we, or can we depend on those stores to be open? I know of very few people that have nothing with them during their commute, most I assume have at least some water.

This is a typical 2 person kit.

  I don't think I was an anomaly, I believe most people in their morning routines give a lot of thought to the weather, traffic report, and any calamities they may encounter on the way to their place of employment. My readiness now mimics my work-life efforts in a way, I have a commercially packaged Vehicle roadside safety kit, and a two person 72 hour kit right by the sliding door upstairs, ready to go. Ideally, I want to have another two-person kit, I am an advocate of having enough supplies on hand to get me through one full week. It may be due to being conditioned to expect something to happen. In fact, I would sometimes tell the guy's in my crew after we finished a job to not celebrate yet, there is still time for something to go terribly wrong, and sometimes it did, leaving us at work for sometimes as long as 24 hours or rarely, more. Preparing for that is a horse of another color because then we were dealing with frustration, fatigue, and hunger, there are no words that can describe that.

They look confident, they must have something in the car for backup.

  Thank you for reading and sharing, do you agree with me? How much thought do you put into getting ready for work? I'd like to know if it's the same amount that I did, or if you do more or less. It's interesting, I bet you make preparations without thinking they really are preparing for natural disasters. 33%, I'm not so sure, I think it's much more like 66% prepare for the commute. 33% is most likely accurate for those who are prepared for the first critical 72 hours, but maybe not, I will check it out. Follow the link below if you would like to look at a roadside emergency kit, on my website, thanks.
jacquesandkate  emergencykitsplus.com 

14 Earthquakes this morning in Dublin, what does the average magnitude mean, average rainfall? I'm confused

  There were a bunch of earthquakes in Danville California today, (20 miles from here)14 of them at least in that city alone. There were 27 in all of Northern California, is it a sign that a bigger one is on the way? There is no way to predict that, but human nature makes us believe that may well be the case. We have a tendency to attempt to make sense of things that we don't really have a full understanding of what is happening.

Parkfield California is one of the most measured points of the
San Andrea Fault, those white tubes are all measuring instruments
There are a lot more, they record the slightest vibrations.

I know there are more measuring instruments, they are able to record the earth shaking to levels so low we cannot feel them under our feet. I no longer feel most of the earthquakes anyway, the bad part is the more we get used to them the higher our comfort level is. Science does a good job at predicting them in the general sense, such as our chances of an 8.0 or higher magnitude quake in the next 10 years has a certain percentage chance of happening. The one statistic I have a problem with is "Averages" when a news article makes a statement such as "the average earthquake in this area measures 5.5 on the Richter scale." OK, that's good and all of that but what in the heck does that mean? To me, it means we had two 9's and two 2's for instance. Which means nothing to me, it's just an "average", There is a more puzzling average that dictates a lot of procedures and policy in the Western United States, Rainfall normals, and averages.
  We are in a drought, how do we know? The "average" rainfall is way below normal, to me, it makes no sense at all, the normal to me is low rainfall. Every summer since I've lived in California it has been declared a "drought", due to the rainfall being below normal. I question if we know what "normal" is. It's normal to me to have 5 years of low rainfall, then one winter a major deluge. The weatherman on the morning news declared this morning we are way below normal because the average is so many inches.

We use average and normal together, it drives me crazy, to me, it makes little sense. It's like saying the average male human height is 5 foot 2-36/64 inches, no one is that height, but that at least it is not used as a 5 foot 2-36/64 inch male as being normal because it isn't normal, it's the average. That statistic is at least usable, it gives us an idea what we can expect when we are going to meet a male human somewhere. We don't really expect a 7'6" guy to show up, but because it's an average it could happen. We also don't make policy on that type of average, unless if it's a building code for the size of doors or something maybe, normally exceptions to the rule don't dictate policy. But rain, average rain is in no way the normal, our average maybe 16 inches a year, but our normal is more like 5 or 6. There is a reason the average is used as normal, and it's political, it's for the farmers and crop insurance. The average also allows the water boards to increase the allotments of water that is shipped south to the central valley farms. That is why the demand for water from the north is always stressed to the max, There is more water promised to the farmers and water districts than what falls in most years, during years of "drought" they demand more water because of their allotment, if they don't get it and the harvest is reduced they collect insurance from the Federal Government. In many ways, the Government is being farmed instead of the land. The "average" is not "normal", it's average annual rainfall, the normal is much less rain than what we get every 5 years or so. From the 100th parallel west, it's the same story, a line from the center of North Dakota in the North, to Texas in the South. East Texas wet, swampy, and green, West Texas dry, barren, and brown. Instead of rainfall being measured and averaged in specific regions perhaps it should be measured as an average in all of the West. The rain falling in the West is divided by the Rocky Mountains, the Continental divide sends water East via Missouri and other rivers, and to the West via Colorado and likewise other rivers. Lower rainfall from the Rocky Mountains to the 100th parallel causes drought, likewise the other direction as well, the Colorado River supplies west of the Rocky's states with their water. I believe the reason the averages are split is due to the many mountain ranges out here, the Rockies, Sierra Nevada's, and the Coastal range to name a few.

West Texas, very dry.

 

Eastern Texas, a big contrast.

I am not even sure if there is a "normal" amount of rain, maybe it's our natural need to control everything in our environment, or more likely it is our desire to understand the things that affect our lives. Without statistics, there is no way we could come up with a normal, at least average is mathematical and we can make sense of it. Normal is an observation type of assessment, with the very little scientific reasoning behind it. A good example of that is "normally the wind blows from the first week in March until the end of August, it's strictly an observation, backed up with years of records, but it's still a normal there is no way to average it out.
  I don't know what average and normal mean when used in conjunction to predict next month's rainfall. I do however know what they mean when they stand apart, one mathematically backed up, the other more of an observation and "dead reckoning".
  I hope I got my thoughts on it across successfully to you, I know it's a dry subject, (pun intended) I'm very interested in it. I chose this subject for a couple of reasons, one is it really does confuse and drive me crazy and the other is we are approaching wildfire season. I began wanting to write on wildfires and the start of the season as soon as the rain stops and the state turns to gold. Then I started to read about the drought and this blog took on a life of its own. It's interesting, although more tragic than interesting, how the West is dry today, and the Midwest is flooding man what a contrast in reality.
  I will end here, I fear I lost everyone after the first paragraph if it drives you nuts like it does me leave a comment. (I just asked my wife if it drives her crazy, her reply was "no one thinks of that stuff but you, I have never given it one second of thought.") I start talking about water when my friend Mike is here, he rolls his eyes and sits starry-eyed until I stop. There is a lot to our water situation, I have suggested in other blogs that if you have an interest in water as I do, read the book "Cadillac Desert", I have numerous times, in fact, I'm looking for it now to read once again. Because that's what I do.
  Thank you for reading, sharing and suffering through my blog, let me know what you think, I appreciate your comments.
jacquesandkate  emergencykitsplus.com
 

How important is it for YOU to have water, flashlights, and survival gear, does everyone really need that stuff?

  The "false spring" is over, truthfully our weather is not bad at all, not compared to my earlier life in the North. We get high winds, high water, every 5 years it rains pretty hard, and smoke-filled air from wildfires during the summer. We had 4 earthquakes this morning, I haven't heard of any more, I've been reading other stuff all day. Now it's a bit cold, we had a frost last night and will for the next two weeks, according to the weather report. The seeds I started in my garden "greenhouse" table have not sprouted, so I made a heater that I set inside the box. It appears to be working, it keeps the temperature above freezing. It's an insanely simple contraption, I placed a 75-watt bulb inside a steel cup that has a diameter of about 4 inches, with thick steel sides to hold the heat. I've used the cup for a lot of things, it's about a pint. I kind of suspect I'm heading for failure on the seed germination, but I have more seeds, and I did jump the gun. This is the earliest I have tried to start seeds, I know better, but that dang old false spring messed me up. (Blame it on Rio, right?)

My drying/seed starting greenhouse table. 

  I came across a question in a forum I read, it's a survival forum, with a bunch of opinions. It's interesting what people's thoughts are about every subject under the sun, I keep in mind the 33% rule, 33% are deeply committed, 33% are indifferent and 33% just flat out don't care on any subject. It's not my goal to change anyone's minds on anything, I like to read the opinions, I do comment on some items but I'm careful. I'm careful about what I comment on and what I say, mostly because I think differently than most people. My son and stepson are like that as well, they think differently than anyone else. I have found I need to measure my words, I don't like to be offensive. In the case of forum comments for some reason, I always find my self to be "off topic" and a number of my comments get rejected, two today were, for being off subject, not offensive.
  So the question was, " Is preparing for wilderness survival just for the adventure, boy scouts, and dooms-dayers, or is it more of a hobby? I had an opinion, but I'm coming from another perspective so my opinion was rejected. It was off topic so I would like to pose a different question. "Doe's preparing for a natural disaster make sense for everyone" (I'm not sold on the idea of a total collapse of society, and civil unrest is so local I believe it to be a non-issue, I will write a blog on Civil disturbances tomorrow).
  My opinion is the amount of planning and amount of supplies to keep on hand depends on where you live, also depending on the natural events that may happen. I live on an island on the California Delta. The threats include wildfire, flood, earthquakes, and high wind damage. The determining factor is we have a 2-1/2 mile walk down a levee to get to our muster station. It would have to be a severe earthquake, wildfire depends on the wind. In the case of flooding, the levee could breach or could experience a dam failure upstream,(I'm 75 miles from the Oroville Dam, I don't think it will breach) the wind would most likely be a power interruption for maybe a few days, but it can sure drive fires. I don't expect any problems but in the event, something does happen I want to have enough water, a few flashlights, and a hand crank radio to charge cell phones. If the levee breached between us and the muster station, we may be here for a few days. As far as earthquakes are concerned I'm more concerned about the resulting fires from broken gas lines and corrupted electrical systems. We keep clothing next to our bed with boots, I've had to get up in the middle of the night to help people with incidents such as boats breaking loose, and three of my neighbor's houses burned down one night, however, most of the time nothing happens around here. But with us at our location it is not a hobby, we are set up to evacuate it's not an obsession, it's just a part of our lifestyle. Living on a remote island we have to expect to support ourselves if something happens. Even if a person has a quart of water, that is enough of a supply for a 2-3 mile hike, then a one day wait to go to a relief station, that is preparing for surviving a natural disaster also. There is a big difference between urban survival, city survival, and wilderness survival. We merely need to be aware of the potential threats and be self-reliant enough to manage them. It's our lifestyle which is a natural reaction to where we live.

There is not that many people on our island, but you get the idea.

  Everyone's situation is different, there are some places where there are no natural disaster threats, or not prominent enough to address. Where those places are, I don't know, I'm thinking somewhere in the middle of Nevada maybe? If you know of one let me know in the comment section below. I remember the huge power outage New York State experienced on November 9, 1965. It shut down the Electrical Power in Ontario Canada, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, and Vermont. The power was out for 13 hours. (Link to the N.E. power outage.) In a rural area, we would lose our water, for the most part in the Cities that were affected the water stayed on because the water plants have emergency generators. That is the keyword, Emergency Generators, they have most likely been activated very rarely since. The pumps in New Orleans are over 100 years old, huge machines that need a lot of electrical power to run, they are used rarely as well. However the key here is, they are ready, all of those areas practice preparing for natural disasters, due to their responsibilities for one thing, and it is essential utilities continue to function for the second. Those Cities and States take being prepared seriously, they may be lax in maintenance (Oroville Dam for example), but none are intentionally negligent. The island we live on has the emergency alert siren which is sounded at 11 am the first Wednesday of each month, we evacuate to our muster station in the event of a genuine catastrophic situation.
  I believe the correct approach for all of us is to ascertain our particular situation and plan or not accordingly, this cannot be covered with one broad brush stroke. If a person lives at the base of a hill that has had mudslides numerous times in the past, well they should be aware of the dangers. It's the same with all natural calamities, residents that experience the same events year after year are experts at being able to deal with them. I'm still amazed by the residents of Florida and how well they understand Hurricanes, as well as the Northerners in dealing with blizzards, or the Mississippi River valley residents and flooding. Each area has unique threats and it is prudent to understand all we can about them, and what our choices are when it comes time to react to them.

Residents of a desert region have unique needs as well, a power
outage stops their world during the summer due to no air conditioning.

Those of us that choose to live in compromised areas (I guess that is OK to say, but I don't feel compromised), need to be aware of one thing, Help will not be here anytime soon, so we have to take care of ourselves for a while, I plan on a week. The unpredictability of it all breeds uncertainty which in turn breeds indifference, that's a tough emotion to overcome.
  Thank you for reading and I'd like for you to share it where ever you can. Give preparation some thought, consider the threats that you may encounter and the extent of preparation you should be making. It can be from having a bottle of water for a hike out as in my situation, or a years supply of everything. There truly is a lot of difference depending on where we live.

jacquesandkate  emergencykitsplus.com

My one minute Egret video, nothings going on with him, just being an Egret.

I am still learning the ins and outs of my new Vixia HF R 800 video camera, each video is a little better than the one prior. Watch it at this link

I've listed five items of what I believe self-reliance entails, see if you agree with them

Sometimes things just don't go good, this past few days have been rough, nothing serious, I compare it to trying to push a wet spaghetti noodle across a dry surface. It started when I took a video of an Owl, well I failed to identify it correctly, and I got called out by my good friend next door. Well, she texted my wife and told her "it's a great horned owl, not a Barn Owl." She's right, old nature boy was not on top of it, no excuses I fouled it up. It's not the worst thing that's ever happened but it's embarrassing, it's called bruised ego. I woke up at 3 am this morning planning to write my blog, I had a great idea which would never come to be a reality, in fact, I now forgot what the great idea was. That's minor stuff because when I began to work on my computer strange things started to happen, I'm sure everyone runs into the same thing. I must have opened something I shouldn't have, I usually work in Google Chrome, when I typed in a search inquiry it started downloading search engines. It took me 4 hours to get the thing back to normal. While my wife was arguing with Xfinity, a normal activity for her. I'm still stumbling over "glitches" but I'm pretty sure I can deal with it. Was it a full moon or something?

I was embarrassed, mostly it was a bruised ego.

    I wrote this blog a while back on August 18, 2017, it's about becoming "self-reliant", learning new skills and gaining abilities that not everyone knows, I began thinking about what being "self-reliant" really means, "self-awareness" goes hand in hand with "self-reliance" I don't delve deeply into it here, the comparison is on another blog written later. I do have 5 items that will describe it fairly well:


  1)  Taking responsibility for our actions is the first attitude, reap the rewards as well as admitting to others as to what went wrong, and what I could have done to have changed the outcome. We can live and work anywhere we want, the only people not making mistakes or putting their foot in their mouths are the ones who are not doing anything. We must expect to make mistakes, and not say the wrong things when we attempt to use real apologies instead of the canned version of "if I happened to have offended someone," if you think you did offend someone there is no "if".

  There are plenty of sayings related to taking responsibility, my mom would say two things that stick in my mind "you made the bed now lay in it," I think most of us heard that growing up, and "Blessed is he who helps himself." the basis of being self-reliant. Plan your own activities, take credit or blame as fitted for what we have done, check what is your responsibility and make sure you follow through, to the finish. I was working on the boat today and noticed an inflatable life vest was inflated and on the floor, the usual suspects come to mind, one of the three grandson's that have been helping me over the past few weeks. When they all return I will ask for someone to take responsibility, only because it was discharged and tossed on the deck, deflated and unfolded someone is going to fold it up and learn a new skill when he installs the CO2 cartridge. More important than that is to accept responsibility for it, it's not a big deal, it is, however, something to deal with. He is 20 years old, he should have folded it back up and said: "Hey grandpa I blew up the life vest and I don't know what to do next." I would have laughed and shown him. Now it's got to be a "don't leave anything broken lying around for the next guy to deal with." Another of my mom's sayings, "That's how we learn."

OK, OK, I did it, back in 1953 for crying out loud!

  2)  Never stop learning: if you don't have a high level of curiosity, create it, become curious thereby developing passion, it will contribute to your self-awareness and add to your survival preparations. Curiosity covers the who, what, where, why and when of things, it reaches into scientific analysis or spiritual insight. Curiosity creates a mindset of constant wonder and marvel, I wonder why we don't have alligators in California, where have the birds gone? Curiosity creates learning, it demands a person to learn, gathers interest and creates the desire to become engaged in projects. I met a big man, I mean this guy was big, 6"8" would not be an exaggeration, weighing probably 300 pounds, the only man I have ever met who was bigger was Andrea the Giant, (that's another blog). The big man had in his hand a walking cane, I use two canes, we are both 67 years old and do not walk all that well. He showed me his cane, it was a unique cane that was bent in an unusual way. I told him "I like this cane, I am going to see if I can make one." Since then I have made three, not perfect, my bending of wood is a challenge due to having the equipment. I researched and I am now making a steam chest from "stuff" I have laying around and some reclaimable materials my neighbors gave to me. It is completed, however, my idea for generating steam will cost a fortune, the project is on the skids until I can make come up with a better idea. I made a goal of making a Youtube video of the construction of the box, then I will make a video of making a cane. Which lead to my creating a YouTube channel and the planning of 4 other projects I will be videotaping. That is how curiosity created learning works. When a child asks a question it is at that time the learning door opens, take advantage of it, go ahead talk about Napoleon Bonaparte with them, it won't hurt. One such conversation inspired me to read extensively about him, then my grandson and I had a really good conversation. Ignorance puts us at the mercy of others, read, write, experiment and think. I did not make a video of the steam chest, but I did start a YouTube channel, it's amateurish, which drives me to do better.

  3)  Set some goals, I tell people that I am a "uni-tasker", I have never been able to work on more than one project at a time. It's not for everyone, my wife thinks of it as a "disability", she is an insufferable "multi-tasker", her battle cry is "I'm going to get organized!". My battle cry is more of a whimper in comparison "I'm doing this today, that tomorrow and that over there after that", yes I'm a uni-tasker. Set the goals high, the mistake I made when I was young, making goals that were easy to attain. We should set goals one step beyond what we think is attainable for our skills, that will create a learning environment, creating the passion to finish the task at hand. A lot of people write their goals down, some (as my wife does) places a photo of the goal somewhere she will see it the first thing in the morning. I'm on the other end of the spectrum, I don't write it down, use pictures or any motivation other than a commitment to memory. We are each capable of creating goals that we can create a passion for, in bird books at the back is a check off list of which birds are sighted, some make it a goal to see them all. We need to always think for ourselves, "believe none of what you read and half of what you see," another sing-song I heard constantly growing up, think for yourself my parents would tell me. When questions such as "that can't possibly be so," or "there must be more to the story." The questions scream out "find out what's going on," read all you can about the subject at hand, make that a goal, I will not settle for things to be explained to me, I want to discover for myself. If I fail, I want to fail on my own terms. Self-reliance is not letting other people's beliefs become yours until after it is given serious thought and end up in complete agreement with it. Separate gossip from the facts, attempt to quantify everything with three different sources, but like the Owl, errors still occur.

Homestead. 

  4)  If you live on a homestead, a farm, in the wilderness or a suburban setting being self-reliant is a lifestyle. It's a constant learning experience, as well as the routine every day mundane task it takes to make life worth living. Self-reliance is about us making decisions and learning tasks and skills that apply to the world as we see it, not everyone raises goats or chickens, a standby hand water well pump is not very common, repairing irreparable items is part of it as well as inventing ways to accomplish new tasks. Being self-reliant is about being prepared for whatever we may encounter, it means having a family emergency plan, a natural disaster kit available in the home, emergency tools and other emergency preparedness we need to make. It means to me to exhibit compassion to my fellow humans, to be overly prepared for a disaster up to the point of having enough to share with my neighbors who are unprepared. 33% of us in the United States have disaster preparations established, we should be better at it, My recommendation is one week's supply of water, food, and communications. When an emergency event occurs we will be on our own for at least one to three days, first responders take a while to mobilize, we have to be self-reliant during that period of time, our survival will be on the line. There will be no help for a while, they will come, but not the first two days.

  5)  Learning new skills or sharpening old ones, carpentry, farming, and mechanics as well as tasks like sewing, I am not a believer in a complete collapse of society, however, I am a believer in a temporary complete collapse. By that I mean the loss of utilities, transportation and a shortage of food, I believe it will happen to most of us at some time. Due to many potential causes, civil unrest, depression (again), natural disasters or other incidents that may cause us to stay where we are for extended periods. The most prevalent threat to me and the one with the most potential of death and the need for stocking up supplies is Pandemic, isolation and mandatory quarantine could be as long as one year.

  One of the most important skills is to meet your neighbors, it's easier to get to know them now versus in the middle of an event that is unfolding. When we are isolated we will have to depend on each other, it doesn't matter what our opinion of them is now, at some point we will have to band together. The first skill, learn to get along with people, it will pay off. When we "bad mouth" someone it takes power away from us and the victim gains the power you lost, be careful with that, it's called the "emotional bank account" (From Steven Covey's habits of successful people.)

  Each of us possesses skills that are indispensable and teachable, the more we know the more effective we will be when a disaster strikes. Everyone knows how to do something well, and some things not so well, self-awareness is the ability to tell the difference and be alright with it.

  To sum it up, self-reliance is to have faith in yourself, confidence in the abilities you have, to be honest with ourselves and others, always to be trustworthy, to rely on ourselves first and try everything we are able to first then get help, we make our own decisions, we are able to make decisions and act on them. Self-reliance is a personal journey, it does not set a person apart from others or cause aloofness, it is created from the heart and brain integrated into our lives at a slow steady pace. As a matter of fact, many people wonder what the big deal with self-reliance is all about, normally exclaiming "what's so new about this stuff, I've always done these things." Most of us are more self-dependent than we realize, in stressful situations, it often comes out. We amaze ourselves sometimes with our abilities, and the things our children are capable of.

I am sure you all are like me during this past week, my mind is in flux, and it's hard to think about anything other than the recent mass murder in Florida. I am so very sad about it, somehow it has to stop happening, I don't have any answers. I have only one comment, "I am so sad." All of our little kids in danger, just going to school.

  Thank you for reading and sharing, confidence, integrity, trust, and never compromise the trust and faith people have in us. Respect for ourselves and others, it's like the old man told me "Respect is earned, it's not handed out like red, white, and blue ribbons on the fourth of July." I aim to earn yours.


jacquesandkate  emergencykitsplus.com

How would you respond to the question, what kind of food would you store for long term survival? I talk about it here.

    I was reading a discussion online taking place on a website that is dedicated to self-reliance and disaster preparedness. I have been thinking about that conversation for the past 3 days, it puzzled me for a number of reasons, it started out with a question. "What type of food would you store for long-term survival?" This isn't the exact wording but it is close. There were several people involved in the conversation, I did not contribute, their viewpoints were actually to the point of being almost astounding. This particular site normally has fairly good conversations, none have ever posted any insulting, or intentionally negative comments, which I appreciate.

It's good for us to communicate, talk, and exchange ideas, as long
as it is civil, no need for name calling. 

  Of the 5-6 participants, all of them agreed with one person's statement that he was planning to survive long term on the items in his pantry, refrigerator, and freezer. That does not make sense for so many reasons I don't know where to begin. These people were from different places in the Country, and it is a very isolated, and small group, I read it because, well, that's what I do, I read. I will begin with the obvious problems with surviving on supplies in the cabinets:
1)  Flood, during a flooding event everything gets saturated with water, everything. Flood water is one of the most contaminated substances on earth, all of the chemicals, oils, fuels, and household cleaning agents are among the substances being distributed by the water. Floodwater invades septic systems, sewer facilities, and fresh water supplies, it even contaminates well water. The flood carries dead animals, bugs, snakes, and all sorts of livestock, when the carcasses rot in the water, Cholera, wading in the stuff is a hazard. I'm thinking of what was one of the worst flooding disasters in the U.S., Hurricane Harvey, flooding occurred in areas where it was unexpected, giving people a few minutes to flee for their lives, many did not make it. Water moves fast, it is destructive knocking down structures in its path and combining the building materials and chemicals used in them with all of the other substances in the water. Imagine that water entering your pantry, refrigerator, or freezer, then eating the food, a bad mistake even if you are starving. Water is contaminated, even if it is in sealed plastic or glass bottles, the outside needs to be cleaned with a bleach solution. Flood water should not be used for any purpose, with the exception of putting out a fire. During a flooding event pantry, refrigerator, and freezer food cannot be trusted, sealed water containers must be cleaned.
2)  Wildfire, a new policy being enacted by firefighting units in several states is to shut down electrical service at the start of a wildfire, living in California I embrace that action. In the event of a wildfire, (the fire in Santa Rosa traveled at 1 acre a second), they move quickly and if your home is in its path it will be gone in minutes. Everything in the home is destroyed, the people who are victims are left with nothing, relying on pantry, refrigerator, and freezer food is out the window. The water in wells is contaminated as well, it is almost the same effect as a flooding event. Most homes are built with materials having chemical additives in them, treated wood is especially bad, it's toxic. (I wrote a blog on wood ash from treated lumber Link) The ash of treated wood contains deadly levels of Arsenic, there is a case (I detail in my blog written about it), in Minnesota, there is a case of dairy cows that jumped a fence in a panic. They ended up in the neighbor's pasture, within a week they were dead, an autopsy revealed they died from arsenic poisoning, the ash is salty the cows licked it, the farmer next door burned treated wood to heat his home and dumped the ash in the pasture. 5 tablespoons full will kill a cow, 1 tablespoon is deadly to humans, it will contaminate wells. In the event of a wildfire, if your house does not burn down and the food is stored protected from the smoke and water, it can be used. How I ask can a person possibly predict if their home will burn down or not during a wildfire? It's impossible to predict so the pantry food supply cannot be relied on, except as a possible source. No matter how we store water the containers will have to be cleaned, that is no big deal, but it is if they are not cleaned.

Store water in food quality storage containers

3)  Tornadoes, most storms, that turn into disasters have at least one thing in common, electrical service is lost. Tornadoes share the unpredictability with wildfire, when a person is under a "Tornado Watch", we hunker down in our basements or another shelter. We don't know if our home will be struck and destroyed or passed over. I had a brother who lived in Minnesota (he is now deceased) and survived a tornado ripping through his neighborhood. 80% of the houses were destroyed, one on each side of him, and the entire block across the street. He told me one of the houses had a classic car in the garage, the house was destroyed and the car did not have a scratch on it, sitting on the cement pad that was in the garage. The twister was picky, it jumped his house. I ask again how could a person possibly predict that his/her (I do want to start using the word sheim), home would be skipped? It is impossible so again pantry food, refrigerator, and freezer food cannot be relied on as a positive source of food for a long-term event. If the funnel passes your house, it can be if it is stored securely and if the refrigerator is kept cool with ice. However most of the time if your area is unaffected utilities will be restored within days, or hours. Precautions with sealed water vessels must be taken.
4)  Hurricane, all natural disasters are terribly destructive as we have found out during the year 2017, Hurricanes and Wildfire are in a class all to themselves. These two events are two of the most completely devastating catastrophe's that we face, they are indiscriminate in their destruction. Hurricanes have a "season", a predictable time of year when most of them occur, time can be predicted but intensity and direction of travel are tougher to predict. Accompanying Hurricanes are torrential rainfall, Tornadoes, Flooding, Home Fires, and total Structural Collapse in some cases. Many homes experience heavy rainfall, high winds, and lightning, with minimal or no damage, others do not fare as well. If the home makes it through the storm, then the pantry, refrigerator, and freezer food may be used. However as with all incidents if the house is destroyed, burned down, flooded, or condemned the food supplies are lost as well. The same precautions with water need to be observed. The home food supplies may be used if the house is uncompromised, again how in the world can a person predict month's ahead of an event if their place of residence will survive? It's impossible to predict, the food cannot be relied on to be intact.
5)  Pandemic, I believe to be the #1 threat to society, we may be quarantined for 3-6 months or much longer. A minimum of a 6 month's food supply should be kept on hand, long-term storage food and water. The Influenza Pandemic of 1918 took one full year to run it's course through the United States, 700,000 people died here, an estimated 40+ million worldwide, so many residents of the U.S. died that it lowered our life expectancy by 12 years. Major portions of the country were quarantined, places, where people congregated, were controlled. In the case of a Pandemic, utilities will remain on, unless the source was our water system water will be available, maybe. If our water system is determined to be the source, we have no water, for a long long time. Pantry, refrigerator, and freezer food can be relied on, consume refrigerated food first, then use the dry goods. The situation during a Pandemic will be getting supplies, not storing them. In this case home food supplies can be used, but we must follow all food storage precautions.

It takes some effort, but building an emergency food supply is one
of our self-reliance responsibilities. 

  There are many more incidences that I could talk about, but I am sure you got the idea. The point is that as humans we have a tendency to believe "Everything is gonna be alright." I have that opinion because normally everything is OK, but there are times we should face reality. The reality of storms, disasters, and fires is that we need to be as "self-reliant" as we possibly can be, a little thinking, planning, and storing of supplies is truly prudent. Be "self-aware" and list the potential hazards you may face in your area, we will most likely never suffer a Hurricane in California due to the jet stream, but we will experience earthquakes and wildfires. Only 33% of us are even remotely prepared for a Catastrophic event, we can do better, and we really need to take these events seriously. The Government will be there to help, but it is delegated to a "response" action, they don't know what, where, when, or how an event may manifest itself. For at least the first week we should be in a position to take care of ourselves, completely.
  Thank you for reading and sharing my blog, do you think I'm on target or I'm so off the mark? Perhaps you think my cognitive abilities are corrupted? Let me know, what kind of food and supplies should we store? Maybe you think I am a bit of an alarmist, besides being eccentric I just may be an alarmist to an extent, regardless, be prepared, I am, kind of.
jacquesandkate  emergencykitsplus.com

Another School Mass Murder, repealing the Dickie Amendment would help, have you heard of it? Read about it here.

 This blog is a comment on the latest mass murder in Broward County Florida. I am an advocate for repealing the Dickie Amendment,(Link)  passed bi-partisan in 1996 during the Clinton Administration. I don't care who passed it, I know why, (I won't comment on that), The purpose of the Amendment is to not allow Congress to pass any bill allocating funds to research gun violence in the United States. That's right, our Congress refuses to repeal the Dickie Amendment how in the world can mass murders be stopped if we don't understand why they occur? Pray for those 17 kids that were murdered, Blessed is he who helps himself, we need to help ourselves, write to your representatives, it's not a partisan issue. I have written a blog on it, and I have decided to post it again. It is not an attack on gun rights, the Constitution, or Civil Liberties, it is common sense for a Government to investigate a growing epidemic of violence of any kind in the country. The main duty of our Government is to protect our country from all threats foreign and domestic. (I have sworn to it, and it's a very real oath to me and many other Veterans.) This is a very real Domestic threat, to all of us as well as to our Democracy.




1996, during the Bill Clinton presidency a rider was inserted in the 1996 federal omnibus spending

Congress, what can possibly be going on here? Over 500 people combined in the house and senate, a lot of different
personalities to administer to. 

bill which stated, " None of the funds made available for injury prevention and control at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention may be used to advocate or promote gun control." The amendment was authored by House of Representatives member Jay Dickie, (he has since expressed remorse for doing so.) It was lobbied extensively by the gun manufacturer's lobbyist, their perceived bias related to a 1993 study by Arthur Kellermann finding guns in the home were related to an increased risk of murders in the home. Read about the author of the amendment, click here.
  The amendment has been interpreted to mean that no federal funds are to be used to study gun violence in the United States. Others see it as dictating a complete ban on research pertaining to firearms. On the other end of the spectrum, there are some who see it as an assault on the Second Amendment. The amendment was passed bi-partisan and has been up for renewal with each omnibus bill passage, challenged but not lifted.

Our Democracy is in this document.

I support the 2nd amendment, as well as the entire constitution, I will not get political about it, I don't see the Dickie amendment as a political issue on my level. It defy's common sense to have out of control murders in this country with no way to study them in order to correct it. If Universities and think tanks were able to receive funding to investigate inner-city gun violence uninterrupted since the 1990's we may not have this level of murders. In fact, in a 2012 op-ed (with Mark Rosenberg the former director the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control), Jay Dickie said he regrets his role in stopping the CDC from researching gun violence. In December 2015 efforts by Congress attempted to have the Dickie amendment removed from the Omnibus bill, the attempt failed. It was voted on and approved bi-partisan by our elected representatives, I accept it, that's the way our democracy works. With the Dickie amendment in place, we will never have any domestic violence facts to rely on.
  As long as the amendment stands, Congress will not look at anything related to gun enforcement because "not enough research" has been conducted, research blocked by Congress. A real-life government controlled "Catch 22". I want to re-emphasize it is approved by both political parties, bi-partisan. Click here to read an article on the Dickie amendment.
  The amendment needs to be repealed, the murders happening are a direct threat to our Democracy and our collective well being. There is nothing about investigating murders that would impact the 2nd amendment, if the studies are done responsibly, with discovering domestic violence facts as the number one top priority, the amendment can be abandoned. I have two guns, a 22 caliber and a 12 gauge shotgun, I am not an enthusiast, I did hunt when I was younger I no longer do. I am not an advocate of gun control laws, I am an advocate of gathering as much information as possible to solve these problems. The majority of gun owners are extremely responsible and safety minded, almost all (I suspect as with every other social issue, less than 1% cause 99% of the problems of any organization), would never use their firearms against another human being except under extreme situations.
  So what's the problem? The Dickie amendment needs to be repealed or rewritten to allow studies to be made, that's it, study the problem of national murder out of control. Find out what's causing it, I suspect it's due to some things most of us can't imagine, (I can guess but it doesn't mean a thing). The murders have reached the level of being an actual "survival event" for many people living in high homicide areas, many afraid to leave their homes. When we hear about a 3-year-old in a stroller being hit by "stray gunfire", we are in a desperate situation that living in darkness will not remedy.

The American spirit was once of one to tackle problems and solve them,
the Dickie amendment stifles our efforts.

  What can we do to get this amendment repealed? We can write to our representatives and senators, there are petitions online as well as pre-written letters available, however, I prefer to write original letters. Why repeal it? To enable us to have a better idea of what is happening to cause our murder epidemic, not to restrict gun ownership or to create controls. Gather domestic violence facts and we will find out what the heck is causing all of this.
  Do you agree, disagree? Let me know, I don't see a thing wrong with investigations and studies when done correctly. Leave a comment or suggestion. Thanks for reading.

jacquesandkate  emergencykitsplus.com

Hurricanes, Tornadoes, Earthquakes, are no comparison to a much bigger threat, here's 8 symptoms it is

  I just read another blog about "Artificial Intelligence", again the author is leaning on the belief that Robots will dominate the world and take over our lives. OK, I don't buy into it, I wrote a blog several months ago outlining my beliefs, basically, there is not enough money, or natural resources to make this happen. I believe the advance of robotics will increase employment rather than decrease, they are machines, extremely expensive machines, we will spend the money on more pressing matters, read on. (Link to my blog on AI)
  I promise I will fit all of this into this blog, as is my writing style, my introduction to an article seems to have nothing to do with the substance of what I am trying to convey. However, if you have read my blogs before, I do think that people catch on, and ask during my intro, "I wonder where he is going with this."
  My wife is a student of the internet, so much so I began calling her "Kate Lebeau, voodoo queen of the internet." I get sick about once a week, I have several ailments but the one that gets me most weeks is my Crohn's disease.

Marie Leveau, Not Kate Lebeau, but hey you know what I mean.

It feels like the flu without the fever or headaches. Kate Lebeau, gets all kinds of cures from the internet, she means well and I reluctantly go along most of the time. I could not handle the vinegar, water, honey, cinnamon, and lemon juice warm drink in the morning, so she agreed to a pint of water when I wake up. Well, yesterday she cut an onion in half and set if next to me, all day, then she moved it to my nightstand next to where I sleep, 1-1/2 feet away. She had gone to bed earlier than I did and was asleep when I went to bed, I didn't know the onion was there. I kept smelling something that was just wrong, I could not put my finger on it but it smelled like I was sleeping in a garbage truck. Living on the river a person grows accustomed to odd smells coming from the water so I naturally thought it was something out there. whew! Those smells normally dissipate after a few hours, or in extreme cases days, I was hoping for the former. I could not sleep, at about 1 am I turned the light on to see if the dog dragged something in, that's when I saw it, a big fat onion cut in half in a bowl. I moved it as far away as I could when I heard "what are you doing?" I told her I found an onion next to my bed, her reply "oh yeh, I put it there to suck the poison out of your system." Oh yeh, I thought, then asked "what poison?" She said, "well, you've been sick today and this will cure you." "It made me want an Italian sub sandwich," I told her. "Well," she said, "it worked", remember this was 1 am in the morning that this was going on, it happens all the time with us. We laughed all night, in fact, we are still laughing about it, unlike the coffee incident that almost killed me, another urban renewal project of hers. I am renewable in her book, and a sacrificial lamb for her "holistic" medicine she harvests off of the world wide web. Holistic medicine, does it work? I'm sure some of it does, did the onion? I really don't know but I do admire her desire to help me, but often it feels like I am an experiment.
  I am an advocate of preparing for expected/unexpected natural and man-made catastrophic events. I hate using the words "disaster", "Emergency Evacuation", and most words suggesting being prepared for 72-hours, in a headline it turns people off. I have however been aware for years of what is, in my opinion, the Number One biggest naturally occurring threat to our entire world, Pandemic. We may only have Holistic medicine to combat it. I mentioned it in my last blog, with the intent to continue the discussion in this blog, it is an extremely likely event, why? I've listed some indicators:
1)  There is a movement declaring vaccinations dangerous to children, meaning they are better off with not being vaccinated.
2)  The population of the world has exploded, more people, more infected. 66% of the population of the world will live in Cities by the year 2050, placing a higher demand on clean water and sanitary facilities. Meg-Cities have increased, Cities with more than 10 million inhabitants increases from 10 in 1990, to 28 in 2014.
3)  With our population increases the demand for more land to build more housing is created, growing into formally uninhabited areas introduces humans to infections we have no immunity to. Rodents infected with Lassa Fever, for example, spread the disease in their feces deposited on forest floors, until they move into a house, then it's deposited on the kitchen floor. Once it is transmitted to a human, it is possible but more unlikely to be passed from one to another. In West Africa, higher rates of infection have been recorded since 2016.

Not that kind of mouse, good grief Jacques.

4)  Many areas of the world are experiencing rising water levels resulting in many not having sanitary or fresh water. Between 2030 and 2050 it is expected 250,000 lives will be lost due to water-borne diseases. Cholera, Malaria, and the Yellow Fever as being experienced in Angola recently. People from China are employed in Angola, if they contract Yellow Fever and return home, it may be spread by mosquitos', luckily they returned during the winter.
5)  We are on the move traveling and we are not prepared for a pandemic on a national or worldwide scale. 1.2 Billion people traveled during the year 2015, it increased 50 million more than 2014, the sixth consecutive year of growth over the normal average. With more people traveling, the chances of more diseases coming along for the ride also increases. The incubation period of a disease is much longer than the time it takes to travel around the world, leaving the inflicted wondering how they got infected. Dr. Liu Jianlun contracted an airborne virus while on a vacation to China to visit friends and family. He was hospitalized, then died, but not before infecting people at the hotel, as well as members of his family. One of his relatives met the same fate, with little knowledge of how it was contracted. Within four months, 4,000 cases of SARS, resulting in 550 deaths were traced to the Doctors stay in Hong Kong. In 30 other countries, 8,000 more people were infected. Malaria from Mosquitos, Monkey Pox from imported Guinea Pigs infected Prairie Dogs then Humans in the United States.
6)  Civil unrest and war, during which our health system will be incapable of handling, especially if the country is on the brink of social breakdown from a Civil unrest. The Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia nearly brought those countries to total collapse. War depletes the treasuries of the Countries involved, placing health care on a back burner, leaving the population to an uncontrollable outbreak. If an infection remains in the local area, it will collapse, it is contained in a self-inflicted quarantined area.
7)  Civil unrest results in a lack of qualified medical personnel, where the health care system is already weak, there are normally fewer doctors, to begin with, many leave under the prospect of war. It is not possible to "order" Doctors, Nurses, and Pharmacy personnel to stay.
8)  Better communications, instantaneous information can cause people to panic, some infected people flee to uninfected areas, spreading the disease. Factual, fast flowing information is required to keep the population from panicking, and rapid response by organizations such as WHO, (World Health Organization). Unfortunately in this day and age information travels so rapidly the affected population many times reacts faster than the emergency organizations can. Controlling "social media" is next to impossible on a global or national scale, inaccurate information is as well.

Yes, this is the get-up the doctors wore to treat Bubonic Plaque
Patients, was it "Holistic" medicine?

  The 1918 Influenza Pandemic was the cause death for between 20 million and 40 million people worldwide, the most deadly epidemic in recorded history. 670,000 United States citizens lost their lives, mostly in the age range of 20-40 years of age. First discovered in Europe, the U.S., and parts of Asia prior to spreading worldwide. A national quarantine was established, with makeshift morgues set up before the virus finished its course. Due to the pandemic, the average life expectancy of an American citizen lowered by 12 years, think of that huge impact it had. One odd fact about this flu is that it struck down an age group that usually fares well with the flu, but not this time. The epidemic also killed more U.S. soldiers during the 1st world war than were lost in combat, 40% of the Navy was affected and 36% of the Army, the movement of troops on the ships helped to spread the disease. There were very few areas of the world that were not impacted by the spread of the deadly virus. In fact, in the way it started some people in the scientific community hypothesize it may have arrived here on a meteorite, it started in too many places at one time for it to be a normal virus infection. Most of the victims died from bacterial pneumonia, undiagnosed at the time. (Link to more 1918 influenza information)
  So there it is my case laid out historically and scientifically which brings me to my point, The biggest threat we have so far as a Catastrophic worldwide event is a Pandemic. I remember thinking during the Ebola epidemic in Africa several years ago, that if it became "airborne" the world would be in trouble, it did not go airborne, but the world is still in trouble. For one, especially in the United States, we do not take health care seriously enough to make sure all citizens have it, all resulting from politics which I refuse to comment on here. Even at that, medical care is the reaction, it is not pro-active, after all, we don't know who, what, when, or where it will strike next, which brings up my final point.
  The only way to combat a World Wide Pandemic is being isolated from society, quarantined, I was when I was a child of 9 or 10. I had contracted "Scarlet Fever", which may have been a precursor to the health I am enjoying now, (tongue firmly planted in my cheek.) I was isolated for an entire month, there was at that time no known cure for that disease, I was young and healthy and I'm here to say "I made it." But what if we experience a much more widespread event? What if we all had to be quarantined, all public spaces shut down, all people restricted from travel or mingling? How long would we all survive in our homes with our 72-hour kits, I would say if that was all the supplies we had, we would live about a month. 33% of the population is equipped to survive for 3 days or more, some do have plans and supplies for years. As I mention often, long-term survival is a lifestyle when the goal is to head for a bunker or other protected hidden area. It's another matter to us Rural and Urban dwellers, we must prepare to stay home until the "All Clear" is sounded. Travel to the grocery store may be out of bounds for us, which will mean an almost immediate depletion of food, water, and other needed supplies. It is my estimate we will each need a food supply of at least 6 months to ride out an epidemic the size of the Bubonic Plague of the middle ages, or the 1918 Influenza epidemic.
  A Pandemic would be devastating enough, but the aftermath while people are quarantined with limited supplies, yes the utilities may still be on but what if the disease is being spread through our water systems? What if our close proximity to livestock initially started it and it spread like wildfire, causing the destruction of our meat and poultry industries? The point is we don't have any idea where an event such as this could originate, what if it is caused by an ancient virus that has been locked up in the Polar Ice Caps for millions of years and is unleashed upon the world and just keeps coming as the ice melts, with no end in sight?

What lies beneath the ice?

  I keep writing in my blogs I am not in the business of dealing in fear, but I have to be real here, I see a Pandemic as the most likely way the Preppers, and the people getting ready for the end of times are correct. Not civil unrest, not Hurricanes, Tornados, or Earthquakes, but Pandemics to me are our greatest threat. We really do need to be prepared for long-term quarantines, really quickly.
  Thanks for reading and sharing my blog, tell me what you think, am I way off base here? I am not afraid of many things in this life, I've been through a lot, but this is frightening, I have been thinking about this for many years. Please take some time and give Pandemics some thought.
jacquesandkate  emergencykitsplus.com