For those of you that don't have medical supplies on hand I would suggest you get some. Besides being used for the obvious cuts and scrapes they will be highly sought after during and after a collapse. I'm no doctor and don't claim to be one. These are just my suggestions.
Everyone should have basic medical supplies on hand. The basic supplies should include at the bare minimum of Isopropyl Alcohol, Hydrogen Peroxide, Neosporin (or equivalent), Band-aids, Gauze pads, and medical tape. With the above on hand basic cuts and scrapes which can happen anytime can be taken care of.
There are a lot more medical supplies and equipment you should probably have on hand but the above is what I recommend for everyday cuts and scrapes. For a more in depth list of medical supplies/equipment to keep on hand see the following sites.
http://thepatriotnurse.com/
http://www.doomandbloom.net/
As for training you can either sign up for classes from the above sites or take the basic first aid class from the red cross or a community college. Regarding the list of medical supplies/equipment they show most of them will require you to be trained before they can be used.
Do not use any medical supply/equipment you are unfamiliar with before you receive training on the proper use of said supply/equipment. Even if you do not plan to use any of the medical supplies/equipment or decide not to get medical training I would still recommend stocking as much of these supplies/equipment you can. Anything you have (especially food and medical supplies) can be used for barter.
Sunday, October 13, 2013
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
In a Hurry to Get Somewhere
I have noticed over the years that people are now more in a hurry than ever before. I've also noticed that peoples driving habits have gone downhill. They drive more aggressively and speed a lot more. Drivers also seem to be getting into a lot more accidents.
I'm not the best driver out there but I don't take risks I see other drivers take. For example, I go the speed limit or about 10 over at the most and other drivers will pass me like I'm sitting still. Another example I see is drivers change lanes more frequently in heavy traffic just to get ahead 1 or 2 cars. Another example is drivers rely on their brakes more often, waiting till the last minute to use them. Some of them get in to accidents because of this.
Just thought I'd put this out there to see if this is the case where you live. I don't know if this occurs just in the city or do some of you living in the rural areas also see this happening?
I'm not the best driver out there but I don't take risks I see other drivers take. For example, I go the speed limit or about 10 over at the most and other drivers will pass me like I'm sitting still. Another example I see is drivers change lanes more frequently in heavy traffic just to get ahead 1 or 2 cars. Another example is drivers rely on their brakes more often, waiting till the last minute to use them. Some of them get in to accidents because of this.
Just thought I'd put this out there to see if this is the case where you live. I don't know if this occurs just in the city or do some of you living in the rural areas also see this happening?
Friday, September 20, 2013
What Happened To The Basic Work Ethic
How many of you know what a work ethic is? How many of you have a good work ethic? I ask you these questions because my wife and I have observed over the years that peoples work ethic have declined.
I define a work ethic as this " Doing what is needed and going beyond that to ensure a particular task or whole job is completed on time or sooner". This takes dedication and my wife and I have observed a lack of this dedication from people just starting a job or who have had a job for a while.
My wife works in the food-service industry and she has observed over the years that a lot of people (especially the younger generation) do not want to do manual labor. They just want to stand or sit their texting on their phones.
I work in the construction industry and have observed this myself. I may not be the best worker and my boss may think I don't have a good work ethic and that is fine. I however don't sit on the phone when something needs to be done.
If TSHTF the people who have a poor work ethic will cause all of us to suffer, at least until the school of hard knocks teaches them. As we all know after TSHTF we will probably have to do a lot more physical labor of which they will not be used to until taught the hard way.
I just thought I'd let you the reader know this and ask if you or someone you know has observed this work ethic trend. I know there are still a lot of dedicated workers out there and this post is not directed at them or any one person. All this post is about is my wife and I observing a trend that seems to be going on.
I define a work ethic as this " Doing what is needed and going beyond that to ensure a particular task or whole job is completed on time or sooner". This takes dedication and my wife and I have observed a lack of this dedication from people just starting a job or who have had a job for a while.
My wife works in the food-service industry and she has observed over the years that a lot of people (especially the younger generation) do not want to do manual labor. They just want to stand or sit their texting on their phones.
I work in the construction industry and have observed this myself. I may not be the best worker and my boss may think I don't have a good work ethic and that is fine. I however don't sit on the phone when something needs to be done.
If TSHTF the people who have a poor work ethic will cause all of us to suffer, at least until the school of hard knocks teaches them. As we all know after TSHTF we will probably have to do a lot more physical labor of which they will not be used to until taught the hard way.
I just thought I'd let you the reader know this and ask if you or someone you know has observed this work ethic trend. I know there are still a lot of dedicated workers out there and this post is not directed at them or any one person. All this post is about is my wife and I observing a trend that seems to be going on.
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Stereotypes and Culture Clash
What is a stereotype? What is culture clash? What are the answers to these 2 questions and what do they have to do with prepping and TSHTF? I will give you my answers to these questions based on how I see them.
Regarding stereotypes my answer is like this. A stereotype to me is you the individual putting a label on another individual based on how they act or look. We all stereotype people, myself included. Stereotyping is a necessary evil but can get out of hand very easy. We do need to stereotype people we first meet until we find out more about them. This is an unfortunate and necessary part of life which usually keeps us safe. If you look throughout history and look at people you see in your daily life you will notice that how a person or group acts will help you determine if your life is in danger. How a person dresses or looks may not be a good indicator of whether that person will harm you but you never know. Where it gets out of hand is when we make our stereotype view of an individual publicly known and don't change that view after we find out more about that person. I know stereotypes are also put on groups and the above (out of hand) statement applies there too.
As for culture clash I answer it like this. To me a culture clash is one cultures way of life (what they do, how they act and what they believe in) does not go along with another cultures way of life. This is the boiled down, straight forward answer. When 2 or more cultures clash wars can start. Usually these wars stem from one culture trying to impose their views and way of life onto another culture. Until one culture can get along with and learn about another culture they will continue to have petty fights and wars. A culture clash is nothing more than stereotyping on a very large scale.
I probably opened a can of worms here by saying all of this but I felt it needed to be said. As for how this relates to prepping and SHTF survival is like this. Throughout your life you will meet many people and different cultures. Each of which will look, dress, and act differently than you do or may be used to. Right now you have the luxury of privately stereotyping these individuals or cultures but when TSHTF you may not have a choice but to interact with a person or group you see as a certain way. Keeping a stereotype in check and reserving judgement until after you have interacted with that person or group may mean the difference between life and death.
Keep an open mind and keep learning. Your life may very well depend on it.
TDI
Regarding stereotypes my answer is like this. A stereotype to me is you the individual putting a label on another individual based on how they act or look. We all stereotype people, myself included. Stereotyping is a necessary evil but can get out of hand very easy. We do need to stereotype people we first meet until we find out more about them. This is an unfortunate and necessary part of life which usually keeps us safe. If you look throughout history and look at people you see in your daily life you will notice that how a person or group acts will help you determine if your life is in danger. How a person dresses or looks may not be a good indicator of whether that person will harm you but you never know. Where it gets out of hand is when we make our stereotype view of an individual publicly known and don't change that view after we find out more about that person. I know stereotypes are also put on groups and the above (out of hand) statement applies there too.
As for culture clash I answer it like this. To me a culture clash is one cultures way of life (what they do, how they act and what they believe in) does not go along with another cultures way of life. This is the boiled down, straight forward answer. When 2 or more cultures clash wars can start. Usually these wars stem from one culture trying to impose their views and way of life onto another culture. Until one culture can get along with and learn about another culture they will continue to have petty fights and wars. A culture clash is nothing more than stereotyping on a very large scale.
I probably opened a can of worms here by saying all of this but I felt it needed to be said. As for how this relates to prepping and SHTF survival is like this. Throughout your life you will meet many people and different cultures. Each of which will look, dress, and act differently than you do or may be used to. Right now you have the luxury of privately stereotyping these individuals or cultures but when TSHTF you may not have a choice but to interact with a person or group you see as a certain way. Keeping a stereotype in check and reserving judgement until after you have interacted with that person or group may mean the difference between life and death.
Keep an open mind and keep learning. Your life may very well depend on it.
TDI
Make Paper Copies of Information You Deem Important
Some sage advice from Patrice Lewis @ http://www.rural-revolution.com/
Make hard copies of all of your important information. Just having electronic information (either on your computer or in the cloud) is not good enough. If you loose electricity or your computer doesn't work for one reason or another how will you access much needed information?
Your goal here is to make copies of all your important info and sort thru it later.
Here is a link to a post from Patrice Lewis giving you a good reason why you need hard copies:
http://www.rural-revolution.com/2013/09/a-project-thats-never-done.html
Make hard copies of all of your important information. Just having electronic information (either on your computer or in the cloud) is not good enough. If you loose electricity or your computer doesn't work for one reason or another how will you access much needed information?
Your goal here is to make copies of all your important info and sort thru it later.
Here is a link to a post from Patrice Lewis giving you a good reason why you need hard copies:
http://www.rural-revolution.com/2013/09/a-project-thats-never-done.html
Monday, September 16, 2013
LInk From Another Website That Goes Along With My Post on Unruly Kids
Below is a link to an article I found on another website dealing with kids and prepping. This I believe goes along with my unruly kids post.
http://www.prep-blog.com/2013/09/15/how-old-should-a-child-be-to-start-prepping
I believe as the author of the article does that you need to teach kids about prepping at an early age. The way I see it is teaching them to be ready for just about anything bad that could happen will give them the proper mindset to deal with almost anything that could harm them.
http://www.prep-blog.com/2013/09/15/how-old-should-a-child-be-to-start-prepping
I believe as the author of the article does that you need to teach kids about prepping at an early age. The way I see it is teaching them to be ready for just about anything bad that could happen will give them the proper mindset to deal with almost anything that could harm them.
Saturday, September 14, 2013
Dealing With Food Allergies After a Collapse
The reason I am writing this is because my wife has food allergies. She is allergic to fresh tomatoes and pineapple. I know these are not the common ones of wheat, soy, peanuts, milk eggs and seafood but she is allergic to them non-the-less.
As for tomatoes she is deathly allergic to them. I have witnessed this firsthand. She was cutting a fresh tomato one day and some of the juice got on to her lip. She cleaned her lip with water but her lip still swelled up like someone had punched her in the mouth. This happened in less than 15 seconds.
What's interesting is she can eat cooked tomatoes. She can eat canned tomatoes, salsas from a jar and ketchup with no effects. Just the fresh tomatoes will kill her if eaten.
Right now we have safeguards in place to help people figure out what manufactured/processed foods they can eat. But what will people with food allergies do after a collapse? The reason I ask this is most if not all of the safeguards used to help us determine what we can and can't eat will be gone after a collapse.
During and after a collapse desperate and hungry people (non-preppers) will do practically anything to stave off hunger. This includes eating whatever they can find, even if there is no packaging showing the contents of a packaged product. We as preppers have however seen the signs of an impending collapse and stocked up now for it.
Now after the collapse we preppers have food to last us until society starts to rebuild. However our food stockpiles are limited. Even if you have a garden there will be some years where it will not produce much. What if the rebuilding process takes longer than we anticipated and our stockpiled food runs out? It can happen.
We will have to go out in search of more food to replenish our stocks. This means going out into a hopefully somewhat stable society and barter. As stated earlier in this article most if not all of the safeguards protecting us from food allergies will be gone. The raw foods we can deal with when it comes to food allergies. However we know people like to make their own recipes and package/can them to sell/barter. These packaged food products probably won't have labels. It is these packaged and unlabeled homemade products that should concern us if we run low or out of food before society is completely rebuilt.
Even though what someone is selling to us (food wise) looks familiar we know people like to modify and add their own unique ingredients to a basic recipe. If the person we seek food stock replenishment from modified a recipe how do we know what we are getting from a particular person won't be harmful to us?
We have to rely on that persons honesty. This trust factor will more than likely not be there during and shortly after the collapse. It may not be there long after a collapse either. We know trust has to be earned and it takes a long time to earn a persons trust. This is just human nature.
I know there will probably be some pockets of stability while a collapse is happening however most of society will have collapsed due to lack of trust. This lack of trust is what triggers a collapse and we are seeing this firsthand or in the news.
I wrote this article to let you the reader know of a possible scenario that might happen. Right now societies all of the world are collapsing and we nor they know how long it will be before stability returns.
Stay Safe and Stay Stocked
T.D.I.
As for tomatoes she is deathly allergic to them. I have witnessed this firsthand. She was cutting a fresh tomato one day and some of the juice got on to her lip. She cleaned her lip with water but her lip still swelled up like someone had punched her in the mouth. This happened in less than 15 seconds.
What's interesting is she can eat cooked tomatoes. She can eat canned tomatoes, salsas from a jar and ketchup with no effects. Just the fresh tomatoes will kill her if eaten.
Right now we have safeguards in place to help people figure out what manufactured/processed foods they can eat. But what will people with food allergies do after a collapse? The reason I ask this is most if not all of the safeguards used to help us determine what we can and can't eat will be gone after a collapse.
During and after a collapse desperate and hungry people (non-preppers) will do practically anything to stave off hunger. This includes eating whatever they can find, even if there is no packaging showing the contents of a packaged product. We as preppers have however seen the signs of an impending collapse and stocked up now for it.
Now after the collapse we preppers have food to last us until society starts to rebuild. However our food stockpiles are limited. Even if you have a garden there will be some years where it will not produce much. What if the rebuilding process takes longer than we anticipated and our stockpiled food runs out? It can happen.
We will have to go out in search of more food to replenish our stocks. This means going out into a hopefully somewhat stable society and barter. As stated earlier in this article most if not all of the safeguards protecting us from food allergies will be gone. The raw foods we can deal with when it comes to food allergies. However we know people like to make their own recipes and package/can them to sell/barter. These packaged food products probably won't have labels. It is these packaged and unlabeled homemade products that should concern us if we run low or out of food before society is completely rebuilt.
Even though what someone is selling to us (food wise) looks familiar we know people like to modify and add their own unique ingredients to a basic recipe. If the person we seek food stock replenishment from modified a recipe how do we know what we are getting from a particular person won't be harmful to us?
We have to rely on that persons honesty. This trust factor will more than likely not be there during and shortly after the collapse. It may not be there long after a collapse either. We know trust has to be earned and it takes a long time to earn a persons trust. This is just human nature.
I know there will probably be some pockets of stability while a collapse is happening however most of society will have collapsed due to lack of trust. This lack of trust is what triggers a collapse and we are seeing this firsthand or in the news.
I wrote this article to let you the reader know of a possible scenario that might happen. Right now societies all of the world are collapsing and we nor they know how long it will be before stability returns.
Stay Safe and Stay Stocked
T.D.I.
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