Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire How prepared are you?

In late December before Y2K my neighbor asked me come down and look at his breaker panel he was having trouble with. In his garage was shelves full of food water and other supplies. More food than could be ate by a faimly of four in a year. He asked me if I was prepared. Said no, got guns and will been down here for supper, have it ready at six!

However, I am well preped for waht may happen.

I only have a 4 KW generator, but it can run the fans for the gas heatser and a few lights.We keep about 10 gal of water handy in bottles as the generator will not run the well pump. We have been here 35 years and so fa , we make do.
I have only had the generator two years now.

Power outage wouldn't be much, I fear an earthquake. The wood stove burns all the time. In the event of a collapse, it could get really warm.

Where do you live??

L.W.

Our powwr outages, here in Florida, are usually in the warm months due to hurricanes. We have a generator that will run the freezers and frig, fans,lights and microwave. Feed thru the dryer breaker in the panel.

We keep food on hand that can be eaten cold or warmed in micro or on the grille. water always on hand.

Of course hunting equipment and supplies aplenty.

Litchfield, CT. The power went out at about 9:30 AM today and back on an hour later.

I have to find out more about the generator my son has, a Husky 5000/6200W. If it will run the oil fired boiler and the well pump and how to hook them up.

Then there is all the noise such a machine makes, etc.

Not sufficiently prepared, but we'd get by. I think I'll pick up a small genset to power the pump on the heating system. We have gas fired baseboard heat. So a small genset to keep the hot water circulating would do the trick.

Probably down to 1/2 a cord, and with a fireplace vs. a real woodburning stove, most of the heat goes up the flu vs. heating the house, not to mention you can't cook on a fireplace.

We have enough camping gear to stay warm and handle cooking. The pantry isn't as stocked as it could be, but we could certainly get by for a few months.

Flashlights are here and there, the boys seem to always pick one up to play with it, and who knows where it ends up. We have lanterns and candles, so light isn't an issue.

I've got 10 gals of water in jugs in the garage, plus the 50 gal in the hot water heater. There is snow to melt, and an artersian well within walking distance.

There might be a 22rf and a couple rounds of ammo.

I don't have one myself and power back though the welder outlet in the barn, but most places that is not legal unless you have an automatic cutout switch,so that you are not shipping power back down the line and electricute some poor guy working on the power lines .
I can turn my power off at the meter and still run generator power through my service panel

One thing a lot of people don't think of:

Take a few hours and scan your ID, your insurance policies, birth certificate, passport, driver's license, and your most precious family photos. Put all of this on a thumb drive, plus a backup.

In case of disaster, people often have a hard time establishing who they are and that they have insurance. If all that stuff goes up in a fire, you can have a dickens of a time getting it all put back together.

Of course you can!!

Just load up your 12" Lodge Dutch oven -- the real deal D.O., cast iron, three legs pot with rimmed lid -- with a good roast of elk, moose, venison, pork or beef, throw in some potatoes, onions, carrots, a cup of red wine, and place it in the front of the fireplace. Rake some hot coals underneath and shovel a bunch on top of the lid, and soon you'll have food better than anything you've ever set tooth and tongue to!

When I was a kid growing up in north central Arkansas, it was not unusual for the power to go out in the winter due to ice storms. We were "all electric." We had a fireplace that was always burning in the cold weather so my mother would use her Dutch oven, cast iron skillet on a rack from her electric oven, etc., to make fine meals for us.

In my firm opinion, anyone who believes in "prepardness," should have at least one good, real cast iron Dutch oven and know how to use it, both with charcoal and regular wood coals. Lodge D.Os. are best. Stay away from those el cheapo Chinese D. Os., as the lids quite often don't fit and the shoddy iron causes "hot spots" and irregular cooking.

Be prepared, I say.

L.W.

EDIT: 458 LOTT, drop down to the "Cooking/Recipes" forum and take a look at Whelenman's picture of a fine dish he prepared in his fireplace. Shows how it is done.

L.W.

If you already have a generator, great. If you don't, DO NOT get one of the China cheapies. Honda, Yamaha, Mitsubishi, TroyBilt, Generac good models. Stay with the Jap or USA models only. Make sure the unit has a 220 output.

A 5500 should be plenty to run an oil fired boiler and 220 well pump, plus the fridge and some lights. If your freezer is a small one, it will probably handle that too.
Hookups are not a problem. Just about anyone can hook one of these up, and if they can't, a decent electrician can in less than two hours.
http://cgi.ebay.com/6-CIRCUIT-EMERG...emQQptZBI_Generators?hash=item3a55b7797d

Don't worry about the noise. The Hondas, Mits, and Yamahas are EXTREMELY quiet running. The USA made ones may not be, but a power outage is not exactly the time I worry about offending someone when I have my family's needs to take care of.

I wouldn't be running my entire house off the genset, just the pump for the heater. And yes, the pump would have to be taken off the house circuit that feeds it and run solely off the genset.

If a person lives where somebody is gonna take offense at a little noise from somebody trying to keep their family warm and fed, they are probably already [bleep] anyway.

true. I live rural, so I could care less if anybody hears the big one running. My guess is that if someone piissed off their neighbors with a generator, their neighbors are cold, hungry, and in the dark because they don't have the faintest idea how to fend for themselves. I've actually seen folks with a generator not have the hookups, cords, or the gas to run the damn thing when the power went out.

Not enough if it got serious bad.

Our power went out at about 11:30 yesterday morning and just came back on about half hour ago. So about 25 hours certainly not a big scare but it did get bout 0 last night. We did have some pallets to cut up in the garage and we were able keep the fire place going all night and the temp in the house only dropped bout 10 degrees.

Dont get part of this, you have a wood stove and fireplace yet you can't warm up food because you don't have a stove... WTF there for sure.

We are continually upgrading at home. I have solar and wind in the future. We are wired for a generator and have a small one but am looking hard into one that I can run PTO with the diesel tractor, all kinds of good things there.
Plenty of food to last a while. Keep cases of water on hand but have 2 wells,rural water and a hand pump well too. AC could be an issue but not with the tractor run generator if needed. Though the small one will run lights/fans and freezers if needed.

We keep all our records and food and lights and such in a tornado proof shelter built into the house. With vents, a way to lock ourselves in or out and the cell phones work from inside there. Being that the walls are pretty thick its pretty much fireproof too, only issue would be breathing air. May keep an airpack handy for that in the future.

Beyond that what more could one really need? We have land, septic system etc.... can grow our own as needed and so on.

Can make biodiesel if it came right down to it too.

I do feel for the folks stuck in the city though, they generally don't think of these issues until its too late and then panic. Just look what happens when a hurricane heads our way. I dont know that we've ever gone to town to buy anything when one is coming. We stay prepared.

To my way of thinking, the noise that a gen set makes would/could become critical in a long-term type survival situation due to opsec concerns. Just as light/noise discipline is important in a fox hole/front line scenario, I would think that drawing any kind of attention to one's place of refuge during difficult times such as Katrina/Rodney King/OJ's trial riot type stuff, should be avoided if at all possible. My gennie is in a wood shed looking bldg, which is well insulated (as much for sound as temperature considerations) and the exhaust is run through an extended tail pipe and additional muffler and out through the side of the wall. The area where the exhaust finally exits the system is shielded from view by a wooden fence and garbage bin holding area. When it is first fired up in cold weather, there is a little exhaust vapor visible, but after a few minutes of warming up, this vapor dissipates so as to be un- noticeable. I can't hear it running at all when the door is closed and I am standing within a foot or so of the building. It is quieter than my car and trucks. I also don't want to have my house lit up like a Christmas tree when others are in the dark. Covering the windows to black the light out is a good idea. Marauders will strike at any time, and someone should be awake at all hours on a revolving basis for security purposes. Everyone should sleep in a state of readiness to defend at a moment's notice. I sleep quite well fully dressed and with my boots on. A rifle nearby, ready to go, and I can wake up quickly and be ready to lend a hand.

If things get difficult and then stay that way for long, it is best to appear to be going without just as others are going without. While I believe in helping neighbors if necessary, I also encourage them to get prepared as well. If they don't, then ultimately, it is their own fault for going without. My concern is being noticed by people who feel that they should be able to take what is mine without asking. That is when the other tools become needed. I don't care if they come under the color of law or in the name of the "general good", they can kiss my grits. I care about my family's general good first and foremost, and I am called to care for them above all others. If the gov't cannot get prepared without my paltry preps, then they should have spent our tax money in better ways.

Remember the Koreans with the AK's during the LA riots? They were left alone, weren't they? They were ready to take care of what was theirs.

We have a lot of time in prepping. There is always more to be done, but we have been at it for a long time. Suffice it to say, we have as many bases covered as we could think of over many years.

VERY!

If the world as we know it ceased to function tomorrow, I would be ready.

Mind set, skill set, preps, gear..............

Back in 2005, when we lived in Miami, we were hit back to back with Katrina and Wilma. My mom called to check on us, and my wife said "don't worry, I am married to the ultimate Boy Scout"

I was the only person in our gated community with stored gasoline, water, food, generator, ice.......... Wound up helping all the elderly and those with nothing.

Cell phones only work to the next tower.Then they are land lines unless they are satelite.Take away all the power and cell phones willdie evenetually die also.