Coping with Corona Virus In Utah: 3/17/2020

      I know that I have not posted any new content for a while, however with everything going on with the spreading of Covid 19, and with schools and work places canceling and encouraging people to socially distance themselves, I felt that this would be a great time to put out a new post. I also will be planning on writing blog updates during this pandemic so as to document the experiences of my wife and I in this concerning time.
      Keep in mind that I am going to be mostly referencing my experiences during this outbreak while living in a neighborhood near Salt Lake City in Utah. I understand that experiences vary from state to state and from country to country.
      Currently in my state school districts have shut down, and groups have been limited to ten or fewer people in one place. Restaurants are closed to Dine-In eating, however drive thru's and food delivery are still available. Grocery stores have been getting hit hard by panic shoppers, who started targeting toilet paper, paper towels, hand sanitizes, baby wipes, and other hygiene supplies. Medical supplies such as thermometers, cold and flu medicine, Tylenol, ibuprofen, and other pain killers have been targeted as well. Eggs and Dairy products are also cleaned out of the stores. In addition, for those of us like my wife and I who have chickens, the stores are selling out of chicken food and baby chicks. There have also been reports of people stealing chickens from others.
       

        Like most places, Utah has been encouraging greater hygiene and cleaning precautions, to help minimize the spread and contraction of the virus. I work in a behavioral therapy day treatment program for children, and our staff have been carrying around cleaners and sanitary wipes to clean the surfaces of all of the rooms that people are going into. We have been stressing to our clients the importance of proper hygiene and how to wash their hands and best clean the toys and surfaces that we encounter. My place of work is not the only location doing this, as posters, emails, and leadership at companies around the state have been teaching these practices, and encouraging proper hygiene to their employees. In addition, many places, including my own place of business, are taking the temperatures of all employees and clients at the start of each day, sending people home and/or to the doctors should they have a temperature of 100.4 degrees F or more.
       Since this is a blog about prepping and emergency preparedness, I also wanted to mention a few pointers to assist in keeping you and your family prepared for a possible forced quarantine, as has happened in Italy. Some of this advice will be to address the mental health needs of a person as well as their physical needs. Maintaining a measure of communication to the outside world is important for both communicating needs and having some form of social interaction. Lets face it, humans are social creatures, and even the introverts in our society, like my wife and I, can eventually go stir crazy with enough forced isolation. Some things that will be important in the coming days and during a forced home quarantine are:

-Having a phone and/or internet access to keep that line of communication open, as well as a method to power/charge them.
-It will be important to have games, hobbies, movies, ect for entertainment. (I would recommend hobbies that also contribute to your prepping and or trade supplies, candle making, sewing, home brewing, gardening, ect).
-Journals and/or diaries are very therapeutic, they help people get emotional thoughts and fears out, giving them voice.
-Home meal tracker. Tracking what foods and ingredients you have, and what meals you can make will allow you to better know how many meals that you will be able to provide for yourself and your families until you need to refill. Since leaving for supplies may be difficult or not an option, you will need to be able to plan ahead and know what to request should the needs arise.
-Food and supplies for your pets.
-Prescription medications should be refilled, and the name and number of your doctor should be available.
-Hygiene inventory, to better track your needs.

            My wife and I have already found it useful to be willing to barter goods that we have a renewing supply of, as well as items that we may have a greater quantity of  in order to obtain items that we either do not have, or have less of.  For example, my wife and I have been trading chicken eggs with people that have other supplies we either are missing, or are running low on. In a pandemic situation where supplies are running low, money has less value than normal, as if there is nothing to buy in the stores then the value of items over money begins to rise.


Stay prepared, stay safe!

My Facebook Prepping Group

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Including Spirituality or Religion in Your Preps

       A common topic that I here come up a lot among many preppers, particularly here in Utah, is finding a way to include your spiritual beliefs into your preps. Now the options available to a person varies greatly depending on that persons particular religion or beliefs. However, there are a few options here that are pretty available to a wide range of religions. For instance, pocket sized religious scripture(s) or spiritual journal/book of shadows, as above, are one of the most common items a person can include in their preps. This allows them to cut down on the weight of a full sized version, and makes them easier to pack in either your bugout bag or even on your person.

        Another option for religions such as Christianity or Judaism is a travel ceremonial set for serving liquids, be it a sacrament of some kind or not. 

        As for the various pagan faiths or followers of Buddhism, there are options for either buying or making your own travel alters. These can be very light weight, and like the pocket journals/scripture(s) easily packed.

        There are various websites that sell spiritual supplies for those who travel, a few searches for your particular faith and supplies for them should offer you a few option. I would even recommend looking into sites that offer supplies to military chaplains since they are forced to travel often and usually travel light. As for pocket journals, you can find these at many book stores. I found mine at my local Barnes and Noble.  

          Regardless of your personal beliefs or religions, I can understand to the importance that religion has in many peoples lives and hope this post gives them a few ideas to get them started. After all, throughout history when peoples are faced with disasters or SHTF scenarios they have turned to their individual faiths to fuel them to keep fighting to survive. So if religion will help you do this, then by all means include it into your preps, if not, well I guess this post doesn't really apply to you.

         

Stay prepared, stay safe!

2015 SLC Prepper Con!

        So I attended the 2015 Prepper Con, in Salt Lake City Utah today. The event is the 24th through 26th of April. It was a fun time, and nice to see so many people caring about emergency preparedness.

        They besides the usually booths, which had some really cool products, they also had some celebrity speakers and guests, like Mykel Hawke, a former U.S. Special forces officer who starred on the survival show Man Woman Wild. The convention also hosted classes, which included a class to license you for your concealed carrying permit! Oh America, the beautiful!

          I gathered a bunch of cards and pamphlets, and spoke to a few fenders, both about their products and companies, so stay tuned for some coming product reviews!

       Even though this was the first year that Prepper Con came to Utah, judging by the turn out, I am confident that it will be coming back again. I arrived early, hoping to beat some of the crowds and had to park out in the boondocks. But I was glad that I got that parking, because when I was leaving, the parking lot was so crowded with cars looking for a place to park that it took a few minutes to get out. Perhaps next time they may have it at the Energy Solutions Center, where the Salt Lake Comic Con is hosted. 

       Stay prepared, stay safe!

We have Chickens!

        Before I get started, I would like to first apologize for not posting for so long. I began a new job as a Behavioral Counselor, which I love, and my schedule has been a bit crazy. Additionally I am starting my next set of college classes soon, so my posts will not be as regular as I would like for a little while.

       

        I now have chickens! I know that I have mentioned a few times in some of my blogs about a desire to eventually get some, well now I have. The process was not as difficult as I thought it may be, and neither is caring for them. 

          I built my own coop (above), which my wife and I designed ourselves. It was our first big home made project, a great learning experience, though there are some angles and cuts that may have been a little off. All and all, building the coop ourselves cost between $200-$250. We are also going to build the chickens an outer run, that will be about 5'/5', so they have some more room to relax during the day. 

       

       This entire project took us about a month, since we primarily worked on the weekends. It really proved to be much easier than I thought, the most difficult part being the angles for the roof.

        For ventilation, we installed a wire mesh screen on either side of the top, however I have decided to reinforce it with the same hardware cloth that surrounds the bottom area.

        Although the above picture shows straw flooring, we have since replaced it with pine shavings, which we picked up at a local pet store. It does have to be pine shavings, as cedar is dangerous to chickens.

        You can also  see that we coated the interior with a lime whitewash, a tip we learned that the Amish do to deter bugs, and eliminate any smells that may arise, and once the coating is dry, it is completely safe to have around the chickens. I can personally attest to the effectiveness of the lime coating, as our chickens show no interest the walls, and we have not noticed any odors at all, in the month that  we have had them.

          Above is the egg laying box, with a divider, as chickens prefer a smaller area for laying eggs, and even if you provide them with several boxes, the most dominant chicken will choose their favorite, and the others will usually all use that box as well. As you can see in the picture above, we can access the egg box separately from the coops main room, allowing us to check for eggs without disrupting the chickens relaxing inside.

       

            The above picture shows the different kinds of eggs that our different types of chickens lay, and I can say that their taste is far more delicious than any store bought egg I have had. And I have to say that I feel safer eating my own eggs and chickens, especially after reading the news the past few weeks, how several major egg and chicken farms are being hit with the bird flu, so bad, in some cases, as the state declaring a state of emergency. (http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/health/301071801.html) 

            Now I would like to give an introduction to my three lovely ladies:

            This is Sweetie, our hen who does the best with human, and dog, interactions. She will sit content in our arms, as long as you pet her. She is also the one who takes her sweet time going back into the coop.

        This regal lady is Matron, and she is the oldest, and the most dominant of our chickens. She rules the coop with an iron wing, eating first, visiting parts of our yard first, as well as hearding the others inside the coop when it starts to get dark.

       Lastly, this is Fiona, she is the youngest, and though she has beautiful feathers, she may be the most clumsy creature I have met. She also is the most talkative to us when we are out with them.

        Please, feel free to post any questions or comments you have, and I will try to respond promptly. 

As always,

Stay prepared, stay safe!

Magazine Review: Survivalist, Doomsday, & Survivor's Edge

     
       I have noticed the growing number of survivor and prepping magazines hitting stores, and so I decided to do a review on the three I have run into the most, and they are: Survivalist, Doomsday, and Survivor's Edge.

Doomsday

        Upon reading this magazine, I must say that I really enjoyed its simplicity. Unlike the other magazines, and most magazines in general, the Doomsday has a limited amount of advertisements and filler pages. It focused on providing disaster threats, then providing advice for surviving each threat, and then to top it off, they provide a breakdown of equipment and supplies that would prove useful for surviving each of the threats. It lacked any opinionated agenda, just providing information.

        I will say that this magazine lived up to its name, as it definitely stresses the importance of preparing for the inevitable coming of a doomsday, be it natural or man made. This was stressed to the point that it was clear that pessimism is not one of the values of the Doomsday magazine staff.

        The Doomsday's current listing price is U.S. $8.99, placing it's price right in between Survivor's Edge and Survivalist.

         Overall, I would rate the Doomsday a 4 out of 5 stars. 

Survivalist

         The Survivalist magazine contains a great deal of useful information, but seems to have a more tactical view on things than the other magazines I reviewed. It stressed the importance of stocking up on food and medical supplies, and gave some great tips to help you do so. It did also had it's fair share of advertisements.

         The Survivalist did also delve into some rabble rousing against the federal government, which included ad's urging to purchase products "before it is outlawed", and an entire article stating:

"The "failure" of effective Ebola treatment, then,

has not come from our medical facilities or research

institutions; it has come from from a familiar source of failure:

Our federal government..."

         I personally have no issues with a magazine being slightly opinionated, especially if it provides the wealth of useful information as the Survivalist, I just felt it was worth noting in the review. I will say that I felt that this magazine could have done with a little less scare tactics within their articles, as it went beyond just providing useful information, and continued on to what seemed to be an attempt to scare the reader into being a survivalist/prepper.

         The Survivalist's current listing price is U.S. $7.95 / CAN $8.95, making it the cheapest of the magazines reviewed here.

          Overall, I would have to place give the Survivalist 3 out of 5 stars.

Survivor's Edge

       I found that the Survivor's Edge magazine, proved to be the most well rounded of the magazines reviewed. It also spoke to not just an individual, but the family as a unit, covering topics, both big and small, as well as topics for daily survival, such as how to spot and tips for stopping Domestic abuse. 

       The Survivor's Edge included some "true life stories" of emergency situations, that were not only interesting, but also proved educational. Additionally, the advertisements were laid out in such a way that they complimented the articles, which does, both the readers and the advertisers, a great service.

       The Survivor's Edge magazine's current listing price is $9.95, making it the higher costing magazine reviewed here, however, I feel that this is a case where the higher price equaled higher quality.

        The realistic take, wide topic range, and wealth of information provided, earned Survivor's Edge magazine 5 out of 5 stars!

Stay prepared, stay safe! 

Marvel Movies and Shows Give U.S. Citizens a Voice Against their Growing Fear of Government Tyranny.

      I have to say, both my respect and approval of the good folks at Marvel continues to grow with each passing movie, comic, and T.V. show. They have been going out of their way to not just lightly touch on the idea of a corruption in the government, but they have revolved entire story lines around it.
       A shining example of this is their movie Captain America: The Winter Soldier, which centers on the story line of the evil Nazi secret society, Hydra, infiltrating the trusted hero organization, Shield. In this film, a Hydra agent, Dr. Arnim Zola, is quoted saying:

"People will fight for their freedom if people try to take it from them. But if you cause enough trouble, people will willingly give up their freedom for a more secure world."
           (Quote taken from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1843866/quotes)

        This disturbing quote was used to sum up the evil plot of Hydra, who was preparing to launch advanced helacarriers with advanced weaponry that could target and destroy millions of people at a time, which they planned to use to offer security to those who pledged their fealty to Hydra, and killing all who opposed them. This would in effect take away an individuals basic human rights and freedom.

  
          In this film, and in the T.V. series Agents of Shield, when Hydra decided to reveal themselves, they first removed any government officials and personnel they deemed a threat to their plans through various methods, such as imprisonment under false charges, and all out assassinations, Captain America and Director Fury being at the top of the list of their threats.
          In the show, Agents of Shield, they show that not all Hydra followers are the expected evil, many are simply being controlled or wrongly influenced, either through misinformation or threats to them or their families, effectively showing that there are countless pawns to Hydra, some not even aware they are helping carry out Hydras evil plans until it is too late.
           Both the Marvel movies and the T.V. series also show that Hydra is controlled by a select few elite individuals that methodically and systematically send their followers and supporters to their deaths, in order to keep the few elite in power, as the elite never risk themselves.
           
         

              If you have either not seen, or watched any of the latest Marvel movies or the show I Agents of Shield, then I strongly urge you to do so, not just to watch for all of the real world analogies, but by doing so you support Marvel, encouraging them to continue with their stories that encourage the preservation of our freedom and civil rights!
              I would like to end this post with the following image that I found online that I feel sums up my feelings perfectly, though a bit nerdy.

    Stay prepared, stay safe!