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

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1481039612130951/

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!

My New EDC (Every Day Carry)

        I received my new EDC (Every Day Carry) bag today. I wanted a durable and practical bag that I could have travel with me on my day to day visits to clients. And since it is holiday time, I had to choose something on more of a budget, and so I found this little tactical molle compatible bag on eBay, and purchased it for only $15.00, which included shipping and handling! It is a sturdy little bag too. I would like to point out that the contents of my EDC bag will grow in time, but having only received it today, I wanted to give at least a basic idea of how one is packed.

        Before I detail my own packing ingredients, I would like to differentiate between an EDC, and a BOB (Bag, Bugout Bag), or a GHB (Get Home Bag). An EDC bag is a bag that you use to transport items that you use regularly, and allows you to be prepared for daily situations, and mini SHTF situations. It is not meant to replace a BOB or a GHB, rather it can be used to supplement those bags, but the primary purpose is to provide a smaller, day to day use option for a prepper, which allows you to reserve your BOB and GHB for more severe scenarios.

       A BOB is a bag designed to quickly grab and go, the contents providing the necessities for instant daily survival in extreme circumstances.

       A GHB is a bag, similar to the BOB, but it is one that is usually kept in a vehicle, and is designed for someone trapped away from home, who is also in an emergency situation, and provides them the resources needed for immediate survival and usually lasts an individual for a minimum of 72 hours.

My EDC Contents

         In the front pocket of my EDC, I packed a lighter, a book of matches, hand sanitizer, a moist towelette, a pack of toilet paper from a military MRE(Meal Ready to Eat), Chap Stick, and a pack of DayQuill pills.

         In the second/middle pocket of my EDC, I packed a write in the rain pad, two pens, my pocket journal, my contact solution, and a backup pair of glasses.

     In the main pouch of my EDC, I packed a pair of gloves, a crank flashlight, a back up phone/tablet charger, my Google Nexus 7, headphones, a box of pills, and though I didn't pack it inside the main pouch I attached it on the side, my Gerber Multi-Tool.

So there you have it, my EDC bag, as it is currently packed. You can see that the items within it are suited more for day to day use and mini SHTF scenarios. I will be continuing to add to it over time, like a water bottle and water bottle molle pouch.

Stay prepared, stay safe!

Most Common Bugout Vehicles

         Although the above image is one that many people imagine as an ideal bugout vehicle, this is for a minority of individuals with the financial resources and knowledge to purchase and maintain such a beastly mode of transportation. 

         Chances are you are like me, among the countless majority of preppers and survivalists that don't have the funds and/or the space for such bugout vehicle, so you are more likely to either already have or would like one of the following vehicles. I assembled this list of vehicles from taking pulls in a couple of chat rooms, as well as reviewing many of the images and blogs created by other preppers. I would be interested to recieve a vote from my readers on which of the following vehicles they feel would be the best prepping/bugout vehicle. let me know, and I will post the winning vehicle by Thanksgiving.

Ford Bronco

       The Ford Bronco is one of the more common vehicles I found that is used by not only preppers, but also hunters. It has the power and size to tow and transport supplies and preps, and can endure some harsh environments.

Toyota Land Cruiser

       The Toyota Land Cruiser, may be the most popular bugout vehicle I came across in all of my research. They are notorious for being not just powerful, but reliable. They are commonly found among preppers around the world, not just in the U.S.A.

Chevy Blazer

        The Chevy Blazer, is a common favorite among prepper families, as they usually come with plenty of room to transport a family of five, fairly comfortably. They are also among the most common bugout type SUV I find for sale.

Jeep Cherokee

        The Jeep Cherokee is probably the easiest to find bugout vehicle, at least in Utah, as I can find them for sale all the time, but they are also selling fast! They may be among the cheapest to buy and maintain, as you can run them into the ground, then build them back up again.

Trucks

        The reason that I do not specify any particular make or model of truck, is because I was never really able to find any one that was bragged about more than another for prepping reasons. It usually came down to the ever popular brand wars between Ford, Chevy, Dodge, and Toyota, but no real argument for bugging out.  It really seems to come down to preppers who prize SUV's or Pickups. 

         Trucks are good bugout vehicles for the obvious reason that they can be loaded and transport large and awkwardly shaped loads. They are also able to have campers already packed that can just be slid into them the moment you need to bugout, leaving it free for day to day use.

So, now that you have seen the list of common bugout vehicles, send me your vote on which one you think would make the best one:

Ford Bronco

Toyota Land Cruiser

Chevy Blazer

Jeep Cherokee

Pickup Trucks

Stay prepared, stay safe!

Winterization Tips

       With the weather growing colder, I wanted to touch on some good ways to help winterize your home and property. Winterizing not only can save you a lot of money, but it will also extend the life of your home.
        Most of my tips I am passing along here, are taken from FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency), and their website: www.fema.gov

Insulation

         

        One of the best money saving steps that you can invest in for the winter is insulation. I just recently did this for my home for a ripping good deal, filling both sides of my attic, and noticed an immediate difference. This not only helps to keep the heat in your home throughout the cold months, lowering your heating bill, but it also helps to keep it cool during the warmer months too.
          Some good news about this process is that many gas and power companies will actually either pay for most of it, or, like in my situation, offer a mail in rebate. When all was said and done, I only ended up paying $99 for all of my attic to be re-insulated. I am now saving almost twice that a year. According to the men who came in installed the insulation you will usually only need to do it every 5-10 years. A great investment!

Caulking and Weather-Stripping

         Replacing and/or adding caulking and weather-stripping is a measure that I have also recently taken on my own home. This is a measure that you will do on doors and windows, preventing cold air to leak in and the warm to leak out. I used a putty knife, caulking and caulking gun, and a utility knife for trimming the weather-stripping, when I redid my doors and windows. You will want to be sure to remove any old caulking or weather-stripping prior to applying the new.
          There are a number of youtube videos that can give you a step by step tutorial on this.

Storm Windows and Plastic Covering

      Having an extra layer/buffer on your windows will improve the internal warmth of your home dramatically. The two most common way for doing this are storm windows and plastic. Storm windows are naturally the long term solution for your home, and can in some situations increase the value of the home. However, if you are like me, and have to be kind of choosy of which preps you do each month, then I would recommend using clear plastic. It can really be any type of large plastic sheeting, it's clarity does not seem to effect the warming effects, so I recommend getting as clear of plastic as you can, as to not limit either the sunlight, or attractiveness of your home. You can pull the plastic tight and flat enough that it is not immediately obvious.

Heating Equipment and Chimneys

        Few things are as nice in the winter as drinking a warm beverage while curled next to a crackling fire, or in a toasty room while looking out upon a frozen country side. For this reason I am greatly looking forward to putting my fireplace to good use this winter. However, prior to ever using it, or even using your heater, you should do a little bit of preventative maintenance on them. I actually just scheduled a chimney sweep to come and clean and inspect my chimney, and it only cost $119, and it is something that should be done at least once a year, if only for safety reasons.
         For your heater, a simple thing that you can do to help it run better and improve the overall quality of the air in your house is to simply change the filter. You can do this anywhere from $5-$25.
          You will also want to have all fuel burning and heating equipment vented and clear from clutter.
          I also recommend that you keep a fire extinguisher handy for emergencies.

Outdoor Winterization

        Winterizing the outside of your home can save you money by preventing damage to your home and property. One thing you should do every fall is to clean out your rain gutters, as this prevents moisture build up that can expand to damage your home and gutters when it freezes. You clean them in the fall, that way you can remove all of the fallen leaves and other debris from trees.
          You will also want to cut away any tree branches that could fall onto your house or other structures should they become overburdened by snow or ice. This is something that also is good to do for general storm protection.

Pipe Insulation

       You can also provide insulation for the pipes in your home. You can do this either by purchasing foam pipe insulation, as seen above, or FEMA recommends that you can wrap pipes in newspaper and plastic, though I think I would recommend the foam pipe covers, as I feel they are not only easier but safer.



Stay prepared, stay safe!

How to make soap from ashes and fat.

          In a SHTF scenario, especially those of extended duration, keeping up your personal hygiene can mean the difference between life and death. If you are not keep you and your gear clean, then you are more susceptible to sickness, disease, and infection. In these scenarios you will be lucky to find some of the soap products in local stores as other will be needing them too.
           So why compete with others over the last few bars on the store shelves, when you can manufacture your own bulk supply as easy as you can make dinner for your family. Another plus of making your own  soap over store bought is, you can know exactly what is in the product that you will be using on you and your family. Home made soap is also customizable, in color, shape, and scent.The process I will be going into can be done in not just a kitchen, but out in most wildernesses as well.
             So, how do you make your own soap? The easiest way, and from complete scrap, is with hard wood and animal fat. The animal fat can be gathered from whatever scraps of meat and meat drippings you happen to have on hand. And it is the ashes of hard wood actually, as soft woods are too resinous to mix with fat. The lye within the ashes is the key ingredient taken from the hard wood ash. This is a technique that some of you may be familiar with, if you are frequent campers, as an old camping trick for cleaning cooking pans and pots is to throw some of your fires white ashes mixed with some of the cooking fat byproduct into a crude soap, good for ruff washing cook ware.
             The process I will be going over is an improvement to this "hard soap" technique, and will be a lesson on the making of "soft soap" bars, meant to be used for the cleaning of people and clothing.

Step One: Making Lye

 
            The above diagram is a very basic way to filter and procure lye, however, I am going to focus on how to make both lye and soap in a kitchen environment.
             First, you want to boil the hard wood ashes in a little soft water, rain water is usually best, for about thirty minutes. Next, allow the ashes to settle to the bottom of the pan. Next, you want to skim the liquid lye off of the top. This can be done daily until you have gathered enough of the weak solution, then start the soap making process by boiling the liquid down until it can float an egg.

WARNING: You do not want to use any aluminum pots, pans, or dishes for this process, as the lye will eat through and destroy them.

Step Two: Rendering Tallow or Lard

          You now want to place the meat fat, leftover cooking tallow/lard and vegetable oil, into a kettle, not to exceed the half full point, then heat it all until all of the liquid had been rendered out of the solid pieces. Then strain out the pieces, leaving only clean liquid.

Step Three: Bringing it all Together

             
         While the meat tallow/lard is still hot, you want to add it to the bubbling lye, and continue to boil the mixture, stirring it at regular intervals, until it reaches a thick mush.
          At this point you then can choose to either pour the mushy mixture into separate molds, or into one large dish, which you can cut up after it cools. You will want to cover the bottom of the dish or wooden box with either wax paper or grease, to prevent the soap from sticking.

        So this is how you make the most basic soft soap. Recipe amounts can vary on preference and resources. I would recommend that you tryout a few different mixture ratios until you find one to your liking.


Stay prepared, stay safe!