This article is a guest post by Crazy Prepper Lady.  Her story of how she and her husband endured Hurricane Ivan, and learned the need to be prepared, can be found on The Daily Prepper News.  This post is their response to living through a hurricane with nearly no prepping prior to the event. ~Josh~

The Crazy Prepper Lady

By Sherry Churchill

My “Come to Jesus” moment occurred during Hurricane Ivan in 2004. My husband and I evacuated our Bayside home, but we only went 30 miles inland because we wanted to return home quickly. It wasn’t enough. Ivan was a borderline Category 4 and Pensacola had a target on its back. We thought we were going to die that night when the hotel roof caved in. We didn’t die, but it changed us forever.

In 2005, we moved to the outskirts of Tampa to be closer to my mom, who is a widow. This area is known for sinkholes, as we all recently learned when a young man sleeping in his bed was suddenly sucked under the earth, never to be found. Meanwhile, the economy took a nosedive, terrorists were going berserk, solar flares were occurring, nuclear disasters were happening, oil spills were increasing, the Mayans prophesied doom, the Egyptians prophesied doom, the Bible prophesies the Tribulation, and all I could think was “Lions and Tigers and Bears, OH MY!!!!”

My head was spinning as I began to research everything I could on disaster preparation. What disaster should we prepare for? How could we afford it? On a retiree’s income, I couldn’t simply buy a ready-kit of food for a year. My husband was on board with my preps, but not THAT on board. He is always thinking about money, silly man. So, rather than buy large kits and expensive items, I had to spend a little bit per month and buy in small quantities.

The first decision I had to make was what disaster to focus on. Hurricanes were number one, given our location of about one or two miles inland on the west coast of Florida. Besides the obvious evacuation plans and supplies needed, even minor hurricanes can bring additional problems if a family were to stay in their home. Power outage, water supply, food and fuel shortages. If we do evacuate, we will want to return home quickly to assess damage and protect our belongings. So, it appeared we had two main preps to gather: Evacuation supplies and long term in-home survival supplies. Long term could mean weeks or months under hardship and without assistance.

At first, I concentrated on evacuation. Large back packs containing mini-versions of what we would need in truly primitive circumstances, such as a hiking and camping scenario. Once the evacuation bags were complete, I prepared two cardboard file boxes (that I could lift by myself). One box was medical supplies and the other was additional tools. These boxes supplement the back-pack supplies. For instance, my hiking bag contains a 5-in-1 tool, but the box contains a larger version of each of the five tools. My hiking bag contains a small first aid kit, and the medical box contains a large kit and other medical supplies. These would be packed into the car for a long ride and hotel or camping situation. As a FEMA rep said during a workshop, “If you are evacuating and stuck on a highway with backed up traffic, you can’t simply run your car and A/C for hours at a time. Be prepared to turn off the engine, open your windows, or even sit outside under a canopy. Be prepared to eat and drink in your car because you won’t be able to pull off the highway to a restaurant.”

Next, I made a list of exactly what needed to be loaded in case of evacuation and where the items were located. Our camping equipment is kept in a cabinet in the garage. When you are in a hurry and stressed, it is easy to forget even important items. So the first thing I will grab is my checklist. I also keep detailed inventories of our food, supplies and locations. All spreadsheets, along with important scanned documents, are on my computer, as well as copies on a flash drive in my back-pack. Walkie-Talkies, emergency radios and a mini-Laptop are ready to go. My motto is: everything has a backup, and every backup has a backup.

Once the evacuation preps were complete, I began to concentrate on at-home survival supplies. A generator is essential to every household. By June 1 of every year (the start of hurricane season), we have at least ten gallons of gas on hand, which my husband uses for our cars in December. I also bought some converters that run off the car battery to power small appliances. Besides our grill, we have a camping stove and a supply of propane canisters.

Next, I beefed up our water sources. We have a pool, so I concentrated on inexpensive ways to filter the water. I bought four five-gallon long-term water storage containers, and a small home distiller that could be plugged into our generator in case I needed to use salt-water from the Gulf. Several bottles of water purification tabs and some other types of filters completed my water preps.

As for food, I began to coupon like a crazy woman. Every soup coupon or BOGO sale was an opportunity to buy hearty soups and canned meats that could be eaten cold if necessary. I date each can and keep a supply of around sixty. Now I buy two cans per month, rotate the cans and then donate the one-year old cans. After that, I also started to pad my other foods, paper goods and ingredients supply. If I normally would keep two of an item on hand, I now keep six or eight. Meanwhile, I order two or so #10 cans per month of freeze dried foods, which have a shelf-life of 20-30 years. I converted our largest walk-in closet to an emergency food and supply pantry. We now have enough for approximately six months, including some to give away to help others.

Last, but definitely not least, we keep carriers and supplies for our cats. They are our children and where we go, they go. We have a list of pet-friendly hotels and always keep extra food on hand. I also have a supply of home-made cat food nutrients for long-term survival.

Every few months, my husband will declare, “Okay, you can stop now”. I nod and then ignore him. Among our friends, none of whom have actually been through a disaster, I’m becoming affectionately known as the “Crazy Prepper Lady”. However, we know exactly who they’ll turn to if something happens, don’t we?

The Rainbow Family may seem unorganized at first glance, they are not.

They are the Rainbow Family of the Living Light, an assortment of aging hippies, teen wanderers and free spirits who have camped at the federal forest annually for more than 30 years to create their own haven for peace, love and harmony. From 1,000 to 5,000 people may show up at this year’s gathering, which lasts for a month and peaks in mid-February.

Some members follow the family from camp site to camp site across the nation.  Many of them barter for items or food within the group members.  They are misunderstood. 

“People think we’re just here being drunk drug addicts, but that’s not what it’s about,” said one man who wore a rainbow-colored crocheted beret over his ginger-colored Afro. “People are just hanging out, interacting with each other, enjoying each other and not putting up false masks. We don’t have to wear false masks here, like in the real world.”

The Rainbow Family, which is supposed to be based on love and light, still suffers from crime and violence just like any other civilization where people congregate.

Like preppers, they are willing to barter.  They plan in advance.  They are prepared for the event(s).  They can live for weeks or more at a time in the wilderness.  They don’t mind roughing it.  They are misunderstood.  But, that’s pretty much where the similarities end.  Preppers are prepared to defend their families and themselves with force if necessary.  Preppers will be selective about which preps to share and with whom.

The point is that no matter which type of society you live in, there will always be issues about behavior of other people.  Unlike the Rainbow Family, preppers can’t allow just anyone inside their gates.  The Rainbow Family simply rely on law enforcement to remove unsavory people who cause trouble.  Preppers won’t have that ability when TSHTF.

Josh

The Daily Prepper News

Reference:

“Rainbow Family of Aging Hippies, Teen Wanderers Chills out at Annual Ocala National Forest Encampment.” OrlandoSentinel.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Feb. 2013.

“Rainbow Family.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 15 Feb. 2013. Web. 16 Feb. 2013.

I was going through the posts and found this draft by Douglas T.  It was intriguing and a good read.  I hope you all enjoy it as much as I did.

Joshua

The Daily Prepper News

Prep & Pantry
Evolution Of A Preparedness App

I have been slowly building up my pantry over the last few years; going from a few extra days worth of food, to several months worth now. In the beginning, even with only a small box of food items, expiration dates would seem to sneak up on me. When my food stores reached the one month level I tried keeping a written inventory. Maintaining this pen and paper approach to keeping track of my food stores was cumbersome to say the least and expired items would still seemingly appear out of the blue.

One day, last November, I was sitting there on the pantry floor, surrounded by canned goods,  entering line after line of items in my inventory notebook, wondering if there was a better way. Typing everything into a spreadsheet wouldn’t be much of an improvement. It would be great if I could just use my iPhone to ‘zap’ items in and out of inventory. It would be even better if it would also warn me when items were about to expire.

An idea started to form. First and foremost, I wanted an app that I could use to scan the barcode to enter an item into inventory and scan the barcode to remove it from inventory. It had to be quick and easy to use because if it wasn’t, I just wouldn’t use it.  Second, the app needed to track expiration dates. What’s the use of tracking an inventory of perishables without knowing when they expire? Finally, once an item was removed from inventory I wanted it put into a shopping list so that I could replace it.

The search began. There are a few apps out there that have some of the features I was looking for.  I bought a couple of apps and downloaded a few others that were free to try. Some apps did barcode based inventory control, but no expiration dates. Other apps did inventory with expiration dates, but no barcode reading. Many of the apps were just difficult to use.

After some pretty extensive research, I decided to build my own app. Prep & Pantry version 1.0 was released June 16th. I’ve already released 3 or 4 updates, so the app has been smoothed out a bit, most of the bugs have been fixed, and a couple of features have been added.

Introducing Prep & Pantry for iPhone

When I created Prep & Pantry, my primary intention was to make it easier to inventory the contents of a pantry and to keep track of expiration dates. With a small tweak to the code I was also able to keep an inventory of my bug-out-bag and my first aid supplies. Some people are using the app to track coupons in addition to food inventory. I thought this was such a great idea, I now plan to integrate a specific coupon tracking feature into the app that ties in with the pantry items and the shopping cart feature.

One of the biggest features of the app is the online UPC look-up. When this is enabled, the app will take your entered barcode, send it to one of the two online databases, and if found, will return the item name. Not having to enter the item name each and every time really speeds up item entry.

When you first download the app, it is basically a blank slate and getting started is easy.
First you have to decide if you want the online UPC look-up feature enabled. This is found under settings. I really enjoy this feature so I highly recommend using it. That’s all there is for setup. You are ready to start entering items.

There are two options for entering the item barcode. Manual entry and barcode scanning. You need to have an iPhone 4 or 3GS, an iPad 2, or the iPod touch 4th generation to use the barcode scanner. If you are using an iPod touch 4G check out the support section of PrepAndPantry.com for some scanning tips. The iPod touch camera works a little differently and while it’s still quick and easy to use, it just takes a slightly different “touch”.

After entering the barcode Prep & Pantry will go get the item name and fill in the ‘item name’ field for you on the Add New Item screen. On this screen you can add a picture of the item, a description, and there is an option for tagging the item here too. Scroll down to enter the location and quantity; a little further down you will enter the expiration date. If you have only one location, a pantry for instance, the app will default to this. Press “Save” and you’re done. With Prep & Pantry’s automated features, items can be entered in as few as two taps!

To use an item from inventory is also super easy. Prep & Pantry first starts up on the green screen, this is the Add Items screen, to remove items from your inventory you need to be on the red Remove Item screen. Tapping on the Remove Item button will take you to the red screen, or my favorite way, flicking the screen from right to left. From the red screen, just enter the barcode number like before and you’re taken to the Remove Items screen. Here the items are presented to you by location and quantity. Tap “Remove” on the line of the specific item you are using. Tap “Save” to finish.

Prep & Pantry gives you several options for viewing your inventory. Alphabetical, by expiration, and by location. The alphabetical A-Z view has a very handy search feature which can be found when you scroll to the very top of the list. With the search bar you can search by item name, barcode, and tag. If you have been using the tag ‘beans’, that search term will show you all the items with ‘beans’ in the title as wells as the tag. The expiration view will list all of your items by, well, expiration. Starting with the items that have expired at the very top of the list, soon to expire next, and non-expiring at the very end.

If you have multiple locations you are tracking, the Location view will allow you to view  items by location.  Location is also one of the ways you can categorized your inventory. I currently have five locations I use: pantry, BOB, BOB-food, BOB-first aid, cache 1. Sure, I could use tagging to assign sub-categories to my BOB’s inventory, but I like the ease of using a location to organize the categories. One tap and I can see all the food items in my bug out bag.

In any of the list views, tapping on one of the list items will give you the details for that item. All the quantities by expiration and location. From here the item details can be edited, additional quantities can be put into inventory, and the item can be added to your Shopping Cart list.

When an item is used it is removed from inventory and added to the Shopping Cart. This provides you a convenient list of items that need to be replenished and just like the other list views, the Shopping Cart can be sorted in a number of ways. The Shopping Cart list can also be emailed to someone else from here.

There are a few features I have not addressed with this article, such as database backup and restore. Information about the other features of Prep & Pantry can be found on the app’s website, PrepAndPanty.com, or on iTunes.

I do want to mention that there are a number of exciting features in the pipeline including:
·    Additional options for refining the list views and the shopping cart list.
·    Reporting options. Export the database to excel and email-able inventory reports suitable for printing.
·    Integrated coupon tracking.
·    Purchase date and price tracking.
·    History and statistics reporting.
·    iCloud integration.

Data Security

I know that OPSEC is very important for myself and my fellow preppers. For some, there may be concerns with having your preps neatly organized on a smart phone, especially with the current reports of questionable privacy with Google and Apple.

I have pondered this and I approach this topic without being über paranoid (Meaning: not believing that Big Brother can look directly into my device and peruse the files at will.)

Prep & Pantry’s app data is more secure than the phone calls (or forum posts!) you make. As long as you are not using the automatic UPC lookup feature, no data is transmitted (over any network) by the app at any time. Even when using the optional online UPC lookup, only the barcode number is sent by Prep & Pantry to the online database and the product name is returned. Online UPC look-up is disabled by default making it your choice whether to use that feature or not.

Frank and full disclosure: the data on the device is not encrypted, the database system I use does not support it and I’m not willing to jump through the hoops to make it happen. Also, with software encryption, there would be export laws I would have to deal with and I just don’t want to. So simply enough, I chose the easiest and most secure method, keep the data off of the air and the device in my pocket. (Btw, iPhones do have built-in data encryption when you use the password lock.)

In the extreme view, the iPod touch users will be the most secure. They’re not on an open network and all the data is contained on the device. The only security issue would be if the device gets into “the wrong hands”.

Conclusion

My hope is that you will find Prep & Pantry to be as I intended; quick and easy to use, multi-purpose, user friendly, and time saving. As always, I am open to constructive feedback, new ideas, and feature suggestions.

Prep & Pantry is optimized to work on the iPhone 4 and 3GS, the iPad 2, and the iPod touch 4th gen. If you have one of the earlier generations of the iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, the app still works great, you will just not be able to use the barcode scanning feature.

Please visit PrepAndPantry.com. Here you will find more information about Prep & Pantry, answers to common support questions, and direct links to iTunes to purchase a copy.

Thank you and best regards,
Douglas T.
Creator of Prep & Pantry for iPhone.

An issue brought up on one of my favorite forums, Bushcraft USA , on recognizing signs of drowning. It isn’t the thrashing about usually portrayed on TV…quite the opposite.

Probably the most frightening statistic, according to the CDC, in the accidental death category…drowning is the number 1 killer of children ages 1-4, and number 2 killer of kids 5-14 (auto accidents are #1).

Would you recognize a drowning person? Chances are you only think you know what to look for.

“The new captain jumped from the deck, fully dressed, and sprinted through the water. A former lifeguard, he kept his eyes on his victim as he headed straight for the couple swimming between their anchored sportfisher and the beach. “I think he thinks you’re drowning,” the husband said to his wife. They had been splashing each other and she had screamed but now they were just standing, neck-deep on the sand bar. “We’re fine, what is he doing?” she asked, a little annoyed. “We’re fine!” the husband yelled, waving him off, but his captain kept swimming hard. ”Move!” he barked as he sprinted between the stunned owners. Directly behind them, not ten feet away, their nine-year-old daughter was drowning. Safely above the surface in the arms of the captain, she burst into tears, “Daddy!”

How did this captain know – from fifty feet away – what the father couldn’t recognize from just ten? Drowning is not the violent, splashing, call for help that most people expect. The captain was trained to recognize drowning by experts and years of experience. The father, on the other hand, had learned what drowning looks like by watching television. If you spend time on or near the water (hint: that’s all of us) then you should make sure that you and your crew knows what to look for whenever people enter the water. Until she cried a tearful, “Daddy,” she hadn’t made a sound. As a former Coast Guard rescue swimmer, I wasn’t surprised at all by this story. Drowning is almost always a deceptively quiet event. The waving, splashing, and yelling that dramatic conditioning (television) prepares us to look for, is rarely seen in real life.

The Instinctive Drowning Response – so named by Francesco A. Pia, Ph.D., is what people do to avoid actual or perceived suffocation in the water. And it does not look like most people expect. There is very little splashing, no waving, and no yelling or calls for help of any kind. To get an idea of just how quiet and undramatic from the surface drowning can be, consider this: It is the number two cause of accidental death in children, age 15 and under (just behind vehicle accidents) – of the approximately 750 children who will drown next year, about 375 of them will do so within 25 yards of a parent or other adult. In ten percent of those drownings, the adult will actually watch them do it, having no idea it is happening (source: CDC). Drowning does not look like drowning – Dr. Pia, in an article in the Coast Guard’s On Scene Magazine, described the instinctive drowning response like this:

Except in rare circumstances, drowning people are physiologically unable to call out for help. The respiratory system was designed for breathing. Speech is the secondary or overlaid function. Breathing must be fulfilled, before speech occurs.
Drowning people’s mouths alternately sink below and reappear above the surface of the water. The mouths of drowning people are not above the surface of the water long enough for them to exhale, inhale, and call out for help. When the drowning people’s mouths are above the surface, they exhale and inhale quickly as their mouths start to sink below the surface of the water.
Drowning people cannot wave for help. Nature instinctively forces them to extend their arms laterally and press down on the water’s surface. Pressing down on the surface of the water, permits drowning people to leverage their bodies so they can lift their mouths out of the water to breathe.
Throughout the Instinctive Drowning Response, drowning people cannot voluntarily control their arm movements. Physiologically, drowning people who are struggling on the surface of the water cannot stop drowning and perform voluntary movements such as waving for help, moving toward a rescuer, or reaching out for a piece of rescue equipment.
From beginning to end of the Instinctive Drowning Response people’s bodies remain upright in the water, with no evidence of a supporting kick. Unless rescued by a trained lifeguard, these drowning people can only struggle on the surface of the water from 20 to 60 seconds before submersion occurs.

(Source: On Scene Magazine: Fall 2006 (page 14))

This doesn’t mean that a person that is yelling for help and thrashing isn’t in real trouble – they are experiencing aquatic distress. Not always present before the instinctive drowning response, aquatic distress doesn’t last long – but unlike true drowning, these victims can still assist in their own rescue. They can grab lifelines, throw rings, etc.

Look for these other signs of drowning when persons are in the water:

Head low in the water, mouth at water level
Head tilted back with mouth open
Eyes glassy and empty, unable to focus
Eyes closed
Hair over forehead or eyes
Not using legs – Vertical
Hyperventilating or gasping
Trying to swim in a particular direction but not making headway
Trying to roll over on the back
Appear to be climbing an invisible ladder.

So if a crew member falls overboard and everything looks OK – don’t be too sure. Sometimes the most common indication that someone is drowning is that they don’t look like they’re drowning. They may just look like they are treading water and looking up at the deck. One way to be sure? Ask them, “Are you alright?” If they can answer at all – they probably are. If they return a blank stare, you may have less than 30 seconds to get to them. And parents – children playing in the water make noise. When they get quiet, you get to them and find out why.”

Being situationally aware at all times is key…even while on vacation, relaxing, etc.. You never know when even a micro-disaster might strike.