lets discuss preps for disasters

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Good thread. what are you gonna do when 20 little kids come running up to your place rummaging?

Just asking.

 

[MossRoad]

Depends how tender they are....

 

[MossRoad]

A distiller is the best way to have pure drinking water. Also a basement isn't just for tornados. They can be a life saver in a power outage during extreme heat and cold.

Yeah, our basement is very cool in the summer. Like natural air conditioning. However, it will get downright cold in the winter. You can see your breath down there. That's because is sticks up out of the ground two feet and has no insulation around the outside wall. Its old. Modern basements can be very warm in winter. We have our wood burner down there. It takes a day or two for the slab to warm up, but once its warm it stays warm for two-three days, even when its well below zero outside.

 

[riptides]

Depends how tender they are....

The Book of Eli, comes to mind, again...

 

[Garycw]

Yeah, our basement is very cool in the summer. Like natural air conditioning. However, it will get downright cold in the winter. You can see your breath down there. That's because is sticks up out of the ground two feet and has no insulation around the outside wall. Its old. Modern basements can be very warm in winter. We have our wood burner down there. It takes a day or two for the slab to warm up, but once its warm it stays warm for two-three days, even when its well below zero outside.

Our basement has a wood burner and a propane fireplace, match light cooking stove/ oven. Two 500 gal propane tanks connected to house. A power inverter & batteries to run blowers & fans. Also have city water, a good spring and a cpl food grade 275 gal caged totes. A electric & non electric distilled and 1/2 ac pond, 550 watt solar panels, a gas and propane generators, 12vdc water pumps 300 gal gas & 100 gal deisel tanks.but shhhh! Don't tell anyone!!

 

[Soundguy]

As for radios working after the CME or EMP, yes the vhf repeaters will likely be fried but simplex 2 meters can easily work for 50 miles with proper location and antennas. Also 80 meters with an NVIS antenna is your typical 200 300 mile solution. Try to keep the antennas around 10 foot high or so. Even lower can work but become a nuisance for people accidentally running into them. I have a nice little backup 12 volt radio the FT 450 . the power can easily be adjusted from 5 to 100 watts. And the display can be dimmed or even turned completly off to conserve power. A simple compact all mode hf thru 6 meter rig, yet full featured.

Ditto that!

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

I can't answer my own question either, but it might be one of the most important preparedness items to plan for.

 

[oosik]

Our biggest disaster around here is wildfires. So if one comes thru and burns everything - I'll be staying in a local hotel, eating meals in the local restaurants and watching as my new house is rebuilt. That's what homeowners insurance is all about.

Been here 33+ years and the longest power outage was 26 hours - not even long enough to consider starting the generator. PB&J sandwiches did get a little old.

Otherwise - something like a super eruption of Yellowstone is not a worry - I'll be long gone and buried under feet of ash.

 

[PhysAssist]

Or get a life straw for $20 and drink up to 1000 liters of mud puddles safely.

LifeStrawｮ

Or, if you use a simple prefilter like running it through cloth (even a T-shirt), you can more than double the use of it.

 

[/pine]

Ditto that!

I have a foot locker that is lined with 1/16" lead I recovered from a contract I had to remodel a former health clinic...the radiology(x-ray) room had been shielded with sheetrock that had the lead sheets laminated onto it...even the door to the room had a sheet of lead in it...!...the "glass" the tech looked through was lead crystal...!

The locker makes a great place to stash vulnerable electronic stuff...

BTW...every elec. outlet box had special (lead) liners...and every drywall screw had special little lead things (for lack of a better word) that were pasted into the heads before they were mudded over...