Category: SHTF

Bugout Bag Deficiencies

SHTF

Because it’s been a while since last I checked, I went through Ye Olde Bugge Outte Bagge on Sunday, and found myself short of a couple of items, most notably paracord.  (How the hell did that happen?  I used to have a 500′ drum  of the stuff.  There is some thick rope in the bag, but only about 25′ of it.)  Also short were facemasks, but I do have a few of those so no panic there, really.  Also lacking was the supply of water-purification tablets, all duly remedied by a quick trip to Academy.

The nunya gun and ammo were fine, of course, as was the backup supply of .22 ammo.

One disturbing shortcoming was that neither of my walkie-talkies works anymore — no idea how that happened, but they were only Radio Shack 1-mile cheapies, and I haven’t used them since about 2007 anyway, so I’m probably due a new pair.  Which brings me to an RFI:  does anyone have any idea of the latest and greatest in walkie-talkies?  Caveat:  I don’t want to spend a boatload of $$$ on them;  I just want them reliable, with about 2-5 miles range.  Features etc. to a minimum, especially if those have an effect on the total price.  All personal experience welcome (as with all my RFIs).

Other than that, all is well.

Update:  I’ll be getting these radios unless someone warns me off.

Staying Home II

Mocking Furriners, SHTF

It is, as they say, to LOL at our cousins in Britishland as they begin to panic:

Panic-buying Brits strip supermarket shelves of pasta, couscous and water: Shops are left bare of larder essentials as well as toilet roll, Berocca and disinfectant as coronavirus ‘preppers’ brace for meltdown

Couscous?  [exit, pissing myself laughing]

Sorry, had to clean up a little.  I do like the addition of Berocca (supposed hangover remedy, similar to Alka Seltzer) to the list of “emergency” supplies.

Just go ahead and read the article for more merriment.  Good grief, do these people keep anything in the house?

Followup:  of course, let’s not forget our own doomsayers here in Murka:

Staying At Home

Health, SHTF

It’s not often I get ahead of the rest of the noooz, but I think we covered this ground pretty well last week.

What to Buy For Home Emergency Kits if You’re Quarantined in The Coronavirus Outbreak

  • You should have a 14-day supply of food for everyone in your household. Focus on dry and canned goods that are easy to prepare.
  • Keep at least one gallon of water per day for each person – and pet – in your home, the American Red Cross recommends.  (Not sure about that;  if you’re staying in place, then you only ever need about a liter/quart of drinking water per day per person.)
  • Make sure you have hygienic products like antibacterial soap, hand sanitizer, toilet paper, tissues, feminine care products, and diapers.
  • If possible, get a 30-day supply of your prescription medications.  (We talked about this one.)
  • Maintain a first aid kit with supplies to treat common injuries.
  • Take note of other medical supplies you might need, such as contact lenses or hearing aid batteries. And make sure you have over-the-counter medicines like pain relievers and cough and cold medicines.
  • You may want to get copies of your health records.  (Should be easy under ObamaCare, right?)
  • Don’t forget about your mental health.

The last one is what worries me the most.  What keeps me sane is regular trips to the range, which would be impossible if I was doing my best Typhoid Mary impression requiring home incarceration.  But for some reason, most municipalities — including mine — seem to have a problem with people shooting .22s at squirrels, rabbits and coyotes in the yard, or similar.  Even air guns are frowned upon (which makes me feel batter about having donated mine to the Son&Heir’s old club, the Shooting Stars).  And don’t say the word “Airsoft” to me:  I tried it once, and it sucked, no substitute at all for real shooting, damn it.

Keeping sane when cooped up isn’t easy, especially when most of the TV fare on Netflix/Prime/Hulu etc. all suck large donkey dicks.

At least I have my books…

Hunkering Down

Health, SHTF

Here’s a SHTF scenario I hadn’t thought of before:  in-home quarantine because of the corona virus thing.  And not being prepared means this, and this nonsense:

Britons strip shop shelves of canned food and even bottled WATER amid growing fears people will be forced to spend weeks in isolation if coronavirus epidemic hits.

I’m pretty sure that New Wife and I could do three weeks’ isolation in a pinch, although Week 3 would be mighty boring fare (oatmeal, canned foods etc.).  But I think I’ll haul out Ye Olde Grabbe-And-Goe Bagge tomorrow, just to check on emergency supplies like face masks and hand wipes.

Do ye the same, O My Readers.

Afterthought:  while I have quite a lot of bottled water on hand, I also have a swimming pool not ten steps from the apartment.  The problem with pool water, of course, is the chlorine and such.  Does anyone have any ideas on filtering the taste out of it?

Replacements

Disaster, SHTF

A thoughtful post (as always) from Peter Grant, containing this insight:

[The company] sources a very large proportion of its products from that country, but its suppliers there — factories and exporters — are closed, and have been for weeks.  No-one knows when they’ll be open again.  The company is finding it very difficult to line up alternative suppliers fast enough to ensure that their products can get here in time to replace Chinese ones on their shelves as they run out.  If they can’t . . . they’ll have to close their doors.  It’s that simple.

Thousands of Chinese factories are closed because of the corona virus epidemic over there, and products of all kinds (not just the types referenced in the above excerpt) are not being shipped.

This, by the way, is why every country needs its own manufacturing base.  I know:  sometimes there are considerable cost savings to be realized by outsourcing production to cheaper (i.e. foreign) facilities — but those savings are only to be had if there is no disruption to the supply chain.  Come disaster — and given that China is one of the most consistently pox-ridden nations on Earth, and the source of so many of the world’s diseases — it should be clear that all those trumpeted “savings” are going to evaporate faster than Jeffrey Epstein’s emails.

Of particular concern is the fact that most pharmaceutical products are now either made in China, or else manufactured using Chinese raw materials — not just prescription meds, but also OTC stuff like analgesics.  Loyal Readers may recall that I myself had a scare in this regard a little while back, and learning my lesson from that, I set up a forward supply of my two most critical medications.

If you’re dependent on such meds, I hope you’ve done the same.

And just in passing, I should point out that all this has validated Trump’s initiatives in bringing manufacturing back home to the U.S. — although I doubt that Big Pharma ever responded, even though they should have — and if there is any criticism to be made here, it’s that Trump hasn’t pushed hard enough, through tariff protection of local manufacturing entities.

You see, it’s not just about protecting local workers, laudable though that may be;  it’s about strategically protecting the country from situations such as these.  And we need to do a lot more of that, if the current catastrophe teaches us anything at all.

News Roundup

Bad News, Mocking Furriners, Pussification Parade, SHTF

Short — kinda like Michael Bloomberg — takes on the news.

1) Australian Navy Delivers 800 Gallons of Emergency Beer to Bushfire-Hit Town — only 800?  Can’t have been more than a dozen survivors.  At least the Oz squids have their priorities right.  The US Navy would have brought in useless shit like water, without Scotch.

2) Bernie Sanders garners the Slut endorsement — that figures [sic].  Here’s the slut in question:

3) Everybody Blames Trump For Starting The Train Of Events Which Made Iran Shoot Down An Airliner — okay, if we’re going to go back down the “blame” trail, it’s actually Jimmy Carter’s fault in the first place, for letting the murderous ayatollahs take over in Iran.

4) Prince Ginger and Princess Caring-Slut look for supplemental income streams — I think this says it best: