Look around you, Who is preparing in any way?

Hopefully you have started putting back food and cloths. Maybe the odd coin or 2 in the piggy bank. Your 72 hour bags are prepared and loaded next to the closet door. You have a bug back bag in your trunk. This just in case the extreme happens and you need to make it home. Your set up. You have been working at this for sometime now. Your to the point where you know your preps will never be done. But if disaster hit right now you would have it covered. You know who's job it is to contact the kids. The school is on lock down but you have already told you teens sneak out and get to the south end under the bleachers and you would meet them there. You wont trust there lives to some government bureaucrat. So every one is monitoring their radios and you finally make it home. What ever this problem is, its keeping people in lock down confinement for a week. Your neighbors are going hungry. They have eaten the last of there pancakes with no syrup yesterday. The kids are hungry. They're bored. They cant go outside to play. Power is off so no video games or computers. Evening are worse, its dark and except for a few candles and maybe a lantern with a oil wick it remains dark. They'll be out of light in a few more days. Then what happens?

Mr Neighbor sees you have a stronger light in the evening and can even hear the muffled thrum of your generator in the garage keeping your battery banks charged and the freezer and TV working. Ms Neighbor comes over for some food to beg for her children. NOW its crunch time. You need to make a decision how to handle this. And of course a lot of factors come into play. Like what exactly is going on and how long will it last? Your reactions can depend somewhat on these answers.

We have decided to try and talk friends and neighbors into collecting their own food and extras. The less people come to my door the less I need to feed or turn away. Of course we wont turn away family and friends. I would never turn away a child. But there could be some people that would want to take what is your. Take it by any means necessary. Can you stop them? Do you have the means. I'm not talking about a gun or knife( knife = nasty business ) I mean do you have the mindset to survive, to defend your stuff, even to the point of extreme aggression. If needed could you kill to defend your child, your husband your wife. Having a firearm will make you dangerous to all concerned. Knowing how to us that arm will make you lethal to the right people. Get your permits to carry and practice. Practice dry firing 1000's of rounds in the house. Practice retention, practice clearing your home. ALL WITH AN EMPTY GUN. Then load it up at the range and shoot. If your allowed to draw and shoot, do it.

Cheryl and myself decided we have to feed even those of our family that is poo pooing the idea of getting prepared. That will be a big drain on our limited resources. But in our mind it is the right thing to do. But we will defend our property against thievery.

Just some more to ponder.

Bullets and beans

Using your food storage. Last week Cheryl was getting the taste for some Mexican food. I prepared a dish that mostly came from our food storage. Tortilla hot dish, (hot dish= casserole) its a MN thing. Any way it was real good. I also prepared some re fried beans out of the buckets of dried pinto beans we have on hand. Cheryl loves bean and cheese burrito's and having a container in the fridge lets us easily make a few for lunch when ever we want. Today after church it was rice and canned chow mien, easy and fast and all from food storage.

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Last night I heard on the news how a MPLS off duty cop working as security in at a gun show accidentally discharged his weapon and wounded another security guard who was a retired LEO. It seems to me anytime there is an anti gun legislature or anti gun bills waiting to be passed there is always some type of accident or worse a tragic event that happens. My problem is I do believe in conspiracies. So I look for them. The justice department is looking to ban imports of popular ammunition like 45acp, 9mm, 7.62x39, .308, 223, and a few others. If your a shooter or believe you have the right to self defense using a firearm and need ammunition for your weapons now would be a good time to stock up if you can. Actually it would have been better to start 6 months ago. Have you noticed the lack of ammunition on Wal-Marts shelves? I looked last week and they were out of almost all hand gun ammo except one box of 44 mag and a few boxes of 38 special. Even if all you have in the house is a 22 get your ammo for it now. Prices will continue to rise and somethings will just be hard to get later. Also if you can swing it, consider getting conversion kits for your pistols. It is something that will turn your 45 or 9mm into a 22. It makes for real cheap practice with the same gun you would use for defense.

Pressure canning on a camp stove.

Almost 20 years ago I found that I could use my camp stove to do some pressure canning. We had a glass top range in our home. That was fine for most things, but it wouldn't bring a pressure cooker up the pressure. What I did was bring in my Coleman propane camp stove. That camp stove would bring a pressure cooker up to full pressure as fast as any gas stove would. One of the benefits I noticed from using this camping stove was I could move the stove where I needed it. if it was a hot day. I could move it to the basement, or even outdoors. This kept most of the kitchen, even the rest of the house, relatively cool on a hot summer day. I have used both propane and gas in our camp stove to can many items. Be careful of using gas indoors. It would need to be well ventilated and indoor use is not recommended. But propane does not offer the same problems. For a gas stove such as dual fuel or white gas outdoor use is really the only consideration. Propane use in a confined area becomes a consideration if you're not able to supply enough oxygen to the room.

If you lose power, are you able to cook a meal? Keeping your camp stove accessible would allow you to a least heat up a meal for your family.

Canning in the heat of summer

Years ago we used to have a glass topped stove. For most things, it worked just fine. But I found that it was difficult to get a pressure cooker up to pressure to can vegetables or meat. One of the ways I dealt with this is I used our camping stoves. I could do this either indoors or outdoors. I had a kitchenette set up in our basement with a sink, counter tops, tables, cabinets and just didn't have a refrigerator or stove. So I brought my propane camp stove to the basement and used it to bring my pressure cooker up to pressure. It worked great and kept the heat out of the kitchen. Ive even done this outside in my back yard on the picnic table. Just find a spot where the wind wont be a problem with the flame.

There is currently more talk on the internet news sites about drought and food shortages around the world. Effected areas I have read a little about are China and parts of South America. Seems this would concern us in the USA as well. Not so much that we are having a drought but because of import and export. I hear rumblings that the cost of grains are going to go up again.

Also H5N1 is still rumbling around out there. China and Indonesia are still dealing with this in a big way. I hear the CDC says its only a few mutations from being easily transmitted human to human. Ive been hearing this for quite a spell now, but that doesn't make it any less so. It just give people more time to study and prepare.

If you don't have your supply of grains or items that depend on grain, now may be a good time to get started. Its never to late to get started until it really is to late. Think of the parable of the Ten Virgins. The five that kept their oil full were allowed in. The foolish five that wasted time were not allowed in. Yet at anytime before the Bride Groom came and the doors were locked they could have filled their lamps and gained entry as well. Also think of what the the five foolish virgins did. They asked the wise virgins to share with them and what was the wise virgins response? They didn't share did they? There are plenty of other parables and not all need come from the scripture to be correct. Think of the grasshopper and the ant.

There are many things transpiring around the world to upset our way of life. This post isn't meant as a news post. There may be some of those in the future. But it is a recommendation to fill your oil lamps. There are many places online that sell bulk grains. Just do a search. Also make sure you never leave the grocery store with out at least one item to add to your food storage. Make it a rule to live by.

Do you have a way to stay warm in prolonged cold? How about light or a way to cook simple meals? I think these are all worth discussing in my next post. For now I need to get Cheryl to Rehab.
Adios