Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.

Man, every day its something new out of the Katrina incident.

Are you tired of me going on about it yet, 'cause I sure am.

BUT…enormous incidents like these don't come along very often, so when one does occur, giving us a chance to see our fine government agencies in action, its definitely worth an exhaustive examination.

To people like me (and maybe you) who have kept one foot planted firmly in the notion of preparedness for the last ten years or so this experience shows what we've been saying all along – in a truly large, massive crisis the government response will either be a) useless and inadequate and/or b) heavy-handed authoritarianism mixed with a healthy dose of the police state. And, ladies and gentlemen, I have been dismissed as a crackpot for saying such things in the past. Do I feel vindicated? Sure. More importantly I hope that these events have tipped people off the fence and solidly into the 'my safety and welfare is my own responsibility, not the governments' camp.

Mostly, I hope that people have learned that the police aren't there to help you in a crisis nearly as much as they are there to help themselves…and that people will prepare with this in mind.

I'd also like to take a moment to say that not every single cop is a thug, wanna-be tough guy, or picked-on kid who grew up to want to be a bully himself. Nah, Im sure there are a very few out there who realize that being a cop doesnt make them better than the citizenry theyre charged with protecting. Very few. To them, I hope their good work is noted and that they can distance themselves from their 'respect mah authority' co-workers…at least, distance themselves far enough to avoid the spatter.

I have this fantasy about starting a website listing every NOPD officers name and listing whether or not they showed up for work during Katrina, if they were caught on tape looting, or if they just turned and ran. Then I'd use this website to keep track of them and make sure that every time they went to apply with another agency, their bad deeds were brought to light. Why? Because if you have the power to take away someones civil rights than you had bloody well better be a Boy Scout or else you should be strung up from the nearest telephone pole.

end of rant
=====
Know what makes preparing for the apocalypse alot easier? Having someone close to you who a) doesnt think youre out of your mind, b) takes an interest, c) encourages through positive comments like “You know, Ireally love that you [stockpile food, store extra fuel, buy toilet paper in the 48 pack, etc]..it makes me feel safe”, d) all of the above.

I read alot of things in the various boards about how “I'm trying to explain to my (wife/husband) why we need to stock up on [item] and all they do is say Im wasting time and money!” and I'm so glad I dont have to deal with that. I also enjoy knowing that if Im away and theres a problem, she's got all of the resources on hand to keep things safe and sane.

So…lucky me.
=====
I was watching some footage from someplace other than Louisiana where a whole town was, literally, wiped away. Serious. Nothing but concrete pads where all the little houses and shops were. Which naturally gets me wondering what kind of structure you could build to resist something like that. All Im coming up with is a streamlined concrete structure of some type. Did I mention my latest brainstorm for fabricating your own durable, easy-and-fast-to-build concrete sheds, outbuildings and dog kennels? No? Okay, follow me on this: get a mold and make concrete Lego blocks.

Seriously, man!

Think about it a minute. You make some moulds to cast a block thats, oh, say 12×12×18. Then you just stack 'em however you want in whatever configuration you want. Then trowel over the whole thing with some more concrete. Presto! Instant concrete building. How is it different from cinder blocks? Cause these babies lock together in a fashion that helps to keep them from pulling apart or tipping over. Sure, you'll probably want some rebar here and there but think of the simple and expedient buildings you could make. Reatining walls! Curbs! Horse stalls! Machinegun nests! Driveway dividers! Wave of the future, my friends…. completely modular.

Man, every day its something new out of the Katrina incident.

Are you tired of me going on about it yet, ’cause I sure am.

BUT…enormous incidents like these don’t come along very often, so when one does occur, giving us a chance to see our fine government agencies in action, its definitely worth an exhaustive examination.

To people like me (and maybe you) who have kept one foot planted firmly in the notion of preparedness for the last ten years or so this experience shows what we’ve been saying all along – in a truly large, massive crisis the government response will either be a) useless and inadequate and/or b) heavy-handed authoritarianism mixed with a healthy dose of the police state. And, ladies and gentlemen, I have been dismissed as a crackpot for saying such things in the past. Do I feel vindicated? Sure. More importantly I hope that these events have tipped people off the fence and solidly into the ‘my safety and welfare is my own responsibility, not the governments’ camp.

Mostly, I hope that people have learned that the police aren’t there to help you in a crisis nearly as much as they are there to help themselves…and that people will prepare with this in mind.

I’d also like to take a moment to say that not every single cop is a thug, wanna-be tough guy, or picked-on kid who grew up to want to be a bully himself. Nah, Im sure there are a very few out there who realize that being a cop doesnt make them better than the citizenry theyre charged with protecting. Very few. To them, I hope their good work is noted and that they can distance themselves from their ‘respect mah authority’ co-workers…at least, distance themselves far enough to avoid the spatter.

I have this fantasy about starting a website listing every NOPD officers name and listing whether or not they showed up for work during Katrina, if they were caught on tape looting, or if they just turned and ran. Then I’d use this website to keep track of them and make sure that every time they went to apply with another agency, their bad deeds were brought to light. Why? Because if you have the power to take away someones civil rights than you had bloody well better be a Boy Scout or else you should be strung up from the nearest telephone pole.

end of rant
=====
Know what makes preparing for the apocalypse alot easier? Having someone close to you who a) doesnt think youre out of your mind, b) takes an interest, c) encourages through positive comments like “You know, Ireally love that you [stockpile food, store extra fuel, buy toilet paper in the 48 pack, etc]..it makes me feel safe”, d) all of the above.

I read alot of things in the various boards about how “I’m trying to explain to my (wife/husband) why we need to stock up on [item] and all they do is say Im wasting time and money!” and I’m so glad I dont have to deal with that. I also enjoy knowing that if Im away and theres a problem, she’s got all of the resources on hand to keep things safe and sane.

So…lucky me.
=====
I was watching some footage from someplace other than Louisiana where a whole town was, literally, wiped away. Serious. Nothing but concrete pads where all the little houses and shops were. Which naturally gets me wondering what kind of structure you could build to resist something like that. All Im coming up with is a streamlined concrete structure of some type. Did I mention my latest brainstorm for fabricating your own durable, easy-and-fast-to-build concrete sheds, outbuildings and dog kennels? No? Okay, follow me on this: get a mold and make concrete Lego blocks.

Seriously, man!

Think about it a minute. You make some moulds to cast a block thats, oh, say 12x12x18. Then you just stack ’em however you want in whatever configuration you want. Then trowel over the whole thing with some more concrete. Presto! Instant concrete building. How is it different from cinder blocks? Cause these babies lock together in a fashion that helps to keep them from pulling apart or tipping over. Sure, you’ll probably want some rebar here and there but think of the simple and expedient buildings you could make. Reatining walls! Curbs! Horse stalls! Machinegun nests! Driveway dividers! Wave of the future, my friends…. completely modular.

Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.

The girlfriend had her 2-day 'practical rifle' course this weekend. Keep in mind that other than about 60 rounds the shot off last weekend she had no experience with a turnbolt centerfire. By the end of the course she was hitting eggs at 400 yards. Man-sized silhouettes were a given at that distance. In fact, she's now jaded that hitting anything less than 300 yards isnt much of a challenge. The final shoot of the day was at 500 yards and that was a bit trickier, but she gave a good accounting of herself. She's come to see that a rifle is a very personal firearm in the sense that you cant just pass a rifle around to several different people and have it shoot as well for all of them. So, now she needs her own .308 boltgun. One of the guys there had a Rem. 700 LTR that she liked although I'm leaning towards the Savage for its Accutrigger and easily swappable barrel. (Yes, she could put a Timney in the LTR but the Savage comes from the factory with a fabulous fully adjustable trigger.) Regardless, her confidence in hitting a deer-sized target has increased to the point where she no longer feels that she wouldnt want to take a shot past 100 yards…now its developing into 'if I can see it, I can hit it'.

Being the 'gear queer' that I am, I asked for stats about what the other shooters had. There were two .300 Win Mags, the rest were .308's. There was a Browning A-Bolt, a Model 70 and a Kimber 84..the rest were various flavors of Remington including one Remington 710 ('the plastic gun') that some poor bastard was shooting FMJ out of and having a hell of a time hitting anything. (He was also the guy with the Bushnell…so, obviously, he was shooting the gun as it was packaged – rifle/scope combo). The girlfriend was shooting my CZ550 Varminter in .308. There was a Bushnell, a Burris and the rest of the field was Leupold..mostly variable although one guy was using a fixed 6x…which I think is a good all-purpose hunting scope. The majority of shooters used bipods and the rest just threw the rifles across their packs in the prone position.
=====
The fun never stops in New Orleans. Nice little footage of a grandma in her house with her stored food and a pistol arguing with the SWAT team thats there to 'help' her…right up to the point one guy tackles her, snatches away her pearl handled .38 and they hustle the crying woman onto the back of a truck for 'processing'. And then they feel good because they 'helped' her.  And, the great part, is that through the whole video she's saying 'I dont want you in my house, get out' and they just stand there..without a warrant, telling her she has to go and that theyre there to 'help' her.

More stories, some not quite verifiable, of one group of cops asking civvies for details on what guns they have just so 'they know who has what' and then another group of comes coming along later and working off a list, takes those same guns.

If any of you are surprised by this, then you havent been following the trends since 1992. Its a sad thing to say, but some homeowner needs to sacrifice everything and just start shooting these thugs.
=====
Picked up a very swell little stove this weekend. ( http://www.optimus.se/img/product/svea1.gif, http://www.optimus.se/img/product/svea2.gif) Its ostensibly for the girlfriend during hunting season but I like it alot. Its a little Primus that comes with a small stand and an aluminum cup that all nests together to save space. These things arent as light as , say, a small folding stove with a butane cartridge but its utterly bulletproof. World War I technology, no moving parts, no pumps, no hoses, no fuel bottlle, nada. Just brass and steel and some old-world ingenuity. Oh, and it was $25. A gallon of Coleman fuel and this thing would keep a refugee in New Orleans cooking for a good bit of time. I store Coleman fuel for my lanterns but thats only one part of the fuel equation….I keep propane, kerosene and Coleman but the primary fuel is kerosene. The other two fuels are just for convenience and to spread out my ability to use scavenged fuels.

EDIT: Hunh…turns out this stove is still being sold with almost no changes since it was first made in the late 1800's. Thats bulletproof tech. Model? Its a Optimus Climber Svea 123R Stove
=====
I can see where in a situation like whats going on in New Orleans it would make sense to answer the door and, when the friendly MP-5 toting people who are there to 'help' ask for the guns, to hand over a Ruger 10/22 and a CZ-52 or Jennings and act tearfull about it…then wait an hour after their gone and pull the Glock and AR out from behind the refrigerator and continue with life.

The girlfriend had her 2-day ‘practical rifle’ course this weekend. Keep in mind that other than about 60 rounds the shot off last weekend she had no experience with a turnbolt centerfire. By the end of the course she was hitting eggs at 400 yards. Man-sized silhouettes were a given at that distance. In fact, she’s now jaded that hitting anything less than 300 yards isnt much of a challenge. The final shoot of the day was at 500 yards and that was a bit trickier, but she gave a good accounting of herself. She’s come to see that a rifle is a very personal firearm in the sense that you cant just pass a rifle around to several different people and have it shoot as well for all of them. So, now she needs her own .308 boltgun. One of the guys there had a Rem. 700 LTR that she liked although I’m leaning towards the Savage for its Accutrigger and easily swappable barrel. (Yes, she could put a Timney in the LTR but the Savage comes from the factory with a fabulous fully adjustable trigger.) Regardless, her confidence in hitting a deer-sized target has increased to the point where she no longer feels that she wouldnt want to take a shot past 100 yards…now its developing into ‘if I can see it, I can hit it’.

Being the ‘gear queer’ that I am, I asked for stats about what the other shooters had. There were two .300 Win Mags, the rest were .308’s. There was a Browning A-Bolt, a Model 70 and a Kimber 84..the rest were various flavors of Remington including one Remington 710 (‘the plastic gun’) that some poor bastard was shooting FMJ out of and having a hell of a time hitting anything. (He was also the guy with the Bushnell…so, obviously, he was shooting the gun as it was packaged – rifle/scope combo). The girlfriend was shooting my CZ550 Varminter in .308. There was a Bushnell, a Burris and the rest of the field was Leupold..mostly variable although one guy was using a fixed 6x…which I think is a good all-purpose hunting scope. The majority of shooters used bipods and the rest just threw the rifles across their packs in the prone position.
=====
The fun never stops in New Orleans. Nice little footage of a grandma in her house with her stored food and a pistol arguing with the SWAT team thats there to ‘help’ her…right up to the point one guy tackles her, snatches away her pearl handled .38 and they hustle the crying woman onto the back of a truck for ‘processing’. And then they feel good because they ‘helped’ her.  And, the great part, is that through the whole video she’s saying ‘I dont want you in my house, get out’ and they just stand there..without a warrant, telling her she has to go and that theyre there to ‘help’ her.

More stories, some not quite verifiable, of one group of cops asking civvies for details on what guns they have just so ‘they know who has what’ and then another group of comes coming along later and working off a list, takes those same guns.

If any of you are surprised by this, then you havent been following the trends since 1992. Its a sad thing to say, but some homeowner needs to sacrifice everything and just start shooting these thugs.
=====
Picked up a very swell little stove this weekend. ( http://www.optimus.se/img/product/svea1.gif, http://www.optimus.se/img/product/svea2.gif) Its ostensibly for the girlfriend during hunting season but I like it alot. Its a little Primus that comes with a small stand and an aluminum cup that all nests together to save space. These things arent as light as , say, a small folding stove with a butane cartridge but its utterly bulletproof. World War I technology, no moving parts, no pumps, no hoses, no fuel bottlle, nada. Just brass and steel and some old-world ingenuity. Oh, and it was $25. A gallon of Coleman fuel and this thing would keep a refugee in New Orleans cooking for a good bit of time. I store Coleman fuel for my lanterns but thats only one part of the fuel equation….I keep propane, kerosene and Coleman but the primary fuel is kerosene. The other two fuels are just for convenience and to spread out my ability to use scavenged fuels.

EDIT: Hunh…turns out this stove is still being sold with almost no changes since it was first made in the late 1800’s. Thats bulletproof tech. Model? Its a Optimus Climber Svea 123R Stove
=====
I can see where in a situation like whats going on in New Orleans it would make sense to answer the door and, when the friendly MP-5 toting people who are there to ‘help’ ask for the guns, to hand over a Ruger 10/22 and a CZ-52 or Jennings and act tearfull about it…then wait an hour after their gone and pull the Glock and AR out from behind the refrigerator and continue with life.

Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.

I am just way oversaturated in media coverage of the Katrina event. On one hand, its vitally important that I get as much information as possible, from as many sources as possible, so I can learn and see what works, what doesnt work, what should have been done differently and what shouldnt have been done at all. You don't often get this kind of mass destruction and population displacement in a first-world country without a war of some kind. This is an outstanding 'field laboratory' to see what works and what doesn't.

On the other hand, its mucking with my head with some of these infuriating tales of looting, agency turf battles and way-too-needy victims.

I read about a couple kids who stood in  line with their mom for a couple hours to get a hot meal from the Salvation Army. A gal there sees these kids and decides to give them a treat and gives each one a jumbo box of Pop Tarts…..and then the kids examine the box, see its a flavor they dont like, and hand them back.   People at the Guantanadome complained that after days of no food all they got were MRE's….Others rush the scene when a helicopter tries to land, forcing the copter to drop the cases of water from 20' where they burst open, useless, as a few smarter survivors futiley try to keep the crowd back so the copter can land…

Theres an expression 'There are no victims, only volunteers'.

Sure theyre tired, sure theyre hungry, sure theyre scared…..but people have always been hungry, scared and tired and while many of them make poor decisions because of it, even more don't…Im almost starting to think that the survivors/victims biggest enemy is themselves.

==========
I am having the most fascinating email conversation with a fella. He's telling me all about his emergency power system that he put together to run his gear during a blackout. Its an extremely informative read and if it's okay with him I may post some parts of it that I think the rest of you might find interesting. My needs are pretty simple: lighting, coomunications, battery charging… all things that are normally DC anyway, so right off the bat I can streamline things by leaving out the inverter for AC. (Although I might have one anyway just to play it safe.) Between fluorescent/LED lighting, small wattage radio and D- and AA-battery charger, I should be able to run for a failry good bit of time off a large enough bank of batteries. My own reading on the subject, and these emails, are convincing me that the AGM (absorbed glass media) batts will fit my needs since I want something that minimizes hydrogen gas during recharge…I want to keep these indoors in my basement area and I'd very much like to not have to worry about venting issues.
==========
“What would McGyver do” is rapidly becoming my problem-solving paradigm when I think of how Id cope with conditions in New Orleans. Of course, that means I really need to shell out the shekels and get a Leatherman Wave.

I am just way oversaturated in media coverage of the Katrina event. On one hand, its vitally important that I get as much information as possible, from as many sources as possible, so I can learn and see what works, what doesnt work, what should have been done differently and what shouldnt have been done at all. You don’t often get this kind of mass destruction and population displacement in a first-world country without a war of some kind. This is an outstanding ‘field laboratory’ to see what works and what doesn’t.

On the other hand, its mucking with my head with some of these infuriating tales of looting, agency turf battles and way-too-needy victims.

I read about a couple kids who stood in  line with their mom for a couple hours to get a hot meal from the Salvation Army. A gal there sees these kids and decides to give them a treat and gives each one a jumbo box of Pop Tarts…..and then the kids examine the box, see its a flavor they dont like, and hand them back.   People at the Guantanadome complained that after days of no food all they got were MRE’s….Others rush the scene when a helicopter tries to land, forcing the copter to drop the cases of water from 20′ where they burst open, useless, as a few smarter survivors futiley try to keep the crowd back so the copter can land…

Theres an expression ‘There are no victims, only volunteers’.

Sure theyre tired, sure theyre hungry, sure theyre scared…..but people have always been hungry, scared and tired and while many of them make poor decisions because of it, even more don’t…Im almost starting to think that the survivors/victims biggest enemy is themselves.

==========
I am having the most fascinating email conversation with a fella. He’s telling me all about his emergency power system that he put together to run his gear during a blackout. Its an extremely informative read and if it’s okay with him I may post some parts of it that I think the rest of you might find interesting. My needs are pretty simple: lighting, coomunications, battery charging… all things that are normally DC anyway, so right off the bat I can streamline things by leaving out the inverter for AC. (Although I might have one anyway just to play it safe.) Between fluorescent/LED lighting, small wattage radio and D- and AA-battery charger, I should be able to run for a failry good bit of time off a large enough bank of batteries. My own reading on the subject, and these emails, are convincing me that the AGM (absorbed glass media) batts will fit my needs since I want something that minimizes hydrogen gas during recharge…I want to keep these indoors in my basement area and I’d very much like to not have to worry about venting issues.
==========
“What would McGyver do” is rapidly becoming my problem-solving paradigm when I think of how Id cope with conditions in New Orleans. Of course, that means I really need to shell out the shekels and get a Leatherman Wave.

Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.

Warnings – There were several days warnings. Given the choice of whether to leave or stay, I cant say what I'd have done. I need more information to make an informed decision. If I was certain that my house was going to be flooded out, I'd probably pack as much gear as possible and head for a friends or alternate location. But, I'd have done it at least 24 hrs beforehand

Police – These guys were more dangerous than the looters. I'd have avoided them and stayed out of their way. However, if one came to my doorstep demanding gasoline for his police car and wouldnt take 'no' for an answer…well, theres going to be alot of unsolved shootings down there I suspect. This confirmed my belief that while the cops and other government officals may mean well, the individual officers/agents can have their own ideas. Avoid these people if at all possible. Low profile would seem best. I was wary of these people before all of this, after reading how things have just spun out of control down there Im even more convinced that, if they arent your enemy, cops certainly arent your friends.

Power – No intelligent human could have figured the power was goingt o stay on or even be back on within a few days once the storm hit. Flashlights are great but for hot water, heat and area lighting you need something more substantial. Right now just about anything would work..Coleman propane stove, Volcano charcoal stove, kerosene heater and lamps, Coleman lanterns, etc, etc. For running electrical devices a small generator would sure be nice if you could keep it quiet and hidden. And for crying out loud, get something with good fuel possibilities….a gas or diesel generator would probably work best since your 500-gallon propane tank is probably floating adown the street.

Food – Portable. Long term. Single serving. Reasonably nutritious.  In this situation I think the MRE is top of the heap. Freeze drieds would be nice but require clean water. Canned food would work but its heavy and you may have to beat feet in a hurry. A case of MRE's holds 12 meals. At two per day per person you could go almost a week on a case of MRE's. If youre house didnt get destroyed, staying put would be alot easier with food on hand. This supports my belief that you should spread your egss into several baskets….canned (for static positions), MRE (for mobility and minimal prep), freeze-drieds (for extended long term and mobility).

Refrigeration – No power means no fridge unless you have a kerosene or propane powered fridge. While I keep alot of stuff in the freezer, I am quite aware that as far as my disaster planning is concerened it may as well not exist since once the power goes out its pretty much garbage after a couple days. Thus, my emphasis on long-term, shelf-stable foods. A generator would be great for keeping the freezer going if youre going to remain in place.

Sanitation – Dysentary is already suspected at one refugee center. I know the hows and whys of dysentary, cholera and typhoid and universally they are 100% avoidable if you'll just wash your hands, keep yourself clean, keep your food and eating utensils clean, and exercise good toilet management. Having a small kit of toiletries to last a week or two makes an immeasurabel difference in morale and hygiene. It probably also helps to keep you from being shot as a looter if you look presentable.

Evacuating – If theres ever been an example of planning your escape and being ready for it, this is it. Bridges down, roads impassable and gas unavailable. Knowing where the bridges are, where the chokepoints are, the range of your vehicles gas tank in relation to safe areas…this is all stuff you need to know. Gear has to be in man-portable, watertight containers so you can grab it and go, go , go.

Firearms – Only an idiot would have chosen to sit this one out without a gun. I'd go with the handgun and a good military rifle. Some would go with the shorgun and thats a good choice, but I can carry more ammo for a rifle and I want the high-cpactiy and the car-punching ability of a rifle caliber. Im leaning towards the .223 for a couple reasons…if I have to go mobile, ammo is alot lighter. Also the profile of an AR might be a little less intimidating to a triggerhappy cop than an AK….he might think Im 'one of them' or something. For a static position (like staying home) I like the AK.  For handguns, the Glock 9mm seems the way to go. i want capacity over caliber in this situation.

Ammo – Lots of it in portable containers. Ammo cans work well. I'd probably keep my .223 in bandoleers in an ammo can. If I had to leave in a hurry I'd try to grab 2 boxes (100 rds) of 9mm, some shotgun shells, and at least 300 rounds for my  AR. This is where the lighter weight of the .223 comes in handy. This event shows the obvious reason to store plenty of ammo and store it in watertight containers.

Communication – If there was ever a reason to learn ham radio this is it. Short range communications like FRS radios or CB's woud be handy. Especailly if, like , youre trying to run an office building. Cellphone towers are without power so theyre pretty useless until someone sets up some mobile towers.

Mobility – A decent vehicle would have made the difference for alot of people in New Orleans. Even if they didnt have a car, a fella on a bicycle with a backpack probably could have gotten to safety in a day. Maybe two.

Fuel – What I read said that if you had gasoline you could name your price on anything you wanted in the disaster area. This is so true that Im formulating a fuel storage plan and rotation schedule. Fuel for generators, fuel for vehicles, fuel for cooking, fuel for lighting.  Diesel or gasoline would do all that.

Commerce – Gasoline and cigarettes are the big barter items in New Orleans, I read. It made me think that maybe a couple of those small 1 and 2 gallon plastic gas cans at WalMart might be a good idea for when you need small change (1 – 2 gallons) and all you have are large bills (5-gallon jugs). It wasnt mentioned, but Id bet a pistol and 50 rounds of ammo would go pretty far as well. Gold coins are handy, but sometimes its the goods that deliver.

Planning – More than anyting else, this event shows that you must plan for these sorts of things and follow your plan. Make a list of gear, and get it. Make a list of skills, and learn them. Make a list of routes out of the area and drive them.

looters – Reports were of looted Kmart gun counters providing arms for gangs of looters. Police looted gun safes. The idea that you may someday have to face an armed group of a half dozen men isnt as far-fetched as people might think. The news reported a couple of guys with knives and machetes appeared at a citizens property and demanded his generator. He loosed a couple rounds from a pistol over their head and they ran. Good for him. I'd probably have done the same but I might just as easily have shot them both where they stood once they made clear their intentions. This event shows beyond a doubt that a firearm has a place in disaster planning. Given the numbers involved in this event, a high-capacity semi-auto seems the way to go.

Water – This situation proves that once municipal supplies are contaminated, the average citizen is screwed. For static use, stored water in 5-gallon (or bigger) containers makes sense. The 5-gallon ones are the upper limit of portability. As we can see on the news, the ubiquitous plastic water bottle is everywhere and theyre a great thing…theyre incredibly tough and very handy if you have a couple cases of them. They can be distributed in gear, pockets, vehicles, etc. A good quality water filter would be incredibly useful down there right now too. I'd leave the water filter in my bag so I can have it handy if I had to evacuate. All the troops and alot of the rescue personnel showing up on the news have Camelbak-type hydration packs. Great for roaming around. Some people, it seems, still havent learned that you can tap the water in your hot water heater and you can drain the standing water in your plumbing by opening the tap at the highest point in the building and then opening the tap at the lowest.

First aid – I bet anti-diarheal meds are a hot commodity right now. Antiobiotics are going to be pretty important what with all that conatminated water and filth going around. Lesson learned: first aid gear, stored in waterproof containers.

Man, theres so much to think about and to weigh my current preperations against………..

Up next – Lessons and affirmations from Kristina. This is ZNN.

Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.

Vindication. Im psychic.

JACKSON, Miss. – Juan Herrera's house on the Gulf coast is destroyed. He has no money, little clothing and is living with his family in a high school gymnasium. But what he needed most in Katrina's aftermath, he said, was a job.

“I have to make money. I have nothing,” he said

Vindication. Im psychic.

JACKSON, Miss. – Juan Herrera’s house on the Gulf coast is destroyed. He has no money, little clothing and is living with his family in a high school gymnasium. But what he needed most in Katrina’s aftermath, he said, was a job.

“I have to make money. I have nothing,” he said