Day Nine, Short on Time

Today is the ninth consecutive day I have posted in this blog being that this is National Blog Posting Month or NaBloPoMo. And so far 15 peeps like my new facebook page Ready For Zombies Pretty proud of myself I must say.  My husband still does not know  I am doing this.

Today I am running a bit short on time and I want to talk about a place.  A place to take your family in case of a Zombie Apocalypse.  A place to be self sufficient, self reliant, a place to be prepared for anything.   I have a little plot of land in rural America, close to a hospital near a main highway.  My plan is to run there with my family if disaster hits.  Of course at this time there is no well, house, or electricity but the land is fertile farmland.  Will go into more details later as I build on it.

Take care and see you tomorrow, until then…Watch out for Zombies.

Protection from Zombies

I have a knife, a stun gun and Great Dane oh yeah and some pepper spray.  I know I ‘m gonna need more than that to survive any attack on my family.  My dog does and will bite and she is pretty fierce and because she is all black people usually take a step back when they see her.  Of course if someone shoots her then I am outta luck.  The stun gun and knife I dont really feel comfortable using.  I am thinking of getting a rifle for hunting or shooting wild animals and probably a handgun for  protection from the two legged type of creature.

I feel to be a responsible gun owner one must know how to use a gun and I wont buy one with out taking some type of gun safety class first. Probably taking a self defense class as well.  Dont really care to have firearm in the house but have to do what I have to do to protect my family.

How would you protect your family?   Think about it.  See you tomorrow which will be day nine of NaBloPoMo adn dont forget to check out my facebook page.  www.facebook.com/areyoureadyforzombiesnow

and dont forget to Watch out for Zombies

Scissors, Paper, Rock or what supplies will need in case of Zombies

Day seven of NaBloPoMo.  so proud to have lasted one week and still going strong.  I have been thinking of all the supplies I will be needing.  I do have a can opener, but no candles, first aid kit, walkie talkies or anything along those lines.

According to FEMA this is what I need in addition to food and water supply for  disaster basic supplies.  They have other lists that are more extensive but this is what I am starting with:

• Battery-powered or hand crank radio and a NOAA Weather Radio with tone alert and extra batteries for both
• Flashlight and extra batteries
• First aid kit
• Whistle to signal for help
• Dust mask to help filter contaminated air and plastic sheeting and duct tape to shelter-in-place
• Moist towelettes, garbage bags and plastic ties for personal sanitation
• Wrench or pliers to turn off utilities
• Manual can opener for food
• Local maps
• Cell phone with chargers, inverter or solar charger

Well I do have that manual can opener and a pair of pliers and a mini flash light, but no extra batteries.  I also have baby wipes and trash bags, but could probably use more.

I think I can easily acquire duct tape, batteries and a whistle at the local dollar store which leaves me with a with the following to scrounge:

• battery or crank powered radio
• local maps as well as maps to my little land plot
• real flashlight
• first aid kit
• some type of solar cell phone charger or perhaps bicycle generated charger

Perhaps I should throw in a deck of cards and some trivial pursuit cards.  I dont want to spend down time just playing Rock ,Paper Scissors. And dont forget the bicycles!  Gotta have bikes.

Well looking forward to a little bit of shopping  and of course my post for tomorrow.  I hope you will join me.  In the meantime, check out my facebook page at www.facebook.com/areyoureadyforzombiesnow

and Watch out for Zombies

Health, NaBloPoMo and Zombies, not necessarily in that order

Today is day five of NaBloPoMo, National Blog Posting Month.  The challenge is to post every single day this month and here’s to making it for five days in a row. Yes I am proud of myself and yes, I plan to continue after the first thirty days.  It has been said it takes twenty one days to make a habit.

Zombies, lets just clear the air for a sec, I am not preparing for a bunch of  undead creatures that kill people and the Zombie Apocalypse isnt some End Times  end of the world scenario.  Zombies are basically people who would harm me or my family especially during the Zombie Apocalypse, which is a breakdown of society as we know it.  A breakdown where the economy shuts down, or if the power goes out.  This is what I am preparing my family for.

My family has a few serious health issues.  I am diabetic, my hubby has a blown out knee and thyroid issues, and my teenage daughter has ADHD and Aspergers Syndrome.  My husband and I are both extremely out of shape, overweight and have high blood pressure.

Part of this preparation must focus on becoming physically fit, hopefully to where no medications are needed.  If we exercised daily and lost  fifty pounds each we would be in a better place.  Right now my husband can barely walk more than one block and can not stand for much more than fifteen minutes.  I hope to find a way to non-medically treat my daughter’s ADHD as well as my diabetes and the high blood pressure.

I think I will start an exercise program even if it is just walking around the block the first day and increasing by a few blocks each day.  I need to build up strength.

My family owns several bicycles as well and that would be another way to strength train as well as help in the transportation department.   That will be the focus of my post tomorrow.

in the meantime stop by my facebook page and give me a like!

https://www.facebook.com/areyoureadyforzombiesnow

Water water everywhere, and not a drop to drink or is Eau de Toilet drinkable?

Day four of NaBloPoMo finds me searching for water.  It appears that currently six gallon jugs of water sit in my living room corner. This is nowhere near the one gallon per person per day for two weeks recommended in case of an  emergency such as an earthquake.  In a zombie situation I really need a bit more, plus a renewable source.

I have heard that a few drops of bleach in a gallon of water from the back of the toilet is safe to drink, but EEWWW!

I figure the first step is to acquire three times fourteen gallons of water-  Wow 42 gallons?.. I can easily pick  up two or three each time I go to the grocery store. Then store some in my garage and some in the workshop in my back yard.  Separate storage will hopefully ensure that if the house collapses then we will still have a supply.

For my garden and animals, perhaps I can find a way to collect rainwater, however in the meantime I suppose I must make sure I have enough water set aside for them as well.

There is a nasty river not far from me however it is extremely polluted and the Pacific Ocean is near enough however salt water is not gonna work either.  Will need to research those water sanitizing tablets.

Tomorrow I will be talking about health and NaBloPoMo and perhaps a few other things.  In the meantime please check out my facebook page.    So far I have one like. and would love to have a few more.

www.facebook.com/areyoureadyforzombiesnow

Until tomorrow, watch out for Zombies!

Zombie Food or figuring out how much food I will need and how to get it.

Day three of NaBloPoMo.  Today I am exploring Food.  Ways to acquire and preserve it, whether I am growing it, hunting it, fishing for it or gathering it out of my hen house.

Here are a few ideas I have:

• Aquaponics
• Hydroponics
• Gardening
• Animal husbandry
• hunting
• fishing
• preserving the harvest

Aquaponics ~ basically , this is raising fish in a container, ideally with plants at the same time so that the fish poop feeds the plants and the plants feed the fish.  Definitely  something to look into, I could see myself doing this.

Hydroponics ~ Basically this is raising plants indoors with grow lamps, and no soil.  This is widely used to grow marijuana but I want to use it to turn my garage into a place to grow food for my family and animals.  If I can grow food for my chickens I can save money on chicken feed.

Gardening ~ I need to learn how to garden the right way.  I have started a garden a few times but never very successfully; in fact my family rolls their eyes when I say I am starting a new garden, BUT I know I need to learn how to do this now, rather than later.  I do have two orange trees, one grapefruit, lemon and avocado.  I would love to find a way to preserve the fruit somehow.  I know I have seen jarred orange and grapefruit segments.

Animal Husbandry ~ I have chickens, 12 hens, one rooster and seven month old chicks.  I keep them in a shed at night and they free range in my yard all day. I currently get about 8-12 eggs per day, but I must hunt for them.  In order to plant the garden I must first build an enclosure for the chickens which also means I must find a way to increase their food supply, since they will not be able to have the full run of the yard.  I am thinking of compost for worms and hydroponics.

Hunting~ Not going to happen right now or any time soon.  I have no weapons and dont know how to shoot.  I must learn though.  Just in case I had to, then figure out how to preserve it.

Fishing ~  Basically I know how to fish, but there are no wild steams nearby, just a very dirty ocean, and I only know how to fish with worms and hooks.  I can probably find a few worms, but have no poles or hooks.  What I really need to learn is how to fish with nets. Alas I have no nets.  Reminder to self: Look into aquaponics.

Preserving the Harvest~  There are so many ways to preserve food.  Drying, salting, canning, jarring , not to mention pickling or brining.  I would love to see my kitchen pantry full of jars of goodness from the garden.  Would love to see this:

Until tomorrow my friends, when I dig into my water supply.  Dont for get to check out my facebook page:  www.facebook.com/areyoureadyforzombiesnow  Until then Watch out for Zombies!

 

Zombie Ready Assessment or exactly how unprepared am I for the Zombie Apocalypse

 

So my first step is to organize myself and figure out exactly what I do have and what i will need.  last night I lay in bed wide awake and thinking. That is the best time to think, right before you go to sleep, that way your subconscious mind will work on your ideas or problems while you sleep and when you wake up you will ideas popping in your head all day.

I came up with a few categories.  Some are obvious, while others are things I think I will need, others are subcategories.

• Food
• shelter
• transportation
• water
• Protection
• Animal husbandry
• preserving the harvest
• communication
• supplies
• health and first aid
• knowledge

Briefly, this is where I stand in each category:

• Food ~ three days worth of canned goods
• shelter ~ rental house costing $1600 per month, in an bad situation coming up with that would be difficult
• transportation~ two cars, one needs brakes and is parked and one is a gas guzzler.  Also have a 17 foot box truck that needs a new transmission and does not run.  But I do have bicycles. Several.
• water~ I have six one gallon jugs of water.  Definately not enough.
• Protection~ I have two dogs.  One a Great Dane, the other an Australian shepherd mix.
• Animal husbandry ~ I have 12 hens, one rooster and seven month old chicks.  Also a male rabbit.
• preserving the harvest ~ I know absolutely nothing about this.
• communication ~one smartphone
• supplies  ~ um. I have a can opener
• health and first aid ~ I know basic first aid, however I am diabetic, my daughter is high functioning autistic with ADHD, and my husband has a blown out knee as well as a bone chip in the elbow.  Hubs and I are both very overweight and have high blood pressure.
• Knowledge~ I know a little bit about a lot of things and I usually have good common sense.

Tomorrow  and on following days I will break down each category and make a plan.  And dont forget to like my facebook page.  This is day two and so far I am the only one to like it.  Thanks!   www.facebook.com/areyoureadyforzombiesnow