This diary is dedicated to the people who suffered the wrath of Hurricane Sandy, gun owners, and everyone who thinks the solutions are out there.
It's the first week of February. The Atlantic Hurricane season is now 4 months away. I live in New Hampshire, and the hurricane hit us as well, but obviously not to the degree it did New Jersey and New York. I lost power for about 18 hours. Prior to the storm I pumped about 300 gallons of potable water into various size containers. I did all the laundry I could, about 4 loads. I bought extra quick light firewood, some fresh batteries, and some gas for the generator.
I got the oil lamps out, rolled a couple of cigarettes and waited quietly with my cat. After the storm I was a good neighbor. I talked to all of the neighbors who are decent, and everyone was doing fine. They had made preparations too. They expect things can happen as well, because they lived it all before.
I am sure many of you are familiar with this lady:
I don't know this woman. I don't know her personal circumstances, then or now. What I do know, is that it was her sincere perception that she was in serious trouble, and was going to let Schumer have it. Needless to say, I think it's likely she didn't have any plan to deal with a world suddenly without electricity, heat, and grocery stores.
How many people do think are like this lady? Who want to tough it out, but haven't though about what that means?
You can empower yourself to handle your own needs for a time. That's what life should be about. In the same spirit of JFK, shouldn't we be our own best advocate by making some basic preparations?
New Jersey became a microcosm of what a large scale SHTF scenario can be. No power, heat, grocery stores. No running water. In some parts, rivers of raw sewage filling up basements. Gas shortages, with 8 hour waiting lines - and needing to staff the stations 24/7 with police.
New Hampshire even sent a trooper delegation down to New Jersey, to be sworn in, and relieve the local and state police of New Jersey. There were even reports of a very small area of New Jersey being under martial law.
Very bad indeed.
All of this is very public of course. Nothing covered up by the media as far as I can tell. The whole world was watching. We go through these events. We know they happen every year. And yet people don't prepare ahead of time.
I am not going to get in to that in this diary. In this diary I am going to talk about a very simple and affordable way to store some food that you can keep indefinitely, which should be part of your plan to deal with emergencies - which happen. They happen to everyone. Young and old, rich and poor, novice and veteran.
So let's talk about white rice. White rice is one of the great foods you can store long term, is very cost effective, and is fairly easy to do. Rice is not a great source of over all nutrition. Brown rice is better for you, but brown rice has a very short shelf life, because of the rice bran and oil in the bran. It goes rancid. Rice is the carbohydrate rich portion of your daily food requirement. It should not be eaten exclusively. But that's ok. During and after a major storm, chances are you are going to be burning a lot of calories.
But it is a good start for emergency planning.
To start with, you need some rice. This 50 pound bag of rice cost me 19.00 dollars at a warehouse club.
19 dollars is not a lot of money. I know people are struggling, but when it comes to your safety and your family's safety, don't you think you could set aside a 20 bill somewhere, and go to a warehouse club with a friend who's member?
To preserve it long term, you need to put it in a sealed container. In this case I am using mylar bags with oxygen absorbers. You could use mason jars with oxygen absorbers, or vacuum sealed mason jars. This is an extra expense, but the cost is pretty low per container. I use both mylar bags and mason jars, depending on what I am packing away and how much of it.
Quart sized mylar bag:
Oxygen absorbers:
Sealing up the 2/3rds full bag with a hot iron and old cutting board underneath:
Date your packages! And box them up before storing in a cool, dry place:
So what does this diary have to do about guns?
Well the answer is quite simple. There is much talk about who 'needs' what in light of the recent shootings. I want people to realize things can go from normal to a nightmare in the blink of an eye. And the only person who is going to be there for you, at least initially, is YOU. YOU need to empower yourself. YOU need to be the person who says I CAN do it.
How many people want to begging a burglar for their life? Do you want to be like this lady in the beginning of this diary? Would you like to go shopping and remain unmolested? Who is making sure that happens?
I recall from the testimony of one the parents of the Newtown massacre saying, "This is not the wild west, this is not Mogadishu." He is correct - most of the time. But yet, we have seen race riots like the Rodney King riots, we have seen people trampled to death over 3 dollar toasters on Black Friday. We have seen Hurricanes Katrina, Irene, and Sandy, just to name a few.
And yet the day before those events, everything was just fine. There is danger in life. We must face up to it. It is LAZY and SELFISH to demand the state be the primary provider of your health and well being.
"Mommy, I'm hungry, why don't we have any more food? Can't we go to the store?"
"Mommy, I'm cold, why is there no heat in the house?"
"Mommy, when will the lights come back on?"
"Mommy, there's a man looking in my window..."
What are you going to say? What are you going to do first? Do you want to be this person?
Turn the TV off. Get up off your knees. Take a good look around. It's all up to you.