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Disasters

What If There’s a Natural Gas Leak in Your Neighborhood?

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Here is a real life challenge that I personally experienced and what started me prepping:

There is construction going on in your neighborhood. You are woken up in the middle of the night by a loud bang and the house shakes. Within a few minutes you hear sirens approaching.

Then a loud banging on your door and you are told to evacuate NOW. And asked where the natural gas shut off to your house is.

What do you do?

When this happened, my husband was out of town with our one credit card. I had the grand kids overnight and was going to take them to school in the morning.

I didn’t know where the gas shut off was on the house.

It was so rushed that all I had on was my cotton nightgown, robe and slippers and the kids only had their PJ’s with no footwear. I couldn’t find the cat and the dog just jumped into the car.

I had my purse and a couple of dollars. The checkbook we keep in the office drawer. And only a quarter tank of gas, not enough to get me 120 miles to my sister’s place. I don’t have the keys to my son’s house and they were out of town. And no cell phone as we share one and my husband had it.

I remembered the policeman saying that the community center would probably be opened for evacuees.

I can’t tell you how scared and confused I was, it was like a nightmare. I drove to the community center and waited until the Red Cross came and opened it all the while trying to calm the grand kids.

There was confusion at the community center as they had to turn the heat up to warm it. We sat huddled on chairs with blankets around us when they finally brought them. The whole neighborhood had been evacuated, but only some neighbors were at the center.

Mid-afternoon, still in our night clothes we were allowed to go back home. The grand kids missed school. I had no leash in the car and the dog couldn’t hold it that long, so it was a smelly ride back home and a lot of scrubbing to clean up the car.

Everything turned out fine and they contained the natural gas leak and no one was hurt. But I vowed never to be that unprepared again, so that is why I’m now a prepper.

Okay folks! How would you have fared if that had happened to you last night?

  • Do you know where your natural gas shutoff is on the outside of your home?
  • Do you have adequate gas in your car to reach a safe location?
  • Do you have a bug out bag with extra clothes, cash, and medications (don’t forget about alternative medications like Fish Mox that you can stockpile without a prescription)?
  • What about the grand kids, do you have extras for them if you ever babysit?
  • Do you have pets with provisions for them?

Are Motorcycles Good Bug Out Vehicles?

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Motorcycle Bug Out Vehicles

Whether your preferred acronym is TEOTWAWKI (The End Of World As We Know It), SHTF (Shit Hits The Fan) or GOOD (Get Out Of Dodge), a common argument among survivalists revolves around the preferred mode of transportation.

Among those choices, a motorcycle may not be best for your particular situation, especially if your family extends beyond two people. A motorcycle would also be a poor option for protection when plowing through god-knows-what in a post-apocalyptic world and cannot carry much supplies when the situation arises.

But a two-wheeler also has many benefits in survival situations. Here are just a few:

1. Motorcycles Have Incredible Fuel Economy

When Superstorm Sandy slammed into the New York-New Jersey area in October of 2012, residents had to travel upwards of 60 miles and wait for hours in line just to get a few gallons of gasoline for their cars and generators. It even created a black market with gas being sold for more than $20 per gallon. It’s situations like these that justify a motorcycle as the perfect survivalist conveyance.

The 2013 Honda NC700x will easily get you over 60 miles on one gallon of gas, while the Kawasaki Ninja 250R and Suzuki TU250X push the 80 mpg threshold. The key is to buy and store several gallons of gasoline before disaster strikes. The American Petroleum Institute recommends storage in a cool, dry place separate from your main dwelling, like in a garage or shed. You’ll need to add a stabilizing agent to keep the gas from breaking down into a useless liquid. Sta-Bil is one of the most popular fuel preservers, and will keep gas fresh for up to 12 months.

The best practice is to refresh the gas every six months or so while civilization is still intact.

2. Highly Maneuverable on Narrow Pathways

Anybody who has driven through Los Angeles during rush hour knows the frustration of spending upwards of 30 minutes to travel a mere five miles. Those same people are envious (or worried) about all the motorcycle riders weaving their way through traffic and getting to their destinations in minimal time.

A motorcycle is perfect not only for maneuvering through evacuation traffic, but also for getting around fallen trees, wreckage, and other debris that may be blocking your path. You can also use it as an exploration vehicle to scout potential camp sites and refuges in the mountains and woods.

A two-wheeler, however, does not provide heat and shelter from the elements. A motorcycle jacket with both waterproof lining and quilting for warmth is essential for anyone who wants to explore and travel in comfort in a post-apocalyptic world. Or you can use a pickup truck with a loading ramp attached to it to drive a truck with an option of a motorcycle. You should also attach a rear cargo trunk or saddlebags to your bike for storage, as opposed to a cargo trailer that takes away maneuverability.

3. Motorcycles Double As Generator

The longer you’re able to survive in a post-apocalyptic world, the more you’ll have to utilize things for purposes not originally intended. A motorcycle can provide you power for lights and other necessities in a pinch. Simply remove the wheels from your bike, put it on some type of stand, and mount a generator head to it. The tension pulley for the belt will then need to be replaced with a sprocket.

These are the two primary steps, but keep in mind this is a project best suited for someone with a background in electricity. But if you understand the basic concepts of alternating and direct current, along with having a little mechanical inclination, a motorcycle engine can serve as a fuel-efficient generator. Pick up a good automotive electronics book and read a few pages everyday until you have a basic understanding of electricity.

A motorcycle can prolong and even save your life in a survival situation. Just make certain to practice riding before everything goes to hell so you can reap all the benefits.

Note on Safety: Riding motorcycles involve certain risk aspects which regular vehicles do not. With that said it is always recommended to wear a helmet designed for motorcycle use. You just never know.

Should I Bug Out or Bug In?

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If there is forecasted to be a disaster in your area, do you leave your home and go evacuate to somewhere else hoping that you will be safer there? Or do you stay where you are because you believe you are prepared enough to handle any disaster that comes your way?

You believe you have purchased enough water, food, medical supplies, and firearms to survive many different disasters. You also realize that you are not as young as you use to be.

Another factor is, you have worked all of your life to build your home the way you want it. You have accumulated many personal possessions that both have monetary value and sentimental value.

Do you pack up a few necessities in your vehicle and leave all of your belongings and disaster preparations in your home? Do you leave your home praying that looters do not break into your home and take what you have worked all of your life for, including all of your survival equipment and food?

Another question is, can you leave? Are you sick or have a disability that will not let you leave your home? Would leaving your home cause you enough stress to worsen your medical problems?

If you decide to leave what do you take with you? How much do you take with you? The space available in your vehicle could decide that for you! You have worked so hard to prepare for disasters and now you are leaving it all behind!

If you do decide to evacuate, the one thing that I highly recommend that you take is ALL of your family photographs. They are very hard to replace!

However, do you stay in your home praying that your home will withstand whatever disaster is coming your way? Is staying in your home with all of your disaster preparations worth your life?

What if you decide to stay in your home and a group of looters break into your home. How many looters can you defend against, from how many different entrances in your home, before you become overwhelmed? Remember, you can NOT expect quick reaction from the police, fire or ambulance personnel in your area. You are in the middle of a disaster and they have their hands full responding to all kind of request for assistance. You will be placed on a list and the authorities will respond to your request for emergency assistance when your turn comes up. This is assuming that you still have a way to contact the emergency authorities, A.K.A. 911. The phones may be out!

Do you know the laws relating to when you can and cannot use deadly force? Are you willing to use deadly force if you have to?

If you decide to stay and you start to run low on your medicine, food, water, needed medical supplies, gasoline, etc., will you be able to get them or are the businesses in your area closed because they listened to the authorities and evacuated?

If all of your utilities go out, you will not have air-conditioning/heating, running water, electricity, phone service or sewage. Think about it! You might not be able to cook anything. Everything in your refrigerator/freezer could go bad. You will not be able to go to the bathroom or take a shower. You will be either very hot or cold, depending on the time of the year. You will not be able to call for emergency assistance because the phones are out. Also, no one will be able to call and check on you to determine if you are okay.

If you decide to evacuate, where will you go? How long will you need to stay there? Will you be welcomed when you get there and for how long or will you be a burden? Do you have the financial resources to evacuate?

So, what do you do, evacuate or stay put? I cannot answer that question for you. You should have a family meeting NOW before a disaster strikes. Discuss all of the above options and situations, then decide when the time arrives if you Bug Out or Bug In!

How To Make a Sundial (It May Just Save Your Life!)

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Learning how to create a sundial can be the difference between life and death in a survival situation.

Sundials have been a method of telling time for thousands of years. Not only are sundials accurate in determining direction but they are also very simple to create.

I am going to show you the most primitive method of creating a sun dial since wilderness survival situations generally provide little resources. Keep in mind that sundials tell us the direction of “true north”, which is the direction of the North Star. True north doesn’t point to North Pole like a magnetized compass.

Items that you will need:

  • 2 straight sticks (one approximately 3 feet in length, the second approximately 3.5 feet in length)
  • Several 5 inch twigs

1. Clear the area

It is vital that the location you choose to create your sun compass is completely flat and clear of any objects that will prevent the sun from hitting the dial as well as cast shadows over the dial. Making sure the ground is flat is important to the accuracy of the dial since ripples in the floor will distort or obscure the way the stick shadow is depicted.

2. Insert the 3 foot stick

When putting the 3 foot stick in the dirt, make sure that the end of the stick is sharpened to a point so that it will enter the dirt more easily. If the stick doesn’t push in the ground smoothly, use a small rock or some other heavy object to hammer the stick in to the ground. Check to make sure that the stick is inserted at a 90 degree angle to the floor, approximately 6 inches deep in the ground.

3. Use a twig to mark the tip of the stick’s shadow

Once the 3 foot stick is in place, trace the shadow to its tip and insert a 5 inch twig at its point. The twigs shadow should be flush with the 3 foot stick’s shadow. After the twig is installed, wait approximately 20 to 30 minutes and mark the 3 foot sticks shadow again. Repeat this process until you have marked 5 or 6 different points.

4. Lay the 3.5 foot stick along the marked points

Use the 3.5 foot stick to lay alongside the marked twig points. This will give you an even better display of the east and west directions. Keep in mind that since the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, the first marking will point west and the last marking will point east.

Interested in purchasing a commercial, more decorative Sundial for your back patio? Check these out…

How To Find and Purchase Things After a Major Disaster

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One of the VERY valuable lessons that I learned post Hurricane Katrina was that buying anything was a problem.

When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, all of the electricity for the entire New Orleans metro area failed.

Then the levees broke and the flooding started. It did not flood where I worked in the central business district. Neither did my residence flood. Both were high and dry.

hurricane katrina

However, all of the main branches of ALL of the banks in New Orleans were flooded and without electricity. This had more of a far reaching effect than I had ever imagined.

Everyone that stayed in the New Orleans area, post Hurricane Katrina had the same problem. Because ALL of the branches of ALL of the banks in the New Orleans metro area did not have electricity and/or were flooded, this placed ALL of the banks computer systems underwater and/or without electricity to power their computers.

No merchant could confirm that you had any money on deposit with the bank that you used. This meant that NO business would take ANY credit card, ANY debit card or ANY check because there was no way to verify how much money you had on deposit with your bank.

The only thing that any merchant would take was CASH! If you did not have cash, you were not able to buy anything.

Another problem was that because payroll checks, Social Security and retirement checks, etc. was electronically deposited into our bank account, there was no way to confirm that any funds were on deposit in your bank account. So, NO auto bills were paid from our checking accounts, making all of those bills delinquent.

I found one gas station that had a generator powering one gas pump. I tried to use silver American Eagle coins to purchase gas. The manager told me he had no idea what the coin was worth.

The station manager then told me that it said “one dollar” on a one ounce silver U.S. coin and that is what it would buy, one dollars’ worth of gas. I had a 32 gallon gas tank. You can figure out how many one once, silver, American Eagles it would have taken to fill my gas tank? To the gas station manager, it was just a U. S. dollar coin (there were other ways to get gas).

DO NOT store only gold and silver coins for emergency purchasing purposes.

I HIGHLY recommend that along with your emergency supplies, you keep some cash money in varied denominations. If you decide to do this, store only one, five, ten and twenty dollar bills. That is the only thing that merchants would accept without any problem.

Bartering is another way to obtain items. However, that is the subject for another article.

How I Got Gasoline After Hurricane Katrina [disclaimer: not 100% legal]

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I was advised by my boss to report to work on the Sunday before Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. I did not leave work until the Tuesday after Hurricane Katrina hit. However, I was then required to work 12 hour shifts daily for the next month.

I lived in the suburbs of New Orleans but worked in the central business district. I had to travel approximately 18 miles, one way to work, then 12 hours later, return home. There was NO electricity and everyone had evacuated. Since no gas stations were open, I was running very low on gas in my truck after only a few days with NO way of obtaining more gas by conventional means.

As I was leaving my residence one day, I noticed that most people in my neighborhood had taken only one of their vehicles when they evacuated and left another one or two vehicles in their driveway.

Since I knew most of the people that lived on my half of the block, I siphoned gas from my neighbor’s vehicles that had evacuated their residence.

I siphoned the gas into five (5) gallon gas cans. I wrote I.O.U.s, with the amount of gas I had siphoned from their vehicle along with my name, address and phone number. I placed the I.O.U. in a zip lock food storage bag and placed them under the windshield wiper of the vehicle I took the gas from. I then poured the gasoline from the five (5) gallon gas cans into my truck.

One day I observed a City Police Officer and advised him of what I had been doing to obtain gasoline for my truck. He advised me that he did not see a problem if I had left an IOU and intended to replace the gasoline.

As gas stations started to open in the area, I purchased gas and placed it in my five (5) gallon gas cans. I replaced all of the gas that I had borrowed before any of my neighbors’ returned home. As I replaced the gas, I recovered the IOUs that I had left on their windshields.

When my neighbors returned home, I told each one of them what I had done and why. I spoke to my neighbors because I did not want to take the chance that someone had witnessed me taking the gas and might tell my neighbors that I had stolen from them.

Everyone that I had spoken to told me that it was a smart thing to do. Also, they told me that they did not mind as long as I had replaced the gas in their cars.