Be Prepared Channel: Rules of 3

Welcome back to another installment of Be Prepared Channel. Yesterday we did an overview of shelter, what it means, mentally preparing, and touched on some practical ideas on where to begin this exercise of being prepared. Now there are a lot of aspects to the Rules of 3 as it pertains to your environment. Are you at home, at work, on the road? Each thing is a large topic to itself so let's stay focused on home preparation at this point and what you can do to help make your situation at home in the context of shelter more capable of adapting.

Now I have to admit I started this being prepared journey seriously only a little over a year ago. I guess I just sat back and read and acknowledged that I needed to do something, but did nothing. I find this all kind of funny now that I am moving and doing something about being prepareded. I have lived overseas and dealt with massive typhoons, earthquakes, unreliable power grids and a variety of other extreme conditions and apparently didn't let it all sink in just how ill prepared we were or how bad things could have really gotten. Why it didn't click or sink in each time something happened really has me scratching my head now.

Well I guess today I am a lot older, and hopefully a little wiser. So to a large extent I am playing catchup. So I will share some of the things we have done so far and where we are likely to go with this providing the economy and jobs work out to allow us to continue building out our preparations. We are not anywhere near prepared yet, but I do want to encourage everyone to join in and tag along as we work on our preparations and share what we are doing. In the context of shelter which is the topic today I will share a little about our present situation and what we are trying to do.

The tough economy has impacted us like many people. We have made job hops due to failing companies and outsourcing and even today as I write this we are in a huge state of flux with my wife taking a new job in Nebraska. That leaves the kids and I in Colorado trying to get our house sold in what is a horrible real estate market and economy. This makes this concept of shelter and being prepared even more interesting as we try to continue our preps even in this big state of transition. So if I can prepare even in the middle of a mess like this so can you!

So let's talk about home preparations in the context of shelter. Depending on when your house was built may determine to some degree how flexible your home is to adapting to sporadic utilities, natural disasters, or how it is equipped to deal with human environmental factors such as crime, theft, and vandalism. Like many people prepping I am living in a city. I don't really have the option at this point to get out of the city to a more rural and self sustainable lifestyle.

Power:
So what can you do to make sure your home can continue to be your shelter even abnormal situations? First thing we need to think about is the life blood, or maybe more aptly referred to as the life support system for your house. The power grid. Today almost everything we have and do is run from the power grid. If you have been able to put in place solar, wind, or other alternative power source to get you off of the grid then I sincerely applaud your efforts and I hope to join you in the next few years as we work toward that goal. However if your not at that place then we have to think about what can we live without and what do we absolutely have to have? We are talking needs, not wants at this point. Maybe later on in the planning process and things are starting to come together we can progress beyond the need stage and focus on things that can make us more comfortable. So don't let yourself get distracted. Trust me so far this interest/hobby in preparing is full of things that will both overwhelm you in the sheer number of things that you need to do, and it is all too easy to get distracted into some of the more fun things of this hobby... IE guns and toys!

So let's keep it simple. Let's think about power, and what you need in the absence of power. During the winter months the first thing that comes to mind is a way to stay warm. In my house we have addressed this with two options at this point. My home is natural gas heat when the grid is up, but no electricity means that the furnace won't fire, and the air handlers won't blow. There is no room or place to install a wood stove or fireplace. Now that we are trying to sell this house I guess it is beyond being an option. So for our heating needs we have focused on two options.

- Propane camp space heater

- Kerosene heaters

I initially just bought kerosene, but then I had a hard time finding fuel in some areas and at certain times. So I decided I better have a second option. So we purchased the propane camp heaters for the time being that accept the small propane cylinders. We feel that these two options should give us options to chose based on fuel availability.

Now for fuel. When I go to Walmart every few weeks to do my shopping I always swing by the sporting goods section and pickup a pair of the propane cylinders, some candles, and a can of camp fuel to add to my supplies. I keep a couple of 5 gallon fuel cans full of kerosene in the garage. So thinking ahead before it becomes an emergency will save you a lot of grief and potentially keep you out of harms way as people panic looking for fuel. Of course if you have the option to use wood, wood pellets, passive solar, or some other source of energy to heat your home this is fantastic and your ahead of the game. As we are looking for a house in Nebraska one of the requirements on my shopping list is having a fireplace or alternative method for heating, and a geothermal or passive solar home if we can find it.

Cooking:
We have a few options in our home for cooking. Our stove is electric. So we purchased two types of camp stoves to address fuel availability. The first one is a dual fuel Colman stove. It will burn gasoline or Coleman Camp Fuel. The second option we have is a Coleman Propane Camp Stove. It will accept the small cylinders as well. We also have a propane gas grill that could also be used. My most recent addition has been a solar oven. I love it! I hope to do a video review on this oven and how it works. It is just amazing to me that it can be 30 degrees outside and if the sun is shining and unobstructed your cooking with the sun. So we will be doing some videos on the solar oven and show a few things so far that I know how to cook in it. So the moral of the story is have options. Stock up on fuel each time you go shopping. Do it a little at a time and in no time at all you will be all setup and fuel will be a much lower priority and concern.

Solar Oven:

Coleman dual fuel:

Coleman Propane Camp Stove:

So I think we will wrap up this edition here. In the next edition we will talk about a few more things to think about in securing and preparing your shelter.

Book Review:
I ran across a book that I have really enjoyed called Possum Living: How to Live Well Without a Job and With(almost) No Money, by Dolly Freed. This book was originally written when Dolly was a very young adult. This book was republished recently and was mentioned in blogs and forums elsewhere. In the republished book Dolly adds a chapter at the end of the book from present day and reflects back on what she wrote and how she lived. Very interesting and insightful to see what a present day Dolly thinks! I enjoyed it a lot and it really shows how we can live today in many ways. I found a great documentary online about Dolly and interviews with her and her family back when this book was first released. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Part 1 of 3: