Oh SANDY!

Sandy has me thinking about the likelihood of disaster on this side of the US.

Where I live both now, and my hometown, have pretty mild and distinct seasons. Yes it gets windy, sometimes there is flooding(because its the PNW and it rains!) but in general I dont have to worry about hurricanes or tornadoes! 

Although I DO worry. With the way weather is changing and our climate acting out of the ordinary, it would be logical to think that this is NOT always the way our weather will occur. I mean historically there is proof of that.

Its been a long summer, winter is coming.

(hopefully someone gets that and will actually comment..)

Then there is the (what I feel) very real thread of earthquakes for this area. I think its long over due.

Heard of the Pacific Ring of Fire???

Well HI Im on it!!!!!

There was just an earthquake in the Alaska/Canada area and are frequently small ones in California. So Im just waiting for the big one! Luckily I think in our home town we would be far enough inland that we would be o.k.

Just knowing that are ways to prepare myself and my family for theses situations makes me feel a little safer. I wish everyone would know a little more so that these situations could be a little easier for them too!

The situation that gets you thinking.

I honestly no one has one of these situations, that you all prepare to some degree BEFORE you have to be shocked into it.
I think I have made mention of my own experience in another post but can not seem to find it. So for those who are new I'll recant it.

I dont remember the exact day but it was sometime during the end of April. We were getting ready to move from Ft. Campbell, KY to Ft. Lewis, WA. It was Jared, Guy, Meghan, Rylan and Me. In the Jetta and a moving truck.
Not knowing much about travel really and how to map out a good route, we just went with what the GPS said. Meghan and I had take the same route when driving over from WA the first time and we felt fine with it. We even planned to stop and see some interesting stuff along the way!
Well we failed to take weather in to account.
Everything was going fine and we had made it to Rapid City, SD to stop for the night, planning to make the slightly out of the way trip to Mt. Rushmore in the morning.
I-90 got closed and we ended up taking SR 212, after getting the ok from a police department in Bell Fourche, SD.
Well....We got stuck out there. In the middle of no where, no towns and just a little cell service.
The Jetta was the first to get stuck, Jared and Guy had Rylan with them. They drifted of into the side of the road and couldnt get the car out.
Meghan and I turned the moving truck around to go back to them. We were going to all attempt to squeeze into the moving truck to try and get back to the town. Some guys in nice big trucks stopped and said they had room for 1 person. Jared wasn't sending me or Meghan with strange men and he wasn't leaving us out there by ourselves. So we sent Guy!
We managed to fit in the moving truck, then realized it was NOT going anywhere either!!
We rounded up everything and trudged back to the car. In a BLIZZARD!!
We made phone calls to the town but they for some reason had NO idea where we were, even though I told them exactly where we were(found out later I was about a mile off).

Here is where the preparedness comes in.
We got pretty lucky with what we had.
I have this quilt that I have had since I was like 8. It goes everywhere with me and its the only thing I sleep with. Well I insisted that Rylan have it in the Jetta with him before we set out on our trip.
Meghans mom had sent us a few small first aide kits. I had a Tupperware ware container filled with random things for our trip including the kits.
Jared and I always over buy when we stop at gas stations on trips. I buy more water than needed and food for "later". I ALWAYS over pack the diaper bag too.  I had enough diapers and wipes to last 3-4 days and a big container of formula, and a bottle of baby juice(he was 18months).
Jared had bought 2 big packs of these jerky/pepperoni bites.
Being in the Army Jared seems to have random gear of sorts scattered everywhere. There were gloves in the car, plastic magazines(for guns) and a pair of safety glasses. All of which came in handy when he had to dig out the exhaust during the blizzard.
That night got pretty cold but with the blanket and body heat of the 4 of us squished in the back of the Jetta, we made due. We even had one of those silver fire blankets that we put up to try and keep our heat in the back of the car.
At one point during the next day, the driver side window fell down in the door. This window was directly facing the wind. We used the fire blanket and Rylans dinosaurs to fill the whole.
Luckily after almost 24hrs the Sharif from Sundance WY and 2 plow trucks found us and a few other people, and took us back to Bell Fourche.


The point is that, we had no idea how long we were going to be out there. They did not know when the storm was supposed to stop or when they could come get us. While we were lucky in what we had, we could have been way more prepared!
Now with 2 kids an one on the way, I feel its even more important to think about situations like this and plan the best we can.

Im on one of those kicks :)

Just wanted to make a quick note of the whole pregnant thing. Im a little over 9wks now. "Morning" sickness has been off and on but has gotten much better, I have not thrown up in a while and can eat more. One thing I have noticed though is that I get a metallic taste in my mouth that kind of makes me nauseous  Its normal and is just due to hormones. Other than that things are just going along fine!

On to the main post. 

Im not quite sure what piqued my kick this morning or how I even got there, but I've been reading two different "prepper" websites this morning.

If you do not know what prepping means here are some resources for some deeper explanations but I will provide my own view.

I do not endorse, belong to, or specifically support all aspects of the websites listed, as with anything in life I take things with a grain of salt and for my own opinion. You should too.

Prepping to survive-What is prepping?

American Preppers Network

SHTF Blog- "sewage" hits the fan

So those are just a few that I have scavenged threw, all with good info.

Why do people prep?-

There are a few different reasons I've seen. Some do it because its part of the Religion, like the LDS church and their food storage practice. Some do it out of a belief of an imminent government fall out. Some do it out of the need to be prepared for natural disasters.

Whats my take/opinion?-

Both Jared and I have thought a lot about the "what if's" of being able to survive in case of anything. There are so many people today who have no idea how to grow a plant. How to feed themselves if food were rationed or gone all together. Skills that, even 2 generations ago, were normal knowledge points are "lost arts" to some people.

I dont know if the government with fall out, but historically I know that being wholly dependent on someone(in any form) to proved my basic needs.

I live in an area that is pretty mellow as far as natural disasters but things are changing it seems. Areas where things do happen are getting hit with harder storms, earthquakes, hurricanes etc. So why not be prepared for that?

I dont think there are any wrong reasons for "prepping". Its your own opinion, and we all hope that we wont NEED to come to need these things but its reassuring that its there, just in case!

I intend for this to be a running subject here since its is such a vast and somewhat in depth topic. There is no way I could fit it into one readable post and I know I would ramble and loose direction!!

My next post(which may be today) will, I think, give you a better idea of why Im starting this!