Being Prepared is Going Mainstream

My wife and I have been getting prepared for over a year now. We've managed to store bugout bags and almost a year's worth of food. I've read JWR's Survival Blog almost daily and Lisa has kept track of Lisa over at The Survival Mom's blog.

Here is a recent entry on SurvivalBlog whereby an LDS Cannery worker describes how the mainstream public is starting to wake up to preparedness and beginning to panic.

His cannery location began to run out of food.

Purple Potatoes Are Headed For My Garden!

Our recent Sprouts Grocery Store flyer touted $0.19/lb oranges so we set out to get some and bring them home for juicing. The oranges were there (and plenty of them) but we also came across some unusual items. Some PURPLE unusual items.

First, we found some really cool purple potatoes. Not quite as big as your usual Idahoan type but large enough to be worthy of the labor to clean, cook and eat. I snatched up a couple of pounds worth and headed down the isle.

Next, purple cauliflower was spotted and into the bag it went. A few more purchases and we were on our way home. I had already planted purple carrot seeds in our new raised-box gardens and will happily add purple potatoes as well.

As any college educated dad would do, I researched how to grow potatoes on YouTube. There was a nice, short series by ExpertVillage that contained several videos on a playlist. Just one click and they continued to play. Short and sweet.

As per ExpertVillage, I cut the potatoes into small pieces which had at least two "eyes." I have to let them "heal" for a couple of days and then into the garden they will go!

Below is a picture of my baggie full of cut purple potatoes.

Large Cabbage From Our Backyard Garden

I was amazed at how large these cabbage turned out. We finally harvested them to make room for corn. Now if we could only make cabbage taste like Krispy Kreme doughnuts...

For some perspective, here's my eldest daughter Victoria holding one for the camera. Mind you, this was one of several heads of cabbage we pulled from our garden today. I should also point out that this was our first attempt at gardening in several years. So, if we can do it...anyone can.

Great Friends, Perfect Weather...and Fully Automatic Weapons!

I almost declined when my friend from the local police department invited me out for a day of shooting. The "Range Practice" fell smack dab in the middle of church hours. After mulling it over for a bit I realized that no one would (or should) fault me for spending a few hours honing my gun skills which could ultimately protect or provide for my family.

I loaded up my shiny new shotgun which I had purchased for home protection several months earlier and headed out in the O.J. (orange jeep). I haven't fired a gun in several years and this was the virgin outting for my shotgun.

By the time the afternoon was over, I had fired an HK and AR rifle, 9mm handgun and my shiny new Remington 12 guage. I had a pinpoint blood blister on the tip of my trigger finger and my shoulders were a bit sore. I could feel the heat radiating from my head thanks to a mild sunburn across my forehead.

I helped pick up all the spent casings and thanked my friends for inviting me. My shooting knowledge and skills had increased (that's easy to do when you start at zero) and I couldn't stop smiling the whole drive home.

Raised Box Gardens from Used Wooden Pallets.

I've seen pallets around for years and heard of raised-box gardening but I never would have thought it would be happening in my own back yard.

As my wife and I get more deeply active in self sustainability, we are trying more and more new things. This weekend some friends from church came over and showed me how to tear down old wooden pallets and reassemble them into raised box garden frames.

My picture shows the end product of all three frames that were built. About three hours of time, hard work and wood screws were the only necessary ingredients (oh, and the power drill and circular saw!)

I'm sure there are several videos scattered about the internet explaining how to build these little beauties much better than I could explain. Suffice it to say it was time well spent and we now have an additional 9 cubic feet of garden per box to grow additional food for our family.

A Day at the Office - Renal Infarct CT Scan

I couldn't resist posting this unusual scan I performed recently. It happens to be a friend of mine but identity isn't important. What started out as right flank pain became so severe that "Bob" came to my Emergency Room.

A routine CT Abdomen&Pelvis and Renal Ultrasound showed nothing other than a right renal cyst on the inferior pole. The patient was discharged home only to return later that night (on my shift) with increased pain. Evaluation of a second set of bloodwork showed a marked increase in white blood cells so the ER Physician decided to order a second CT Abdomen&Pelvis but with IV and PO contrast dye this time.

The image attached to this blog post shows a fully enhanced left kidney (its on the right side of the screen) and a poorly enhanced right kidney. The right kidney appears to only be receiving contrast dye in the upper and lower poles. The middle pole is almost non-existent.

With these images, the medical team was able to discern a renal infart or possible discection was in play and "Bob" was taken to the Cath Lab for stenting. He is doing much better now, one week later, and is schedule for more follow up testing to check perfusion rates.

Two is One, One is None...Be Redundant.

Two is One, One is None...Be Redundant.

Redundancy is key to serenity. Its when you have only one important item and it gets damaged, lost, etc that you find out how important redundancy is. Here's a short list of important items and how I've built in redundancy.

Income- (1) My main job (Sonography, Radiography). (2) My part-time job (See #1, different hospital). (3) My wife is nationally certified in Radiology and can work if necessary.

Income skills- (1) Trained in Sonography. (2) Trained in Computed Tomography. (3) Trained in Radiography.

Transportation- (1) The family Suburban. (2) The family Jeep. (3) My auto insurance includes rental car coverage should one of my cars becomes disabled.

Food- (1) Our biweekly grocery run. (2) Our garden and short term food storage. (3) Our long term (25+ years) food storage.

Water- (1) House/city water. (2) 55-gallon drums x 12 in the backyard. (3) Bottled water in the garage.

Shelter- (1) Our house. (2) Our family retreat 2+ hours north of town (3) a retreat property with no shelter but we have tents, sleeping bags, etc for now.

Entertainment- (1) Electronic games. (2) A ton of movies/cartoons stored on a hard drive. (3)MacBook with solar panel recharger.

Water filtration- (1) Berkey water filter with 2 black Berkey ceramic filters + pf2 x 2 filters. Filters 3 gallons per hour. (2) Sand filter. (3) Boiling/plastic bottle in the sun sterilizing.

Cooking- (1) Indoor stove & microwave. (2) Outdoor propane bbq grill x 2. (3) Dutch ovens to cook on charcoal/wood fires.

Areas I need to work on:

Communication- (1) Five cell phones in our immediate family. (2) I want to purchase a mobile ham radio for the Jeep and a home ham radio for the house. (3) Garmin Nuvi handheld sets.

Food caches- I only have food stores at our main house. A majority of our meat is stored in a standup freezer ($10 freezer alarm on Amazon). If we lose power, there goes the meat! (searching for propane freezer). Can also store food in a locker at work for secondary cache or at our retreat property up north. (Update: filled work locker with cans of Campbell's soup. Headed up North this weekend to begin stocking BugOut location.)

Firearms- One lonely shotgun :-(

Excretion- Two bathrooms in the house. Need porta-potty ($22 on Amazon) just in case there are plumbing issues. Last resort would be to dig a latrine. (Update: have added the bucket porta-potty above)

Power- Totally dependent on the grid with the exception of my little solar charger (made for cell phones and laptops). Would like a gas generator (several on Amazon) and maybe, just maybe, a solar-powered portable system.

Washing Clothes- Aside from our indoor washer/dryer, that's it. I'd like to add a WonderWash. Last option would be a washtub. (Update: have added WonderWash x 2)

What did I forget?