Celebrating Memorial Day? Here's Some Ideas

Tomorrow, May 28th, is Memorial Day.  It is a day to remember all of those who have served and died defending our country.  Here's some ways to celebrate this important event:

• Attend a Memorial Day event (such as a local parade, ceremony, etc).
• Visit a military cemetery.
• Visit a military memorial (such as the Arizona Memorial, Vietnam Veteran's Memorial, etc).
• Thank a veteran.
• Fly the US flag at your home.
• Visit a VFW Hall.
• Visit veterans in your local veteran's retirement home/hospital.
• Observe the 'National Moment of Remembrance' at 3pm local time.
• Donate or volunteer to help veterans (through the DAV, Wounded Warrior Project, etc).
• Watch a Memorial Day-related show on TV (for example, I learned all about the midget subs used during the attack on Pearl Harbor on Nova this morning, something I didn't know).
• Make up your own way to honor the people who gave their lives so that we can enjoy freedom. 

Your 5 Step Evacuation Plan

I woke up yesterday morning to a very hazy sky.  Usually this means that there are dust storms brewing but after checking the news it turns out that the haze was coming from a major wildfire in northern Nevada.  My first thought was "someone is going to need to evacuate."  My second thought was "how many people are actually ready to evacuate on a moment's notice?"  So here is a simple evacuation plan:

1. Determine the need to evacuate.  This can be simple (you hear a warning that everyone in your area must evacuate) or difficult to determine (a hurricane warning has been issued but the actual event is a few days away and it is unknown at this point if your area will need to evacuate).  The best way to determine your need to evacuate is using the information that is available (from the media, your local emergency management websites, etc) and your own common sense (if you live in a hurricane-prone area you will probably have experience with this).  There may be other instances when you will need to evacuate and will be informed of such (usually local law enforcement and fire service will come through your area and let you know if and when you will need to evacuate in the case of  a wildfire heading your way or a chemical spill in your area).
2. Make the announcement.  Fortunately you have held mock evacuation drills so everyone knows what to do.  Everyone will need to grab their BOBs and throw them into the vehicle; don't forget your animal's BOB too.  Grab important items (stuff from your safe such as important documents, meds, cash, firearms and ammo, jewelry, etc--of course these items should be in one location so you aren't hunting all over the house for them).  Securing animals to bring them with you should also be done now.  And if you have enough time, fill your vehicle up with anything other useful things that will fit (camping gear, extra water, extra food, etc).
3. Determine where to go and how to get there.  You will need local information to determine what roads are open or closed.  You will want to determine where to go (can you just leave the neighborhood and go to grandma's or do you need to get hundreds of miles away and go to evac location #2?).  You will want to double check your maps/GPS for routes to get to your destination as well as alternate routes you can use.  
4. Do the final walk-through.  Again this should be practiced ahead of time.  The final walk-thru includes the following: lock all windows and exterior doors, lock interior doors if possible, if you have spare fuel, fill up your vehicle's tank, turn off utilities if necessary (electricity, gas, and water coming into the house; note this doesn't need to be done in all evacuation cases so determine if this is necessary based on the reason you are evacuating), leave a note pinned to the front door which says who evacuated to where along with contact info and your evacuation destination, lock the exit door and garage door as you leave.  
5. Make sure everyone is in the vehicle and ready to go.  Literally make a head count to make sure you haven't forgotten anyone or any of your pets.  Roll up the windows of your vehicle, turn on the radio in your vehicle if conditions are changing rapidly so you will have the latest evacuation news and information, and go.

Here are additional evacuation resources to consider: 

• Emergency Evacuation Checklist
• Family Prep Checklist
• Red Cross Evacuation Checklist
• Wildfire Evacuation Checklist

Remember: you want to be as prepared as possible before you need to evacuate so take steps now to get your evacuation plan and evacuation kits in order ASAP!

10 Things To Do This Weekend

Some stuff to add to your "to do" list:

1. Watch the solar eclipse.
2. Revamp your BOB for the summer season.
3. Have a garage sale and put the proceeds in your emergency fund.
4. Hit up the loss leaders at local grocery stores and add the items to your food stockpile.
5. Watch one of these Surviving Disaster episodes.
6. Have you ever pickled a watermelon?  Made beef jerky?  Experiment with food preservation this weekend.
7. If you live in an area where wildfires are common, clean out the overgrown stuff around your house and make a fire break.
8. Go dumpster diving (especially if you live in a college/university town where kids who are returning home for the summer throw out expensive, perfectly usable stuff).
9. Have you started your garden yet?  If nothing else, pick up a plant start at the local Walmart/home store and try to grow a tomato or herb plant.
10. Get some exercise this weekend--go for a hike, go shooting, or try something more challenging.

20 Things About Firearms for Noobs

I got an email from some friends in Japan who will coming by to visit in a couple of months.  The first thing they want to do?  Go shoot a gun.  Now ordinarily I would be thrilled to take friends out to the local range and do some plinking (or just show off my arsenal...ahem...collection) but with these friends (actually nephews of a good friend who have never even seen a firearm in person)...not so much.  It isn't that I don't like these guys, I just don't like new shooters much.  They scare me.  No matter if they are from a foreign country that has outlawed firearms for the general public or they are from the good 'ol US of A and have just never been exposed to firearms, there is a lot that new shooters need to know before they ever pick up a firearm (unfortunately it is often the opposite that happens--newbys go shooting with friends and have exactly zero knowledge of firearms and in order to not look bad in front of the guys, they try to bluff their way through the experience.  Scary).  So here's some stuff for new shooters to consider:

1. Memorize the Four Commandments of Firearms Safety.
2. Take a basic firearms class from a firearms instructor (not your buddy from work, not from a video on YouTube, but an actual class with actual experienced and well-trained instructors).
3. Rent (or borrow) firearms before purchasing your own. It is easy enough to go buy the first nice handgun or rifle that you set eyes on, but it's quite another thing to practice with and use a firearm that just doesn't work well for you.  By renting or borrowing firearms first, you get to "try before you buy" and will learn what types of firearms work best for you.
4. Decide if you should even own a firearm.  I believe that firearms offer the ultimate in personal protection but they also require the ultimate in responsible use.  Some people aren't ready for this, and some people are morally opposed to firearms and yet others think they will just use a firearms to "scare" a burglar or something.  Know why you are getting a firearm and know that in a worst case scenario (which could actually happen) you may use it to kill someone.
5. Always use eye and ear protection when you or others are shooting.  You would be amazed at how fast an eye injury can happen when shooting or how quickly you can lose hearing in your ears if you don't protect them.
6. Buy a firearm that meets your needs.  Often it won't be the most expensive firearm or the firearm that all of your friends own/want or even the firearm that your favorite gun magazine is raving about this month.  Firearms are as individual as shooters so what works for others may not be optimal for you.
7. Buy your firearms from a reputable dealer (there are reasons to buy firearms from private parties or firearms that are untraceable but for beginners, let's step into gun ownership on the right foot).  Don't buy a firearm from some guy you don't know and definitely have reservations about buying a firearm that is less than half the price of what you should be paying.  You don't want to end up with lousy product and you don't want a firearm that has been used in a crime.
8. Take care of your firearms.  Learn how to clean them properly, learn how to disassemble and assemble them properly, learn how to (safely) fix jams, etc.
9. Don't learn your shooting skills from TV or movies.  Much of what you see in regards to firearms in these venues is great for theatrical affect, not so much in real life.
10. If you are going to carry concealed, get a concealed carry license for your state.
11. And the corollary, know your state laws in regards to firearms (ie: you often can't carry firearms into bars, casinos, and federal buildings, etc) and the laws regarding firearm use for personal defense (laws vary dramatically by state).
12. Buy lots of ammo.  You will use more than you think.  For bonus points, learn how to reload your own ammo.
13. Practice A LOT.  If you own a firearm, you must practice with it often.  A firearm is more dangerous to you if you buy it, stick it in a closet, on pull it out years later to use it in an emergency.  Practice often.
14. Always keep your firearms within your control or locked up.  Far too many firearm injuries and deaths are caused by firearms being left where people who shouldn't access them (like kids) find them and play around with them and end up shooting themself or someone else.  This should never happen.
15. Know how to safely transport your firearm to and from the range.  You should learn this in your firearms class, if not, find a knowledgeable friend to show you how.
16. Never use or carry your firearm when under the influence of drugs or alcohol.  That is a felony waiting to happen.
17. Continue to educate yourself about firearms even after your class has ended.  With the proliferation of blogs, websites, magazines, et al. about guns these days, you can study something new about firearms every day and never run out of material.
18. Hang out with knowledgeable (and responsible) gun owners.  You can learn quite a lot that way, end up with lots of new firearms to try out, find good deals on firearms an ammo through the grapevine, and meet some interesting new people that way.
19. Support the NRA and other organizations that support your right to own firearms.  Really, without constant vigilance, firearms rights can disappear and you won't even know what happened until it is too late.
20. Share your knowledge with others.  After you have become a skilled and experienced gun owner, don't hesitate to share this information with others (this is what makes me take newbys to the range even if it isn't one of my favorite things to do).  The only way to keep gun ownership alive and make it a safe sport for all is to have more experienced gun owners help new gun owners.  Often I have found that people who are fairly opposed to gun ownership have never actually been shooting (banning guns sounds so...safe...in theory).  Once they get a taste of target shooting, however, they often change their minds.

Why Settle in the Desert?

This was the question posed by a reader who commented on this post.  It's a good question.  Obviously if you want to be completely self sufficient, the last place you would want to stake out a homestead would be in the middle of the desert, but in our situation, Vegas is, for now, an ideal location.  Here's why:

• I have no desire to be completely self sufficient.  It is a nice ideal and I admire people who are far along the path to complete self sufficiency but at this point in my life, that is just way too much work for me personally.
• We were looking for a home base as we travel often and Vegas fit the bill--cheap housing, quick access to a major airport, low cost of living, etc.
• I was thoroughly tired of the weather in Seattle.  There's a reason a big group of people from the Pacific Northwest have become "snowbirds" who flock to the south (Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, etc) as soon as the weather turns.  The reason is the weather.  Nine months out of the year the weather in southern Nevada is excellent (the other three months it is hot as Hell here).
• This may not be permanent.  Like our decision to sell nearly everything we owned and hit the road to travel for a couple of years, this is yet another experiment in living.  It may last for a year or it may last for a decade.  We shall see...
• Living in the desert presents some different challenges for the prepper.  And I am looking forward to determining what these challenges are and meeting them head on (water and evacuation being my foremost concerns at this point).
• It also presents some interesting opportunities.  I have always been fascinated with solar power so that will be something I will try out here.  Gardening in the desert is something else I will delve in to.  
• As I have pointed out before, I am not a hard-core survivalist.  I believe that everyone should be prepared for the vagaries of life but I dedicate maybe 10% of my time to prepping and waiting for the sky to fall, the other 90% of my time is spent enjoying life.  If I was a hard-core survivalist I certainly wouldn't be living here.
• It's a good idea to shake things up a bit, that is how you learn.  It is one thing to be rooted in a place and complacent with your life.  It is a different--and to me, vastly more interesting--thing to live in tornado country, then move to hurricane alley, then head over/down to a third world country where simple day-to-day living keeps you on your toes because you don't know if lax building codes will make your home fall down on your head before or after you are visited by corrupt law enforcement officials...you get the idea.  I like to shake things up every now and then.

So that's the reason(s).  There was no grand scheme where settling in the desert would directly or indirectly impact our survive-ability during a disaster.  This choice was made for a variety of mostly non-prepping reasons, yet I think that it will add greatly to my (and in turn your) survival education.

Moving Into a New House? Here's Some Things to Do

Now that we have finally moved into our new house (thus the lack of posts here recently), I have been busy setting things up to my liking.  Here's many of the things that I've done/am doing to make the house more secure and ready for any eventuality:

• Installed lights (interior and exterior) on a motion detector system.
• Installed a security system (video/audio) on the interior and exterior of the house.
• Installed hidden "hidey holes" between the studs in each room.
• Took the name off our the mailbox and stuck on only the house number.
• Replaced the smoke alarms.
• Installed a carbon monoxide detector.
• Put a new fire extinguisher in the kitchen and one in the garage.
• Creating a safe room (in the master closet).
• Creating an escape from the safe room (through the attic and down the side of the house).
• Make sure there is a way to escape from each bedroom (other than the door).
• Setting up reserve water tanks (this is Las Vegas after all).
• Setting up a solar power system (ditto).
• Bought a new freezer and stocked it.
• Set up a clothes line in the back yard.
• Stocked the over-sized pantry and will set up a secondary food storage area in the garage.
• Determining how to best store extra fuel (the difficulty being that is is regularly 100+ degrees in the summer here).
• Changed all of the locks in the house (interior and exterior).
• Replaced the garage door openers.
• Checked out a number of evacuation routes from the house, out of the neighborhood, and out of the area.
• Drove (and walked) the neighborhood to get a feel for the place.
• Studied alternate food and water sources in the neighborhood (there aren't many).
• Took a concealed carry class so I can get a Nevada CCL (FYI The Gun Store offers this class for free).
• I've been checking out local shooting ranges (indoor, outdoor, as well as recommended places out in the desert to practice).
• Sometime in the future I will take a desert survival course.
• Walked around the neighborhood both during the day and at night in order to check it out.
• Setting up a garden area.
• Made sure the doors, windows, and sliders can all be secured.
• Met a few of the neighbors.

There will be more to do int he future of course but for now, I am already starting to feel a bit more secure in our new home.