Category Archives: Community

Nuts & Bolts by Nick: The 1st “Prepper” I Knew

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by Nick Romaniello

I was saddened by the news recently that my aunt, Joann Green, had passed away. I don’t intend to hijack a prepping blog to eulogize a family member, but as I reflect on her life I recognize her as one of the first people I know who prepped, and as someone who had occasion to confront the disaster scenarios that we discuss here.

HurricaneHugo

Remnants of Hurricane Hugo

In 1989, my aunt, along with her husband and mother, survived when Hurricane Hugo devastated Charleston, SC. As workers in the insurance industry, they were kept busy after the storm helping others put their lives back together while dealing with their own hardships. I only saw the devastation in pictures, but they had to live and work through it. Watching from the safety of Pittsburgh, my 10-year-old mind could barely imagine it.

About three years later, my mother and I moved to Charleston. We stayed for a time at the new home my aunt and uncle were building after the storm destroyed their previous house. I was fascinated by some of the things I saw that we now call “preps”. The house was built on pilings seven feet above the ground, to protect it from the storm surge of a future hurricane. Pre-cut plywood panels were designed to slip into brackets over the windows to allow for fast securing against flying debris and looting. A room beneath the house was filled with candles, food, jugs of water and other necessities. They were ready for the next storm.

Despite being politically liberal (as am I for the most part) they were also the first people I knew to keep firearms for home defense. Their new home was remote–the closest police station was over a half hour away–that took all of the politics out of gun ownership, leaving only a practical decision to protect themselves in the absence of timely professional help. When my uncle passed away and my aunt remained there by herself, a .410 Remington and a loyal dog were her first line of defense.

During the Tunisian Revolution

During the Tunisian Revolution

Eventually, my globally minded aunt left her rural home to travel the world teaching English. Abroad, she encountered many more disaster scenarios that preppers muse about. A bank collapse while residing in Argentina left many residents rioting without access to their money. Recently, she lived (and remained) in Tunisia throughout the fall of the government that launched the “Arab Spring” of region-wide civil unrest and loss of public services. Rented apartments, varying international laws, and regular relocation prevented the hoarding of supplies and firepower that are sometimes the basis of prepping in the US, but she still JoanneThailandmanaged to sail through these and many other crises relatively unscathed. Her kind personality gained her friends anywhere she went so there was always a strong support network that would be lost to the isolationist. Simple living, mobility, adaptability, and above all a calm and rational demeanor, allowed her to roll with the punches of any situation and get through with a smile and another good story to tell.

As a traveler myself she was my definitely my biggest role model, but as a prepper I learned a lot from her too. She demonstrated to me the value of preparing ahead of time, and remaining adaptable and open-minded above all. She not only endured through, but thrived in many trying times. She showed by her example that life is not merely to be survived, but to be lived as a gift with more optimism than fear.

 

The Importance of Community

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“You Can’t Do It Alone”

I consider myself, and our family, to be pretty well prepared for most eventualities. I’ve evaluated our needs and tried to plan our preps accordingly, including building in redundancies. I’ve also considered the emergencies/disasters, big and small, that we may have to deal with and tried to plan for them. Not only have we acquired much of the proper equipment we’d need, but we’ve also developed many of the required skill-sets, and mental attitudes.

But on Thanksgiving day The Universe took the time to clearly teach me:

1. YOU CAN NOT BE PREPARED FOR EVERYTHING
2. YOU CAN NOT THINK OF EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO BE PREPARED FOR
(and most importantly)
3. YOU WILL NEED HELP FROM OTHERS

In an accidental incident–that even though I know how I did it, I’m still not sure how I did it–I got my car stuck between a rock and a hard place. Literally.

Ryan and I were in my Hyundai Accent, driving to meet with family in West Seattle (Sarah had gone up earlier). The house is in an older neighborhood and difficult to find, so we were following the iPhone mapping directions. We were almost there and the map showed that the road we were on went through, when in fact it didn’t. We turned where we thought we were supposed to, driving up a very steep, narrow road (that ended up being a paved driveway). When we got to the top we realized our error, and I began backing down.

It was kind of slippery from the recent rain and wet leaves. There was an angled turn-off and decided to use it to turn around and drive down correctly. The angle of the turnout was more than I expected, and it was also steeper; as I backed up the tires began to spin on the wet pavement and leaves. I decided I had gone far enough, put it in 1st gear and tried to turn down the hill. Not enough yet, so reverse again, tires slipping, not much progress. I cranked the wheel hard to the left, back into 1st gear and, inadvertently, drove over the side of the turnout — there was the associated grinding and scraping as I went over the large rocks that bordered the driveway. The car was now almost perpendicular across the driveway with the front of the car against the fence (fortunately a 6×6 fence post). Back into reverse, to straighten the car out out, and…nothing? Tires spinning. What? We got out and discovered that the rear of the car was hanging by the bumper on the large rocks and the back tires were about four inches off the ground.

Ryan and I stood back to survey the scene. The front of the car was wedged against the fence post, and the back of the car was stuck on top of, and against, these large rocks. I was sort of stunned, I felt incredibly stupid, wished there was some way I could blame Ryan, and really wasn’t sure how I was going to get out of this.

We opened the back, which contains our car bug out bag (BOB), a large crowbar, a wool blanket, and a scissor jack — those are the tools we had to work with. I pulled out the crowbar and looked around, there was no way to pry or lift or anything, I put it back. I got out the jack to see if there was anyway I could lift the car up off the rocks — but I couldn’t see anyway to do it safely that wouldn’t cause more damage to the car (and likely us).

Ryan and I tried to see if we could lift up the rear end (it’s a sub-compact), but all we did was raise up the shocks. I really had no idea what to do, I knew I should call Sarah and let her know what had happened but I really wanted a to come up with a solution before I did. I considered a tow truck, but knew since it was a holiday it would take forever, and I wasn’t sure what even a tow truck could do.

I called Sarah and she send down her brother (David) and cousin’s husband (Chason). They got there soon after, evaluated the situation, and we debated. We decided, with the additional help, to again try and lift up the back of the car off the rocks and swing it around to the correct angle. The four of us lifted, and still no luck, but it looked like the idea had potential. Chason went back to get more help and David (helpfully) suggested it as a topic for the blog.

Soon afterward all the able bodied men from the Thanksgiving gathering were there to help. We positioned ourselves around the back end of the car, being as safe and careful as possible, and were able to lift the car off the rocks and move it into the needed position. Fortunately there was almost no damage to the car, and the fence would only need very minor repairs (we left a note on the residence explaining what happened).

Once successful, and with everyone chuckling about what had happened, we all went up to enjoy a Thanksgiving day with family. My place in the family Thanksgiving lore had been ensured.

Take Away Lesson
I could not have handled this alone. I had never considered this situation happening, and had no preparations in place to deal with it. Had this been during a disaster when emergency services wouldn’t be available the only way this could have been done is with the help from others. Without that help the only option would have been to abandon the car and walk, which in bad weather or with people unable to walk far, could be dangerous or even life-threatening.

Develop community around you. Develop strong relationships with your family and friends. Get to know you neighbors around you so you can ask for, and provide, help for them.

No one can do it alone — that plan will fail.

 

Rural Relations with Josh: Lessons Learned, Part II – You Can’t Choose Your Neighbors

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There’s a story of a realtor showing a house to a couple from out of town, and the couple asked, “What are the people like here?” The realtor replied, “What are the people like where you live now?” The couple responded, “They are great to hang out with, respectful, and genuinely good people”. The realtor replied, “The people here are just like that!” The next couple to come through had the same question, met with the same question from the realtor. The couple responded, “The people where we live are rude, unfriendly, and generally ignore us!”. To this, the realtor responded in kind, “The people here are also rude and unfriendly”.

This story, which was para-phrased from an unknown source, attempts to provide a simple explanation for those who might feel they have less than ideal neighbors. While neighbors can be great, and add value to your neighborhood, differences can arise. I feel it’s important to bond with neighbors early on, so that when issues come up you can work together to solve them. If you add an HOA (home owners association) into the mix, some neighbors will never get along as the HOA becomes a tool of manipulation by the [popular] majority.

I live in an HOA controlled neighborhood consisting of 22, 5-acre lots. I have some neighbors I really like; I drink beer and BBQ with them and our kids play together. But not long after moving in I discovered that there were a number of feuds in the neighborhood; they originated primarily from property lines and HOA disagreements.

Lesson I:  Get a Survey
An example of a dispute was when a two adjoining neighbors decided to “share” their property, across property lines, to have a larger motocross track. After a while, one neighbor decided to bull doze an area to create a banked turn which the other party felt was on their property. This turned into a situation where they both withdrew their share option and left a disputed area where neither knew where the lines were as there were no recorded surveys or marked corners.

The only recorded surveys in the neighborhood are on my lot and my immediate neighbor, as we went in together to get a good deal before I put up my fence. In my opinion, it’s absolutely critical to get a survey performed and recorded before closing on the property to resolve any issues or line disputes. After getting my survey, I found that I had actually “gained” an acre or two (on a 5-acre lot) over what I thought I owned. Also, get your immediate neighbors to go in with you on the survey (if they don’t already have one), this will minimize the potential for disputes over the surveyors work. I got a chuckle out of putting up a fence through my neighbors back yard; luckily it was inhabited by renters, had the owner still lived there it would have likely caused a dispute because he would have assumed I was encroaching.

driveway in the summer

Lesson II:  No Easements through the Property
A few months after moving in, the neighbor beyond us on the last property on our dead end road (who has a legal easement through our property) put his house and shop up for rent, as two separate units, after being unable to sell. This immediately took us from having no traffic through our property to seeing traffic day and night on that easement. The ride out to the neighbor’s property is pretty long and winding, and folks are going pretty fast by the time they reach our lot as they want to get to their destination.

driveway in the winter

Soon after, renters moved in: a couple in their mid 40’s from California in the main house, and a young local guy in the shop. We welcomed them all to the neighborhood with fresh baked bread and open arms; we wanted to get off on the right foot. We became good friends with the guy in the shop, but we had a number of issues with the other couple, mostly related to speeding through the property which put our kids and animals in danger. Other neighbors also asked them to slow down as well.

One day I was working in the yard and my kids were outside with me on the play set, but with my wife gone in one vehicle and my truck in the shop it might look like no one was home. I heard the neighbors driving in and saw their SUV coming down the driveway. Just as I was about to wave to them, I heard the engine rev up as he hits the gas — thinking we were not home, and he has a free ride that last 100 feet through our property. After about two seconds of V8 acceleration, he sees me standing there with my mouth open in shock, whereupon he slams on the brakes and the SUV nose-dives considerably. I have no idea how to deal with a person like that in a positive manner and our relationship was poor until they moved out after a year. I had a conversation with the woman before they left (“stopping by to ask you to slow down, again, ma’am”) and she indicated that they had never had such a poor experience in any neighborhood in their entire life and felt victimized by the rest of us. Best of luck to you in your new neighborhood…

Lesson III:  No Home Owners Association
Finally, if you live in an HOA controlled neighborhood you voluntarily chose to allow your freedom to be severely limited. A couple of the rules in my neighborhood are, 1) only low flow faucets and fixtures are allowed in homes, and 2) no discharge of any weapon, including firearms, BB guns, slingshots, or bows. This is not quite what I envisioned moving out into a rural wooded area with 160 acres of unoccupied woodland to the north of me. Before moving in I had inquired of the HOA president and a number of neighbors who assured us that the HOA was there only for the road maintenance. This turned out to not be the case; unfortunately HOAs are often a lever of convenience. Don’t risk it.

I am happy to report that we do not have any issues with our current neighbors. There are new couples in the house and shop at the end of the road and they are respectful and friendly. We do the best with what we have, but before you buy your own rural property look carefully at these issues.

 

Momma Bear’s September Preps

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September has arrived and we are seriously looking forward to cooler weather! We decided to shut down the garden a little early in expectation of heavy duty leaf raking. I filled my two compost barrels with the old plant foliage and with the dirt from my container gardens (except the one I am waiting to go to seed). We will be augmenting the barrels throughout the winter with egg shells, coffee grounds, etc. The plan is to use the two barrels of compost to refill the containers in the spring.

As mentioned, my ham radio came and, as I thought, it’s complicated! But I am signed up to take my licensing classes next month. I even discovered that my town has a ham radio store!

Last week Trace mentioned the website aGirlandherGun.org. I met “Girl” at a mutual friend’s house where we had gathered to watch a football game.  Having never met her before, we were talking and something set my antenna buzzing. I finally looked at her and said, “Are you a prepper?” She is the first local prepper I have met! We had a great evening with lots of discussion about guns and self-protection. If you have not yet had a chance to check out Girl’s website, please do. She is a firearms instructor, and is also taking EMT courses with her husband. You will see that prepping is relatively new to her also, and for a very serious reason. Interestingly, Girl is the second woman fire-arms instructor I know (the other being Pistol Packing Ladies, LLC). So along that train of thought…the husband and I will be taking our gun class next week at the Nation’s Gun Show outside of Washington, D.C. This will allow us to apply for our concealed carry permits. Though neither of us have decided yet if we will carry, we want to at least prepare and get permits.

Lastly, I have moved fish antibiotics (see Trace’s post Antibiotics In Your Preps?), and books on medications, to the top of our prepper purchase list. This last week the husband “humped” out of the field with a very deep blister in the ball of his foot (If you are not familiar with this phrase, it means Marine Corps camping in which you train and hike 20 or so miles with a 70-80 pound pack, carrying everything you need to eat, sleep, and shoot). He had done everything right: changed his socks regularly, removed his boots to sleep, powdered his feet, etc. But he still managed to get one really deep blister. As a long time Marine and marathoner, my husband teaches others on the importance of foot care. Initially it looked okay, and there were no visible breaks in the skin. Medical opted not to drain the blister because it was so deep, saying he was “good to go” (military slang for fine). But within 36 hours his foot was swollen, red and angry-looking, and he was running a fever. It looked like he had a Fred Flintstone foot that was about ready to split open. We both knew he had a raging case of cellulitis and needed antibiotic treatment. Cellulitis is a bacterial infection which, if left untreated, can lead to a more serious–even life-threatening–type of infections known as sepsis. It can also be resistant to antibiotics, and it is not uncommon to have to take IV antibiotic treatment. In any event, my husband was fine once he started his antibiotics. I personally am allergic to a number of antibiotics, including the one he was treated with, so it is imperative for us to carefully stock the right antibiotics. This was a good reminder of how something as common as a blister can quickly lead to a serious health risk; imagine how you would treat this in a post-collapse situation…

What’s next on your prepper training schedule?

What We Did This Week To Prep 9/21/12

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Last weekend, Momma Bear went to a party at a friend’s house and met the woman who writes the aGirlandherGun.org blog. Neither knew the other was a prepper, until they started talking. This Tuesday aGirlandherGun wrote about the experience, on her blog, and mentioned that Momma Bear wrote for us here at TraceMyPreps.com. That day I got the second most hits ever on my site; then Wednesday topped Tuesday and became my ‘top hits day ever’ (previously my top day had been back in February when the blog was mentioned, and linked to, on The Survival Podcast). Since then I have been enjoying reading her blog. I’d specifically recommend her post, The Story which tells of her “conversion” to personal self defense and prepping. I have added aGirlandherGun.com to my blog roll and I’d encourage everyone, but especially my female readers, to check out her blog and see the passion she has about protecting herself and her family, and why.

Also, Sarah and I went to the Washington State Fair. We always enjoy seeing the livestock, but this year we especially enjoyed seeing the rabbits. Prior to getting ours (American Chinchilla Rabbits) we knew nothing about rabbits; the reason we got that kind is because we were given the name of a local breeder and that’s what he had. But as we looked at the ones at the fair, we were very happy with how ours compared in appearance, size, and temperament. We were also able to talk, somewhat intelligently, with a couple of the 4H breeders there. In addition to the rabbits we saw the momma pigs and their young piglets. We talked with the 4H girl who was with them and, after asking some questions, determined that in the future we will consider getting a couple of piglets in the spring and raising them to butcher the following winter.

(Because I don’t want to jinx us) I’m not going to say much about the house we made the offer on in Quilcene, except to say that an offer was accepted and everything is moving forward. Though there have been some rocky parts (and likely will be more) things are moving in the right direction.

Finally, we went to Costco. As we were unpacking I realized, that other than just back filling some things we had used in our store what you eat (SWYE) food storage, we didn’t get anything to add to our preps. This made me realize that, though we’re by no way done adding to our preps (is that possible?), we really have got most of the things we need and a lot of the things we want — at least that are available from that venue.

What did you do?

What We Did This Week To Prep 9/7/12

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This week we headed back to the Olympic Peninsula, in and near the Sequim area, to look for a potential “homestead” property. We looked at about half a dozen places and found one that we really like. The house is small (900 square feet) but it’s in ‘ready-to-move-in’ condition, on six acres; it also has a large pole barn, the property is heavily treed (including several large oaks, which are more rare in this area), relatively flat, and in a very good location. After talking it over, first together, then with our realtor, we put in an offer. We should hear back on it in the next couple days. We’re pretty excited, but trying not to get our hopes up too much.

the coffee house where we meet

I got together again with our budding prepper group (there are now four of us). We try to get together every month, have a cup of coffee, and reassure ourselves that it’s the world that’s crazy and not us — you know how it feels sometimes when you’re a prepper. Again, if you live anywhere near the Seattle area, or are even visiting, we/I’d love to get together and meet you. We all have something to offer, we all have our individual strengths and weaknesses; sometimes you’re the one teaching, sometimes you’re the one learning — most of the time both. Community is so important; I believe it is the number one thing that will allow us to survive well if times get bad.

Western Washington is having a very atypical summer–I know, I know the rest of the country is too. August here was the driest month on record (ever), and as of today we are 48 days without rain (the all-time record, set back in 1951 was 51 days). Fortunately there was plenty of rain and snowfall last winter and we are not experiencing drought conditions. And our garden has been loving all this sunshine! Everything is growing well. We are bringing in tomatoes, beans (multiple kinds), snap peas, carrots, and herbs every afternoon; it’s nice to feel that our gardening has been successful. Ironically, with all the sunshine our strawberries, which produced in early July, have started producing again. It’s amazing what happens to your garden when you add sunshine to good soil, mulch, and water!

What did you do?

(Monday: One Year Blog Anniversary)