Casual Conversation About Prepping

Most of my life is casual. The way I live without watching a clock, most of the time.  The way my work schedule is. Usually.  The conversations that I have with most people.

If you have a fairly large group of friends and family, you most likely have some who are into the prepping, some who barely talk about it and those who you dare not mention it for fear of them attempting to have you committed.  We all have the variety to deal with.

Back to the casual conversations -
Recently I was having a conversation with my brother and the subject came up about toilet paper.  Strange but don't forget we are talking about casual, and now  random.  I said that I only have a couple months supply, and that is just for me.  Not for my 10 people for a month.  Or as I am doing now to maintain a more achievable goal, 10 people for 10 days, at a time.  Anyway, the brother said that I was really lacking on the paper.  Duhhhh - I know this. I will get it built up again soon.  But then my mind started thinking about just what I would do if shit hit the fan right now and I barely have tp to last any time. I thought about what I do have that could be a substitute.  I have fabric.  Lots of fabric.

I sew for a living.  Most of what I make is not made of cotton fabrics.  But over the years I have gathered many yards of cotton or cotton blend fabrics.  If I had to, I could cut the cottons into pieces to use as substitute tp.  Not that I want to but I could. And - fabric is not going to break down like paper would. But - - -

From this point I began thinking about the other uses for the fabric that may be more important than tp.  Think about it and make a list in your head.  Bandages, shade, head coverage (bandana), message flags, clothing, body covers (blankets), ground cover, frost protection for plants, cleaning rags, added privacy over windows, and the list could go on and on.

I got sort of excited and very into being more prepared with my fabric. Standing in th middle of the shed, I looked around and checked out just what I would not use for business (in an emergency it would all become prepping items) and pulled some larger pieces off the shelf. They got washed, with detergent and a tiny bit of bleach, then a second wash with plain water, dried in a very hot dryer and then sealed in large Zip Loc bags to keep them clean enough for most any situation.  Best to be prepared and able to use for medical purposes.  I am feeling pretty good about having a dozen bags with 3 to 10 yards of cottonish fabric in each one.

Hello to my prepping friends.  Guess what you may be getting for Christmas this year! 

Here's an important suggestion when it comes to fabric collecting.  I use my business as an excuse to purchase fabric.  Now I am glad that I have been doing it for years.  Now, if I am looking for prepping fabric I will have specifics and so should you.  

Go to a discount fabric store or check out a clearance bin.  Sometimes I can find pieces for as little as one dollar per yard.  That is super.  Very important - if you have a choice, purchase solid, light colored fabrics with a large content of cotton.  If and when you have a need to use this, you'll find that there are many more uses for this fabric.  

Wha About The Pets

Recently I was having a conversation with a friend who said that if there is 'big' disaster of some sort, he would eat his dog, first thing, so as not to have to feed them and they would supply a bit of protein to his diet.  What would you think after hearing this?  After getting over a bit of shock at the ease in this person's voice, when saying such a sad thing, I had to share my thoughts with him.

Let's take dogs first, since they will rely on their human for food and care.  What better alarm system could you have then your dogs?  If an unwanted person approaches your secure area, who is going to be the one to let you know?  If you have a person who is keeping watch, who is going to hear or see or even smell what we can not?  In some cases, who will go in an attack the unwanted intruder, whether it be man or beast? And, what better companion could you possibly have when going out to search for food.  This is, of course, if this is a long term situation.  Compare the value of this animal to the amount of edible meat.  (Right about now I am grossed out at the whole thought, but know it is a topic I want to mention)  One thing I know for sure is that my dog will be by my side to protect me, as best he can, when hard times bring out the worse in people

So, I do have a bit of animal food stocked away.  I also have quite a bit of ramen to supplement their food.  I know that a dog will eat anything it is offered if he is hungry so in the long run, the dog will eat with the humans.

 What about the cats, you may say.  Well, they have a purpose also.  For my house, it would be mice control, scorpion and centipede catching and maybe even a bit of bird catching.  Depending on the bird, when the cat brings it to the house to brag, that just may be the time for him to share with humans.  But then again, cats seem to have a way of catching a lot of their own food so maintaining their diet would be pretty easy.  Other than keeping rodents and other pest around the area cleared out, they may not have much use.  But then again, if you have kids around, this may be the perfect thing to help them with a difficult situation.

I won't talk about rabbits and other types of pets.  Each house would need to decide to handle them.  Short term, everything would be fine.  Long term  - - - -  that's a whole other story. 

Baby Steps When Prepping

I can not say enough, how important i is for me to do my mini prepping with out feeling stressed to the point of giving up.  Here is yet another suggestion on how to pull this off.

Baby steps, every day.  Sort of sounds like some sort of rehab but it really is just the opposite.  Every day is the truly important part here.  So consider this - if you do just one little thing each and every day, you will keep the ball rolling.  You will also enjoy the feeling of accomplishment.  And the bottom line here is that you will be preparing.

Here's a couple things that I do that may seem silly to some but really are part of my long term goal.

It doesn't matter where you live.  You are told "don't feel the wild life" because it attracts wild life that you don't want hanging around.  And the wild animal become accustom to being fed by humans and that is not a good thing.  Then you have the fact that most people do not know what is right for the animal diets.

This all being considered, I do not follow the rules very well.  I love my wild life and I do supply a wee bit of food for them.  I have a large number of quail in my area.  They tend to eat almost anything, not only at my house but all over the neighborhood.  I throw veggie and bread scraps out into my yard to keep them around.  Why? It is obvious.  If push come to shove, for a while I will have a bit of fresh meat available with the quail.  The other option, in a big disaster, would be to cage some of these birds and raise them for the eggs.

Another animal that live on my property is rabbits.  They come around to check out the scraps on a regular basis making them fair game if needed.  I have a Heart Trap that I use for the feral cats and that is one of the best items that I own. In fact, I would say it is really at the top of my list of  'need to have' items.   And NO - I don't harm the cats.  I take them in for spaying, neutering and to get all their shots so they can be healthy and effective farals.

 Click here to find more info on where to buy this must have item at a great price
this trap is not only good for cat and rabbit capture but you can also set it to be very sensitive and catch the larger birds (like quail) also.  

This brings me to the next part of my daily routine that will be beneficial if there is any type of emergency or disaster.  Feral cats. 

Every year I get so darn pissed off at the disgusting excuse of humans who dump their unwanted pets in the desert next to my home.  Yep - I have a real issue with these people.  What they leave me with are dogs and cats who are scared and hungry and many, already dying from neglect.   Thanks goodness there is an animal rescue in my area that take in the dogs when we get them captured.  And to cats too.  But many of the cats remain uncaptured and turn wild and begin to propagate.  One female cat turns into a dozen in a year. 

This is where turning a wild cat into a healthy feral becomes a bit of a mission.  I trap these cats, have them 'fixed', given a full check up and they get all immunizations and treatments that any cat could possibly need.  That's the best I can do to give these cats a fighting chance in the wild. 

What does this have to do with prepping, you may ask.  First, I'm going to do this even if I was not prepping.  On the prepping side tho, the last thing I want is a bunch of ill animals around my home if I am already dealing with survival.  Also - these wild little creatures take care of the rodent population in many ways.  Rodents carry disease that I don't want to deal with either.  If you are thinking that a few mice aren't a big deal, then you have not lived in a rural area.  A few mice can chew through you plastic container of rice in a matter of days.  They may be attracted to your emergency electric wiring.  And mice are a small part of the rodent population.  We have skunks and rats and moles and then there are the other pest that cats tend to scare off, or eat.  The list will continue with scorpions, centipedes, snakes and I could go on but you get the picture here.  So, feral cats will be on my list, on a daily basis, to keep healthy.  I guess we server each other pretty well here.

That's my simple couple of things I do, every day, to Be Ready.  Baby steps and enjoyable too.