Emergency Supplies

[ravan]

The problem with emergency supplies is that you have to store them somewhere. Finding a place that won't get smushed in an earthquake (our biggest risk out here) is not easy. If they're indoors, they become part of the rubble.

I try to keep my stuff outdoors, in sheds that aren't likely to get crushed by falling trees, or near the front of the garage. But there has to be a way to stash stuff in less "at risk" locations as well.

Then my mind wandered to geocaching. People have encouraged me to get a GPS, for the navigation and geek factors. If I could do hiking, geocaching sounds like fun. What about geostashing? A nice solid plastic bin, make it watertight if possible, put everything in plastic, and a light mound of dirt over the top to protect it from wind, and *presto* small food and water stash! Bury these at N XX nn.911 x W YY mm.mmm or something like that. Or even make it a regular geocache, with a "take food/water, leave food/water" type setup. Geostashing anyone?

Comments

[weofodthignen]

Sounds like a good idea--I've been thinking the same thing myself. But our hills are likely to slide, and will we ordinary folks be allowed to hike into them in the aftermath of a disaster? We've been seeing that unfortunately the one aspect of government that works well in such situations is shooting and threatening to shoot people who try to move about . . . so I think in one's own yard sounds better to me.

M

[siliconshaman.livejournal.com]

Sounds like a workable idea, even if the stash in question is at the bottem of your yard. I can see a network of such emergency supplies, stashes big and small, and just how useful that would be to the likes of stranded hikers and such like, or refugess from storm torn cities hiking their way past patrols.

[treecat]

Living in 1 story buildings I always figured I could find the supplies if the bldg fell down, but now that there is a floor above me, I'd been realizing that yes, supplies in the apartment would be unreachable if the bldg collapsed. So I was going to start putting some in the carport...

Geostashing is an idea, if I had a yard, burying some stuff there would make sense. It might be nice to set up some publically known ones ala geocaching, but I wouldn't make all public.

[jemyl.livejournal.com]

If you owned your own place, an ideal way to stash/cache would be to bury an old empty chest type freezer. It has walls and a lid that tend to be waterproof and you could stack your plastic tubs into it. YOu could even lock it if you wished. Refrigerators and freezers also tend to be the only things left standing in homes after fires, those and safes, of course.

Some people here have old fashioned storm shelters dug into the ground which have a month's worth of MRAs, water and all. Where they are above sea level, it makes sense. We are not like N.O. which is largely below sea level. There is something to be said for living at the crest of or in the middle of the hill instead of in the valley.

Gma tolerated the endo and colonoscopy well. They only found some evidence of diverticuli, no bleeding there now. Her potassium level is back to normal. The UTI seems to be cleared and her headache is finally gone even though the shingles are not quite gone yet. I wonder if it was the potassium levels or the infection which was causing the headaches. I tend to think it was the infection and the potassium was adding to her confusion. She may be able to come home on Wednesday or Thursday or maybe will go to a nursing home for 20 days, depending on how much monitoring she will need and how much of a diet cnange there will be. I am not sure which I want for her. I hate the thought of a nursing home, and with my sore knee, I know that I cannot monitor her any more closely than once or twice a day for a little while. I would rather have her close where I know what kind of care she is getting and that she is not being left to suffer low sugars for hours on end. *sigh* It is not an easy decision. Hugz! Love you.

Emergency supplies

[heethen-crone.livejournal.com]

Great idea! And I forgot all about stashing in freezers. Where is my brain. Used old freezers to store grain on the ranch. Mice can't get at it, or other critters either. It'd be a good idea camping too, especially some of the places we end up. Being able to dig up a few gallons of water and some eats would be cool.