K5mitch
Member
I hashed out some details with my girlfriend last night. She really surprised me with some of the ideas (as far as certain supplies) she had. After discussing things for a while, I told her my general thoughts on preparedness; lots of people don't even think or prepare for emergencies. If she asks her coworkers what they would do if they went home to the charred remains of a house, there is a lot of them that would only have the clothes on their back. We don't have to have all-encompassing plans, just some well thought out plans for likely occurrences (such as fire/blizzard/power outage) and have at least verbalized and thought about what we might do in case of a larger emergency. We'll be leaps and bounds ahead of most people in my opinion.
As I just stated, our planning isn't really for EOTWAKI, but more so for blizzard, fire, and power outages.
Our first order of business is getting a deposit box at a local bank, and making some notarized official copies of important documents. I still haven't decided where the best location would be for the originals, but I'm thinking keep the originals in the deposit box, and certified copies in my fire safe.
I'm finishing up on a total inventory of all things of value we have in the apartment. I'll have a printed copy in the deposit box, along with several digital ones.
For a third layer, I have a couple spare hard drives that I'm backing up all our digital information on. Each vehicle will have a backup hard drive in it. In addition to the hard drive, we'll outfit the cars with some basic emergency kits:
Change of clothes, food, water, blanket, candles, matches, flares, flashlight, batteries, cash, folding shovel, and tire chains.
Then we need to work on turning her camping pack into a grab-bag:
Change of clothes, few pairs of good socks (not girly socks, but real socks), food, cat food, first aid kit, toiletries, sleeping bag + bedrool, multi-tool, flashlight, batteries, maps, matches/lighter/flint, compass, and signal mirror
The proposed idea is, if either of us are snowed-in somewhere, we at least have some supplies in the vehicle until we can get home. Or, in the case of my "return from work to burning house" example, we at least have a change of clothes and some food and cash while we figure out where to go (meanwhile, important documents and insurance info is stored in a deposit box and on the backup hard drives).
If we're in the apartment, and have to evacuate due to fire, broken pipe, or what-have-you, we can just grab the cat, both our bags, and be on our way. Once again, important documents and insurance info stored in the deposit box and on backup hard drives.
If we have to leave town, then we will try to call ahead to a hotel/motel. If the phone lines are clogged up, I'll try to contact someone on my VHF radio over the local repeaters to see if there's anything available in the surrounding area. We could also head Norteast for 4 hours, or East for 3 hours to get to family, and if that direction doesn't work, I've got some friends in Ohio, Kentucky, and Illinois.
As far as the firearms go, we should both have our carry pieces with us. In the case of fire-type emergencies, I won't waste my time grabbing anything else. If we have to leave town, I'll probably grab the shotgun and the 10/22 if it's convenient and we have enough time.
I think she's starting to learn the "prepared" mindset. Her eyes really opened when I used the classic seat belt analogy. "When people get into their car, they put their seatbelt on... not because they plan on getting into a wreck that day, but because there's a chance. When I bring up situations, like what to do if you think someone is following you, or what to do if the building is one fire, it's for the same reasons. We think about and plan for these instances not because we want them to happen, but because there's a chance they may."
I'm going to try to build on this with her, and ask some questions as we go about our daily business. For instance, walking into Wal-Mart... where are the exits? Emergency exits? Best route of escape if the front is blocked off for some reason? It'll be good for the both of us, but more for her as she realizes that there's a lot more going on around her when she takes of the 'condition white' blinders.
This post really isn't very S&T-esque (nor was my last thread, really). But from my viewpoint, opening my girlfriend's eyes to a new level of awareness was pretty spectacular. Our little exercise and planning for mundane emergencies helped her realize bad things do happen in this world. She enjoys going to the range with me, and carries occasionally to humor me, but never did she really understand why I carried or paid attention to minuscule details. But never has she considered like brought up in another thread; the 'hotel security' guy at the door isn't quite what he seems, that man standing outside a convenience store might need to be kept in view, or that you might want to reconsider cussing out that man who just cut you off.
Well, I think I've made this one long enough.
As I just stated, our planning isn't really for EOTWAKI, but more so for blizzard, fire, and power outages.
Our first order of business is getting a deposit box at a local bank, and making some notarized official copies of important documents. I still haven't decided where the best location would be for the originals, but I'm thinking keep the originals in the deposit box, and certified copies in my fire safe.
I'm finishing up on a total inventory of all things of value we have in the apartment. I'll have a printed copy in the deposit box, along with several digital ones.
For a third layer, I have a couple spare hard drives that I'm backing up all our digital information on. Each vehicle will have a backup hard drive in it. In addition to the hard drive, we'll outfit the cars with some basic emergency kits:
Change of clothes, food, water, blanket, candles, matches, flares, flashlight, batteries, cash, folding shovel, and tire chains.
Then we need to work on turning her camping pack into a grab-bag:
Change of clothes, few pairs of good socks (not girly socks, but real socks), food, cat food, first aid kit, toiletries, sleeping bag + bedrool, multi-tool, flashlight, batteries, maps, matches/lighter/flint, compass, and signal mirror
The proposed idea is, if either of us are snowed-in somewhere, we at least have some supplies in the vehicle until we can get home. Or, in the case of my "return from work to burning house" example, we at least have a change of clothes and some food and cash while we figure out where to go (meanwhile, important documents and insurance info is stored in a deposit box and on the backup hard drives).
If we're in the apartment, and have to evacuate due to fire, broken pipe, or what-have-you, we can just grab the cat, both our bags, and be on our way. Once again, important documents and insurance info stored in the deposit box and on backup hard drives.
If we have to leave town, then we will try to call ahead to a hotel/motel. If the phone lines are clogged up, I'll try to contact someone on my VHF radio over the local repeaters to see if there's anything available in the surrounding area. We could also head Norteast for 4 hours, or East for 3 hours to get to family, and if that direction doesn't work, I've got some friends in Ohio, Kentucky, and Illinois.
As far as the firearms go, we should both have our carry pieces with us. In the case of fire-type emergencies, I won't waste my time grabbing anything else. If we have to leave town, I'll probably grab the shotgun and the 10/22 if it's convenient and we have enough time.
I think she's starting to learn the "prepared" mindset. Her eyes really opened when I used the classic seat belt analogy. "When people get into their car, they put their seatbelt on... not because they plan on getting into a wreck that day, but because there's a chance. When I bring up situations, like what to do if you think someone is following you, or what to do if the building is one fire, it's for the same reasons. We think about and plan for these instances not because we want them to happen, but because there's a chance they may."
I'm going to try to build on this with her, and ask some questions as we go about our daily business. For instance, walking into Wal-Mart... where are the exits? Emergency exits? Best route of escape if the front is blocked off for some reason? It'll be good for the both of us, but more for her as she realizes that there's a lot more going on around her when she takes of the 'condition white' blinders.
This post really isn't very S&T-esque (nor was my last thread, really). But from my viewpoint, opening my girlfriend's eyes to a new level of awareness was pretty spectacular. Our little exercise and planning for mundane emergencies helped her realize bad things do happen in this world. She enjoys going to the range with me, and carries occasionally to humor me, but never did she really understand why I carried or paid attention to minuscule details. But never has she considered like brought up in another thread; the 'hotel security' guy at the door isn't quite what he seems, that man standing outside a convenience store might need to be kept in view, or that you might want to reconsider cussing out that man who just cut you off.
Well, I think I've made this one long enough.