Second Half - Clothing

Welcome,
This is the second half of the blog about clothing. You will find videos/podcasts, instructions, and other information about the subject for this week.

Videos/Podcasts:

How to Hand Wash Clothes
http://video.about.com/housekeeping/How-to-Hand-Wash-Clothes.htm

How to Do Laundry : How to Wash Clothes Without a Washer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBNOJJx4Z9k

Hand Sewing Essentials - Intro 1 of 27
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lAyq5D7xJs

Instructions:

How to Blend In
International Business Machines (IBM) has/had a unique philosophy about uniforms for their service personal. They believed a tech should blend in with the office, so a technician would show up for a service call in coat and tie with a brief case.

The briefcase held all the tech's tools. The tech would remove his coat and work on the machine. Once the technician was finished working, the tech would put his coat back on and leave. Unless someone saw the tech working on a machine, they would think he was a mid-level worker for the office.

In Britain, the road workers, delivery drivers, police and many others wear bright neon green vests or jackets. These bright vest are everywhere. Many people don't notice them anymore.

How many delivery drivers or tradesman do you see every day? What did they look like?

What about all the white pick-up trucks and vans you see all day long?

How Not to Blend In
Sometimes you are going to want to stand out. You can do this several ways.

The first way is to move. The human eye reacts to movement. Even if a dark object is on a dark background. If the object moves, you will see it move.

Be bright. No, I don't mean smart; I mean like flashing light bright. Use shiny objects to flash light in the direction of your rescuers, airplanes flying over, or towards inhabited areas.

The military signal mirrors, with the grid, are great. If you don't have one that's ok, you can use any shiny surface like a polished metal candy container lid or plain mirror.

Another method is to be bigger than you really are. Wave a blanket, the bigger and brighter the better. Spread out pieces of wreckage if you have it. I keep a couple of orange space blankets handy just for this reason.

The last method is to contrast. If you are on green grass, you need to be wearing red, blue, orange, pink, and ex cetera. If you are on a pink/orange background you need to be wearing brown, black, blue, and ex ceretra.

Washing Clothing during an Emergency
I have heard of a few ways of washing your clothes during an emergency. One method is to buy a clean, brand-new toilet plunger and a new or used clean 5-gallon bucket with lid.

A hole is cut in the middle of the lid and the plunger's handle is placed through the hole.

The clothes, water, and detergent are placed in the bucket. The plunger is moved up and down.

Do this for a few minutes.

Take out the soapy clothes, ring out, dump the soapy water from the bucket on your garden. Put clothes and clear clean water in the bucket and move the plunger up and down to rinse.

Another method involves a rocking chair and a five-gallon bucket.

Basically, you mount a plastic bucket on the two rockers in the back of the rocking chair. Fill the bucket just like you did in the above method then sit and rock back and forth for a few minutes. Once you think the clothes are clean, remove them from the bucket, and do the same as the above method.

Other Information:

United States' Military Clothing Issue

According to one of my brothers, the United States' military issues 4 sets (shirt and pants) of camouflage uniforms. These uniforms are worn during combat, conducting maintenance on equipment, and many other activities. I even see soldiers wearing their camouflage uniform in the airport when I travel.

The US military also issues every solider two jackets, two pairs of boots, and about seven pairs of socks, underwear, and t-shirts. Plus, they receive an annual clothing allowance to replace damaged and worn unifrom items.

Most people know these facts.

What most people don't realize is that the soldier's shirt last longer then their pants.

I have noticed the same thing at my work. As the guys and gals go about their jobs, the legs of the pants get beat up. Walking through sticker bushes, kneeling down, even walking from place to place in high top boots takes it toll on pants, but shirts stay in good shape.

So what does this have to do with emergency preparedness?

If you are stocking clothing, you need to store more pants then shirts.

Military Surplus Clothing
Depending on your threat analysis, will depend on the color of the military surplus clothing you will buy. I normally avoid the camouflage military clothing. I stick with the green pants, shirts, coats, and other items. Green works in my area of the world. If you live in the desert or urban areas, you may want to focus on the browns.

Now the British Special Air Service, The SAS, have a compromise. They wear green pants and shirts, but wear a loose fitting camouflage pullover or jacket that is about mid-thigh in length.

Foreign Military Surplus Clothing
If you lift weights, the foreign military shirts and coats, except the British military, may be too small in the arms and shoulders. I have heard, the foreign militarise don't put a great emphasise on upper body physical strength like the US military.

Current US Military Clothing
I have heard that the ACUs are delicate. Plus, to me, they don't blend in anywhere.

Spare Parts and Maintenance Items
You will need spare shoe laces, polish for you leather boots and shoes. Thread, needles, scissors, buttons, zippers, snaps, velcro, and other items to repair your clothes. Don't forget the washing detergent to wash your clothes. You will also need to dry them. The low tech solution is to have a clothes line.

Links:

How to Hand Wash Clothes:
http://beprepared.com/article.asp?ai=15&name=Sanitation%20And%20Hygiene%20During%20An%20Emergency&bhcd2=1219790295

Electricity Free Clothes Washing
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2005/07/qa_electricity.php

James Washer
http://www.lehmans.com/jump.jsp?itemID=4084&itemType=PRODUCT&path=1%2C2%2C673%2C674

Pedal-Powered Clothes Washer
http://greenbuildingelements.com/2007/05/30/weekly-diy-pedal-powered-clothes-washer/

Wash Day Blues
http://www.sailingbreezes.com/Sailing_Breezes_Current/Articles/July02/washday.htm

Tips on Laundering Flood-Soiled Fabrics
http://www.cleaning101.com/laundry/washflood.cfm

Week Nine - Clothing

Quickstart:

Insure everyone has a coat, hat, and gloves warm enough for this winter.

Blog Post:

Clothing is very important. It protects us from the extremes of this planet and outerspace. Yes, outerspace.

Think about the effort that the various space programs take to protect an astronaut, cosmonaut, or taikonaut. Extreme cold, heat, and the almost absolute vacuum of space.

Lucky for you, you are only preparing for an emergency on this planet, but that is still a big challenge.

Depending on where you live will depend on the clothing you will need for your emergency preparations. The Pacific Northwest will require an entirely different set of clothing preparations then in the American Southwest. This also goes for the urban, suburban, or rural resident.

Let's look at some of the similarities for all of these locations.

A hat

Everybody needs a hat. I suggest a wide brim hat that has a brim about 3 inches wide all the way around the hat. The full brim will protect your ears, neck and face from the sun's harsh rays. The hat will also reduce the amount of body heat escaping from you in the cold.

If it is really cold, you will need a second hat.

A US military pile cap, a close fitting cap with flaps that cover the ears; a wool watch cap/beanie; or a towel wrapper around your head will help retain some of your body heat.

A scarf

Yes, a scarf even for the desert. In the winter/cold areas of the the world, you will want a wool scarf. Make sure, the scarf is long enough to wrap around your face to protect your face from the wind. If you/a family member is allergic to wool, acrylic scarves work pretty well. You also might want to check out merino wool items. I hear they don't get scratchy like regular wool.

Back to the scarf for the desert. This scarf should be long enough to warp around your head to protect your neck, face, and eyes from the intense sunlight found in the desert. The Bedouins call them kufiyya; theirs are made out of wool. I suggest a cotton one; additionally, a cotton scarf can hold an ice cube at the base of your neck to help keep you cool in the summer.

A shirt

You will want a long sleeve shirt. The long sleeves will protect you from various dangers such as sun, wind, and biting insects. Depending on the climate, you can layer the shirt with a t-shirt under the shirt and a sweater over the shirt.

Most people will tell you to avoid using cotton in your emergency preparedness preparations. I agree, for the most part. Cotton is a poor fabric for survival. Cotton will hold moisture, doesn't dry fast, and it doesn't retain your body heat as well as wool and the synthetic fabrics, like polypropylene, when wet. If you can avoid getting wet, say when you are indoors, cotton makes an inexpensive clothing fabric.

I own a few cotton sweaters that I wear during the winter to keep the chill off while in the house. I even wear a cotton sweater when I travel around town in the winter. But I keep a wool or performance fabric, such as thermax, shirt handy if I go out into the wild for more than a few minutes.

Long pants

You need long pants not shorts. Just like long sleeves, long pants protect you from the sun and flying stuff if you use a chainsaw or string trimmer.

Now don't get me wrong, shorts are cool, (Yes, the pun was intended.) but you are trying to prevent injuries during an emergency. Just like shirts, wool in the winter and cotton in the summer is OK, but avoid getting the cotton items wet.

Undies or no undies that is the question

From my understanding, undergarments where originally intended to reduce the need to wash your outer clothing. Our sweat and body oils would soil the underwear instead of the outer cloths. The outer clothes could be worn many times before needing to be cleaned. I do this when I am working outside in the summer. I will wear the same jeans and t-shirt for 3 to 5 days before washing them.

Socks

I wear wool socks with my boots all year long. I will add a polypro (polypropylene) or nylon sock liner in the winter to keep my feet warm.

During the summer, I wear sandals. You can also wear sandals in the cold, if you wear socks or other insulating material around your feet.

Gloves

You will need gloves for every climate. Warm ones for winter/the cold, tough ones for when you work in the garden or heavy labor, and specialty gloves for those specialty tasks such as welding, painting, or operating on someone.

Footwear

The last similarity is the need for sandals, shoes, and boots. I suggest getting the best footwear you can afford. If all transportation stops, similar to 9/11/01 in New York, you may have to walk home.

I get my emergency clothing from discount stores, charity stores, department stores, military surplus stores, and specialty stores.

I buy my cotton undergarments and cotton socks, colored t-shirts, and inexpensive boots at discount stores. At department stores, I get my jeans and collared shirts.

I visit charity stores every once in awhile. I buy my used clothes in the "earth tones," green, brown, and black.

Military surplus stores provide a lot of my emergency preparedness clothing. Most surplus foreign military clothing is wool or cotton. The United States military surplus has polypro long johns, gortex jackets, and other more modern fabrics. Former military clothing seems to be more rugged; plus it is in the earth tone colors.

At specialty stores, I buy my expensive boots/shoes, welding gloves, safety glasses, and other hard to find items.

Before I go on, I would like to write about the levels of clothing technology in the US military.

In the 1940s-1950s, the US military used wool and cotton in their field gear/clothing. An example is the arctic parka. It had a cotton shell, a wool liner, and an animal fur hood. This level of technology has its limitation, but all of the gear still works. Be careful, some of this equipment is becoming collectible, so prices are increasing.

In the 1960s - 1970s, the US military was changing to synthetic material for their liners for their clothing. The shells such as field jackets and field pants were still made out of cotton, but the liners would be nylon with a polyester core.

From the 1980s onward, the US military had embraced the synthetic fabrics. Rain jackets are now made out of gortex. Uniforms are a combination of nylon and cotton, and liners are polypropylene. You still see wool and cotton, but it is slowly disappearing.

So what do these last three paragraphs have to do with emergency preparedness? They have to deal with technology levels and how to stretch your limited dollars.

Yes, gortex is great, but you may not be able to afford it. So you buy nylon rain jackets. Can't afford polypro long johns, buy military surplus wool long johns. If you can't afford surplus wool long johns, save your money and buy them. The cotton long johns will not protect you from the cold if they get wet.

Need more rugged inexpensive coats with liners, buy surplus foreign military coats. Need more leather boots, buy used military boots.

So, how much clothing do you need? You will have to decide.

I have 7 uniforms for work, one clean uniform for each day of the week and a spare at work and home. When I say uniform, I mean an actual uniform. For some people, such as office workers, your uniform may be a tie, button down shirt, dress pants, and underwear.

I have 3 coats with liners for everyone in the family. A nice coat for everyday wear and two coats that are surplus foreign military. The two coats are split between the family cars. As we add cars, we will purchase more coats for emergency boxes stored in the truck of each car. (More about that in a few weeks).

I keep many, many pairs of socks on hand. There is nothing like having cold wet feet and changing into a clean pair of dry socks.

In footwear, we have three pairs of work shoes/boots, a few pairs of sandals, and surplus military boots in storage.

From looking at third-world countries and other disasters, I believe that clothing will be available, but comfortable and properly fitting footwear will be in short supply. Don't forget a spare pair of arch supports if you need arch support and shoe laces too.

This is a lot of clothing and footwear. To save money, we buy clothes when they are on sale. I also search the military surplus stores/sites for bargains on boots and surplus clothing. For gloves, hats, and scarfs, we buy at the end of the season when these items are deeply discounted.

I also stock spare clothing for expected guests. I mentioned this in a previous post. The ladies are asked to send gently used bras. The clothing goes in metal drums for secure storage. We had a mouse problem that is the reason for the metal drums.

In my research, I have found two differing opinions on storing bedding, blankets, and clothing. The United States military throws their clothing in a pile. They say this method prevents wear spots that would develop, if the clothing was folded.

Others say that folding allows more items to be placed in the same amount of space when compared to unfolded items. These folks also say the wear spots only develop, if the item is repeatedly folded. You decide, and ...

I'll see you next week!

Links:

NASA - Human Body in a Vacuum
http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/ask_astro/answers/970603.html

Survival Clothing for Outdoor Emergencies:
http://www.buzzle.com/editorials/10-2-2005-77987.asp

Survival Topics - The Three Layer System
http://www.survivaltopics.com/survival/the-3-layer-system/

Jon's Exmoor Bushcraft Blog - Layering Clothing for Comfort and Survival, Part One
http://tracks4life.blogspot.com/2008/01/layering-clothing-for-comfort-and.html

Jon's Exmoor Bushcraft Blog - Layering Clothing for Comfort and Survival, Part Two
http://tracks4life.blogspot.com/2008/01/layering-clothing-for-comfort-and_10.html

Jon's Exmoor Bushcraft Blog - Layering Clothing for Comfort and Survival, Part Three
http://tracks4life.blogspot.com/2008/01/layering-clothing-fpr-comfort-and.html

Jon's Exmoor Bushcraft Blog - Layering Clothing for Comfort and Survival, Part Four
http://tracks4life.blogspot.com/2008/01/layering-clothing-for-comfort-and_17.html

Survival Clothing for Outdoor Emegencies
http://ezinearticles.com/?Survival-Clothing-For-Outdoor-Emergencies&id=78500

Stealth Survival - Boots, Bandanas, and Boxers
http://stealthsurvival.blogspot.com/2008/07/boots-bandanas-and-boxers.html

LL Bean - Paddling Tips-Dressing for the Outdoors
http://www.llbean.com/outdoorsOnline/outdoorSports/paddling/tips/dressing.html

Ancestors of Science - Inupiat Clothing and Arctic Winter Survival
http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/career_magazine/previous_issues/articles/2005_09_30/noDOI.12989321631044737104

Wildwood Survival - Hats
http://wildwoodsurvival.com/survival/clothing/hats/index.html

Survival Hat with Flaps
http://www.e4hats.com/_e/Extreme_Outdoor_Flap_Hats/product/ef007oh-taupe/Survival_Hat_With_Flaps_Taupe.htm

OSHA Guide - Cold Stress
http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/emergencypreparedness/guides/cold.html

Discovery Online - The Skinny on Smelly Sports Clothing
http://www.discovery.com/area/skinnyon/skinnyon970801/skinnyon.html

Friday - Christ Mass

It's Friday!

The end of the workweek and another original post about what's going on in the world/my life.

Christ Mass

I know; almost certain, really; that Jesus was not born 2009 years ago, today.

I know; again, almost certain; that he was probably brown-skinned with brown eyes and curly hair.

But these facts and many more, do not distract me from the message of love, forgiveness, and hope that this child/man brought to our lives.

So,

Merry Christ Mass!

Forth Half - Health/Medical

Welcome,
This is the forth half of the post on healh/medical. You will find links to other bloggers and websites about the subject for this week.

Blogs:

Stealth Survival - Homemade First Aid Kit
http://stealthsurvival.blogspot.com/2009/01/homemade-first-aid-kit.html

Stealth Survival - First Aid Kit for Treatment of Burns
http://stealthsurvival.blogspot.com/2009/06/first-aid-kit-for-treatment-of-burns.html

Stealth Survival - Pocket First Aid Kits
http://stealthsurvival.blogspot.com/2009/06/pocket-first-aid-kits.html

Stealth Survival - Home-made First Aid Kits, Additions
http://stealthsurvival.blogspot.com/2009/10/home-made-first-aid-kit-additions.html

Surviving in Argentina - Mosquito Repellent as Part of Your Preps
http://ferfal.blogspot.com/2009/03/mosquito-repellent-as-part-of-your.html

Surviving in Argentina - Preparing for Flu and Other Diseases
http://ferfal.blogspot.com/2009/06/preparing-for-flu-and-other-diseases.html

Surviving in Argentina - Swine Flu
http://ferfal.blogspot.com/2009/04/swine-flu.html

Of Two Minds - Overcoming Depression in a Depression
http://www.oftwominds.com/blogdec09/depression12-09.html

Many More Later.

Websites:

United States of America - Flu.gov
http://www.flu.gov/

Pandemic Influenza Preparation and Response: A Citizen’s ...

http://www.newfluwiki2.com/upload/InSTEDD%20Influenza%20Manual%20v1-5%20Master-EDR.pdf

Third Half - Health/Medical

Welcome,
This is the third half of the post on health/medical.

Many months ago, I read a disturbing post by Michael Panzner at Financial Armageddon.

In "More Than Just Numbers" Mr. Panzner provides an article by Nick Turse titled "Meltdown Madness: The Human Cost of the Economic Crisis." Please take time to read the article.

Terrible isn't it. People taking their lives, robbing banks, committing other crimes, or just acting crazy. Yeah, people like you and me.

Some of us, maybe most of us, would dismiss this behavior as no big deal. I think it is a big deal. We are under a lot of stress in these times. People losing their jobs, homes, and financial security.

In the Links: I have provided some links, of course, about mental health. I urge you to seek help if you are having difficulty.

If you can't afford a professional, you need to find an ear to bend. Someone you are comfortable talking to about your feelings. This person could be a friend, priest, or family member.

If someone seeks you out to talk about their problems, take time to listen. You don't need to help, just listen. My wife and I call this "venting."

Since we have been venting (no venting about each other, by the way) for a few years, I have learned to recognize when she does this. I would suggest that you explain to your friend or family member what you want to do. Tell them upfront that you are not seeking help, just someone to listen.

If you are seeking help for a problem, tell your friend upfront, so she/he knows that you are seeking assistants to solve this problem. This is important; you have to let people know that you are seeking help to get help.

Yes, network! People have the answers you are looking for.

Always ask if there are questions you should have asked. As government budgets get smaller, you will need to turn to family, friends, and neighbors for assistance.

Now, some of us are going to try to work this out on our own. For me, I remember the Serenity Prayer. When I am feeling tough, I recite the Commando Prayer.

Links:

Financial Armageddon - More Than Just Numbers
http://www.financialarmageddon.com/2009/01/more-good-news-not.html

The National Institute of Mental Health
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/

click on "Publications (also en Espanol)"

next to "Jump To" - Select a Topic -click on the arrowsscroll down to "Depression" or "Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder" (PTSD)

It will take you to some pages that have .pdf documents about these mental health illnesses

MedlinePlus: Mental Health
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/mentalhealth.html

Suicide: Top Health Concern of Men
http://womenshealth.gov/mens/health/suicide.cfm

Women's Web - Suicide and Depression
http://www.womensweb.ca/mental/suicide

The Serenity Prayer
http://www.cptryon.org/prayer/special/serenity.html

Andre Zirnheld - The Paratrooper's Prayer/Commando Prayer
http://iwvpa.net/zirnheldala/index.php

Second Half - Health/Medical

Welcome,
This is the second half of the blog post on health/medical. You will find videos/podcasts, instructions, and other information on the subject this week.

Videos/Podcasts:

How To Wash Your Hands:
http://www.ehow.com/video_12779_wash-hands.html

Treating Minor Injuries with Basic First Aid: First Aid Kits
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkWH8vYmWQs

Treating Minor Injuries with Basic First Aid: How to Clean a Wound
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evgkXI2Pepw

Treating Minor Injuries with Basic First Aid: Using Adhesive Wound Closures
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypHM8x92Xy0

Treating Minor Injuries with Basic First Aid: Applying a Sling
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pMy8n6HD-8

Treating Minor Injuries with Basic First Aid: Treating Abrasions at the Scene
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfQHSxcuSZU

Treating Minor Injuries with Basic First Aid: How to Treat a Strained Muscle
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlXHHYM9umQ

Treating Minor Injuries with Basic First Aid: How to Treat a Bee Sting
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCtln78Io2Q

Treating Minor Injuries with Basic First Aid: How to Stop the Bleeding
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-ZqULDWAH8

Treating Minor Injuries with Basic First Aid: How to Treat Blisters
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=086cqlwjUic

Basic First Aid: Tips for Calling 911
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8llWt9nh--U

Basic First Aid:Controlling Bleeding
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2zwU2c-HZo

Basic First Aid: How to Create an Anatomical Splint
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9I-EonUDI4M

Basic First Aid: Treating Blistering Burns
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwpkrkWrXVI

Basic First Aid: Treating Chemical Burns and Victims of Electric Shock
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BB8kTdbzzpo

Basic First Aid: How to Treat Burns
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87HW7OQqDtQ

Basic First Aid: Checking the Pulse, Breathing & Airway
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaUzTNdrGpE

Basic First Aid: Using Rubber Gloves to Treat a Patient
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trTvIlniqF4

First Aid for Splints & Bleeding Wounds : How to Use a Tourniquet
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCXYkral5zg

I am going to stop here. There are many, many more videos on first aid at YouTube. Make sure you practise your new skills.

The Humanure Hacienda - Humanure Compost Bins
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXcU-JQFdms

Starting a New Humanure Compost Pile
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BWc-RjuWbs

Emptying Humanure Toilet Receptacles
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZTZTVv6kYs

Humanure Compost Bin - Active Side
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzvBZImkH0s

Instructions:

Washing Your Hands:
Turn on the water. Warm water that is a comfortable temperature for you is the best.

Get the soap on your hands. Don't worry if the soap isn't antibacterial. Any soap works, even the cheap stuff.

Rub your hands together. Lathering up your hand (lots of soap bubbles) for about 30 seconds. Count from 1 to 30, sing Happy Birthday, twice, any way you want but rub your hands together for 30 seconds.

As you wash your hands, wash between your fingers and under your finger nails.

Rinse the soap off.

Dry your hands, and turn the water off with your towel.

The hardest part is to remember to turn the water off with the towel. The reason for turning the water off is because you just turned the water on with your dirty hands.

Obtaining the U.S. Army First Aid Manual
Go To http://www.train.army.mil/

Click On (It is green, top left corner)
Public Access to Reimer Digital Library (RDL)

Click On (Make the Dot Turn Blue)
Official Departmental Publications

Under Type:Click On (Turn it Blue)
Field Manuals

Under School:Click On (Turn it Blue)
Medical

Click On
Submit

You are looking for FM 4-25.11 First Aid

If you click on the little anchor, all the way to the right of the page, it will take you to the .pdf download page for this manual.
Click On (It is green)

FM 4-25.11 (2,398KB)

The manual should start to download

You might want to download the two other manuals while you are there.

FM 21-10 Field Hygiene and Sanitation
FM 4-25.12 Unit Field Sanitation Team

Other Information:

Obtaining Prescription Medicine:
Prescription medication is controlled for several reasons. One reason, it can be used by druggies to get "high." Another reason for prescription medicine being controlled is because it can do great harm if used improperly. There are other reasons, but I'm not going to discuss them, here.

Now, one way to get prescription medication is to explain to your doctor why you want the extra medication for your current condition. You have a heart condition, and you think it would be a good idea to have a 90 day supply, just in case.

Another way would be for you to discuss with her that you are a survivalist, (Don't use the word survivalist; to many negative connotations. Try preparing for a long-term emergency, instead.) and you would like to have some antibiotics on-hand, just in case. You might even offer to have her store the antibiotics for you in her office.

Another method is to use drugs designed for animals. This way is starting to be/has been closed, so you may need to get a veterinarian to sign a prescription for you.

Another method is to buy them from oversea/out of country pharmacies. Be careful, there have been reports of scams. The buyer gets sent fake, ineffective, or even deadly fake drugs.
One report I saw, talked about a pharmacist receiving antifreeze as cough syrup. Another received a toxic chemical as an anti-malarial drug.

Don't, Do Not, Never take less then the medication that your doctor has prescribed. The antibiotics have been designed to be taken in the amount and the time indicated by your doctor. If you take less or stop before you are suppose to, you can cause the disease you are fighting to get stronger.

This has been happening with tuberculosis (TB) and other diseases.

What to do with your Poop:
During an emergency, you may lose the ability to flush your toilets.

There are several ways to deal with this problem. One way is to have extra water to place in the tank. Filling the tank will allow you to flush the toilet. You can even cause the toilet to flush by adding extra water to the toilet bowl; however, you may not be able to do either, if the sewer lines are broken.

If you are out in the woods, you can use a method used by many military forces. It is called a cathole. A cathole is a 1 foot deep and 1 foot wide hole dug in the ground. You squat over the hole and poop. Once you wipe your butt, the paper goes in the hole, and the hole is covered.

If you have a folding shovel, you can rest your butt on the blade of the partially folded shovel.

Another way is to buy a port-a-potty. These come in a variety of styles. One style is a seat with a plastic bag. Another style is a 5-gallon bucket with a snap-on toilet seat. Another style is the portable toilet.

The portable toilet is good for a few days maybe even a few weeks. You will need to store water (non-potable is ok), the fluid that the toilet uses, and toilet paper.

Don't forget water to wash your hands! You will need soap and water. The hand sanitizers are not as effective as soap and water.

If you don't have a lot of money, you can poop in a plastic shopping bag and pee in a large mouth bottle. The poop is covered with sawdust, shredded paper, or other absorbent material. The bag is loosely tied shut and placed in your outside trash can. The trash can lid is placed tightly on the can. The pee is poured on your garden.

If the emergency continues for a long time, you may need to build an outhouse. Basically, you build a small building over a deep hole.

If you don't like that idea, try this one.

There is a group of people that advocate using human poop as fertilizer. There is even a book written about it called The Humanure Handbook. It can be downloaded for free.

This idea could be adopted for use in a long-term emergency.

There are more methods, but I am stopping here. If you would like more ideas, do an internet search about poop!

Links:

Sanitation and Hygiene During an Emergency
http://beprepared.com/article.asp?ai=15&name=Sanitation%20And%20Hygiene%20During%20An%20Emergency&bhcd2=1219790295

Portable Camp Toilet:
http://armynavyshop.com/prods/rc560.html

Honey Bucket Style:
http://www.iprepare.com/100pp33.html

VISA 268 Portable Toilet:
http://modocars.com/visa-268-deluxe-portable-toilet-sanitation-equipment

Want a Great Garden? Pee On It!
http://www.greenthumbarticles.com/article/Want-a-great-garden-pee-on-it--a719.html

Think Green-Urine for Fertilizer
http://my.gardenguides.com/members/bsmitch/blog/2008/04/18/Think_green_Urine_for_fertilizer_repost

Wikipedia-Outhouse
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outhouse

Outhouse-Frequently Asked Questions
http://www.jldr.com/faqs.html

The Humanure Handbook
http://www.jenkinspublishing.com/humanure.html

Week Eight - Health/Medical

Quickstart:

Buy a first aid kit. If you already have some first aid supplies, put them together, inventory, and/or organize your first aid supplies in a centralized location.

Warning:

I am not a doctor. Nor, do I play a doctor on tv. As with all of my blog posts, links, videos, instructions, and other information provided by me, you are responsible for any death, injury, harm, or saved lives that the use of this information provides.

Use at your own risk.

Blog Post:

In all the wars, humans have had, infection, disease, and accidents are the number one killers. So the best way to prevent a medical problem/emergency is through prevention.

Let us look at an extreme example.

If you hangout with drug using/dealing felons, you are more likely to be shot. If you live in a neighborhood with rival gangs that deal drugs, you are more likely to be shot.

So to prevent being shoot, hangout with law abiding citizens in a decent neighborhood.

OK, let's come back to reality, for most of us.

To prevent being sick from the cold; wash you hands. Avoid people who are sick, and the surfaces they have touched. Keep your fingers out of your nose, eyes and mouth.

To prevent catching the flu, wash your hands. Avoid people who are sick. Keep your fingers out of your mouth, nose, and eyes. Get a flu shot.

The washing of your hands is a common factor in preventing most diseases. Use the bathroom; wash your hands. Shake hands; wash your hands.

Another common factor is keeping your fingers out of your nose, mouth, and eyes. If you shake hands, and can't wash your hands, keep your fingers away from your face.

The last common factor, I will mention, is to avoid sick people and their things.

There is another way, of preventing diseases, it is to get vaccinations.

The US military has a long list of standard immunizations that all soldiers receive. If a group of soldiers are deploying overseas, they may receive other specific immunizations for the overseas area.

Another method of preventing diseases, is to control disease by controlling vectors. Vectors are the animals and insects that carry a disease.

One example, that most people have heard about, is the bubonic plague that wiped out 1/3 of Europe's population from about 1350 to 1400 A.D.

To recap the bubonic plague, fleas living on rats carried bubonic plague. The fleas bit the rats; the rats died of plague. The fleas, looking for a new host, jump on humans and bite the person. The person, most likely, dies of plague.

A more recent example is malaria. A mosquito carrying malaria bites a person; the person comes down with malaria. The person may or may not die. Either way, life will suck for anyone catching malaria.

Now, there are various ways of controlling vectors. One method is to prevent the vector from living.

You can do this by interrupting the vector's life cycle. For mosquito's, you make sure every container holding more than a teaspoon of water is empty of water. This works because the mosquito larva can only survive in water.

Another way to interrupt a vector's life cycle is to kill it. You set a trap. The trap kills the rat; keeping the rat population under control. This reduces the number of fleas.

You have to be careful using traps. The bigger traps can break your fingers, if they are caught in the trap. Traps with dead animals in them also expose you to the diseases carried by the dead animal, so you have to have a safe way of disposing of the dead animal.

You can do this a number of ways. One method is to design the trap, so the trap is disposable. The inexpensive mouse traps you see in the home/farm stores, usually 2 for $1 are designed to be thrown away when they kill a mouse.

To dispose of this trap, put on a pair of medical gloves, pick up the trap, place it in a piece of newspaper and dispose of it in your outside trash can.

Another method is to design the trap to dispose of the critter for you. One trap is the bucket trap. Basically, you take a 5-gallon bucket, fill it with water, get a board to act as a ramp to the top of the bucket, and bait the trap with peanut butter.

To empty, all you have to do is take the bucket and throw the water and dead critters out by your property line.

Another method, of protecting yourself from vectors, is to prevent vectors from biting you.

You can do this in a variety of ways.

One example is using a sleeping net. The net protects you from mosquitoes as you sleep. If global warming is actually happening, the changing climate may increase tropical diseases in the southern maybe even the whole United States. Some of these diseases are carried by night-time mosquitoes.

Another method of protecting yourself, from biting insects, is to wear DEET. DEET is the active ingredient in bug spray.

Preventing medical emergencies is not limited to preventing diseases. It also includes preventing accidents, and there are many ways to prevent accidents.

Don't store medicines next to candy, and don't tell your kids that medicine is candy. Because when they want "candy," they may eat all of your medicine as candy. Just like you said.

Don't store fuel, gasoline, diesel, and/or propane, in your home.

Don't smoke in bed. Heck, just quit smoking.

Don't put power cord under rugs.

The don'ts could and do continue forever. There are many of them. You will need to use common sense and do research on your specific situation.

Just like the "Don'ts," the "Dos" are endless.

Do wear the proper safety equipment when using any equipment. Goggles and safety glasses are needed to protect your eyes. Ear plugs or ear muffs protect your hearing, Gloves protect your hands, and a hard hat protects your head. Climbing harnesses protect you, if you fall from your roof. But all of this equipment will only protect you, if you are wearing and using the equipment properly.

Sleep is also important. Get enough sleep, so you are rested before doing something potentially dangerous.

OK, you have taken steps to prevent accidents. What happens if there is an accident. What do you do?

Call 911. Cool

What happens if emergency services are too far away?

You could provide "First Aid." Don't know first aid!

That's OK. The Red Cross will teach you first aid for a small fee.
Don't have any money. You can download the U.S. Army's first aid manual, and you and some friends can practise on each other. If you don't know how to get the U.S. Army first aid manual, read the "Second Half-Health/Medical" for instructions.

If you are going to provide first aid, you are going to need a quality first aid kit. Now, don't go to the store and expect to buy a quality first aid kit for $19.95.

The inexpensive kits are ok, if you are expecting to only treat minor cuts and scraps. If you expecting to treat broken bones, severe bleeding, gunshot wounds, and other severe injuries you are going to need a better kit.

There are several different ways of getting a better first aid kit.
One way is to buy it. When buying a prepared kit, you are paying someone to assemble the contents of the kit. This cuts into the amount of supplies you have. Plus, you don't know the quality of each individual item in a prepared kit.

Another way is to prepare the kit yourself. Do some research and buy the equipment and supplies, you think you need.
Another way is to make or improvise the items you need. Some things, you will have to buy. Some things you can make, such as backboards from plywood and bandages from bed sheets; additionally, you can improvise wound compresses from maxi- pads.

So you have a first aid kit, but you feel the need for something more. You can obtain further medical training.

Usually, people check out the local community college. These community colleges offer classes on becoming an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT), Paramedic, Nurse, and beginning courses for people later transferring to medical school to become Physician Assistants (PA) or Medical Doctors (MD).
Avoid "Doctor Assistants" schools. They usually teach people to be paper pushers for doctors.

So get your first-aid kit together, learn some first-aid skills, and ...

I'll see you next week!

Links:

Common Cold
http://www.commoncold.org/prevent.htm

American Lung Association: The Common Cold
http://www.lungusa.org/site/c.dvLUK9O0E/b.35873/k.A28F/Cold_and_Flu_Guidelines_The_Common_Cold.htm

Kid's Health: Infections-Common Cold
http://kidshealth.org/parent/infections/common/cold.html

Hands On Health-South Carolina-How can you prevent influenza?
http://www.handsonhealth-sc.org/page.php?id=1300

Mouse Bucket Trap
http://www.kountrylife.com/content/gal1017.htm

http://www.wikihow.com/Build-a-Mouse-Trap

Women: Stay Healthy at Any Age
http://www.ahrq.gov/ppip/healthywom.htm

Men: Stay Healthy at Any Age
http://www.ahrq.gov/ppip/healthymen.htm

Preventive Care Timeline
http://www.ahrq.gov/ppip/timelinead.pdf

Hooah For Health-Deployment Immunization:
http://www.hooah4health.com/deployment/immunizations.htm

Deployment Medical Information Sheets:
http://chppm-www.apgea.army.mil/dmis/

Public Health Pest Control Manual
http://vector.ifas.ufl.edu/manual.htm

U.S. Navy - Shipboard Pest Control manual
http://www-nmcphc.med.navy.mil/od/documents/us_navy_sbpc_manual_sep03.pdf

Armed Forces Pest Management Board Technical Guide #36
http://www.afpmb.org/coweb/guidance_targets/ppms/tg36/tg36.pdf

DEET
http://www.deet.com/

DEET - Frequently Asked Questions
http://www.deet.com/faqs.html

Accident Prevention
http://www.noah-health.org/en/healthy/home/index.html

Accident Prevention
http://www.preparedness.info/npi/accprev/default.htm

First Aid Kit
http://www.ready.gov/america/getakit/firstaidkit.html

http://www.redcross.org/services/hss/lifeline/fakit.html

Wilderness Medical Systems
http://www.wildernessmedical.com/

Survival Unlimited-Expedition First Aid Kit
http://www.survivalunlimited.com/firstaidkits/expeditionamk.htm

Doctors for Disaster Preparedness: A Basic Medical Kit for a 10-20 person Shelter
http://www.ddponline.org/medkit.htm

Friday - Information

It's Friday!

The end of the workweek and another original post about what's going on in the world/my life.

Information Accessibility
During and after a disaster, we may need to access information. This information may be as simple as your insurance agent's telephone number.

We have ours in our mobile phone's memory.

Or as complicated as .. (I don't know. You think of something.)

Either situation, the device; be it a handheld computer, desktop computer, laptop, and/or some other device; will need to have power.

Remember, no power; no access.

Yes, a laptop's battery will give you power for a little while, but sooner or later the battery will die.

So, what's a person to do.

First, have back ups. Remember PACE

Second, make a plan to provide access to your information and implement that plan.

Let me give you an example.

I have over 16 gigabytes (1 gigabyte equals 1024 megabytes) of information, mainly military manuals. One manual, 444 pages, is 10 megabytes in size, so 16 gigabytes would be about 725,000 pages of information.

There is no way I would be able to buy all of these manual or print them, much less print and store all of those manuals.

So,

Primary - I have a set on the hard drive on the desktop.

Alternate - I have a set on a laptop computer

Contingency - I have a set on CDs

Emergency - I have another laptop computer (an older model we kept when we upgraded) with a set of CDs.

That one was pretty technical, here's another example.

My wife has a list of all of the extended family members. We use it for Christ Mass cards, family reunions, and a host of other uses.

Primary - as an Excel spreadsheet on the family computer

Alternate - as an Excel spreadsheet on her laptop

Contingency - the Excel spreadsheet is printed and placed in a file in the file cabinet

Emergency - in a plain old address book

So, back to my point.

Books are the easiest form of information storage that a person can use. A book only requires the ability to read, turn the page, and a light source to read. Heck, you can wait for the sun to come up and all you will need then is the ability to read and turn the page.

Pencil and paper is another item you might want to store because you will be able to write something down and read it later.

Links:

Unit-Conversion - Computer Unit Conversion

http://www.unit-conversion.info/computer.html

Avatar
Went to see the movie this evening.

Fantastic. I really enjoyed the movie. A lot to digest and think about.

For you folks getting ready for an alien invasion (Don't laugh, I think about it), a truly powerful alien race is going to win.

Helpful Blogs/Blog Shout Outs

Ol' Remus has a kind of a blog called "Woodpile Report." It is a very informative blog. He has a lot of good information in his blog.

If you stop by, say "Hi."

Woodpile Report

http://woodpilereport.com/

Be warned: Ol' Remus does not maintain an archive of past issues or articles on his blog.

Forth Half - Information

Welcome,
This is the forth half of the post on information. You will find links to other bloggers and websites about the subject for this week.

Blogs:

Abraham's Blog - Learn your area of operations
http://hotdogjam.wordpress.com/2009/11/12/learn-your-area-of-operations/

Websites:

WikiHow - How to Keep a Notebook
http://www.wikihow.com/Keep-a-Notebook

Third Half - Information

Welcome,
This is the third half of the post on information

Blogs
There comes a time in everyone's life where we have to seek out like minded others to help learn a piece of knowledge or a specific skill. One of these places are other folk's blogs.

Be warned, not everyone is getting ready for the same set of emergencies. Some have more money but less time then you and your family, so they throw money at a problem. Other folks may believe things differently then you and your family do.

So, as you go through these blogs; think about if these folks "fit" into your preparedness plans, but don't forget, make sure you listen to the folks that might disagree with your views; they might have something for you to think about.

With that said, you will find links to numerous blogs, below.

Some are exclusively about emergency preparedness and survivalism, others are about freedom issues with survival mixed in, and others are a mix of guns, politics, freedom, survival and whatever the writer wants to write.

Be warned. These folks have their opinions. What has worked for them may not work for you.

Additionally, some of the writers are trying to make back a little of their expenses. They have pamphlets, books, and other items for sale. Some even take donations.

Just so you know, if a site has ads by Goggle or others, and you click on the ad, the site owner will receive a small remittance from the advertising company.

Abraham's Blog
http://hotdogjam.wordpress.com

Aspiring Survivalist Blog
http://theaspiringsurvivalist.blogspot.com/

Be A Survivor Blog
http://beasurvivor.blogspot.com/

Bear Ridge Project Blog
http://www.bearridgeproject.com/

Bison Survival Blog
http://bisonsurvivalblog.blogspot.com/

Boniface's Treatise Blog
http://bonifacestreatise.blogspot.com

Casaubon's Book
http://sharonstyk.com/

Circle of the Oroborous Blog
http://circleoftheoroborous-dragon.blogspot.com/

Code Name Insight Blog
http://codenameinsight.blogspot.com/

Coffee with the Hermit Blog

http://hermitjim.blogspot.com/

The Coming Depression Blog
http://thecomingdepression.blogspot.com/

Comrade Simba Blog
http://www.comradesimba.com/blog/

Daily Survival Blog
http://daily-survival.blogspot.com/

Degringolade Blog
http://mightaswellliebackandenjoyit.blogspot.com/

Down in the Hills-The Survivalist Way Blog
http://blog.linnabary.net/

Everyday Prepper
http://everydayprepper.com

La Ferme de Sourrou Blog
http://lafermedesourrou.blogspot.com/

The Field Lab Blog
http://thefieldlab.blogspot.com/

Food - Learning from the Poor’s Blog

http://food-learningfromthepoor.vox.com

Food Storage... A Necessary Adventure Blog
http://adventureinbloggingtoo.blogspot.com/

Food Storage Made Easy
http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net/

Frugal Canning Blog
http://frugalcanning.blogspot.com/

Grain Storehouse
http://www.grainstorehouse.com

How to Pack Food for Long Term Storage Blog
http://howtopackfood.blogspot.com/

I'd Rather Be...The Pursuit of an Off Grid Life Blog
http://idratherbe-ginger.blogspot.com/

Hunter-Gather: Wild & Fresh Food Blog
http://huntergathercook.typepad.com/huntergathering_wild_fres/

Journey in the Woods Blog
http://journeyinthewoods.blogspot.com/

Keep it Simple Survival Blog
http://mayberry-keepitsimplestupid.blogspot.com/

Little Homestead in the City Blog
http://urbanhomestead.org/journal/

Living for End Times
http://www.livingforendtimes.com/

No BS Survival Blog
http://sunfightergunfighter.blogspot.com/

No Nanny State - Molon Labe!
http://nonannystate.blogspot.com/

Notes From the Bunker Blog
http://commanderzero.com/

Off-Grid.Net Blog
http://www.off-grid.net/

Off Grid Survival Blog
http://offgridsurvival.com/

Patriots Against the NWO Blog
http://patriotsagainstthenwo.blogspot.com/

Peak Oil Hausfrau Blog
http://peakoilhausfrau.blogspot.com/

Prepare! Tips To Survive The End Of The World Blog
http://survivalism.blogspot.com

Prepared For Survival Blog
http://preparedforsurvival.blogspot.com

Preparing for Tyranny Blog
http://pft2009.blogspot.com/

Preparing Your Family Blog
http://preparingyourfamily.com/

Prepper Podcast
http://www.prepperpodcast.com/

Real Self Reliance
http://www.realselfreliance.com/

Safely Gathered In Blog
http://www.safelygatheredin.blogspot.com/

Scoutinlife's Homestead and Preparedness Blog
http://scoutinlife.blogspot.com/

Self Sustained Living Blog
http://selfsustainedliving.blogspot.com/

She Survives Blog
http://shesurvives.blogspot.com/

Sh*t Hit The Fan Blog
http://www.shtfblog.com/

Simple Green Frugal Co-op Blog
http://simple-green-frugal-co-op.blogspot.com/

Something Wicked Comes Blog
http://selousscouts.blogspot.com/

Staying Alive Blog
http://wwwstayalive.blogspot.com/

Stealth Survival Blog
http://stealthsurvival.blogspot.com/

The Suburban Prepper Blog
http://suburbanprepper.wordpress.com/

Survival Acres Blog
http://survivalacres.com/wordpress/

Survival Blog
http://www.survivalblog.com/

Survival Lady Blog
http://survivallady.com

The Survival Mom Blog

http://thesurvivalmom.com/

The Survival Podcast
http://www.thesurvivalpodcast.com/

The Survival Report
http://www.survivalreportblog.com

Survival/Special Cooking
http://www.survival-cooking.com/

Survival Spot Blog
http://www.survival-spot.com/survival-gear-equipment/

Survival Strategies Blog
http://survivalstrategies.blogspot.com/

Survival Topics
http://www.survivaltopics.com/

Survive the Worst Blog

http://survivetheworst.blogspot.com/

Survivalist Blog
http://thesurvivalistblog.blogspot.com/

Survivalist.info
http://www.survivalist.info/

Survivalist News

http://www.survivalistnews.com/

Surviving in Argentina Blog
http://ferfal.blogspot.com/

TEOTWAWKI Blog
http://teotwawkiblog.blogspot.com

TEOTWAWKIAIFF Blog
http://teotwawkiaiff.blogspot.com/

Texas Woman Prepper's Blog
http://texaswomanprepper.wordpress.com/

Today's Survival Show

http://www.todayssurvival.com/

Total Survivalist Libertarian Bitchfest Blog
http://tslbf.blogspot.com/

Total Survivalist Libertarian Rantfest Blog
http://tslrf.blogspot.com/

The Urban Survivalist Blog
http://theurbansurvivalist.blogspot.com/

Viking Preparedness Blog
http://vikingpreparedness.blogspot.com/

Wolf Tracks Blog
http://jimshywolf.blogspot.com/

Woodcraft in Poland
http://woodcraftinpoland.blogspot.com/

Wretha's Adventures Living 100% Off Grid Blog
http://wretha.blogspot.com/

You will notice, some of the blogs are no longer updated or updated on an irregular basis. Most of these blogs still have an active archive, so make sure you read their archives. Even though they may no longer be posting, the authors still might have information for you on their blog.

If you have a survival/emergency preparedness blog, and you would like to be included in this list, e-mail me at gsiep.blogspot(at)gmail.com. Put "Blog List Addition" in the heading, so I don't automatically delete the e-mail. I usually check this e-mail box once a week.

Since you have hung around this long, If you have a question, feel free to e-mail me at the same address.

Second Half - Information

Welcome,
This is the second half of the blog about transportation. You will find videos/podcasts, instructions, and other information about the subject for this week.

Videos/Podcasts:

Loading Microfilm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IubMlnzVKSE

Loading Microfiche
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1A2K4osqM4

Microfiche Copier 101
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2AWcFIqlaE

Coin Operated Microfiche Copier
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZF81x0pOyQ

Instructions:

Long-Term Storage of Books
I have two copies of certain books. One copy is kept out and is used as needed. The other copy is placed into long term storage.

To store these books, I place them in a mylar bag with an oxygen absorber and some moisture absorber. After I seal the bag, I write the title and author of the book on the seal. I then place two or three other sealed books in another bag with an oxygen absorber and more moisture absorber. This bag is sealed and labeled with titles and authors. I take two to three of these bundles then place the bundles in a heavy-duty trash bag. The trash bag is taped shut and stacked in a metal (preferred method) or wooden (alternative method) box.

Other Information:

Obtaining Information
My favorite place to get information is the internet.The second place is the local library. The library has magazines, books, and videos on a variety of subjects. Just go to the card catalog, probably a computer now a days, and enter your search query. If that doesn't work, there is a librarian to assist you.

Most local libraries are a member of a inter-library loan program. Under the inter-library loan program, the local library is able to borrow a book from another library. The library will be able to get you a copy of a book; they don't have for free or a small fee.

I have used my local library and the inter-library program to read many books that I normally couldn't afford. Once, I find a book that I think I want to own; I check local and national booksellers for used copies. We also have a local library sale every year. I am able to buy books for about 1/10 to 1/100 their original price. One year I was able to buy a set of Encyclopedia Britannica for $20.

Be careful, I have accidentally bought five copies, over the years, of Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew. I keep a list, now. For the ambitious, the librarians will be able to help you set up a card catalog for your book collection.

The Dan Forrester Project
In the book Lucifer's Hammer by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, the character Dan Forrester attempts to save information that might be useful to a society recovering from a catastrophic event.

In the pouring rain, he loads books, double sealed in zip-lock bags, into an old steel tank. After hooking up with other survivors of the asteroid strike, they are able to recover the contents of the tank.

This is a good idea; however, zip-lock bags will leak. Loading the tank during a pouring rain was also a poor idea.

So why did I tell you about a very minor part in a great survival/science fiction book? Because, I would like you to join the "Dan Forrester Project."

The idea is to save books that can be used by you to teach or by others to learn your profession/expertise. If you would like to add more books to the project, please do.

Now, don't go out and buy two new copies of every book you own, that is a waste of money. Just the ones that you would use to teach someone, from the beginning, your area of expertise.

Week Seven - Information

Quickstart:

Go to your local library and get a library card.

Same for your husband and kids.

Blog Post:

Information, we are surrounded by it.

Radio; tv; internet; newspapers; what you see, hear, smell, touch, and taste; and many others. But what happens if it stops. I'm talking about something simple, like an electrical outage.

How will you get your information? What if the emergency lasts longer than three days? Three weeks? Three years?

Remember PACE? For me.

Primary: Electronic Files on my computer

Alternate: A Laptop Computer and Compact Disks (CD) I am switching to an archival brand, when I can find one. A switch to DVD when I buy my next computer.

Contingency: Paper Files and Printed Books

Emergency: Microfiche and doubles of selected books packed for long-term storage.

While I was reading some archived blog posts, I found a post by Selous Scout on creating "The Survival Bible" for yourself. You need to read the post.

Selous Scout lays out a great method of building a 3-ring binder, or sets of binders, to hold important emergency preparedness information for you and your family.

What is really neat about this idea, is that the binders can be as simple or as in-depth as you want. Preparing for a multigenerational emergency, you will need, oh, 100 binders. Preparing for an earthquake, maybe, 2 binders.

And this leads to the next point. Do you have an inventory of your home and its contents for insurance purposes? Stored at an off-site location such as a friend/relative's home, safety deposit box, or lawyer's office?

How about copies of the insurance policies themselves? Contact information for your agent?

How about those (evil, vile, despicable, and useful) credit cards? Do you have copies of the account number, procedures for dealing with a stolen card, and account policies?

Birth certificates, passports, marriage licences, divorce decrees; water, sewer, electric, gas, oil, and other regular bills; and tax records to name a few more.

Yes, all possibly stored off-site in a safety deposit box. If you don't like that idea, how about your own safe. Bolted to the floor, of course.

Now remember your threat analysis. The files you create are specific to you. Don't let the threats that I'm/others are preparing for distract you from your preparations.

As you do research, you will read many people preparing for various emergencies, Peak Oil, Collapse of Society, Race Wars, Nuclear War, Economic Disasters, and many others. If you come across something that you think you need to add to your threat analysis, go ahead and add to your list. Just, make sure you prioritize the new threat, OK.

See you next week!

Links:

Selous Scout - The Survival Bible
http://selousscouts.blogspot.com/2008/04/survival-bible_28.html

Advisory:
I suggest you don't purchase "Rawles Gets You Ready" offered by Arbogast Publishing LLC and advertised on Survival Blog.
I say this for a few reasons.

First, the cost. I bought a copy for $80. Now, the manual is $150. That is expensive, very expensive.

For about $150 you could buy:

Making the Best of Basics: Family Preparedness Handbook by James Talmage

The New Passport to Survival: 12 Steps to Self-Sufficient Living by Rita Bingham

Cooking With Home Storage by Vicki Tate and Peggy Layton

Country Beans by Rita Bingham

Nuclear War Survival Skills, 1987 edition by Cresson H. Keary

Additionally, there is free survival information on the web.

Captain Dave's Survival Guide, I highly recommend it!
http://www.captaindaves.com/guide/

Nuclear War Survival Skills
http://www.ki4u.com/webpal/d_resources/survival/books/books.htm

American Red Cross Publications
http://www.redcross.org

click on "Preparing and Getting Trained"

Then click on any of the links on the left such as

Get Trained

Prepare

-Home & Family

-Workplace & Employees

-School & Student

Preparedness Fast Facts


United States Army Publications
https://rdl.train.army.mil/soldierPortal/soldier.portal

click on "Official Departmental Publications" to get to the manuals than

click on submit to get all of the stuff. Over 80 web pages of military information.

Second, I felt the manual was lacking in How-To information. How-To information that is easily found on the internet.

Now don't get me wrong, I think "Rawles Gets You Ready" sucks. It is a waste of money; however, Survival Blog is a great site. James Rawles and lots of other people providing free information for you to use; what more could you ask for?

Friday - Air

It's Friday!

The end of the workweek and another original post about what's going on in the world/my life.

Dr. Bruce Clayton
In his book, Life After Doomsday, Dr. Clayton suggests carrying two bolts wired together. The bolts are to be used to open a sewer manhole in case of a nuclear attack.

It is a good idea, but there might be a problem. The air quality in the manhole.

Let me explain.

Gases have different densities. Some will "float" above breathable air and other gases will "sink." Thus the different densities of gases will cause layers of gas to form in the manhole.

So, you open the manhole (You practiced this, right?) climb down the manhole, close the cover (You practiced this, right?) and start breathing.

But there's a problem, you're on the wrong level. You're on the level that has hydrogen sulfide, sulfuric acid forms when it comes into contact with moisture/water.

Yeap, even the moisture in your lungs.

Carbon monoxide (CO) is interesting. Our red blood cells like carbon monoxide better then O2. Plus, CO stays on the red blood cells. It won't come off the red blood cell when you exhale like carbon dioxide (CO2) will.

Methane, all you need is a spark. If you're lucky, it will kill you.

Now don't get me wrong, Life After Doomsday is a good book. It has a lot of good information, but it has been almost 30 years since the book was published.

P.S.
Manhole covers have been redesigned. Some don't have the hole needed to open in the manner Dr. Clayton suggested. Plus, they weigh anywhere from 25 to 50 pounds. Plus, some sewer mains are only 8 inches in diameter. Yeah, 8 inches.

Checking Those Opinions
Folks have been studying survivalism for a long time. What was thought to work a few years/decades ago might not work today for you. Take Dr. Clayton's idea on getting into the sewer system as an expedient method of protecting you and your family from nuclear fallout/blast.

Thirty years ago, sewer/storm water systems had holes in the lids for you to use, but not anymore. Or, you live in a small town with only 8 inch main lines not the 10 foot diameter sewer mains like New York city.

So as you read (yes, even me) ask yourself "Will this work for me?"

Christmas Shopping
Folks, as you go about your Christmas shopping, think about giving gifts that allow your family to be more prepared for life's emergencies.

Helpful Blogs/Blog Shout Outs

Wretha has a blog called "Wretha's Adventures Living 100% Off Grid." It is very helpful and informative blog. She has a lot of good information in her blog.

If you stop by, say "Hi."

Wretha's Adventures Living 100% Off Grid
http://wretha.blogspot.com

Forth Half - Air

Welcome,
This is the forth half of the post on air. You will find links to other bloggers and websites about the subject for this week.

Blogs:

I couldn't find any blog posts about air. Bummer

Websites:

Global Security - M40/M42 Series Chemical-Biological Mask
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/ground/m40m42.htm

Defense Technical Information Center - History of the Army Protective Mask
http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?AD=ADA376445&Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf

Unknown - Who Invented the Gas Mask?
http://www33.brinkster.com/iiiii/gasmask/page.html

Third Half - Air

Welcome,

This is the third half of the blog post on guns.

Oxygen or Air

When I was doing some research about building and supplying a blast shelter, I looked at supplying air to a closed air tight shelter. One of my sources suggested using oxygen cylinders to supply oxygen (O2). The cylinders would be stored under the floor of a steel tank.

I thought, a good idea because I can obtain O2 cylinders from a local welding supply house, cheap.

Until, I was watching television, one night.

The show, I was watching, was about the early United States space program. During the show, the narrator talked about the Apollo One disaster and the resulting accident review board.

According to the review board, one of the reasons LTC Virgil I. Grissom, USAF; LTC Edward H. White, II, USAF; and LTC Roger B. Chaffee, USN died was because 100% oxygen was used as their air supply. This 100% oxygen atmosphere allowed fire to spread rapidly in the command module.

So, guess what?

No, pure oxygen as a shelter air supply. We will use regular air, just like most SCUBA divers.

Second Half - Air

Welcome,
This is the second half of the blog about air. You will find videos/podcasts, instructions, and other information about the subject for this week.

Videos/Podcasts:

M17 US military gas mask - A 30 to 40 year old mask to avoid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vm3E6xbAmm0

New M9A1 Gas Mask - a 40 to 50 year old mask to avoid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlZPVIAY1Cc

My Gasmasks - 50 to 60 year old masks to avoid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UC0QgTZXzLQ

Russian Gas Mask! - 50 to 60 year old mask to avoid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMsWF0BScxM

M95 Gas Mask - Instructional Video - Short Version
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DhU4Br2KmM

The above video is a great infromational video. You can use this video as a reference on how to use other protective masks.

Instructions:

How to evacuate a group of people with one mask and external filters for everyone else.
One person wears the protective mask. Everybody lines up single file behind her. Everyone else puts the screw end of the opened filter in their mouth and holds the filter with one hand.

Their other hand holds on to a long rope, belts hooked together, or sheets torn into strips to make a long rope. Everybody, except the person wearing the protective mask, closes their eyes.

No breathing through the nose. You have to breath, using your mouth, through the filter, so you may want to plug your nose with something that doesn't allow you to breath through your nose. The person wearing the mask leads everyone out of danger.

A variation is to form a single line and hold on to the shoulder or belt of the person in front of you. But, if a person in line dies, that person will release their grip on the person in front of them. Anyone behind the dead person will lose contact with the person wearing the mask.

I would do this only as a very, very, very, very last resort. It sounds scary just typing about this technique.

Other Information:

On January 6th, 2005 two trains collide releasing a toxic cloud of chlorine gas. Nine people died

On July 3rd, 2007, a man climbed into a manure holding pit. Think of it as a very big septic tank that is uncovered. The methane gas, in the pit, displaced the oxygen. The man was overcome by the gas. His wife, two daughters, and another man tried to rescue him. They all also died.

In the winter of 2007-2008, a man was using a gasoline powered concrete saw to cut a hole in a basement floor. He built a plastic sheeting enclosure to reduce the amount of dust in the basement. He was overcome by a build up of carbon monoxide from operating the gas-powered saw. He died.

Some of these deaths could have been averted by using a protective mask with the proper filter or practicing proper enclosed space procedures.

When buying a protective mask, you are going to need to buy the proper filter for your anticipated emergency. If you live near a chlorine gas pipeline, you need to have a filter rated for chlorine gas. If you are planning for a chemical weapons attack by a terrorists or foreign military, you will need a filter rated for the military chemical weapons.

Filter size and duration of protection
Some obsolete masks use a 60 mm opening for their filters. The International standard is now 40 mm. There is an adaptor that reduces the 60 mm opening in the mask to a 40 mm opening for new filters. If your mask requires this adapter, return your mask or replace it with a new mask.

Protective mask filters only last so long once exposed to chemical agents. The size of the filter will determine how long the filter will protect you. Most filters will have a different rated time for different chemicals.

Wrap Around Visor or Individual Eye Lens
When choosing your protective mask, you will need to decide which one to get. Some masks have eye lens, each eye has its own lens to look through, or a visor, a large wraparound lens both eyes see through. I prefer having separate eye lens. Early in their development, protective masks with visors lost the seal around the mask and the visor allowed air to leak in.

Where to Buy
I was amazed when I found out that firefighting supply stores may have protective masks for sell. Instead of the internet, you might be able to use the phonebook and a telephone to find a protective mask near you.

I also learned that the local police/fire departments have protective masks for responding to chemical weapons attacks. If you know a police officer/fire fighter, you might ask them the type and brand their department purchased, and how do they like it.

When I was looking for protective masks for my family, I did an internet search. I read a lot of information about the various types of masks, over the course of a few months. I also ordered a few surplus masks.

One mask was the Israeli German-made civilian protective mask to check it out. I can tell you, there is a difference between a bare bones mask and a more expensive mask.

I finally decided on the M-95 protective mask. The mask has a shelf-life of 20 years. Large eye lens and the ability to mount a filter on either the left or right side for use of a rifle. Uses the common/standard 40 mm filter. Easy to wear for a long time and the ability to verbally communicate.

There is a down side to this mask. The family must practice using the M-95 mask. It is not a escape hood that requires little or no practice to use. A M-95 mask is a military-type protective mask; it has a distinctive look. An escape hood comes in a nondescript package that can be carried in a backpack or large purse.

Remember your threat analysis when choosing your type of mask and filter.

It is getting time to order new masks for my family. I will buy the same type of mask. I will save one of the old masks as a trainer, so my family and I can train putting the mask on and taking the mask off. I will also save the others as backups for unexpected guest that don't have masks or as mask to be stored at likely attack sites.

Additional Equipment and Supplies
If you buy a protective mask, you will need a carrier and spare filters. Remember the filters last only so long when you are in a chemical environment. You might need to change the filter as you evacuate the area. You will aslo need a carrier big enough to hold another filter or two.

I also suggest, as you look for a carrier, to buy a carrier that is easy to open. The quicker you can put your mask on, the better.

Enclosed Space Policies:
http://www.uottawa.ca/services/immeub/eng/cspace.htm

http://www.wwu.edu/depts/ehs/Safety_Information_Book/15%20Confined%20Space%20Rev%20Approved%2011-07-05%20ds.pdfhttp://www.okanagan.bc.ca/Page9379.aspx

Week Six - Air

Quickstart:

Check and Test your smoke alarms and change the batteries if you didn't when daylight savings time began.

Don't have fire alarms. Even if you rent, go buy one for each floor of your home, and install according to the directions, today.

Blog Post:

Many weeks ago, I promised I would write about air, the most important element to survival after thinking. Let me begin.

We take it for granted, until you need it. Struggling to reach the surface of the lake as your lungs beg to exhale and breath fresh air, choking on the smoke as you crawl from your burning home, or dry land drowning as your lungs fill with fluid as a toxic cloud drifts through your work place from a terrorist attack.

Air and the oxygen it contains is important to our survival, so how do you obtain air in an emergency?

You are going to have to spend some money and/or learn some techniques to use when you need air.

The first technique, I use when swimming underwater. As you swim underwater, CO2 (Carbon Dioxide) builds up in your lungs. If enough carbon dioxide enters your lungs, your body sends a signal to your brain to breath. If you slowly exhale, a little bit of the air in your lungs and some of the excess CO2 is released. The body's mechanism for breathing will be temporally overridden, so you can swim a little farther underwater.

Remember opinions, it has worked for me in a non-emergency situation; it might not work for you.

There is a similar method that SCUBA divers use, but this keeps their lungs from bursting. As the diver gets closer to the surface, the air in her lungs expand. The air must be exhaled to keep the lungs from over expanding and bursting. Remember this technique if you ever have to come up from a submerged wreck.

Your laying in bed and all of a sudden a loud noise sounds.

What's that noise? It's the fire alarm!

Roll out of bed to the floor. Don't sit up because the hot, toxic smoke from the fire raises to the ceiling. This smoke can disorient you or cause you to pass out. Quickly leave the building.

There is more to surviving a fire, but this post is about air.

With that said, you can purchase a smoke hood. These hoods protect you from the toxic gases produced by a house or workplace fire. No matter the type, you want one that has a hood that will cover your head, is compact, and easy to use.

When I researched this a couple of years ago. The Evac-U8 was the best smoke hood. It had a hood that was totally clear. Filtered out carbon monoxide, and was easy to put on and seal.

Some of the masks have a hood that has a small viewing area, once the mask was on. Since hoods can shift, your view may be blocked as you try to escape. The Evac-U8 has a clear hood. If it shifts, you can still see.

Some masks have a head harness to place the filter by your mouth and nose. The head harness takes practice to use quickly. The Evac-U8 has no head harness. It has a nose piece to close your nose, and the filter that goes in your mouth.

Some smoke hoods don't filter carbon monoxide or are only good for 5 minutes. The Evac-U8 is good for 15 minutes.

Lastly, the Evac-U8 has a training hood for 1/3 to 1/2 the price of an actual smoke hood, so you and your family can train with the mask.

With all that praise for the Evac-U8. It has recently been recalled, by the manufacturer, for all models sold September 2000 to March 2006.

Remember those opinions, the Evac-U8 is near the top of my list for must buys for my family.

Smoke hoods are only good for chemicals produced in a fire. If there is a chemical spill or a chemical weapons attack, you will need a protective mask.

Protective masks are designed to protect the respiratory tract, your esophagus and lungs, and the eyes. Avoid the ones that lack protection for the eyes. Some chemicals, like chlorine, will damage your eyes.

A protective mask protects you by using a filter. The filter traps the dangerous chemicals. Some filters are contained in the mask (internal) and some filters are external. The United States military M17 series (M17, M17A1, and M17A2) protective mask and the soviet M10-M mask have an internal filter. The British S10 and the US M40 protective masks have external filters.

The internal filters are very hard to change. There is also the chance of damaging the mask when changing the filters. You will also need another mask if you plan to change filters in a contaminated environment. The reason, you have to take the mask off to change the filters.

If you know any US military vets; ask her/him how hard it was to change the filters on a M17 series mask. It will be the same for a soviet M10-M protective mask.

The external filters are the easiest to change. Hold your breath, unscrew the filter, screw a new filter on, and clear the mask. 45 seconds and your done.

You can spend varying amounts of money for a protective mask anywhere from $10 for a surplus Israeli civilian mask to $300 for a new MSA Millennium CBRN protective mask.

Some people will tell you to totally avoid surplus masks. Some people, I'm one of them, will tell you that surplus masks are OK. They are reasonably safe if you know what to look for.

To determine if a protective mask is still usable you will have to inspect the mask.

Warning:

Make sure you can return the mask. If not, don't buy the mask. If you can't return the mask for a complete refund, don't buy the mask.

This is the first sign that a surplus protective mask is unserviceable (not usable).

First, look the mask over. Is everything there? Is it dirty? Smell like mold, mildew? If it does, send the mask back to the company where you bought it.

How old is it? 20, 30, 40, 50 years old, send it back.

Is it a Russian/soviet model? Send it back!

Next gently pull on the tabs that holds the head harness. The head harness is the thing that goes behind your head. It holds the mask to your face. If you see any cracks, rips or tears, send the mask back.

Check the buckles, if the mask has them, for bent, broken, and/or proper function (should not slip when holding the head harness straps) If not, send the mask back.

Next check the face piece. This is the mask itself. Any holes, cuts, rips, tears, splits, soft or sticky spots, send the mask back.

Next check the outlet valve disk. This disk closes when you breath in and opens when you breath out. You will usually find it around the mouth area on the outside of the mask. Make sure the outlet valve is present then gently take your finger and make sure the valve spins/does not stick. The outlet valve should also be flat, not curled or distorted. Some outlet valves are shaped like a cup, so be careful looking at the shape of the valve. If the outlet valve is curled, distorted, cut, and/or missing, send the protective mask back.

Next check the inlet valve. The inlet valve is usually near the nose. Make sure the outlet valve is flat, not curled, distorted, cut and/or missing. If the inlet valve is curled, distorted, cut, and/or missing. Send the mask back.

Next check the lens. The lens allow you to see when you are wearing the mask. Any scratches, broken lens, discoloration and/or missing lens, send the mask back.

The last item I will tell you to check is the head harness. Some head harnesses have nets, and some have pads with 6 to 8 straps coming off the pad. These straps attach to the tabs on the face piece. Insure the head harness has an even number of straps, free of cuts, tears, missing straps, and/or loss of elasticity. If you can't get a replacement, send the mask back.

Check any of the equipment that came with the mask. Does it have a hood? The hood should be free of holes, tears, rips and/or falling apart. Does it have a carrying bag? The bag should be free of holes, rips, tears, frays, and any other damage. If you can't get replacements, send the mask back.

This is a basic inspection of a mask. If any mask new or surplus fails any of the above requirements, immediately return the mask to the company you bought the mask from. Don't use this as an excuse to return a mask that has been in your possession for a year or that you screwed up.

The next thing you want to do is check the filters. Masks with internal filters are difficult to check. Be careful! Removing the filters from a M17 series mask and a M10-M mask can destroy the face piece; additionally, the filter may have mold and mildew from being wet.

No matter what, you will need new filters.

Why? Filters, once opened, are only good for a few days or weeks. The M17 series and M10-M protective masks are over 20 years old; the filters are at least that old.

External filters will also need to be changed, before you use the surplus mask. To check an external filter, make sure the can is free of dents, cracks, rust, and is still sealed. Once a filter is opened; it is only good for few days or weeks. (I am trying to find a source for a better estimate)

As you can tell, by now, finding a serviceable surplus mask is almost impossible because they are almost impossible to find.

This includes the Israeli German-made protective masks.

Generally, the Israeli masks you see for sell are returns/surplus. The Israeli government supplies masks to its citizens in time of emergency. Once the emergency is over or the mask is returned; they are put into storage. Once the shelf-life is reached, the masks and filters are sold.

So, what is a person/family to do?

Buy brand-new protective masks. You will need to replace these masks every 15 to 20 years and possibly sooner, depending on the mask's shelf-life. Same with the filters, but filters last only about 10 years.

OK. You don't have lots of money. You could buy an escape hood. These hoods are basic, bare bones protective masks. They get you out of the area.

And that is the idea. As a civilian, if a terrorist chemical weapon attack happens, you protect yourself and get out of the area. Leave the clean up for the trained expert. This includes chemical spills.

And this brings up my next point. You don't need to buy a protective mask or a smoke hood. You just need to know the behavior of smoke and chemical agents. (Chemical agent is the military term for the small group of chemicals that militarise use to cause death)

Smoke will rise to the top of a room. If you crawl on your hands and knees or do a belly crawl, you can avoid breathing the smoke. If you are outside, you can move away from the smoke.

Chemical agents behave differently. They are heavier then air, so they will sink to the bottom of a room. If the attack is on the first floor, move to the top floor. The higher the better. If you are in a warehouse, climb the ladder towards the roof or get on a scissor lift and raise the lift to its highest position.

Don't go into the basement, subway, or other below ground area during a chemical attack because the chemical agents will settle to the lowest area.

Recently, in the last 20 years, a group of school children were visiting a World War One battleground, I think in Belgium or France. Some of the school children entered a foxhole/below-ground bunker; they died or were injured from chemical weapon residue, from WW 1.

Some chemical agents have a certain smell. I heard a joke one time. "If you smell new mown hay, you're going to die anyway."

This is true and false. Chemicals must be at a certain concentration to harm you, but you will also have to use your other senses to detect a chemical attack/spill.

Rand has a report called "Individual Preparedness and Response to Chemical, Radiological, Nuclear, and Biological Terrorist Attacks." This report has some suggestions on surviving a terrorist's chemical weapon attack.

If you're outside and start seeing people start falling over for no reason, Run!

But where do you run to? The Rand corporation suggests moving to the closest building, close off the outside air by closing all window and doors and turning off the heating and cooling system and if possible move to a higher floor in the building, find an inside room or office and seal the room. You can use rags, rugs, paper towels, toilet paper, even your clothes (Better to be naked then dead. Save your shoes. You will probably need to walk to get help after the attack)

Remember what I wrote in Week Two-Shelter. Use plastic sheeting and duct tape to seal the room if you have it.

If you hear a load "Pop" and see smoke or vapors, Run! If you are outside follow the recommendations above.

If you are inside, Chapter 3-"An Individual's Strategy" on page 25 suggests some actions on your part. Make sure you read the report.

Guess what; there is a problem. The expensive mask you bought or didn't buy might not protect you from an industrial chemical spill, because filters are design for certain chemicals.

Guess what, again. The chemical spill may be so concentrated the mask and filter are overwhelmed by the chemicals. If you live near a gas pipeline, railroad tracks, a rail yard, interstate highway, chemical plant, or other industrial area, you might need to buy a self-contained breathing apparatus for everyone in the family.

The protective mask will also protect you from biological weapons or the flu, but a $200 mask is slightly expensive for protection from the flu virus. There are inexpensive masks such as the N95 mask by 3M (Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing).

The recommendation is to use a new N95 mask everyday, so everyone who leaves the house needs a mask. Do the math and buy them now, if you are preparing for a flu pandemic, because once a flu emergency starts there will be no masks at any price.

There are some homemade or other methods of providing air for you and your family. These methods lack certain criteria needed to totally protect you from a chemical spill/attack.

One is called extra air. It is used by scuba divers in emergencies if their air tanks run out. This lacks a hood/protection for the eyes. These tanks also have a limited air supply, usually counted in minutes.

Another method is a dust mask described in "Nuclear War Survival Skill." The dust mask is a soviet design to protect a person from breathing radioactive fallout after a nuclear strike. They offer no protection from chemical agents or industrial chemicals; however, the dust mask may protect you from dust from an explosion or building collapse.

I call them respirators. They are protective masks that only cover the mouth and nose. They have no eye protection. Wearing goggles or other eye protection will still leave your eyes exposed to chemical agents or industrial chemicals.

Lastly, I provided links to companies selling protective masks. I have never used these companies. I provided links to them for the pictures or the information on their sites. So read the links and I'll ...

See you next week!

Links:

Fire Safety for Kids:
http://www.firesafety.gov/kids/flash.shtm

Consumer Product Safety Commission - Smoke Alarms
http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/pubs/smokealarms.pdfSmoke

CPSC - Alarms: Why, Where and Which
http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/pubs/559.pdf

Jesse Hunting - Gas Mask Page:
http://www.jesseshunting.com/gas-masks.html

Approved Gas Mask - Masks
http://www.approvedgasmasks.com/mask-gas.htm

Approved Gas Mask - Filters
http://www.approvedgasmasks.com/gas-filters.htm

Approved Gas Mask - Defective Masks
http://www.approvedgasmasks.com/defective-masks.htm

Approved Gas Mask - Buying Guide
http://www.approvedgasmasks.com/buying-guide.htm

The Travel insider - Review of Evac-U8 and Training Unit
http://www.thetravelinsider.info/travelaccessories/evacu8smokehood.htm

Rand - "Individual Preparedness and Response to Chemical, Radiological, Nuclear, and Biological Terrorist Attacks"
http://www.rand.org/pubs/monograph_reports/MR1731/

Rand - Chapter 3- An Individual's Strategy
http://www.rand.org/pubs/monograph_reports/MR1731/MR1731.ch3.pdfh3.pdf

FDA - Respirators for Public Health Emergencies:
http://www.fda.gov/consumer/updates/respirators061107.html

SCUBA Suppliers - Extra Air Source
http://www.scubasuppliers.com/site/1408308/product/EAS6-KY