Greetings from Canada

[Sunshine and RosesParticipant]

I would just like to say a big hello and give a rousing shout out and props to Selco and Daisy for hosting this forum! It’s so refreshingly down shifted old school, I think I will need to take a few minutes to just navigate my way around. Thank you so much Daisy for all of your blog posts; I do try to keep up with as many of them as possible, as one of my several alternative media “barometers” of what is REALLY going on out there. I know you spend a tremendous amount of time vetting and news media researching every current event that you write about, and I appreciate your filtering it through to “what you really need to know” for all of us. Usually, if I check in with my alternative media sources and more then more then one is communicating about the same thing, it’s a quick way to perk up my ears to the ground on stuff in an efficient manner.

Ok, so about me. I have slowed down my prepping activity somewhat, now that I have most of my basics and then some covered. I also teach emergency preparedness 101 to private clients, and my rule for “newbies know nothing” is always the 20/ 80 Rule: The first 20% of effort you put into emergency preparedness is going to reap you benefits for 80% of the most common every day emergencies. I also go out of my way NOT to scare them with “It’s the end of the world as we know it” kind of prepper scenarios, because all that accomplishes is scaring the bejesus out of them and into a place of paralysis.

I have also taught high school geography, so I also tend to take a very simple, practical, pragmatic approach. Using maps and stats, even those readily available on government websites, for eg: https://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/cnt/mrgnc-mngmnt/ntrl-hzrds/index-en.aspx

I help the client assess what is THE most likely disaster in their to prepare for, and start the 20% effort based on THAT. So, where I live in Toronto, THE most likely disaster for us here in this part of the world is a winter black out when everyone has the flu. We had the Boxing Day blackout in 2013 and believe me, there was misery a-plenty to go around that everyone up here remembers: https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2013/12/25/ice_storm_blackout_spoils_christmas_for_thousands_in_toronto.html

We also live in a hub of international travel, and Torontonians are the most diverse population in the world. This makes us particularly vulnerable to global pandemics. Can you say SARS, boys and girls?

In 2013, my then tweenie son and I both got the flu just in time for the 2013 ice storm right before Christmas. And don’t go talking about vaccines as prepper preventative on that to me; up here in Canada, Health Canada has had to confess to those flu shots officially being 0% effective in recent years. (Look it up for yourself).

Right before we knew the ice storm of 2013 was going to hit, I gave my son money to pick up a few extra non-perishables at the store, and he went shopping while I cleaned the house and did all the laundry and washed all the dishes. When we were done, we crawled back into bed where I declared “Well, at least if we loose power, we have extra food in the house, and the house is clean and we have clean clothes” before resuming our regularly scheduled program of flu induced moaning and misery. We were spared loosing power, but only just. Most of my neigbhours and some 500,000 hydro customers (approx. 1 million Torontonians) did loose power for upwards of a week.

My point is, if you’re a newbie to prepping here, don’t worry and don’t get overwhelmed. Just take a good look at what the most common and likely disaster scenario is FOR YOUR AREA, and then consider the first 20% of preps FOR THAT. In my scenario where I live, we need:

~3 days (read: 2 weeks) of 4L of water, per person per day on hand in big blue jugs (a Dolphin hand pump to go with them also comes in handy)

~3 days (read: 2 weeks) worth of food and at least one alternative way of safely boiling water and cooking that food if you don’t have a natural gas stove (even a tiny 500ml camp stove will do)

~an alternative way to safely heat your space besides electric baseboards (believe me, when it’s a raging -20C outside, this is the difference between holding up in a municipally sponsored warming shelter for days, and staying at home with all your creature comforts and sleeping in your own bed)…I’ve opted for a Mr. Buddy heater down here, but further up north and out of the city, many people have wood stoves and a cord or two of wood stored up for back up.

~Extra blankets for your bed. Obviously.

~a sanitary way to take a peep and poop if the pipes burst in the freeze/thaw/freeze and you can’t flush the toilet for a while…after some effort this summer, I finally have a low cost dry composting toilet fully functioning (extra sawdust/ compost bins out back) as a second toilet up and running and the knowledge how to properly use it (see: Humanure Handbook by Joe Jenkins), but it can also be as simple as a Luggable Loo, a plastic bag and kitty litter…again this ONE PREP is also the difference between being able to shelter in place OR NOT.

~While on the topic of pipes, if you live in a house, you will also need to know how to access and operate your electric panel, how to turn off your natural gas (if applicable) and how to drain your taps and turn off the water from the main line (to keep your pipes from freezing in an extended black out)

~appropriate weather related clothing for everyone in the family, including footwear

~a real properly stocked working first aid kit, including common over the counter medications like pain relief, nausea and diarrhea relief, antihistamine, triple antibiotic ointment, simple electrolytes, and knowledge of simple measures like knowing how to irrigate, treat and dress a wound (everyone should take a Red Cross first aid course), because pharmacies are closed in a blackout and the LAST place you want to be is a hospital during flu season up here

~some cash on hand in small bills, because when the grid goes down, so do ATMS

~a real, proper back up battery for your cel phone (mine can charge my iPhone 4 times before needing to be recharged)…because you will worry about your family, friends and neighbours and want to be able to quickly check in with them

~a real, proper working flash light for everyone in the house and back up, non electric lights in every room (I use battery operated book lights)

~non-electric entertainment, like board games, card games, books to read. Because winter blackouts up here are super long and boring and a lot less fun when you can’t “tough it out” with Netflix binge watching, lol…

Most of that is then about $200 total CAD, and much of it we probably have already, just not organized with emergency preparedness in mind, and some of it is free, but you have to go out and seek a bit of knowledge. But I hope you see what I mean. Just the first 20% of prepping effort specifically tailored to the most common natural disaster in your area usually gets you 80% return on the time and money investment of the kinds of things that can happen.

Happy Prepping, Everyone! Be Safe!

• This topic was modified 1 year, 7 months ago by  Sunshine and Roses.

[SelcoKeymaster]

Thank you, and welcome here!

[Prepperfan305Participant]

Thank you for sharing this list. I will probably be referring to it in future days. You are a wealth of knowledge and I’m glad you shared it.

[Author]

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