Increased terror threat...

With the killing of bin laden, there is an increased risk of terrorism. Since there is no way of knowing when or where something could occur, it is best to be prepared.

After 9/11, we still lived in a good sized city, I prepared a room in our home to act as a sort of safe room. It was windowless and in the basement. I stocked it with enough food and water for several days. Reinforced the door. I had plastic sheeting to cover the door and A/C vent. I installed a phone line and cable outlet, not that it would do anygood in a power outage, but it made me feel better anyway.

Being in the country now, my situation is different. I'm still prepared to sit tight for several days in the event of an emergency.

I posted a while back about running off of the top of your gas tank. In an increased risk of an act of terror that may be even more important. Just the ability to get somewhere other than where you are could save your life.

I'm not trying to scare anyone. I just want everyone to be safe and prepared. The chances are fairly slim of becoming a victim of a terrorist attack. But it happens to people all over the globe. We lost more than 3,000 people on 9/11. Because of the nature of the attacks, no amount of preparation would have saved the people in the twin towers. I would hope that an attack like that would be impossible to pull off again. 

Be safe, be prepared to save your own life and the lives of those who depend on you...

Lessons in the recent tornado tragedies...

The recent tornado outbreak across the Southern United States can hold lessons for all of us. We have talked about bug out bags and running off of the top of your gas tank and various other survival/ prep type stuff. Just like the disaster that hit Japan recently, this shows us that all the prepping we do is for more than just the zombie apcolypse.

In a real world setting, natural disaster is probably our biggest worry. Hurricanes, tornados, floods, earthquakes, all of these are very real threats in our Country. And while these are very different, preparing for them is going to be about the same. Staying or leaving determines different styles of preparation though.

And all the prepping in the world is useless without a plan.

It would be ideal if a disaster struck while everyone in the family is together, but the chances of that are kind of slim. What if you are at work and the children are at school? Do you have a plan to get everyone back together? Do you have a meeting point in case you can't get home? And what if you can't get home, do you know where you will go? What about pets?

 Having a plan is great, but running through it a time or two will allow you to work out the bugs. We have a plan. I'll admit though, that we have never practiced it. Like everyone else, our family is going 20 different directions at 100 miles per hour all day everyday. But we are going to make time to practice our plan. It's important, it may save our lives.

The people in Alabama and Mississippi had very little warning about the tornados that hit the area. Even the best of plans wouldn't have helped much before hand. But what do you do after? Have you seen the pictures of the devastation? Having a few days worth of food and water could save your life in a similar situation.

Make a plan. Talk about it with your family. Practice the plan.