Surviving Through Disaster Preparedness- Natural Disasters, or LATOC

I have received questions by email ( why not on this blog???) about preserving food by vacuum sealing

Here is a short essay on vacuum sealing for several applications:

Vacuum Sealing

There are several, appliances on the market that do this. Their primary use is food preservation, but we will explain several other applications as well as describe alternative ways to accomplish the very same task of sealing something in a vacuum.

The Sealer Described
A small vacuum pump is combined with a heat sealer, primarily designed to evacuate a plastic bag, and then use a heated bar to seal the bag, all in one simple automatic step.
Earlier models, and some commercial vac-sealers, still include both devices, but the operator has independent control of both processes.

This is an electric appliance. We will endeavor to describe how to vacuum seal without this appliance or without the availability of electricity.

Justification Of A Vacuum Sealer Appliance
Here are some applications:
1. To deprive food from air and thus make spoiling process ineffective. Bacterial growth and oxidation cannot work without the presence of air containing oxygen.

2. A vac-sealed package is waterproof.

3. Evacuating air from a package places atmospheric pressure on the outside of the package. This causes the volume of the package to be compressed by the 15 pounds per square inch pressing in on it from all sides.
A high-school physics class demonstration used a tin container with a screw cap. The can was heated and the cap tightened. As cold water running over the can cooled the air inside it contracted, causing the can to be visibly crushed by atmospheric pressure on the outside, pressing in on the metal can.

4. In addition to food, documents enclosed this way, were protected from oxidation and moisture.

5. Clothing, or objects made of fabrics, can be compressed in a sealed back to reduce their volume, make a waterproof package, protect against insect damage, and offer some protection against rodents since there is no odor from the package that would attract them.
Large plastic bags, made of heavier plastic sheeting, are sold for the compressing of clothing and blankets to protect against most of the above. They are used for space conservation as well as seasonal storage of special clothing.

6 Food, placed in such a bag, along with a marinating sauce, is then evacuated. This displace air is replaced by the marinade, thus shortening hours of soaking with a ten minute process that does a better job.

7. Preserving aromatics is better accomplished by vacuum sealing. They do not lose their precious aroma.

8. Sterile bandages remain so when vacuum sealed, as well as becoming waterproof.

9. Frozen foods that are vacuum sealed, do not suffer from freezer burns or oxidation.

10. Nuts, and other dried foods, sealed in canning jars will keep fresh for years. The home canning processes used heat to vacuum seal the jars of food for long time storage. Food stored this way does not lose its flavor or turn rancid by oxidation. The jars have the advantage of not being punctured by the sharp points and edges on dried foods.
Accessory jar caps are provided to accomplish the vacuum sealing of home canning jars, both for normal and wide mouthed jars. The process uses the same jar lids used for home canning. Since no heat is applied in the process, no sterilization is accomplished as with home canning methods.

11. Insects that may have already found a home in your foods, die when their source of oxygen is removed. The only thing still present is the dead bug.

Without a Vac-Seal Appliance
The automotive industry has a small hand operated vacuum pump, used for hydraulic brake line repair. They are equipped with a small vacuum gauge to measure the extent of the vacuum. These pumps are available from auto supply stores.
A household iron, or an old- fashioned iron, heated over a fire ( or a substitute piece of metal ), may be used to seal a plastic bag if placed over the seal area on top of a piece of cloth. Some experimentation is required to determine the heat-pressure-time combination for the tools being used. Without the cloth, the plastic will stick to the hot metal unless the metal is coated with Teflon.

You must still have proper plastic bags, of sufficiently heavy gauge plastic, capable of being used for this process.

The canning jar caps already described may be used with the hand operated vacuum pump.
You must either have strong hands or a relief helper to use one of these pumps.
You must devise a means of connecting the vacuum tubing into a bag opening. Some ways are illustrated.

Large Scale Vacuum Sealing
The bag that would contain a blanket is far beyond the capacity of a food-sized sealer. In this case, the bag is connected to a vacuum cleaner to withdraw the air. The purchased bags are already fitted with a one -way valve that allows withdrawing air without allowing any to leak back into the bag. The option is to tape the bag opening onto the vacuum hose and heat-seal the bag after evacuating it, cutting off the taped portion.

Other Methods
Limited sealed preservation can be accomplished by introducing carbon dioxide into a container as dry ice before sealing. The process protects foods for 8 to 10 years. This can be dangerous if not done properly, so the author will only mention the process, rather than describing how to do it, thus being protected from liability suits after an explosion. Enough said.


891 words

Labels: document preservation, food preservation, home vacuum pumps, size reducing by vacuum packing, vacuum sealing

E Pack

Why have an Epack? Why bother having all that stuff
just waiting around? I can think of several reasons, as
questions, what IF:
If what was contained in the Epack was all you had
left?
If you had to leave on SCRAM?
If you were away from home?
If you had an emergency situation, an accident?
If you were trapped in the car?
If you were at work?

Let's define a new word: SCRAM. Scram is a unique
word that should have only one meaning and
everyone should know that single meaning.
It means drop everything and leave, bail out, abandon
ship, vanish, run for your life.
If anyone calls out SCRAM, everyone in your family
should do just that. No time to do anything but run for
the door and leave. Don't like SCRAM?
Use any word that has a single meaning; that
everyone can learn and understand.

But what about clothes?

But what about my homework?

But what about the cat? Dog? Ah, pets. We love
them, but they are not worth a human life. Shelters
will not usually allow pets.

No BUTS, grab the kids, or baby sister and charge.
Get out of there!

In a panic situation, some people can't even
remember their own name. There are two solutions:
Plan ahead. Have rehearsals and-or drills so that you
do the right thing automatically.

Maybe the dam broke.
Maybe the house is filled with smoke. FIRE!
Maybe its an earthquake. Most quakes last less than
a minute What can you do in one minute besides
seek cover? Then get out of the house.

A story from the family: A lady was seen stumbling
down the road, away from the 1908, San Francisco
earthquake. All she had with her was an empty
birdcage.

In our case, one scram was a toxic spill and we left on
a SCRAM. Locking the door to leave was one of the
toughest things I have ever done. Could we ever
come back?

1,000,000 people had to evacuate their homes in the
threat of wild fires in Southern California recently.
Many of them had NOTHING to return to when it was
over.

No one can help you recover what has been totally
lost. It is your advance preparation that will make the
difference.

Next week we will review what a pack should contain.

AN IMPORTANT NOTE:
Most of you may have gotten a check list from some
government agency. Likely, you still have it- somewhere.
They say it is important, but who are they? WHY is it
important? It will never happen to me. Maybe tomorrow.

In all of our Disaster Preparedness books, we tell you
WHAT can happen; WHEN you will need emergency
things; WHY you will need them; and HOW to acquire
them or use them. You even know WHO wrote it.

SO, you have to read something that isn't entertaining, is
possibly unpleasant, and may produce stress or anxiety.

You had better PAY ATTENTION and DO IT NOW.

This is an excerpt from our Ezine, ON YOUR OWN, all you need to do is ask for it.

Labels: Disaster Preparedness, Emergency Packs, emergency provisions, Evacuation

This is Chapter 1 of the book announced in the previous Blog:

Chapter 1
The Story
Here is a scenario based on a typical family and we will look in through a window (italics) to see how it affects them.

John is a department production manager in a large manufacturing company. Sally is a mother, housewife, independent entrepreneur with the seed of a gift business in its startup phase. Terri is a high school senior and Jimmie is a middle school guy with friends and trends to keep up with. The house revolves around work and school with Sally trying to fit her plans into the system. Let’s go back a year and listen to a meeting at John’s factory:

"What is our position about this Peak Oil thing?" One of John’s coworkers brings up a question at a staff meeting.
"No problem. We will be fully compliant; the plans are being made now, plenty of time." Smith, head of computer operations exudes confidence and the question is settled.
This is the real problem. Only a few apparently anticipated how great the problem was, and their cries were generally unheard.
-------
Six months later. Mr. Jefferson, Plant Manager, "Smith. I discovered the other day at golf that some of the others are running simulations to check their progress with Peak Oil effects."
"Not yet, Mr. Jefferson, we still keep finding just one more problem that needs fixing. It isn’t turning out to be that simple. No problem, though, we’ll make it."
"Umm, yes. Well, let me know as soon as you do. I don’t like to be one down at the Club."
"Yes, Mr. Jefferson." Smith frowns.
-------
"No Problem" is the main problem. The fact is that this is a world wide condition and no one can ":fix it".
"Smith, I called you to this meeting for a progress report on that Peak Oil thing. What have we done and how are we progressing?"
Smith fidgets, "Not well at this time. It depends on which side you listen to. The Oil Companies and the President say no problem. On the other hand, if you take the data and do some simple arithmetic, things just don’t add up to no problem"
"Oh? What happened to ‘no problem’? "
"Sir , I think they are lying through their teeth."
"OK, just how bad is it?" There is dead silence in the room.
"We don’t know where. Or what, or when the oil crash will occur. There are too many critical issues to influence the collapse. We don’t know what the effects will be or whether we will shut down . . ."
"WHAT?"
"Er, yes, a total collapse would shut down everything, the entire plant and . . . ."
"How many are working on it?"
"No one is working on it. There is no place to begin."
" Well, put everybody on it. Get this thing done. Understand?"
"Yes, sir." Smith turned on his heel and moved briskly out of the room. He wondered if he would last until the shutdown. He was certain of shutdown, now. The plant would close. For how long? But what about the entire country? Beads of sweat sparkled on his brow.
He also realized that even if they remained open, any of their critical suppliers who didn’t make it would cause a shutdown.
-------
John was meeting with his foremen, "That’s what the Memo says. Peak Oil could shut down the plant indefinitely."
"Complete layoff? For how long?"
"That’s the problem. They don’t know how long or how deep the problem is. Simple as that, they don’t know anything."
"What about our people? What about us?"
"Include yours truly in that bunch, too." John was shaking his head.
-------
At dinner that night: "John, Mary called and asked me to look in on the Peak Oil web site and do you know what I found? Is it really that bad?"
He told her about the Memo.
"What are we going to do?"
"Well, first we start cutting expenses. We have to save every cent we can. It will be a hard winter." The kids fidget and Terri looks at her mother, deciding not to bring up a new dress at this time.

The unknown factors create an impact of their own and finally it is beginning to sink in. John’s first concern is for his family, but he is wondering if he will have a job next year. All of our family is apprehensive and each wonders how they will be affected.

At work, "John, I’ve been working out a scenario on this Peak Oil thing and even if our plant survives, we have a real chance of shutdown if the power grid fails, or if certain government computers shut down, or if any of our critical suppliers don’t make it. This is really beginning to look grim."
"Yeah, Mac, I’ve been kicking things around and I’m at white knuckles already." John replies.
"But how do we restart? If the plant closes, even for a month, we’ll lose key people and how do we replace them? And who has the financial depth to support this place while we restart? All those people will want to be paid."
-------
Sally meets John at the door, "We have to talk."
"About Peak Oil? She nods agreement.
Jimmie asks the first question after John has laid the problem before them.
"Dad, I don’t understand. You mean that all the things we are doing now have to stop? Why can’t we just go on the way were are?"
"Jimmie, they will stop all by themselves. We won’t have to do a thing. The problem is that we will have to adapt. We will learn a new way of life."
"But when do we get to go back to the old ways?" He asks impatiently.
"The way it looks now, maybe never. Get used to the idea."
By the time he answered his son’s questions, no one had any more to ask.

This is a primary problem. People of all ages will not be able to accept the reality of a new life bearing down on them. They will keep thinking that things will return to the way they were.
-------
"Can you find a candle?"
"There, that’s better."
"So this is it?"
"Just wait until the other shoe drops."
"When will we know, John?"
"Your guess is as good as mine. It may take some time until we know the extent of it all, but one thing for sure. Blackouts will become a way of life. At least there is a dial tone, so the phone is still working"
-------
"John! You’ll be late for work."
"Not this time. I called in and got a recording, before the phone went dead. No work until further notice."
"Oh. Should I take the kids to school?"
"My guess is that there isn’t any. Call first."
"Well, I need some things at the store, and besides, I want to look around."
"Maybe we’ll both go. There is one other thing. We may not be able to buy gas much longer."
"Oh." She gasped, "Are we going to run out of oil THAT quick?"
`"No, but the price will make it out of reach. Without a job, we are there now."
"Terri! Do you hear me? You and Jimmie stay home until we get back. You are responsible."
"Mom! I can’t deal with that little twerp!"
"Terri!"
"Yes, Mom." She sighs and Jimmie makes a face at her.
"James! I don’t want to hear any bad reports, Understand?"
"Aw, gee."
-------
"Well, I never want to have another day like this. Imagine all that way to town and nothing left at the store. And no traffic lights!" She shook her head and shivered as she thought about the truck that almost hit them.
"I’m afraid that’s just the tip of the iceberg."
We have seen the beginning. What the family doesn’t know is that transportation will grind to a halt and things will really get tough. Our culture relies on transportation for resupply.
-------
"John! I couldn’t get gas! The guy at the station had a shotgun. He said the pumps wouldn’t work without electricity and he was there to see that no one tried to get gas any other way. He wouldn’t listen to me, all I wanted was a few gallons."
"That’s going to be tough. No unnecessary trips from here on out."
"But we are running out of food !"
"Then we will have to cut back and stretch what we have."
"For how long?"
"I have no idea"
_____
As the money runs out and the supplies of anything coast m9ore, the composite situation becomes really serious.
______
"I think we need another family meeting."
"Right. How about now."
"All right you two. Settle down and pay attention. Here goes.
"I have studied what we know about the situation and this sums it up." He scanned his penciled notes. He thought a moment about how much he had come to rely on the computer.
"First. There will be no complaining. It’s going to be tough on all of us and we can only make it worse by complaining. That means doing your assignments willingly and without even a grumble.
"1. Without electricity, we are without heat except for the little kerosene heater we have for camping. It will only heat one room so get used to wearing more clothes.

"2. No gas for trucks, and that means no food deliveries to the market. Food will be our big problem.
As soon as the city runs out of gas, there will be no more snow plows and we could be stuck right here until spring.

"3. Without electricity, the water tank on the hill will soon run dry and it won’t be refilled. We will soon be out of water. We have some stored water for drinking. That means no showers, we will learn all about sponge baths, and no toilets flushed. And. . . ."
"But daddy, what will we do?"
"We will start using the bags we kept for emergency waste disposal and use lime to kill the smell. We’ll pile up the trash in the back yard until we know what to do with it."
"And when the bags run out? Besides, where do we put them?"
"We can put them outside until the thaw. About the bags? Well, our grandfathers did without bags, so will we. Then we have a problem. I pray that by then our officials will have thought these things out, or the water system is working again."
"But. . ."
"Let me finish. Then we’ll take questions."
"Terri. While I think about it, check to see how much lime we have on hand in our emergency stores. It may become very important."

"4. Until the telephone is restored we have no emergency services. That means no fire, police, rescue, and no paramedics. Even then we may not have them, with the gas shortage. So, watch what you are doing. We can’t afford to have an accident of any kind. If things really get bad, we’ll have to keep a security watch going, day and night.
"Sally, dig out my hunting things and see how much ammunition I have left from last season.
"5. School is not out. We will use your books to continue your learning. That will be every day. Your mother and I will work out a study plan." He held up a hand to stop Jimmie’s protest.

"6. Before we are through, there may be no trees around the house. We will probably use all of them to get through the rest of the winter.

"7. When we heat the house, we’ll have to heat water or cook or dry clothes at the same time. We need to utilize the heat to the greatest possible extent. Jimmie, your responsibility will be to keep a supply of wood at the fireplace. That means bring in enough wood so it has time to dry out some before it needs to be used. Besides, we need the humidity so we don’t dry out, too.

"8. Terri, you will help your mother with the cooking. It will be your responsibility to keep the pot boiling and to provide hot water as needed. You will also be responsible for the kettle providing moisture to keep the relative humidity in the comfort zone.

"9. Sally, you had better study up on food preservation. The freezer won’t last much longer.
We’ll both work on replenishing the food supply.
"Well, as long as there’s snow on the ground, we can keep some things frozen outside." Sally sighed as she thought about the problem.
Sally’s plans for a business have been shelved. Her present task is the survival of her family, and that will take all of her time. Our culture changes as everyone spends more time on the fundamental task of survival.

"10. Keeping clean will be everybody’s problem. The best thing I can work out is that we each do our own laundry, so when there’s hot water and we each have washed in it, we will each take a turn with dirty clothes."
That brought dead silence.

"11. Go through your things and see what you have that someone else might want. We will probably end up having to barter for necessities. The unnecessary things go first, although I’m sure they won’t get us all that we need."
"Okay, now is the time for questions."

"Dad, what about King? What happens when we run out of dog food?" Jimmie was anxious about his best friend.
"That’s a tough one, Jim. Maybe he can make it on table scraps, but I don’t think there will be many scraps. If things really get tough, he may wind up on the table." There were gasps, a shriek, and Jimmie was on his feet.
"You mean . . .EAT him?"
"Now wait a minute! You are still living in the past. None of yesterday’s rules are valid any more. We are back to survival! That’s the bottom line. Anything we do from here on out must meet the test of contributing to survival. Anything that doesn’t meet the test will have to go. Luxury is going to become anything we do or have that doesn’t meet that test.
"I don’t know about King. If he doesn’t contribute to survival, he will have to go. Okay, maybe we won’t eat him, but someone else will, sooner of later."
"I don’t like this. I want it the old way." Jimmie scowled and hung on to his mother’s arm.

"Well, face the fact that the old way is gone and it won’t come back. We will change and the change will be good or bad, depending on how we deal with it and what we do with what we have." John’s hands, hidden under the table, were shaking.

"John. How soon will you go back to work?"
"I have no idea. Probably when the power grid comes back on, and they have all the bugs out of the plant equipment, and we have transportation again, and our suppliers are all back on line, and . . .. Oh I just don’t know!" John’s expression told his family how deeply it had hit him. He recovered and faced them squarely.

"Daddy. Why can’t we buy things, with money, like we always have?

He looked lovingly at his daughter, "Honey, the banks are probably worse off than anyone else, and until they get their act together, nobody really knows what a dollar is worth. And besides, you can’t eat a dollar, even if you had all the money in the world. Even that doesn’t account for inflation."
"Next, without a job and with runaway inflation we are going to run out of money all too fast. We have some set aside, but nowhere near enough for this situation. I don’t know what the bank will do about the mortgage. If they get tough about it, we’ll have to leave here. No, I have no idea where we would go." He stared at the shocked expressions around the table. Then he turned to Sally.

"Honey, I have thought about the money in the retirement fund, but with the plant closed, I have no idea how we could get to it, or if we did, would they have enough to pay us off, and everybody else.
There were tears in Terri’s eyes as she raised her hand. He nodded.
"Without money, how will people work?"
"They will barter their labor, just like they did in old times. You worked for what you wanted or exchanged skills or labor for something you don’t know how to do."
"Any more questions?" John looked at the faces of his loved ones. There were no questions. All of them were frozen in shock.

The impact of a general shut down is being felt. John has missed some points, but they will show up soon enough.
____
"Hey, Sally! Come out and look in the truck. I got us a woodstove!" He was excited and flushed with the achievement.
"Thank God, my back was killing me, bending down over the hearth. What did it cost, John?"
"I had to trade the truck for it. He let me use it to haul the stove home."
"The truck!" She knew how much John loved that pickup.
"Yes, well, give me a hand. I think I can back up to the front porch. Once we get it inside, then we’ll have to figure out where it goes."
The stove will cut down the amount of wood used, give them more heat and make cooking much easier. It will be a tough decision about which kitchen cabinets will have to go to make way for the stove and then they will have to cut a hole through the wall for the stove pipe. Fortunately, John bargained for stove pipe and wall fittings, too.
The real gain was the replacement of the kerosene heater. The kerosene was almost gone.
They will save every scrap of wood, knowing the need for heat. It will be a toss up whether they barter the cabinets or burn them.

Barter works, but the price will be high for the things you really need. There will be some tough decisions about what to trade off and a new set of values will form.

"Mom? When is it going to end?" Jimmie looked gloomy.
"What, dear?"
"All this stuff. You know, about electricity, food, water, and all that."
"I don’t really know, but sooner or later they’ll get it all straightened out."
"But what do we do until then? There’s no TV, the Arcade is closed, I can’t even play games on the computer. None of the places the gang used to hang out are there any more. Mom. I want things back the way they were."

She looked him squarely in the eyes, "James. It is not likely that things will ever be the way they were. You are going to have to find ways to amuse yourself. Now you have chores that are important to family survival. As you get older, you will have more responsibility. Right now, the important thing is that we all work together to survive."
"When do I get to play and hang out with the guys?"
"After you do your chores, if there is any time left."
"But . . .."
"James! No more of that. You are an important member of the family and you will have to carry your part of the load. Get used to that."
Terri was close by and she took in every word. Things would be different and I will have to adjust. Now I know what Grandpa meant when he would sigh and say, "Those were the good ol’ days."
-------
"Johnson was robbed last night. We are going to have to set up a neighborhood watch. That means that I will probably be sleeping days and the rest of you will have to take up the slack."
More of the total impact. People are getting desperate as their supplies dwindle. Soon there will be a curfew and next will be martial law to enforce it.

Local government has commandeered several trucks to bring in water and next will be trips to outlying farms to bring in food. FEMA has the legal power to commandeer food stores to redistribute them, but FEMA is nowhere in sight. Local government would face a revolution if they tried.

If Martial Law comes into power, the rules change and food or other emergency supplies may indeed be confiscated.
Working on the trucks that haul water is the way to be certain of earning a share of it. Soon, the same will happen on the food trucks.

Job Hunting
It is nearing midnight. John has never been this late. Sally sits in the darkened living room, facing the front door, waiting, just waiting. She hears a noise, then a shadow covers the front door. She tenses. Then she hears the rattle of a key in the lock. Then she sees the familiar silhouette. John !
She rushed to him as he closes the door.
"Sally? What?" She clings to him and holds back the tears. She stiffens and hunts for a whiff of stale liquor- there is none. She breathes a sigh of relief.,
"John ! Oh, John, where have you been?" John exhales a long, tired sigh.
"Well, I went to the Employment Office and got a lead on a job. When I got there, there were so many waiting for that same job. Well, I talked to some guys and found another lead. It was on the other side of town. Then again, another lead." He smiled down on her, "Pretty soon I was almost in the next county when I gave up and started home."
She flashed some anger, "Well, at least you should have called !"
"Honey. Remember? We cancelled phone service in that last belt-tightening".
"Oh ! I forgot." She sighed, "But I would have remembered as soon as I started to call hospitals."
They hugged and John released her. "Honey, I haven’t eaten since this morning and I have spent most of the day walking. Let’s at least sit down." She released him and started for the kitchen.
"Any luck?" She asked as she warmed the last dinner.
"No. . . .they were closed when I finally got there. I have been debating all the way home if I even wanted to find a job so far away." Her back stiffened.
As he cleaned his plate and drank the last of the coffee, he sat back, "Hey, tomorrow, no, today, I take my turn on the country truck. I better get some sleep."
They trudged up the stairs to bed. He was asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. Sally lay there for a while, wondering.
-------
"Well. I never though I would see so many people at church! It’s a good sign. People are beginning to rely less on material things."
"Honey, the Johnsons are scraping the bottom. They will starve or freeze without help. That robbery cleaned them out. I want to help, but how much can we spare? Besides, we all must agree on this. They even lost their fuel supply."
"That’s the situation. Either we tighten our belts or we watch our neighbor starve. What is it going to be?"
"Can’t they get any help from the City?"
"Not really, the government employees are home doing what every other family is doing. From what I hear, City Hall is almost deserted. Besides, that place is too costly to heat."
"John, we know we have to help them, but isn’t this a neighborhood problem? We must all consider it and reach an agreement. The Johnson family is only the first one. It will happen again."
-------
"Friends and neighbors, we know why we are here. We have some tough decisions to make. What are we going to do about the Johnsons? I didn’t invite them, because I thought it would be easier to discuss the problem without them present."
"Well, I say every man for himself. It’s their tough luck." Mike MacGregor saw it differently.
"Yeah Mike, what if it happens to you?" Someone called out from the back of the room. Mike frowned and was silent.
"What if we pool our resources and share everything?"
"Hell no! That’s communism."
"Got a better idea?"
"Why, you goddam red son of a . . ."
"ORDER! This is no way to reach a decision. We will vote on it and go with the majority. That’s the democratic way." John was trying to keep order, but tempers were short.
"No, I say . . ."
"We WILL use the democratic process and anyone who disagrees can leave now and go his own way."
A few got up and left. Things were quiet now. Some smiled as MacGregor stayed.
"We need some discussion so we can arrive at the best solution. The floor is open for discussion."
"How about everyone putting in the same amount per person in each family for an emergency store and we all can draw from that pot in a emergency?"
"Sounds good. I’ll go along with that." There were murmurs of agreement.
"Yeah, but who decides on what and how much we can draw?"
"What about the Johnsons?"
""Let’s chalk that up as tuition for the learning process. It could have been any of us. We can all pitch in and help collect a fuel supply for them." Again, agreement sounded from the group.
"What about those who left. I’ll bet that sooner or later they want back in."
" Charge them a penalty. " Someone remarked.
John silenced the crowd." That’s another issue. Let’s vote on the first problem before we take up another one."
"Good Point."
"Someone make a motion?"
Neighborhood cooperation has a beginning. They are on the right track. By cooperating, they can share both resources and manpower.
"While we are all here, let’s get introduced. Let’s go around the room, introduce yourself and state your occupation and whatever job skills you may have. We’ll be exchanging job skills and labor soon enough. I’ll start the ball rolling.
My name is John Wilson, I am , was, a production manager at the plant. I can work on cars and I have done light carpentry. I like to hunt and I shoot pretty well. My wife. . . No, I’ll let her tell you. Next?"
By the time they finished, everyone knew their neighbors better and had an idea of what could be done in the neighborhood.
What happened about the ones who left? It was finally agreed that they could come back with no hard feelings., provided they contributed as much as the others at the beginning.
It turned out that Johnson had a truck in his shop, but he had no gas. They obtained some gas from the City and soon they were making regular trips to outlying farms for food, enough for themselves and some left over for others. They hauled barter out and brought food back. It was tough going at first. They had to gain the farmers’ confidence. The farms had already been raided by armed government officials and they were leery of outsiders. Part of their barter was labor to satisfy the farmers’ needs.
They were able to trade some food to the City for a continued supply of gasoline.
John was elected permanent chairman and others assumed support posts.
John didn’t lose his job. Now he has two: Providing for his family and keeping the neighborhood on track. Job skills transfer from one task to another.
Nearby residents asked to join the group and some were allowed, but others not so close were encouraged to start their own cooperative in their own locale.
_____
"Oh, fine. We finally get some mail delivered and look what we got." John is furiously waving an open letter in the air.
"It’s from the Bank. They say we owe over a half million dollars on our mortgage. They threaten to foreclose!"
"What are we going to do?" Sally was horrified.
"We fight them. It’s a computer mistake. Can you find the payment receipts? We’ll need them."
Sally looks grim. "They are all in the computer. You know, paperless office?"
"Oh!!! I guess I’ll have to barter some labor for a few hours with a computer. Someone must have one working.
This is the beginning. What has been left out?
People pulled out of the Stock Market and a run started. In the end, the Stock Market crashed.

The major shock of that will hit when people realize that their investments and retirement funds that were housed in Mutual Funds that no longer exist.
Without a manufacturing base, we cannot make the things we need. Without a stable currency, we cannot buy what we need from other countries.
Repair will replace a culture that was based upon throw-away. Whatever it is, It is either fixed or discarded without replacement, or it will be used for repair parts to keep some of the same machines and appliances running.
What Could Improve The Situation?
Barter is alive and well, but soon enough, barter will be King. Now, if only those guys in Washington are smart enough to barter with other countries.
Awareness of the Peak Oil consequences by all levels of the government could have made a big difference.
States may wind up printing their own currency.
Preparedness for disasters could be adapted to this situation and the going would have been much easier.

Beyond The Family

The City’s Seams
These are a series of possible scenarios that may befall a city or County:
The Mayor stands at the head of the table, facing the city council. "For the first time in history we do not have an empty bed or house in the city. I used to dream how wonderful this day would be, but now it’s a nightmare." They nod in agreement.

He continues, "The Planning Board and the Permits Office are both almost frantic as permits to build flood in. It has been a long, long time since this happened before." He thought a minute, "Actually it has never happened."

Someone raises a question, "What will we do about food and water? How will we stretch our police and fire services? We need more schools immediately." They all realize that these are questions that must be answered without delay.

They scramble, cut corners, reduce time intervals, schedule non-stop hearings- anything to accommodate the inrush of people.
______
"What is happening?" This is the first indication that people are leaving the city. Nobody has the answer.
Then it happens. A torrent of cars, all in the outbound lanes, loaded with people and their belongings, are leaving. They watch a section of the freeway from the office window.
"Someone had better find out what is going on."
Breathless, he explains to the room full of assembled city administrators., "It’s all about jobs."
He gestures to them, "As businesses close and people discover that there’s no work here, they are going home, or at least going where there may be food."
"But we have food !" Someone shouts.
"Yeah, but the way to earn in order to pay for it is getting hard to find."
______
As oil becomes more scarce, electricity is apportioned out to communities or counties. They will have to decide how to use their share. Here is such a scenario:

The Mayor stands at the head of the table, facing the city council. "We have been given the figures for our power allotment and I have asked Mr. Jones, our City Engineer, to tells us where these figures leave us. Mr Jones?"
"This first cut provides us with about half of our normal demand. The problem is how to divide it up so everybody gets some." He fumbles with the first of his stack of charts. "These are freehand. It took most of my time before this meeting to assemble all of the data."
"This first chart shows a curve of our normal demand over an average 24 hours." He reaches for the next one.
"Here, we have a chart of the demand for security services, including Fire and Medical."
"Here we have an average residential neighborhood over 24 hours."
"This chart shows a proposed division of our allotment between all interested groups. I gave highest priority to public security, but even they face a severe cut in their normal usage."
"Here is a .list of items and their power reduction in terms of priority." There is an increasing mumble as the list is read and digested.
"But we can’t run on a reduction like that !", exclaims one Department head. Another shouts agreement.
"What gave you the right to cut us out like that?" An indignant Department Head shouts angrily.
""This is only a proposal. I was sure you people would want to make up your own allotment. These charts and the allotment list only present all the things you must consider." The angry undercurrent subsides.
"Now, I have spent every minute of the last three days collecting this information and agonizing over this presentation. I am going home to get some rest and recover. Wake me when its over." Jones stands and gathers his personal things, leaving the charts and graphs for them to ponder.
"Good job, Jones, thanks." The Mayor acknowledges Jones’ contribution. Jones nods appreciation and leaves.
Everybody shouts at once. Jones hears the outburst and shakes his head as he closes the door.
"Okay. I can see that this will not be accomplished in a democratic fashion. I want you all to go back to your offices and wait until you hear from me about our next meeting." Beads of perspiration are already forming on his brow.
In the quiet of his own office, Mayor Whitney gestures to his staff, "We are going to have to make the allotments and then call in Heads one by one or this will never get off the ground."
His senior staff smiles, "that’s why they pay you the big bucks." There is a very brief chuckle at his ironic humor.
They review the List again, this time studying each entry.
Water has been given first priority, for both potable water and sewer water. Fire fighting will be limited to rescue; the power to supply water for fire fighting will be limited to what is required to keep flames from spreading to adjacent buildings. Every location that preserves food has an allotment for that purpose.
Food preservation- refrigeration comes in second.
Those companies employing the most workers have been given a high spot.
Police and Fire are high, but only for communication and enough to run the jail.
Hospitals come next. They will do without hallway lights. Room lights kept minimal. No special equipment usage. Vital Signs monitoring stays on.
Rolling Blackouts is the selected option for power rationing.
Street lights are reduced to a minimum.
Advertizing signs and building illumination are eliminated.
Stop lights have some priority, but many will be replaced with four-way stops.
Over all, daylight will be used instead of office lights, both private and public offices.
Schools will reduce or turn off all powered equipment. They have power for food preservation and minimum security. Classroom lighting is out. There will be no night games.
–and they still are using way too much electricity.

They start at the top of the list once more. "No one is going to like this, They will all have to bite the bullet. I can feel the political pressure already." The mayor shakes his head.
"Just wait until the Public sees this," someone remarks.
"I’m going out and buy stock in a candle factory," another adds.
"I want each of you to make up a list or revise this one, ASAP." We meet at 2:00 this afternoon. Get busy, oh, and tell my secretary to hold all calls."
The family doesn’t know about this – yet.
_______
Do not get too excited. This is only a story. It was derived from what I consider reliable sources’ descriptions of possible events due to a fuel oil shortage. How much of it is true will come out with time.
The consensus is that we WILL have an LATOC event; we WILL face similar situations; we WILL learn to deal with them.
My method is to learn as much as possible and prepare ahead of time. That is what the rest of the book is about. Before you challenge my assumptions, study ALL the reports and descriptions and learn what the experts (the people who should know ) have to say. That’s what I did.
end of chapter.....
-O-

For the 52nd time, I have something to say. It is contained in a NEW BOOK, entitled, Surviving Peak Oil- Life After The Oil Crash, Notes From A Survivor.

"How could anyone claim to be a survivor?" Simple as this:
An economic crash is expected. I lived, survived, the depression following the Crash of 1929.
"But that wasn’t an OIL crash".

I lived through , survived, the first oil crash in the 1970's. That surely was an oil shortage, actually an Energy shortage, with all of the accompanying features of an oil-based culture reacting to a vital shortage.
Very well, I have been there, done that and now it is detailed in a book. Title above.

We have been there, done that. These experiences are not listed in order, nor are their lessons forgotten. What I describe has worked for us and we are the proof.

On this basis I can write this book. Most of these experiences lend to the composite that is expected from the coming Peak Oil encounter.

In addition we have a flock of economic experiences that contribute to this book’s validity:
Lived through the 1930's depression.
Lived in an area with the highest foreclosure rate in Southern California.
Watched the Mutual Fund that had contained our retirement and investments plunge to ten percent of its value the day before ( When I withdrew every cent). A stock I missed took 15 years to recover its value.
Lived in a drought stricken area, and lost the water supply for a day at a time. We could manage, but our animals couldn’t. I learned to find water and drill my own well.
Lived at a time when 70,000 people in my profession, engineering, lost their jobs. Nixon terminated the Apollo Space Program.
Saw the rabbit industry nearly wiped out when the President invited Chinese imports.
Saw the American sheep market nearly die when Australian sheep and wool came in.
Finally, we lost our retirement to an Enron-type incident that forced us to start making a livelihood by reentry into the job market- that continues to this day.

Okay, so much for qualifications. Now for the method of telling about this event. Since people generally are used to reading stories, the first chapter, plus one other, will be in story form.

Except for the two stories, the other chapters discuss relevant topics. No, I will not give you a list and say, "Do these things". I will describe, to the best of my ability, the situation and conditions and you will have to decide what and how much you are going to do. All I can say is what I describe worked for me and my wife, Fern, of nearly 60 years. We are the surviving proof.

We have written nine other disaster-related books. Most of the solutions to problems found in this book are detailed in them. There is also a Series of five books identifying nearly 3000 edible plants: from propagation to the dinner table. Growing edible landscaping plants in the yard is not new to us. Two of those books describe edible wild plants and weeds. Fern spent 8 years validating that information.

We started preparing for the Oil Crisis, now described as Peak Oil or LATOC, back in the 1950's when it was announced by Hubbert, an oil company geologist. With some background in geology, I was more willing to believe his predictions than most.

We need another acronym to describe the life we now lead: Life Before The Oil Crash. It is a culture that will go down in history as a Golden Age of free spending, unlimited debt, and the squandering of our planet’s energy resource. People will move on and adjust, with considerable resistance, and copious trauma.

Nothing in the past will match the calamity of LATOC, even if the reports are only half right. Start learning now.

-O-

Preface

No, we are not going to run out of oil. Instead, we are going to use it at an increasing rate as the world supply diminishes. As we get closer to the bottom of the barrel, the bidding for oil will soar. In our present economic plight, we will be unable to successfully bid for more oil. The USA will get less and less and our present oil-guzzling culture will suffer, read that- fall apart.
So, what do we do? We study the situation and learn all we can about Life After The Oil Crash. It is back to the theme of most of my books:

Plan ahead, you are ON YOUR OWN. Assume that no Agency of the government or elected official is going to help. They are in the same predicament. If anything, they will want your help.

This book is part of the Disaster Preparedness Series, and this will be the biggest disaster we have ever faced, if only because everyone on the entire planet will be involved. The more advanced the country, the greater the culture shock. Consider where that puts us.

The occurrence of this event is ill defined and the date is problematical, but the consensus is that the oil crisis is going to happen; the disagreement is over when it will happen.

Back in President Hoover’s time, the great crash of 1929 was described as a market correction, then finally it was denied altogether.
Hoover’s message to the people, "There will be a chicken in every pot". That was when men stood on the street selling pencils or apples. That worked in the beginning. There was a joke about potato soup without potatoes. People on farms at least had food.

The domino effect caused many sound business to collapse. Commerce requires businesses to interface or there is no commerce.

Practice
As part of my other preparedness books, I emphasize the need for rehearsals to give the family some experience with coping: (You will find that important points are repeated in this book)

Do without power for a weekend. Turn off the main electrical switch. Turning off the gas or other energy input for the same time is more realistic.
Do without running water for a weekend. Shut it off at the meter.
Live on emergency foods for a weekend. Have no added fresh foods unless they were grown on your place.
Do without a refrigerator for a weekend. This may be a beginning trial, if you cannot cope with a complete power outage.

As I say that longer than a weekend would be more realistic, it may not be possible. Besides two days is about all a family can stand to begin with.

After you have tried it, you will realize how vulnerable our life style is to disasters.
Try the same thing with topics described in this book.
Get prepared, for you will be On Your Own.

-O-

Table of Contents
Preface
Foreword
Ch. 1 The Story. A dramatization of the effects of Peak Oil on a typical family.
Ch. 2. Denial. The number one excuse for doing nothing. Postponement and Apathy pale in comparison.
Ch. 3. Poverty Warning. Defining poverty in practical terms. Living when everything seems to be against you. Check List for frugal living. The value of rehearsals.
Ch. 4. An Old Timer Tells A Story. Experiences from the Great Depression of the 1930's. Child Labor Law. About money. How people coped during WWII. Food rationing. Manpower Board. The draft.
Ch. 5. Calamity Effects. Economic collapse on the average person. What may change.
Ch. 6. School. How will public schools fare in an economic collapse? The rise of Home Schooling. Vocational education. Bare bones education.
Ch. 7. Credit Cards. Credit Cards and the demise of our economy. A not-so hypothetical case.
Ch. 8. Transportation. The keystone of our culture is crumbling.
Ch. 9. Neighbors. The basic rescue team has another function. Cooperation for survival.
Ch. 10. Barter. The medium of exchange for people without cash or in a high-inflation economy. Have skills that other people need.
Ch. 11. Security. Desperation breeds self protection. Personal and property protection.
Ch. 12. What To Do ? Some helpful hints for this emergency situation.
Ch. 13. What You Will Miss? Review the changes in our way of living.
Ch. 14. What To Learn. Prepare for the change. Here are some skills with which you may barter for what you need. Learn to do things you may need for yourself as well as what others may need.
Ch. 15. Learning Sources. Where to go for learning.
Ch 16. About Computers. Computers and the New Way. Tradeoffs.
Ch 17. Sustainable Cities? Hypothetical effects on cities. Mass exodus. Where do they go?
Ch 18. Food. How to obtain food and continue to eat under LATOC conditions.
Ch 19. Trauma. The shock of LATOC and the traumatic emotional effects will have great impact.
Ch 20. Conclusion. Still Don’t get it?

References. Direct references for detailed information covered in this book.
Sources. Mainly website links for more current information.

In the next Blog, we will present chapter 1 of the book. It is a story about a typical family and their experieices meeting the Oil Crash. See you next week.

Labels: Book, GasolineShortage. Peak Oil, Survival

# posted by Ralph : 5:06 AM  0 Comments

What’s In IT?
I am going to provide some answers to three questions:

What’s In this Blog?
Here is the experience of a four-score lifetime. You can learn a lot from here that will help or ease your own efforts toward survival. Survival is the overcoming the conditions you face because of a natural disaster, an economic downturn brought on by a job loss or change. Or perhaps the cultural changes (trauma) facing us with a loss of cheap oil.

I am a Christian, I believe in the Almighty and the power of Prayer. I strongly believe in the provisions, intents, and rights set forth by Christian Men in the
U. S. Constitution. I believe that Religious Freedom does not allow anyone to limit or change the rights I just mentioned.
In a test of my beliefs, I raised my right hand and swore to protect those rights in the fight for survival known as World War II - as a volunteer in the Regular Navy, not in the Reserve Navy nor as a draftee.

I am not a Survivalist- those who see anarchy as the best way. I want some form of government, preferably free enough to allow me to live my own life- not a life designed by someone else or by how some group thinks it should be.
I follow the Golden Rule and choose to let others live a life of their own choosing.
I heed the Bible story of Noah: He built the Arc before the rains came.

What is there here that I want or need?
What is described here has worked for us. These are tried and true ways of keeping ones life together, through many threats to change or destroy it.
You can learn from our experience or you can, through trial and error, make your own mistakes and learn from them. At the other end of your life, you will know whether you made the right choices, but nothing beforehand allows you to fully foresee the future and make prior adjustments.

We are the proof of what we present here.

Why should I believe you?
I just said why. My writings are not speculation or gleanings from someone else’s writing. The only topic about which I have no experience is Terrorism. To write on that topic I assembled all the sources I could find, on 790 pages, and present them so you can make up your own mind about what to do. I do make recommendations.
Most of what you find here is in the nearly 40 books we have written. See Them at
www.ritchieunlimitedpublications.com

Regretfully, I find the most flaws and inaccuracies in the writings of official instructions from our own government. Obviously, many of those writers had no experience with their topics.

Make your own choices, but here is a place to begin.

What Do I Do ?
Part 4

We have been talking in general terms. Now, let’s discuss some of the primary problems. First, if the LATOC scenario is right, transportation will be our greatest loss, followed closely by refrigeration. We will spend an entire issue discussing the water supply problem.

Food Spoilage
If power is erratic, one of your primary problems will be keeping foods not yet used. Here are some details that are fully discussed in our book, Cooking Without A Kitchen - Survival Cooking. Most modern kitchens do not function without electricity. All of us who have an all-electric kitchen not only have to find ways to preserve food, but also other ways to cook it;.The other references are listed at the end of this Blog.

A Story
There was a time when North San Diego County was rural. Along the coast were scattered homes- our hillside had 12 homes on 45 acres. As time passed, housing tracts began to be built and the power for them was carried through the existing distribution system. We had a sub-station nearby. The first modern tract, built a few miles inland had underground power distribution. They did it wrong and we had several years of outages, lasting from hours to a day, at least once a month, before they got it right. We learned to live with blackouts.

Climate
Southern California is originally desert; it still would be without imported water. Most of the time, it is hot and dry, except for a very narrow strip along the coast. Food spoils easily in in a hot, dry climate or in warm weather anywhere. Notice that they hauled in ice first thing in the South after Katrina- it was not for Mint Juleps. Living where there are cooler temperatures is a plus for food preservation.

Insects
Another problem is insects. They thrive all year long with no cold season to reduce their population. Grains and pasta are doomed to have weevils, except when a few Bay leaves are placed in each container.

Rodents and Other Pests
As the illegal alien invasion began to flourish through San Diego, droves of “wetbacks” traveled the land on their way to jobs in the big city, about 150 miles north. They left food waste everywhere. Rats thrived. I have shot a dozen rats out of out avocado trees in an evening, eating avocados,- when they were silhouetted by the setting sun behind them. Rodents were a big problem; so were the possums, skunks, and coyotes who were gradually squeezed out of the area by increased housing.
Those of us farming had to deal with this problem. I became expert at trapping. Some could be delivered to Animal Control ( they wouldn’t come and get them); others were simply killed, like skunks. The sheriff gave us permission to shoot them because they were impossible to transport. We trapped foxes, but they had to be transported beyond 25 miles or they came back. Dogs abandoned by the Beach kids at the end of summer, running in packs, had to be trapped, too.
Someone moved away and turned loose their pet foxes. They proliferated and inhabited the coastline for miles. They are a very clever predator, hard on chickens and rabbits, but they didn’t bother the geese, which are far better than watchdogs and defend themselves.
They were all ready to eat any exposed foods. The illegals treated gardens as their personal food supply, too. But enough of this, We have been there and this is the voice of experience. I had to establish our credentials for presenting the subject. Back to the preservation problem.

Pepper
In warmer climates or during the summer, the problem increases. Without refrigeration, food spoils overnight. You will learn the value of pepper and other spices. Meat, and milk, in the early stages of spoiling, are especially made edible by the addition of pepper.
As a child,I looked upon “Clabbored Milk” as a treat. When it begins to coagulate, rather than throwing it out, it was stirred up and seasoned with a touch of pepper. We loved it. Before it went too far, rennet was added and a soft cheese was made, kind of like cottage cheese, but it had to be used at that time, or lose it. Everything was made with whole milk. If you wanted skimmed milk, you let the cream accumulate and skimmed it off for butter or whatever.

Meat
We are used to refrigeration and freezing. Both will be unreliable under blackout conditions. You must learn to deal with the problem.
Meat, as it begins to spoil, is washed and seasoned with black pepper or chili pepper, in cooking, to make it edible for one more meal. Pepper-seasoned meat has a long history. Pepper was a treasured spice from Asia in ancient Europe for this very purpose.
The easiest meat preservation is by drying. Meat can be soaked to regain moisture and cooked almost as good as fresh. Chickens used to be sold live, taken home and done in when it was time to eat them.
A solar drier is made as a sun-exposed, vertical tunnel with screened top and bottom. The exhaust is controlled with a top-damper plate to reach the desired temperatures for drying.

If the community was of a size, a pig was killed each night and distributed for the evening meal. Get used to killing for food or become a vegetarian. Somebody killed the cow you eat as a burger at your favorite fast food place. Kill, skin or defeather, clean, butcher, and grind your own meat and appreciate what has been done for you all this time.

Actually, smoking is the preferred method of preserving pork as ham, bacon, and other cuts. Properly smoked meat will keep for months in a smoke house, where insects and rodents don’t usually venture, unless they are really desperate. Smoking is not limited to pork.

There was a time when a roast was baked for Sunday dinner, made into sandwiches for lunches and as stews and soup during the week, and the last parts used in hash or cooked with beans for Saturday.

Salting, Drying, and Pickling
Salting and drying has been a long used method of preservation. Even fish can be preserved this way. We store salt, sugar, and vinegar for food preservation as part of our emergency food supplies.
In earlier days, when an animal was killed, enough fresh meat was kept for the next meal and the rest was cut up and dried on the spot, first by the sun, then over an open flame.
Meat for drying is often salted first to draw out most of the moisture and speed the drying. The key: remove water from a food and the bacteria has no way to live. It must be kept dry.
Smoking replaces the contained water with smoke resin and accomplishes the same purpose. We have smoked nuts, fruit, cheese, meats, poultry, and fish. It is a palatable way to preserve food beyond what you can eat when it is fresh.

Pickling replaces the water with vinegar and accomplishes the same purpose; so does moisture replacement with sugar. Presently, store-bought ham is chased through a brine and given a shot of smoke for flavor, not for preservation; preservation smoking takes two weeks or more.
Hard-boiled eggs are preserved in a vinegar/spice pickle solution as a means of keeping eggs. We pickle beans, cauliflower and other vegetables and use them directly in salads.

Fermenting is accomplished, for example, by shredding cabbage, packing it into jars, adding a tablespoon of salt, filling the jar with water, putting on a lid, and setting it in a cool place for about six weeks to ferment. Then it will keep for years. To use it, wash in water until the sour is reduced or gone and saute in a pan with a bit of butter. Other veggies can be fermented, but sour kraut is common. Place hot peppers in with it and you have Kim Chee, an Asian method.

Am I Hung Up On Food Preservation?
One grows food for themselves or to sell to others. At harvest time there is an over abundance. If you are growing food for yourself, you must preserve it for later use. It is an immediate problem because food spoils and becomes inedible- wasted. In some areas of the country people spent the entire summer preserving enough food for the winter- non growing season. Go to market and look at the miles of shelf space loaded with canned goods. Most of the canned stuff is harvested during a short period, and canned so you can have edible food all year long. On a farm, count the boxes of canning jars that preserve the harvest for the rest of the year.

During WWII, a government agency kept watch on the food supply by requiring growers to report what they had on hand. A letter was sent to a farmer to show cause for having so much meat in his freezer. His reply: “It was necessary to kill the entire cow at the same time.”

Animal Waste
When an animal is killed and cleaned, what to do with the unedible parts? Either you bury it , haul it away, use it for bait to trap other animals, or use it as pet food. It is not good for this waste to be recycled into the food chain either as feed or fertilizer, as they learned a few years back with the outbreak of hoof and mouth disease in Great Britain. The loss of millions of sheep was a harsh lesson.

A Cooler
Here in the Northwest, we have a closet, open to under the house and into the attic, to use as a cooler. Any preserved foods will last longer when stored in a cool place. The option would be to replace a window in the kitchen with a box hanging outside. The box has a door for easy inside access. Hopefully, it is sited so not to be exposed to sun. In some cases, holes are drilled through an outside wall into a closet or kitchen cabinet so outside air circulates in at the bottom and out at the top. We did this in the south, too, only it was not usable in the summer, but it was cooler than a house without air conditioning- which would probably be an early casualty to a fuel shortage.

This is the kind of thing you will find in our Ezine, ON YOUR OWN, available free, from our website. The topics come from our books: Cooking Without A Kitchen- Survival Cooking.- is one of them.
Http://www.ritchieunlimitedpublications.com/index.html Especially from the books mentioned in an earlier Blog.

If I left something out, or you want to add to the topic, welcome, Blog away.

Times will change as more time is required in the handling of food. You will learn food preservation or get mighty hungry.

In earlier times, the main meal was purchased and cooked for the day. That meant a daily trip to the market. I have no clue as to what will happen with the loss of transportation.

I am certain that 3 days of emergency food supply will not be enough.

What Do I Do? Part 3

“Put up or shut up.” It will not be the first time that someone has said to me, “I need proof of what you say is true.” or, “You said what to do, but you didn’t say How.”

I have said it and even published my HOW TO, based upon our personal experience. Nothing in our books is written other than what is backed by our personal experience.

Here are lists:

For the Energy Conservation, Power Shortage or Blackouts:

Energy Tips, Coping With Energy Problems In A Power Hungry Culture. Surviving High Energy costs, Roving Blackouts, Loss of Power
Ralph W. Ritchie and Fern J. Ritchie

Cooking Without A Kitchen- Survival Cooking, How To Cook In An Improvised Situation for Power Outage or Disaster. Food storage and preservation. Cooking with dried foods.
Ralph W. Ritchie and Fern J. Ritchie

Emergency Power From SOLAR ELECTRICITY. Build Your Own System, Become Independent of The Grid, Domestic Photovoltaics. Vol I, The System, Vol II, Applications and Maintenance. Ralph W. Ritchie

How To Build and Benefit From A PASSIVE SOLAR COLLECTOR As A Space Heater. Once it is built it provides Free Heat with no additional costs. We have been doing this for over 30 years- it works.
Ralph W. Ritchie

All That’s Practical About WOOD: As A Fuel, Heating, Stoves. Revised. Pellet Stoves Section. It’s all about getting the most heat from your fuel.
Ralph W. Ritchie

The Primary books of the Disaster Preparedness Series: all present solutions for loss of electricity, and they all discuss Barter; do not overlook this source.

For LATOC Survival:

Emergency Power From SOLAR ELECTRICITY. Build Your Own System, Become Independent of The Grid, Domestic Photovoltaics. Vol I, The System, Vol II, Applications and Maintenance. Ralph W. Ritchie
It provides part of our electricity every day, although its intent was for emergency use.

Vegetable Handbook, All The Information You Need From Garden To Dinner Table, Fern J. Ritchie


Edible Wild Plants and Weeds, Vol 1, Field Guide, Vol 2. Reference, You need never to go hungry if you know the plants around you.
Fern J. Ritchie,
Also available with both volumes on CD with Auto Index.

Edible Landscape Plants and Trees, The Edible Plants and Trees Commonly Found In Gardens, Available From Local and Specialized Nurseries. Plant an edible landscape.
Fern J. Ritchie,
Also Available on CD with Auto Index.

Edible Herbs, And The Plants that Add Flavor
Fern J. Ritchie,

All That’s Practical About WOOD: As A Fuel, Heating, Stoves. Revised.
Ralph W. Ritchie, Wood is the most common renewable fuel. It’s all about getting the most heat from your fuel.

Wood Pellet Handbook and Buyer’s Guide
Ralph W. Ritchie
This will be valuable as long as wood pellets are available.

How To Build and Benefit From A PASSIVE SOLAR COLLECTOR As A Space Heater. Once it is built it provides Free Heat with no additional costs. We have been doing this for over 30 years- it works.
Ralph W. Ritchie

You Are Right
These books were all written to meet a calamitous situation, but not necessarily for LATOC. No one has the experience to write that one - it has never happened before. There is nothing above that will not aid your plight in this situation. There is one book left that everyone will need:

FIRST AID FOR DISASTER STRESS TRAUMA VICTIMS. A Guide and Self-Help Manual For The Lay Person Treating Disaster Stress Trauma Victims. Ralph W. Ritchie

Why would I need this book?

A Story
North and east of Los Angeles, the road to the Pasadena area goes over a very deep, narrow canyon. There is a concrete bridge, rather fine in its simple lines. After the 1929 crash, people would seek out this bridge and jump off. It soon became known as Suicide Bridge. People jumped from this bridge because no buildings were allowed in Los Angeles that were taller than the 11-story City Hall. That was a holdover from earthquake times. People used the bridge because there were plenty who lost everything and gave up hope.
The bridge is still there, last time I looked, but it has high, unclimbable fencing for its entire length. Probably no one today knows why the fence was built. I doubt that its nickname is still with it.
Trauma due to stress will have nothing to match what may come, only this time there are plenty of tall buildings.

This book was written for the Lay Person who may encounter Disaster Stress Trauma. It is worth reading. You had better learn about stress-based trauma and how to deal with it.

For more details on each book, go to

Ritchie Unlimited Publications

More to come next week.....