GenXTalkin Powerful Answers to 5 Common Preparedness Questions

I’m trying something new today with our blog.  Most of you know by now, Ed is out galivanting around the world allowing us to live vicariously through him… thank you Wilksie!

Ed’s alluded to a few upcoming items he’s got to talk about and reports from the field. I’m excited to see what he’s got for us! 

Until then, I wanted to capture five of some of the more common questions we hear in the preparedness community, and answer them from my humble perspective. 

So, let’s get started, shall we?

Why did you get into preparedness?

I was unknowingly being instructed in the ways of preparedness by both my mom and dad for most of my childhood.  My dad lived out being prepared on a day to day basis, and it was very impactful living through multiple recessions and very little money.

If you want to hear more about my parents, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing them in some earlier podcast episodes, when I was on a recent trip to the four corners area.  You can find them here:

Link to Dorie Marshall Episode

https://podcast.genxtalkin.com/1819710/9636621-gxt-i-ep07-dorie-marshall

Link to Brooks Marshall Episode Pt 1

https://podcast.genxtalkin.com/1819710/9923054-gxt-i-ep08a-brooks-marshall-pt-1

Linke to Brooks Marshall Episode Pt 2

https://podcast.genxtalkin.com/1819710/9998293-gxt-i-ep08a-brooks-marshall-pt-2

When I left home, I ran into many scenarios in which being prepared would have been better, but I was not, and I suffered the consequences. 

  • I’ve been robbed a couple of times while traveling. 
  • I’ve been scammed by a three card Monty player.
  • I’ve been stuck in the cold, overnight, broken down vehicle, in sub-zero weather with very little heat or shelter.
  • And the lessons I’ve learned through those and so many more are what drive me today to be better prepared

As for preparedness itself, for me it all Started out as kind of a fun thing.  Zombies, apocalyptic living, how would I survive, and so on.  Of course, Y2K came with all those fears.

And then, there was this period we lived in a townhome community and ours was one of the only ones on the block that had a fireplace.  Across the street there was this nice little family with mom and dad and two very small children.  Weather was forecast to be in the single digits during a snowstorm and the power had been out for about a day and a half.  And I remember going over there and offering for them to come stay with us if they started getting too cold.  That was kind of an eye opener in that even in “normal” times, individuals and families could be hit with difficult choices.

I really just started doing my own prepping of sorts.  And eventually my wife jumped on the bandwagon.  We’ve been going strong with it for a couple of decades now at least.

What movies/shows or books influenced your preparedness planning most?

Preparedness Movies

There’s so many movies and books.  28 days later. That was actually one of my favorite and Still is one of my favorite, zombies movies with Cillian Murphy. The fact that it showed how quickly (28 days) things went to complete hell was impactful. 

28 Days Later Movie - Zomie Apocalypse Preparedness
28 Days Later Movie – Zomie Apocalypse Preparedness

World War Z. Again, very short timeline. And the way they portrayed a massive apocalyptic event that was impressive. I will say that the book was much better because it portrayed multiple scenes from a zombie apocalypse. The book itself is absolutely fantastic!

Movie – https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/world-war-z

Book – https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/8908.World_War_Z

And then I remember back in the 90s, there was a movie called Outbreak with Dustin Hoffman. Wow that was an impactful, epidemic type of movie.  And the thing that was powerful about that one as well is how the government could come in and essentially enveloped this town and try to block people from getting in and out of the town. People in general would attempt to fight back and do what they thought was right. 

https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/outbreak

Of course, so much talk has gone on about The Walking Dead over the past number of years. I would say earlier seasons, maybe up to season four were very good, but after that it kind of got a little weird. But same type of scene from 28 days later where the guy wakes up and finds that the world has completely changed. 

Preparedness Books

As far as books go, there’s the old standby One Second After by William Forstchen. That is a very powerful book, primarily because the author himself is a historian and he has connections with government. And it was actually a bit of a sad story. He was part of this Commission that was tasked with finding out what would happen if an EMP were to hit the United States and how in what ways it might affect the US most. When his Commission was getting ready to approach Congress with their report, 911 happened. And so it all was forgotten. The only way he was able to present that information to the public was in a fictional novel. The result was One Second After. Absolutely fantastic book! And not just all doom and gloom. There’s a lot of successful things they did as a community

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4922079-one-second-after

Of course, Going Home, by A. American is a fantastic book for “get home safe” type of scenarios. This is more of a EMP type of scenario, but a fantastic book and the series goes on after the first book. I still love the first one the most. 

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17085384-going-home

And then there’s the Survivalist series with the Mason Raines character by Arthur Bradley. That’s an excellent book and book series.  It explains how a US Marshall might respond. And not only how the goodness of a US Marshall might change the world, but also how certain evil might make the world worse. It also puts on display how you can fight back against evil in really successful ways. 

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18828336-frontier-justice

There’s companion gardening books and homesteading books that of course shouldn’t be overlooked to gain knowledge. 

So, reading as much as you can about being prepared is absolutely recommended. 

Shelter in Place or Bug Out?

This completely depends on the scenario.  In our area, there is a potential, very unlikely, but a potential of nuclear attack or other nuclear type of threat.  That said, the thought of sheltering in place might not be the best approach to protecting yourself and family. If it is known that a life altering event is approaching and the best bet would be to leave and leave quickly than bugout. 

To Bug Out also typically implies, with haste!  Hence the bug out bag to get out as quickly as possible.  But this term bug out, doesn’t mean the same thing to different people.  To bug out to some may mean, being instructed to do so by government agencies, like FEMA, to move yourselves and family to a government provided shelter.

However, for those who have planned and prepared ahead of time, to bug out may simply mean moving yourself to the next phase in your preparedness plan.  Maybe you quickly move to your first bug out location, like another family member outside the affected area.

I suspect there are very few reasons why a person would leave the safety of their home to move to an unknown scenario, like a government shelter.  When they could just as easily protect themselves within their known home and area. 

A great thought heading into your planning is to have a decision-making tree that says if X+Y happens, then leave.  But until that point, shelter in place and implement next steps in your plans.  By the way, this can and should be a part of your everyday prepping as well.  For instance, it’s much more likely for an area to be hit with a freezing storm or hurricane, causing power outage, than a nuclear attack.

But the same logic remains true.  If X+Y happens, for instance, if power is lost in your local area due to a recent weather event, and all indications are it will be out for 3-4 days.  Decide if it would be best to wait it out with generators, solar power, and cooking over a fire.  Or if it would be better to “bug out” to a local hotel.  Keeping in mind pets and other family specific cases.

If faced with an active shooter-type situation, would it be better to run and hide, or attack the shooter?

One thing I think we could all agree to is that nobody really knows what they are going to do when faced with this type of event, until they are there! Something that can help a person to understand their own potential in situations, is to train for them and place themselves into very similar situations. 

  • Seek out training from local law enforcement
  • read books about real life scenarios
  • try to become more familiar with the real scenarios and how they shake out. 

This may help you keep a sound mind when faced with potentially disturbing events.

There are several ways survival experts recommend responding to active assailants.  By now many have already heard of the “Run-Hide-Fight” response. 

“Run-Hide-Fight” response - Active Shooter Preparedness
“Run-Hide-Fight” response – Active Shooter Preparedness
  • First you run – to keep yourself alive
  • Next you hide – to make sure the assailant can’t see you
  • If all else fails, then you fight – to hopefully protect yourself and give yourself a fighting chance to survive until the end of the event.

But I would submit to the listeners some additional thoughts.  My wife and I recently went to an active assailant presentation, and they changed it up a bit with some very good logic.

The main trouble with the “Run-Hide-Fight” philosophy is it puts into the mind of the person experiencing the trauma, from the very beginning, that they are a victim!  So, the person’s mentality is already coming from a position of fear and possible death.  I must RUN, I must HIDE! And then magically, somehow, they are next supposed to remove all that fear and then… start to fight!

So, the presenter challenged that approach with a new one.

“Avoid-Deny-Defend”

“Avoid-Deny-Defend" response - Active Shooter Preparedness
“Avoid-Deny-Defend” response – Active Shooter Preparedness

Simple adjustments to the words, but these are ACTIVE in their engagement with the assailant.

  • To RUN, in a person’s mind, means to RUN AWAY!  But to “Avoid” means to actively understand from where the danger is coming. Then avoid that danger with the most logical approach.  It may mean moving closer to the danger to move to the next step.
  • To HIDE also can imply, to cower, again prompting more of a fear reflex.  But to “Deny”, can prompt a person to continually deny the attacker access to the area in which the resistance is located.
  • And to FIGHT implies this is your last chance effort to life – to fight like hell! But if your mindset is already one of positive, “I will get out of this danger safely”, then the natural course of thinking is to be defending yourself from harm.

Finally, if your mindset is actively engaged with the assailant or other danger, it naturally causes you to think and observe much better than if you were to simply RUN, HIDE or FIGHT!  So that, after the event is concluded and you are safe, you can then TELL.  You can inform authorities of what occurred with confidence.  Your mental response is no longer “I’ve been a victim and will forever be negatively affected by this trauma”.  But you’ve done your part to protect yourself and protect others through a difficult event.

What would be some means of preparedness communication in a post-apocalyptic world?

One of the biggest questions is how bad of a “post-apocalypse” world we are talking about here.  If it’s full on mad-max or EMP (electro-magnetic pulse) type of world, that’s one thing, but if it’s an economic collapse, then the world might be affected in a totally different way. 

Most thoughtful scenarios for what could one day become the “new normal” apocalyptic world are those that would happen over time. 

  • Economic collapse
  • running out of fuel
  • adverse government takeover

These are more like “frog in hot water” events, and theoretically, persons, families, communities could prepare better ahead of time. 

  • Begin to come closer together as a unit (family or community). 
  • Begin recognizing existing HAM radio users and CB or walkie-talkie options that might be available within the area. 
  • Establish codes that can be used between known group members to ensure messages are clear and reach the intended persons.
  • Establish ahead of time a means to power said devices, whether they be solar, wind, or other, this will be important for ongoing communications.

If the scenario is more EMP or CME (coronal mass ejection) type of event, there would be a more immediate result, and very little planning could have occurred. This could make things much more difficult, but still doable.  First, consider planning and establishing a small faraday cage for EMP events.  No need for massive bunker or house-sized locations for this type of protection.  But understand EMP and CME enough to understand what devices could be affected and protect those devices. 

For instance, although some speculate it is ALL electronic components within ALL newer vehicles that are susceptible to EMP, this is not likely the case (based upon testing that’s been done).  There are certain components (perhaps a starter) that could be affected. So, if a backup of that unit itself is housed in a faraday enclosure, then the component itself only needs to be replaced and the vehicle is back up and running.

The reality is people have been communicating throughout time with images left for passers-by, or smoke signals, all the way to tying two cans together and 5G.  There will always be ways to communicate, it will just require a bit of ingenuity.

It’s been fun answering these questions.  It’s always helpful to exercise our minds to think through preparedness scenarios. If you get a chance to look us up on social media @genxtalkin, we’d love for people to comment their own thoughts.  Our Youtube channel is also a great place to do this.  If you get a chance, check us out and drop is a subscribe there.

For now, I’ll leave you to one last thought to always be preparing to respond well and recover faster. 

Until next time, this is @genxtalkin, signing off!

5 Powerful Methods for Food Prepping for Emergencies 

Prepping food is, of course, a key aspect of a family’s Preparedness goals. As the “Rule of Three” suggests, a person can typically only last 3 weeks without food. So having a solid plan around food prepping is incredibly important. In today’s blog post, we are going to review 5 types of food prepping for emergencies. 

5 Powereful Food Prepping Methods in Emergencies
5 Powereful Food Prepping Methods in Emergencies

72 Hour Supply Recommended by the Government 

In just about any FEMA or Preparedness website sponsored by the government, you will find the recommendation is to prepare our homes with at least 72 hours of food and water. Now, whether 72 hours is a useful timeframe (or not) is not the main point in this section. We are only using this as a placeholder for the most often used short timeframe for preparing emergency supplies. This really can be a simple task, and with some review of our own personal stock I dare say almost all homes in the US have this already, three days of food readily available, whether they believe it or not. We really are a nation of plenty, and without even realizing it, most homes have at least some stocks of food that could be rationed out to 72 hours.  

Ready.gov Website - Bug Out Bags
Ready.gov Website – Bug Out Bags

Therein lies one of the serious issues, rationing. In times of emergencies, many people who are not prepared mentally, would see dwindling supplies in their cupboards and immediately think they need to go out and gather more to stock up, “as the storm approaches.”  We do see evidence of this in many big cities affected by hurricanes, tornadoes, and larger storms every year. News stations seem to love showing images of the empty water and toilet paper shelves days ahead of these proverbial storms, which causes more concern for the average citizen. 

An uncomplicated way to approach the 72-hour food prepping recommendation is to buy in pairs. Meaning, when you’re at the grocery store acquiring items your family eats on a normal basis, consider adding a second can or package of pasta to slightly increase the amount in your smaller pantry or cupboard. And then, keep a simple running inventory of items, or make them readily visible. This way you can recognize if something is getting low, you can purchase more the next time you are at the store. Also, by inventorying or making the items visible, the first response to the “dire” images from the media will not need to be run out and buy more stuff you do not need. 

Stock the Pantry so you can Shop the Pantry 

Now that we have our short-term supply covered, we can begin considering longer time frames for food. An interesting term gets used in some preparedness circles, “shop your pantry.”  Mainly this means, when you run out of an item in your kitchen, such as bar-b-que sauce or chicken stock for soups, you can go to your own pantry to “shop” for more. Afterall that is where your initial stock should be, within your own home pantry. 

Stock the Pantry so you can Shop the Pantry
Stock the Pantry so you can Shop the Pantry

As we did above to prepare our 72-hour stocks, use the “buy-in-pairs” method to build up this stock within your own pantry over time. In this case, keeping a running inventory of the items in stock becomes a bit more important. You do not necessarily want to keep buying more supplies, and accidentally stock more of something you may not need. Especially considering you could be low in another item. 

But even if you store additional items your family may not need immediately, having these items on hand will start to build a level of comfort and peace when challenging times arise. One key point to emphasize again here is to purchase items your family regularly uses or eats. This is especially important to keep in mind so that your shelves do not become overflowing with useless items the family will never eat.  

Additionally, when walking through the grocery store some days, look at the expiration dates on the packaging of items. When it comes to dried pasta, canned foods and oil, there is a very long shelf life for these items. And in exceedingly tough times, non-perishable food that is long past its expiration date can still be used. It often only means the flavor is a bit less quality and the nutritional value might have reduced slightly.  

Finally, as part of the “shop your pantry” efforts, let’s introduce one more important term, cycling. Cycling simply means using the oldest food first when shopping your pantry. As you review your pantry storage efforts, consider placing new items toward the back of the row or stack, so you are more likely to use the oldest first by pulling from the front of the row. As well, it becomes important to start labelling each can or package as it’s added to the pantry. Just keep a little sharpie pen hanging in the pantry area, and as you add items in, write a quick month/year marker on the top or side of the packaging. This way even if you make a mistake in the cycling of the items, you can still quickly verify you are using the oldest items first in your day-to-day cooking. 

Full Storage Plan for at Least 1 Year of Food Prepping 

Now, if it is your desire, you can start moving toward a more prepared home for longer term events. Mormons, as an example, have a directive from their spiritual leadership to store the “bare minimum” of home, clothing, and protection for challenging times. Whether you are a fan of that faith group or not, the fundamental practice of keeping stores of items you may need for a year is sound. Yes, they do use the term “bare minimum” to represent a year of food and they include recommendations for longer periods of time where possible. Also note, they include recommendations for clothing and protection along with the food, which can be incredibly important additions to any preparedness plans – but not in the context of this post today. 

So how can we begin putting a plan into action to build a one-year inventory of food (and possibly water) supplies? Begin by using the practices stated above, and organization will play a key role in successfully accomplishing this set of goals. Start with the “buy-in-pairs” method to continue adding to stores effectively. Keeping the inventory flowing on a first in, first out basis will help the family to ensure that the stores stay fresher, longer. Continuing this process over a period of months can easily build the stores within your home pantry. As you will find out quickly enough, space and variety quickly become nagging issues.  

Premade Canned Food Storage for Prepping
Premade Canned Food Storage for Prepping

There are many options for providing better organization of the space you do have. We’ve probably all seen the 12-15 can dispensers that automatically push the oldest to the front for you. These are great for canned items, but keep in mind the need to provide different options for the assorted sizes of canned goods. There are also building plans available online for wooden contraptions that allow you to store massive amounts of canned goods within small areas (like within the area between studs in a wall). These are particularly useful when your pantry is limited on space. Now, this effort mainly considers the storage of items like already canned foods, to bring organization to the food stores you have available.  

In Wall Canned Food Prep Storage
In Wall Canned Food Prep Storage

As mentioned above, the next nagging issue will be variety, because, although we could exist, and maybe even thrive, using canned or packaged foods alone, eating the same foods everyday will not be joyful in the least. So… start a garden. If you are fortunate enough to have a large yard and the time and energy to maintain a garden, take the opportunity to start early. Having a garden in which you are able to grow some fresh vegetables, and even some fruits and nuts will offset the often-boring meals you might get from canned and packaged foods. And if you have the space for larger crops like fruit trees and expansive plants like sweet potatoes, take advantage of growing more and use alternative growing methods like companion planting and permaculture.

Knowledge is most definitely power when it comes to gardening. Each growing season you will learn more about what grows in your climate and soil. And even if you only have limited space, for instance an apartment or condominium, consider using vertical gardening or hydroponic methods indoors and near a window. There are some very impressive examples online of “living” walls within a home, in which the plants grow up a trellis, or within PVC pipes with holes, and it really can add to the beauty of the home. This will not only allow you to extend your growing season but will also allow you to monitor and protect the items as well. 

Please do not be confused to think that in a small vertical garden within a rented apartment a family would be able to grow enough food for a year. Quite the contrary, trying to grow one’s own food source completely will be excessively difficult to prepare for properly, and lends itself more to the homesteading movement. Much more planning and organization would be required for that level of effort. 

MREs and Emergency Rations can be great additions for portable Food Prepping
MREs and Emergency Rations can be great additions for portable Food Prepping

Emergency Foods and MREs 

Before we move to the final option, any discussion of emergency food prepping should include at least a mention of emergency rations and MREs (Meals Ready to Eat from XMRE). MREs are packaged food with readily available warmers that were traditionally used by the military for short term missions. Although they are not the lightest food source for soldiers to carry into potential combat situations, they do provide nearly 4000 calories per package. Theoretically, if the recommended daily allowance for a person is 1500-2000 calories, just a couple of these packages could potentially provide sustenance for several days. This is, of course, a fantastic alternative in an emergency event, especially when considering portability. So, it makes sense, at the very least, to include MREs in the long-term planning for preparedness in any household or community. 

What about Emergency Rations? The most interesting example of how to describe these little power packs is Lembas, those relatively flat cakes made popular by Samwise Gamgee in the JRR Tolkien, Lord of the Rings series. They are basically a block of food substance, with minimal taste (not bad tasting, mind you), but high levels of calories, typically 2000-3000 calories for a small block of food. Emergency Rations can be obtained from just about any online source, including the likes of Amazon, and they are typically very inexpensive considering the number of calories included in such a small package. It is true, Emergency Rations are not the most tasteful, but consider the name and the many potential use cases, and it is easy to understand why one should augment their preparedness planning with these effective items.  

  • Have you ever been stuck in traffic on the beltway for a couple of hours?  
  • Have you ever been travelling a long distance and had a highway shutdown due to a large pileup in extreme weather?  
  • Have you ever been on a day hike and realized you forgot your lunch back at the car or base camp? 

Now nobody is going to starve to death stuck in traffic, even for a day, but it sure would be a comfort to realize after a few hours of waiting, that you have nearly 6000 calories of a cake-like substance readily available in your emergency kit in your trunk. 

The Ultimate Solution for Food Prepping: Homesteading 

Finally, we get to the ultimate solution for sustainable food preparations, the homesteading approach. Homesteading can mean different things to different people, so let’s define with our own words.  

“Homesteading is a sustainable way of life in which the individual or family unit can grow, process, store, cook and eat their own food substances to maintain a healthy, and varied, means of caloric intake.” 

Of course, it can mean a lot more, but homesteading takes the family unit back to a time when they were able to survive and thrive within their own environment with limited need for outside support. Homesteading includes significant capability in gardening, even to include the level of actual farming potentially large fields and orchards. So that a family has a seasonal effort to plan, grow, harvest and store proceeds from the family plots of land. Assorted crops can not only be used for the family’s sustenance, but additionally could be used as barter with similar minded groups in trade. Using out of season provisions such as greenhouses can be used to extend the growing season for certain crops and allow the family to grow crops not native to their climate region. 

Homesteading could include many layers of a family’s meat sources as well, such as raising chickens for eggs as well as meat. With chickens, eggs can be a tremendous source of protein for a hungry family. Additionally, eggs can be stored for over a year in a jar with certain processing. Eggs could also be dried for longer term food prepping. Raising goats, pigs, and cattle in similar ways for meat, and/or milk is an often-used alternative to purchasing store bought meats. Meat from processed animals could also be jarred and stored for long term.  

Finding means to regularly store food and other items for longer time periods is particularly important to the homesteader. Jarring, canning, smoking, drying, and pickling (among others) are all unique ways the homesteading community will prepare for the times when the land is not providing in real time. 

For the homesteader, establishing a means of barter with items of excess production or skill can make for a fantastic way to augment the family’s needs. For instance, if the family has a plot of land that happens to grow an excess of corn that is unneeded by the family, they can exchange it for other fruits or vegetables that might contain more vitamin “C.”  Or if the family has a respectable number of goats producing milk, the family may use the excesses of milk to produce cheeses to be used in exchange for meats from the local farmer’s market. 

Conclusion

As you can see, preparedness in relation to food supply can be a complex and multi-faceted endeavor. For the beginner prepper or person just entering this exciting world, it helps to start simply. Focus on the immediate potential hazards to gain the most benefit from food preparations. Make sure to focus on foods and tools the family uses most often and build up the 72-hour supply with most haste. The urgency should be a bit more relaxed at this point because the impact of most potential emergency scenarios is greatly reduced with this solution. In this process, you will likely be building out “get-home-safe” vehicle kits or Bugout Bags. Do not forget to consider MREs or E-Rations for this exact purpose. 

Once to that point, focus on a two-week supply, but build it over time using the “buy-in-pairs” method and some decent organization. As time, energy, and space allows, begin to focus on what it will take to build a longer-term supply of food, clothing, and protection (maybe even a year’s worth). This effectively becomes an asset over time and allows the family to relax in those times when most of the population is scrambling during emergencies. 

@genxtalkin 

Ed (aka Wilksie) Goes to NYC and Gets Covid But Gets Home Safe – GenXTalkin On Being Prepared

Storytime by GenXTalkin

A lot of people who basically live outside of huge cities such as New York City probably wonder how the COVID situation is going. Well, here’s my firsthand experience from travel to the area a week before Christmas, 2021 (we got home safe…).

My wife and her youngest daughter are NY Giants fans. I could write a book on this tragedy alone, but I digress.

For a Christmas present to both, we arranged a trip for the two to see them play against the Dallas Cowboys in Metlife Stadium 12/19/21. I paid for the flight and hotel. The hotel was on the Jersey City, NJ side of the Hudson with an unrivaled view looking east at the Lower Manhattan skyline. Nicia paid for the game tickets. I accompanied basically just to travel, because travel is partially life and freedom to me. I just keep forgetting what a hassle the NYC area is. 

Departure out of DFW and arrival in Newark International went fine. Arriving in Newark isn’t too bad. It’s departing out of it that can be like a whole other chapter of The Odyssey. I dare speculate that Odysseus himself, if he were confronted with departing out of Newark International Airport as part of his journey back home after 10 years of fighting in the Trojan War, would have looked to the heavens and wailed in grief to Zeus, “Why?!?”

On the Jersey side, almost no one walking on the streets outside are wearing masks. Inside businesses it was about 50/50. Most businesses had signs “recommending” the wearing of masks. 

Being Prepared for NYC and Manhattan

Here is where it gets fun – New York City! You can take a nice ferry or subway ride from Exchange Place, Jersey City, NJ and either way be at One World Trade area in Lower Manhattan in about 8 minutes. The ferry offers a nice view and a smooth ride for about $8/passenger. There were three ferries running – two supposedly owned by Goldman Sachs – and they are back and forth every 7 minutes. Masks are required on the ferry.

The subway is via PATH. Everything is literally right next to Hyatt Regency Jersey City on The Hudson. One way tickets on the subway are $2.75. Masks are required inside the subway areas and on all the trains. Unlike Texas where everyone would disregard that, everyone masks up inside subways and other places in Jersey City and NYC, and for good reason.

It’s strangely surreal, though. On the subways, I felt like I got the idea – the subways can be very crowded and it’s not like an airline that can have sanitizing ventilation sweeping through all the time, plus it’s in constant use – there is no respite on the subways.

But, once you get out on the streets on NYC, almost no one is wearing a mask, and in some places it’s even more crowded. 

For example, when you walk anywhere around the several blocks near Times Square and Rockefeller Plaza, it’s wall-to-wall, shoulder-to-shoulder, A-to-B crowds by probably the tens of thousands. Everyone wants to see the Christmas Tree, Times Square, and other sites. If you haven’t been there, it’s like a huge mall and cityscape museum of sorts, and it draws crowds more than The Vatican or Louvre! It’s the insane amount of crowds you’d expect from seeing any TV or movie depicting NYC street level crowds. And, no one was wearing masks.

Your sense of reasoning and rationalizing the situation becomes askew and disjointed and you start to ask yourself questions. Fortunately, navigating Manhattan is relatively easy, so you shouldn’t have to worry about getting lost. Almost all streets run north and south or east and west, and rivers on both sides are north to south, so you should have your cardinal directions OK and your dead reckoning of major sites down even without a cell phone.

If you’d like to walk the streets on the surface from One WTC to Central Park, it’s 4.2 miles mostly along 6th/7th Ave, it will take about 90 minutes, and you’re going to practically brush shoulders with people most of the way. If you want to take the subway, it’s $2.75 one way, you’ll have to learn how to navigate that system and avoid scammers and kids wanting you to donate to their “school sports team”, and you’re likely on the 123/ABC which can be quite crowded. Subway travel time from One WTC area to Central Park is still going to be about 25 minutes.

The crowds on the subway can be quite astonishing – like, standing room only; like, do I even want to try to get on this train? Once aboard, you’ll meet just about every Sesame Street character in real life, sober and otherwise. NYC has all kinds of mentally ill people just wandering around bothering folks all day, every day, everywhere. The more an outsider is in New York City, the more likely that person will probably just want to wear not only a mask, but a full bio-chemical protective suit all the time. 

The whole area, even those “posher” financial center areas nearby One WTC, is disgusting. There’s trash all over the place piling up on the streets until the disposal trucks get around to hauling it off. Everywhere you go outside, you’re met with the numerous urban cesspool-like odors. NYC’s finest are masked up and directing traffic at intersections everywhere. People are rushing. People are honking. It’s just a disturbing chaotic buzz. I’ve visited Manhattan five times now and I can’t understand what makes people stay there.

If you’d like to retreat to some safe haven or boon to the weary traveler, most bars and restaurants check your photo ID along with both vaccination cards. This is the same for most stores near Times Square, and I don’t know for certain from experience this time, but I’d imagine all Broadway shows are checking ID and vax cards. 

Ultimately, there’s the conundrum for me: Inside, you have to wear a mask or get ID’d and vax card checked. Outside it’s vastly more crowded and no one is wearing a mask. So, here we go, walking several miles in the Manhattan area. And, when I walk like this I like to keep a pace, a pace count for a rough understanding of my distance, and I like to walk-workout breath, taking in longer deeper breaths. 

We departed the ferry on the Manhattan side and my wife and her daughter ice skated while waiting for friends from upstate. Once the friends arrived and I met them all and we chatted a bit, we started walking from One WTC towards Central Park. Shortly after starting our walk I started getting into my hiking rhythm and my breathing was a bit deeper and slower and it hit me – there ain’t no way I’m not catching COVID like this, even if I’m wearing a mask. We tried to keep as much social distance as possible from the denizens of the deep, but to no avail.

Getting Home Safe

A few days later after getting hom safe to Dallas, I felt like I had sniffles and sneezes, and I tested positive for COVID.

For those who haven’t experienced the rapid testing yet (I had not until this moment), they stick a long q-tip looking swab about three or more full inches up your nostril and for me it’s very uncomfortable. They then use a solution and a testing card process, and lines appear (or do not appear) very much like a pregnancy test. It’s like you’re waiting to see if you killed the rabbit. 

For the “rapid” test, one can get results sometimes within about three minutes. My first test took less than two minutes for there to be two solid lines and my wife said, “Wow! You’re definitely positive and that’s the fastest I’ve seen it come back so clear!” I re-tested negative less than one week later and I never felt like I had more than a bit of a stuffy sinus issue, so we’re pretty skeptical about the accuracy of the rapid test. 

Through COVID so far, my wife and I have travelled to Las Vegas (twice for me); Tulsa, OK; Joplin, MO; Biloxi, MS and Orange Beach, FL; and Miami and Key West, FL, and we’ve never gotten sick. And, for the most part, most folks in all those areas have not been wearing masks from the beginning.

But, now, after one trip to NYC almost two years into a seemingly waning pandemic, I tested positive. THIS opened up a whole myriad of other concerns, the anxiety of which you can’t escape. Where did I get it – from whom? Who else may I have exposed? Now, I’ve got to quarantine from work for probably 2 weeks. Are my wife and her daughter OK? The daughter had already returned to her home and visited our grand-children! These thoughts all kept me awake at night.

Covid and Get Home Safe

My wife and her daughter tested negative, thank God! My sniffles grew to feeling a bit more like a full head cold the next day. But, ultimately, I was feeling better within about 72 hours of testing positive. As previously noted, we remain skeptical.

Ed (aka Wilksie) @genxtalkin

GenXTalkin Presents… Storytime: Florida Hurricane

For our imagination, training and planning today, let me introduce you to a married couple, Daniel and Elsie Gardner. Now Daniel and Elsie, for most of their lives, have lived in some western and some Mid-Atlantic states in the US. They have three great kids in their teenage years. After some long planning and hard work, it’s paid off, and they’ve bought their place at the end of a long road in Florida, just outside Orlando. Very private…. And quiet!

Daniel grew up most of his life in a preparedness minded home.  The pantry was well stocked, a small supply of water was properly stored, and there were secondary ways to get power and purify water if needed. His parents taught him from a young age that the way of the Scout was to “be prepared”!

Elsie was always a city girl and grew up knowing the power would always be there and thought there was a fine line between prepping and hoarding. To Elsie, Keeping a significant amount of food and water stored was pretty wasteful when you could just as easily go down to the market and pick up fresh food. And besides, it’s so much healthier as well. 

Preparedness had always been a minor point of contention in the household and the kids felt it whenever Dad would attempt to build any stock of food, water, or take part in any other of these types of activities. Mom would get frustrated. 

Daniel and Elsie have now lived in Florida for about 6 months.  Although they’ve heard of hurricanes in Florida, they’ve never experienced the real threat. In fact the only real experience they’ve had is when they lived in Maryland and one Superstorm skirted the area causing some wind damage, and minor flooding but nothing major.  Back in Maryland, anytime any type of storm (super or not) would come up, about two days before the storm, everyone would race to the store to stock up.  And often the shelves would be left empty until after the storm. 

Well, August rolls around and seemingly out of the blue, the news starts reporting about Hurricane Itan heading their way. As reported the storm is still about a week out, so Daniel and Elsie continue their work. Coworkers seem to be only slightly alarmed, but enough to make Daniel start thinking back to some of his upbringing. On a whim, he decides to stop and pick up 10 of the gallon sized bottles of Crystal Geyser water, and a couple of cases of smaller water bottles. Heck while he’s at it, he goes ahead and picks up some rice, and a few extra cans of soup, just in case. He just keeps them in his car for now. 

A couple more days go by and the reports are getting worse. The strength of the storm intensifies. By landfall, it’s expected to be at least category 3 and possibly even category 4.  Looking at the projected path of the storm only frustrates Daniel and Elsie as they try to decipher what it could mean for their small family. Some news broadcasts are indeed calling for evacuation of areas to the south and east of their home, but not necessarily their area. Confusion sets in, and after some time, the couple starts to argue about how they should prepare. 

Two days out from the storm, and Daniel thinks they should go buy a generator.  Elsie argues that it’s overkill. But as they see their neighbors start applying their hurricane shutters on their windows, Daniel starts to ask around for recommendations on how to prepare. 

  • They start to ask if the house they purchased has premade shutters for your windows?
  • you can often find them shoved into an attic or basement somewhere
  • Or you might still be able to pick up some plywood and clips at the hardware store before the storm
  • Might want to get those up well before the storm.
  • Do you have a generator?  That will be important. 
  • Extra gas and gas cans?
  • How much food and water do you have?
  • Last big storm took us out for about 5 days!

5 days!?  We better get moving!  With this info, Elsie was convinced. They needed to get out and pick up some of these things. 

The next day, Luckily they found the house did indeed have some fitted plywood sheets already cut to their window sizes… Thank God!  Next, Daniel decided to take a trip into town to look for a generator. As he passed through town he noticed that ALL buildings had metal shutters installed and locked into place. The town looked like the set of walking dead. 

Grocery stores, shuttered!  

Post office, shuttered! 

Two places remained open. 

The gas station, but the line to get there was over a block long. 

And the hardware store! 

He pulled into the parking lot and walked into the store. As with the grocery store several days prior, many of the shelves were bare. The only generator available still was a little 1200 watt unit that might power a couple of lights and a charger. Daniel bought it, and remembered he still had some oil he could use back at home. 

On his way home Daniel parked in the line to get gas. He waited for 2 hours listening to his podcasts. When he got to the point to fill up his car, it was running on fumes. 

He asked the attendant if they had any gas cans he could buy. “Nope, and we wouldn’t let you fill them up anyway.  Just your car!”  Daniel filled up the car’s tank and headed home. 

As he pulled up to the house, Elsie ran out to meet him, crying. 

“It’s picked up power off the coast. It’s a category 5 and headed our way!”

Now less than twenty four hours from the storm hitting the coast, Daniel and Elsie, and their young family have limited supplies, equipment they’ve never used, and the threat of an impending storm. They feel woefully unprepared, but reports indicate the evacuation routes are clogged with last minute travelers trying to get away. 

  • What challenging times have you had in discussing preparedness with spouse?
  • What are some things Daniel and Elsie could have done to better prepare ahead of time?
  • What were some good things they did leading up to the storm?
  • How early before a storm hits would be best to start preparing?
  • What are some activities they could do with the family to prepare themselves better?

Click Here to hear how Ed and Matt consider the questions themselves in our latest Podcast at Podcast.genxtalkin.com

@genxtalkin

Discover The “5 Cs” of Survivability

In today’s blog post I’d like to start first with defining the difference between survivability and preparedness. Prepping or preparedness is generally a process and overall frame of mind toward being ready to respond in challenging times. This can mean preparing the home, your office, your car for most likely challenging situations that could occur. 

In contrast, and as the name implies, survival or survivability is the likelihood of a person or group to survive those challenging times. 

Survivability can be defined as the ability to remain alive or continue to exist.”

Let’s consider the “Five Cs” of survivability within this context then. They typically imply a person is in these challenging times already, and with the presence, and proper knowledge of the use of these items, survivability can be greatly improved. 

One more note before we launch into each of the “Five Cs”.  Very often the “Five Cs” are discussed within the context of wilderness survival. Although necessary to understand this value, I’m going to challenge myself by adding in a few additional concepts around survival in more urban type environments as well…. Here we go…

Cutting Tools

Yes, a knife!  But not just any old knife. There are many different purposes for knives; and depending on the challenge ahead, different knives might be recommended. 

Those who like to fish, know that the proper knife can make the process of cutting line or cleaning the fish much more (or less) pleasant.  

Many feel that a simple multi-tool will do the job, such as this one from Gerber, or Leatherman. A multi-tool added to a go-bag or get home kit is an absolute must.  However, if you’re striking a magnesium stick to start a fire, a straight, fixed blade might be a better option. 

Of course, I couldn’t discuss knives without at least touching on their value as a security tool.  Having a small multi-tool with a fold out blade is not a very good answer when needing quick access for self defense. Again a good quality straight edge would be a better option. And in some areas and some purposes, even Bowie or machete-type blades have their values. Ed did a quick review of the SOG Seal Pup Knife at the following:

So, starting off, really consider what purposes you might have for a cutting tool and augment your bag(s) with the appropriate tools.

Combustion Device

Next, let’s talk about fire!  It gives heat and light and within the right framework brings great comfort and happiness. But living within a city?  Aside from a home fireplace, Is there really a need?

To answer the question simply, yes. But first let’s just talk from the perspective of history and skill.  To have the ability, by multiple means, to start a fire, is a great feeling!  Imagine yourself as Tom Hanks’ character in Castaway, standing up with arms spears wide, yelling out, “I have made… FIRE!” 

It’s so much fun to learn the different ways to start it and keep it going. 

Now, onto the actual ways to start a fire. Of course, there’s the ok standby, a lighter (or multiple lighters to be safe). This is always a good idea to have some lighters around and available. But they do run out of fuel, and often at the most inopportune times. One side note here, I recommend those with longer handles to reach into a kindle pile for lighting. 

Another very popular way to start fires are Ferro Rod (possibly along with a magnesium block) with Striker, such as this one from Uberleben

Zunden Firestarter from Uberleben

Matt did an Unboxed Prepping Review of this little tool.  Check it out here:

These are great, and with the proper experience, a person can start a fire just as quickly as a lighter and almost never risk running out of fuel. As with most other fire starting cases, it’s also important to have some fire starter material such as dry tinder, cotton balls in petroleum jelly, dryer lint, or those pre-made fire ropes (like this one).

Black Bear Fire Rope

Definitely consider adding these to your go bags. 

To learn more about the difference between Ferro and Magnesium, check out this article 

There’s another tool, called the piston fire starter that’s similar to the ferro rod solution. Only it requires a couple of pretty specific items first before it will work effectively. Namely, the char-cloth in the tip of the piston allows pressure to create a spark with the premade char cloth. It’s quite ingenious and actually pretty fun to test your fire making skills. I would not necessarily recommend it for a go-bag mainly because you would likely have a limited amount of char cloth, and a fairly limited number of opportunities for fire. 

I’ll conclude this section with the more dramatic fire starter skill, the bow drill. Although there are plenty of videos of people (I suspect highly trained people) using a bow drill to start a fire in a matter of seconds. I also highly suspect this is in ideal conditions with dry wood, no wind, and an expert at the helm. Unless you practice this specific set of skills regularly, I would not recommend this being a part of any go-bag. 

Cover

Next let’s discuss cover, aka shelter, aka tarp, aka tent… so many different ways to provide protection from the elements. If out in nature or even your backyard, a simple tarp, pole and stakes will do the trick to keep a person protected. If you read anything about thru hikers (eg Appalachian Trail), the tarp is often the best option for shelter. It’s cheap, compactable and stands up to just about any weather. However I would caution a user to try many different ways of setting it up in different conditions (wet ground, cold, extreme heat, rocky ground) to be better prepared when difficult times arise.

In emergency cases something as simple as an emergency poncho or bivvy (bivouac) sack might be good lightweight options. Both of these options are single person and not intended for the long term, or for protecting anything other than the person (meaning there’s no room for items you may have with you, like a backpack). 

This leads us to some other more common options, the tent and hammock/fly combinations. The tent is seemingly as old as time. If you’ve got a good tent and rain fly you can be prepared for just about any type of experience. Of course consideration should be made to the number of people that would be housed in the tent. As well, weight can be an issue, especially if the disaster experience could cause any significant travel by foot. That’s said nothing beats a good quality lightweight tent for shelter in difficult times. With some of the newer cloth tech used in hammock, these are quickly becoming valuable, lightweight alternatives to tents. It’s very important to have available a rain fly along with the tent to keep it considered as an effective shelter. 

In the most typical disaster situations, a person’s home is the best shelter available. So keeping up solid maintenance on the home is very important no matter the type of abode. And of course in certain areas of the country, special consideration should be given for protection of the home itself. Ideas to consider might include hurricane windows in those areas, lockdown devices on cabinetry and other items in earthquake prone areas, and bunkers for tornado areas. As well it might also be important to consider potential for civil unrest and how one might protect their homes. 

Container

Next, let’s talk about containers.  Containers come in many shapes and forms (e.g. backpack, canteen, water bladder, fanny pack, tote back, compression sack, and more).  Depending on the potential scenarios, different types of containers may be needed.  Survival in the wilderness would need some form of water holding device like a canteen, water bottle, or bowl.  And water really is one of the most important aspects of survival.  I certainly like the dromedary-type bags from MSR

Dromedary from MSR

These are super tough and with a bit more planning a sipping hose can be attached to allow you to hold your water in your backpack while still having access.

But keeping it simple, one can simply find a 1 liter Smart Water bottle and refill it while trekking from one spot to the next. 

Aside from water containers, there are two additional areas of high importance.  Backpack, or other carrying container, and cooking containers.  For carrying containers, look for a solid backpack that’s lightweight and anywhere from 40-50 liters capacity.  This will allow for relatively easy travel.  These are great options for a backpack if you’re looking:

Coulee 40 from Mystery Ranch
Ravine 50 Pack from Mystery Ranch

But even picking one up from a goodwill or a flea market can get the job done without breaking the bank.

If you’re stationary, or have access to a reliable vehicle (with fuel), then larger plastic bins work very nice for keeping items organized and moveable.  These types of bins (sealable, with snap-shut features) are readily available at large chain resellers.

Now, for cooking containers, there are too many options to name here, but, I really would recommend one of these little kits you can get, like this one from Esbit:

This one in particular is helpful as it has two separate containers in one (cooking pot and drinking cup), as well as a stand and little brass burner, that accepts liquid or solid fuel.  You can try to get by with just a metal cup and perhaps a little rocket stove, but nothing beats the comfort of one of these little premade kits.

Cordage

Finally, we get into cordage.  Like containers, cordage can mean different things and serve many purposes.  When in the wild, like being on a hike, it’s important to bring along an extra bit of cordage so you can hang any food up high in a bear bag, or tie additional items to your backpack. A nice roll of 550 paracord works quite well for most purposes, even a couple of hundred feet makes for a pretty lightweight and smaller package that fits nicely into any carrying container.

Recently, I’ve also found a number of interesting SpiderNet type cordage that makes it much easier to attach items to loops on your backpack.  Begin that they are often composed of interwoven 550-type cordage, they can be hooked to just about anywhere on your pack with simple carabiner.  Here’s an interesting one from Pack-Rabbit:

SpiderNet from Pack-Rabbit

As well as those more traditional purposes for cordage, there are also some more obscure purposes. In first aid being able to tie a broken limb to a splint can be an important life-saving purpose.  And for protection, if you’ve caught an unwanted individual hanging around your property, cordage can be used to subdue them until authorities can arrive.

One important knowledge base item that should be considered along with cordage is the skill of knot-tying. Here’s a really neat site that can help with training.  It’s got great little animated images for many different types of knots:

And in case you don’t have an opportunity to study on a regular basis it might also be helpful to to throw a little waterproof, knot-tying guide or cards into your bag (something like the Pro-Knot Outdoor Knots Book Ring would really be a good addition).

To wrap up to discussion, I hope this review of the “Five Cs” of Survivability will help our audience to become more familiar with and simplify the concepts around survivability.  If you have any further comments, please leave a message in the comments section below.  

And always remember to be learning better ways to respond well and recover faster.

@genxtalkin