Jayce^

January 14, 2009

Keeping your data safe

This post is a followup to the recent post on backing up your data on flash drives. As stated, keeping your important data safe is extremely important. images Keeping a copy with you, and in a remote location is required practice for me. But keeping your data safe is much more than just keeping a copy of your data around in case of hardware failure, fire, or evacuation. You need to actually protect the data itself.

Nowadays, people should be familiar with the concept of Identity Theft, and the threat it poses in your everyday life. With even basic information about you, a fraudster can cause huge problems to you, now imagine if they picked up a nice little flash drive that had copies of everything from birth certificates to bank statements? Of course you should be very careful with your nice little key fob, but you’re probably careful with keys and wallet too, and how many people lose those? Continue reading “Keeping your data safe”

January 7, 2009

January Utah Food Co-Op

Another reminder that the Utah Food Co-Op orders are due this Friday (the 9th). As I mentioned last month, this is a great way to get high quality food, at a very good price.

Pictured on the right was a single ‘share’ order from the December order. That night part of it went to make a great crock-pot stew that fed my family for several meals, and still had food left for quite a few more. The included bread loaf was excellent, and fruits were good. I do wish I’d also picked up a “Harvest” share, as the extra veggie (includes and extra variety) were some great looking avocados.

We also bought some of the cider, as well as the Nutty Guys sampler. The cider was the best I’ve had since leaving Washington State where I grew up. Fresh, and tasting of just high quality apples. The Nut’s were great, and cheaper than buying anywhere else. So if you have a little more room in your budget, it’s worth checking out the add-on deals you can get.

Check out the January Order Form.

Wondering if there is a distribution point near you? Check out the list.

Remember, there’s never a better time to start shopping more economically than now, and utilizing the local co-op is a way to not only help yourself budget better, but to help those around you.

January 6, 2009

DHS Preparedness Certification

Does anybody besides me get a bad feeling about this? DHS to push ‘certification’ of private sector preparedness efforts. That’s right, the Federal government creating another ANSI spec for us to follow, and the management of which will be driven by the same people that helped rescue folks after Katrina. Of course at first the certification will be completely voluntary, and have various degrees to which you can claim certification. But what happens afterwards? Just like any other federal program, it will grow until even simple blogs like this must somehow guard what we say, and be guarded by lawyers lest somebody disagree with our practices.

Now, I’m all for the concept of the government encouraging us to prepare, and to help people know how to prepare. But in looking at tools such as the DHS’s ready.gov compared to blogs such as us, or those in our blogroll, I know I can get a lot more practical information from the personal experience on the web. And it hasn’t been sanitized by every scared lawyer, by beuracracies such as the FDA. So speak up, and make sure this doesn’t become just another overarching act that limits peoples ability to share information.

January 5, 2009

Fun With Food Storage

Several local ladies (each with their own great blogs on different aspects on preparedness) have gotten together and launched a site today that looks to be an excellent resource for preppers. Head on over and check out Fun With Food Storage. Looks like they’ll have some great information on how to get and use your food storage as part of your normal routine, and who wouldn’t want to accept help with that?

December 30, 2008December 30, 2008

Get Home Bag

Recently I took some time to rotate a few items in my ‘Get Home Bag’ that I keep in my car. The seasons were changing here, and they require different items to fill the bags purpose. As I was changing, I realized I should take a few pictures to post on here (and satisfy the requests of a few friends wanting to know what I have). With that in mind here’s a basic breakdown of my winter Get Home Bag.

Purpose:

I live a fair distance from my work now (oh how I long to telecommute again!). Around 25 miles one way, around a lake, across a river, through several places that have limited road options. How do I know this? Well, I would say everybody should be very familiar with every alternate route between their home and most common destinations, because you never know when you will need them. I have needed mine. Beyond a natural curiosity and desire to optimize my commute, my neighborhood often requires it because it has a population that overwhelms the local road infrastructure on a good day. Add in an accident, or bad weather and it becomes horrid. Get worse weather, and you can actually shut down access to our town. It’s happened before, it will happen again. Throw in an earthquake, and there will be *no* cars heading home. Whatever your locally preferred disaster, would you be able to get home to your wonderful food storage?

Continue reading “Get Home Bag”

December 29, 2008

Welcome Idaho

After some recent discussions on her blog, Marie at Food Storage…A Necessary Adventure decided to start up an Idaho Preppers Network. idaho state seal Good to see more initiative out there. If you are an Idaho Prep blogger, get added. If you are a prepper, join up to read. And please add a link on your blog too.

If you know of another regional prepper blog network that we don’t know about, or maybe you are just starting one too, let us know.

December 28, 2008

Welcome Back to the Storm

Welcome back, I hope your Christmas was as good as ours. Now it’s time to get back to the grindstone of life. I hope the recent focus on the family will keep us all looking at how to keep them safe in what is coming to us all. With a flailing economy, people will do anything to keep afloat. You need to make sure you are prepared ahead of time.

December 22, 2008December 21, 2008

Twas the Night Before Christmas – Storage

Twas the month before Christmas
And all through the house
The storage was low
Hardly a crumb for a mouse.

The shelves were about empty,
Oh, what a plight!
The wolf’s at the door,
And no money in sight.

All the children were nestled
To keep warm in their bed,
Hoping that before long
They surely would be fed.

The prophet had counseled
“Each one be prepared,”
We had procrastinated the day,
Why hadn’t we cared?

ALAS! “Twas only a dream”,
But that didn’t’ matter
I jumped from my bed
Making a loud awful clatter.

Away to the basement
I flew like a flash,
Stumbling over boxes and bottles,
Along with some trash.

As I surveyed my storage,
With eyes all aglow
The security of filled bottles
All straight in a row

Filled my heart with a warmth
And my eyes with a tear
To think I had food
to last us a year.

This feeling of warmth
And security too,
Is what we as your friends
Wish for you.

So put gifts of storage
Under each Christmas tree
For those on your list,
Is our warmest plea,

Give honey, give sugar,
Give flour or wheat.
Give milk, give salt,
Give something to eat.

And you’ll hear them exclaim,
When Christmas is here,
“Thank-you so much,
It will be a good year.”

Author unknown (If you know, tell me :) )

This was handed out to my wife’s Relief Society (Womens Group at Latter-day Saint Churches)

December 20, 2008

Psychology of Preparedness

Ever been called crazy for having a preparedness mindset? Ever questioned yourself if that drive to store up a few more cans of food might be just a little too much? A friend of mine, who is a trauma counselor, decided to start writing a bit about the psychology of preparedness.

After hearing him talk a bit about generalized difficulties he sees on a daily basis, our discussions went into what you will start to see in his posts. To be mentally stable, you must have some security, some anchor in your life. He starts here by establishing some of the basic needs we have for mental stability. I’d recommend giving it a read, then keep your eyes open for the rest of the series, should prove very useful in helping yourself understand your basic reasons for preparedness, and why maybe others you know might not feel the same.

With an economy just starting a free-fall, rights being repealed left and right, job losses, and more, you need to make sure that you are prepared both physically, as well as mentally for what may come.

December 15, 2008December 15, 2008

Burning The Midnight Oil

No literally, I’m writing this late at night, and wondering just how many people have really given thought to how they will see at night. Whether you are preparing for a couple days of power outages due to an event such as an ice-storm, or some longer-term emergency, it’s not feasible to expect that you can run a generator 24/7 in order to still be able to flick the lights.

While our ancestors did keep better time with the sun, there was still a need for light outside of what the sun provided, and we all know you can’t store *enough* batteries for every need. In this situation, many people will immediately fall back to the use of candles as a primary source of light. While candles are useful, there is a better answer. Candles tend to release a lot of smoke which will leave soot over time, they are an open flame, which is dangerous, and are very subject to drafts. The better answer for indoor lighting of course is the lamp, which from ancient time, in many cultures has provided simple, clean, and efficient lighting to humanity. Continue reading “Burning The Midnight Oil”

December 12, 2008December 12, 2008

one-quarter cup

Over on “Food Storage… A Necessary Adventure”, there is a recent post called Have you seen a 1/4 cup lately.

It put a few things into perspective for me. Of course you should go read the post, but the basic rundown for me was that the minimum amount of food for longer term survival comes in the form of 1/4 cup of rice, and another 1/4 cup of beans, in dried form. How much is a quarter cup, really? We all have measuring cups that size, go check it out. It is really little.

This should give us all some hope for the possibility of storing enough for ourselves. A 25lb bag each of beans and rice gives just over 300 days of *minimal* sustenance! Not only does that show us how easy it can be to get started, but as the poster notes, that also gives us a great understanding of how we can provide some charity in the worst of situations. I know I plan the food for my family, and in the worst of cases, I would need to focus on keeping those resources for my family. But inside we all want to help others. Even if we’re not giving much, just a quarter-cup of dried beans and rice can keep a person alive. Understanding that from our side makes it easier to share.

Now you need to learn how to make the best use *of* that little amount.