What You Might Do Next

           

These are Harvard Document Bags. Most families will only require one bag for evacuation emergencies.

 


  In the last post we discussed tightening our own ships, and I recommended that we might first

1. Contain our expenditures  (shooting for a savings of ten percent over present levels.)
2. Begin storing emergency food that is palatable to your family  (if you haven't been already.)
3. Diversify your savings.
4. Correct known medical or dental issues now.



               The next things I would like to see all families do is

Establish a home medical kit


Fortunately, this is something I have done a lot of prior work on, and in addition to my book Rational Preparedness, you can also see detailed directions at the Rational Preparedness: The Blog  posts I have placed below with links:


http://rationalpreparedness.blogspot.com/2013/09/proper-stocking-of-your-home-emergency.html

http://rationalpreparedness.blogspot.com/2011/09/creating-your-own-emergency-medical-kit.html

http://rationalpreparedness.blogspot.com/2011/10/continuation-of-emergency-medical-kit.html




Establish a Family Evacuation Kit   which also includes an Evacuation Medical Kit     In medical circles this is also known as a "Go Bag"

http://rationalpreparedness.blogspot.com/2012/03/how-are-your-medical-kits-evacuation.html


Most of the items you need for an evacuation kit can be reasonably obtained from any Super Wal-Mart or a local pharmacy if you don't have one of these.

Unusual medical items can be obtained through:      http://www.israelifirstaid.com/




  I have been asked to provide some alternative medical options from natural sources.   These can be helpful but are of limited value in true emergencies.



 Sunshine Brewer has written some articles on plant medicine:

http://survivalweekly.com/downloadable-files/

Keep in mind that our soils in different parts of the country and the world are different, and therefore plants grown in these areas may have broadly differing amounts of active ingredients, so proceed with care.



Gather, Protect and Store Essential Family Documents

This is incredibly important, and I devoted an entire chapter to it in my book on preparedness.

This is a link that will get you moving in the right direction:


http://rationalpreparedness.blogspot.com/2012/03/document-evacuation-bag.html



              I will revisit this series, and continue this list again soon.

What You Might Do First

            

        If we think too much and listen to too much television, this could be a very scary day.  Ukraine is dissolving the Crimean Parliament. Other nations say that they can't possibly have a referendum concerning the people of the Crimea electing to become part of Russia, during a Russian occupation.  Canada ejected Russian soldiers and had some strong words against the Russian incursion of Ukraine.  The European Union is talking about sanctions against Russia and Russia says it "will not accept them."   Russia has also said that any stand against them by the United States will result in a "boomerang back to them".  Russia sounds ready for a showdown, and no one is in the mood to be reasoned with a discussion.  The US is very fragile financially, and Russia and China could well flood the world with American currency they hold causing an instant collapse here.  Russia and China have had actual leaders while our leaders have spent time in a power grab from us, rather than protecting our nation or our economy.

            You and I can't do much except tighten up our ship as much as we can, and keep our families as safe as possible.  These are a few strategies to doing this.
            First, have an emergency husband and wife budgetary meeting.  You and your spouse should have these meetings four times a year anyway.  In them you need to have a notebook where you have at least twelve sheets of paper, and in them a listing for the bills that are due for each month.   January always has high utility bills along with your normal recurring expenses.  February also carries higher utilities. In March it thins out a bit.  April will see you either getting some type of a tax refund, or owing some money to the federal government.  See that each paper has each months known expenses on it.  Is there anything you can cut ?   We found that we could purchase first cutting hay from a farmer near here more cheaply than we could get second cutting (the nice soft stuff the animals like best) from the feed store.   The farmers hay is better AND cheaper than we had been paying.  Over a week it's not much money. Over a month it's a savings. On a yearly basis, it's a fortune !    We have never had cable television and so that is not an expense for us.   Is there anything that you and your spouse can safely reduce expenditures on ?   Your goal is a reduction of 10-20% of your "as you go" normal anticipated budgetary expenses.   Since we have been having budgetary meetings quarterly, focused on reduction of expenses, there is not much more we can cut. Some of you may be the same, but a lot of you probably could cut some expenses.

    Contain Your Expenditures

           Once ten to twenty percent it cut you have a little bit of money in order to put away some emergency supplies. Most people are completely stymied as to what to put away.  I always try to plan for ALL events in one, rather than seven hundred separate possibilities.  If you have nothing in long term food storage, then I think the best and potentially the least expensive place to start with freeze dried storage is breakfast food.  Breakfast food is relatively easily prepared.  It works well for children, the elderly and for sick people. It works well for people during a pandemic flu, for example.  (So this strategy could work during a pandemic flu, power outage, hurricane, or job loss or financial collapse.)   A soft diet is generally safe and easily tolerated, and breakfast fits the bill.   Breakfast food can also be served as a dinner.  Our kids love "breakfast for dinner" one night a week normally.


Begin Storing Emergency Food Which is Palatable to Your Family

           Sam's Club stocks an Augason Farms breakfast container for about fifty two US dollars.

   It contains:

Maple Brown Sugar Oatmeal – 3 pouches, 30 servings total
Morning Moo’s Low Fat Milk Alternative – 1 pouch, 20 servings
Honey Coated Banana Slices – 2 pouches, 12 servings total
Dehydrated Apple Slices – 1 pouches, 6 servings
Super Nutty Granola – 1 pouch, 6 servings
Buttermilk Pancake Mix – 2 pouches, 16 servings total
Scrambled Eggs with Imitation Bacon Flavored Bits – 2 pouches, 24 servings total

      Particularly for a small family, this is a good start.


I bought something a little different at first.

Augason Farms also sells directly from them, a breakfast set with six number ten industrial sized cans of breakfast foods, all freeze dried and good for thirty years.   I paid between sixty and seventy dollars and received the items below.

 The information between the two sets of undulating lines is from Augason Farm's own website:


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• Up to 30 year shelf life*
• 380 total servings
• 6 institutional size (#10) cans
• Easy to use, just add water
• Recipes on label
• No refrigeration needed
• For camping, everyday use, food storage

Augason Farms Food Storage Breakfast 6-Pack consists of 380 servings in 6 institutional size (#10) cans with up to a 30 year shelf life.*

• 1 Buttermilk Pancake Mix (21 servings)
• 1 Creamy Wheat Cereal (36 servings)
• 1 Dehydrated Potato Shreds (21 servings)
• 1 Bacon Flavored Bits Vegetarian Meat Substitute (192 servings)
• 1 Freeze Dried Sliced Strawberries (18 servings)
• 1 Dried Scrambled Egg Mix (92 servings)

The link to buy this is below:

Augason's Breakfast Six Pack 

This is one of my own prior posts on freeze dried foods and suppliers:

 http://rationalpreparedness.blogspot.com/2013/06/carefully-considering-our-freeze-dried.html

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        We actually decided to stock one of these kits per week for a while, and we have reconstituted one of them and used it. It IS important to follow the directions for reconstitution exactly. This is ideal for the emergency food needs of a large family.

         I don't receive any monies from Augason Farms for recommending their products, but it is the one that our family relies upon mostly.   We do stock some other brands that we also like.

Emergency Essentials   also stocks a breakfast kit in #10 freeze dried cans.

Their kit is:

http://beprepared.com/breakfast-combo.html

It contains:   Six number ten cans     For about a hundred and fifteen US dollars

1 One can cinnamon almond granola
2. One can fortified orange drink mix
3. One can fortified milk
4. One can freeze dried strawberry slices
5. One can scrambled eggs with ham with red a green peppers.
6. One can scrambled eggs with bacon.


  This is your starting point.   Gather easily prepared, easily transported foods for your family for emergencies.


Diversify Your Savings

        Most people should save something every time they receive a paycheck.  How you structure this, I will leave up to you.    There should be emergency savings which experts believe should comprise 3-6 months of savings for your normal expenses.    In all honesty, if something happened in the United States which required you and your family to leave it, then this might be all the ready cash you have.    I do think that beyond that, that some silver and some gold is wise, simply to diversify ones holdings.   A financial planner can advise you as to how to grow a nest egg once you have holding beyond that.   Real estate is also a means whereby people can diversify their holdings.  I like varied real estate as a holding very much, but keep in mind that not only does real estate generate expenses in terms of property taxes, and if it includes a home or home you rent out, that the maintenance on these properties costs you money.  Real estate is also not terribly liquid as an investment, and could be very difficult to unload in a world emergency.   The point is to be mindful of your investments.  Consider what you have at least annually and make changes once you have carefully considered them rather than made reactionary choices.   An IRA is of benefit, but should not be your only holding.   "Don't Put Your Eggs in One Basket" is an excellent adage here.


Correct medical issues or complete medical or dental work

         A lot of people think that the medical system will come to a crashing halt following the Obamacare debacle.  Some are planning to get medical care in South America while others are finding a really great family practice physician they plan to pay in cash. Others are simply getting in shape and addressing any known medical or dental issues immediately.   I don't have a crystal ball, but I do think that it makes sense to take care of anything you know about before an acute emergency arises.


            That's all for now.   In a future post I will discuss some other things that might be a good idea in the slightly longer term.  Of course, my book Rational Preparedness discussed a lot of the above in much more detail, but sometimes the short version touches more people, at least quickly.

         Best wishes everyone.

Just One of the Reasons I Love Canada

            

   Yesterday, Canada expelled a number of Russian soldiers it had been training in a friendly cooperative exchange which is more common between large nations than you might think.    The Russian soldiers were told that they had twenty four hours to leave Canada.  Six of them were being trained in Quebec by Canadian forces, and one of them had been teaching Russian to Canadian troops.

            
    This was in response to Russia's invasion of the Crimea which Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper says is  all planned bilateral activities between the Canadian Armed Forces and the military of the Russian Federation are suspended, including  NORAD's Exercises.
  Harper additionally said the government of Canada would not recognize the results of a referendum in Crimea on whether to join Russia because the region is “currently under illegal military occupation" and therefore can't possibly make an unbiased selection.  Lawmakers in Crimea voted unanimously Thursday to leave Ukraine and join Russia. They have scheduled a referendum for March 16 so voters can weigh in on the decision.  This vote was furthur denounced by the international community. Harper has also saidRussia’s invasion into the Crimean peninsula is “an act of aggression, a clear violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty, and of international law.

        

Please see:

http://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/russian-soldiers-training-in-canada-given-24-hours-to-leave-country-1.1717172#ixzz2vHhEMne9


 I love Canada.   No soppy special interest groups, no fuzzy morality, no Obama.  (There is a less than stellar, long wait and patchy National Health Service though.)   I wish Canada would let me live there permanently.  Unfortunately for me, they have a functional and highly effective immigration system and will deport Americans who overstay their time there.  I wish the US wasn't fuzzy on this point.

Russia Has a More Astute Leader Than Does the US

          

     I am very lucky to have spent a month in Russia in both Vladivostok and in Moscow just after 9-11.  The Russian people are kind, generous and good people.  They are intensely creative and excel in art and music. Many of them are profoundly capable of out of the box thinking and this can be helpful with the design of scientific research.  They are capable of great self discipline in these regards. Although I personally feel that the Russian language can be a handicap in itself, many of them speak French, English or multiple languages quite well.   A lot of what I know about the potentials of financial and governmental collapses in general, I learned from the perspective of Russians who lived through the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early nineteen-nineties.  Judges, doctors, social workers, prosecutors, all still went to work, even though they were not being paid, simply because they had obligations to their patients or clients.  Although they weren't paid for quite a time during this period, they did receive food for themselves and their families. Going to work also gave them a framework of normalcy.   But just as Barack Obama does not speak for me in matters of health care, Constitutional issues, freedom, gun laws, education, the economy, executive privilege and too many other matters to list here, Vladimir Putin does not speak for all of them.

              Vladimir Putin has been a much better leader to Russia than Barack Obama has to the United States.  At least, Putin's actions in large part benefit the Russia he loves and works to protect.  Obama seems, at every turn, to be poisoning our economy, our security and our reputation worldwide.  Let's look for a moment at Vladimir Putin.   Mr. Putin was a high ranking member of the KGB (before it became the FSB or Federal Security Bureau) for about eighteen years.  He was ultimately promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in that role. Anyone who succeeded in the culture of the KGB would not only have to have been highly intelligent, but have very much bought the means- to- an- end cut throat culture of the institution.  Mr. Putin is also personally a master at a number of fighting arts for sport.  Even among KGB agents, he was known as a "hard ass".   He drank the proverbial cultural kool-aid of the KGB.   Upon his departure from the KGB, he entered local politics in Saint Petersburg.  Then, he joined the administration of Boris Yeltsin and moved his wife and two daughters to Moscow.  When Yeltsin resigned unexpectedly, Mr. Putin became acting president in 1999.   Since then, he has either been the Russian president, or has alternated the role with Dimitri Medvedev who shares most all of Mr. Putin's goals and modalities.

            Vladimir Putin is a very interesting character from a human interest and from an historical perspective.  Under what is largely his stewardship, Russia has risen in a very brief period of time (from the early 1990s.) from a decentralized vast nation in organizational disarray, to a place where capitalism has actually flourished.  Many businesses and many Russian cities have experienced a significant revitalization.  Moscow is not only a lovely and historical city but boasts the largest numbers of millionaires in any major capital city in the world.  Russia has paid down its national debt and has replaced all manner of its war machine, including updated modern nuclear weapons.  There has also been a significant and notable exploitation and use of Russia's vast stores of energy. They have also excelled in mining, and have some of the only palladium mines in the world. Putin has also stood over a return to Russian nationalism and pride, and he has presided over a national return to the Russian Orthodox Church.

           However, no less than seventeen people who have openly opposed Mr. Putin have died under unusual circumstances. The most notable of which is Alexander Litvinenko, who died in England, following the ingestion of a polonium variant traced to Russia.  The British investigation of this traced the polonium to a friend of Mr. Putin's who now holds a Russian Parliamentary post.   Litvinenko was an enemy of Putin and knew him well from their KGB days together.

           Make no mistake, Vladimir Putin is a very bright man and a capable leader who has brought Russia from the Third World to a genuine economy that can compete on many levels with the United States and any other G8 nation on the worldwide stage.  He has been, over all, a very good leader to Russia.   There have however, been human rights violations on his watch, the invasion of Georgia, and great growth in the Russian Federation's intelligence and propaganda machine.  He will likely stop at nothing to bring his nation back to its prior glory.  Whether this means he intends to move toward world domination, I will leave up to you.

          Sadly, the US does not have as notable a leader in power presently.  Barack Obama has been centered on the apparent neutering and grand disarmament both domestically and worldwide of the United States. Rather than keeping a strong military as a deterrent to war, Obama has been dismantling and reducing our military.  Perhaps Obama believes one of the lines from the Bourne Identity.,  "Perhaps he can rent a conference room and talk them to death."   

          Yesterday, the anchor of RT (Russia Today) resigned on air.  I happened to be watching when Liz Wahl,  expressed concern that RT is a Putin financed propaganda machine with the purpose of underscoring the deficiencies of the United States.  She tendered her resignation during the broadcast.  She is of Hungarian ancestry and expressed concern for Russia's recent imperial actions in Ukraine.

            I complained several years ago in a prior post that university resources are being spent on Arabic and not on teaching Russian on the college level.  Russian is a highly complex language and cannot be learned as quickly as many languages.    This is an egregious time to have retired most all of the Russian speakers in our own US intelligence machine.


My prior post on Russian language with regard to intelligence analysis:

http://rationalpreparedness.blogspot.com/2013/04/we-need-more-russian-speakers-and-more.html

A Cornerstone Going Out of Business

                 

Christopher DeCapri of Capris Jewelers  (Photo: www.timesdispatch.com )

 


          I have lived in Central Virginia now for twenty-five years.  For a period of time we have used one particular jeweler for repairs, and for written appraisals.  A trustworthy jeweler is important. They can not only check engagement rings to ensure that the setting is not becoming loose, but they can maintain and repair pieces that you wear every day.   I inherited a couple of pieces, and a proper evaluation is important in terms of knowing what the piece really is, and whether it's valuable or not.  It's important to know whether a piece can be worn or should live in the safe deposit box, or should simply be sold outright.  This jeweler also bought estate pieces, and so a good jeweler can be important in terms of giving you the best price should you urgently wish to sell a piece of jewelry, to pay a large unanticipated bill, or even if you wish to sell in order to leave the country.   Good jewelry in a bank vault near the jeweler as a quick cash as part of your US departure plan is only as good as the jeweler who would give you what the piece is worth.  Selling jewelry to a pawn shop instead will usually only provide a fraction of the pieces genuine value.

               
         Today I received an e-mail that the jeweler I have used for all this time is closed until they can identify the best way to liquidate their remaining three million dollars worth of inventory. They plan to open in a few days one day for loyal customers and we will be given 70% off  just that day.
               
          A poor economy generally thins the businesses which aren't very good.  This failing economy which has led to the Depression of the Digital Age is now decimating the businesses which were reliable and helpful to families.

        So, the doctors offices are closing. Post offices are closing.  Insurance companies are closing.   Small grocery stores are closing, and now a family run in-it-for-the-long-haul jeweler is closing.  The schools and the hospitals can't be far behind.  Thank you Obama regime. I suppose the regime will simply applaud that all these employees will now have unlimited time with their children and grandchildren, while they all starve.



UPDATE:  Chris DeCapri, pictured above, died at 51 In February, 2013. He had been battling some complex medical problems.  His passing may have been part of the impetus to close the store, as he was indeed the driving force behind it.

It's Started in Ukraine

            

Visits to blogs from Ukraine are non-existent today.

  When I agreed to have my blogs translated into a variety of languages and then disseminated over the internet, I did not completely understand the impact it would have.  Those who live in Ukraine have been some of my most frequent readers on all four of my blogs.  Their numbers have been rising on my blog following the events of the last couple of weeks.  Late yesterday however, no more Ukrainian subscribers were found on my blog.  I think that it's possible, if not probable that  internet access has been cut to Ukraine prior to some type of an invasion.  I did not post this, as I don't want to post speculation, but it appears this morning that I may have been correct.

                  This morning, CNN is reporting that there is fighting along some borders with Ukraine and that Russia has "full operational control of the Crimea".   The Russians are continuing to say that they are there to protect and to serve those in the Crimea and that their base there gives them a strategic interest in what happens there.

                Still, Ukrainian reservists are being gathered as the Ukrainian Parliament in Kiev sees the Russian actions as ac "Act of War".

This graphic is the word product and property of the Associated Foreign Press or AFP   This is what we know as of yesterday.

                 Our prayers go out to individuals and families in Ukraine who are living with uncertainty, a cloud of war and interruptions in essential services, as well as shops being closed. May each of you have been prepared enough to weather this "storm of man".    May the rest of us look to Ukraine to understand that the world is an uncertain place and that preparation against storms of nature, and storms of man, are always wise.  Best wishes to you all.
                   

UPDATE:    This afternoon our time in Virginia, a few people have been able to access our blog from Ukraine.    Take care, everyone.
               

Terrorism is Still Deadly Without Guns

              

Investigators working the scene  (Photo: AFP Getty Images)

            The next time someone from the Obama administration talks about collecting the guns "so that we can have safety from domestic terrorism", I want everyone to recall what happened this weekend in China.  At least 29 people were killed and 130 or more wounded when ten Muslim Separatists attacked people with knives,  in a Southwestern Chinese city at a railway station in Kunming.   The ten Muslim separatists were ultimately shot to death in the melee by Chinese Security Forces.   Amazing !   Muslims, in this case, with a radical agenda of separatism from China killed and maimed innocent people with absolutely no access to guns themselves.  In fact, guns were what ended the melee. This attack is being referred to as "China's 9-11'.

                  I will not dignify the act of these Chinese Muslims by discussing their desires here.  I will say that guns in the hands of those who are mentally well can act as a deterrent to acts of domestic terrorism with guns or with knives.  The removal of guns from a culture will certainly not prevent acts such as these, and could actually promote some of them.

                  Of those 130 who were injured, more deaths are anticipated, as many of them remain in an unstable and critical condition.

                 To those in China who were touched by this horrible cowardly act, you have my sincere condolences.









Regarding this massacre:

http://world.time.com/2014/03/01/deadly-terror-attack-in-southwestern-china-blamed-on-separatist-muslim-uighurs/

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/03/02/284875981/china-blames-muslim-separatists-for-deadly-knife-attack