National Preparedness Month

Aren't we the bunch of old coots!  (I would have said something else except it gets cleaned up).  

Where else would we find such a bunch of living histories in one venue?  

I was six years old and we lived in Hickam Housing, right across from Pear Harbor.  I was outside in the yard that Sunday, December 7, 1941, and khaki planes with orange circles came over our houses.  My memory tells me that I saw a pilot's face (kids, what do we know?).  I ran in the house and said to my parents, who were still in bed, "Daddy, Daddy the war is on!" (I found later that many had talked of this coming attack and that is how a child would have such an idea.)

I did this twice and my father said "It's just maneuvers, but we just got our car and we can go out for a drive and watch".  My father died long before I moved to Hawaii so I do not know where we went, up in the hills somewhere.  Next to us was a house that had been hit and people purportedly dead and below was his beloved battle carrier USS California being hit.  ( I got a lot of A's on papers with this remembered story).  It looked like firecrackers exploding on the surface.

My father hustled us back down the mountain, told us not to look out of the windows going through Honolulu (I learned much later why) and deposited us back home while he got on his uniform and went across the water to Ford Island to report for duty in a little put-put boat.

Some Red Cross type people came by and took us to University of Hawaii where we slept on the gymnasium floor and received loving care.  My mother did not know for four days whether my father was still alive.

We stayed on Oahu throughout the war, not being subjected to the rationing that others had on the mainland so preparedness was not an issue.  My father kept me out of school the first year, being sure we would be attacked again because we were so vulnerable.

I was too stupid to be scared and taken such good care of I didn't know to be scared.

Thank you for sharing. Why didn't your father want you to look out the windows as you drove through Honolulu? I think we fogies and fogettes are a heck of a lot more interesting than Snookie or Zombies.

I read many years later that there were casualties on the streets of Honolulu.  Kind of bloody.

Oh, I didn't know it extended into the City. My ignorance.

Wow....great survival stories, all. Amazing! I am glad to "know" ya!

Rosina:

"I was too stupid to be scared and taken such good care of I didn't know to be scared."

Not a question of being stupid, just inexperience.  During WWII I also was too young to be scared.  It is when you are grownup that you know what bad things can happen.
My husband told me the story of when WWII was declared in England. He said that he jumped up full of excitement and his dad knocked him down and said to him, "You have no idea what is going to happen." DH was about 13 at the time and no doubt all his friends thought the same way.

sanderson wrote:Oh, I didn't know it extended into the City.  My ignorance.

I didn't either...  Very interesting...

For those who lived thru it - have you done any recording with the folks trying to get all of the WWII stories on tape?  You really should!

Last night our power was off for several hours,,,,....I had 3 fans running to keep me cool ....at the present time I am bedridden with a cast on my left leg......electric bed......not working,,,,,,but thanks to my Coleman Quad Lantern on the one lamp table I felt more secure......buy one or 2 my family loves these too.....they come apart....each one has 4 sections.....one for each person to guide them thru darkness,,,,,,great for camping besides for emergency......

tabletopper wrote:Last night our power was off for several hours,,,,....I had 3 fans running to keep me cool ....at the present time I am bedridden with a cast on my left leg......electric bed......not working,,,,,,but thanks to my Coleman Quad Lantern on the one lamp table I felt more secure......buy one or 2 my family loves these too.....they come apart....each one has 4 sections.....one for each person to guide them thru darkness,,,,,,great for camping besides for emergency......

I must look into that, tabletopper. Winter is on its way.
Hope you can get the cast off your leg soon. Take care of yourself.

TT, Hot climate, no electricity. That cast must have been hot and you must have been miserable in the heat.

it was 93 degrees in my bedroom.......dont remember San Diego area being this hot.....with the drought I guess things are worse.....

spooky.......as I am writing this about the great Coleman lantern a picture of it shows up in a Sears add........$35.71..........be careful ....camping......one of my daughters lanterns disappeared during the night on the picnic table.........

Today, hubby and I visited the Clovis Botanical Garden. I thought they had a demo SFG section. Nope, wrong info or bad hearing. As we were leaving, 2 Mormon missionary young ladies engaged us. Long story short, one of the LDS churches is holding a Preparedness Fair this Sat. Should be interesting. Maybe I will finally get off my computer chair (ha, you thought I would say something else) and start teaching. It's been a few years since I did public speaking.

Some of you may have heard on the news that PG&E is cutting power in some areas of Northern CA.  I thought I would share this post from a CA FB page I belong to.  It's a funny take on a serious matter.  The most serious bullet is in italics.

"This is funny but it's really NO JOKE! PG&E is anticipating widespread, strong and dry winds this week. Starting Wednesday, they are considering turning off power for safety to parts of California, including the Bay Area. So here are a few things you can do to help get through a power shutdown:
• If you come home and everything is dark and nothing works, then yes, you are experiencing a power shutdown. Remain calm. Use your cell phone light to search frantically for the one flashlight you think you have in the house. It will be dead of course. Search for batteries. You will need four but only find three.
• Wish you had charged your cell phone. Plug your phone into the charger but then say to yourself, “duh the power is out.”
• Charge up those portable phone chargers tonight. However, keep in mind, should your teen’s phone run out of battery it could be a good thing. Watching them go through Tik-Tok or Instagram withdrawals could be good entertainment. Heck, it could even put them dangerously close to having to read a book by flashlight or doing something creative.
• Please do not call 911 and ask when the power will come back on. Our dispatchers are very good but they cannot see into the future. They will tell you they do not know and then disconnect so they can answer the other hundred calls from people asking about the power being out.
• Keep your freezer and refrigerator doors closed to keep food from spoiling. If you have teenagers this may be difficult so speak loudly but slowly to them so they understand. You may need to hang a sign on the doors as well. Use big letters.
• Use food supplies that do not require refrigeration. We think potato chips, Twinkies, Oreos, and peanut butter might be a good start! Okay, maybe throw an apple or an avocado in there, too.
• You will need a plan to keep medicines refrigerated or power-dependent medical devices working.
• PG&E suggests you turn off or disconnect appliances, equipment or electronics. Power may return with momentary “surges” or “spikes” that may cause damage.
• DO NOT use generators, camp stoves, or charcoal grills indoors. Carbon monoxide fumes can be deadly. Moreover, never use a gas stove top or oven to heat your home. Do what your mom used to tell you to do: Put on a sweater.
• Check on your neighbors. Even the one whose dog barks all night. And the other one who always parks in front of your house."

I removed the post regarding the corona-virus at this time. There is no way to know how this current strain of corona-virus will act. Will it slow down with summer approaching and resume in the fall? Will it become epidemic in short time?

In the event of ANY epidemic, it is good to be able to stay away from crowds whenever possible, and if exposed, to be able to home-quarantine for 2 weeks if required by the health department. Home quarantine would be preferable to many folks verses a designated site. If home quarantine becomes necessary, is there enough food and medicine and other necessities for 2 weeks? Pet food and supplies? Is there someone to contact to leave necessities on the front porch?

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/faq.html

sanderson, I think I am pretty well prepared as I have a good stock of canned and frozen food, also some dried.  for some years now I have been a bit of a prepper as it is just good sense. 

but I always run out of fresh milk but I do have dried in stock.

This @$^*! corona-virus has folks around here "Panic Shopping." Walmart and Costco are both out of toilet paper. Paper towels, disinfectant wipes and Comet cleanser are also absent from the shelves. Who knows what else might be missing.

There isn't a single case in our county or any neighboring counties, but we seem to be in crisis mode anyway.

Costco has also stopped giving out food samples.

Yes, there's every indication to be cautious.  No, don't panic, at least not just yet.

It's wise to stock up on paper and hygiene products, water, food, medications, etc., just in case of any disruption in the supply chain.  I've gradually been doing so for a few years now.  Waiting until an assumed emergency puts pressure upon supply and demand.  

I've long said that any news that's exceptionally sensational or likely to cause panic is unlikely to be true.

It remains to be seen just how widespread and/or lethal this particular virus will be.  Don't panic, but be prepared.

Living in Central Oregon, and allowing that a few shelves recently have temporarily been empty, I've still been able to obtain Kleenex, paper towels, toilet paper, Clorox wipes, and food items that I normally would purchase.  

I also have some wide-spectrum disinfectants from Fuller Brush and Amway.  

Wash your hands frequently, as directed by the CDC, avoid crowds, and cover your mouth when sneezing or coughing, preferably in your elbow.  Dispose of used Kleenex, etc. as soon as possible.  Maintain 6-7' distance from anyone coughing, sneezing, etc.  If you have a fever, cough, difficulty breathing, etc. get tested and voluntarily quarantine yourself.    

Have generally reasonable supplies, follow CDC guidelines, and  hope for the best.

CN, you have me curious enough to almost go to the store myself instead of hubby. Almost. I can't imagine stores out of toilet paper, paper towels, soap and disinfectants!! I try to keep 4 doz rolls of TP, a half dozen paper towel rolls and an unopened container of every cleaning product in stock. Walmart and Costco out of necessities. Unbelievable!

Oh, yeah, Sanderson.... Actually NEEDED tp & the only thing available at one Sam's was either the really cheap, horrible stuff or a small amount of the expensive. The regular stuff was out. Thankfully another Sam's had just gotten a load of our regular stuff on the floor yesterday. Both are OUT of alcohol, wipes, etc.

Mike was able to find hand sanitizer at Wally-world, but stocks were low.

Donna is absolutely correct in her advice.

I did purchase a variety of fresh vegetables and with the addition of some preserved in my freezer I made a large batch of a basic soup and placed them in mason jars in the fridge.  I can add extras to have variety.

I made sure I used every scrap of food so as not to waste it. 

We have snow again this morning so I did my shopping in time.

I began modestly stocking up several years ago--just in case of a supply chain disruption in the event of a quake on the Cascadia fault, major snowstorm, or other disaster.

I'm pretty well covered for 1-3 months on paper goods, have a first-aid kit, an extra box of band-aids, and extra food.  The latter includes a case of Barilla Plus dry spaghetti, which has 17 g of protein per serving;  14 cans of hearty soup; about 10 cans of black beans, as well as about half that many each of canned tomatoes, beets, corn, and artichoke hearts; a couple of pounds of rice; oatmeal and whole-wheat cereal; about six servings of canned fish; six large cans of chicken; etc.  There are around 15 gallons of water on hand.  

My freezers contain about 8 quarts of berries. some frozen peach slices, peas, beans, tomatillos, and corn, as well as about an extra week's supply of protein.  Note to self:  add more of the latter, and hope that the power doesn't go out.  

I know my food supplies need some shoring up, of course, not to mention cat food and litter.  I have a fair supply of batteries.

I'm moderately concerned about COVID-19, but maybe a bit more concerned about the effects of panic. No cases have reached us here in Kansas (... yet), but we're already seeing the effects of panic buying in our local stores.

I'm not really a prepper, but I have adopted some of their practices that I thought were sensible. I started long ago, building up a stash of food that could keep at room temperature, water, and other necessities, so we can easily handle having to leave home, or not be able to go out, for a couple of weeks.

Kate,

We're on the same page.