We thought that with Y2K the important things we learned (going all the way back to the Blizzard of 1993 which almost completed shut down our part of the south) was the importance of being as prepared as possible....

But after Y2K we kind of got a little lax again....

The Sept. 11th events were a wake up call....In the last month we have bought and installed a propane stove (had our large propane tank refilled); and bought a wood burning heater...and have replenished our stock of foods on hands......

what have ya'll be doing differently????

-- Suzy in Bama (slgt@yahoo.com), October 12, 2001

Answers

We've been doing the same Suzy. We just moved to our new homestead, so things are not exactly like we would have them...yet!

We had a King wood stove at our old place...none here. There is a gas log fireplace though...if the chimney piping is for wood also(I haven't found out yet) it's going to get a wood insert! We have a new propane tank(full) and a 4 brick propane heater for now.

I dusted off all of my Dietz lanterns(only 1 broken globe) and filled up the 2- 5 gal jugs with kerosene.

We also started to refill all of the storage buckets we have been eating out of since Y2K. We got them all free from Wal-Marts' bakery. They are 5 and 6 gal o-ring lid frosting buckets...fantastic! Anyone who needs some should check them out.

No garden to speak of as we just got here....I do have some sugar snap peas, lettuce, radish and spinach growing now though. Plenty of garden area here...so I'm in hog heaven..can't wait!

This place has a 23 tree orchard..apple, pear, peach, plum and 1 grape vine...ALL terribly neglected. We did get enough to eat fresh though and the goats and horses loved the treats! Major pruning this spring!

Going over all the literature I saved...emergency prep stuff...I also need to restock the first aid box..and a hundred other things.

-- Jason in S. Tenn. (AJAMA5@netscape.net), October 12, 2001.

Hi suzy, Well for one thing trying to get antibiotics any way I can. http://www.1drugstore-store.com/ type in cipro, this is best drug for anthrax, take two aday for 30 days. Also buy seed now, go to americanfreedomnews.com and click on nonhybrid seeds, they have a package of seeds enough to plant one acre, could have bio. cemical warefare on our crops. I bought the seeds and there is one large bunch. Or get non hybrid seeds where ever you can. Don"t for get the dogs and cats, nothing worse than hungery animals stareing at you. Pile in the dry beans,all kinds, also but something to flavor them, I found dry salami does wonderful, and last forever. Course I put mine in freezer, One big slice will really favor a pot of beans, At this time of year they sell those big long sticks of salami at sams , I think there called beef sticks, When something happens, and I am afraid it will, they will clean out the stores in no time, Provideing you can leave your house. Who would ever have thought we would come to this. God help us all . Irene

-- Irene texas (tkorsborn@cs.com), October 12, 2001.

We too, are back in the Y2K mode. Restocking the shelves. Still have a lot of stuff left from Y2K preps. Used the gasoline that was set aside for the generator so that is our priority right now. Getting up wood for the fireplace today. The 1000 gal propane tank is full. We have an electric cook stove but the brand new propane stove is still in the box in the shop. We went all out preparing for Y2K so this time will not be so costly. We have 3 different living areas on the property, the house, shop, or the celler. Also have a small motorhome fully stocked and ready to roll or put up friends if need be. Y2K was a good dry run for what we may be facing now. Feel like we know a little more about what to do.

-- Belle (gardenbelle@terraworld.net), October 12, 2001.

Quite frankly, I don't know what to do. I feel as though I'm in a fog. I'm caught between panic and the ostrich syndrome (burrying one's head in the sand). I have a family that I am very concerned about. As most of you know I live in South Florida. The American Media building in Boca Raton, Florida, where the anthrax has been found, is about 1/2 hour to the north of where I live. I have extra non-perishable food and water on hand as well as first aid supplies, flashlights, batteries, charcoal (for outdoor grilling), extra food for our pets etc. Much like preparing for hurricane season which we are still in the middle of here. We even have a couple of tents (for all the good they will do us). Not likely we'll be using them to camp outdoors under the..........chemical/biological warfare. And if THAT doesn't get ya, there's always a chance that the West Nile Virus carrying mosquitos might!!

There are alot of hoaxes going on in our area and it really frazzles one's nerves. I really don't know what more to do other than try not to panic and to keep abreast of the latest news. After watching a program on tv the other night that had two Gulf War vertrans on it talking about the side affects they are suffering from taking the vaccine for the anthrax virus, I don't think I would subject myself or my family members to that even if it WERE available (which I'm quite sure it isn't) to the public. As far as the antibiotics go, I haven't looked in to trying to get any. My husand and I don't have a regular medical doctor and I have not contacted the children's pediatrician to get his opinion. How prepared can we be? And exactly what are we preparing for? No electricity? From what? Shortages on food? Not likely in my opinion. Maybe we should be eating ONLY the foods we grow/raise ourselves because who knows what could happen to the nations food supply, but that is not even an option for me so I can't worry about that. Also something else that is not an option for me is gas masks, bio-hazardous suits and the like - We are NOT THAT financially well off. So for now we just watch and pray. This is where we live. This is where our jobs are. Is ANYplace else safe?

-- Greenthumbelina (sck8107@aol.com), October 12, 2001.

I don't think any place is completely safe. We just all have to plane as best we can and be as prepared as we can for whatever and PRAY a lot! A lot of the stuff we've bought in the last month is stuff we've been planning on since the Blizzard of 93 and it just worked out that during this month we were able to get them. I had worked and worked trying to save for a wood burning heater becuase we had one in our home when our kids were growing up and we loved it so. But I couldn't seem to come up with the cash all at once. Then I realized that since we've had health insurance since March that we get 80 percent back on medications after a deductible has been met. So I spent an entire afternoon filling out forms and the check came less than two weeks later! which was Wednesday! I had told husband that was HEATER money and was not to be used for ANYTHING else and so that's how we got the new wood burning heater!

I paid one-third down on the propane stove, am getting $40 for my old electric stove that I'll pay on it, and then should have it paid off in the next month.

Husband finished building a garage for a man and made enough to fill the propane tank (we also have a five brick propane heater but seldom have it on more than three bricks)

whenever I buy anything at the grocery store now I'm trynig to buy two of them....like husband eats a lot of peanut butter sandwiches so yesterday I both two huge jars of peanut butter. I've been doing that for a month and our pantry is getting pretty restocked with what I freezed and canned this summer. I DO have a lot of dry beans and intend to stock up even more on them. Dry beans are great cooked all day on a wood burning heater!!! The smell makes you hungry all day!

I'm trying to get ahead on my medication for my eyes and will try to get an antibiotic for husband store up. I can't take antibiotics so I guess I would just be out of luck if I was to get something like anthrax unless doc could give me something in an IV form...I WOULD NOT want to be in a hospital when a crisis was occuring!!!

-- Suzy in Bama (slgt@yahoo.com), October 12, 2001.

I find myself stocking up a little more than usual. And thinking about emergency planning. We are very near a nuclear power plant and an air force base...and thats a little scary. It would no doubt be scary anywhere. I plan to do alot more stocking up in the next few weeks as I can afford to. Scary times!!

-- Jenny (auntjenny6@aol.com), October 12, 2001.

There is a difference here.... Y2K was a scam and this terrorist stuff is real.

-- Patricia Ramsey (WOOLSPIN@AOL.COM), October 12, 2001.

I responded to a similar post on this topic the other day with details on some of the things we're doing a little differently, but I find myself also wanting to call my Mom more often, hug my kids more and leave some chores undone in order to have a little fun (something really different for me!).

-- Rose Marie Wild (wintersongfarm@yahoo.com), October 13, 2001.

Patricia, Y2K was not a scam - I was there in the middle of it. What it was was a massive potential disaster we had plenty of warning about, and we worked our little (or in my case not so little) donkeys off forestalling the problems. I saw some of the problems that WERE found, and I saw some of the things that had been overlooked as well. Believe me, if all those had cropped up at once on 1/1/2000 in all major organisations (let alone small businesses) it would be a different world today. We never really knew whether everyone else was doing as thorough a job as we were, but as it happened people did well enough. Of course, as it happened some individuals spent money they didn't need to on Y2K, but if the publicity hadn't got around then the money and effort that DID need to be spent wouldn't have been.

On the other hand, should you not have made preparations to be self- reliant? I know I have more food stored than I would have before Y2K, and I did keep fair stocks of before then. I quietly built up stores, and while I've been working my way through them I've been restocking as well. I don't have as much now as I did in December 1999, but it's close, and I could probably build back the bulk by spending about $50 per person (in my case that's $50 total) on rice, pasta, beans, and el-cheapo tomato soup. The difference is that now, after experience, my stores better match what I want - I've deliberately worked my way through the things I don't like all that much, in the process finding ways of making them more palatable (reminder to self - buy more canned ham). With the occasional cabbage and carrot (or even without, if I had to) it wouldn't upset me too much to live off my stores for two or three months now. Since I'm still living in a flat, and will be for months or probably over a year yet, I think that's a distinct improvement.

The 9/11 events won't affect me that much (I think, I hope). After all, I'm nearly as far away from NY as you can get. However, disasters or at least crises happen often (losing a job is a fairly common crisis that can happen any time). To be honest, it won't affect many people dircetly, but preparedness for whatever crisis life throws your way is always a good idea, so preparation for crises is just common sense.

In answer to your question, the big differences are that I'm out of the big city, and I'm out of debt. That's things I needed to do, and was working towards, anyway. Just took my chances to DO them.

-- Don Armstrong (from Australia) (darmst@yahoo.com.au), October 13, 2001.

Hey Don, I ditto the canned ham! That was the first thing that we ate all up. I haven't bought a thing more since Y2k. I guess I should buy a couple more canned hams. ;-)

The most important thing that I, personally, am working on is my psyche. World events are showing up as very weird stuff, and despite whatever physical preparations a person has done, this conflict is mostly about head games. It's good for you to prepare and get your homestead comfortable, but it's not going to do you as much good as you think if you only end up having to evacuate, *etc*. <>

If you can emotionally prepare yourself to deal with the very unpleasant possibilities that you could be challenged with, you will be ahead of the game. I'm trying; not sure how good a job I'm doing, though.

The other part of this is to have your game on. Be a pro. Keep your faith, uphold the spirits of others, help out where you can, instruct folks with all the good knowledge you have acquired.

And keep your chins up.

-- sheepish (WA) (the_original_sheepish@Hotmail.com), October 13, 2001.

Canned ham!!! I did not buy a single one for Y2K- didn't even think about it, but I'm going to add that to my list for the next time I see them on sale. My mom buys them at the grocery store and had the deli open them and slice very thin for sandwhiches- best ham sandwhiches I've ever had. Just out of curiousity, what is the shelf life of a canned ham?

-- Elizabeth (ekfla@aol.com), October 13, 2001.

biggest change in our life is we're spending much more money than prior to 11-11 just to show em they cant scare us.

-- jz (oz49us@yahoo.com), October 14, 2001.

Y2K wasn't a scam, just a preventable disaster. I'm glad it was preventible. This is the true unknown. But also, not unlike a tornado, hurricane, tropical storm or blizzard. We ought to be prepared for the world we live in.

I have replenished our spices and condiments (very simple wants). I have also had the wall mounted gas heater serviced and am awaiting (!) the hot tub repair dude. Really trying to maintain what we have.

I continue to encourage folks to know their neighbors too.

-- Anne (HealthyTouch101@wildmail.com), October 14, 2001.

I don't know the shelf life of the canned hams...ours haven't hung around for too long....I think we might have had ours for a a year, though. No problems with them, other than highly caloric, and who knows what kind of preservatives go into them...

-- sheepish (WA) (the_original_sheepish@Hotmail.com), October 14, 2001.

Yeah, but look at it this way- if you are ever forced to use your emergency rations are you really going to worry about calories?

-- Elizabeth (ekfla@aol.com), October 14, 2001.

Some food storage guidelines, and the last one is a link to a very good book. http://www.foodstorage.net/guides.htm http://www.galaxymall.com/y2k/preparedness/foodstorage.html http://waltonfeed.com/self/plan.html http://www.survival-center.com/guide/water.htm http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1882723252/qid=1002296208/sr=1- 1/ref=sr_1_2_1/107-0050683-5290117

We installed a wood stove, and I have been stocking up on food, water, wood, lamp oil, ammunition, penecillin, ect, ect. I did not prepair for Y2K at all. It just didnt worry me. Im taking the current threat WAY more seriously!!

-- Phyllis from Texas (tmblweed@wtrt.net), October 16, 2001.

Not overlooking the disaster of 9/11, but seems that everywhere we have lived over the 20+ years my husband was in the military, there has been some type of major disaster that left folks unprepared. We have always frozen milk, and at the time Mt Saint Helens blew up, we were the only ones who had any supplies of anything, so shared what we could with neighbors. No one could go to the store for a couple days, as the officials didn't know what effects the ash would have on us, so we shared milk with those who had babies, and cloth to make diapers. Had flour, so we could make bread, etc. We have lived where there were hurricanes, tornados, earthquakes, blizzards, etc. Even if nothing like that ever happens to you, Don is correct, you can lose your job and those stores can make all the difference in the world to you. Things you use daily and can store, like bathroom tissue, supplies to make laundry detergent, etc., don't spoil, but can add comfort in emergency times. Sometimes just a little "luxury" item,like real bathroom tissue vs the sears catalog, can help your psyche! I've stored up some large boxes of baking soda and mineral/salt blocks for the animals, too, as well as extra feed and psyllium for the horses. Even if you are in a flat/small home/apartment, there are places you can store necessities. Jan

-- Jan in CO (Janice12@aol.com), October 16, 2001.

A caution on the canned hams. Some need refrigeration and some don't. Be sure you get the kind that DON'T need refrigeration!

-- Joy F [in So. Wisconsin] (CatFlunky@excite.com), October 16, 2001.