I have been extremely interested in being prepared in case of a natural disaster for a long time. I have done some things like getting a water filtration system in place, I have a solar oven, a fair amount of stored food for a single person. I am fairly well equipped with tools, and camping supplies, and lived out in the country so I can garden, raise small animals and the like.

I currently live in the burbs in Houston. I am curious if you were me, what would you be doing to get ready. I feel that in case of a hurricane I would be able to make it a several weeks just fine, but I am thinking longer term.

Looking forward to your answers,
StephanieM

Welcome!

Single woman? Houston area (lots of people)? Long term catastrophe? I'd be thinking protection myself ... a firearm, good door locks, etc. Is your "water filtration" just a "taste good" carbon setup on your kitchen faucet, or an actual pathogen filtration device capable of making dangerous water drinkable?

Being single ( I mean living alone ) is good, and not so good. I would suggest finding like-minded folks (especially ladies) and exchanging ideas and more. Making a loose group is not a bad idea.

Just my 2¢

Welcome StephanieM

There are actually several of us women who post here regularly. I too am single (well my 94 year old Mother does live with me) and live on acreage in Washington state with my two Dobermans and a couple of horses.

Dagny is another female here on the forum that should be checking in soon (think she is on a long camping trip) who has vast experience with camping equipment, dogs and preparedness.

Here is a thread that might interest you.
http://forums.equipped.org/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=200777#Post200777

Living in the PSW, I prepare for winter storms as well as earthquakes. I’ve been through several windstorms and one rare for the area ice storm that knocked the power out for over a week. Now that I’m retired on don’t have an office to stock with supplies, I think of my preparedness with what I have carried on me, what’s in my SUV and then what I have at home.

This forum has lots of great info, inluding the master of survival expertise --Doug Ritter.

Welcome to the board, Stephanie!

First, make a list defining the problems you would be anticipating. Long-term, NOLA-after-Katrina problems? Civil unrest? EMP? Terrorist-instigated zombie attack?

The basics are always the same:
First Aid
Water
Fire
Shelter
Food
Signaling

Having first aid supplies that you don't know how to use are pointless. Stock up on the basics. Do you realize how many bandaids you go through for a small cut when you're gardening? Contact your local Red Cross for CPR and first aid classes.

Without water, you're dead. What's your plan if the power goes off? Can you collect rainwater (TX probably has more info on this than any other state, research it) and store it? If you live near a river or stream that runs all year, contact your local water board and find out how toxic it is, and what contaminants you're likely to be dealing with.

Do you have multiple ways to start fire? What will you be burning? Can you store enough for a year or two?

Shelter can be your house, your vehicle, a tent, a tarp. The record cold for Houston was 5ºF, the high was 108ºF. How will you deal with these temps without power?

Food is the easiest thing to store, just remember that a load of frozen food without power will thaw faster than you can eat it. If you can grow food, you need to know how to store it, too: cool storage, dry it, can it, ferment it, pickle it.

If you plan to grow food, have a good soil test done (write ORGANIC on the request). No garden soil is perfect as it is, it's usually high in some things or deficient or totally lacking in other things. Learn what you need to do to fix it. Learn organic -- chemical gardening isn't sustainable.

There is a learning curve on everything, including gardening and raising/slaughtering/butchering animals. Jumping into it when you're really needing it is poor planning.

If you have house pets, what's your long-term plan for them? Children? Babies? Seniors? People close to you with medical problems? Is it likely that people would move in with you during a disaster? Visitors?

Do an experiment when you're going to be home for a few days: turn off your water, then turn off all your breakers except for the freezer. That should bring forth a lot of questions and ideas --- write them down.

Get used to thinking, What If...

Sue

p.s. There are no stupid questions. Sometimes the questions that seem too simple to ask are the most important. So ask, okay?

Most of the people on this board are guys. They are brighter, more educated, more knowledgeable, and more willing to pass on what they know than any place I've been, or any board I've ever seen. No matter what you want to know, someone here knows something about it. Even if they don't know exactly what you want, they can usually point you in the right direction to do some research.

If you need to know how to turn off the natural gas to your house, there are at least 57 guys here who can explain how, what tool to use, and even show photos. They will tell you that you can turn something off, but you will have to have a professional turn it back on, and why. They know how long you can store gasoline, problems you're likely to run into with propane, and electrical stuff. They know about generators, well pumps, cell towers, satellite phones, ham radios, jury-rigging stuff, knots, materials you've never heard of, and pretty much every tool that has ever been invented.

They're just a tiny bit slow with the Spanish name of those big Mexican water urns, but someone will know it, I'm sure.

You can even ask about things that don't have anything to do with survival, just do it here at the Campfire.

Just ask.

Sue

Thanks for the input!

For water, I have 30 gallons stored at all time thanks to Ozarka water delivery. I live near lake houston, I have a berkeley water filtration system, it filters most things out, I also have some iodine tablets as well. My game plan there is to add some more water collection devices such as some really large trash barrels to collect water.

I have a decent amount of dehydrated foods, I have also canned a good amount of food, meat, in addition to making some commercial purchases. I have also done some fermenting of pickles, and a variety of other foods. I am currently in the middle of dehydrating additional foods and placing them into vaccuum sealed bottles/bags.

I have done some gardening in years past, this fall I plan on putting in more of a garden. I do a lot of container gardening currently.

Good thoughts on the fire building, I got a solar stove for cooking, and possibly some water treatment as well. I have very little in terms of heat though. So this is an area where I am lacking.

Do folks plan for Katrina/Ike type of situations first, or more of security and safety in case of civil unrest?

Water is a big priority of mine. I do store quite a bit as the horses take about 10 gallon per day on an average. I’m on a well so I also have a gen set to pump it when the power is out. The generator works for me as I have a storage shed a good distance from the house and barn for fuel storage. Even with that fuel storage is a pia as it has to be treated and rotated out.

I have several of these that were used for juice and was able to wash them out, they make great water storage barrels if you have a place to store them where they can be dumped. I keep mine behind some privacy fencing next to my horse barn in a shaded spot. I paid about $10 each for them. Soda pop bottling companies also sell them for about $10.
https://www.containerandpackaging.com/item.asp?item=D004

For water purification I keep a unopened gallon of bleach at home and rotate it every few months. In my vehicle and kits I keep these rather than the iodine tabs.

http://www.katadyn.com/usen/katadyn-prod...-package-of-20/

I almost forgot, dealing with human waste is a big issue.

For very short-term, a new 5-gallon plastic bucket and a clip-on toilet seat/lid and some sawdust/leaves/stove pellets/organic pet litter/compost, etc. Don't be tempted to use clay cat litter, trust me.

For the longer term, there is a really good book called The Humanure Handbook by Joseph Jenkins. It comes in paper and free online (includes drawings and photos). He answers all your questions, plus some you never thought to ask.

Just digging a hole in the ground and letting the waste get into the groundwater is not cool.

Sue

That is amazing! I think that beats the old fashioned outhouses, I did a lot of camping in colorado, and I could hardly imagine an outhouse in the heat of Houston.