Paper maps *get  wet*

You don't know what situation you'll be in when you need to use them, so a gallon ziploc will do in a a pinch, but you should have your most useful/likely to be used map *waterproof*

Either aquaseal it (expensive) or if you are frugal, but have the time,  'print' the map onto  plastic with a laser printer and iron over it with clear plastic:
 http://www.instructables.com/id/Print-Waterproof-Plastic-Maps/

better add some water...and water purification tablets or buy some bleach (unscented).  might want to stop by the Rx at walmart or wherever and ask about getting 90 day supplies of all prescription meds instead of just 30 day supply. :tv-disturbed:  also...what about prep. for family pets?

A few posts about water/water purification on pg 16 of this thread.

source

I went to M.D. Creekmore's site to see where Matthew got the OP. It is http://www.thesurvivalistblog.net/

I voted on the poll that the "fall" would be coming in three to five years. I'm a big believer in inertia. Actually, I believe that Western Civilization collapsed in the 1960's; for the past fifty years we've been running on fumes. I think we can limp along for another few years, though, even through the rest of Obama's term. Then somebody will be elected who will put a few bandaids on the gushing artery, and death will be staved off for a little while longer. Eventually, though, the patient will expire in a pool of his own poisoned blood.

Well, so much for that theory.  



I think a lot of people are in shock over Obama's re-election.  My priest
told us that if O. is defeated, it will be due to the mercy of God, but if he
is not defeated, it will be due to God's justice..

Apparently we have been judged.

What about oil lamps and lanterns?

We have always kept some oil lamps around to use during power outages. You can buy bottles of lamp oil at WalMart and other places for not much money and it keeps forever, but don't forget extra wicks and replacement chimneys. They will burn kerosene and some run on vegetable oil. Some are very inexpensive and some, i.e. Aladdin Lamps, are a little pricy, but they all put out better light than candles and flashlights. A good source for a big variety of oil lamps is Lehman's, since they do a lot of business with the Amish.

With our camping supplies, we also have a couple of Coleman fuel lanterns and an outdoor Dietz oil lantern. The Coleman gas lanterns will run on unleaded gasoline as well their own fuel. The cans of Coleman fuel are not expensive and keep really well, plus you can buy a little filter to pour the fuel through to filter out any moisture or impurities. You can't burn the gas lanterns indoors (unless it's really well-ventilated), but we would all need something for seeing outside.

Oil lamps are a great idea.   When the s**t hits the fan, oil lamps will be
the most versatile source of night time illumination, for candle lamps need
specific formats of candle, but oil lamps all use lamp oil.   Olive oil works.

Plus, I think you can put just a little oil in a lamp so that it will go out by
itself after a few hours, but a candle will keep burning until it consumes
the whole candle, which is more wasteful.

I've got a Coleman lead-acid battery lantern, that looks like a
mantle / fuel lantern, but you charge it with a power cord, either 120v
or 12v like a car battery.  It lasted about 3 years and then the battery
went dead.  

So I highly recommend against them, unless you really like to have a
CO - free lantern, at any cost.   Without electricity though, it's going to
be pretty useless.  If there's a big electromagnetic pulse destruction, all of
the wiring and circuits would be destroyed, so cell phones, electric lamps,
flashlights, computers, HAM  and CB radios, TVs, cars, trains, busses,
refrigeration, motorcycles, antique cars, go-carts, ships, trucks, quartz
watches (even the $100,000 ones!) will all be useless.  



post number 7

I'd like to add at least one item.

Some empty 5-gallon gas cans.

If you can afford it, have a few 5-gal cans FULL and a bunch EMPTY. Gas goes bad eventually, so you need gas stabilizer or you need to rotate your stock.

When you wake up one day and hear about nuke attacks (etc.), you're NOT going to be able to get gas cans for love or money. If you're quick (and lucky) you could go to the gas station and fill some up -- but nobody's going to have gas cans for sale.

2 years ago during a hurricane we had people from Houston here, and they cleared out the gas can supply in San Antonio. We saw people with gas cans on an external rack on the back of their truck -- not just red (gasoline) but also yellow (diesel) and blue (kerosene). I seriously doubt they had diesel OR kerosene -- they just got whatever cans were LEFT!

Gas is very important. You can't eat it, but it allows you to travel (move your family, scout for resources, etc.) AND it's super valuable as a bartering commodity.

Long story short: A gallon of gasoline can do the work of around TWENTY MAN-HOURS!

Think about it: a gallon of gasoline can propel a 2,000 pound vehicle twenty miles! How long would it take a man to push a car that far? And a 1/2 gallon of gas would mow quite a bit of grass with a mower -- how long would it take a man with a scythe? As little as a 1/2 CUP of gasoline would power a chainsaw long enough to fell a mature tree (1 foot diameter). Felling a tree that size with an axe would take a while!

Gas is a power-multiplier, just like a gun is a force-multiplier.

Matthew

This is very true.  And another point is, that having one can of gasoline
or maybe two, around all the time is a good thing because not only are
you more prepared always, but you have to rotate the stock, so you
will need to pour that can out every so often and re-fill it.  This will
keep you practiced in how to handle gas and your equipment, so when
the time comes you will not have to suddenly learn how to keep the
smell and stain of gas off of things that would become another
unnecessary annoyance and even hazard.  The safe storage of gas is
important.  A lot of apartment buildings absolutely forbid you to keep
flammable liquids like gasoline on hand.  So you need to learn how to
deal with that issue, maybe.

I used to run 4x4s and motorcycles, and handling gas is a skill you
can't just pick up in 5 minutes, even if you know the theory.  You have
to use it and work with it from time to time over months and years.

Any farmer would train his son to handle gas for the tractor and the
generator by taking him out once a week for a year and giving him
lessons for a few minutes each time.  It's the way life should be.  




I've noticed this thread has lain fallow for a long time, since October,
when it started to look like Obama had a real chance.  And after
November, everyone's in shell-shock.  

We are in for some very bad things very soon.  Make no mistake.  

Preparation is essential, if you want to have any chance at all, and
all the goodies and comforts are going to do you NO GOOD if you are
not able to evacuate, and for that, if you don't have some gas on
hand, well, you probably won't be able to evacuate.  That simple.  

Who's going to evacuate on a bicycle?   Only if you have spare tubes,
patch kits, extra tires, a bike for everyone, lightweight BOB, cargo
rack, tools, spare parts and good physical condition.  

Anyone qualified?

There's no telling when the country could fall into economic collapse and martial law, whether economic, a staged fαℓѕє fℓαg suitcase bomb, another hurricane Sandy type event but on a much bigger scale, or even a Russian invasion. All these could spark total and absolute chaos across the country. During the great depression 90% of America was rural and semi-self sufficient, now, it's the exact opposite, 90% city/suburban, 10% rural. If you're American and don't think that couldn't happen again you don't really read the alternative news very much. This country is getting worse and worse and worse as the days go by, we're sliding faster and faster into a total tyranny. I mean, in all honesty, it's already here. They're arresting little girls for lemonade stands, arresting and seizing peoples properties with gardens, putting fluoride in the water, teaching our children trash at school, feeding us unrelenting GMO, and pumping our minds with mind control via TV and putting everyone on psychotropic drugs.

People are in a zombie catatonic state and they need to wake up and get prepared NOW. NOW NOW NOW. Get guns, get a year's supply of food, get seeds, get water, get off the grid if you can, and if you're smart enough and have enough money, get out of the USA and move to South America near a Latin Mass, it's much safer down there than MURICA'.

I can't stress enough how scary the times we live in are, if you do the research and take the time to think about it and compare our way of life to just 40 or 50 years ago, this country is gone, it's dead, it's not coming back. We've been taken over by foreign banks and the NWO. Why do you think they murdered Kennedy? Because he signed an executive order to end the federal reserve, a foreign private bank.

When everything starts to collapse, I'm high-tailing it to the coast and getting the Hell out of this country. I don't care if I know Spanish or not. This country is one false-flag operation away (like 9/11) to becoming a total communist dictatorship, and I say that with all seriousness. We're already there in most respect, just one or two more big events and they'll declare marshall law and the constitution null and void and begin the deployment of their armies and start shipping us all to re-education camps if they don't shoot us first.

If you don't think it can't happen here, you're naive. It happened in China, Germany, Russia, Italy. It can and will happen to this God-less nation.