New Prepper: Space requirements

Michael commented on a previous post: 

Plan A stay home. Always have a realistic Plan B and maybe a Plan C.

In general, never be a refugee. You're an unwelcome person looking for human kindness and generosity to survive a bad situation.

My plan B is shared by many of my trusted friends as they also have the same plan B. We pre-positioned supplies in each other's homes, so we'd be welcomed visitors there.

I've a "Storage Shed" both here and at a friend that is well insulated, windows and in general easy to make a sturdy shelter if needed.

Trusted friends and trusted family along with a strong faith in God is better than "money in the Bank" and even gold in hand.

There is very little I can add to this.

How much space?

Excavations of Capernaum, the city where disciples removed a roof panel of a building to lower a paralytic into the room where Jesus was preaching) show large rooms of approximately 400 square feet and small rooms of 100 square feet. The most typical construction was three sides of masonry and one side (possibly) wattle or mats or light-weight wood. Typical spans were between 8' and 12'. Toileting and cooking areas were likely to be communal and not under-roof. Two adults and two children in 100 square-feet is less than one sheet of plywood-per-person of housing space.

Mrs ERJ recently shared that there was a homeless family of at least two adults and one baby sleeping in the back of a full-sized pickup with a "topper". No cooking or toileting was done in the truck. That is basically three people per sheet-of-plywood. In Michigan. In November.

The city of Vienna, Austria* requires 9 square-meters (three sheets of plywood floor-area) per adult and 6 square-meters (two sheets of plywood) per child under the age of 7. I believe that includes the space used for toileting and food-prep.

In the winter, shrinking the foot-print per person to extremes (like the truck cap) results in issues with condensation and loss of insulation capability of clothing.

If you round the Vienna number up to 100 square-feet then the standard, US, two-vehicle garage can hold 5.7 adults or 2 adults and 6 kids.

Extreme sanitation must be exercised at toileting and food-prep areas. Bringing new people in can be a train-wreck of ectoparasites like lice, bedbugs, fleas and so on. A supply of "bug-bombs" can be useful in such situations. 

 

* Hat-tip to reader Simon

Presented with minimal comment

 

Obama-then-Biden years

Whitmer and Newsom

New Preppers: Stay or Go?

The default answer is "Stay".

Backpack Fever, a classic.

I had the opportunity to talk with a local firefighter who had been trained in toxic chemical spills. Ordinarily, one would think of intense, localized risks as a reason to flee. And yet he said that 90% of the time the department will advise "Dump the power breakers and seek highest floor in your dwelling and shelter-in-place".

He said that wind directions change. Traffic creates risks for drivers and people tasked with directing traffic. Tires can get wetted with chemical and it can aerosol some distance from the spill.

Why would you volunteer to become a refugee? Refugees are destitute. In your home:

• You have a durable shelter and usually have heat or shade
  
• You usually have services/utilities
• You have an address that 9-1-1 can respond to
  
• You have neighbors who know you
• You have a stable address where friends and family can deliver aid
  
• You have membership in a community
  
• You have the means to entertain yourself
• Likely, you have at least a week's worth of food
• Your water heater probably has at least 40 gallons of potable water and the toilet tanks another seven
• You might have a home business or a garden or livestock
  

Yes, there are times to leave. Hurricane storm surges, wild-fires, genocide, hyper inflation are all good reasons to hit the road. But most of the time the advantages of being able to stay in your house outweigh the disadvantages.

 

New Preppers: The Time-Distance-Options relationship

The Vikings, Nazi Blitzkrieg and Tamerlane's sweep through Asia all shared one characteristic, they were executed so swiftly that the victims were caught unaware and unprepared in their fields and hamlets.

Self-defense circles have a saying "Get off the X". Moving away from the threat has two benefits. The first benefit is that a moving target is harder to hit. The second benefit is that doubling in distance from a threat who is shooting cuts your odds of being hit by at least 75%. Doubling that distance again reduces the risk by almost 95%.

Putting distance between yourself and the primary threat buys you time to consider other options.

Different threats have different distance scales. A gang-banger doing a mag dump might cease to be a threat if you can put 50 yards between him and you. An accomplished shot with a rifle can put a kill-shot on you from 200 yards.

A flash-flood might require that you move 50 feet to get out of the channel. A tsunami or a hurricane quite a lot more distance.

Three miles might be enough to get your out of Flint but you might need more than ten miles to get to a safe neighborhood from Downtown Detroit

A medical analogy

You can bleed-out in less than a minute if you cut a major artery like your femoral artery. If you don't IMMEDIATELY address arterial bleeding you will not live long enough to worry about water purification or food or vitamin deficiencies or fending off the ravening savages or dealing with the legal system.

Identify the major hazard and get off the X speedy-quick using the most expeditious means.

Once you have Distance and/or Time, you have the luxury of choosing options.

Hat-tip to B for beating me to the punch in the comments of the previous post.

New "Preppers"

The last few months has seen renewed interest in "prepping". Some of it comes with the realization that Mother Nature can be a fickle bitch. Some of the interest comes from the Left as they realize that the Government cannot solve every problem.

People who are new to this path are vulnerable to certain misconceptions. I want to share my perceptions about the high-runners.

Misconception #1: "Preparedness is a hobby I can turn on-and-off'

The rapid change in speed or direction of events cannot be anticipated. Chaos can be unleashed in the blink-of-an-eye. Sometimes God gives us hints. Sometimes He does not.

The seasoned prepper realizes that catastrophe is a come-as-you are dance. Consequently, most of us ALWAYS wear practical walking shoes/boots when we are outside of our house and we load our pockets with items we might find useful. Futhermore, if we are outside, we are wearing clothing that will protect us from the climate. My target is to be able to walk a minimum of three miles or to spend an hour outside regardless of the weather. Your goals will depend on your location*.

Misconception #2: "I have a backpack..."

This is what the shooters call The Magic Talisman fallacy. "I have a gun and that makes me invincible".

OK, you have a backpack. Have you used every item in it several times? Have you used those items in inclement weather? Can you start a fire in the snow with that little stick-thingy? Are your emergency foods something you can actually stomach? Will your water purification system actually handle water from a mud-puddle?

Referring back to Misconception #1, what are the odds that you will be able to get to your backpack when the balloon goes up? Is it in the trunk of your vehicle or in a closet at home?

Have you considered that wearing a backpack will make you a prime target in many places?

Misconception #3: "I will rise to the occasion..."

Col Jeff Cooper once wrote "In times of crisis we do not rise to the occasion. Rather, we regress to the highest level of skill that we have mastered."

Hunting guides "out west" hate clients who show up with shiny new guns without a single scratch on them. They cringe when that gun is an enormous Boomen-Cannon magnum that was recently written up in the latest gun magazine. Those clients flinch and miss and wound and make excuses and write bad reviews.

Hunting guides "out west" are delighted when the client opens up his gun case and pulls out a rifle that has clearly seen much, loving use at the range and in the field. It is far more likely that that tool will be a natural extension of the hunter's body and can be rapidly and accurately deployed than the shiny Boomen-Cannon.

Summary

Be prepared for the SHTF at all times. Have the physical capability and the "gear" to walk three miles (or some reasonable distance) every time you walk out the door even if all you plan to do is to clip the dog to his run.

Footwear are your first point of failure. Maybe you can walk three miles in flip-flops or Crocs. I can't, at least not in my environment. Ergo, I don't wear either of them outside.

Wear clothing with lots of pockets. Carry a pocket knife, a BIC lighter, a wallet with a few bandages and $40 in mixed bills. Other possible must-carry items: Your smartphone, a light and a means-of-defense.

If you start collecting gear, USE IT! Ideally, you need to use it shortly after you acquire it so you don't end up in the "stack it high" fortress filled with stuff you cannot use. 

Using your gear will also disabuse you of certain fantasies. For example, you might think that you will be able to survive in the woods for three weeks and cut a 30 mile path to Maryland through the brush with a machete. An overnight in your back-yard and clearing a 10' long row of thorny-scrub with a machete might make you adjust your plans.

---To be continued---

*Southern Belle spent a semester in Europe. It was the summer angry Greeks were rioting and burning down banks. To humor me, she charted out several walking routes that bypassed the center of the city and started carrying a few items in her student backpack should she need to leave the bus and hoof-it.

Plano 3540-10 Stowaway for securing bolts

 

I chose the Plano 3540-10 plastic Stowaway box to secure the bolt when carrying my tools in a hard-case. It has three-buckles and is very secure. I had to carve out a bit of the length-wise dividers for the bolt handle.

Where are the not-so-famous refugees from Southern California landing?

The Southern California wild-fires are one of the few cases where bugging-out is clearly the best choice. The high-risk area is geographically well defined and there is sufficient infrastructure within three hour's drive to absorb the refugees.

My question for my readers is this: Do you know of any churches (or other organizations) in Southern California that have opened their facilities to those refugees, offering a safe place to unroll their sleeping-bags, coffee in the morning and (perhaps) a simple breakfast and vouchers identifying local restaurants and other resources?

Checks that come in the mail don't filly your belly or keep you warm at night nor do they keep your family together RIGHT NOW!

Stories about people who have the situational awareness to see the immediate needs and have the intestinal fortitude to rise to the occasion are rarely carried by the Mainstream Media, maybe because regular folks are not on the MSM's radar.

It will be nice to recognize any churches or others who step-up. It might also be useful to those people who are still straggling in.