What’s the cost of using solar energy panels and battery chargers? The advantages of solar energy panels and battery chargers are that you can charge your batteries, cell phone, IPod, and PC when grid electricity is not available. This would be especially helpful in areas impacted by hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, snow, typhoons, icy weather as well as when camping and at construction sites. It appears that at least biannually in a snow storm,  somebody has to use their cell telephone from a mountaintop to call for assistance.

Keeping the battery on the telephone charged is important in this scenario. Even if you never go outside, have you ever lost power for a long period of time? New Hampshire just went thru an ice storm that came on December 12th, 2008, and some folks in our state on December 24th, 2008 still had no power.  Hurricanes have been known to take out power from the grid for months.  After all these storms the sun still shines on solar power cells and the clean up required after the storms always requires power to do the task.   Since the panels generate enough power for computer PCs to be kept charged, insurance claims and other disaster recovery paperwork could be filed faster.

A transportable roll up solar energy panel is incredibly light and easy to hold.

It should be part of all emergency kits.  What’s the price of having the ability to get aid when you want it?  The sky’s the limit.

The main goal of first aid & emergency procedures is to stop the condition of the person involved from getting worse and to ultimately make sure that they don’t die.  Thousands of people are involved in accidents each year and many of these are seriously injured or even die but these people could be saved if more people were taught the basics of emergency first aid.

It is a basic skill that places the patient in a stable condition before the emergency services arrive.   Remember that you do not need to have a medical education to apply the basics of this skill, only the willingness to learn.  It often comes to down to using basic decision making skills that will ultimately have a positive effect on the person you are treating.  Emergency medical training should be a priority for your entire family.

When first aid & emergency procedures are applied quickly and competently it can make the difference between someone recovering completely from their ordeal or being left with a permanent injury or suffering death.

As already mentioned, the basics of emergency first aid can make a big difference but it is also vitally important that you have access to the correct first aid materials.

Of course there are many compromises that can be made as the necessary supplies will not always be on hand, but if you do have the correct equipment the whole process will be far easier.  Having proper supplies and equipment readily available could also, in some cases, determine the difference between life or death.

There are many different levels of emergency medical training and treatment.  Minor ailments include someone with perhaps a minor abrasion which can be treated with an antibacterial topical cream and covering.  The main objective is to keep minor wounds clean and free of contaminants which can cause infection.

More severe trauma may be treated temporarily by preventing blood loss and often involves someone who has been involved in a road traffic accident.  In such cases, the goal of emergency first aid should be to stabilize the person’s vital life functions until professional emergency personnel arrive on the scene.  Keeping the injured alert by talking to them can help alleviate the stress of the situation.  Ask them questions regarding what is hurting or how they feel.  Such information can be valuable to the EMS workers.

In rare cases, you may be treating someone whose heart has stopped and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is required.  If you have access to a CPR mouth barrier the process will be much more effective and you would also be reassured that you would be protected from any biological contamination.

An added benefit of acquiring these skills, supplies, and equipment is the satisfaction and feeling of being in control of any situation that may arise.

If you have ever witnessed an accident and didn’t know what to do, just imagine for one minute the difference it would make, not just to the person you were assisting but also to yourself.  Do not underestimate how important this is.

So, next time you feel the need to learn this skill, don’t put it off to another day.  Bite the bullet and make it your goal to learn emergency first aid.

Despite my efforts to pick out the toughest looking rental Jeep from a pack of 8 vehicles to take up into the mountains surrounding Red River, New Mexico, our group of 5 barely made it back down the mountain.  Most folks would rather take a Jeep tour, complete with a guide.   Not me.  You know why?   Because why do I need a guide being a survivalist?  Famous last words…

Red River Jeep Survival

The Jeep I did pick sounded good and had thick off-road tires, but I would soon discover that it was a bit underpowered to get a group of 5 passengers up steep inclines, even with two of them being children.  We followed another tour up the mountain with no major trouble.  The problems began when we started down the mountain.  The “tour” ahead of us was really just another family who didn’t know their way down.  They wanted to take an unknown route down the mountain.  I decided, thinking of my wife and kids, that a better approach would be to go back down the way we came up.  If only I could remember how we came up!!

We decided to follow a group of ATVs down the mountain.  Mid-trail they decided to stop as we proceeded on the trail.  We came to a rather significant hill going down but decided to press on since after all, it was nothing the Jeep couldn’t handle.   Soon, the trail disappeared on the edge of a cliff, so we turned the jeep around and headed back up to choose a different route.  Halfway up the hill, the Jeep basically ran out of muscle.  After doing a bit of maneuvering, it became clear that the Jeep was also lacking in breaking power.  We nearly got stuck in a large rut trying to turn around.  For safety, I had everyone get out of the Jeep except for me.

It took me three tries to finally get the vehicle to climb the hill.  Part of the problem was due to not being able to get enough speed up before hitting the incline.  The other problem was due to the trail…one side was nothing but deep ruts and the other side was a mess of loose sand.  The imposing cliff this trail was on just added to everyone’s tensions.  Luckily, everyone stayed calm until we could resolve the situation.

The funny thing is how my wife laughed at me for putting the 72 hour emergency supply kit into the back of the Jeep.  She’s not laughing now…and she even keeps an emergency backpack in her car!

If I took anything away from the Fox News story this evening, it was the idea that “it’s not if something will happen, but when”. Many people, not just the minority extremists, are realizing that they need to keep basic necessities on hand at a moment’s notice. I don’t know that I would go so far as to have dual citizenship on a foreign island, but it certainly cannot hurt. The best way to prepare yourself is to gather things you or your family would need in an emergency situation for a minimum of 3 days (72 hours). A survival kit would definitely include food, water, a flashlight, an emergency radio, basic hygiene supplies, medicine, clothing, and even emergency shelter. Our emergency essentials kit provides these basic necessities and allows some additional room for you to pack some of your personal items. These kits are great since they can save you time in gathering all these items.  Check it out…

My wife and our two children, ages 6 and 8, set out to test our survival skills this Memorial Day weekend by hiking into the primitive camping area of Dinosaur State Park in Glen Rose, Texas.  This park is famous for the preserved dinosaur footprints in the river bed.  Actually, this trip was the first time anyone in our family has camped in an area that did not have the luxury of vehicular access.  We considered it a challenge and decided that we would all have a good attitude and have fun regardless of the weather or other obstacles that we would inevitably face on the trip.

Dinosaur Valley Hike

One of the biggest challenges is determining what to pack, for each person, in order for our family to be completely self-sufficient for 24 hours in the wilderness.  Most of the available backpack space quickly becomes occupied with sleeping bags, clothing, food and water.  We had picked up a new 8-person tent which was too big to fit in the backpack so I carried it by letting the straps from the carry bag hang from my shoulder.   One item which was not essential proved to be the most rewarding…a queen sized inflatable mattress.  Since we couldn’t carry fold-up chairs, the mattress gave us a place to lay down and be comfortable as a family after a long hike.

Dinner consisted of Spaghettios cooked in the can on a small propane burner.  We lit a small ground fire in order to roast the marshmallows for S’mores.  We had brought 4 whole corn husks but nobody was willing to wait for them to cook on an open fire.  Mostly, everyone was thirsty which by this time had made me acutely aware that we did not pack enough water.  We rationed what we had and ended up with plenty, but it is wise to not underestimate the amount of fluids a family of four will consume on a mile hike uphill in 85 degree heat and high relative humidity.

The event would not have been complete without a thunderstorm looming only a mile or two from our camping spot.   We took a short stroll before dark and were forced to head back to camp as the lighting seemed to get closer to our position.  I turned on the NOAA emergency weather alert radio station to find out that a severe thunderstorm was only five miles from our position with small hail, heavy rain and damaging winds.  Luckily, the storm passed just to the southwest of us.  The rest of the night proved to be very pleasant.  Aside from my son’s random nose bleed and my daughter stumbling through the tent for “itch cream”, we all slept very soundly.

After consuming some chocolate cake doughnuts (a traditional breakfast treat while camping in our family), my kids and I spent the next hour simply exploring the surrounding wildlife.  I pointed out the small ferns, lichens, ant-lion holes and the occasional mushroom.  We packed up our belongings and headed back down the trail to the car.  The trek down seemed much shorter than the treck up.  We finished off our weekend by taking a dip in the Brazos river.  Despite the amount of work involved, we all had fun and learned a few things on our outing.

As as survivalist, I am always prepared for the event that all cell phone and landline communications go down for an extended period of time.  The confusion created when the general public cannot communicate through normal means leads to a breakdown of rational behaviour.  You don’t want to get caught up in traffic that will soon follow this confusion.  I solved this problem…or at least prepared for it…by obtaining a license to operate ham radio equipment, although it is possible to obtain backup emergency communications equipment and use it legally without being licensed.  For instance, a CB radio, although limited in range, will provide you with two way communication in the event of an emergency.  Other options include satallite phones and handheld two-way consumer radios that can be purchased from sporting goods stores.

I opted for the amateur radio license primarily for the extended range offered by using local “repeaters”.  Repeaters allow for extended communication by allowing an incoming transmission to be retransmitted through an “offset” frequency.  The retransmitted signal is boosted in power and in most cases has the benefit of more gain through an antenna that is optimised for the frequency.  The transmit antenna is also physically located on a tower or other tall object to extend the range.  In short, you can listen on one frequency and talk on a separate frequency.  The switch between the two is handled by your radio’s software, so in effect, it is seamless to the operator.  The hardest part is programming the radio to use the repeater!  More on that in a later post…

You can obtain a license to operate amateur radio license by contacting your local amateur radio association.  More information about repeaters is available here.

My wife and I, and a few friends, attended the recent Dave Matthews Band concert in Dallas, Texas.  The weather had been especially foul during the whole day, interrupting our dinner plans with heavy rain and lighting.  We had only hoped that the weather would hold up long enough for us to get to our seats.  You could imagine how surprised we were to to learn that although we all had reserved seating at the venue, our seats were situated just outside of the perimeter of the covered pavillion.  As soon as I had made that determination, it began to rain.  Despite the willingness of some fans to allow themselves to be covered in mud and rain in the lawn seating area, my group stayed dry thanks to the help of these emergency ponchos.  They fit in the smallest of places, and don’t hold up beyond one or two uses, but they really came in handy when we needed them.   We finished the concert to the tune of Ants Marching with a cool beverage to help us brave the weather.

The recent swine flu outbreak, while seemingly over-hyped by the media, is certainly something we should be concerned about. Although there have only been 12 confirmed cases of human swine flu between 2005 and 2009, the virus is transmitted easily through human contact, particularly by children with hand to mouth contact after exposure on the skin (usually from sneezing or coughing) from an infected person. I have found that the best place for accurate information about the swine flu outbreak is the Center for Disease Control (CDC). General information and facts about swine flu can be found on their website.

With all the economic chaos going on around us, I felt that being prepared in case of an emergency was perhaps one of the best things I could do for my family.  It seems that it wouldn’t take much (i.e. another terrorist attack on US soil, a breakdown of critical infrastructure, or further eroding of the economic crisis) to push society over the edge into civil unrest.  I ask myself what would happen if our family were to not have the benefit of electricity for a three months.  Would the grocery stores be empty?  Would you be able to purchase gasoline?  I have purchased 2-person disaster emergency kits for my family members along with a large supply of freeze dried food and bottled water to deal with just such an emergency.  Preparing on such a scale for a family of four cannot be done overnight, but with time and planning, the proper store of food, water, and other survival items can be built up. 

2-Person Deluxe Survival Kit

I keep one of the backpacks in my car at all times, just in case I were to become stranded while at work.  Being prepared gives you a sense of security, even in the face of uncertainty.