NOT off topic..... I aint going back to the old ways..

greenspun.com : LUSENET : TimeBomb 2000 (Y2000) : One Thread

Nope. Aint gonna do it. I LIKE being prepared and aware.

Two weeks ago, Sunday, after a nice lunch with friends and some shopping, we were relaxing in front of the one eyed mind sucker and talking about life in general.

Outside... a rumble.

"What the hell is that?" I asked on my way to the door.... On the street out front a Geo Tracker on its roof, wheels still spinning. I yelled to family and friends to dial 911 as I took off across snow to reach the vehicle. The road had turned to black ice.... I slid the last 10 feet to the vehicle. Got two girls out... one was jammed under the wheel. Stunk of booze, no seat belts, driving too fast in bad conditions. They did everything wrong and still walked away. Not so the guy laying in my driveway. I didn't notice him till I started searching for vehicle #2, which wasn't there. A one car accident.... but this guy had been tossed out the plastic back window as it rolled. He was lucky.... the bleeding was under control fast and after the medics arrived they took him out on a board... he'll be fine in a few weeks.

How does all this apply? We were ready to help..... Our prep partners were with us that evening..... We had prepared for rapid response to an accident or medical emergency, as best we poor amateurs could. I was able to pin the guy in the driveway and keep him from moving, wifey was able to grab the waiting and charged cell phone to communicate with 911 while assisting... my buddy was ready with a large spotlight to search for more people and vehicles... We had med supplies on hand in a kit, spare blankets by the pile, spare coats for the girls....... You name it and we were ready.

Black ice on the road... our friends were spending the night. Spare bedroom was ready, spare bedding piled up, spare clothes in their sizes... etc.

If we had lost power and ALL outside help we would have been ready.... and it felt GOOD!

The other day we were shopping in the grocery store.... wifey piled up two carts full of grub to feed our ravenous male progeny. Mostly junk stuff to my eyes.... and meats and freezer stuff....... I groused about that huge amount of stuff...

Then she reminded me that we haven't food shopped in two months, aside from dairy and bread.

He he..... she's right...... it's GREAT not having go shopping every week. I haven't missed it at all!!!

I aint going back folks...... uh uh, no way, never again.

-- art welling (artwelling@mindspring.com), February 24, 2000

Answers

Art great work, thanks to your prepping and state of readiness for emergency you helped those people out as best as anyone could

-- Sir Richard (richard.Dale@unum.co.uk), February 24, 2000.

You know... wasnt till after the med team arrived that I noticed I was standing on ice in stocking feet.

That was COLD.... I just never noticed.

-- art welling (art@thatplace.com), February 24, 2000.


Your feet may have been cold but your heart is/was warm and your brain was hot!! Good for you!! Taz

-- Taz (Tassi123@aol.com), February 24, 2000.

My little story is certainly not as dramatic as yours, but here goes:

Weird things have been going on with my car's battery. Sometimes--certainly not all the time--I'll shut off the ignition, and a short time later, the battery's deader than springtime roadkill. Of course this always happens when I'm rushing out the door, and when DH is not home. Neighbors have rescued me twice.

Yesterday, it happened again, but guess what?

Thanks to the fully-charged nifty little inverter thingie I purchased prior to the rollover, I was able to jumpstart my car yesterday, and head out the door in a timely fashion. AND if we lose power as a result of storms this spring and summer...it has a nifty little feature that allows me to power a light, a television, etc.

This is a good thing.

:)

-- FM (vidprof@aol.com), February 24, 2000.


Hi Art: Good to see you still writing -- and a wonderful example of some of the "effects" of y2k! I wonder how many times this kind of "preps come to good use" scenario has been played out this winter, all over the US?

-- Anita Evangelista (ale@townsqr.com), February 24, 2000.


Adrenaline is a funny drug like that, isn't it Art??

This is why we are so careful to teach people the RIGHT way to respond, the RIGHT way to do whatever, and why we practice a LOT in the industry.

The fire-medic who slides in over the hood and through the shattered windshield because this is the only access route to the patient NEVER realizes that her/his turnout gear is the only reason they don't leak all over the victim. Until they happen on an accident, and simply do what comes naturally. After the victims are cleaned up and the inch and a half is turned on the medic he/she fionds injuries they have NO IDEA where they came from in the heat of the battle.

chuck (who has more than once said "Dear, i THINK some of that blood is YOURS.")

-- Chuck, a night driver (rienzoo@en.com), February 24, 2000.


How does all this apply? We were ready to help..... Our prep partners were with us that evening..... We had prepared for rapid response to an accident or medical emergency, as best we poor amateurs could. I was able to pin the guy in the driveway and keep him from moving, wifey was able to grab the waiting and charged cell phone to communicate with 911 while assisting... my buddy was ready with a large spotlight to search for more people and vehicles... We had med supplies on hand in a kit, spare blankets by the pile, spare coats for the girls....... You name it and we were ready.

Art,

This is what it's all about. You were ready when you needed to be. Sometimes you can see a disaster coming in time to prepare in advance and other times you can't. When life throws you a surprise party you'll either be ready or you won't. This is why it's an excellent idea to just be generally prepared for whatever may come down the pike. Good work and well done.

.........Alan.

The Providence Cooperative - free preparedness & survivalism FAQ's

http://www.providenceco-op.com

-- A.T. Hagan (athagan@netscape.net), February 24, 2000.


Good job, Art. More people like you in this world would probably be a good thing.

-- Bemused (and_amazed@people.com), February 24, 2000.

Being prepared for emergencies has given me a peace that a good therapist would have charged 10 times for what I spent on preps. The feeling of knowing I'm prepared to do almost anything unsupported by the infrastructure for a long time is priceless.

-- zeda (rickster@n-jcenter.com), February 24, 2000.

Art, great story! Thanks for sharing. And, yes, we aren't going back to the old ways either. Our Y2K inverter thingie has helped us out a couple of times already too. Also, had lots of food supplies on hand when the weather was nasty recently and saved us from having to go out.

-- Lurkess (Lurkess@Lurking.XNet), February 24, 2000.


My own (rather sad) anecdote about preparedness and the way the average Joe's mind works in a crisis:

Just missed a car crash in early January; came round a blind bend in pre-dawn on a fast road to find two cars sideways on. There was just enough room to get through, although I lost my wheeltrims and a couple of years off of my life.

I pulled right off the road about 200 yards up, grabbed my (preps!) warning triangle, flashlight, reflective jacket and cellphone, and ran back to the crash site. After quickly checking that there were no casualties, I kept right on going. I could see three people by the side of the road, all of them calmly talking on their own cellphones. Charitably, I assume one of them was calling the police; the other two were calling their INSURANCE companies.

Can you guess what happened next?

Unfortunately, I was too late to give the oncoming truck enough warning as it came round the blind bend and turned both cars into steel pizza, blocking the road entirely.

It was fifteen minutes before the police arrived; for most of that time, I flagged down and diverted the traffic by myself. It was ten minutes before one of the men from the original crash came round the bend to see what I was doing. We chatted for a bit, and he was a nice, bright guy, and actually pretty apologetic about not warning me or the trucker (and the couple of cars that had gone through before us!) about the crash.

Because no one was hurt, I can laugh about it, but I don't really find it THAT funny. I'm not making a point about having the kit in my car (although I was glad I did, I was wearing all black that dark morning), but about how the people involved reacted. None of the drivers who made it through before me stopped to help. None of the guys in the crash gave a single thought to remediating the problem to stop it getting worse. Their instinct was to phone "the authorities", then cover their own backs. It never occurred to them that they should - or even could - actually DO something. Don't tell me they were stunned, stunned people don't phone their insurers.

That's why I'm glad I Y2K provoked me into prepping, and that's why I'm staying prepped and aware in the long term. In a crisis - ANY crisis, and I'm not betting that I won't see one in the next fifty years or so - I really, REALLY don't want to be reliant on Joe Citizen to help me out. I'm afraid that he'll be too busy trying to phone his insurer.

-- _ (_@_._), February 24, 2000.


Thank you for sharing your story Art. =)

-- Dee (T1Colt556@aol.com), February 24, 2000.

Appreciate you sharing that Art...

-- Mumsie (shezdremn@aol.com), February 24, 2000.

Art, you said,

"How does all this apply? We were ready to help..... "

Art, you really only said half the story, the other half is you were WILLING to help. That's probably the more important of the two IMHO.

Frank

-- Someone (ChimingIn@twocents.cam), February 24, 2000.


Just what a lot of us have been saying for a long time, now...being prepared is not just for a single event or a single threat.

-- Mad Monk (madmonk@hawaiian.net), February 25, 2000.


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