Just how do we "prepare" for a terrorist attack?

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I'm not trying to be funny or anything-Maybe I'm just stressed out-but I've about had it with all these vague warnings we keep getting-"prepare for another attack but go about your everyday life" Our local radio is saying the thing to do is prepare like you would a storm or bad weather alert-have enough food and water on hand for 72 hours _Then What? So thats what I'm doing today, getting all laundry, housework caught up, paying all bills due in next couple of weeks,I have a pretty well stocked pantry but I believe I might get some extra milk, and chocolet!

That seems so trivial to me-we get this warning and about all I can think of to do is make sure everyone has clean underwear! But I can't think of anything else. Is anyone else doing anything?

-- Kelly in Ky (ksaderholm@yahoo.com), October 31, 2001

Answers

Hey... clean underwear and chocolate would get me through 72 hours just fine! :-) Actually, I don't even need the clean underwear, just the chocolate!

-- Cheryl in KS (cherylmccoy@rocketmail.com), October 31, 2001.

Kelly, I have always been an organize freek. I alway have enough food in the pantry to last aleast 3 months, water to last 1 week ,matches,lampoil. I always keep enough feed for the animals for 2-3 month.I really don't think that there is a whole lot we can do. They say prepare but stay normal, what's normal anymore?I always am prepared for outages or shortages.I think your fine. Expecially with the chocolate. I have no sweets in the house. Got to go to the store. Stay safe.-God Bless

-- Micheale from SE Kansas (mbfrye@totelcsi.net), October 31, 2001.

You know I think most of the people here, being of the homesteader mentality, are way beyond what the "experts" advise us to do already! I know I have enough food to last for at least 6 months, probably more, if necessary. When the Y2K thing was big, we really stepped up our efforts at independence and have tried to keep that mind-set ever since. I guess I hope for the best, but prepare for the worst. Could I do a better job? Sure, but I am in a lot better shape than those folks who pick up supper on their way home from work each night. I think you should just cover the basics, then don't worry too much about it.

-- Melissa (cmnorris@1st.net), October 31, 2001.

I think a lot of people are fed up with the vague warnings, but, honestly, having the intelligence they have, if something awful happened again and they hadn't said anything, wouldn't we all of us be mad they hadn't? Personally, I think this week is a good time to stay away from government buildings and malls and such, if possible. And clean underwear is always good;) (Can't say as I've ever been out of chocolate;)

-- mary (marylgarcia@aol.com), October 31, 2001.

Kelly, I think we homesteader types are much better prepared for any emergency than anyone. I feel it is important to keep extra food, water, and candles, wood for heat, etc. on hand all the time. After that, clean underwear and chocolate doesn't hurt at all!!! There really is nothing else we can do other than pray for strength, after that all we can do is go about our normal business which is what I am doing. If there is a disaster the next few days as our government feels there might be, I pray God be with each and everyone on this fourm.

-- Barb in Ky (bjconthefarm@yahoo.com), October 31, 2001.


Frankly, I am more freaked out by our own nation's changes in how we go about our daily lives than any terrorist action. I am taking common sense precautions (stocking up on venison, slowly adding to the pantry, etc.), but I refuse to get stressed out over something that might or might not happen. There is too much to prepare for: Gas attack: Hurricane: nuclear accident: comets: tidal waves: tornadoes: volcanoes: too much material for me to handle at once.

When I became closer to God, it was such a RELIEF, just letting him take care of the big picture. It felt like a great big boulder rolled off my shoulders. I will control what I can, and if my number comes up, well then, que sera sera. I have made my peace with God, my family and tried to lead my life with as few purposely made enemies as possible. I hope God agrees with me. Sorry to become a little preachy here; my main point is just do the best you can. Life will give or take as it pleases.

-- j.r. guerra (jrguerra@boultinghousesimpson.com), October 31, 2001.


I always keep a good supply of cocoa, sugar, butter, and milk for making fudge any time of day or night:) Seriously, We are totally dependent on electricity for heat, cooking, and hot water. When the power goes out, I'm not really sure what we'll do. This is not our choice, but the landlord will not let us set up our wood stove because of his homeowner's insurance. To him, it was better to tear down the chimney than to fix things. Oh, how I long for my own place at times like this!! When the power went out on Sunday, we set up the camp stove for a hot lunch, but that wouldn't keep us warm in the dead of winter.

-- Cathy N. (keeper8@attcanada.ca), October 31, 2001.

This question is for all those of you who have a 3-6 month supply of food or more. Where do you store it? I have a pretty large house(no basement) and I even have thigs stored under the beds, but I dont have the space to store that much. What do you think the best storage containers are.Do you buy in bulk then break it up into smaller containers? Thanks Roxanne

-- Roxanne (Roxanne143@webtv.net), October 31, 2001.

for storage, I have a big cupboard that is 8 feet tall, and 4 feet, wide, a long cupboard that is about 20 feet long, counter-top height, another that is 6 feet long, 3 feet deep and counter-top height, a fruit cellar, a big freezer, and a refrigerator. I really don't have a good source for bulk food, so I just buy on sale and rotate.

-- Melissa (me@home.net), October 31, 2001.

Kathy, If I was in your stituation I would get a wood stove and some wood and some stove pipe and have it out in my garage ready to go, then if something happens you can stick the stove pipe out the window and keep warm, Landlord may be too busy keeping his own family alive to find out that you are keeping warm against his wishes.

-- tren (trendlespin@msn.com), October 31, 2001.


Tren, we actually did that when we lived in New York. Tom was working on putting in the furnace, but winter came on too fast, so we put a wood stove in the kitchen and a propane stove in the living room. We cut a hole in the wall for the propane stove pipe. (We had a lot more say-so with that landlord.) We do have both stoves, still, and could use the wood one if we had to, but I'd rather not for the sake of Tom's testimony as church pastor. We would probably take the children for a visit to friends in the states if it looked like a long power outage, or to friends nearby if it was a short one.

-- Cathy N. (keeper8@attcanada.ca), October 31, 2001.

I think that for most of you who do not live in or even close to a really large metropolitan area, you are perplexed regarding the Feds ambiguous warnings....perhaps this will help: in NYC, LA, Detoit, Miami, Chicago (you get the idea)..folks live as if they are in an anthill. It is considered the epitome of rude to bother about anything a person is doing..so if before 9/11, you lived in one of those cities and you saw 6 guys in trench coats carring Uzis all pulling a large crate with the bold letters "BOMB" on it across the street and into a parking garage, what would you do? Let's see.....some would remark about it around the water cooler at 10AM; some would wait until they got home that night and mention it to their spouse; some would wait and see if anything showed up in the newspapers the next day, some would think "I wonder if i should call a cop?" "Nah". People in the big cities have a certain credo..it is called ,"Mind your own business at all costs." Some of you may be old enough to recall that in the 60s in NYC, a young woman was brutally stabbed to death in the middle of the street while over 30 people watched from their windows..no one called the police. So, in light of this "big city" mentality, when the FEDS say "watch out, but go about your business" they are talking mostly to the folks as mentioned above..hopefully, after 9/11, they would all call the police if they saw the guys with the Uzis!

-- lesley (martchas@bellsouth.net), October 31, 2001.

Lesley, this is exactly why I am glad I live in the country away from any big cities! We have wonderful neighbors and while we all respect each others privacy we can count on each other for help if the need arises. I honestly feel I live in the best place in the country! To answer someone elses question about how do you store 3 to 6 months supply of food. We built a 10 X 12 pantry in our basement. I keep my freezer in there and the rest is shelves. I use the 3M containers to store bulk items like beans, wheat grain, corn meal, pasta, powdered milk and the like. I just today bought 50# of hard red organic wheat berries which will keep for a very long time but will probably last us around a year. I make all our bread from scratch. Of course, we have a lot of things I canned this summer in there too. I also have in my kitchen a smaller 2'x5' pantry to keep handy things in smaller containers. I have saved a lot of clear glass jars which I keep things stored in for that pantry. This is not something I have done overnight. It takes time to do this, unless you are wealthy which I am not! I do this regardless of whether there is an emergency expected and it has certainly come in handy many times! And no, I'm not Mormon! I do think they have the right idea though in keeping things like that on hand.

-- Barb in Ky. (bjconthefarm@yahoo.com), November 01, 2001.

Hello Kelly, I think that most people take the threats more seriously now, than before 9/11. That is a positive for us. But, I would no more prepare for a terrorist attack than I do for any natural emergency. One of the biggest threats right now is the Executive Orders that are being signed by our President that are temporarily taking our freedoms away. Temporarily, we hope! More survailence on the internet, more wire-tapping, more excuses to pry into our private lives. This, aggervated with a sense of fear across the nation is slowly turning us into a nation just asking for martial law. Martial law will definitely be an act of terrorism for all of us freedom loving peoples! Sincerely, Ernest

-- http://communities.msn.com/livingoffthelandintheozarks (espresso42@hotmail.com), November 01, 2001.

Cathy-have you considered getting a small kerosene heater? We have been through several power outages once in a full electric house, and we did nicly with a kerosene heater. You have to be careful around them, and I would recomend a battery powered carbon monoxide detector- but I could handle one easily- and I'm usually all thumbs when it comes to devices and a heater, detector and fuel are pretty reasonable price-wise. You can put it in one room, say the living room, and close of other areas of your house and keep toasty. It also has an advantage that you can set a dutch oven on top and cook about anything you could fix in a crock-pot, or heat water-if your not in a hurry for hot water!

-- Kelly in Ky (ksaderholm@yahoo.com), November 01, 2001.


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