Prepping Just Means Being Prepared

[Jeepnik]

That would be around the Fox River area in Il?

Worked out of the TAC area, lived in Ft Walton Beach. Eglin was my last duty station in '76 / '77. But I spent just a little time at Hurlburt in '73 and '74 Just TDY stuff. Even worked a few shifts on the fire boat. I think, though I may be wrong, it was the only fire boat the USAF had.

 

[vito]

I've never lived anywhere where preparing for the eventual natural disaster seemed necessary. But here in the northern part of Illinois we were hit with a small (F1) tornado six years ago. It cut a very narrow path through part of the city where I live, literally right alongside my home. We had zero damage to the house, but lost a total of 14 full grown trees that were mostly sheared off at about 8 feet above the ground. And of course we lost power.

Because I had no backup at all, and we expected the power to come back within hours (which did not happen), we lost all the food in the refrigerator and stand alone freezer. I was able to find a new 2000 watt generator at a box store about 100 miles from my home, and used that to power my refrigerator and a few lamps for the couple of days until power was restored. Now I run that generator for a few minutes a couple of times a year just to make sure it still works. I keep a couple of gallons of gas, with Stabil added to it, just for emegencies but wonder how long that gas will really last.

I don't keep extra water or food goods on hand specifically for a disaster, but then again, I'm 82 and those few days in 2020 when we were hit by that small tornado is the ONLY time in my life that any preparation was really in order.

 

[SlickRS23]

Going through covid taught me alot about people in general.
While times are good, I've become more prepared than I used to be.

 

[bearskinner]

As I sit here typing this, our back up whole house (automatic switch)!generator is running, from the crazy wind storms. Warnings came out yesterday, and sure enough around 1:AM, it all shut off.
Of course the power won’t go out on a beautiful spring day, it’s always at a bad time to need services. We heat with a wood stove, so power isn’t needed, but sure nice to have. It keeps the well running, so we’re set no matter the conditions.

 

[Mobuck]

Even though I have a new portable generator, I'm still looking for a PTO driven generator that someone replaced with a stand alone unit.
The reason: I have a JD utility tractor that will run a bigger generator longer, quieter, and more fuel efficiently than a stand alone. That little 5105 will run on about 1 gallon of diesel per hour @ 50% load and we normally have 300-500 gallons of diesel in the farm tank.

 

[M118LR]

Probably the most difficult thing to be prepped for, and the most common disaster is uncontrolled fire. About the only recourse is evacuation should the fire head in your direction. Worst case would to be encircled. JMHO YMMV.