It could happen

Let's face it, when life gives us a chance to teach we should never walk away from it. This morning gave me a perfect chance to talk to my 8 year old son, JC, about something he needs to know about. The conversation went as follows:

Me: Standing in the kitchen doing dishes.
JC: Comes into the kitchen looking a little concerned. "Mom, what would we do if the electricity went out?"
Me: "Good question. Are we talking for a couple of hours, a couple of days, or forever?" I can see my son clearly hasn't thought about this.
JC: "I know what we do when it goes out for a couple of hours. (We've had storms take the electricity out for a while) So, what would we do if it was out for a couple of days?"
Me: "Now that is a good question."

And it was. Unfortunately, as my son found out, it's not a question with easy answers. It will take some drastic lifestyle changes on the part of many people's every day lives. Some will adapt to those changes easily. Others will struggle but still adapt. Sadly, a percentage will fail to adapt at all and, in honest reality, others still will take advantage of whomever they can find.

Before I go any further I want to make a few things very clear. I am not an alarmist. I am  not a fatalist. I am not pessimist. I am not a believer in the chance of a Zombie Apocalypse. However, I am a believer in the very real chance of  natural or man made disasters and strongly feel that a person does a huge disservice to himself in not being prepared for such an even. I am a realist and I live by the belief that if you fail to plan then you can plan to fail.

Now, if you're still with me fantastic! That means you're aware of the fact bad things do happen and it doesn't matter who you are. Bravo!! If you're not then you're not reading this and you're they type of people I'll be keeping on eye on if crap ever hits the fan.

Anyway! Back to the question of what happens if the electricity goes out of an extended period of time. In this topic we'll stick with the basics and focus on what mentally you're going to have to change.  If you can change how you think you'll find that you'll have the ability to over come most of the challenges you'd face in a natural/man made disaster.

The 1st thing you need to do is evaluate what you have and what you need. All of this needs to be done fairly quickly. Also, while it may be a nice cuddly though that the government will fix the problem soon and you'll be alright, you need to realize that may not be the case. Need an example? Hurricane Katrina.

Key things you need to address quick and in a hurry:

• Do you have shelter? If yes, you're good. Move on. (I know some preppers  are screaming that there is more to this and they're right but that's for a later subject. We're moving on.)
• Do you have a source of fresh water? The body can not go without water very long. This is a must. The water from your tap has to be pumped from somewhere. If the electricity is out you may not have water or you may have water for a short time. You'll need to come up with a source of fresh water. This is were being mentally flexible will come in handy. Fresh water can come from several places. A pond, lake, stream, creek, rain, ice if it's winter, a puddle, or a canal. I would strongly recommend boiling it but it's fresh water.
• Next is, do you have food? I can hear some of you telling you're computer, "Duh, in the frig." That's not going to last long. With the electricity out that frig is going to start to warm up and that food will go bad. The food in your deep freezer will last a while longer but it too will thaw out and go bad. If you have a generator you got power and you planned for an event like this. Freaking awesome!! I recommend everyone keep a well stocked supply of canned and dried goods. These will last a long time. If you know how to can foods do it. Once you're meat is gone you have some choices. You can fish/hunt for it, if you know how. By the way, rabbit and squirrel are meat and can be ate. Or, if you have some kind of skill or trade you may be able to barter for it. I also strongly recommend everyone become familiar with their local plant life. Find out what you can eat and what you can't. This also comes in handy due to the fact many plants have healing properties to them.  

As many preppers will tell you I have just covered some of the very key basics here. One other thing I want you to keep in mind if the power were to ever go out. Wood equals heat. Gather wood, keep it dry, and you'll have a good start. Second, gas pumps wont pump without electricity and gas will only store for so long before going bad. Electricity goes out, use you vehicle wisely. Most important is to not panic. Life was perfectly fine long before we had electricity and it will be if it were to ever go out. You may have to adjust but you can do it. Until next time keep planning.