On prepping and preparedness...

I am not a fan of the National Geographic Channel's "Doomsday Preppers".  The show picks the most ridiculous examples of people and the circumstances that they are preparing for, all for the greatest shock value.  Absolute swill.

Haven't seen the bunker show, but I suspect that is more of the same.  Anyone with the money and resources to spend half a million dollars on an underground shelter that will survive the end of civilization could probably be using the money in better ways.

However, anyone that has endured what we have endured after Katrina and isn't "prepared" for the possibility that such circumstances could repeat is an complete idiot.

As for myself, I watched what paltry preparations I had ready for Katrina wash away with the storm surge.  30 gallons of water, bags of charcoal and cylinders of propane... all floated away when my garage doors failed to stop the 3-foot waves that were beating on them.  Garbage cans washed away.  No means to use a toilet while the sewer system was flooded.  90% of all stored food contaminated by flood water.  Weeks without power.  Months without drinking water from the taps.  No vehicles.  No generator.

Never again.

I now have the means to store, clean and use almost unlimited amounts of water.  I have 8,000 gallons in my pool alone.  The surrounding hills are covered in natural springs, and an artesian well is located only a few hundred yards from my house.  I can cook food with either electricity, propane, charcoal or wood, indoors or out.  I can heat water to boiling temps 8 gallons at a time, in less than 15 minutes.  I have the means to keep my fridge and freezer cold for as long as I have gas in my vehicles (full tanks, roughly 10 days), and in winter to run my pellet stove for 5 days.  My small garden produced enough to provide us with an entire pantry of home-canned pickles, squash, carrots, tomatoes, peppers, beans and peas (although the beans and peas were less a success than the peppers).  We have the means and knowledge to can meat, fruit, veggies, and soups.  We could live on our pantry and freezers for at least 3 months (probably far longer) with no further groceries (but fresh eggs and milk would be very nice... and my neighbor has both chickens and cows).  All three of my children have learned the basics of firearm use, and all three have shown a real ability in shooting targets.  The oldest has become quite the baker, too... and enjoys the canning process very much.

I'd be a fool not to have a fire extinguisher or two in my house, and anyone with children that doesn't have a smoke detector should be prosecuted... so why would I chose to protect my family only from fire?  House fires are all too common, yes... but isn't a power outage even more common, and more likely?  Blizzards, ice storms, spring flooding, tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, man-made disasters... all far more likely (statistically speaking) than a house fire... yet I should ignore them or (worse yet, in my opinion) leave the ability to respond and recover from such events to someone else?

Nope.  I remember how much help I got from FEMA after Katrina... I'll be handling the "recovery" from such events here all by myself, thank you very much.