Does It Have to Be Doomsday?

How many people have snickered up their sleeve at 'Doomsday Preppers' on National Geographic Channel? Thousands? Millions? Most likely this highly rated show gives it's audience a fit of giggles at the 'deluded rednecks' and their arsenal of weapons.

Sure, it's entertainment, another realty TV show - and the East Coast could NEVER be hit by a storm that leaves the power out for days...weeks...or even months. There isn't a storm that could wash away houses and flood a major city like, say, New York City.

Never, ever, you say. It JUST couldn't happen here.

Except it did already.

Oops!

If you'd like to take a look at my back list of posts, you will see where I suffered through 8 days without heat or electricity. Ice Storm Musings is the first of a series of stories about how I coped. I think it also talks about when I got so cold that I snapped - I literally couldn't take it any more.

After that gawdawful experience, I put up a few supplies. Not a year's worth of canned goods or anything extreme like an underground bunker - but I kept my coffee can stove and a dozen cans of Sterno. I'm MUCH more careful about what I buy - my kitchen is stocked a bit better.

I have a lot of respect for Survivalists. My father was one, and I've always appreciated the time and effort he took to make me better able to survive, come what may.

Let's just say that you've seen enough natural disasters to wonder if IT COULD HAPPEN to you? Not the end of the world, but a week or more without power. How would a modern person survive? Where would you get water, heat and hot food?

It's the little things that are going to count.

• Do you have a can opener that doesn't require electricity?
• Do you know how to flush a toilet when there isn't any running water?
• Do you have something to put drinking water in?
• Can you cook without using your electric stove?
• Do you have some way to make light, besides a couple of candles?

I have three oil lamps and two bottles of oil, a can opener, several buckets clean enough for drinking water and a grill with a burner. I know from experience that I can hold out in the middle of January for at least a week. I've got a propane heater and a fireplace to keep us warm, there is also a rick of wood at the side of the house.

Does this make me a Doomsday Prepper?

Not by a long shot. But it is common sense to keep simple things like this on hand. After all, wouldn't you feel stupid if you had a pantry full of canned food and no way to open the cans?

Think about it.