Has anyone else ever watched the show on the outdoor network with "Bear", who is a highly skilled outdoorsman ex british special forces guy? He gets dropped out of an airplane with nothing but his knife & flint over deserted island or high sierras or rockies or alaskan mountain or rain forest & he has to find his way back to civilization. Along the way he shows you how to catch & eat raw fish, build fires, make shelters, avoid pitfalls & ultimately how to find your way to safety. I watch that show from the comfort of my couch whilst drinking a beer. As entertaining as it is, I don't think I'm goinig to remember any of it in the case of an emergency which is a shame.

Don't forget about baling wire.....you have to have it to go with duct tape!

One of the first things I would do is write an emergency phone number of someone outside my area on my pet's inner thigh with permanent marker. That way if you don't have a phone there will be someone to contact other than you. It would be horrible to have to leave pets behind, but, in reality there are circumstances that are beyond our control and human family comes first.

Need supplies to meet your basic needs for up to two weeks and a means of protecting yourself and family. Disasters bring out the best and worst in people.

After Katrina, we had no power and no phones for three weeks, we were lucky. Had to drive 30miles to use our cell phones, even then they only worked at the top of one exit ramp. Couldn't even do this for many days due to downed trees across the road. It's really strange to be cut off from the rest of the world! Was an eye-opener for me. Thank goodness I didn't have to leave my pets behind!!!It was bad enough worrying about family that we couldn't get in touch with.....

Debbie

Thanks to everyone for the continued replies. LOL on the duct tape!! One of Gary's staples for life in general. We don't have to buy extra for emergencies - we have tons of that stuff around here at all times.

I like the idea of the 50 gallon drum wood burner. I'm going to suggest Gary look around for plans for that. We have a big garage and a big unfinished basement, so plenty of room to store it.

Night before last Gary filled up the water drums - about 400 gallons worth. It will be a big project changing out the water every six months.

On the water topic - while there is a big city water system close to us, we're served by a very cheesy, small water district. There system is so bad they don't even have a working water meter at our house. The good news is that the bill is the same every month no matter how much water we do or don't use. So it didn't cost extra to fill up those barrels. A "disaster" we predict is that this rickety water service will completely fail for no particular reason other than it's rickityness (new made up word). Another good reason to have an ample water supply on hand.

Thanks!
Beth

 Quote: susan tuck

Has anyone else ever watched the show on the outdoor network with "Bear", who is a highly skilled outdoorsman ex british special forces guy? He gets dropped out of an airplane with nothing but his knife & flint over deserted island or high sierras or rockies or alaskan mountain or rain forest & he has to find his way back to civilization.

I LOVE that show! I think it's so cool. And he survives a week eating like ONE lizard and a few beetles... So I do think that most "preparedness plans" overdo it. I do think it's insanely funny when he catches said lizard, and actually skewers and cooks it like a roast pig... Then eats it in two bites.

I also seen him puke up his guts after eating the indigenous fauna

I haven't seen that show but I remember a guy who loved bears and wanted to live among the bears and then him & his girlfriend ended up being the bears diner, I remember that show real well.
You always have some people who think they can live in the wild and the animals will be so welcoming because "you love them"

That guy was a total moonbeam new age left coast idiot

Ooooh I didn't see that one! That would have probably got great ratings.

Yeah, that guy had such an ego, he thought the Alaskan Brown bears had not only accepted him as "one of their own, but promoted him to grand PooBah". I guess he forgot they aren't even that social with "one of their own". They will party with the opposite sex during mating season & have an unholy truce during the salmon run, but THATS IT!

That Bear guy is o.k. But, I think Survivorman Les Stroud has him beat. You know, the other guy on Science Discovery.