Death To Zombies: Disaster Planning and Survivalism

I started hearing about some crazy movement probably 15 years ago.  Some “idiot” was trying to convince everyone that we didn’t need running shoes.  Considering the fact that I was about to start basic training and was running a few miles each day and fighting shin splints all the time I thought the guy was nuts.  My non-comms felt the same way and since they were gods, I believed them.

But it seems that perhaps the “crazy” people were right.  There’s a new trend in running that says basically three things, a) you should be running barefoot, b) you are capable of running for hours or days longer than you think and c) running on running shoes is the main cause of Americans not winning long distance races any more on an Olympic scale.

The basic premise is cursory, but useful, that human being’s genetics are based on the hunter gatherer model and not on the more recent invention of farmers let alone on the VERY recent invention of shoes.  The reality is that our bodies are built for covering extremely long distances on foot, locating prey while doing so and then having the intelligence to trap and kill animals.  The current question of shoes or no shoes has more to do with the stride that was taken during these long hunts and what is currently popular.

Years ago I trained for triathlons and as I added longer and longer runs I fought again with shin splints.  Then I read about techniques and shoes that could combat this problem.  I tried the different shoes but was skeptical of one assertion which was that I just needed to buy more shoes more often as I was fat and therefore needed more padding in my shoes.

The technique that was forwarded was an interesting learning experience though.  Basically some of the books recommended that I just take much more frequent and shorter strides thus decreasing the angle of attack between my shin and the ground.  This “solution” seemed to have helped for a bit and certainly more than the “buy more shoes” technique.

There was another point of the argument that was very confusing for an outsider to sports medicine.  If you want to exercise just for your overall health running is by far the best sport for your bones because the impact of your foot striking the ground causes your bones to grow stronger as opposed to bicycling or swimming.  So there’s the conundrum, run hard to build strong bones but buy good shoes, very often, to prevent that damage that creates strong bones.  It really just didn’t make any sense.  But then again, our genetics probably aren’t well adapted to us all being so fat either.

Eventually I got tired of running tons of hours and my interest in endurance events came to an end.  But the question of shoes versus stride has stuck in my mind for a long time.  So when I heard more and more about the barefoot running trend I paid a little bit of attention.  It turns out that at a very basic level the no-shoes attitude has the same arguments that the buy more shoes school had.  If you shuffle along in your bare feet that’s better than jogging or running in running shoes.  Since you take a shorter stride when you run barefoot, you lessen the angle of attack and therefore don’t impact your bones as much only cheaper.  And by the way, one of the fastest E6s I ever saw took tiny steps but he took them super fast.

I already knew that I could run indefinitely.  While completing two half-ironman length triathlons I learned that basically my will was the only thing preventing me from completing longer distances.  Well, to be completely honest I learned that at a much younger age.  Perhaps when I learned that walking was the greatest form of freedom.  No one could deny me the ability to walk to wherever I wanted if I just had the patience to walk there.  But over the years I’ve proved this fact again and again.  I proved it in the 25 mile memorial death march I did with my drill sergeants at White Sands Proving Grounds and I proved it again and again as I got older.  Bottom line?  The human spirit is indomitable.

So I’ve been trying it our for a few months.  I haven’t been running, but I’ve been walking around in bare feet more than I have since I was a kid and I have to tell you that my feet feel great and my knees don’t hurt.  It’s hard to know if the lack of knee pain is due to a ranch style house I moved into 2 years ago or the lack of shoes.  But if you’ve found this interesting, you might also enjoy the article on the same topic, by a better writer at Wired.com

My CSA isn’t selling half shares of food next year and they’re requiring 12 hours of volunteer work.  He’s a nice guy, but if I’m going to put 12 hours in a garden, I might as well just plant my own.

So I’ve been digging through some old gardening books to decide on what sort of a garden I’m going to do.  So many options anymore, Raised Beds, Square Foot Gardening, Lasagna Gardening, No Till Gardening, who’s to know what to do.

One thing was sure and that was that I needed a bunch of organic material to add to the clayey soil I have in my Kansas back yard.  So I hopped onto craigslist and searched for “free leaves” and ran into Benjamin Landscaping who needed a place to dump some leaves.

I ordered up a load and this morning they dropped by.  The leaves were dry, chopped up a bit and looked like a pleasure to work with.  Justin, the guy who stopped by was polite, on time and helpful.  Couldn’t ask for more, I showed him the route in and he backed up the truck, tilted the bed and swept it all out.

I’m going to buy some vermiculite, sand, peat moss and manure that I’ll till in later on.  I’ll also run a soil test and figure out what to add in order to get pH to 6.5.  I’m not sure if I’m going to till, but buying all this stuff and running the test is going to take some time.  I’ll use that time to keep researching the different options.

So, I gauged this for myself, atwo hundred pound man, and what I could eat and stay healthy for 9 weeks.  Now, under stress I would probably burn more calories but lets say that I might catch fish and shoot wildlife to make up for that.  My daily food list would look something like this:

1. 1c beans, dry
2. 2c cooked white rice
3. 1/4 loaf of whole wheat bread
4. 1c canned veggies
5. 2T peanut butter
6. 2T Fruit preserves(combine it with some bread and have a PB-N-J)
7. 3c UHT(Ultra High Temperature Milk)
8. 1 6.5 oz can of meat(tuna, spam, chicken, turkey, whatever)

These 8 simple staples are easy to store, inexpensive and tasty enough that you can stock up on then in one shopping spree or you can just pick up one item each paycheck and be stocked up in 2 months.  I stock up all sorts of other stuff to add variety, difference in vitamins and minerals, etc but this is the foundation for my food pantry. This list usually gives me 2100 calories and 115g of protein.

The expensive part of this is the canned meat.  And the UHT Milk can be a little hard to find.  But I think it’s well worth your time to set some food aside.

So the shopping list for one person would look like:

1. 25# beans, dry
2. 25# dry white rice
3. (yeast, 10# bag of whole wheat flour, 10# bag of white flour, 10# sugar)
4. 32 cans of veggies
5. 4 18oz jars of peanut butter
6. 8 9oz jars of  Fruit preserves(combine it with some bread and have a PB-N-J)
7. 47Quarts(16 gallons or 4 milk crates) UHT(Ultra High Temperature Milk)
8. 63 6.5 oz can of meat(tuna, spam, chicken, turkey, whatever)

If you’re doing planning like this, you know multiplication and I won’t waste time doing it for you.

You could go with dry milk or some ratio of dry milk:UHT if you’re tight on cash or don’t like the taste of UHT Milk.  Because with this amount of milk, you’re basically going to need to drink it all the time or it will spoil.  Alternatives could be something like a dairy goat, I guess.  I planned on stocking up some nesquick in order to help with the flavor.

Image courtesty of hfb

So, let’s say you’re a really fit person.  You go hiking all the time and would never pass up a chance to go mountain biking with the buddys.  Unfortunately you have a peanut butter allergy and your buddy only packed in food w/ peanuts and doesn’t tell you.   Or honey bees can kill you and you just got stung!  What to do?!?  Well, if you spent $25 on this handy epipen carry case that straps to your calf then you may just need a jab in the thigh and a visit to the emergency room.

In fact, the company that produces these epipen holders(OmaxCare) has all sorts of handy carrying cases.  Need a carry case for your asthma inhaler and want it on your bicep…DONE.  Need nitro pills and want to carry them on your ankle…DONE.  You can buy them online at their website.  That said, this is not an advertisement.  I’m not getting money from OmaxCare and don’t have personal experience with their customer service.  If you have opinions on that sort of thing please comment!

Source of idea: Cool Tools at kk.org (I DO NOT RECOMMEND GOING TO THIS WEBSITE.  AT THE MOMENT GOOGLE CHROME REPORTS IT AS AN ATTACK WEBSITE)

Honestly, it’s not like there’s really a time when fitness isn’t a good idea, but hear me out for a few minutes.

Many people take the time to prepare dilligently for emergencies.  They make their shopping lists, they learn to stockpile, they learn to rotate their stock so it doesn’t go bad.  They attend camps and learn new skills.  Maybe make some contacts with local CERT officials or the Red Cross.  This is a lot of time and energy but consider that a time of stress and greater demands upon your body may lead you to fail in areas if you prepared your body as dilligently as you prepare your home, financial investments, family and pets.

In my particular case the warning came when walking two flights of stairs was making me out of breath.  So I bought a Wii Fit and started exercising.  How embarrasing to find out that 10 minutes of hula-hooping would poop me out.  And not just in the muscles but my joints ached for days too.  So I’ve started on a triathlon training program.  I chose that because I have a background in triathlon and so it’s an easy way for me to get back in shape.

In particular I’m using a plan called the Couch to Sprint program that Michael Pates came up with.  He was a heavy guy who decided that he could do a triathlon even if he was still fat.  Then he wrote a book about it When Big Boys Tri.  But there are other programs for people who just want to run or bicycle.  Google it and you’ll find lots of interesting ways to get back in shape.

Now the swimming in triathlons and my general body type basically make me a strong person no matter what I do.  Adding muscle isn’t hard, it’s just hard to keep the fat off.  But if that isn’t true for you I also encourage you to look into some weight training or water aerobics.

Anyhow, I’m no dietitian or personal trainer and I’m certainly not a doctor.  I’m sure you should talk to a doc before you change your level of exercise.  But I urge you to add a physical training component to your disaster readiness plan.  It just may save your life!

Since human to human transmission has happened in two countries, the level was automatically elevated to Level 5.  There were initial reports that seeminly healthy 25-45 year olds were the ones dying from the flu.  The first person to die from Swine Flu in America however was a young child.

Level 5 can be explained best by the organization that created the levels.  Check out their explanation at this link.

I’m not yet concerned to the level where I don’t want to leave the house yet but that’s just my call.  That said, purchasing face masks wouldn’t be a bad idea if you can find them.  Washing hands a bit more frequently is of course a good idea.  If you’re sick with flu like symptoms then avoid others and go to a doctor so they can get you some anti-viral medicine.  Unfortunately anti-virals work better when the disease is caught in very early stages, so err on the side of caution if you can afford to go to the doctor’s office.

Just a little bit of fun amateur filmmaking. Eliza and Fawn and Tiffany are the zombies and Chuck Vancheri, @Devildog2058, is the survivalist, Rob Roman, @LexDeum, is the producer.

Kudos to @mchesher for posting this up!

The American Veterniary Medical Association put together this useful video.  Normally I avoid these, but it’s a short video and she makes points that are more useful than some of the generic tips you’ll frequently get.  Larger crates will be needed than expected as pets would have to stay in them at shelters.  Also great tips on ways to mark your animals.

This is a wonderful video that a friend of mine shared with me.  I believe there are follow on portions of it as well.  If I find them I’ll post them up too.

You can purchase the DVD at Dick’s Website, http://www.dickproenneke.com/

Photo by Podknox

This is one of the first Army guides I ever read.  I was in the Explorers in Maryland at the time and we were attached to a Light Infantry National Guard Armoury.  My Sergeant provided me the book and told me to prepare classes to teach during the weekend.  I didn’t do a great job teaching but I learned a lot about how to teach an a lot about survival.

The manual is available via rapidshare.com.  The link to it can be found at this post on drunkenstepfather.com.  I don’t generally recommend the website as there’s a lot of adult material there, but this is a useful PDF, so you may want to go check it out.