Prepping:  Prepared or Paranoid Part 0 – Prequel.

Texas and much of the country has faced one of the worst winter storms in a long time.  Winter Storm Uri tested the electrical grid, water availability and several other systems.  Most of you know this…

Many of us are just now starting to emerge from all of it!  My family just got central water back after several days of melting snow to use for toilet flushing.  Before that, we faced most of 48 hours of temperatures in the teens without central power.

These issues were challenging enough for most people.  For our family it was an adventure and an experiment – giving us a chance to learn how far our basic level of preparation would take us.

Huddled in the room with a fireplace, with plenty of blankets, mattresses, 2 parents, 4 kids and 2 dogs (and a bird), we come through the cold with flying colors…

It wasn’t until after some of the worst of it that we learned how bad it almost got.

Look at this sentence from one report:

“ERCOT officials said Thursday the grid was “seconds and minutes” away from a catastrophic, uncontrolled failure that could have left residents without power for months, according to the Tribune.” 

“Months.” “Seconds and minutes”.

I am thinking it isn’t wise to read that as just dramatic hyperbole – I think those are very real numbers.

If 2020-21 hasn’t convinced you yet that having basic preparations – enough to provide for your family’s basic requirements for at least 2-4 weeks, I am not sure what will.  

In addition to a pandemic threat, like Covid 19… or a political or economic problem, etc., we can now see how even a small change in the power grid can be fatal for those unprepared and uneducated.  As you will see, all of these have real examples from the past. 

Since then, we have continued to see the expansion of the powers of the central government (typically a bad long term pattern for person freedoms) and the aggressive actions of other nations, and other tough signs… including a solar storm! 

We all just got another year of reminders of how that past can repeat itself no matter how certain we are that it will not.  

For more of my notes on the preparedness mindset, read this.

For a more detailed discussion of what you might want to have handy, read this.

I hope you stayed warm and well hydrated these last few days.  Many didn’t.  How about next time?  Remember, it isn’t about being paranoid, it is about being properly prepared to take care of your family and those around you.

• Chris