When in the Great Outdoors, it is best to treat all water sources as being contaminated. Therefore, you must treat the water before you using it for drinking, cooking, cleaning of food, and hygiene purposes. If you treat water as always being contaminated, you will never get into trouble drinking the water you find.

So, why would wilderness water be contaminated? In the wild, water can be contaminated for many reasons:

• Bacteria
• Pathogens
• Microorganisms
• Feces (animal defecation making it into the water supply)
• Urine (animal urine making it into the water supply)
• Contaminants from nearby towns making it into the water supply
• Decaying animal carcuses in or near water supplies
• Many other things I am not remembering

So, you now assume the water is contaminated, but how should you treat it? One way is to use a portable water filter from Katadyn or similar manufacturers. Katadyn water filters kill organisms by passing the water through a silver-impregnated ceramic filter. Basically, the filter removes anything that is .2 microns or larger from the water.

Another method is to boil the water. You don’t actually have to bring the water to a boil as once it reaches 185 degrees, it is safe to drink. However, if you do decide to bring it to a boil, you don’t have to boil it for 10 minutes or more. Once the water reaches that temperature, all the organisms are dead. Besides, boiling for 10 minutes or more wastes fuel, which may be precious commodity in a survival situation. Now, I tell you this, but you may wonder how do you know the water is 185 degrees unless you have a thermometer? Well, you won’t, unless you’re a professional water boiler and just know from looking. However, you know when it’s boiling, that’s good enough.

Now, heating water kills the organisms, but it doesn’t remove any chemicals that are present in the water. So in the end, it is safest to filter the water before using it.

You may be wondering how I know this? Well, this information is available in survival books, however I learned from experience. And it only took one time to learn.

I had just graduated from college, and I was spending the summer in Europe studying for Master’s degree credit (no I don’t have a Master’s degree, I just wanted to go on the trip). While in the Italian countryside outside Rome, there was often natural sources of water available. I had an enjoyable day of drinking the clear, cold water available in the area. Well, I spent the next two days in bed and in the bathroom. The diarrhea was horrible. I learned my lesson the hard way and fortunately didn’t have to go to a hospital.

I know how enticing that mountain stream is. Just look at that cold, clear, inviting water. But filter it first, and you won’t make the same mistake I did. And you won’t spend some of your holiday in bed and in the bathroom.

I’m not a doctor, and I don’t play one on T.V. But, I have just added something to my First Aid kit that you need to be aware of.

If you are concerned about how to stop severe bleeding in a disaster scenario, you need to read up on a product that will stop bleeding in 30 seconds.

It was originally developed to assist military medics with some of the worst wounds imaginable. It’s been to Afghanistan and Iraq and has helped save many lives. The product is called Celox and here are it’s benefits:

• Suitable for all types of trauma.
• Helps saves lives on the battlefield.
• Helps gain control in a serious emergency.
• Handles a workplace or sporting incident.
• Rapidly stabilizes a minor cut or laceration.
• Proven to work in the cold.
• Proven to work in the presence of common anti-coagulants such as warfarin and heparin.
• Has been tested by U.S. Marines to give a 100% survival rate in major battlefield wounds with massive arterial damage.

Like I said, I am not a doctor, and this is not medical advice, but if you are concerned about wound management in an emergency, you need to have a look at this product.

Yes, it’s available for purchase online, on Celox’s website. Start by going to the website and doing some reading:

Celox

Here is a link to the Photo Gallery where you can see some interesting photos of Celox products and uses:

Celox Photo Gallery

First Aid Kit EMT Medic Rescue Pak

A while back, I wrote about three big items of basic preparedness. Well, it occurred to me that two more items could be added to the list. So, here now is The Big Five of Emergency Preparedness.

1. Water – not only is it essential for life, it essential for preparing food, and useful for most everything else in life. Turn off the water to your home for a couple days and you’ll realize how vital it is to daily life.
2. Food – slightly less important than water, it is definitely essential for life. Not just for the people in your family, but also your pets, livestock, and whoever else you choose to share it with.
3. Medical Supplies – this is a broad area. Besides First Aid, this includes prescription medications, over-the-counter medications, but also things for your general well-being. I would include eyeglasses, contacts, and hearing aids in this group. If you rely on them in your daily existence, you should at least store a backup pairs.
4. Shelter – this one makes life enjoyable. However, if you should ever temporarily not have it, you should think about a getaway property, a backup shelter (building, shed, could be many things), or a set of tents for the family.
5. Security – if you live in a home with an alarm system, how will you feel if the power is off for an extended time? I would say that this is a broad area as well. A firearm, rifle, shotgun, knife, baseball bat, this will mean different things to different people. Choose what you feel comfortable with.

While not a complete list, this big five list should at least get you thinking about the preparedness state of your family. Just think how much better you will be if you only decide to address these five things.

Mountain House Freeze Dried Food – Deluxe Security Pak – 7 Days/2 People

An excuse people often give for not obtaining long term food storage is that it will only be useful during major disasters, both natural (storms, earthquakes, volcanoes) or manmade (terrorism). This is a myth!

Here’s why:

1. A main tenet of food storage is that you must store what you eat. So, if you store junk, or what is sometimes passed off as “survival rations”, you probably would only want to eat it during a disaster. But if you store what you eat on a regular basis, you can rotate your storage and use it on a continuous basis. Your family won’t know the difference.
2. If you have a prolonged period of unemployment, you may not have enough money to buy food. That is happening in this country today. You can use your food storage during this period. It would keep your family from going hungry.
3. Even if you have stored freeze dried food, it does not have to be saved for just disasters. Mountain House Freeze Dried Food has been shown in laboratory testing to have a shelf life of 30 years or more. So, you can take some out on a regular basis and use it. Try using some every six months, every year, whatever time interval you come up with.

The point is that whatever type of food storage system you decide to store, you should incorporate it into your regular diet. That way you will know how to use it (in the case of basic staples, dehydrated foods) and you can see that your family will actually eat it. If you store freeze dried foods, you will do not have to practice with it, because there is no preparation.

Another myth is that you must buy all your food storage at one time. This is only true if you feel the urge to do so. This is October 2009, and many people look at the U.S. and feel that the U.S. Dollar is going to collapse in the next year or so. So, some people feel they must get their food storage now while they still can. I think this is a good idea, but if you are not comfortable with it, don’t do it.

Any of the various types of food storage, Mountain House Food, Dehydrated Food, Buckets of Staples, and Store-Bought Canned Goods can be bought in small increments at a time. As long as you do it on a continuous basis, you will always have some extra food on hand to weather difficult times.

Finally, realize that there are no absolutes when it comes to food storage. Even the shelf life of your food storage is not absolute, as shelf life varies based on the condition of the storage area.

Don’t believe the myths. Do some research and you’ll learn the truth.

MSNBC is reporting that the U.S. and other governments worldwide have stopped tracking illnesses and deaths from the Swine Flu. U.S. doctors stopped counting swine flu cases back in July, when they estimated that more than 1 million were infected in this country.

Andrew Pekosz, a Swine Flu expert at John Hopkins University says, “not having specific, accurate counts of swine flu means the government doesn’t have a clear picture of how hard the infection is hitting some groups of people.”

It’s still early, so we may not know for a while if there really will be an impact on the nation’s food supply. Time will tell. Use your time wisely. Prepare as see fit.

Here’s a link to the original article.

U.S. says too many swine flu cases to count