Global doom and gloom.

[Ulu]

Our family always had a cat but when I moved out on my own I lived in places that did not allow pets.

when I met my wife she had three cats, which I thought was excessive.

I didn’t worry about the cats because of who my wife is.

We have now two cats and two dogs and 200 fish. Maybe 300...who knows?

 

[krichardson]

Absolutely stunning pacu mom ......and the cats nice too!

Hey that aint no cat,that's a panther lol!
...and I agree,very nice photos.

 

[skjl47]

guess your own personal experience completely discredits that particular study then! Lol.

Hello; I guess it has more to do with my being old and ugly. Maybe a cat would help if I held it up in front of my face? I need to find a woman with bad eyesight and poor judgment.

 

[pacu mom]

California is burning up. There are no fires close to us, but the smoke and ash have descended on us.

It is very dark and eerie at 4 pm, Creepy
front yard





back yard

 

[skjl47]

Hello; I figure you have made plans to get out quickly? You know best I am sure, but do not wait too long. Best wishes and take care. I may be wrong but if ash can reach you that may be a warning sign.

California is burning up. There are no fires close to us, but the smoke and ash have descended on us.

It is very dark and eerie at 4 pm, Creepy
front yard
View attachment 1431865




back yard
View attachment 1431867

 

[pacu mom]

Hello; I figure you have made plans to get out quickly? You know best I am sure, but do not wait too long. Best wishes and take care. I may be wrong but if ash can reach you that may be a warning sign.

Thank you for your well wishes. The fires are not close to us. Unfortunately, the winds have blown the smoke and ash clear to the coast. Before I left the house I called the fire department and asked if there were any nearby fires. There were not. I was told that the winds would shift and the smoke would clear this afternoon. This did not happen. Two hours later, the sky is a lot lighter than when I took the pics at 4 pm, so something must be changing. We have had several big fires close to our area in recent years with the fires coming within 2 - 7 miles of our home.

Speaking of gloom and doom on a local (not global) level, we have the threat of Cascadia Subduction Zone going off at any time. I grew up in Southern California where we had regular earthquake drills. All we heard about was the San Andreas Fault. The San Andreas Fault is a little baby compared to Cascadia, which was only discovered about 30 years ago. The next time Cascadia goes off, it will be a catastrophic event. Between the earthquake and the tsunami that will follow, the devastation will be horrific. If we survive the earthquake, we will have to live without electricity or running water for up to 6 months. We won't be able to drive out of our area as all the bridges will be down. Doomsday preppers are probably on to something. I don't have a six-month supply of food and water yet and need to work on it. I do have backpacks semi packed with insurance info, etc. The thought has occurred to me that I could spend a lot of time, money and energy working on survival supplies which could be wiped out if a fire gets to us first. Not an excuse to not prepare, though.

Here's an interesting article on Cascadia that won the writer a Pulitzer Prize.

The Earthquake That Will Devastate the Pacific Northwest

When the Cascadia fault line ruptures, it could be North America’s worst natural disaster in recorded history.

www.newyorker.com

Cascadia is for real. I was at a meeting and heard the FEMA plans for Cascadia. Supplies will be flown into an airstrip 9 miles inland from us. I thought that was strange since we have an airport in our small town. Then I remembered that the town and airport will be wiped out by the tsunami. In 1964 Crescent City had major destruction from a tsunami from the Alaska Earthquake.

Remembering the Deadly 75-Foot Tidal Wave that Leveled Crescent City in 1964

When a 9.2 magnitude earthquake hit Alaska, it sent a 75-foot tsunami onto the small Northern California coastal town of Crescent City

activenorcal.com

Our little area is nothing compared to Seattle and other areas that are going to be in a bad way. There are threats to every area. Some areas are probably at greater risk for a nuclear event. I just happen to live where fire and earthquakes could wipe us out.

 

[esoxlucius]

Thank you for your well wishes. The fires are not close to us. Unfortunately, the winds have blown the smoke and ash clear to the coast. Before I left the house I called the fire department and asked if there were any nearby fires. There were not. I was told that the winds would shift and the smoke would clear this afternoon. This did not happen. Two hours later, the sky is a lot lighter than when I took the pics at 4 pm, so something must be changing. We have had several big fires close to our area in recent years with the fires coming within 2 - 7 miles of our home.

Speaking of gloom and doom on a local (not global) level, we have the threat of Cascadia Subduction Zone going off at any time. I grew up in Southern California where we had regular earthquake drills. All we heard about was the San Andreas Fault. The San Andreas Fault is a little baby compared to Cascadia, which was only discovered about 30 years ago. The next time Cascadia goes off, it will be a catastrophic event. Between the earthquake and the tsunami that will follow, the devastation will be horrific. If we survive the earthquake, we will have to live without electricity or running water for up to 6 months. We won't be able to drive out of our area as all the bridges will be down. Doomsday preppers are probably on to something. I don't have a six-month supply of food and water yet and need to work on it. I do have backpacks semi packed with insurance info, etc. The thought has occurred to me that I could spend a lot of time, money and energy working on survival supplies which could be wiped out if a fire gets to us first. Not an excuse to not prepare, though.

Here's an interesting article on Cascadia that won the writer a Pulitzer Prize.

The Earthquake That Will Devastate the Pacific Northwest

When the Cascadia fault line ruptures, it could be North America’s worst natural disaster in recorded history.

www.newyorker.com

Cascadia is for real. I was at a meeting and heard the FEMA plans for Cascadia. Supplies will be flown into an airstrip 9 miles inland from us. I thought that was strange since we have an airport in our small town. Then I remembered that the town and airport will be wiped out by the tsunami. In 1964 Crescent City had major destruction from a tsunami from the Alaska Earthquake.

Remembering the Deadly 75-Foot Tidal Wave that Leveled Crescent City in 1964

When a 9.2 magnitude earthquake hit Alaska, it sent a 75-foot tsunami onto the small Northern California coastal town of Crescent City

activenorcal.com

Our little area is nothing compared to Seattle and other areas that are going to be in a bad way. There are threats to every area. Some areas are probably at greater risk for a nuclear event. I just happen to live where fire and earthquakes could wipe us out.

That is pretty grim. As dreary as the uk is we are blessed in as much that we aren't positioned in a place that could, at any time, erupt into a mini extinction event, whether it be volcano, earthquake, tsunami, landslides etc etc. Of course we aren't exempt from nuclear attack, in fact as little as we are, we would probably be one of the first to be hit, given our close relationship with the US.

What I don't understand, maybe i'm being a bit naive here, is that these places are literally ticking time bombs. They WILL go off, no doubt, when is the huge unanswerable question. But people just carry on living there, in their millions. You'll be in a better position to answer this than me but I wonder if, over the past few decades, there has been a noticeable downturn in population levels in these at risk areas? Are people slowly moving away or are population levels increasing?

I realise just moving away from everything you've ever known, just because something might or might not happen, is a major decision.

 

[pacu mom]

I never heard of Cascadia until two years ago. It was discovered about thirty years ago. Our whole neighborhood and surrounding area was organized and trained in emergency preparedness. (not a bad thing for any neighborhood) Food and water for 3-5 days was recommended to have on hand for any catastrophic event. At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, all the stores in our area were quickly wiped out of a lot of things. I could not find flour or dried beans, or any of the "essential" items. I read somewhere that stores could be emptied in a matter of a few hours during a panic. One doomsday prepper I met suggested an underground bunker for storage and living. He also suggested an ATV to drive out of an area. Several people recommended weapons to guard any food stash.

I am aware that if I am in town when the "big one" occurs, and I'm fortunate enough to survive, I will need to get to higher ground ASAP. The strange thing about all of this is that like everyone, we have worked hard for all the creature comforts. We have a whole house generator (actually purchased for the big fish tank). None of the stuff that makes our lives comfortable and easy will work in a catastrophic event. The stuff that I am accruing is primitive camping stuff to survive outside. It is almost like going completely backwards to think about living outside in harsh conditions. My chiropractor said having a couple of cords of wood to burn is part of his survival plan.

Part of our training was to gather important information--contacts, insurance policies, etc., and send them to someone you trust who lives several hundred miles from you. What if you were out shopping or at work, and a plane crashed into your house? The fiery crash burns and destroys everything you own including your boat and truck parked in your garage. Would you know your insurance policy numbers? I have scanned and copied every important document--insurance policies, titles, etc.. I have insurance information in my wallet and on a USB flash drive in my purse. I have copies of the documents in my grab and run backpack and saved in an album in Google photos (although I probably won't have internet access for months and the insurance companies will all be bankrupt in a catastrophic event) Still, in a lone plane crash event, the info would be handy.

I have been distracted by family illness and incapacitated by surgeries and a long recovery with weekly therapy, but the time has come to resume my prepper plans. We have a well below our house that needs a pump...going to need a portable solar generator and a water tank.... time to get serious and order all that food for 6 months...gotta get shelves for my storage container...hmm perhaps we can live in the container...get a solar generator and I can have creature comforts again....hope a fire doesn't come through first and burn everything up.....


I think that doomsday preppers with their bunkers in remote areas away from the Pacific northwest are really on to something. Having a food stash that can last for months is critical for survival. A nuclear event on our west coast will result in no food or supplies to our area. The pandemic proved that it doesn't take much to not have food. My brother lives in Southern CA. He couldn't find any bread in any of the stores he went to at the beginning of the pandemic.

Rats!!! I can still smell smoke. I missed open windows in two of our bathrooms...smoke...nasty stuff.

 

[pacu mom]

community 8 miles from us is evacuating because of a fast moving fire. We are at Level 1 alert (be prepared to evacuate) I have just contacted all the neighbors on our road that I have phone numbers for. what do you keep, and what do you walk away from?

 

[skjl47]

what do you keep, and what do you walk away from?

Hello; A few years ago my area was in an extreme drought for several months. Fires started breaking out all around. (That was the year a lot of places around Gatlinburg TN burned and a number of folks did not make it out in time. ) I was lucky in that no fires got close to me but I did put together some bug out supplies.

First thing was to make sure my pickup had a full tank of gas. I got into the habit of keeping my tanks at least half full decades ago, back when the tanks were made of metal. Not needed so much in the summer but a benefit in winter. The metal tanks would condense water out of the air inside a metal tank. The water would form a layer at the bottom of the tanks under the gasoline. This could get moisture in the fuel lines that would freeze up some in the cold and a vehicle would not start. The water would also rust the inside of a tank. Modern tanks are plastic and also sealed better. Still. the habit remains.

I made a bag of clothes enough for a few days. I put all the vital papers into a pouch. I had some cash in case I needed to buy a place to stay and credit cards did not work. I loaded some of my defensive items so they would not be lost. I use the storage method to do my water changes so have many gallons of tap water on hand, I planed to load several gallons in the truck. I also planed to take an extra container of fuel I keep on hand for my mower.
I have two pair of prescription glasses so planed to take both. All my prescription meds and things like aspirin and vitamins. Some easy to eat foods that do not need to be cooked.
My truck is no longer new so I always have a small box of tools in it. My Leatherman multitool on a belt. Some paper towels. Probably throw in a couple of fire extinguishers I keep near the wood stove. Some matches or lighters. Some flashlights. Not sure if I would but if I had time probably hitch up my boat just to try to save it and also it would give some more capacity to carry stuff.

I guess if a person has the room things like sleeping bags and sleeping mats. You might wind up in an emergency shelter and need a place to lay down.

My sincere hope is you do not have to leave. I also hope you do not have to make a tough choice about animals. The fish have to stay for sure so accept that early on. Furry pets can go with you, but big livestock I do not know what to say about.

Maybe set the bigger animals lose and hope they can find a way out. A poor choice but maybe a better chance than staying penned up.

Anyway I did not have a fire any closer to me than ten miles so I did not have to leave. The day Gatlinburg burned the weather forecast was for high winds in the mountains, over 60 MPH, so I knew some were to be in trouble. A fire in the Smoky Mt. National Park moved several miles in a hurry that day. Too many people did not take the wind into account and waited too long to start to leave. One irony turned out to be that the fire that burned Gatlinburg was set by two teenage boys. The state authorities decide to not prosecute as they were minors. State left it up to the Feds since the fire was started in the national park. I do not know what if anything was ever done about that. I guess the authorities decided those of us in the area did not need to know. To me if you start a fire not by accident, my understanding it was not an accident, and people die then some punishment is due.