Happy Fourth of July America
This Friday, July 4th is the day in America we celebrate our Independence Day! What does it mean to you and your family? Growing up with my father in the United States Army who fought in several wars and defended our freedom and a mother who was very patriotic and loved this country, we as children were taught to respect, honor and love our country, the United States of America. As I have mentioned before, everyday we fly the American Flag in front of your home to remind us and others of the sacrifices that have been made for the freedoms we enjoy. It is our duty as citizens of this great nation to continue to defend those freedoms! So many people come to this United States of America to be free from the things they face in their own countries. All of us in the United States of America have ancestors who have come here for freedom, for peace.,for freedom of religion and for safety. This nation was founded on inspiration from our Heavenly Father. The men who wrote and signed the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights were inspired by God. May we always stand tall and defend freedom of speech, freedom of religion and all of the freedoms and laws our forefathers set up in the the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights! May we teach our children and our grandchildren to be respectful and to honor this great country and to be patriotic! I am proud to be an American!
Water!
It's not looking good for California!
Meteorologist and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are saying the El Nino in the Pacific Ocean, which usually predicts our rainfall for the Winter, at first appeared to be strengthening. Now it is weakening quiet quickly. An El Nino usually means a heavy rainfall, an La Nina usually means a lighter rainfall.
For those of us in California, and others are invited too, this Sunday, July 6th, is Fast Sunday for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Please fast this Sunday for the much needed rain in the coming seasons. Our reservoirs, rivers, streams, lakes, dams, and mountain snow packs are extremely low due to our several years of drought.
"You cannot steer a parked car . . .
let the Lord guide you"
I love this quote! One of our daughters shared this with us this week. A speaker in their Ward Sacrament Meeting made this statement. What does this statement mean to you? It can mean many things in many different areas of our life.
We each have thing in our life we struggle thorough and cannot seem to move forward with. When I talk with people one of them, of course, seems to be food and water storage and emergency preparedness. It is overwhelming to them and they cannot get started. The first step is pray individually and as a family for guidance and direction, the Lord will guide you. But, we must do our part too by moving and not sitting in parked car. Purchase some extra cans of food each time you go grocery shopping. It is a start. Continue to add to it and before you know if you will have a week, a month or 2-6 months supply of canned foods. Something is better than nothing. Note: Remember to store a hand can opener with the canned foods, your electric can opener will not work if there is no electricity. The next several months we are going to work on food storage for our Monthly Assignment. See below.
Weekly
Assignment: Family Emergency Medical Kits
Many of us have some sort
of medical supplies in our homes like band-aids, alcohol, peroxide,
anti-infection creams, pain killers, etc.. Some of us have limited
first-aid kits in our cars and home that we probably have not checked
in months, years. Medications do expire!
If there was a major disaster or emergency situation would you have the proper emergency medical supplies to take care of you, your family and help your neighbors. I would say most of us do not! Right?
The next few weeks we are going to work on our Family Emergency Medical Kit. We have done this before but I am sure there are some of you who did not do it, never completed it and some things need to be replaced due to expiration dates. Some of these items can be found at discount stores and drug stores. Make sure you check the expiration dates before purchasing them, you want them to last for at least a year or more.
Note: Make sure you keep this out of the reach of your young children and explain to the family is your Family Emergency Medical Kit/Supplies. If you need to use an items from it, make sure you replace it right away!
If there was a major disaster or emergency situation would you have the proper emergency medical supplies to take care of you, your family and help your neighbors. I would say most of us do not! Right?
The next few weeks we are going to work on our Family Emergency Medical Kit. We have done this before but I am sure there are some of you who did not do it, never completed it and some things need to be replaced due to expiration dates. Some of these items can be found at discount stores and drug stores. Make sure you check the expiration dates before purchasing them, you want them to last for at least a year or more.
Note: Make sure you keep this out of the reach of your young children and explain to the family is your Family Emergency Medical Kit/Supplies. If you need to use an items from it, make sure you replace it right away!
This week add the following:
(You can purchase these at discount, department and drug stores, but
what the expiration dates at the discount stores)
1) Adhesive bandage tape, hypoallergenic, 1 inch--store as much as you think you will need for your
family. 
2) Triangular bandages (3)--make you own from left over fabric or from old clothes, hem, size should be at least 36x36. This is used for a sling, to wrap a wound or help make a splint.
New New New Monthly Assignment for July
July Monthly Assignment . . . Food Storage
For the next several months we are going to work on Food Storage. Each month we will work on one aspect of food storage, canned vegetables, fruits, soups, packages items like pastas, pancake mixes, etc., and many other items. Hopefully, with this process you will discover how easy it is to set up and add to your food storage.
Great ideas on food storage--I found this great blog article on EmergencyEssentials.com regarding "12 Dos and Don'ts of Food Storage". If you click on the worksheets at the bottom of this article after #12 there are some great work sheets to help you determine how and what to store in your food storage and some questionnaires that will help you too. Click here to read the details about each one listed below and to find the worksheets.
1) Do carefully plan your food storage supply.
2) Do build a menu.
3) Do store basic ingredients first. (Canned foods are easiest to store first, then work on the most expensive like dehydrated and freeze-dried foods.)
4) Do eat what you store and store what you eat.
5) Do store food based on special needs for family members.
6) Do store your food storage in a cool (70 degrees or lower), dry and dark place.
7) Don't let yourself get overwhelmed.
8) Don't think yo have too little space to store food.
9) Don't store you food near chemicals or cleaning products.
10) Don't use non-food-grade plastic containers to store food.
11) Don't wait until an emergency to learn to cook with freeze-dried and dehydrated foods.
12) Don't forget to store food for your pets.
Note: We have discussed the items above many times in this blog over the years.
July Monthly Assignment:
1) Print out the worksheets after #12 above. There are 5 worksheets.
2) Keep track for a month of what your family eats, including eating out, and the ingredients it takes to make those meals and snacks.
3) Once you have calculated what your family eats in a month, figure out how much of those food items you will need to store for the number of weeks or months goal you have set. As we work on different items each month you will have a goal of how many cans of vegetables, etc. you will need to work towards.
2) Do build a menu.
3) Do store basic ingredients first. (Canned foods are easiest to store first, then work on the most expensive like dehydrated and freeze-dried foods.)
4) Do eat what you store and store what you eat.
5) Do store food based on special needs for family members.
6) Do store your food storage in a cool (70 degrees or lower), dry and dark place.
7) Don't let yourself get overwhelmed.
8) Don't think yo have too little space to store food.
9) Don't store you food near chemicals or cleaning products.
10) Don't use non-food-grade plastic containers to store food.
11) Don't wait until an emergency to learn to cook with freeze-dried and dehydrated foods.
12) Don't forget to store food for your pets.
Note: We have discussed the items above many times in this blog over the years.
July Monthly Assignment:
1) Print out the worksheets after #12 above. There are 5 worksheets.2) Keep track for a month of what your family eats, including eating out, and the ingredients it takes to make those meals and snacks.
3) Once you have calculated what your family eats in a month, figure out how much of those food items you will need to store for the number of weeks or months goal you have set. As we work on different items each month you will have a goal of how many cans of vegetables, etc. you will need to work towards.
Emergency Preparedness Ideas
Steps to take after a disaster or emergency situation . . .
1) Your Priorities: Take care of your family and home first using your personal disaster plan and supplies. Help your neighbors next. It may be days before help from anyone arrives. Once your family's safety and basic needs are met, proceed with the steps bolow.
2) Gather Information: Use email, text messaging, radio, face-to-face contact, and written messages to assess the needs of family, church members and others who live nearby. Avoid placing voice calls unless you need to call 911 for someone with significant injuries or illness. If power is unavailable save your batteries by turning your cell phone or radio off when not in use.
3) Report Your Findings: If you belong to a church or other group that has an emergency plan set up, report your findings to your leaders.
4) Emergency Shelters: Plan on sheltering at your home using your own disaster preparedness supplies. While the use of church buildings, park recreation halls, schools, the Red Cross as temporary community shelters may be needed, you should not plan for it as your first choice.
5) Out of State Contact Person: Make sure your contact information and your out of state contact person's information is updated as needed. Also, confirm that your cell phone numbers and email addresses are listed correctly on your church records.
6) Disaster Information Sources: For the Los Angeles County, California area tune to AM 1070, 980, or 640 or satellite emergency radio at SIRUS XM channel 184 or 247 to receive disaster emergency broadcast communications. If your electricity is working you may find your local television channels broadcasting emergency information. Other resourses--
hhtp://newsroom.redcross.org
https://safeandwell.communityos.org
http://www.fema.gove/disaster-survivor-assistance
http://www.google.org/crisisresponse/
https://www.facebook.com/DisasterRelief
http://local.nixie.com/zipcode/90275/ (or your zip code)
Keep all these numbers and websites in a safe place with your family emergency/disaster plan. If you live in other areas, find out what your emergency radio stations and websites are and keep them with your family emergency/disaster plan.
(Note: Some of the above information comes from a brochure put out by the Palos Verdes California Stake Disaster Communications Plan, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints)
Steps to take after a disaster or emergency situation . . .
1) Your Priorities: Take care of your family and home first using your personal disaster plan and supplies. Help your neighbors next. It may be days before help from anyone arrives. Once your family's safety and basic needs are met, proceed with the steps bolow.
2) Gather Information: Use email, text messaging, radio, face-to-face contact, and written messages to assess the needs of family, church members and others who live nearby. Avoid placing voice calls unless you need to call 911 for someone with significant injuries or illness. If power is unavailable save your batteries by turning your cell phone or radio off when not in use.
3) Report Your Findings: If you belong to a church or other group that has an emergency plan set up, report your findings to your leaders.
4) Emergency Shelters: Plan on sheltering at your home using your own disaster preparedness supplies. While the use of church buildings, park recreation halls, schools, the Red Cross as temporary community shelters may be needed, you should not plan for it as your first choice.
5) Out of State Contact Person: Make sure your contact information and your out of state contact person's information is updated as needed. Also, confirm that your cell phone numbers and email addresses are listed correctly on your church records.
6) Disaster Information Sources: For the Los Angeles County, California area tune to AM 1070, 980, or 640 or satellite emergency radio at SIRUS XM channel 184 or 247 to receive disaster emergency broadcast communications. If your electricity is working you may find your local television channels broadcasting emergency information. Other resourses--
hhtp://newsroom.redcross.org
https://safeandwell.communityos.org
http://www.fema.gove/disaster-survivor-assistance
http://www.google.org/crisisresponse/
https://www.facebook.com/DisasterRelief
http://local.nixie.com/zipcode/90275/ (or your zip code)
Keep all these numbers and websites in a safe place with your family emergency/disaster plan. If you live in other areas, find out what your emergency radio stations and websites are and keep them with your family emergency/disaster plan.
(Note: Some of the above information comes from a brochure put out by the Palos Verdes California Stake Disaster Communications Plan, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints)
Comments:
Please post your comments below. Share your personal
experiences with food and water storage and emergency preparedness.
We can all learn from each other.
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