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1. A last minute shopping run during a “pandemic?”

   Let’s see what’s on the “list?” Oh yeah, all the stuff we should have been accumulating all along, and also some smallpox to go with it!

   “Isolation” only works if your ISOLATED.

   In a pandemic you run with what you got, no last minute trips to “walmart” to take care of things you should have been doing all along. You going to risk infection for a couple more rolls of TP?

2. R.Henry…I believe the author of the article is well aware of the importance of isolation during a pandemic. A pandemic begins as a small isolated health concern, which then spreads to other areas and people. I would guess there might be a safe window of time for those who are unprepared to make some last minute purchases. The author has made some very good points and is attempting to assist ALL of us with preparedness efforts.

   1. There is no safe window in pandemics, unless you know exactly what virus caused the pandemics to exact strain and you are a virologist. Even then there is possibility that the virus was tampered with and will have different latency time than usual.

3. The New Madrid fault is a real threat. However, the major earthquakes on the fault were in 1811-1812 not 1859 (that was the Carrington Event).

   1. It still moved the Mississipi river 20 miles! KILLED a estimated 100,000 people when it was a lightly populated area. It would cut the country in half and be almost as bad as a full grid down situation.

4. I like the hammer in the belt. No chance of having the staff at the store asking us to please leave,like happened to one of our ladies who is licensed for concealed carry- at Costco. Yes when a pandemic starts (in the US) I’ll be doing my last minute topping off of supplies—not during the event though.

   I’d like to tip you all off on NEW greenback availablity. I did my monthly request at my bank branch and found out they only request new bills at Christmas time!!! I just got the last of their 5’s. They only have packs of new $100’s available, all the rest are gone. No more 5/10/20/50’s will be coming in to them this year.

   If you want bills that aren’tattered and will feed into gasoline dispensers, etc., after hours (the night of an event) get the new ones.

   And R. Henry if you are prepped you should should have a good stockage of the better quality N95 masks- for pandemic, volcanic ash and heavy smoke- as well as other protective clothing like some Tyvek suits. I lived through the St Helens ashfall in 1980. When we looked at the ash with microscopes, it was shaped exactly like long, trochar-pointed knives. It took very little to cause lung and bronchial problems.

   I have a full page of Last Chance items in my binder. if you haven’t done one yet, gitterdun. When I did mine there were quite a few items I realized I needed, and now have many crossed off list and added to inventory.

   But everyone should keep an updated list of what their last chance to shop items are. Make it comprehensive and know that it’s likely you may not get even a third of the list bought in a panic time. But regularly expiring expendables should be on it. And ice cream, and a last pound of fresh butter. Get your last gallon of your favorite ice cream into your tummy before the power goes out or contamination gets into the cow feed. Take WF’s word on that. My year in Afghanistan, those are the two things I missed the most.

   My Last Chance list includes biological warfare-= rats, mice, mosquitoes, racoons, birds, slugs and garden pests are all real threats to food supply and health. So livetraps, anti-bird depredation netting, slug bait, BB’s, mousetraps and bait, wasp spray, Benadryl, rolls of plastic sheeting and more black bags, and such items are ones I may grab in addition to freshening up expired/expiring items like medicines and filling other shortages.

   I keep getting this mental image in my head that this is the 3rd Fat Cow year. I cannot explain it but feel it. See Genesis 41:17-27. Anyhow, best wishes to you all and God Bless from the PNW.

   W.F.

5. You repeat a common misconception about Hurricane Katrina. Please back it up with some reputable sources. Two books in my library, A Paradise Built in Hell by Rebecca Solnit and The Unthinkable: Who Survives when Disaster Strikes–and Why by Amanda Ripley claim that the lamestream media reported mostly the scary incidents and (as usual) neglected the stories of compassion and heroism. You don’t have to follow their example. You already have our attention.

6. New Orleans levies started to fail the day before the storm,it was a story of incompetence by local leaders but also political revenge by Pres Bush. When local leaders andstate Governors are on tv begging for help and being ignored or help being stopped(my Marine unit had 3 people with boats that volunteered to help but all were told not to go or face punishment)

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