[phoenixx]

OK, first off, I've not been active on the forums in almost 10 years. Not for any other reason than I just sort of stepped away from the Internet. Turned off social media channels, stopped using Gmail... just got tired of being plugged in. So, instead I chose to go online using a more secure method. This also means I've just been lurking in the forums for a decade fighting the urge to put in my $0.02 on a thousand different posts.

Fast forward 10 years. 10 years ago we lost our family home to fire, along with years worth of preps (The post for that is still here in the forums). Since then we rebuilt and then lost our home again in Hurricane Harvey in 2017. We then made the decision to move 12 hours away to another state (at the urging of my wife's family who lives here). But, I'm a programmer and we moved to an area where there's about as much use for programmers as a screen door on a submarine. I've found other ways to use my skills but the income is now about 1/3 of what I made 10 years ago.

Now for the reason for the post.

We predicted the pandemic 3 years before it actually hit. We still were not prepared. Call it burnout, call it whatever - but after losing our preps twice, we never rebuilt them. Now I'm back in full bore mode. I can't stop putting all of my plans together again to get back where we were. So - with that said - I've asked my family (1 son and 1 daughter still live with us 19yo / 12 yo) for an EMP simulation for my birthday weekend. But I'm not allowing any of us to make any special preps to do it. I want to know what our current status is and how well we could get through the first 48.

I'd like to get some input as to "curve balls" to throw at the simulation that we may not have thought of.

PS - It's really more of a winter prep drill, but I'm doing it as a full EMP drill. 3 years before we moved here they were without power for 12 days in a winter storm. I want us ready for winter.

My birthday is in mid October so it won't actually be cold here yet. It will likely be anywhere from 50-80 degrees.

 

[irv818]

OK, here's one that actually happened to me a few years ago.
Went into town for some groceries, and it started snowing.
Within about 15 minutes, it became obvious that there would be no way I could get back up the mountain without a snowmobile
(and this was in Ga., where we ain't got no snowmobiles!)
Had to check into a hotel for a couple days.
So, suppose one member of your family was "out" at the time your EMP hit?

 

[wilderness bushman]

agree that might be a good curve ,,,one that i think might be more telling is if you were the one away ,,,that way they would need to make different calls as it went ,,,at the end or during as you see mistakes ect talk to them explaining why /how you would do things different
it would also allow you to see where info /preps might help them out lacking your input,,you never know they might hit on ideas you didnt

 

[Clifffalling]

Well, if it's an EMP sim, that's a lot of curve balls in itself.
Put a few things on paper, ( propane valve dies, broken arm, flu/cold, sprained ankle, uncovering a food prep that went bad with mold, dog dies, bad guys show up, etc.) and throw them in a bowl. Everyone has to reach in and pick a piece of paper out at some point in the scenario. Then they/ you have to play it out according to what is drawn.

 

[Vinegar Joe]

OK, first off, I've not been active on the forums in almost 10 years. Not for any other reason than I just sort of stepped away from the Internet. Turned off social media channels, stopped using Gmail... just got tired of being plugged in. So, instead I chose to go online using a more secure method. This also means I've just been lurking in the forums for a decade fighting the urge to put in my $0.02 on a thousand different posts.

Fast forward 10 years. 10 years ago we lost our family home to fire, along with years worth of preps (The post for that is still here in the forums). Since then we rebuilt and then lost our home again in Hurricane Harvey in 2017. We then made the decision to move 12 hours away to another state (at the urging of my wife's family who lives here). But, I'm a programmer and we moved to an area where there's about as much use for programmers as a screen door on a submarine. I've found other ways to use my skills but the income is now about 1/3 of what I made 10 years ago.

Now for the reason for the post.

We predicted the pandemic 3 years before it actually hit. We still were not prepared. Call it burnout, call it whatever - but after losing our preps twice, we never rebuilt them. Now I'm back in full bore mode. I can't stop putting all of my plans together again to get back where we were. So - with that said - I've asked my family (1 son and 1 daughter still live with us 19yo / 12 yo) for an EMP simulation for my birthday weekend. But I'm not allowing any of us to make any special preps to do it. I want to know what our current status is and how well we could get through the first 48.

I'd like to get some input as to "curve balls" to throw at the simulation that we may not have thought of.

PS - It's really more of a winter prep drill, but I'm doing it as a full EMP drill. 3 years before we moved here they were without power for 12 days in a winter storm. I want us ready for winter.

My birthday is in mid October so it won't actually be cold here yet. It will likely be anywhere from 50-80 degrees.

Phoenixx,

My curve ball suggestion: You are a victim of fever, chills and still cold during a winter day and night.

The 19 yo and 12 yo will determine the outcome of the family.

 

[John Galt 1]

We do "no electricity" nights once or twice a year. This includes no battery powered devices. Propane and woodstove heating and cooking, oil lamps for lighting.

We do cheat and let the solar system run the well so the toilets will flush. It's actually quite romantic, I might flip the power off tonight and light a few oil lamps.

 

[John Galt 1]

Have your kids do all of the cooking.

 

[CarCrazy]

Vp Harris shows up at your front door demanding a place to stay because her limo died in the emp.......

and.......

she has an empty folder of President Trumps' marked top secret....

 

[Ghost863]

Vp Harris shows up at your front door

Or even worse, Kim Kardashian 😱

 

[goose3]

I really like @Vinegar Joe 's idea. You're incapacitated, now everyone else has to figure it out without you.

Here are a few others:

Whatever method you planned on to heat food is not working. Propane tanks ran out, whatever.

There is no water to flush toilets. How will you address hygiene issues?

The authorities raided your house, and took EVERYTHING in your pantry. Now what?

 

[Arik Pointer]

In February 2010, when I lived in Dallas, we had a blizzard. Not only did we lose power for a week, but we also ran into other problems.

The first night was fine. We could keep the living room warm by using the fireplace. All of us, except for one, slept in the living room. However, we only had enough firewood for one whole day.

On the second day, we sat out to go to a motel. The first thing wrong with that is we could not get our cars out because the street was blocked on both sides. Fortunately, a friend staying with us had parked her car half a block away. The other problem was finding a room, but we found a place in an old, run-down Motel 6. We did that for one night.

For the rest of the week, I stayed with my folks. That was fine until I realized I had left behind one of my prescription medications at home. I had to do without one of my medications for about a week.

 

[Arik Pointer]

Or even worse, Kim Kardashian 😱

I would rather have the Kardashians than Harris.

 

[BrianWorf]

You were outside when one of the HEMP nukes went off and were looking right at the spot where it exploded. You are now blind.

 

[Offrink]

Have the kids friends come over begging for food because they are hungry. Oh wait my kids friends do that all the time now.

 

[Old fart]

I like the idea of putting of curveballs on cards or pieces of paper and having family members draw.

Curveballs:

Someone didn't seal the faraday bag/container or it was flawed. No comms, no am/fm/weather radio, no dvd player, no book reader, no tablet or computer, no electronic games, rechargeable batteries with circuitry and USBs trashed, etc. Either from the initial EMP, or there was a second EMP event behind the first one intended to fry devices people pulled out from faraday protection. Might just "disable" items out of faraday protection when the second EMP hits.

Cat ate a dropped pill (do you only handle one tablet/capsule of one kind at a time, so you know what kind it was and how many? so you can figure out what, if anything, to do?)

They're trying to fix the grid, so your house alarm keeps going off as the power comes on and goes back off. Ditto low-tech lights. Electronics, such as refrigerator, washing machine, etc. are trashed, so nothing happening with them (or could they still catch on fire?)

Dirty clothes. Dirty people. Dirty dog(s).

What to do about the food in the fridge and freezer?

Someone messing with your car or something else outside.

Someone throws poison or poison food over the fence for your dog

Child wakes up scared in the dark

Whoever got up to use the bathroom in the dark tripped over something. Or the seat was left up and he or she fell into the toilet and is hurt, dirty, or embarrassed

Someone failed to turn off a flashlight or extinguish a candle.

It's Sunday morning and the car doesn't work. How do you get to and from church? Or do you have church at home?

Medical emergency requiring ER care (heart attack, stroke, major broken bone, psych emergency (flip out, suicidal, etc.), etc.

Minor illness or injury.

Out of feminine hygiene or TP

Sewer back-up due to power loss, pump failure, etc.

Garbage collection stops.


Maybe not all curveballs are bad (or maybe you have to intervene if family is suffering too much with nothing (more) to be learned or a real-world "regular" SHTF happens)

"Neighbor" comes over with spare generator (just like yours) that he had in his very large faraday cage.

"Neighbor" shares birthday cake with your family. Complete with candles and matches.

 

[Mrs.sardog]

I have seizures that come most times without more than a couple seconds warning and they can throw a curve ball into most anything.

I like all the ideas and suggestions. Sounds like a very fun, but stressful and learning experience. Please let us know what, how you all do if you do it.

 

[Arik Pointer]

Can an EMP knock out an LED flashlight? I don't know. Therefore, I prepped for that eventuality too. I keep two of my three MAG-LITE flashlights in an EMP-proof bag.

 

[film495]

if you're drawing cards, you could play - yeah, and EMP took everything out - and the radio is only playing an emergency braodcast telling you there is about 2 or 3 hours before the fallout radiotion hits, and you need to find a shelter to survive. you're not really going to go stay in some random building, but - if you had to identify one, and get there, it is not outside of a possible curve ball that could happen. also, if one of the family members was out shopping, how would you figure out what to do, or what instruction does that person have to know what to do? or one of the kids is at a freinds house, or at a school activity. or at school. do you or they - have any idea how to handle that situation? It is an interesting thing you are doing, becase we've all heard it, that whatever goes down, will not be a nice neat version of whatever plan you've put together.. there will be a need to adapt, or - anyone involved in a real world scenario will quickly realize pieces of the puzzle were left out, that could have made a difference.

 

[PA_Robert]

Any gear test periodically is a good idea.

An EMP, IMO, that means society isn't coming back anytime soon. In a regional, short term SHTF event we see people helping each other and it doesn't get "foul" in most cases. But that's because people know it's not the end of the world and "life as they know it" will be back soon.

The first 48 hours could be an assessment of preps and how long they will last, and how you may need to stretch them because an EMP is a long term SHTF event. An EMP also means people will probably get "foul" pretty quick because there is no light at the end of the tunnel (my speculation).

Depending on your neighborhood, is it feasible to bug in?, if so how do you spread out your supplies (all of them-food, medical, guns-ammo, clothes, etc) so not all your eggs are in one basket (loss to fire, raiders, etc). How do you set up 24/7 watches? Light/noise discipline. Where would you cook? (cooking at your Bug in location is not a good idea after a couple/few weeks).

If you have to Bug out........What is the indicator/trigger that says it is time (make sure you don't wait too long and everyone knows what it is), where do you go?, how do you move your stuff? What routes are best?

 

[Ghost863]

I would rather have the Kardashians than Harris.

I wouldn't want either. I'm tired of drama and try to stay away from people because of their drama. Harris is a liberal so she has her own drama and the Kardashians make their money from the drama they create. So both can take a long walk off of a short pier as far as I'm concerned.