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Survival of the – Well… Luckiest?

When the SHTF – what do I do? Part 6

Ric Black

April 17, 2015

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I have my water filtration situation all set or as best that I can be prepared, what now?

This may or may not be what you would choose to write but its mine.

Shelter

What is the perfect shelter?

I had a heated discussion with a friend about this and when I explained my point he shook his head and said I guess that’s true. His argument was food.

I said you can go without food for three (3) weeks but go without a warm or dry place for more than a couple days you’re in big trouble.

You don’t have to be in winter weather to be in a hazardous situation when exposed to the elements, you can be on a beach in southern Florida and the darkness comes, it’s hot and humid with a slight breeze, sounds nice doesn’t it? Don’t be fooled by the warm climate it can get you sick after a couple days. This constant exposure to heat can cause sun stroke, and give you a fever that can raise your body temperature to a danger point. Constant exposure to warm, humid air can cause you to get pneumonia from excess moisture in your lungs that your body cannot exhale as it normally would.

In a colder weather scenario your bodies core temperature would begin to get lower this is called hypothermia. This will kill you quick.

OK you said those things and I get it what is next?

If you’re preparing to be home or brick and mortar structure bound that solves one problem if it is not allowing outside temperatures to affect the room you’re in. If it stays moderately comfortable 55 – 75 degrees and relatively dry is the important part.

The part about a home or brick and mortar structure is hygiene or lack of from urine, feces and mold. Any structure no matter how elegant when not properly ventilated can begin to grow mold spores in furnishings, carpets, bedding and any fabrics. This can make you sick over time.

The feces can cause airborne contaminants that can make you mortally ill in a few days. Using the bathroom; for either of your bodily functions. Dig a hole; do your business and cover it with dirt at least 100-feet from a water source.

If you see someone taking a piss in the water source shoot that stupid ass because he may have just condemned you all to a sure sickness.

You’ll forgive my emotionless message here or not when it comes to special needs and treatment for children, they need to be treated the same as adults no difference or just give it up, you are going to die for dam sure because your being stupid.

Not all children are ignorant, can’t do anything for themselves short people – give them a break and try explaining the situation they too can be taught and understand more than you think, it’s just dumb assed parents too stupid to realize this.

OK I ranted let’s move on.

Tents:

Tents for shelter – yes this is a good answer. They need to be portable, easy to set up, have a self-contained floor, sealable door and windows and a rain fly.

The best tent is a four (4) man dome tent. These little gems are decently roomy, a breeze for any knucklehead to set up in 10-minutes and lightweight under 10-pounds.

You’re saying yeah but I have a family so you buy additional tents one for every two people in your party. You need sleeping and storage areas and two people take up a lot of room when you include a decent sized loaded 50# backpack and other personal gear.

Standing up in a tent – not important it’s mostly for staying out of inclement weather and for sleeping.

A decent Coleman Sundome 4-man dome tent from Wal-Mart is under $60, weights 10 pounds is over 8 feet in diameter and 5 feet tall so you can comfortably kneel to spread your sleeping bag. Plenty of room for you, your gear and an additional person hopefully not ‘I have gas’ Uncle Bob.

Sure you can buy bigger tents for spacious accommodations but someone has to carry that extra weight and you give up being able to carry food and water when you do, a very stupid choice when your goals are to stay alive.

Tents are absolutely the most convenient shelter you can have on hand at any time.

Wilderness Shelter

When you’re trapped outside with exposure to the elements rain, cold temps or all of the above you need to get to shelter quickly.

People when asked if they were caught in the open without shelter what would you do?

One said find the nearest evergreen with low boughs and climb under laying on the fallen pine needles, sounds practical and quick and if you have something to stop the ground from robbing you of your body’s heat you’d be ok like a blanket or sleeping bag.

The ground will rob you of your body heat quickly causing you to feel really cold and making you sick.

Quick Lean-to Shelter

I always recommend in an emergency situation to lash a pole between two trees about three feet off the ground with anything you can tie them with rope, string or long thin pliable vines. The gather tree branches about 4-feet long and lay them at a 45 degree angle against the pole in numerous layers and covering them with as many fallen leaves until the roof begins to show its bearing weight then stop as this will shed water. Take as many dry leaves as you can and pile them high inside this shelter and again gather yourself bushy limbs off trees and bushes and pile them on top of the leaves as high as is possible. Once this is done climb in with a wiggling motion under the branches but on top of the leaf bed and your body heat will be kept in and you alive.

This shelter should take 10-15 minutes to build and the bed area in an additional 15 minutes but will sustain you in case of no other means available to you.

I can get into setting up a camp but not yet because it’s not pertinent in the course of my discussion.