Part 13 - Not Kibble, But Bits

In the house, we have two water reservoirs happening in the attics. (Attics? Plural? Yes. Move on.) Since nobody or nothing goes near them, we haven't given much thought to them, other than a monthly check (and drain when they approach maximum capacity). Despite that, my wife asked me the other day what happens if one springs a leak? Well, we have patch kits for bicycle tires. Those would work. So, now we keep a patch kit in the attic.

That night, I got to thinking, that yes, we could, in the very unlikely situation where a small hole develops in one of the mattresses, fix the hole. A tear, unfortunately, would be catastrophic to the mattress. It's even more unlikely, but, as Lloyd said in Dumb 'n Dumber, "So you're saying there's a chance!" I went out and bought two more king-sized mattresses. Then, when I got home and put them away, I went out and bought two more of every other part of the system. And changed the filters, too.

And since it's still fresh in my mind, I should mention the other attic situation: our food supply. Yes, canned/jarred food can last quite some time. But if you don't use it before it "expires", then it's just waste. So, we are rotating out old food and bringing in fresh. If we fall behind in our rotation (because we're sick of eating something), then the local food bank benefits. (No, the food hasn't spoiled when they get it.) One thing this has helped us do, however, is to prepare a more varied survival menu. It's not all beans, peaches, and creamed corn up there.

I bet you're now asking yourself why he even bothers with the house when he's got a Northern Fortress. The answer is simple: most zombie outbreaks won't be Armageddon. We can stay at home, and survive, for up to a year in our home. At any point before then, we can make the pilgrimage up North. In fact, re-reading the survival guide, I was reminded that doing just that is recommended. We've all seen catastrophe movies where everybody is trying to get out of town at the same time. What good comes from that, unless you're at the front of the line? Nothing. Traffic jams. Panic. Looting. Mob mentality. It all adds up to zombie smorgasbord. Your best bet is to wait it out. Any trip to the North, won't happen immediately. No, we'll sit tight, hold the fort, and keep the home fires burning. If we're not up North in a year? Call the president.

In the previous post, I spoke about electrical needs. I wasn't clear on one item, and completely skipped another.

The "hydro-electric" system we've installed isn't the Hoover Dam. It's not even "small scale". There's a name for it: micro hydro. On a good day, we're generating close to 40kw. To put that in perspective, my home, in the winter, averages about 60kw/h per day. I'm pretty frugal with the heat and lights, too. The best use for it, we've found, is to keep the batteries charged up to early winter and after early spring. (The stream is just small enough to almost completely freeze up in the winter, that far North.) We might be able to improve on the system, but as it stands, there's no need.

The one thing I forgot to mention regarding electricity is the human-dynamo element. We have a few stationary bikes set up so that if you want to watch TV, or listen to music, or use a computer, then you must sit on the bike. There's also a mandatory 60 minute "ride" that everybody must do, every day. Not only does this help top up batteries (if you're not doing one of the aforementioned activities), but it also helps with the old cardiovascular system.

Next update I'll talk about escape planning.