J.S. from Nampa: 1st aid preparedness

I prefer to make my own first aid kits because I can tailor them to my specific needs. I use 2 references mostly the SAS Survival Guide and FM 21-11 Army first aid. The SAS book you can get at Amazon or almost any book store. FM 21-11 is available at http://www.brooksidepress.org/Products/OperationalMedicine/DATA/operationalmed/Manuals/1stAidforSoldiers/fm2111.html for free; all you have to do is bookmark it or print it out.

My favorite store for items is the Dollar store. You can get some great buys and you might be surprised at all they offer. Just remember products tend to rotate in and out rather quickly so if you have a product you like buy as much as you can afford when it’s in stock.

1. Small 1st aid kits: Usually a few bandages, some alcohol pads and a pain killer of some sort.

These are great for the car, boat or RV. A lot of injuries will be small ones but you will need to treat them right away to prevent infections.

2. Splints: Popsicle sticks are great splints for fingers and toes. Newspapers can be used to immobilize a limb.

3. Tape and Ace bandages: Great for sprains, broken bones and pressure bandages.

4.Chemical heat and cold packs: These items are great at relieving pain, reducing swelling and don’t need electricity. The heat packs are good for warming in case of a chill, and cold packs for a fever.

5. Hydrogen Peroxide, Rubbing Alcohol, and Iodine/Betadine, great for cleaning the areas around the wound. Don’t put in the wound!!

6. Epson salts great for soothing sore muscles and assists with pain of muscle or soft tissue injuries.

7.Medications: Benadryl or a generic equivalent a must can help with allergies, Anaphylactic shock and a sleep aid. Also works for dogs. Pain killers Aspirin for adults a blood thinner, good for heart attack and stroke if taken immediately. Good pain killer for dogs as well. I use the 81 mg version for my dogs. I have small dogs so about 81 mg per 15-20 pounds is the dosage. Ibuprophen (Advil) or Acetaminophen (Tylenol) for humans. Watch the dosage especially on Acetaminophen. Liver damage from high dosage.

8. Caring for someone sick or injured: Masks you can get cheap masks at the dollar store or go to a Home store and get the N95 type mask, Doggie training pads, can be place on the beds to protect against body fluids. Bleach, diluted bleach kills just about every bug out there, have a small wash basin to clean hands. Soap a 30 second wash with plain ole soap is great to prevent the spread of infection. Sing the ABC song while you wash and you are at 30 seconds.

9. Odds and ends: Calamine lotions or a Hydrocortisone cream for skin irritations, I like the arthritis creams for local pain relief. A Neosporin type cream for small wounds. Some cough medicine and Pepto-Bismol for stomach upset. What ever you need for yourself.

10. Gauze bandages great for most any wound. When you think you have enough buy about 10% more. They don’t spoil and when you need them few items will do as well in there place.

Remedies from the Kitchen

1. Dried Rosemary is great for a persistent cough. Just boil some water, place the rosemary in it and then breathe in the steam. Works for dogs as well.

2. Honey Anti- bacterial and great as a cough syrup ingredient. Place honey on a scratch or around the wound. Real honey not corn syrup with a honey flavor added. Also Honey seems to help folks with allergies. Just get local honey where folks have an allergy.

3. Lemon juice is a natural expectorant, Place a teaspoon of honey and 1 oz. of lemon juice and 1 oz. of whiskey in an 8 oz. cup top off with hot water. One of the best cough suppressants I have tried. Plus it makes being sick a hell of a lot more fun. If you don’t drink, use a calming tea instead of hot water.

4. Real Chicken Soup. I prefer using baked chicken as my stock starter. I place it in a crock pot and mix in carrots, celery, onion and garlic. Let it slow cook for 6-12 hours and then strain. Save broth in an Ice cube trays or in freezer bags. Home made stock is a great starter for any meal and real chicken stock is proven to help with colds. Also if you have seafood shells from shrimp or crab makes a great starter liquid for chowders or boil or bake off bones from fish.

5. Baking soda and salts, I prefer a Kosher or Redmond’s Sea salt, you can mix up an electrolyte fluid for sick folks and works great for low blood pressure. Also baking soda can be used for acid indigestion.

6. Agave Syrups can help stabilize diabetics and lasts nearly forever. Plus it has got a great flavor for Latino recipes that require a sweet.

7. If you have roses save the rose hips and you can make rose hip tea. A great source of Vitamin C.

8. I like the SAS book because it has many natural remedies in it and they are easily made into medicines.

9.Ciders and vinegars are great source of vitamin C and are great multi-taskers. You can clean windows, pickle, can and brine plus add flavor with them. Make sure you get real vinegars and not the imitations with flavors added. Costs a bit more but the benefits outweigh the costs.

10. http://www.vintagerecipes.net/recipes/nonfood_recipes/ Great site for old cookbooks and stuff you need to make your way in a non-tech world.

As you can see I love multi-taskers. I prefer to get as many uses out of any product I have planted, bought or fixed in place. I’m looking a raspberry and blackberries as a defense for my windows and entry ways. Growing Concertina wire and I get the berries as well, what’s not to love?

You have to make it difficult for folks to attack you, sorry to say the criminals will go look for an easier mark than you if you are ready and prepped. Don’t advertise what you have as far as goods. Advertise you got weapons and defenses in place. My pets are part of my plan, the need prep as we do an extra bag of food, a cat box, doggie pads blankets treat and pillows for them is important.

Life is complicated enough no need to suffer if you have an alternative. That’s why I prep; I have suffered from MRE’s and not having real home-made comfort food. So bring on the beans and ham hocks, dirty rice, fried chicken and gravy. Gosh I love those comfort foods and those right now are the cheapest to buy. May not be the best for the body but they are good for the soul.

Another reason to "bee" prepared

According to this article, "about one-third of the human diet is from plants that require pollination from honeybees, which means everything from apples to zucchini", so the news given in the same article that bees are not doing well is not good, (an understatement) for many reasons. If fewer food products and less honey are being produced, the more of each category that you have on hand, the better off you will be. You may notice that Idaho's claim to fame in this article is that the beehive owner featured keeps his hives in Idaho Falls for part of the year.....

Speaking of pictures, the one in the heading is from Craters of the Moon, a spot in Idaho where there are remnants of the activity of a once-active volcano. Thanks to T.D., who suggested in an e-mail that I put a picture of scenic Idaho. It took me awhile, but there it is. I actually had planned to put up a picture from a totally different location, but technology wasn't cooperating this morning. This picture was actually taken awhile ago when we went there on a family outing. Now that I know how to add pictures in the heading, there will probably be changes periodically, because Idaho is a truly beautiful place....