My guide to surviving the zombie apocalypse

[kikismom]

My plan is to grab my stuff as soon as it looks like the ZA has started, hide behind a tree near bravelittletoasters home, and follow every step of the way.

[bravelittletoaster]

Making you all think I was some sort of incompetent free love hippie was just part of the master plan, obv.

[SpaghettiTuesdays]

On a board on a survivalist site, we all made a pact to meet up at one member's commune in Idaho. Maybe we should do something similar. At any rate, we have TWD in common and could talk about that for ages.

[walnutqueen]

Making you all think I was some sort of incompetent free love hippie was just part of the master plan, obv.

 

bravelittletoaster - I never bought it.  All the free love hippies I knew were extremely competent.

 

SpaghettiTuesdays - I love the idea of a commune, but I've seen that Catfish show.  :-)

[SpaghettiTuesdays]

Why wait? Let's start it now.

I don't actually look like Tobias Funke. I am just  your averaged 20 something woman who enjoys the outdoors. There, I can't catfish anyone.

[kikismom]

Hey, I just found out that you can make an explosive out of milk powder. videos on youtube. In case of a ZA I might keep some around, you can't always count on seeing boxes of it just lying out in the open. (giggle)

Edited April 6, 2014 by kikismom

[Bec]

If Burn Notice has taught me anything, it is that you can make explosives out of just about anything.

I guess milk powder doubles as your food source and your ammo then.

Seems to me going on the road gets a lot of people killed. What's with all the corpses in cars? How were those people killed? Maybe some nervous person opened fire on everyone on the road? Maybe there was a zombie herd on the road, they got trapped in their cars and died without food and water? Or it got hot and they were roasted alive in their cars?

Yeah, I think I'm better off staying put, even though my house is not a fortress, it's only a typical suburban house. Sure, we've seen corpses in houses, too, but it looks like they died less horribly compared to the ones on the road.

And Morgan was doing pretty well (survival-wise) clearing Rick's old neighborhood with his pointy sticks, despite being crazed with grief.

Sometimes I wonder if Rick & co. would have been better off going back to Rick's hometown where Morgan has so nicely cleared out a lot of the zombies.

[SoonerGrl]

I agree that a big box store seems too obvious, but what about a distribution center? I live about 60 miles away from a coastal area with a large number of military installations, and about 5 miles from a "commerce park" that's home to the distribution centers for a major hardware company, the Navy Exchange, and who knows what else. My immediate plan in the ZA is to fortify my home and wait out the first few waves of destruction. Then I will take a quick little jaunt over to the commerce park with my trusty set of bolt cutters and see what's laying around. The facilities are gated, trucker zombies don't seem very threatening to me, and I think it have enough supplies to survive (relatively) comfortably for quite a while.

Edited May 11, 2014 by SoonerGrl

[eejm]

I agree that a big box store seems too obvious, but what about a distribution center? I live about 60 miles away from a coastal area with a large number of military installations, and about 5 miles from a "commerce park" that's home to the distribution centers for a major hardware company, the Navy Exchange, and who knows what else. My immediate plan in the ZA is to fortify my home and wait out the first few waves of destruction. Then I will take a quick little jaunt over to the commerce park with my trusty set of bolt cutters and see what's laying around. The facilities are gated, trucker zombies don't seem very threatening to me, and it think I will have enough supplies to survive (relatively) comfortably for quite a while.

 

You know, Mr. eejm and I were talking about distribution centers too.  There is a massive Wal-Mart distribution a couple of hours from where I used to live in Iowa; I'd think that would be a great place to hit at the very beginning of the ZA for supplies.  It would be a tough place to defend in the long run, unless a group would only take part of it and section it off from walkers and/or others.  It had a lot of land around it, so I'm sure a group could grow crops much like Rick and the gang did at the prison.

 

Speaking of prisons, that would probably still be one of the safest places to go and theoretically defensible from both walkers and other groups.  This prison near my hometown would be absolutely outstanding if the ZA happened right this minute because there are currently no inmates and few employees.  

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomson_Correctional_Center

 

It was built as a state penitentiary about 15 years ago, but budget cuts and other problems prevented it from being fully opened.  The state of Illinois sold it to the federal government a couple of years ago, and they are in the midst of converting it into a maximum security federal prison.  So it's barely used, close to new, no one is there, and it is heavily fortified.  The only problem is that we now live two states away.

[millahnna]

Rule of thumb for the ZA; avoid anyplace that has a huge chunk of people already there or headed there (which sucks since I'm in a 2 square mile block of apartments right across the street from a hospital, see ya when I'm noshing on brains).  This means hospitals, cop shops, fire houses, box stores, grocery stores, all of those are out.  This is just normal zombie lore stuff.  The bit I added to this (because I'm obsessed with the ZA to the point of absurdity) is that if any two people have come up with a seemingly uncommon idea, then I guarantee at least two more have, too.  Whatever it is might work, but it's either wait it out for a few months or zerg rush it.  Either way, your odds aren't good.  So if you're holding on to that super secret escape plan and someone else mentions the same idea, ditch it.  More people have thought of it too and it's screwed. 

 

If I were still in Sacramento I'd have no problem.  I lived there the longest of anywhere and know every single weird bike path you can find out of that the Downtown/Midtown grid area of the town (which means I can get out of every other area of the town).  Most people will be in cars.  I'll be peddling my ass out of Midtown at a leisurely pace (i.e. sweating buckets).  But alas I moved to Oregon and don't know the lay of the land nearly as well. 

[xaxat]

CONPLAN 8888, the US military plan to deal with zombies. Seriously. 

 

Incredibly, the Defense Department has a response if zombies attacked and the armed forces had to eradicate flesh-eating walkers in order to "preserve the sanctity of human life" among all the "non-zombie humans." Buried on the military's secret computer network is an unclassified document, obtained by Foreign Policy, called "CONOP 8888." It's a zombie survival plan, a how-to guide for military planners trying to isolate the threat from a menu of the undead -- from chicken zombies to vegetarian zombies and even "evil magic zombies" -- and destroy them.

ETA, I've always thought that the farmers of the Northern Plains states would become kings of the world in a zombie apocalypse.

a)They are farmers

b)Population density is so low up there that they probably would never see a zombie horde. Just a couple isolated sightings.

c)It's so flat up there that you just stick your twelve year old up on top of the silo and he/she can easily pick off any threat, sniper style, way before it becomes a problem.

Edited May 14, 2014 by xaxat

[millahnna]

And the cold would likely slow the zeds down during the winter allowing for easy thin the herd style hunts.  The biggest risk would be spring thaws I would guess.  Any that had been buried by snow thawing out might be a problem.

[ilovethedark]

I agree that a big box store seems too obvious, but what about a distribution center? I live about 60 miles away from a coastal area with a large number of military installations, and about 5 miles from a "commerce park" that's home to the distribution centers for a major hardware company, the Navy Exchange, and who knows what else. My immediate plan in the ZA is to fortify my home and wait out the first few waves of destruction. Then I will take a quick little jaunt over to the commerce park with my trusty set of bolt cutters and see what's laying around. The facilities are gated, trucker zombies don't seem very threatening to me, and I think it have enough supplies to survive (relatively) comfortably for quite a while.

 

I think I can get behind this. I work for a beer distributor and I worked at a food warehouse in college; so doing jaunts makes sense, but deffiently don't stay on-site. I've seen that suggestion before and I don't think people realize would have the same idea. People are knocking down our door when we run out of Colt 45, just imagine when things really go to hell. I think it would all depend on what the distributor was for. Food, I think you would be SOL after the first few weeks of the ZA. Whatever wasn't approperiated by the goverment would be ransaked, by maurders a few months in. A hardware distributor would have lots of goodies to harvest and less zombies roaming around.

 

The small regional distributor I'm at doesn't maintain the grounds/building very well, so that's something you'd have to be careful of when doing runs. There are no ladders to the upper shelves of products; those are only accesiable by forklift, so find a ladder or hope someone can find a way to climb up to higher shelves. There are waterfalls in the sales office and several places in the warehouse when there is a heavy rain.  It would be very difficult to fortify and do basic maintence. There is very little insulation, so It's freezing in the winter and scorching in the summer. Maybe it's just the places I've worked (current and past), but you need to be mindful that those places can be mazes in the dark. Once then power goes in the ZA, I hope you have flashlights, since there are no skylights or windows in the warehouse. I've had power go out on me at both places and even though I worked there, I had no idea where the hell I was.

 

While there are a lot of useful tools, I'd find office supplies for kindling or old eathernet cables for ties. I know I keep food and have a couple water bottles in a drawer in my desk. I think I would set up shop somewhere close-ish and make runs every week or so. I work a mile from I-75 and am pretty close to downtown, so if the ZA hit I'd be toast, but depending on where the distributor is at, I think you might be set for a bit. 

[kikismom]

The only problem with making runs every week or so is that sooner or later you'll be followed. If the competition doesn't follow to see where you're making a run to, they would pursue to see where you came from...i.e. your camp/hideout.

Just my opinion, but I think the least number of times you go out on the streets, the better.

Of course, this requires getting a place seriously stocked up for long term; and even better, having a place self-sufficient for food and water. I agree that the obvious places would be cashed out in the first week, and the government would "appropriate" big sources. But there are lots of good excuses to be prepared, and be able to use items in present day. RV supply are way ahead of home hardware/DIY stores in terms of solar, generator, water purification systems, non-plumbed toilets, and other off-the-grid set-ups.

Another resource is blue-water sailing sites and books; these are good for where and how to get medicine and DIY medical supplies.

[ilovethedark]

I should know better about people following you on runs after watching these idiots week in and week out. Hee. But in all seriousness there are some places local and within an hour drive I'd head. There's a ton of small cottages and lake houses, some seasonal and a lot can be converted to year round an hour or so from me. If I could befriend the Amish community or grab stuff from them in the ZA. There are anti-government militias in the region so I'd hesitate before finding a place to make home base. But, once am area is safeish (since nowhere is truly safe in the ZA) there is lots of land to farm.

I think having a hidden main "camp" and other alternative places you bounce around to would help keep unsavory sorts from finding you.

If catastrophe would strike my group there are small islands I would use as a fallback point. They're not places to make camp, but somewhere if you are separated by an attack (hostile human or zombies) you can meet up and store caches of weapons. A few in the river near me that you can only get to by canoe. They're wildlife scantuiaries, so noone Iiving there to muck things up. Power or sail boat are out of the question for the river ones since that section is not deep enough. (There are some small ones on the lake, but I assume the lake folks would head there first) You can walk to them when the river is low enough, but when it's at the normal depth, that section has decent enough rapids that will knock you off your feet and sweep you into the lake.

[walnutqueen]

My guide to surviving the zombie apocalypse of hiatus is to NOT use the "next unread topic" feature on these forums, lest you end in the spoiler apocalypse (I hit the  "end" key faster than a Rick Grimes draw.  Ooh, quRick Grimes McDraw).  :-)

[kikismom]

Here's a different water tower (I've previously posted how i think these would make great fortresses)...this one is for sale!

http://www.benlocker.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/jumbojpg-large.jpg

[mamcu]

I'd make my way to Hyde County in Eastern North Carolina. It's home to two large fresh water lakes and is surrounded on 3 sides of the county by the Pamlico Sound and the Atlantic Ocean. Current population is little over 6,000 people in a county that is 613 square miles in size. compare that to Mecklenburg county in North Carolina (Charlotte, NC) with over 1 million people in a county that is 525 square miles in size. 

Pretty much all of Coastal North Carolina would be similar. Lots of freshwater rivers, lakes, and sounds with very low populations to deal with. Lots of farmland. 

I live in Mecklenburg County.  We would never make it to Hyde County.

[RagingTomato]

My son and I discuss this topic quite frequently! There is a house on several acres between our town and my parents' town. It has several huge solar panels and is completely gated. It's close enough to the middle of nowhere that there wouldn't be a lot of traffic around. We plan on holing up there. Hopefully the owners will comply. If not, while I am a peace loving hippie, my ZA friend is a gun toting nonhippie, so I have all bases covered.

 

We would become vegetarians and keep cows and chickens for milk and eggs only.

 

There is enough land around the grounds to grow plenty of fresh produce.

 

As a plan b, we will snag one of the RVs that are parked down the road from said compound and head to Glen Haven, Colorado. I figure the walker population will be severely depleted by them plummeting off the sides of the canyon walls.

[SoonerGrl]

I'm always torn between "seeding" multiple locations with supplies, or just hedging my bets and trying to super fortify a single (large) location. This show has taught us that, eventually, we will have to abandon our camp and find a new one; a never ending cycle of rebuilding. So, in that sense, I like the idea of having stashes in different locations. But it would be so crushing to go back to Stockpile D and realize that it's all gone, having been discovered by others. What to do?

[Irishmaple]

I'm deeply in favour of the bolthole option.  I'd like to know I have stashes all over the place, secure places I can hide if it gets dark or if I hear people coming.  It would be dispiriting to find a stash gone but I'd rather the scavengers find a stash gone than have my semi-permanent base raided.  It might be smart to seed on principal anyway.  If raiders find the stash, maybe they'll restock and leave without spending any more time in my area. 

[6 MeowMeowBeenz]

If I could befriend the Amish community or grab stuff from them in the ZA.

 

Similar thought...I'm in Michigan and there are several Amish communities here, in the middle of the Lower Peninsula

 

Hook up with the (non zombie?) Amish, figure out how to live without electricity, and head to Mackinac Island. Surrounded by fresh water, has horses and wildlife, already set up for a non-car existence. Only problem is the water freezes in the winter so you'd have to watch for zombies coming over. But it has a big honking fort that you could live in.

 

Also we have a camper, if you can find enough propane and a well, you have hot showers and a stove & fridge. 

[Luckylyn]

I would totally head to Amish country and learn whatever I could about living without electricity.  There's a whole infrastructure there that would be so useful. 

 

I'd raid the library for books on agriculture, construction, and medical information.  They shouldn't make multiple supply runs but instead grab everything they see in stores on the first supply trip even if they don't currently need it because it might be needed later and too many supply runs creates risks.

 

Supplies should always be portable in the event of a quick evacuation (in RVs, boats if you are near water or if there are  horses wagons).  People should all carry backpacks with essentials and a  few designated meeting places should be created in case the group gets separated.  it's insane that the group learned nothing from what happened in Hershel's farm and didn't pick a meeting place in case things went bad at the prison.

[walnutqueen]

I am beginning to think my current lifestyle would prepare me for living without electricity (see how I worked that pun in so effortlessly?!).  Other than the TV and computer, the fridge is the only thing using power on a regular basis at casa walnutqueen (oh and one light at night).  I conserve so much that the electric company and the water department have checked (and once replaced) my meters regularly.  When I was young I lived in a barn with no electricity - my running water was a river, and I managed to live like an almost normal person and make it to school (or, more accurately, to the skip school café) every day.  It would be most inconvenient for me to revert to that lifestyle in my dotage, but I'd sure as shit do it well, if I had to.  :-)

[kikismom]

I've lived without fridge, phone, tv before; didn't mind it...I'm getting into small-scale solar---look up rv solar and that's where I found how to get affordable solar for tv-computer recharge-radio, lights. I've done a lot of dehydrating food at home...doesn't need refrigeration, so much lighter weight than canned, do it at home and you don't get all the sodium nitrate/msg/chemistry set additives from store bought (not to mention the retail "dehydrated" is loaded with sodium.).Dehydrated is not only lighter than canned but takes up less room and a lot more flexible about how you pile up or carry it than metal cans or glass jars.

Also try a Peace-Corps "solar oven"--cheap, easy to set up (it had to be in some of the places! :-D) You can try it now for the fun of it, it is easy and it works!

I've raised all kinds of animals, small to very large, and even worked with many different exotics for years (in a zoological park) so I would definitely be comfortable with that.

I've made fuel from cooking oil--that's getting popular here.

I've got rudimentary medical skills, nothing impressive but better than nothing.

Basic "wild foods" experimentation--cat-tail "potatoes", kudzu, ramps, poke. Small game hunt and fish.

Best grab was from the BizarreKitchen.com site which had many good how-tos...especially how to make a walkie-talkie network out of old phones.

Wouldn't classify myself as a prepper--I don't have a bunker or anything like that!--but I've always been self-sufficient, outdoors person. I would hope I could be considered helpful to a group.

I'm sure walnutqueen would make it, and Luckylyn has good points especially for people who keep wanting to make a run every time they want to pick up one or two little things (Glenn and Maggie--look what happened to them!)

[walnutqueen]

I'm sure walnutqueen would make it,

 

 

That's one of the nicest things anyone has ever said about me, kikismom - I am truly honored. 

 

What is even cooler is that two people ( TWoPeople!) like us would agree on so much and be so different.  You are the most prepared person I "know" and I am the laziest procrastinator - evah!  I just hold on to the hope that my "great brain" will see me through everything; and that it will still work well enough to remember all your survival tips, kikismom!

[kikismom]

Brains and a sense of humor are better than any other offering for survival. Otherwise, why bother?

[walnutqueen]

Brains and a sense of humor are better than any other offering for survival. Otherwise, why bother?

 

 

Yes ma'am.  Although as I age, I'm beginning to wonder about Mother Abigail's thanking God for a daily bm.  :-)    Thank goodness I don't pee myself when I laugh, because some of your posts, kikismom ...    :-)

[kikismom]

That's it! BMs! We need to solve Toilet/Toilet Paper In The Apocalypse Dilemma!

Don't anyone say the stores will be full of paper supplies and these are non-perishable.

1. I go through a 12 pack at a terrifying pace--and I live alone.
2. I'm not risking violent death at the hands of flesh-eating dead or Merletones just for another pack of t.p,
3. Need a really big back-pack if you plan to travel longer than 24 hours.

Leaves are out (unless you live where they grow really big elephant-ear plants. A fern just won't cut it.) I've considered the nice little boxes of deli-paper by the Krispy Kreme display, there's like a thousand squares and waxed which is nice when you can't wash your hands.

Anybody got a good solution to this burning question?

 

Also---Since the show began I've always thought more attention should have been paid by the group to research/experimentation. Not Milton-style, on dying people, but on walkers: what smells do they like? Do any smells repel them?  How good is their eyesight? What if you aimed a laser-pointer at their eyes, could you blind them? I've already thought of hiding behind mirrored surfaces or mirrored film, a la War of the Worlds basement scene. Could they still smell you? Instead of covering yourself in walker guts, what if you copied an idea from those mosquito repellant personal fans, and used one of those Glade Plug-Ins, in a battery powered outlet- fill the little bottle with walker effluvia instead of Rainforest Mango or AppleVanillaLinen? What if you sprayed the walkers with Freon? Could you lure a bunch of approaching walkers away from your hiding spot by using a remote-controlled airplane/helicopter ?

I'd love some discussion of surviving the zombie apocalypse by doing more than running and hiding, getting a little pro-active.

Edited July 6, 2014 by kikismom

[lawless]

Guys, this is terrible news, but after perusing the internets I am deeply concerned about the danger of radiation from nuclear power plants that either meltdown themselves, or, even if the reactor meltdown is avoided, have the spent fuel rods catch fire and release a ton of radioactive garbage into the air.  I am definitely not a nuclear power specialist or anything, for sure, and if I am mistaken, please tell me -- you will be consoling me and giving me hope!  But from what I understand, many nuclear power plants store used fuel rods on site, and not only do they remain radioactive for 10,000 to maybe a million years (this is food for thought in general, my friends), but the rods are so hot that they can't be cooled at air temperature for about six years.  They have to be cooled with water, and the ways these plants operate, they rely on fossil fuels (often diesel) for the power to run the cooling mechanisms, and will undoubtedly also require humans to maintain the equipment.  In the event of the total collapse of society -- bad news, very bad news.  Based on the maps I have seen of the US showing where the plants are, you'll pretty much want to be in the Rocky mountain west from Colorado to Montana to avoid them, because there aren't any nuclear power plants in that region (more or less), probably because there isn't a lot of water.  Even so, winds will carry radioative dust.  This is a major hurdle to survival no one seems to think about in writing about the ZA.  Maybe because it's too overwhelming.

 

Tell me I'm wrong if this is wrong, guys!!  I find it very depressing, even though I do actually live in the Rocky mountain west and ostensibly my chances are better.  Is there a solution I don't know about?  Is the show, like many other works of fiction, just pretending this isn't a problem because there's no way to handle it, and we're all doomed, dooooomed, not just because of walkers but because of nukes?  Help!

[kikismom]

lawless: Sleep in peace tonight. Nuclear power plants have an automatic shut-down...a "quick version" and a "much slower" version. These have already been triggered many times in the past---in California when earthquakes have happened, even in Sweden when jellyfish clogged up the intake for water to the cooling pools. That's when the quickie kicks in; conditions that can't be foreseen ahead of time.

The gradual version is in the event that something would happen to prevent continued human control. I'm oversimplifying here, but it's similar to a hospital's electrical set-up...if connection to the grid was broken for some reason, emergency generators take over just the essentials, then slowly power down. In a nuclear power plant, the slow automatic shut-down is to gradually stop producing power, lower and lower cooler and cooler over a matter of years actually. There would not be power still going to homes during that time, but the whole kit-and-kaboodle doesn't just slam on the brakes if, say, the staff all suddenly croaked or ran away.

 

I'm sure you remember the CDC in Atlanta; that automatic self-destruct, not mere shut-down, is true. If you read Michael Crichton's book The Andromeda Strain, a plot point is that the lab with all the dangerous microbes had an automatic shut-down in the event a virus or deadly bacteria got loose.

Every facility that could possibly be vulnerable to terrorist attack, natural disaster, or have the power to cause a mega-death accident is required to have a "dead-man switch" so to speak.

 

Don't worry about a diesel truck needing to pull up every week and top off the tank, all these things have to have sufficient supply for a long long time in case of sudden isolation, for example a hurricane or months of blizzards or a national security crisis.

 

However, I will give you something new--from real life--to have nightmares about.

Remember the nutjob that ate off a living victim's face in Miami? Remember there was also a young mother who also had to be shot to death for trying to eat her two year old child? Both under the influence of "bath salts"?

Now a British man had to be arrested for attacking people at a tourist resort, growling and biting them while under the influence of bath salts in Europe labeled by police as the "Cannibal" drug. What's worse than the American cases, in this instance other people in the same location were also under the effect of the same drug and attacked the police and paramedics. Furthermore, it's not the first time; a girl died in the hospital recently. and their police report several instances of trouble increasing with this.

 

Here's my problem (besides revulsion that is):

Drug dealers are in business to make money. The more people like a high, or see other people enjoy a high, the more they sell and the more money they make. People who die the first time, people who have to be shot dead by police the first time they use, are not people who come back to buy more. Even people who witness or just hear about this don't want anything to do with it. It's even presumed that the ones who did use thought they were getting something else, i.e. Ecstacy or something.

 

So,...who would design a drug that won't bring buyers back, that won't make peers want to buy, a drug that would never build any market base?

Could it be a drug designed not to be a recreational moneymaker, but something else?

Could it be that these incidents were "beta-testing" a substance before it is approved for purpose?

Just think if someone with a large supply dosed a food or water supply? Dosing thousands of people at one time?

Just think if most of these people hadn't been (by necessity) shot to death...do they all die on their own in the hospital like that girl? If they lived, do we know if their brain would be permanently altered?

Everyone is just blowing this off because "it's just some stupid idiot that would take these drugs."

I say never mind who's taking it; who's making it and why? Because it isn't to make riches with a new drug. It must be some reason...and just think of what someone could do to a society by putting a drug like that in something ingested by lots of people they didn't like.

You might need that melee weapon after all.

[lawless]

Once a nuclear isotope has undergone fission, the core material will continuously produce both heat and radiation for a time and intensity directly proportionate to the material's radioactive half-life. In the modern day, this is carefully monitored with a variety of failsafes. Ultimately, those failsafes rely on its nation's economy and transportation system - either to bring the workers to the power plant, or to transport the oil, fuel, and maintenance parts that keep cooling system running. In a zombie apocalypse, the extensive maintenance a nuclear reactor requires will inevitably fall short as the economy, roads, and transit systems stagnate and decay.

Download (3)

A diagram of a nuclear plant

A real life example of a narrowly avoided meltdown caused by inability to keep the oil based cooling system operational was the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster of 2011.

Over time (a mere matter of days), any nuclear reactor will be overwhelmed by it's own heat, and a the plant will meltdown, releasing toxic radioactive smoke and debris into the atmosphere. This meltdown is not as destructive as a nuclear bomb (where the fission or fusion reaction unleashes megatons of force). The heat causes a large radioactive fire which rages on for days, and even after the embers burn out, the material will continue to emit radiation into the air and water of its environment, contaminating the area for hundreds, perhaps even thousands of years to come. As the winds blow this debris and cloud matter miles away, it will become an invisible killer of many survivors.

Thank you for trying to console me, Kikismom -- but this (in bold) is what I am afraid of!  That the failsafes aren't designed for a total collapse of the grid that doesn't end, as even months of extra fuel would not be enough, and sooner or later, the equipment malfunctions and humans have to intervene. 

 

Sigh.  Well, maybe I'll just imagine that the military sends in troops to guard and maintain the plants in the event of a ZA, and that they will be successful at that, at least, because of all places, no one runs to a nuclear power plant in an emergency.

 

As for the bath salts -- jeebus!  Time to get that Lasic surgery so I don't have to rely on contact anymore -- just in case.  ;)

[kikismom]

I do note that the quote includes reference to a zombie apocalypse; some of those sites are well-researched but I've read some that are full of baloney. For that matter, there are some nuclear war/disaster survival books that are pure comedy. It's hard to know how much to believe. I'm certainly no expert.

I will throw this out there, you might like to check this out further; there is considerable mention of the specific concerns you list regarding radiation and fall-out.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aftermath:_Population_Zero  Surprisingly, it's more encouraging on the nuclear question (well, eventually, 10-12 months! :-D).

This was based on the same book as Life After People. Pretty interesting on a lot of questions that might also apply to a zombie apocalypse.

Personally, I think a lot of great minds spend a great deal of time and money making ever-increasing safety levels for nuclear power plants. I'm not in favor of nukes myself, but if they're going to be there, I am confident that they are motivated to keep trying to improve--it only takes one accident to change the public perception and destroy a multi-billion dollar business. The incentive is there.

I wish I could say the same for bio-accidents, bio-weapons/terrorism.  There is financial incentive to do the wrong thing (military contracts), and just as far as accidents, the powerful air travel industry is not going to improve profits by being more careful. We've already seen how the US was virtually free for decades from tuberculosis, cholera, etc....all which are being brought in now by cheap global travel.

Then we have academia--who should know better--but the pressure to publish or perish can sway a researcher's common sense. Again, we've seen this before, with AIDS/HIV. If you read And The Band Played On, you know that researchers knew for 6 months but didn't tell--because if your information gets in a newspaper, you won't get published in a scientific journal which insists on first rights...and it took 6 months for the article to be in print. In that time hundreds of people died but millions more were infected and the chance to stop it at the source was lost. Now we have a jerk in a midwestern university making a vastly more deadly version of the spanish influenza which killed 18 million Americans---just to say Look what I can do!

A zombie virus? A "rage" virus as in 28 days later? Transmission from animals to humans in a lab, genetic engineering of microbes, no transparency at all about in-progress research projects, beaucoup incentive to keep secrets and deny responsibility?

If Chernobyl happens here I'll croak instantly or a least in a few days. But I'm more afraid of people who are sick with something that doesn't keep them in a hospital bed.

[Luckylyn]

Does anyone know anywhere in the country that uses a lot of wind and/or solar power.  Can amateurs learn how to mange that kind of tech?  What about some old school steam tech?  Could someone go into a library and figure out to make a steam engine?

 

I had a really morbid idea for transportation using zombies to pull wagons. They would also provide protection because their scents would mask the smell of the living they are transporting.  I just can't decided if that is too disrespectful of the dead and that just killing the would be more proper than finding a way to make zombies useful.  Still everyone should copy Michonne's zombie guard technique when they have to travel anywhere.

 

I was thinking about houseboats which would allow people to escape with their shelter and supplies if an attack by humans or zombies happened.

[kikismom]

Does anyone know anywhere in the country that uses a lot of wind and/or solar power.  Can amateurs learn how to mange that kind of tech?  What about some old school steam tech?  Could someone go into a library and figure out to make a steam engine?

 

I had a really morbid idea for transportation using zombies to pull wagons. They would also provide protection because their scents would mask the smell of the living they are transporting.  I just can't decided if that is too disrespectful of the dead and that just killing the would be more proper than finding a way to make zombies useful.  Still everyone should copy Michonne's zombie guard technique when they have to travel anywhere.

 

I was thinking about houseboats which would allow people to escape with their shelter and supplies if an attack by humans or zombies happened.

Disrespectful? You must be new around here.

 

Steam engines are for power; they need lots of fuel to run--preferably coal but wood also works. Huge amounts of noise, smoke, lots of hideous accidents when the boiler blows (it's a wee bit tricky to regulate temperature and pressure.)

Windmills would be nice except I believe Woodbury used those to make power and attract walkers. So unless you're planning on having gladiator games it's kind of a push.

Solar is much improved, New panels actually are flexible sheets, don't need full sun (work better with filtered sunlight!) and no longer have to be angled at the sun. Quiet, small ones can be transported. I'm newly going solar (just small scale for the present) using RV purposed set-ups. Much better price and suitable.

Using zombies for pack animals, draft animals etc. is fine. Old school farm machinery was run by horses harnessed to a sort of giant cog walking around a circle; the cog turned a rod on the ground, thus turning cogs in the machine...this is where the phrase "horse-power" was first used.  http://www.oldengine.org/members/sandwich/photo/otheritems/catalog/1912_48.jpg

You respect the dead being the departed souls who once inhabited those material forms; all that remains as a zombie is a meat puppet. Conscience is clean.

Regarding a houseboat, most get terrible "mileage", and they can't be rowed...but here is a more efficient one...and it's especially cool because it's a trailer you could just pull by car (or who knows? Horses? Walkers?) check this out!

http://www.sealander.de/en

Edited July 7, 2014 by kikismom

[Luckylyn]

So it looks like solar is the way to go.  Can an amateur easily learn to repair a solar panel because even if you found something already set up it will eventually break down?

[kikismom]

I wouldn't worry about repairing...take a look at these and you'll see what I mean---soooo much different than what you see on houses with the early big honkin panels...these are so affordable!! Of course, during the ZA, everything is on five-finger discount!

But you could easily start using some of these right now, and then if the spit hits the fan, you'd be ahead of the pack. They can be used on vehicles too. The copy refers to numerous ways to use.http://www.siliconsolar.com/flexible-solar-panels.html

[kikismom]

Survival Geek time (again).

While foraging with neighbor this a.m., I remember that bravelittletoaster had asked if people really eat kudzu. So I thought I'd guide you to some easy recipes, and take a look at the medicinal qualities!!

In the ZA, the medical cure properties would be very useful.

The best thing of course is how available it is everywhere Rick and His Roving Band of Yahoos (O2Sean, Pete Martell? Help me with the credit here) have lived/traveled.

And did you know crabgrass is used as a food grain for flour in Africa? That it was introduced to America as a forage plant? Since it would not be possible to have a large acreage for crops, crabgrass hay/grain is perfect--as much as 17 tons per acre (4 or 5 times as much as timothy or alfalfa.) So a very small plot would be sufficient to grow forage, for horses, goats(better for milk and cheese than a cow), and meat rabbits (which I prefer to chickens--quiet, easy to keep in cages for safety and traveling, can dress out 5 rabbits in time it takes to dress 1 chicken., less disease, etc.)

For flour for human consumption, 1 crabgrass plant can produce 150,000 seeds! In 6-8 weeks!!

Beats the hell out of Rick's pathetic corn patch (corn takes about 140 days--4 and a half months, and for that you don't get much per acre without commercial farm equipment, irrigation.) I still don't know who Rick intended to feed for how long with that garden.

Anyhoo, if you're interested in this theoretical survival planning, or just like to live the self-sufficient life, here are some resources (and the Eat The Weeds site is fun.)  http://www.elanaspantry.com/ingredients/kudzu/     http://www.eattheweeds.com/crabgrass-digitaria-sanguinalis-2/  http://southernforager.blogspot.com/2014/01/kudzu-bread.html   http://www.noble.org/ag/pasture/horse-forage/summer-pasture-grass/

 

Kudzu can grow a foot per day (!) , the tuber in the ground which can be cooked like potato, can grow over 8ft long and 200-300 pounds (!)

and is a legume, which provides protein---that would have kept them healthier and well-nourished on the road, or at the prison, or almost anywhere. This includes a map:http://na.fs.fed.us/spfo/invasiveplants/factsheets/pdf/kudzu.pdf

 

Now here's the lucky break: I wondered about toilet paper in the ZA! I can't be the only one. :-D

Here's a lady who has a really easy way to make her own paper...she takes a mesh screen, dips it in a tub of pulp, shakes it to make the fibers lock up, then lays it on felt to squeeze out the water. Then she peels off the paper and hangs it on a clothesline to dry!

Wood pulp? No, that would be very hard to make. She pulps....KUDZU!  http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1817&dat=19901115&id=ZDYdAAAAIBAJ&sjid=taUEAAAAIBAJ&pg=5266,3831401

Edited July 11, 2014 by kikismom

[walnutqueen]

kikismom - you haven't thought enough about survival.   :-D

 

I wish I could remember what show I was watching, but one segment was about an "urban forager" - a guy who eats an amazing array of plants growing in urban environments, including abandoned lots & sidewalk cracks and people's overgrown weedy front yards.  I'll bet the library has plenty of resources along those lines, and it would be easy to slip back into a lifestyle where folks knew how to cook up just about anything & make it taste good.  I'd rather be a forager in the Pacific Northwest, though - perfect for locally available seafood, plants and a climate ideal for raising animals like rabbits & goats - and lots of water

[kikismom]

Yeah, someday I have to give this subject some real thought.

 

Pacific Northwest? My dream! The trees, animals, fishing! (notice that kudzu grows there.) Plus it may be one of the few places left that won't be averaging a temperature of 110degrees fahrenheit in the shade.

 

I bet if you ate plants growing out of cracks in the sidewalk, the muggers would leave you alone. When you look crazy, people get out of your way.

 

Oh, and if lawless is coming, bring a case of Catalina (I prefer Cucumber Ranch) in the event of radioactive fallout. http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/203/what-is-the-propylene-glycol-alginate-found-in-salad-dressings

:-D

[walnutqueen]

Pacific Northwest? My dream! The trees, animals, fishing! (notice that kudzu grows there.) Plus it may be one of the few places left that won't be averaging a temperature of 110degrees fahrenheit in the shade.

 

 

Everything fucking grows there, kikismom!  Added bonus - plenty of shade (and not just the kind I throw!).  Oh, and the locally grown foodie scene guarantees some very sweet farms and micro businesses that are ripe for foraging.  I have an unreasonable fondness for crab, but the place teems with seafood and produce, and a plethora of foresty foraging (gotta know your 'shrooms, though).  :-)  Plenty of islands to hop to, if you're so inclined, and every type of watercraft & houseboat imaginable.  Stay close to the coast and the winters are tolerable, too - but if you need some mountainous terrain to escape to, it's a stone's throw away, as is wilderness.

[lawless]

Oh, and if lawless is coming, bring a case of Catalina (I prefer Cucumber Ranch) in the event of radioactive fallout.

Done and done, Kikismom, done and done!

[Tippi Blevins]

I'm holing up at the Tampax factory until the zombies and menopause are well over.

[walnutqueen]

Menopause is NEVER over, Tippi Blevins.   :-(

 

Which is why I need a temperate climate; having poor thermoregulation was a bitch when I was young, skinny & freezing my ass off; now that I'm old, fat and sweaty, it sucks rocks.

[kikismom]

Ah, walnutqueen. --study at Memorial Sloan-Kettering found that kudzu relieved menopause symptoms like hot flashes and brain fog.

Also said to prevent grey hair; I did start getting grey hairs about 10 years ago---now, strangely, I don't have any. Go figure!.

Or it could be the moonshine. (Local availability of "brown sugar moonshine". Smoooooth.)

 

I think other female survivors in the ZA would envy anyone who's gone through menopause...no worries about tampons or contraception.

 

Tippi Blevins: that's not just a great personal strategy; just think if you commandeered the Tampax factory in an apocalyptic disaster...you wouldn't need any more skills or resources! People would barter food water shelter medicine gasoline to get paid in tampons!!

[Luckylyn]

I'll take over the Midol factory.  I will own the apocalypse.

[walnutqueen]

You will all be safe from mobs of marauding males, who will also avoid the Vagisil factory.

 

I intend to commandeer all those fucking little blue pills, and make menopausal men my virtual zombie minions - they're like neutered cats without their testosterone cream & Viagra.  ;-)

 

 

ETA - you and the kudzu, kikismom - I swear!  :-D

Edited July 13, 2014 by walnutqueen

[kikismom]

Marauding males! I flashed on Joe's gang spotting an abandoned case of Monostat. "CLAIM!"

 

No more forage files!

But I submit this; 

Not only good for surviving zombies, this would have been a no-kill solution to the question of what to do with Lizzie :

http://www.memes.com/img/958

I would pay good money for a scene of our plucky group escaping a herd of walkers in that.

 

Downhill.

Edited July 13, 2014 by kikismom

[Tippi Blevins]

I flashed on Joe's gang spotting an abandoned case of Monostat. "CLAIM!"

Ha!

 

I do wonder about that, because you see the ladies on this show wearing a lot of tight jeans in the sweltering Georgia summer. 

 

People would barter food water shelter medicine gasoline to get paid in tampons!!

Plus, those little suckers can be used to stop nosebleeds, to pack wounds, and clean firearms. Your rifle will be daisy-fresh and ready to kill!

[kikismom]

I wonder if you could use a tampax as a fuse to ignite the milk powder and blow up the boxcar?

In a world without electricity, a wick for a homemade oil lamp? Or put one on a stick for a tiki-torch? ("The feminine hygiene aisle has spoken!")

Must re-watch Saving Private Ryan to see how Tom Hanks made a "sticky bomb".

Or just put one in Bob's bottle of booze, light and throw--a Molotov Cocktail! (Maybe not a Cocktail...a Vajayjaytail?)