My Prepper Potty

My tolerance point with the outhouse was met during the rainstorm last week. I don't really like it at its very best and I especially dislike the nighttime mad runs to go pee. And I outright hate it when rain has turned the trail into slippery, slimy, sink-to-your-ankles, slurping, sucking mud where you get "stuck" and dirty yourself in the attempt to avoid dirtying yourself all while trying to keep your cell phone dry and clean because it also functions as your only flashlight.  Yeah... the experience was all that, with a cherry on top!

For years I've seen various prepper potties on Facebook, Pinterest, Blogs and other places and I've intended to add one to my own camping/emergency provisions but, honestly, it took this wilderness adventure to motivate me into action.  I was planning on spending around $10 on it.  I spent more. If you take the time to shop around you can probably find the pieces well inside that budget but, as noted, I had met my utmost point of tolerance with the available bathroom facilities so price wasn't my #1 concern.

$12.97 at Walmart.

To make your own prepper potty you need just 2 things: a 5-gallon bucket and a special lid. I'm using it only for nighttime needs and will be dumping it in the outhouse and rinsing it out the next morning.  And I'll rinse it with bleach water periodically, too.

$3 at Home Depot.

If you're going to use it in the traditional camping, or apocalypse, setting there are additional sanitation issues you'll need to consider. Since other bloggers have covered that in varying degrees of graphic detail, I'm just going to give you a few links to check out and not include that part here.

http://preparednessnibblesandbits.blogspot.com/search/label/Emergency%20Toilet

http://momwithaprep.com/potty/

http://www.cheaprvliving.com/bathroom/go-bathroom-van/

http://www.foodstoragemoms.com/2014/09/emergency-toilet-set/

So... you went shopping and you've got your bucket and lid.  What to do with them?

Start by taking your lid out of its cardboard packaging.  Then snap it on the bucket pretty much the same way you'd snap the seal on your favorite Tupperware bowl.  That's about it... Congrats!  You are now the proud owner of your very own prepper potty!!

Lid up.                            Lid down.                           Lid up.

I think Home Depot's tag line is really appropriate for this project!

Using your prepper potty is interesting the first time or two.  It's not exactly ideal height... so getting yourself positioned can be a bit of a challenge.  (If you can find it, opt for a 6-gallon bucket and it's a little better!  Those extra two inches make a lot of difference!!)  Put an old towel under it if you're using it indoors just in case, you know, you don't "do this" in a straight stream.  Hey, sometimes it happens. TMI?  I sort of thought so, too, but decided since we are all friends I'd be safe sharing that sort of weird intimate personal detail.  This prepper potty is not a perfect substitute for indoor plumbing but it sure beats the outhouse! I highly suggest one for your tent camping/emergency equipment.

If you subscribe to any apocalyptic theories - End of the World, disaster bug outs, civil unrest pending the outcome of next month's Presidential election (all well within the realm of possibility) - I have an additional bit of advice.  Make your prepper potty NOW!!  And practice using it a few times so that it's familiar, especially if you have kids.  When the world around you is in a state of utter chaos is not the time to be perfecting your technique to squat!!

Why I Prep

This is a picture making the rounds on Facebook and in email.  I find it both humorous and terrifying.  A friend shared it with this commentary:

"I share the concern that we have given our executive branch far too much power to declare war, take away citizen's rights and spy on us. Reagan invaded Grenada and we said nothing and every President has taken it further. None more so than when George Bush used our fear to con us into willing[ly] giv[ing] up our rights with the so called "Patriot Act."  Obama has gone even further: declaring the right to kill americans with unmanned drones with no trial, no legal evidence and no public awareness or scrutiny."

While this friend and I frequently find ourselves on opposite ends of the political spectrum, we agree that it seems that all recent U.S. Presidents have taken on the challenge to one-up their predecessor on the abuse of our Constitutional rights.  And it's gone pretty much unchallenged because we've been so preoccupied with the details of whatever current scandals are going on and topics like gun control, the real intent of Islam, abortion, and gay marriage.  We, the American people, have got so tied up in details we have completely missed the big picture.  I shudder to even consider what life will look like when our next President pulls this trick out of his sleeve and removes even more of our rights.  Sometimes I even wonder if we're approaching a point where emotions run so high between those who support the cause of the current administration and those who oppose it that it tips our nation into revolution.

Conspiracy theory much?  Maybe.  But it is something I find truly frightening to consider!

And almost as scary is the thought of what daily life might look like in a post-revolution America. While I truly hope that we can mend our differences and pull back from the brink, I think it's prudent to prepare for a very different future than the present I'm now enjoying.  Kind of that old maxim of "Prepare for the worst and then hope for the best."

I think we get a glimpse of that post-revolution style of daily living whenever there is a natural disaster.  And in complete honesty, I think Mother Nature will dish out something disruptive long before our government declares war on its own people.  Think back to Katrina and some of the other big hurricanes... the devastation that was left behind, the lives disrupted and the primitive nature of living conditions for days, weeks and even months for many people.  No one is immune to experiencing a natural disaster.  They happen everywhere and so it makes good sense to be prepared for the days following a cataclysmic event.

Just this past week, Colorado saw unprecedented rainfall.  Here are comments shared by friends living there:

"Frightening what the News is reporting about missing people.  Started in the tens, went to a hundred and now it's hundreds and hundreds.  Doesn't mean they are gone, just that families have not heard from these people.  I pray they are safe and accounted for in this statewide disaster."  Todd Kinzle, Lakewood CO

Shortly after this, he posted about a hailstorm in Denver leaving things looking like it had snowed.

Photo courtesy of 9news.com on 9/6/13

"It is really mind boggling how many things shut down in our fragile system of living and what we rely on... in town... [near] where I live (I live outside of town) there is a 'no flush' order for the city sewer system.  It goes to show you how important back up sanitation plans are... no matter where you live!"  Jodi Webster, Sterling CO

Jodi expands her comment with this:

"...the city cannot use its sewer system and schools are closed due to no water and the no flush order.  People cannot get in or out [of this part of the state] except through Nebraska, but at least we weren't hit quite like the Denver area!"

The folks there who had the foresight to have a few days worth of food on hand, some bottled water, alternate ways to keep warm and maybe a camp toilet...  I bet they are thinking themselves pretty fortunate.  And this is why, despite the poo-pooing about doomsday I get from some friends and family, I have 72-hour kits and a well stocked pantry.  It's also why:

• We are buying a generator as soon as finances allow.
• I'm studying solar power and hoping within the year to have enough panels in place to run [at least] some of our household appliances.
• I garden and keep working on my skills.
• I study wildcrafting and learn how to identify both edible and poisonous plants, insects and small animals in my area.
• We bought a house with a wood-burning fireplace.
• I use medicinal herbs and simple OTC remedies whenever possible.
• We have guns and strongly support gun rights.
• I make and use natural cleaners in the home.
• I'm learning about chickens and thinking of adding them to our yard for eggs, meat and fertilizer.
• We are buying cast iron cookware that could be used outdoors.
• The grill always has a full tank of propane.
• I'm going to get a tent, sleeping bags and a camp toilet even if we never go camping.

Have I done enough to be a full-on prepper?  No.  But I think I've done a pretty good job getting started.

I Am A Survivor

Today is the 33rd anniversary of when Mt. Saint Helen's erupted in Washington state and began spewing ash.  I don't think I would have thought of that if a friend who grew up in the area hadn't posted it on Facebook... but reading people's memory of the event made me think about that and other natural disasters that had some part in shaping my life.

Is that a weird way to look at life?  Maybe.

Or maybe not so much.

You see, disasters happen.  Whether man has a hand in it or Mother Nature blows her cork and reigns down devastation, it happens.  And when we experience it, and survive it, we are changed by the memory.  It's a powerful thing to say I survived such and such event, so certainly I can survive whatever is facing me today with an attitude of 'Really?  Is that all you've got?"

Here's a pictorial look at the disasters I've survived:

Teton Dam Breach
June 5, 1976

TETON DAM BREAKS
Faulty pipes in the structure, I believe, were the root cause of internal erosion and ultimate failure of this earth-filled dam in Southeast Idaho.  The  breach happened on June 5, 1976 as captured in this photo from web.mst.edu. (There's a very complete slide show and study information about it there for anyone interested in the engineering and mechanics.)  Miraculously just 11 people died as a result.  Many more lost homes, cars, farm equipment and animals as water swept through the communities lining the banks of the Snake River downstream.

I remember hearing the initial reports that Saturday morning as regular tv programming was interrupted by the Emergency Broadcast System advising evacuation and providing information about what was happening.  It's the first time I remember EBS being for something real and not "just a test" and that made me feel like my whole world was dangerous place where all hell was breaking loose.  In the following days that feeling was amplified as my family visited friends to help them sandbag the river banks and watched parts of houses, cars and hundreds of dead and bloated cows rush down the swollen river channel.

Eruption of Mt Saint Helen's
May 18, 1980

MT SAINT HELEN'S ERUPTS
May 18, 1980 lives in the minds of most residents of the United States' Pacific Northwest as the day Mt Saint Helen's blew her top in what is the largest volcanic eruption since 1842 when Mt. Rainier, another peak in this same volcanically-formed mountain range, erupted.  You can read an account of the event here.  I remember the eruption less than the effects on global weather for the next year or so as the ash blocked sunlight from Earth's atmosphere.  And bagging ash from a large mound in someone's back yard for sale as a souvenir in some gift shop as a bit of a summer job.  Even in disaster, there's money to be made!

Forest fires at Yellowstone National Park
Summer 1988

YELLOWSTONE BURNS

Most often attributed to environmental mismanagement the summer months of 1988 saw Yellowstone National Park alight with forest fires.  It was the U.S. Forest Service's policy of natural suppression (let the fires burn themselves out without any attempt to extinguish or control unless/until developed areas or human life is threatened) that drew most of the criticism.  By the time the fire was done, almost 1.2 million acres were blackened - 800,000 acres of it inside the park.  That's an astonishing 36% of the entire area of Yellowstone National Park.  You can see more pictures, read about these aspects of the fire and get an idea of the land's recovery here.

What sticks in my memory is the thick smoke that hung over Shelley (170+ miles away) like a dense fog.  Looking out the front windows at my parent's home, we literally could not see the houses across the street.  And the sun hung blood red over our heads like those frightening descriptions of the end of time from the Book of Revelation in the Bible.

Salt Lake City Tornado
August 11, 1999

SALT LAKE TORNADO

Most residents of Salt Lake City had grown up believing that a tornado couldn't happen here but they were wrong!  Tornados, especially ones big enough to get an F rating, are very rare but they do happen.  This one rated an F2 on the Fujita scale.  Wikipedia takes a very good, in depth look.

I'd gone to lunch with some friends from a previous job that day at the Tiffin Room in the old ZCMI downtown.  Toward the end of our meal, the electricity went out and we had to walk down the escalators like they were stairs to get outside.  I remember the store's staff ready to assist anyone who needed a little help down the stair steps and emergency lanterns placed along the way so we could see where to step.  But it wasn't until we stepped out onto the sidewalk that things seemed weird.  The air had an electric charge to it that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand straight.  And all of the brand new landscaping put in for Trax (SLC's light rail public transportation system) was laid down flat.  I went back to my office by walking in through the bank lobby in hopes of finding out what happened.  Thinking I was making a joke I asked the manager "What happened Betty?  You all have a tornado or something?"  In a shaking voice, she answered "yes..." just as a group of building's security staff ran in the other door screaming that the Delta Center (now EnergySolutions Arena - Delta Airlines didn't renew their sponsorship amid economic crises - and home of the Utah Jazz) was gone and that someone had died.  That isn't really quite what happened but it was the initial report I heard and all that flashed in my mind was that the Delta Center was in between my office and home which was only 2 miles away.  That scared me.  I called home to be sure my mom was ok and then tried to get up to my office to check on co-workers and alert our out-of-state supervisors and team members before walking home.  Traffic was absolute gridlock!  And city buses all but stopped running for the afternoon.

The damages downtown were primarily the roof and windows on the Delta Center and at a hotel across the street and the overflow tents from the Summer Show for the Outdoor Retailers Association.  One man was killed when those tents were ripped up and swirled about.  This happened at city center, just west of the area pictured above.  The tornado continued toward the State Capitol Building, Memory Grove and The Avenues residential area of town right at the base of the Wasatch Mountains on the northeast edge of the city.  Many houses were destroyed or badly damaged and several more people were injured.  Memory Grove and the grounds at the Capitol were left barren.  It was sickening and heartbreaking to tour the devastated historic area later...

I've also been in locations to feel several small earthquakes.  No damage, or at least very minor at it's epicenter, so no pictures.  And I survived cancer.  And a house fire.  And... So bring on that plague of locusts and make my experience with disasters complete!

(I say that in jest... really it would be totally creepy!!)