What a winter this has turned out to be! The whole nation has experienced extreme winter weather on some level and have found themselves unprepared for it. We had the ice storm in Upstate NY at Christmas time. I was very thankful it wasn't as severe as our ice storm of Jan. 1998. We were 13 days without power and phone.  When the word "ICE" is mentioned in our forecast, people here jump to immediate preparations. I do believe we have gotten better at having emergency supplies as our weather becomes more unstable and uncertain. And as this becomes the new norm I believe, it becomes even more important to have supplies on hand as storm beome more powerful and and more whide spread. 

    I still maintain that prepping does not have to be expensive or extravagant. Five,ten or twenty dollars a week or a month can be devoted to prep items. Even on a tight budget this is still doable.  There are many websites that off ways to prep on a budget and to DIY prepping. FNN has found some wonderful news sites and will be adding them to the website. 

     Stay warm and think Spring! It's not far off so start planning your gardens. 

Util next time,

cottontop

A new year~ a new start.

FNN has been down due to computer and internet problems. Both have been fixed I am very happy to report. They've both been upgraded! Yesss!! so. FNN can now stay updated. 

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season. cottontop is happy to see that it's over and is ready to start the new projects for 2013. One of the new projects I'm very eager to get under way is the arrival of my new residents, my bees. I have alot of work ahead of me, but I am ready and willing. I've spent alot of time learning and studing. My DD's are as excited as I am and this will be a good learning experience for them. I'm happy to involve them in it. If anyone has any experience in beekeeping, please drop me a lline and let me know about your experience in beekeeping, and what got you involved in this hobby. I certainly hope more people do get involved in it because the bees really need some major help. 

This flu season is a major whopper and I hope people are washing their hands on a regular basis. It does help. I know we get busy and don't wash them like we should when we have the opportunity, and usually we pay for it because we get careless. Don't get careless folks. This is not the time to do so. Please, please make sure your children wash their hands too. If your children take their lunch to school, pack a couple anti bacterial wipes in their lunch when they do take it. My DD takes her lunch everyday and she get wipes packed in her lunch. The children do not get to wash their hands before lunch. That really needs to be changed. 

Take care.

cottontop

It seems like the kids got out of school just yesterday! I dread the first day of school. I will be loosing my buddy (DD#2). I enjoy my daughters company and have a hard time adjusting to being alone. My oldest started collage last Monday. She is still of the mind to try for her RN. Bless her. I will be lonely, but not lacking in thing to do. 

Canning season is in the air. I will be making my jams soon. I'm still painting my shop. I haven't begun to get to putting up new ceilings yet, nor have I started on the website. I have enlarged my garden to accomondate more vegetables, herbs and fruit (blueberries, strawberries.)  That task has been on my to do list far too long. 

As I posted last time, I've activated my I.C.E. plans. Each week I pick up some preps. Today it was lamp oil (2 bottles), wicks, a couple packs of batteries, some bandaids, guaze and medical tape. My medical preps are lacking the basic items. 20$ won't break my budget and my preps get stocked.

For those of you who are keeping tabs on H1N2v, I have another one for you; H3N2v. 

"The H1N2v strain is different from the H3N2v strain that has prompted stepped up surveillance and prevention efforts nationwide, after causing 289 reported cases of illness and one death since the beginning of the year."  www.health.state.mn.us/news/pressrel/2012/h1n2083112.html

Yeah, it's getting confusing. Just remember to keep an eye on the situation, but live your life. We can't control the circumstances, but we can control how we react to the information. Stay informed, tend to your preps and live your life. 

cottontop

You may be wonering why I have activated my ICE and exactly what is it. ICE, is my" In case of emergency" plans.

I have activated it for the reason that this new novel flu virus is spreading and on a path much like H1N1. I want to start now, topping off items and aquiring items I need. I will watch and wait to see what this virus does. I would advise anyone reading this to do the same. I am not trying to panic you. There is no need to panic. We are preppers and preppers don't panic. We prepare, watch, and act accordingly.

I am getting as much information as I can and asking questions. While they say this is a mild flu, I don't believe there is a mild flu. I think the what they are trying to say is that the CFR is low compared to H1N1 perhaps. Ask anyone who has had the flu if they had a mild case. The majority of the people will say "Hell no!" So it's important to keep that in mind. Ihey are not talking about the infection its self, rather the CFR.

I encourage you to ask questions and read everything you can. Above all, don't push the panic buttom. Not really necessary.

cottontop  

My talk went good. I didn't die of stage fright. Turn out was good and I enjoyed visiting with everyone afterwards. Thanks to everyone who made it a great night. I was asked if I would be interested in giving another talk. I probably will, however it will be next year if I do. I have some ideas of spin offs and would love to get the community involved.

It's been very busy around here. We got to spend time with my Mother, who flew up for my daughter's high school graduation.DD is now working at the hospital and I am thrilled for her. However, I'm not thrilled about her being a first responder. That is her job though, and I will have to accept it.

I have 4 projects going. Yes I know, but I'm the type of personality who has to have projects going. I get bored easily with one thing and must move on to something to give myself a break from it. It's not something I would recommend for anyone. It can get crazy and yes, things do get accomplished. I am working on my shop, renovating it. I have new soap curing and hoping to have it for sale soon. I'm writing a-not-so- typical prepardeness book, I'm working on my bodycare line (revamping the all natural one I had years ago-but that's another story), and I'm working on a magazine. These are my hobbies and I'm passionate about each one.

We have been melting in the heat, setting records in Watertown. Oh how the people complain and would rather be cold than hot. Not me! I would rather be miserable being hot anyday than freezing, shovel snow and, oh yeah, freeezing! The yard is just about dead and goes "crunch" under my feet. No yard mowing at leat. The only thing surviving is the chickory. My garden is surviving just fine, only because I water it everyday. We haven't had any measurable rain in weeks. We get a spittin' every now and then but no good soakers. it looks like the whole country is melting too. Definately not typical. The summers are getting hotter and drier it seems, all over the nation. I think we are seeing the future. Water will be a commitidy.

That's it for now. Sorry it took  so long for an update to the news. Computer problems with the software's interfacing. sigh I hope everyone is staying cool and remember to stay hydrated. Thanks for the support. I appreaciate it.

cottontop

I've been asked by my local library board to give a talk on emergency prepardness, about what I do concerning flu news and FNN. At first I wasn't interested, thinking that the public turn out would be horrible or that the people who did show up whould heckle me as a fear monger. The more I discussed this with some people and the library board, the more I realized that there are people who want this imformation, who want to either learn about how to start an emergency stock or looking for more information, tips, ect.  I could ease the talk into flues and pandemics. So I agreed.

Now it's happened...

Stage fright has set in as the date draws closer. I've never done anything like this before. So now  cottontop is battling the "doubt trolls."  I know I can do it and get through it, I keep telling myself. I am excited to have this opportunity to educate, and to be educated myself as I will interact with the audience. My concern comes when I start talking about panemics as one of the emergency crisis/natinal disasters to prepare for. Many people believe even mentioning the word "pandemic" is overkill when talking about planning for a pandemic. The fact that H1N1 didn't cause the pandemic of equal porpotion to the 1918 pandemic, doesn't help, and most people haven't heard about about H5N1 or have heard of it only as a chicken disease that has killed 2 humans! They seem to get rather hostile when the point is brought up that is has mutated more than once, killed many more people and not all have died from coming into contact with infected poultry, and some strains are now Tamiflu resistant. They don't want to hear about H5N1, but delight in the fact that H1N1 was a fizzle. I cannot understand this mentality. New flu strains are popping up more frequently and some are showing to be Tamiflu resistant and deadly. So, my challenge is to discuss the flu situation and not be heckled.  

My motto has always been: if you are prepared for a pandemic, you are prepared for an emergency/national disaster. 

Also, I would like to thank Peter Christian Hall for his visit to Flu Wiki, Wed. night April, 25, 2012. We had a great time. If you haven't checked out American Fever yet, I urge you to do so. Read about a very realist likely situation of how a H5N1 pandemic could happen in New York city. It's the closest thing to "realism" I've encounter.

Thanks for stopping by and your continued support as FNN contunies to grow it's website and spread the word about emergency prepardness. If you have any questions or comments, send me an email. I would love to hear from you. 

cottontop

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