Living With the Dead: Year One Page 3

  And to be honest, I was kind of embarrassed. I mean, who wants to let his readers know that he was nearly pissing himself because a couple ghouls were breaking bones on solid metal? Basically, I was jumping at shadows, and I didn't want to admit, then, just how weak and helpless I really felt. Because, of course, it turned out to be no threat at all. Anticlimactic. That's life.

  Anyhoo, back to your irregularly scheduled blog in a few hours. Just wanted to clarify.

  Posted by Josh Guess at 3:33 AM

  Friday, March 12, 2010

  Routine matters

  Things are starting to settle into a pattern around here. We're still getting waves of zombies here and there, and it's looking like that is going to be the way of things for the near future at least. As soon as they run out of food, or into a large enough group of different zombies, they sort of pinball around in a random direction. Here in Kentucky, where the hills and forests prevent a lot of movement, that direction seems to be the way they came from as often as not.

  David's parents and brothers are staying with mom, which is a great load off my shoulders. She has a lot of room but not much in the way of food, so it's a good match. David himself is staying with us, along with Patrick. With four of us here, we can mount hunting trips and keep a guard, all without leaving the house empty.

  Jess and I are going out hunting today. Funny that I am the one to show her the necessity of killing animals to survive, when I myself have a hard time with the idea. But I am her husband and her best friend, and I have been there for her through all the bad times. I know her and how she works, and no one else on earth has any better chance to get her to do this. And she will have to, for us to survive.

  So far, no more contact with friends, but David showing up here gives me some hope that we will hear from more survivors eventually.

  I am worried about some survivors, though. Patrick tells me that he saw some looters at the bottom of the subdivision, and that they looked like a pretty rough bunch.

  Ah, Jess is ready to go. She looks adorable in a camo hat.

  Posted by Josh Guess at 11:23 AM

  Saturday, March 13, 2010

  Baby steps

  My wife is a natural shot.

  She felt terrible about it, and cried her eyes out, but she hits what she aims for. At first I wasn't sure she was even going to be able to pull the trigger, and after she bagged the first squirrel, I thought she was done for. But she calmed down, and proceeded to school me on how to shoot. I've been sport shooting for years, this is her first time actually firing a rifle. I love this woman.

  Things are going well, considering our circumstances. David's family is getting on well with mom, though I think it will be a while before she gets used to having so many people in her house.

  Now we're stocked up on meat for a long time. The only problem is keeping it from going bad. Pat proves to be an invaluable resource here: he knows how to dress a lot of varieties of animals, how to make jerky, and how to smoke meat. He has a list of skills longer than my arm, gained over his years of moving around the continent.

  We are starting a house to house search for survivors. It doesn't look good for our road, which is almost certainly deserted except for us. I know for sure that the houses on either side of us are empty. We have plans for those...

  As soon as we get done smoking and jerking our kills, we're going to go out and see what construction supplies we can find. My brother (also named David, we call him Dave) can build anything. He is going to make the trip from a few towns over to get us started on some projects. Frankfort was hit so hard and fast that I think it's a safe bet that the big stores will have some of the things we want, and what we can't find at the stores, we will scavenge from houses.

  This place is going to be a fort when we get done. And big enough to house a lot more people. I think we can make it work, at least if we can get more people.

  Back to my meat lessons with Patrick.

  Posted by Josh Guess at 10:38 AM

  Sunday, March 14, 2010

  Unexpected

  Well, here's something I didn't think would happen.

  Boredom.

  Without the banalities of modern life to fill in the gaps, we actually have a lot of time to fill. So far we have done so with construction, keeping guard, etc. But now that there are more people here, it's amazing how much extra time comes free.

  It's not as though we don't have a lot planned. My brother is going to help us build a lot of stuff, or at least get us on the right track. My current idea is to annex the houses on either side of us, and remove the fences in between, fence in the whole thing, and make one huge back yard that we can farm and build in. But all of that is going to have to wait for several things, not the least of that being enough materials and enough people.

  So here I am, no zombies around to speak of, off of guard duty, but since we have decided to travel in pairs at all times, it's just Pat and I at the house right now, and he's on guard.

  When other people get bored, they play video games or watch TV, but our options in that area are fairly limited right now...so i will write. I know that once we get things really going here, it will be hard to find the time to update. But until then, I guess, you folks out there will keep getting running updates on what we're doing, and how. If any of this helps you a at all, even if just to remind you that in a world gone completely mad, you are not alone, then the my time in writing it has been well worth it.

  Posted by Josh Guess at 10:35 AM

  Monday, March 15, 2010

  Security Measures

  It was pointed out to me that since I have some free time just laying around, I could get into more detail about our supply situation, what materials we have and are planning to have, and what modifications we have done to the house, with the added request that I show pictures.

  The majority of that is no problem, but I have to explain why I will not be showing any pictures of My house from the street, or in any way that would identify it by sight. You see, while we want to encourage some people to come here and have a safe haven, to hopefully build a community, there are those out there with much more dangerous intentions. I've already given our approximate location, and I have no intention of advertising to looters, rapists, and murderers.

  That being said, we will be adding some pictures soon. Jess and I are still looking for our camera, which we misplaced yesterday. We are planning on some video logs as well, though I don't know when we will be able to get them out. Hopefully in the next few days, I will let you know when we get them up.

  As for supplies...a partial list in a previous post, can be found here , but for those of you who missed some of that, here is a list of a lot of the things we have stocked up on:

  Food:

  Bulk flour (and plastic containers to store it in), 30 large containers of salt (and grabbing all we can when we find them), 20 large bags of rice, 10 large bags sugar, 20 large bags of dry beans (various), 2 large containers of pepper, various spices, hundreds of cans of vegetables, and a lot of dry pastas. For an idea what you should look at in food stocks, click here for the article in the zombie survival wiki. It adds the idea of oxygen absorbers and vacuum canisters. We grabbed a lot of canned stuff, which is typically against my inclination, but since most of it is high-calorie, which we need, we eat it first.

  Weapons:

  (Note: I have included a lot of tools in here, because it seems wise to me to multitask as much as possible. Thanks, Alton Brown.) 12 crowbars, four each of the three lengths available at my local store, 6 drywall hammers (various weights), 2 pickaxes, 10 hatchets (4 wood haft, 6 single-forged), 3 wood axes, 3 brush cutters (the single edge ones that look like miniature hooked spears), 3 bows (2 compound, 1 wooden), lots of arrows and dowels to make more, several rifles, shotguns, handguns, knives, and a closet full of ammo.

  Construction materials:

  A dozen large rolls of ten foot chain link fencing (so far), a hundred long fence posts, four large pallets of 3/4 i
nch plywood, ten large jugs of nails (various dimensions), about a hundred 2x10 boards, 3 pallets 2x4 boards, many large coils raw wire, assorted boards for home construction (footers, etc), a variety of latches, locks, bars of steel, steel plate, tools to work them, and errata that are too numerous to remember, much less list.

  Misc:

  (not a complete list, because all the things we have are jammed in and stacked up, bought or taken by all of us at different times) bulk box fishing line, 4 fishing poles, lots of clothes of various types, water purification tablets, two generators, large plastic containers of all sizes (including water tanks for farms, two for water, one for gasoline), a bunch of extra shoes and boots, dozens of bars of soap, liquid soap, matches, steel and flint, duck tape, extra needles, thread, bolts of fabric, lye, funnels (because funnels rock), various lengths and diameters of rope, various types of chain, bags of goose feather, Lots of how-to books, smell maskers.

  Farming:

  4 shovels, 2 spades, seed spreader, tiller, post hole digger, gloves...and time.

  Seeds:

  Tomato, potatoes, cucumber, various melons, wheat, various greens, corn, soy beans, bamboo (i will have a whole article on this one later), onion, beets, various peppers, carrots, peas, various beans, peanuts, cotton, various berry plants, including blueberries, strawberries, and blackberries, mustard, radish.

  This is not a complete list, and likely, I will never be able to produce one. I will be going over some of our future projects in great detail later on, and some more comprehensive lists may be included. The hard truth is that I sit on my couch as I write this, pretty much the only free space in my living room. We have some outside storage, but our mad dash to prepare has greatly overloaded our home, and there is no digging through the random piles of supplies to satisfy my curiosity.

  You may note a total lack of any medical supplies. That is because my next post is going to be all about that. With links, I hope.

  Keep safe.

  PS--how do you guys feel about the lists? Are there any specific ones you want to see, or do you hate them with a fiery passion. Let me know in comments. Also, if any of you have specific questions on how to do something, the best way to do it, what you need, or where to find a way to do it, ask it. I will do what I can.

  Posted by Josh Guess at 9:51 AM

  Tuesday, March 16, 2010

  Health and well being

  This is my attempt to help you all deal with the sad reality that the concept of organized medicine is pretty much dead. All of us, every survivor, must by necessity become part field medic, nurse, doctor, and herbalist. This post will be large, so bear with me.

  Basic first aid:

  It is imperative that you start learning basic first aid. Being able to assess the type and severity of a wound, illness, or condition is vital. Start by checking out this link, which is a good beginner's guide to help you learn what to look for. Without an understanding of how the human body works, you will not be an effective provider of first aid. Therefore I strongly suggest that you study the basic functions of the human body at this link . If you do not have an obvious cause of injury, suppose that you come upon an unconscious person along the road, use the ABC's--that is, make sure they have a clear Airway, that they are Breathing, and check for Circulation, by feeling for a pulse (and its strength) at the major sites.

  More likely in the dangerous place the world has become, you will be dealing with wounds. In general, wounds should be cleaned very well, kept moist, and kept protected. So , make yourself some saline (a rounded tablespoon of sea salt (no added metals, PURE salt) to one liter of distilled water makes .9% saline, or "normal" medical saline) for irrigation, clean the wound, pat it dry, and put some antibiotic ointment on it before placing a nonrestrictive dressing on it. Mind you, this does not apply to Zombie bites. For those, the only option is amputation, or a bullet. For a very good basic look at wound care, check out the CDC's disaster guide to wound management here . If you are desperate, you can look here to get the general idea how to stitch a wound. I warn you, it is basic, but then, so is sewing your skin back together.

  Gathering supplies:

  Make sure that you get as many medical supplies as possible. For this section, I am leaving out medicines. That being said, my suggestion to you is to completely ransack any medicine cabinets you find, and sort the contents out later. With pharmacies, hospitals, doctor's offices and the like you can be more selective, after you know what you are looking for. So, make sure to grab: Band-aids, curlex, various sterile pads (4x4's, etc), abdominal pads, maxi pads (these are very versatile, useful for heavily oozing wounds), air braces for arms and legs (can help control bleeding when you inflate them and be, you know, braces), as many ace wraps as you can find (work well over dressings when you have no tape), natural tears eye drops, antibiotic ointment, sugar, Vaseline (sugar and Vaseline can be mixed together to make a a paste to treat pressure sores), burn cream, manual blood pressure cuff, stethoscope, oximeter (and batteries for it), ice and heat packs, iodaform gauze for small wound/nose packing, LOTS of gauze, both in rolls and in pad form, some non-stick coated gauze pads for burns, steri-strips (which help hold a wound closed), rolls of silk tape, paper tape, needles, silk thread, dental floss, alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, surgical supplies such as scissors, scalpels, and forceps.

  MEDS:

  My main suggestion here is to first get a recent pill guide. It is VITAL that you understand what you may put in your body, and what it might do, especially if you have medicine allergies. Second, you need to make sure you understand what some human averages are pertaining to vital signs, so you don't accidentally kill yourself or someone else by giving a blood pressure med to someone who doesn't need it. So, another list: Acetaminophen , Ibuprofen , diphenhydramine (for allergies), meds for blood pressure (such as clonidine), any and all diarrhea meds (this will dehydrate you fast if left untreated), milk of magnesia for indigestion and constipation (which can rupture your insides if it gets too bad, so I also recommend trying to find enemas and suppositories to break up impactions, aka "big hard poop"), as many antibiotics as possible (make sure you aren't allergic!).

  You may want to get some pain meds, but be extremely cautious when doing so, because most of them can be addictive, and the last thing you want is to get your neck ripped out because you were so high you thought the zombie was John Lennon or something. It probably isn't a bad idea to get some syringes and anesthetics for sutures and whatnot, but please, PLEASE read my next (and last) bit of advice first.

  READ BOOKS! Find as many books on the diagnosis of disease, emergency medicine, herbalism (nice link here ), first aid, and the like as you can. Knowledge is the key to survival, and raiding a medical library is a good way to keep yourself alive and healthy. Not to mention you can train and teach others, and if society ever starts to recover, maybe become a valuable commodity to your new community.

  OK, all done. Sorry this was so long, but this one I really wanted to cover a lot in, because this is probably the most important lesson for long term survival we can learn. Thank you, mom, for the help in creating and organizing this list, and for raising me to love medicine. It sure is coming in handy.

  Posted by Josh Guess at 12:23 PM

  Out of the ashes...

  I feel like I have done my part in helping those of you who have survived the last few weeks prepare for what has been ahead. I have had a hard time choosing between my selfish desire to vent about the general crap that life has become, and trying to help out by providing as much information as I can. I chose to be informative lately, and I stand by that choice. If something I write helps you survive, or someone you love, then I can take the small loss of writing what I feel, what I endure.

  I think that as far as posts to help you prepare for survival, I have done what I can. Chances are that if you have made it this far, you no longer need so much help. So I really don't feel too bad about writing about what is going on around here, though I may do the occasional how-to list
.

  With that in mind: Great news.

  My dad finally contacted me, he and my stepmother, my stepsisters, and their whole clan are safe. My oldest brother is still AWOL, but knowing him, he's holed up in some old house, his kids around him, not a worry in the world.

  Locally, things are even better.

  My voice mail is heavy with messages from people I either know, or know people i know. My friend Gabrielle is loaded up with her husband and kids, heading here. That will make another four to our growing little community. She's also a nurse, with a varied background that will be invaluable to us. Between her and my mom, we might be able to set up a clinic someday. She tells me that their house was almost secure using similar methods as we did for our house, when a huge swarm of zombies hit them. It was something new, I think, because these zombies weren't just milling around, they were focused and relentless. Gab and her family got away by drawing the lot of them into the house and setting it on fire before getting the their SUV, which she kept packed for escape. Smart lady.