Preparation vs. Paranoia

OK everyone. I feel compelled to get up on my soapbox to talk about Ebola and the hysteria that is beginning to take over Facebook. I follow several homesteading pages on FB, and one thing that is beginning to grate on my nerves is how many are posting articles about Patient Zero and the "looming pandemic" that is going to plague the world.

Let me begin by saying this: there is nothing wrong at all with trying to be prepared. It will serve you much better than NOT being. But, part of being prepared (specifically for viral outbreaks, in this instance) is knowing HOW things are spread, incubation times, warning signs, and how to respond in the event of contraction.

One of the page moderators of a homesteading site (I have since stopped following them, BTW) I spoke with haughtily asked if I REALLY thought we would be told if this virus got out of hand.

Honestly? Hell no - I don't think the CDC, the World Health Organization, or even our own government would ever tell the mass population of a pandemic. Why? Because it would create mass hysteria, which in turn would lead to chaos, which would make a very bad situation MUCH worse. This, again, leads back to the fact that choosing to be knowledgeable and prepared for different situations is never a bad thing.

The paranoia and irrational "sky falling" fear over this virus, in my opinion, is being perpetuated by media who sensationalize and skew facts in order to get more readers. One particular article I read about "Patient Zero" made the bold statement that "additional people who may have been exposed to Ebola includes every person who used the ambulance which the patient was transported in, since the vehicle was still in operation two days after it was used to take the man to a Dallas hospital."

The article calls into question how the CDC could possibly have things "under control" because of the ambulance being used. It sounds compelling and scary. One thing the author did not do, however, was support her statement with any evidence, such as discussing the virus' length of survival outside a host. Nor did she offer any comparative information between Ebola to the mode of transmission / survival rate outside host of other common communicable diseases. Probably because it would have invalidated her stance of negligence or conspiracy in the CDC's efforts.

For instance, we currently have 1 case of Ebola in the US. The virus can be spread through blood, saliva, semen, and other bodily fluids. The virus can survive in dried material for a number of days. (This would mean IF patient zero coughed, sneezed, or bled in the ambulance, and it was NOT cleaned up and was allowed to dry, another person could potentially be exposed to the virus IF they rubbed an open wound against or licked the exact same area as the dried Ebola virus - which is unlikely.)

Last year in the U.S., another much more prevalent - and VERY contagious disease - Mycobaterium Tuberculosis was reported in 9,582 NEW cases. Also, according to the CDC, there were 536 deaths from TB in 2011 (the most recent year this data is available for). TB is highly communicable and can survive MONTHS outside a host. You would be much, much, much likelier to contract TB from an ambulance than you would be to catch Ebola. But, nobody is running around panicking about it.

Or, what about Hepatitis C? There are approximately 3.2 million people in the US alone who have Hep C, with approximately 170,000 new cases being reported EACH YEAR. Like Ebola, Hep C has no cure and can be transmitted by blood. Also, according to the CDC, approximately 26 Americas DIE EACH DAY due to Hep C complications. Hepatitis C can be spread through blood, and the virus can survive in dried blood for several weeks. Similarly to Tuberculosis, you are much more likely to contract Hep C than you are Ebola. But you don't hear much about this, either.

So, is Ebola scary? Absolutely. Is it something that should be taken seriously? Absolutely. Should people be well informed about the virus? Absolutely! But people should also be knowledgeable enough to have some perspective and not panic. If everyone panicked about the possibility they could catch something potentially deadly, nobody would ever leave their homes.

Be prepared. Don't be paranoid. Do your research! Here are some good places to start:

*Centers for Disease Control and Prevention : http://www.cdc.gov/
*World Health Organization : http://www.who.int/en/
*Office of Global Affairs : http://www.globalhealth.gov/
*Mayo Clinic : http://www.mayoclinic.org/

Wood is Good. Wood is Warm. Wood is Happiness.

Autumn is officially upon us, and here in New England, the temperatures are getting cooler. This past winter was our first since relocating from the south, and there were certainly some learning curves we had to navigate. The biggest, for me at least, was learning how to stay warm without jacking the thermostat to 80 degrees. As a housewife, I am home all day long, and to heat a house in the winter, in the north, all day and night........well you might as well start burning paper money for heat. Oil heating and its cost is quite pricy. With keeping the thermostat at about 74 for the first few months of cool weather, we went through an insane amount of oil. (For all of you unfamiliar with the crap-tastic heating ways of the North.......some brilliant person decided burning oil to heat your home was THE way to go.......can you say "sticker shock?!?) After seeing how quickly we had to refill our 275 gallon oil tank (which costs roughly the same as gasoline, per gallon, BTW), I knew I had to find a different way of keeping the house heated. 

I very quickly learned the value of keeping a fire roaring in the fireplace all day. 

The upside to this practice - you have a lovely crackling fire, you get warmth without using an ungodly amount of oil in your furnace, and you have the deep, smokey, childhood smell of happiness that burning wood produces. The downside - you have to keep tending to the fire on a regular basis, you have to haul heavy logs, and you go through a massive of wood.

**As a side note: a wood-burning stove is a much more efficient method of heating, and we are hoping to get one this year, but that is another story.**

On our property, we have stacks upon stacks of cut logs. They were here when we purchased our home. Because of those stacks, we did not see any need to buy wood before winter overtook us last year. What we did not account for, however, was how much precipitation we would get. By mid-winter, the stacks of wood were buried under layers of snow and ice. We couldn't see the stacks, let alone break through the giant, ice-filled snowdrifts to get to most of them. The few we were able to locate, break apart, and then lug back to the house were so wet and decayed that they were of very little use. They either smoldered or burned far to fast. Eventually, we had to bite the bullet and have some wood delivered.

We found several vendors that would have delivered firewood to our home, but one of them stood out. The wood they sold was slightly more expensive per cord than some of the others, but a much better quality. It was guaranteed hardwood, seasoned a minimum of 2 years, de-barked and tumbled (yielding less mess to deal with, and a more efficient, even burn), and the charge included delivery. Plus, they were able to get the wood shipped to us very quickly, which was great since the weather was biting and unpredictable!

We ordered the minimum required - 2 cords. I was expecting a good amount, but when truck dumped the wood in our requested location, I was shocked. The pile was huge. It was wide and tall and deep. I could barely see over it, Bella could do laps around it, and John couldn't even park in his garage space until we were able to get most of it out of the way stacked! 


 It took us close to a full day-and-a-half to get the logs stacked. When it was all said and done, we ended up with closer to 2.5 cords, which was a really nice surprise. Also, rather than throwing away up all the slivers of wood and chunks of bark, I gathered them up in a large 5-gallon bucket. I then used paper raffia to bind the pieces into small bundles to use as wood-starters. Because the wood was smaller and had lots of thin edges, they caught fire very quickly. The bigger chunks of wood I put more towards the center of the bundles so they would burn longer, allowing enough time to catch big logs on fire. They worked really well, and it was nice to put all the parts of the woodpile to use.


The wood we purchased burnt so efficiently, that even finishing out the remainder of last year's winter barely made a dent in the pile. This autumn, we have already started having fires burning again (in fact, I'm sitting by the fireplace right now, typing by it's glorious flickering). The wood has stayed beautiful, and I am still so thankful we made the investment last year.

If you have been watching the weather signs, you will probably agree with me that this year is looking to be a bad winter again. Don't get blind-sided by not being prepared enough. Move your wood supply close to your house, cover it, and make sure you have enough to get you through even a very long winter. And, if you need to purchase wood, I would suggest doing it now - just in case stock gets low or prices raise at the stores. Better safe - AND WARM - than sorry!