Prepping « Robin Writes

This is one of the rare weekends that we take our dogs with us to the farm. They get all excited, especially the little one, about going “bye-bye truck.” Yes, I’m the one who NEVER used baby talk with my kids, but sure do with the little dog. Keep calling her a puppy too, even though she’s two years old—about 24 in people years!

Obviously, it takes a bit more planning to travel with pets; we only have a three-hour trip, max, so the travel part isn’t so bad. We bring their food dishes and food, we have extra water bowls here, and a blanket for the older dog to sleep on—not that he ever uses anything at home. We also have a large crate/nightstand, just in case.

The older one sleeps most of the trip, unless the little one happens to bark at a pedestrian or a driver stopped next to us. The biggest hazard is that, if we don’t pack the floor correctly, he tends to slip down off the seat. Or at least one end of him or the other. Doesn’t seem to bother him much, kind of like a tiny baby in a carseat—you always wonder how they can be comfortable!

The little one, well, she wants to be in on all the action, so she has to be restrained. We tried a small crate, but no dice: she whined all.the.time. ALL.THE.TIME. Then I had a brainstorm. I found the harness we’d gotten for the cat, the one he Houdini’d out of a few times, and hooked a leash to it; I tied the other end to a tab at the top of the backseat, and voila! She can stand, sit, lie down, and balance a lot better. And she can’t get into the front to distract me.

We also learned we have to skip her breakfast in the morning…

As I’ve said before, in any prepping situation, you take of your animals and plants first, then yourself. So when we arrive, the dogs are walked, watered, and fed, and then we can move on to other chores.

Now, when prep sites tell you to have a gallon of water per person, you have to remember to add an additional gallon per pet—I’m going to assume, for the moment, that your livestock are already taken care of as far as food, water, and shelter.

Pet food is easily storable, although it can take up a lot of space and it isn’t light. We use big Tupperware tubs. They’re rodent proof, which is a must-have. You don’t want to feed the mouse population, just your pets.

Any meds that your pets need must also be stocked. Keep in mind the age and condition of those pets. Our older dog is 13 and his breed lifespan is around 15-16. Not to sound harsh, but there’s no point in stocking enough heartworm meds or anything else beyond 2-3 years’ worth. When SHTF, there will be a lot of other, more important things, to worry about.

Oh, I know—many of you shudder at the thought of your pet missing his teeth cleaning or his mani-pedi or being shaved for the summer. But what if those services weren’t available? Could or would you perform them yourself? Maybe. But it wasn’t so long ago that dog’s teeth were cleaned by gnawing on bones and their nails were clipped by owners or by running around outside.

As people have become more used to conveniences, so too have their pets. Sure, we love them; sure, they’re cute. I even saw a cat yesterday that was wearing a Cards cap and sunglasses. Cute! And my family always had pets, so to speak: dogs to warn off intruders and cats to keep down the rodent population, as well as being companions. A lot of folks might have to rethink their own pet situation when SHTF…

The worst part of this little experiment of mine was the fact that I was the only test subject. That’s two whammies: I was, what seemed at the time, deathly ill, and I had no one to practice on besides myself.

Quite frankly, I was too sick to even give two tiny whoops.

It started last Sunday. We were packing up for our weekly trip to the farm, and I didn’t feel well. Not horrible, just not good. Took my temp and it was around 99. No big; I don’t even treat a fever until it hits 100—fever is there for a reason. In a nutshell, it burns off whatever you’ve got.

We decided to postpone the trip until the next day. I mean, I never get sick—the last time it was this bad was 12 years ago, and it was a lot worse then—so we figured a good night’s sleep would take care of it.

Problem was, I haven’t had a good night’s sleep in forever…

Monday morning, my temp shot up to 101 and I was reaching for the Advil. Still, I was hanging in there and told my husband to go ahead and leave, I’d be fine, the kid was home, no big deal. I went back to bed and watched old TV reruns and dozed a little; the kid brought me food and water, lots of water, and honey, and a wet washcloth. When I got tired of being in bed—which, to me, says “sick” more than anything else—I’d move to the recliner or couch and the other TV.

By the time my husband got home around 10:00 p.m., having wisely decided he should probably be at home with me, that silly thermometer was reading just a tad over 102.

Good grief. And here’s the kicker: I literally had no other symptoms. None. Well, okay, my butt hurt from sitting on it, and I had a slight headache that turned out to be forgetting my Claritin AND beta blockers for two days.

Let me tell you, though, at 102-point-whatever, you are SICK. And you feel it.

Tuesday was much the same: recliner, couch, bed, Advil, a little food, a lot of water and Gatorade, wet washcloths, and honey.

Yes, a spoonful of honey, now and again, really, really made me feel better. Nothing fancy, just eat it. I did, once, mix it with lemon juice; only once because I was too miserable to squeeze another lemon. And I can tell you this: I intend to keep a lot of honey around!

Advil too—I call it my wonder drug. Now, purists will tell you to use other things, but dammit, this was misery. I do always take two; I used to mess around with one first, but the heck with that. Take two and be done. At least for a while. This fever would go down to normal, or close, but it would take 2 hours and then start going back up again.

By Wednesday, tired of everyone telling me that this was “too long,” I went to my doc’s clinic. I peed in a cup; I had blood drawn. I talked to the NP and felt sorta human for a bit. Still running about 100 degrees. She gave me a Z-pack, just in case, and because I had started coughing. Just a bit, once in a while, no big deal. Not even like, you know, a real cough.

She also upped the Advil to three at a pop. That was the best thing ever! I’d wait until I hit 100—the heck with 101 at this point—eat those suckers, and BAM. Fever-be-gone, in like 30 minutes. Slept great Thursday night, but the damn thing went up again Friday morning.

And that was that.

Oh, the cough? Yeah, it got a little worse. The cross-your-legs-and-pray kind of worse, you know? Still have it, but it’s almost gone. It’s been 8 days of crap. Well, 6 days anyway. I managed to go see a friend who was in town for her two-year visit, since I was fever-free by Friday morning, and on Sunday we drove down to the farm—yay!

Yes, I’m taking it easy. Staying out of the sun. No hard labor. Etc., etc.

What did I learn, as far as prepping?

Buy and stock lots of Advil—I should get a stipend for plugging them so much. Ditto with honey, local and unprocessed, the darker the better; eat a spoonful every few hours, or mix it with whatever you like. Drink lots of water—that’s a duh—but change it up with Gatorade or 7UP or whatever tickles your fancy.

Rest, even if you don’t feel like it. I suspect I had a flu, but it wasn’t as bad as it could have been because I don’t mess around anymore with processed food and junk, and I get regular exercise. Anyway, during days 2-4, I couldn’t have done anything if I’d tried. Not weak, just sick. Too sick to be online or talk on the phone or even text. THAT is sick! I neglected everything, and you know what? It turned out okay. Well, I have a few people who are a little annoyed with me, but they’ll get over it…

The difficult part is resting when you start to feel better. You want to handle everything, you want it done, but here’s the thing: don’t. Delegate, or let it go. Or even half-ass it. It really doesn’t matter to anyone but you…

Stock up on antibiotics if you can. I don’t know HOW you can, but it would sure be a help. Can’t say if they helped me or not, because when the blood work came back, it showed nothing in the way of an infection, so yeah, probably viral. On the plus side, I rarely take antibiotics, so if there was anything bacterial lurking around on the inside, it’s surely gone now.

Take your vitamins and eat. I barely had any food all week; nothing sounded or looked or tasted good, although I had no nausea or digestive issues. It helps if there’s someone around to make the food, because cooking or even making a sandwich was completely beyond my ability last week. Losing a few pounds can be good, sure, but it’s not worth feeling sicker and weak from lack of food.

Best advice I’ve got is to get healthy and stay that way. The latter is much easier if you start with the former.