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April 3, 2017 · 7:00 am

Surviving a Blizzard in La Yacata

Snow in Los Amoles, Moroleon, Guanajuato March 2016

Yes, La Yacata is in central Guanajuato and the average daily temperature in the state of Guanajuato is 65 degrees F (18.1 degrees C), but a blizzard is possible, especially in light of global climate change. In fact, in March 2016, Los Amoles, which is another municipality of Moroleon at a higher elevation than La Yacata, did in fact, experience a blizzard.

So, looking at what the experts suggest in the event of a blizzard, how does La Yacata (or rather the Flores family in La Yacata) rate for preparedness?

In the event of a blizzard, make sure you have:

1. Working flashlight (check) We always have at least one flashlight that is fully charged. Overall, we’ve found the cranky handle type to be the best value for the money.

2. A charged cell phone (check) We charge our phones with the car battery inverter or power banks. Although I don’t rightly know who we’d call. I suppose it would be good to keep our emergency status updated on Facebook!

3. Battery-powered radio or television (check) We have a rechargeable radio, but no TV. I expect this is to be informed about changes in the weather conditions, although both serve as a nice distraction when cooped up indoors. Instead of the TV, we do have portable DVD players.

4. Extra food, water, and medicine (check) My thyroid medicine is issued in 6 months supply quantities. I doubt a blizzard would last that long. We have an aljibe (dry well) and 2-3 tinacos (water storage containers) for water storage. We also keep a good supply of beans and rice for when there just isn’t anything else. We have milk when the goats are lactating and eggs when the chickens are laying.

5. First Aid Supplies (check)We keep a small first aid kit on hand. We also have aloe growing out back for burns and wound treatment although, in the event of a blizzard, we might have to dig it out.

6. Heating fuel (check) We not only have a small supply of mesquite wood but a chimney in which to burn it as well. And remember, cow patties and horse poop burn pretty darn good and we have a good source for both of those!

7. Emergency heating source (check) Our lovely chimney, of course.

8. Fire extinguishers (NOPE) But, I must say that only in one place in the 10 odd residences I have lived has there been a fire extinguisher available. And in that case, it did come in handy when my refrigerator caught on fire.

9. Carbon monoxide and smoke detectors (NOPE) We ought to maybe look into these for La Yacata.

Not on the official list but I would also recommend:

–a Kindle or other reading material (check) We have a kindle and a nice large library to keep the cabin fever at bay.

—non-electric cooking device (check) Our stove uses gas and our entire kitchen is fully functional without electricity.

On a Farm:

1. Move all animals to an enclosed shelter (check) Although our chickens roost outside and the goat area is outside, both areas have a roof and 2 walls. We also have enough room to move all the animals into a 3 walled area with our horses in necessary.

2. Bring extra feed to nearby feeding areas (check) With our recent remodel of Joey‘s stall, we have a nice area to store food.

3. Have an extra water supply easily available (check) Our aljibe (dry well) is right in our back yard and our tinacos (water storage containers) are up on the roof of the first floor.

So as you can see, we are fully prepared in the event of a blizzard or two here in La Yacata!

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Filed under Battling Nature, Carnival posts, Electricity issues, Homesteading, Safety and Security, Water issues

Tagged as atozchallenge, how to prepare for a blizzard, March 2016 snow in Mexico, prepper, snow in Mexico, survivalism, surviving a blizzard, what to do in the event of a blizzard

April 1, 2017 · 7:00 am

Surviving an Apocalypse in La Yacata

I don’t consider myself a Prepper per se, but I find that our aims (the Preppers and Me) are often very similar. With that in mind, I’m recommending La Yacata as a Bug-Out Location (a place to go in the event of a disaster). Of course, if I were truly a Prepper, I wouldn’t give you the location of my secret bunker. After all, you might tell the Zombies where I am.

Surviving an Apocalypse in La Yacata

I love living in La Yacata, despite its hardships, but it may seem like a stretch of the imagination for me to say that La Yacata is the place to be in the event of an Apocolypse. Maybe a little venture into word origins is in order.

So what is an Apocalypse?

The term Apocalypse is actually not a scary thing. It comes from the Greek and literally means uncovering or unveiling of knowledge.

Thus, in the bible book of Revelations, otherwise known as the Apocalypse of John, the apostle John records his unveiled knowledge of the end of the known world. In his visions, he saw the ultimate victory of good over evil. Not something that would inspire fear, provided you are on the right side.

In Prepper terminology, this event would be known as TEOTWAKI (The End of the World As we Know It) which doesn’t mean the end of the world, just the end of the known world, implying that there will be something on the other side of the Apocalypse. Going back to the apostle John, his vision included something of what was on the other side of that battle of Armageddon, the beginning of a 1000 reign of Christ and a new heaven and new earth. As for what comes after that thousand year stretch of prosperity, I expect it would be another Apocalypse.

The Aztec also had beliefs about Apocalypses that are similar to the apostle John. They believed that there had been four worlds (called Suns) before the present one. The previous 4 worlds had been created then destroyed by catastrophic events caused by the gods. At the time of the Spanish conquest, the Aztecs were living in what they believed to be the Fifth Sun (world) and in fact, felt they were the chosen people of the Sun God. In order to show all due respect to their god, they sacrificed humans on a massive scale to keep the world from ending. Ironically, in part, it was the excessive sacrificing that caused the internal rifts that made the inhabitants ripe for a revolution which the Spaniards played on in order to gain supporters for their conquest causing the “Aztec Apocalypse” (See La Malinche) So this internal strife, disease brought by the Spanish and ecological collapse caused by excessive exploitation of the natural resources all played a hand in the Aztec demise, but more about those in later posts.

The current mistaken common belief that the end of the world as we know it is the end of THE WORLD has caused all sorts of hysteria. Look at all that hullabaloo about 2012 being the end of the world according to the Mayan calendar. What people didn’t seem to get in their panic is that yes, it was the end of a “world” but it also marked the beginning of another.

The Mayans believed that three previous worlds had been created and destroyed. Humans didn’t arrive on the planet until the current, fourth world. This fourth epoch would end December 21, 2012, or Mayan date 13.0.0.0.0. It didn’t mean that the planet would be destroyed, just that an age was at an end and another ready to begin.

So, endings and beginnings aside, I still believe La Yacata to be the place for the best chance of survival in the event of catastrophic events. And I’ll tell you why.

Just to make it fun, I will be addressing different potential apocalypse-making disasters in alphabetical order this month with the A to Z Blogging Challenge. You’ll be able to see all the links below at the end of the month.

Meanwhile…..