You have a strange sense of fun, Brendan. I don't think any of us live in a bubble. Personally, I have plenty of friends, neighbors and Family who live elsewhere who would check in if they didn't hear from me.

Actually, brendan brings up a good point, it's very important to plan for the unexpected. I'm born and raised in southern California, so our thing is earthquakes--and the very likely possibility of being on our own for 3-14 days at least.

For many years we've kept household, at work and in car trunk emergency kits, and the household kit includes food and water for our pets as well. We simply rotate out the old stuff every 6 months.

It's actually quite empowering to feel prepared and sets your mind at ease knowing that not only your household, but those of your extended family, have a plan in advance.

Velvet ~:>

I have been on forest fire evacuation alert for the last three weeks. We have 7 chickens 4 goats 10 cats, 4 dogs and one horse. We have been very fortunate that we didn't have to put our plan in to action. The cats would be the hardest because not all of them get along.lol We still needed money to live so I would go to work and tell the person on watch that day, "Don't put RocKat and Sam in the same cage." My plants would be on their own because a timer wouldn't be any good without power. The well has an electric pump so no water. The cages were left lined up and ready to fill. The horse trailer was ready for the horse and goats my keys were in my truck. We were to meet in town at the rodeo grounds and go from there.

It's really strange that you bring this up because just recently I was wondering what would happen if I injured myself horribly,or became very ill ect...what would happen to my responsabilities? There's my husband of course,but it's me who does everything out there and I'm the reason they're all out there too! so...it made me think about what would happen,,where would they go If something happened?? very sad to think about,but good to plan and not add to the list of unwanted animals in the shelters and fosteres.

My DH has made a little fun of me for being totally prepared for an emergency...any kind. I have a tote in the basement with supplies; a 5 gallon water jug too. I'm glad Brendan brings this up because I had not thought to get supplies for the critters. Lori

I have thought about this for a long time and it's a good question and exercise.

On a regular basis I ride early mornings before work. I have an arrangement with several people to know where to look for me if I don't show up for work, etc. My DH is on the road and in the winter if he can't reach me by 7:00pm he calls someone to come check on me. So I have a daily network in case I get hurt in the barn or out riding which is good.

For a natural catastrophes where I would have to evacuate - I am prepared to hitch my trailer and load all my animals and go wherever. My hens would be in cages and the donkeys, horses and goats (2 each) would all just load into my trailer. I always keep my truck full. We have actually practiced loading hitching the truck and trailer, loading all the barn animals and we can do it in 45 minutes or less. We haven't gathered the chickens for this exercise but I feel confident we could gather them quickly in their cages.

We have a generator for power outages here so we would have
and heat with wood back up. We have pantry that we could live on for a while but for prolonged periods we would have to build up more stores of food and fuel.

It's a scary but necessary thing to really think about.

Three years ago over 100 people and horses were camping for a two week long event here in NH. In the middle of the night we were rousted by the police pounding on our trailers telling us we had to evacuate in one hour because the dam was about to break from all the rain. It was shear bedlam and some people just totally fell apart in confusion and some horses were very jiggy. But everyone got out leaving alot of stuff behind. Fortunately, the dam never broke and we were all able to return within two days. Some didn't come back!! It was a valuable lesson in evacuation however.

That actually happened not to far from us several years ago. We live out in a rural area and down the road from us, a middle aged woman lived alone. She worked and also kept up her 20 acre farm. She had chickens, horses, goats and a few house dogs.

She was on vacation and was out riding in the back of her acreage and apparently was thrown and died. She wasn't found until 4 days later when her mother came down to pick her up. They were going to spend the last two days of her vacation together shopping and stuff. Her mother had tried to call her, but said it was pretty normal not to reach her because she was always outside doing stuff.

All the animals survived as they were able to find enough forage to sustain themselves and the dogs tipped the dog food bag over. They were pretty thirsty though as they had finally run out of water.

So it can happen.

I have been known to head on over to a relatives or friends house when I couldn't reach them for a day and never got a call back. Most of the time they are ok, just busy with farm chores and stuff and forgot to call me back.

But you never know when an accident can happen. A long time ago, I had a friend that died when she went out to feed the horses. They think she fell out of the loft, and her 10 year old daughter found her laying in the barn isle when she got home from school that afternoon. Her husband had already left for work and all the kids had gone to school that morning, and she was home alone doing chores.

So a person really needs to have a security system in place so that if the plan is not followed, someone will check up on them.

My sister lives a few miles from me and I call her every morning and she calls me every evening. We chit chat but it's mainly to make sure we are alright. We are both stepping up the ladder of aging (I'm on the 56th rung and she is on the 63rd rung) and we know that things happen. She has a small farm as do I and we have animals to care for.

If we don't answer the phone, we keep trying every 15 minutes for an hour then we head on over to the house to make sure things are ok. If we aren't going to be home, of course we let each other know that.

That is sad and exactly why I have my plan in place. It's a busy and dangerous life on the farm especially when you are alone most of the time.

This thread is brining back painfull memories... lol
4 years ago, I was 8 months pregnant (HUGE) I went out to get the eggs and got locked in the chicken house. DH was working out of town and no neighbours close enough to hear me yell. I ended up crawling out the teenie chicken door and sliding down the ramp. I almost got stuck, I was covered in chicken poop and I haven't eaten an egg since (unless it's baked in something)! A year and a half after that, I took my 18 month old out to play in the snow, and fell off the edge of the back steps as I was shovelling them off. I landed upside down and broke my left arm. Of course, my daughter wouldn't move after watching me fall. She was standing at the top of the stairs holding on to a huge clay pot. I had to pick her up by the front of her snow suit and tuck her under my right arm to get her back in the house then call someone to come take me to the hospital. Thank goodness for adrenaline!
Lesson learned! DH works from home now, so I'm not usually alone anymore and if I am I take the phone with me. We also got a better door on the chicken coop!

OMG..poor you mxbarbie!I feel for you,especially being pregnant on top of all that ,,terrible! I've often feared being locked into the shed somehow..the door always swings closed..and I'm afraid of it latching on the outside! it's a huge fear. I shall keep a fog horn or something in there to be safe if this ever does occur. Thanks Brendan of bonsai...now we're all preparing for the worst! LOL

I actually like this question. Makes you think. I do think someone would notice if my DH or I went missing as we both work plus still have a teenager at home. We are in a VERY rural community so when either of us call in sick or something, it has an effect on the workplace. Now for bigger potential "disasters," I feel like I've prepared for them to some point. I have a tote in the basement filled with blankets, medical supplies, some canned goods. Several 5-gallon water jugs too. I hate to say that I had not thought about feeding my animals in that case.

We don't have livestock, just cats/dogs/chickens. Makes you think about what would happen if you didn't have feed for them. I guess it is most prudent to have feed set aside for the chickens (rotated, of course) because they could then feed your family if need be, whether from eggs or meat. Depending on the season, most of the above critters could forage for at least some of their food. I know my chickens still eat a lot of feed despite having a large run where they can eat the grasshopper invasion that is currently going on. The cats catch some rodents and critters (last night a cute and fuzzy bunny) but I doubt it would be enough to keep them fed. I guess they would have to get better at it;) I would worry the most about the dogs. I'm assuming that we would feed them whatever we were eating, if need be. It is this type of thinking that makes me want to be self-sufficient but that is a full-time job in itself, not one that someone like me (who works full time) can easily do. Lori

I personally am very much looking forward to making things as automated as possible one of these days (when I get some land that I can legally raise animals on). Maybe a big solar powered fish feeder converted to dole out chicken feed every night, and automatic ramp closure that would shut them in securely.