Posted on 12/26/2012 8:14:39 AM PST by blam
And no, it doesn't help me understand. I can have a bunch of 'stuff', and still be able to grab my go bag and disappear into the night. And I can live that. I have those skillsets. I've done it. Wanna play mountain man through all the seasons? I've lived that.
But all that 'stuff' sure did come in handy after the market crash of 2008. I went almost 2 years with zero income and still had the bills.
Food was what I had put by and what I foraged or grew.
You do what you want, you laugh at who you like.
Me? I think I'll set stuff by like was done for thousands of years.
Besides, buying in bulk and on sale saves me about 15-18% on my consumables cost.
/johnny
I'm a cook.
If a back-hoe isn't available, I still have ways to get rid of meat.
Try the pork stew with cabbage.
Can't leave corpses laying around. Unhygenic.
/johnny
Good posts...you are thinking and so am I
I have a spreadsheet where I did some of the logistics, based on WWI reports on hygiene and the death rates in Army camps.
They will drop like flies.
If you have the medicines available, typhoid and cholera are treatable...
Greece isn't getting medicine unless it's cash money right now because of their collapse. Sanitation fails, we'll see outbreaks again.
/johnny
The only preppers I know about who identify themselves and tell where they live and what they have, are the ones on TV.
I’m just a little old lady who lives in a small house and couldn’t have anything worth taking and I’m not leaving.
You can run around the country looking for water and food, and probably end up dead - I don’t care.
That's because the land-line guys prep with gensets and batteries (which are a good deal if you buy their surplus) and you are tied to them with a land-line.
They supply the 'lektrikity for that.
The cell phones? Not so good. Cell sites do have gensets and batteries (or used to, when I was in the business), but the handset isn't powered by them, so on that part, you are on your own.
Damn prepping phone companies. ;)
/johnny
They will drop like flies.
**************************************
We are about a 1 1/2 to 2 hrs. drive from the city, any chance they will drop before they get here?
We are on a gravity septic system, so we should be able to flush, but we have backup just in case.
You just gave me a horrible vision of the future where all the squirrels and rabbits have been shot and the denizens of the city are fanning out looking for food. In the absence of small game, and with the stores bare, would they resort to eating human flesh? Of course they would. They would try to kill you for food. The fictional movies about Zombies may not be as far from reality as we would like to believe. Sometimes pop culture reveals that which we subliminally know we should fear.
Thanks for the reply.
Something that jumped out at me from your post about your preps - “storage” for any amount of time eventually runs out, but it is wise to have at least 3 if not 6 months of stored food in order to “hole up” until the riots quell.
Of course, any amount of storage will run out, and you have to have your production systems going before they do. You can’t eat vegetables tomorrow by planting seeds today. And it’s good to get the experience ahead of time, as well.
I figured it out. “Fairness.”
It started when they stopped keeping score at the little league level. It started when everyone got to run the bases, whether they hit the ball or not. It started when they handed out participation ribbons, certificates and those stupid kindergarten graduations...
We didn't understand it back then when it was happening, we were told it was a ‘self-esteem’ issue. Well, here we are today with the fairness mentality and ‘you didn't build that,’ and class warfare instead of American ingenuity.
The ‘self-esteem’ issue was never the issue. This was all orchestrated to bring down the intelligent, talented and hard working by not rewarding them individually. It was all designed to groom a whole generation, like a child molestor that grooms his victim to be a willing victim.
We questioned these elite teachers and coaches at the time. We knew deep down it was way wrong, but we didn't know how to explain why it was so very wrong to do this to a generation of children. If we had known that the goal really wasn't about building up self-esteem, but about tearing down the very fabric of prosperity and success, would we have stopped it then?
Now that we truly see it, can we reverse it now?
I guess that old saw "the difference between a depression vs recession is the loss of your job" applies.
We, too, have some 'put by' as you say, but harbor no illusions that it is enough to weather more than a small hiccup.
I was living and working in the former Soviet (the CIS) when the rubel (rubol) was revalued. I saw firsthand what happened to folks.
We are prepared to move, if needed, and to do different kinds of work to ensure we stay whole and healthy. Many in the US are not willing to do that. It is those that will suffer.
I got laid off in '05 and started doing contract work. Now, I work for myself. The hours suck and the Boss is a real crank, but I don't owe anyone nor does anyone own me. I'll even add that a lot of stuff doesn't own me either.
By the way, happy for you that you have lived in the same town nearly forever and seem to know most folks, not many places left like that. Bon Chance!
Knew an old guy that liked big blades. Some kids came up to him in a park, and, just goofing, I think, said “What would you do if we asked for your wallet? He pulled a pig sticker and said “I’m not sure. Ask.”
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