Calling All Preppers!

[gitrdone]

Just putting this out there to try and find some like minded people. People who see the possibility of a very rough road ahead of us (economic, civil unrest, natural disaster etc..). If your interested in sharing ideas on prepping or survival techniques and so on.
This may work out to be a great place to start networking with other people in your area who think the same way.
Post your thoughts on the wall or PM me if your interested.

[Gust]

In 1989 I was living in a very bad part of San Francisco, and while watching the world series the earthquake hit, rather than detail that, there's a point of it more relative to your post; there was a blackout that followed and being a coastal city the sun sets without much twilight that we get here. Nobody were going back inside and most people were in the middle of making supper. As the night came on it became so dark out that headlights were put on for light, and then people started bringing out BBQ's and Hibachi's and that awful named neighborhood became a huge community, everybody were being fed and comforted and all the misery of what was before the quake went out the window. People shone through. A friend was in Thailand during the Tsunami, she said it was the same, very communal,, what my parents tell me of during the most miserable hell of WWII, and so on,,, which is contrary to what Hollywood portrays in a doomsday scenario "every man for himself" stock the ammo, they're a'comin.

I think about this often and my worry are those who wholeheartedly beleive that their neighbours could become treacherous. On the flip side -being that most of us haven't been through a massive demise of something- may actually embrace the opportunity to be truly civil,,, on a further hypothetical extreme, maybe the powers that be are a tad scared that we'll come to recognise that we've been governed for the most part under and emperor with no clothes dancing out a bizarre charade.

Back to the earthquake; headlights were turned off as candles lit the street, food was shared, it was a nice night, you could see the stars,,, however, there were those who expected the worse for that neighborhood and something more sinister was occuring in the dark. It was decided from afar that looting was probably happening and it best be that power be restored to that "bad" neighborhood first,, which it was, and clad in black, sporting semi-automatic rifles stood various policing units 50 feet apart, poised and ready, while thousands of people cooked a HUGE meal and sat in little groups eating burritos and re-fried beans, comforting stupid frost-backs (me), getting to know neighbours, laughing at stories of trying to get out of the shower-dressed-and-out, or being on the toilet while the earth shook. We didn't see them come. No looting ever occured. No crime happened that night or at least until things went back to normal and the earthquake became no more than yesterdays news.

Maybe we all need a good collapse to remember what we're all really capable of.

I'll shoot you a PM on some good off-the grid infrastructures.

[gitrdone]

Thanks, look forward to reading it.
As far as people go in a time of crisis, Im sure your right for the most part. I know I would help those in need, as long as my family still had enough to survive. When it all comes down to it, everyone will look out for there family first........right?
This is why some people put away a little extra food every month, so if SHTF and people need help, they can help out.
Thank you for you response, it was nice to hear a good spin on a bad situation.
Take care

[4thredneck]

How can you live your life in fear?

[pophouseman]

Originally Posted by 4thredneck

How can you live your life in fear?

It's not living in fear, it is living smart.

do you not have a reserve fund of $$ in case you lose your job for 3 months?

same idea/different scenario

[xBrokenswordx]

I've been prepping for a couple of years now. I prep for the possibility of bad weather, power outages etc. I have a son and gf to look after if things get rough. My gf likes the idea that we won't need gubermint assistance should the shtf, we will not have to live in a gymnasium or stand in line for food and water. Besides, i grew up in a remote part of northern Ontario and out of necessity most people were and still are preppers. It's a good idea for like minded individuals to stick together and share ideas

[xBrokenswordx]

Originally Posted by 4thredneck

How can you live your life in fear?

You misunderstand what prepping is all about. Most preppers are not the doom and gloom teotwawki type

[gitrdone]

I agree with all of you, it's not living in fear, it's living prepared for the "what if" factor. I would rather live knowing I can provide for my family if some uncertain times came down the pipe. Gotta say though, the only area that still concerns me is the dreaded Mortgage!

Thanks for the responses, it's great to see!
Pm if interested in exchanging ideas

Beans, bandaids & bullets bothers!

[Whiskey Wish]

I think both gitrdone and GM have valid points the difference being timeline. I think people can remain civil and relatively "human" as long as basic life necessities are available or until the nasty people show up. At that point every human beings will to survive is going to make some people drop the cloak of civilization and things could get a little tougher. That's not to say that once a crisis is averted, say a water shortage or attack by some nasty Greeblies, people could return to some semblance of civility. Being realistic there are people who take advantage of societies weak and disadvantaged now so the same thing on a larger scale would most certainly happen if/when central authority becomes unable to function.
Any disaster large enough to create immediate and lasting destruction of our society and it's infrastructure would have so many "game changing" events that attempting to prep for it would be two parts preparation and two parts crystal ball. That's not to say prepping has no value ,because it does imho, but there is no way to prep for a significant size asteroid hit anywhere on the north american continent for example. Unless of course you just happened to be deep inside the Cadomin Caves with a fully stocked larder at the moment of impact.
As I said at the start, the difference is timeline.
My two cents.
Regards,
Dave.

[steve]

I bought two 60's of gibsons and hid them in the garage.

[AbAngler]

After watching my portfolio slide the last couple days, I might have to start prepping!

Seriously though, I think its a good idea to at least have a plan in place. Food water and shelter are things that need to be addressed in a disaster scenario. Beyond that is up to the individual.

I've got plenty of bandaids and bullets, but need more beans!

[ChubbS]

Originally Posted by steve

I bought two 60's of gibsons and hid them in the garage.

hahaha! good work!

[Ruger1022]

Originally Posted by 4thredneck

How can you live your life in fear?

The world is on the brink of catastrophe, how can you not live in a little fear. With the greed and me first generation, things are not going to get any better. So what I fear are the people that think "oh nothing is going to happen" or "my government will save me" yea I don't so. So I when SHTF don't come banging on my door, it will be these people that will feel entitled to my stuff WHEN SHTF. I don't own a tin foil hat but I do read and watch news daily from around the world. Kudos to the people who are prepped for thier family's in case of disaster.

[steve]

Originally Posted by Ruger1022

The world is on the brink of catastrophe, how can you not live in a little fear. With the greed and me first generation, things are not going to get any better. So what I fear are the people that think "oh nothing is going to happen" or "my government will save me" yea I don't so. So I when SHTF don't come banging on my door, it will be these people that will feel entitled to my stuff WHEN SHTF. I don't own a tin foil hat but I do read and watch news daily from around the world. Kudos to the people who are prepped for thier family's in case of disaster.

Is on brink of catastrophe? How so?

[WCTHEMI]

Originally Posted by steve

Is on brink of catastrophe? How so?

Maybe his tinfoil hat is tarnishing.

Nothing wrong with being prepared for emergencies, but all the gloom and doom gets a little tired. Sure there may be some tough times coming, but we have made it through them, learned a few lessons (hopefully) and rebuilt.

[Ruger1022]

Originally Posted by steve

Is on brink of catastrophe? How so?

My mistake, the world is full of rainbows and lollipops!! Nothing can ever happen. If you really want a list I'll make one up for you when I get home my fingers are to fat for my IPhone letters.

Originally Posted by WCTHEMI

Maybe his tinfoil hat is tarnishing.

Nothing wrong with being prepared for emergencies, but all the gloom and doom gets a little tired. Sure there may be some tough times coming, but we have made it through them, learned a few lessons (hopefully) and rebuilt.

Yes it's tarnished my slow one!!

[steve]

Originally Posted by Ruger1022

My mistake, the world is full of rainbows and lollipops!! Nothing can ever happen. If you really want a list I'll make one up for you when I get home my fingers are to fat for my IPhone letters.




Yes it's tarnished my slow one!!

When we run out of oil or there is no use for it, and other natural resources then I will be concerned.

[Gonehuntin']

I don't think prepping is a bad idea at all. Skip the end of the world fear part of it, life will go on.The world will go on.However... It is amazing how people take modern living for granted.electricity, running water, vehicles and plentiful supplies.How our families would go on as the world keeps turning.most people are totally unprepared for even small interruptions in utility service, let alone extended issues.

To me it's just common sense.put a little extra of everything away as we are able.if you are a member at CGN there is a whole forum on just this subject.lots of info,lots of like minded folks.

[omega50]

I was in Walmart in Sandpoint Idaho in July.
One complete aisle of emergency preparedness foods.

Kinda made me think why we take it for granted here that all will be well.

[fordtruckin]

I think its a good idea to be prepaired. If nothin else a little extra cash on hand, water and food. You never know when a natural disaster will strike and it would be nice not to have to worry about runnin to the store to pick up a few essential items when 99.9% of the rest of the population is doing the same thing!

[Gust]

Originally Posted by AbAngler

After watching my portfolio slide the last couple days, I might have to start prepping!

Seriously though, I think its a good idea to at least have a plan in place. Food water and shelter are things that need to be addressed in a disaster scenario. Beyond that is up to the individual.

I've got plenty of bandaids and bullets, but need more beans!

Buy shares in Alcatel Lucent and ignore them I'll send you info on why that stock will soar even as Greeks start smashing plates and the Eurozone plans for Waterloo.

[tonka]

I have a 1 month supply of food on hand simply gets rotated through. As for water i have a purifying system so im good there. Financially i have enough cash to last 3 months and savings to last 2 years or more. If the market would play nice my retirement saving could grow again instead of playing star fish.

[CaberTosser]

On a quick read of the title, I thought this thread was for people who like Dr Pepper


Like any pursuit, there are people who take things to extremes. I noted this when doing a bit of checking on emergency preparedness a few years ago; there are folks on the extreme end of that idea who I think will be seriously disappointed if the sky doesn't fall. That being said, I do believe there is a solid premise behind having some skills and inventory to help with a natural disaster or other emergency scenario. To lots of rural folk most of this is simply common sense. Most of us take precautions such as having insurance, smoke detectors and fire extinguishers with the intent & hope of never needing them; or first aid kits with the knowledge we probably will....

Some people could stock up until the cows come home, but without some essential skills that are lacking in many an urbanite they'd either be up the creek or relying on the kindness of others. I plan on having a small amount of backup supplies for such an instance once our home is complete this winter, but nothing I'm going to spend an inordinate amount of time obsessing about. I generally have a kit of emergency supplies and tools in my vehicles for road trips, extending the same foresight to ones home isn't necessarily strange.

[4thredneck]

We have 3 deep freezes full of food(which would be useless if the power went out), i'm pretty sure the food in the cupboard and pantry would last a month or more.I usually have 500 gallons of gas and 800 gallons of diesel, we have at least 2 fresh water springs on our property that run year round, I have 130 cows with calves for protien, a pretty good supply of ammo for all my rifles. I don't live in fear or call this prepping, I just thought this was normal.

[BeeGuy]

Originally Posted by 4thredneck

We have 3 deep freezes full of food(which would be useless if the power went out), i'm pretty sure the food in the cupboard and pantry would last a month or more.I usually have 500 gallons of gas and 800 gallons of diesel, we have at least 2 fresh water springs on our property that run year round, I have 130 cows with calves for protien, a pretty good supply of ammo for all my rifles. I don't live in fear or call this prepping, I just thought this was normal.

(Noted...)

[gitrdone]

Originally Posted by CaberTosser

On a quick read of the title, I thought this thread was for people who like Dr Pepper


Like any pursuit, there are people who take things to extremes. I noted this when doing a bit of checking on emergency preparedness a few years ago; there are folks on the extreme end of that idea who I think will be seriously disappointed if the sky doesn't fall. That being said, I do believe there is a solid premise behind having some skills and inventory to help with a natural disaster or other emergency scenario. To lots of rural folk most of this is simply common sense. Most of us take precautions such as having insurance, smoke detectors and fire extinguishers with the intent & hope of never needing them; or first aid kits with the knowledge we probably will....

Some people could stock up until the cows come home, but without some essential skills that are lacking in many an urbanite they'd either be up the creek or relying on the kindness of others. I plan on having a small amount of backup supplies for such an instance once our home is complete this winter, but nothing I'm going to spend an inordinate amount of time obsessing about. I generally have a kit of emergency supplies and tools in my vehicles for road trips, extending the same foresight to ones home isn't necessarily strange.

Who doesn't like Dr. Pepper!
You are right, people have insurance on their home, trucks, bikes n boats, why not have a "tough time" insurance policy set up for your food and other basics.
But I guess that would just be living in fear.....right?(no)
Shelter, water, food and heat are all things we take for granted. Take one of those things away from our everyday life and it would make it very uncomfortable and it wouldn't take much to have one or two of them taken away. Just some food for thought.

[Gust]

Invest in large quantities of Salt, great preservative (the word Salary is from being paid in salt). Mason Jars are good too (note to self, buy shares in a Mason Jar company and look in to salt futures)

[gitrdone]

Originally Posted by GustavMahler

Invest in large quantities of Salt, great preservative (the word Salary is from being paid in salt). Mason Jars are good too (note to self, buy shares in a Mason Jar company and look in to salt futures)

Good idea on the jars! I have the salt covered.....
I've never done any canning, is it difficult?

[Gust]

Just for fun, work out how much food you consume a week -not in value but actual poundage-, figure out how many mouths are going to be chewin it down. Now go look in your pantry, fridge, late garden pickens and figure out how long it will last. Figure out how far to the nutrient store and if the world went whacko, figure out your chances of getting there and back. I'm just being a jerk on the last bit.

For 4 Winters at 5 month stints I would take care of a remote camp/boat access camp and the likelihood of a month or two without power was as likely as the Sun coming up. The camp was the last pole on an old hydro line and if a wind took out a portion, it would be weeks till it was fixed. I'd pray for the power to get knocked out, it would become quiet and it forced me by neccessity to go and buck a few cords of wood and haul water from the spring,, every effort was an equal reward. I'd change my diet to whatever could go in the cold larder and always have a months worth of tobacco and tea on hand. I also had tons of work to do and would have a little generator to charge batteries for drills and such, there was a big generator too but that was big enough to power the whole camp which was built for 180. Night would come and it was dinner by candle and lotsa books to read and writing to do. The longest I did was 9 weeks of solitary and when I went into Vancouver once for supplies, I forgot to take my Life Jacket off and made the hillbillies from the movie Deliverance look as dapper as Fred Astaire. And off I went to the Fairmount Vancouver Hotel for a Grey Goose Martini, several in fact (after a short talk with security).

One Winter and having been without power for 3 weeks and at the beginning of X-Mass holidays, I was offered a house sitting in Vancouver to have a break from solitary. So off I went and got the run down on the condo most notably was smoking only on the balcony (to go from living in the woods on the ocean in a cabin to a condo and balcony was cagey to say the least) and they left me to it. So I went to the balcony, lit a smoke pulled the screen door closed and the latch locked. I just locked myself out on a balcony that didn't attach to a neighboring balcony which served nothing as I could see they were out,, so I yelled but people are always yelling in Vancouver so that energy waster became pointless. It was minus 5 (which is really cold at sea level, humidity and such) and I was in a tee shirt, sweats and socks, and a beard ready for the klondike. I sussed out my situation as the humid cold was working it's way into my bones. I was 2 storeys high with a soft landing in a hedge should I slip. I climbed down and through a very priggly scratchy coneaster and was now part of the general populace. I thought a simple buzz to the building manager and explanation would suffice but, (who like almost every person in the building) were out, one person came down and gave me a look of "No'sir'ee'bob do you have friends here". The long to short of it was, it was X-Mass in a sad desperate city and I wandered about looking for warmth looking no saner than all the lonely crack addled souls out there and I was slowly going loopy with hypothermia, dreaming of my place in the woods by the water and my fireplace and my books, not even the 7-11 allowed warm ups, I did find a parking lot grate blowing warm air and got warm enough to give the building manager one more try,,, 7 hours had passed since climbing down, I made no sense in my babbling to him but he was informed of my house sitting and knew about the evil evil latch on the balcony.

The point to this story, prepping is the norm as someone mentioned further back,, some of you more rural AO'ers know farmers who just live it out over winter completely sel-sufficient. Cities force people to feel secure not by their own making and complacent. Flipping channels for a flicker from the flatscreen has taken the place of stoking a flickering fireplace and people live just within the means,, if the shtf, and contradicting my first post (and we'll throw winter into the mix not sunny California) those without fireplaces will feel the heat (reverse pun) and things will get communal and very very tense, because for all the people in cities nobody really knows their neighbours anymore and live more hermit like than those out in the rurals; we no longer depend on true community structures besides pee wee hockey games or T-Ball at the park and it's not like those games are friendly. Yoga and Deepak Chopra books on inner wellness and the guiding light of Oprah won't mean chit.

The moral of the story is, not everyone really cares about your well being and it best be prepared!

And Canning is easy,, you're in High River, go the the senior womans local, show up with a few buckets of crab apples and they'll have you learnin.

[Redfrog]

"I've never done any canning, is it difficult? "


Easy, peasey. Even a cave man can do it. Anyone can can.