11-25-2024, 08:02 PM
My Bride and me prep for natural disaster response -- in my case that is mostly hurricanes and to a much lesser extent earthquakes. In doing so, we also prep for the unknown. We have a solar/wind system and the circuitry is encased in a DIY Faraday cage. I hope. Don't know. Didn't cost much to set up. Lots of aluminum peel and seal, carefully applied.
Unlike you and nearly everyone here, we get our supplies via a tug and barge. I like to play the "what if" game. What if the barge just doesn't come ever again. This time of year, there will be several weeks in which it doesn't come. We grow green things so we have shrubbery to eat.
First thing I would advise is forget about bugging out. It's still a good thing to have a Bug-out Bag of your essentials, because you never know when you and yours might have to flee. The contents of that bag/box are for another thread. I have been doing this stuff for most of my life, because I grew up in the boondocks (yes, THE actual boondocks), and we were often unable to get to town in the winter. People talk about bugging out, but the reality is that every place EVERY place they might fantasize about going to, somebody already lives there, and they won't find your company welcome. Nope. They'll see you as a threat, because you're arriving at their sacred grounds because everything is screwed up where you left. You won't bring anything to the table that they need. If it is a rural or wilderness area, these people already know each other and work together. It is likely their first response in the event of a horrific disaster is to defend against people like you. Not that you are bad people, just you haven't made your bones in the place you think to flee to.
These are strange and dangerous and wonderful times. I think that wherever a person is, they do best by creating a mutual assurance group (MAG) directly around them. It's possible that not everyone around you is interested in doing that, but it's worth the effort to find out.
If you have the skills, grow whatever you can. Make sure you can make fire wherever you go. There is no shame in using firestarters, but there is shame in knowing you might need them and still don't acquire them. Survivalism and prepping are closely related. Survivalism is a more long-term thing, imo. Many of us elderly are pretty fair at food preservation. That's a greatly underrated skill. My mother dehydrated fruits and vegetables and meats, canned goods, salted meats, and probably a few methods I've forgotten.
People like me are often characterized as living in fear and being freaked out all the time. Nothing could be further from the truth. We are at ease, always, because we know we've done all that we can. It is then in the hands of [insert deity of choice].
Unlike you and nearly everyone here, we get our supplies via a tug and barge. I like to play the "what if" game. What if the barge just doesn't come ever again. This time of year, there will be several weeks in which it doesn't come. We grow green things so we have shrubbery to eat.
First thing I would advise is forget about bugging out. It's still a good thing to have a Bug-out Bag of your essentials, because you never know when you and yours might have to flee. The contents of that bag/box are for another thread. I have been doing this stuff for most of my life, because I grew up in the boondocks (yes, THE actual boondocks), and we were often unable to get to town in the winter. People talk about bugging out, but the reality is that every place EVERY place they might fantasize about going to, somebody already lives there, and they won't find your company welcome. Nope. They'll see you as a threat, because you're arriving at their sacred grounds because everything is screwed up where you left. You won't bring anything to the table that they need. If it is a rural or wilderness area, these people already know each other and work together. It is likely their first response in the event of a horrific disaster is to defend against people like you. Not that you are bad people, just you haven't made your bones in the place you think to flee to.
These are strange and dangerous and wonderful times. I think that wherever a person is, they do best by creating a mutual assurance group (MAG) directly around them. It's possible that not everyone around you is interested in doing that, but it's worth the effort to find out.
If you have the skills, grow whatever you can. Make sure you can make fire wherever you go. There is no shame in using firestarters, but there is shame in knowing you might need them and still don't acquire them. Survivalism and prepping are closely related. Survivalism is a more long-term thing, imo. Many of us elderly are pretty fair at food preservation. That's a greatly underrated skill. My mother dehydrated fruits and vegetables and meats, canned goods, salted meats, and probably a few methods I've forgotten.
People like me are often characterized as living in fear and being freaked out all the time. Nothing could be further from the truth. We are at ease, always, because we know we've done all that we can. It is then in the hands of [insert deity of choice].
