Do you ever feel a little guilty for being prepared ?

In no way do I feel guilty for being prepared. Once a Boy Scout, always a Boy Scout.

I was away on a camping trip with some long-time friends, this past weekend. I take the responsibility for morning coffee. My process for "cabin coffee" is to simply boil a measured amount of water. Dump in a measured amount of coffee. Stir for a minute, let it rest for 10mins. Stir again and let it rest again. Stir one last time. Pour into a simple french press. A good simple way to make coffee without any kind of percolator or drip coffee maker.

 

I was poking the bear.

 

While I don't think this aspect was one that necessarily was being contemplated at the beginning of the thread, it's one I've often thought about. How easy it would be for several well placed "events" to disrupt a lot of power, water, movement (roads/bridges) etc.

Same with fire. I know several folks who deal with fire, and think like me, who have contemplated just what a problem it could be for someone who wanted to do harm in the wildland environment, especially if they had an understanding of fire and certain aspects... There is some major/catastrophic/deadly damage that could be done.....and it's not much (if anything) you can do to defend against it.

 

Remember the plot to dump LSD into water reservoirs?

 

So I just recently read that an Arib owned farm is growing 10,000 acres of irrigated alfalfa in the west. For export to back home because of it being against their laws to grow it because of huge water requirements.

 

There is a scary amount of foreign owned (farm) land in this country...most people have no idea.

 

Yes, have simulated power outtages at home. Get prepared, do laundry, make the exceptions (like mom needs the laptop for work, we have to allow that for the simulation). don't tell the kids its a simulation, they'll love it.
See how long you can go, where are the weak spots, and if things get out of hand, flip the main breaker back on, and try again after improvements are made.
Its alot of fun, and work, but will expose holes in the plan in a place where you have control rather than when its really out and the weakness is now costly.

 

https://www.fsa.usda.gov/Assets/USDA-FSA-Public/usdafiles/EPAS/PDF/2020_afida_annual_report.pdf

 

Otoh, there are ways around that if you have room for a compost pile. Check out "Humanure".

 

Does the ant feel guilty when the grasshopper dies? No I don’t feel guilty for being prepared. I’ll do the neighborly thing and help out my neighbors if necessary, but out here in the country where I live most of my neighbors are well prepared to face hardship. I’ll also give to the needy, but no I’ve never felt guilty for being prepared and in a position to do so.

 

You recall the smart thermostat shut off or override last summer? Big brother has become a reality!

 

That's how I read it.

 

Wow, just wow.

 

Nope, don't feel guilty at all making sure we have the means for survival.

I will admit that I wasn't prepared for the "Great TP shortage of 2020"


Just didn't see that one coming.


That has been corrected now, so there's that.


I've cut back on some of the prepping, as some items weren't being used prior to their supposed spoilage date, so I've been working on keeping most used items well stocked, and less used items in lower supply.

But overall, I know that we can last easily 2-3 months on current supplies. Might have to bake our own bread, and use powdered milk, but that's a small concession.

The only concern I do have, is that I have yet to convert the generator over to dual fuel capable. Something I need to remedy.
Thanks for the reminder.

 

As to the guilt or no guilt, NO GUILT! As others have said, we do the work and reap the rewards. I'll share with those who would share with me or someone else who needs it but those people up the road who aren't ready because of those pricey homes/trucks/rvs, forget it.

Excellent advice. There's no kids at home so no fun :-( The grandson liked to eat by candle light when he was younger and spent a night a week with me. He cooked crackers and cheese on the woodstove for our appetizer every time. Extra water for the toilet (will use a bucket in an extended outage, have quick lime and ashes on hand) is another prep.

The only weakness I can see is lighting, the rechargable lights won't last that long. I do need to pick up some kero and find the new wicks for the Aladdin lamps. There's a few Coleman lanterns (old ones) and a full can of white gas in the garage so your comment might make me get them out and make sure they work. There is one that works on propane canisters, need to check that also. There should be enough new mantles to replace those, also.

Off to peruse the prepper thread....

 

I’m known as the ‘neighborhood prepper’, even though I don’t consider myself a prepper, I am the most prepared in this little neighborhood. Not many full time residents around here. Most head south for the winter.

I’ve lived in the country my whole life, so I know what happens during a long power outage. When I bought this house and redid everything, I put in the biggest well pressure tank I could get. With conservation, we can go a couple days before it runs low. I have two generators - a 2000 watt inverter generator that’ll run lights, TV/internet router, fridge and the boiler and sips fuel, and a 5500 watt generator that’ll run the well pump and anything else I want, but is noisy and burns a ridiculous amount of fuel. In the summer I’ll keep about 10 gallons of gas on hand. In the winter, closer to 20. Whatever doesn’t get used in a few months goes in the truck.

One neighbor (who goes to Arizona for the winter) commented this spring about how I have ‘enough firewood to heat the whole neighborhood all winter’. Nowhere near that much, but I’m not going to be cold if an ice storm knocks out power for an extended time and I run out of gasoline.

For snow removal, I have a John Deere garden tractor with a blower, a walk behind 2 stage snowblower and a plow on the truck. A lot of crap has to go wrong for me to not be able to clear the 1000’ two track to the main road.

Water isn’t a huge concern here. I have an flowing/artesian well and can fill a 5 gallon bucket in a minute or two, even in the dead of winter. If natural gas gets cut off, and the propane for the grill is gone, we can cook/heat water on the wood stove in the winter or over a fire outside in the summer.

We have enough food on hand to hold us over for a couple months at least. We might not like what we’re eating towards the end, but we won’t be hungry.

And with everything I have on hand, the longest power outage we’ve had in the 4 years since I moved here was about 3 hours. I’m sure that won’t last forever.

After reading this before I hit reply, maybe I am a prepper….

 

Nope, you just have things the way you should! One thing I'd rather not be known as though, is the neighborhood pepper. I'd just as soon for people/ the neighborhood to think of me as run-of-the-mill and that I don't have much in terms of preps.

 

I was, and am always, well stocked. Not because of foresight, but because I hate, hate, hate, buying non perishables on a regular basis (I just plain hate shopping). And that stuff is also always fluctuating hugely in price (or they change the super size rolls to normal size to reduce their cost), which irritates the heck out of me. I've been buying TP by the case from Amazon since shortly after I moved here. And remember folks, I'm single so I've bought TP like 2 maybe 3 times in the last 9 years

 

Being known as the ‘neighborhood prepper’ doesn’t bug me. All people really see is my wood stacks, which apparently is enough.

There are two other houses around me that have full time residents. One of the families we get along great with and they’re always welcome in any situation. The other house, well, nobody has any idea what goes on there and they won’t say two words to anyone.

I realized everything I said references winter preparedness. I’ll take a long duration winter power outage any day over summer. Easier to keep food frozen or cold in the winter, easier to stay warm than cool, etc. Though in the summer it’s a lot more pleasant to head to the lake with a bar of soap than it is in the dead of winter.

 

Cutting hole through feet of ice could be a challenge