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I first had the idea that I should prep (actually start) about the time after Obama got a peace prize. I had lots of debt though and I could have begun very small even with debt, but only begun purchasing a few things this summer. Have plenty of clothes, 3 months food, connections of where I'm moving to soon. Just as important as having stuff, I learned a couple things, nothing very specific, but I have a much better idea where and how I want to live over past several weeks and research. Also been developing a skill to keep a source of income even after unemployment runs out. I still would like,
highwater boots
water filters
ammo, for weapons I don't have (barter)
strut work on my car
raw land far out to bugout and live on with little expenses
Dealing with my family and not being stressed out is an ongoing challenge that I'm trying to eliminate. I guess I'd like to hear any status of other people.
Ever since the recession of the '70's and early 80's, I guess you could say I have been "prepping".
I got jobs on farms to learn animal husbandry as well as growing large-scale crops. (I'll never do the latter unless you count my cattle pasture.) I planted a garden no matter where I was - I had one in a postage-stamp size yard in downtown Columbus, OH, and now have a 1/2 acre one. I taught myself to can and dehydrate. I taught myself to quilt and sew. Along the way, I learned about heirloom seeds and how to plant and have a renewable harvest. I taught myself ceramics - which may not sound all that useful, until you think about storage abilities, even cooking in fires with pots built to withstand ember heat.
Most of my prepping has been education. If I need to learn how to do something, I go learn it, or find someone to teach it. When our city was begging for volunteer EMTs, they offered to pay for classes if we would volunteer for 2 years after. I did. I gave up my Tuesday nights to train how to be a firefighter - which teaches you not only how to put fires out, but how to build them, what burns, what doesn't (including things like phosphorus and magnesium!). So now I can treat burns and traumatic injuries without batting an eye (or barfing or passing out, as many - surprisingly - do, especially when faced with a loved one's injury). I can build a shelter and a fire even in a pouring rainstorm - which amazed my kids, especially when I served them not only beef and beans, but a coal-baked cake! My father taught me how to shoot rifles and shotguns as well as hunt, and I have a few. I taught myself to butcher meat from that. I got tired of being threatened so I bought a handgun and learned to shoot it, too. I bought and raised chickens and learned how to fatten, defeather and butcher them.
Prepping isn't just having the tools for survival, it's knowing how to use them, what they can be used for, what they should never be used for. Having 'things' is not as important as knowing your own abilities, and being willing to learn more - all of the time, even if it doesn't seem too important at the time. I can drive a tractor all day, or a combine, and I know what all of the levers do, how to start it when its stubborn, how to keep the rows straight, etc - even if I never need to know it again, if I suddenly do - I already can.
I first had the idea that I should prep (actually start) about the time after Obama got a peace prize. I had lots of debt though and I could have begun very small even with debt, but only begun purchasing a few things this summer. Have plenty of clothes, 3 months food, connections of where I'm moving to soon. Just as important as having stuff, I learned a couple things, nothing very specific, but I have a much better idea where and how I want to live over past several weeks and research. Also been developing a skill to keep a source of income even after unemployment runs out. I still would like,
highwater boots
water filters
ammo, for weapons I don't have (barter)
strut work on my car
raw land far out to bugout and live on with little expenses
Dealing with my family and not being stressed out is an ongoing challenge that I'm trying to eliminate. I guess I'd like to hear any status of other people.
Late start but better than a year ago by far. Don't know that I'll ever completely get there as my skills are lacking. Have about 6 mos. food, first-aid, hygeine storeage.
Need to do more in regard to prepping for vehicles: at least one extra tire in addition to spare, extra oil, filters, fuel pump, batteries, etc.... . Thinking more in terms of hyperinflation or shortages on this one instead of TEOTWAWKI.
Still on the list as major investments:
1) have a well drilled
2) wood heat stove for back-up
I assigned my mother (only one in my family prepping at all) to natural medicine (including having extra honey) and canning, veggies, and that type of thing since she's in that environment.
I think ammo would be good because as food prices eventually start to rise more and more slowly, more people will hunt, and if the economy indeed collapses or Obama admin restricts it more as riots break out, people will soon run out of ammo or it will be so expensive. Something like that makes more sense to me than gold.
I haven't even listed the things I'll need for my home, but I'm considering a woodstove as well. Might incorporate that with a wood heating system.
... at least in the realm of urban survival, I think I'm pretty much set.
Well, it's a good start.
Quote:
Originally Posted by dhanu86
ammo, for weapons I don't have (barter)
This is actually not a bad idea. I have some of this "barter" ammo as well, although I concentrate on ammo for the firearms I do own, which by the way, I've shifted to the most common military calibers that are very cheap as surplus right now, and owning several types of firearms that shoot the same caliber. Redundancy coupled with limited number of common calibers is good when there is no gunsmith around to fix a breakdown (in a SHTF situation) and no sporting goods store to buy ammo from. Also, I'm purchasing/purchased the most "rugged" of the military weapons. I'm quite mechanical-minded and good with my hands, but I'm not a gunsmith and I don't want to be dinking around with my firearm (prying a shell that didn't eject cause there was a grain of dust in the chamber, or disassembling a bolt to replace a chipped extractor, etc) when zombies are crashing my... ummm tent down.
So I only have to really stock up on a couple of calibers for myself that will shoot out of all of my firearms. The rest can be used for barter, if required (as can firearms, for that matter). Although I think some gold or silver is probably a good thing to have, you can't defend yourself with gold and silver (unless you're shooting werewolves ). Same with food. You can't eat gold. So having some excess "barter" food is probably a good idea.
For "barter" ammo, I'd say collect up some of the cheap and/or common calibers: .22LR, 5.56x45 (.223), 7.62x39, 7.62x51 (.308), 5.45x39, 9mm, .38SP, .357 mag, .45 auto, and of course .30-06 -- everyone and their dog still has a .30-06 even though the ammo is ridiculously expensive. If you have a 1903 or M1 Garand to shoot it with, all the better. They are both mean rifles that will really reach out and touch someone much better than the average modern assault rifle.
Woodstoves
Just a comment on the woodstove - placement is about 80% of efficiency.
Didja ever look at Colonial houses with their great big centrally-located fireplaces, or numerous smaller ones? They didn't have fans to circulate the air, and even with dampers a lot of their heat went up the chimney. So if you get a woodstove and electricity fails, how will your heat circulate throughout the house? Chris won't have to worry since he's a Tiny-House advocate, but those who have families need to think about this. Unless you want everyone sleeping in the basement or the living room or (gulp) your bedroom, think about where you would put a woodstove so that the heat naturally circulates throughout the home - or at least throughout part of it. It should also have space so that air circulates behind it. Remember that heat rises, cool sinks, and this can actually help determine placement - facing a doorway that faces the upstairs staircase, etc. Radiant heat from surrounding walls or bricks - or the stove itself - is just as important to remember. A woodstove can get a wall really, REALLY hot behind it.
The way mine is set is in the NW corner of the house. Since most of our blizzards/wind come from the North, this gives us a strong 'push' through the house. Even with the cute little, slightly effectual heat-powered fan on top, the heat rises - and goes through a 'cutout' in the wall and right up the stairs from there. It also spreads throughout the first floor, as the cool air is drawn to the stove through a wide doorway at the SE end of the room. Our woodstove heating is completely circular; with all of the room doors open on the first floor, 1/2 of the warm air drifts in a circle, the other 1/2 goes upstairs.
So don't put your woodstove where it is just pretty, most convenient, or where you need fans like your current propane or electric heater do, to push the heat upward and outward. And while having the 'view door' open is awfully romantic, my stove actually loses heat when we do this. We prefer to build a very hot fire - close all the doors, close the damper, and let the cast iron radiate the built-up heat. Make sure that your chimney is in a good spot too - and tall enough to draw. I've seen several that were unprotected, too short, or unstabilized (in our frequent high winds we have three guy wires attached to the stovepipe and then to the house, in a tension-triangle) and that permitted the prevailing winds to blow right down them - or blow them over.
Ammo
I think that you might be mistaken about the shotgun ammo. I have a 30.30 that barely kicks at all, but the 20 gauge and the 30.06 have quite a kick. While the latter two are manly, powerful, and lustily-voiced, the 30.30 is more manageable for those of us who have less joint mobility. So even if you don't have a 30.30, the ammo might be good for barter as well. Ratshot and birdshot as well as slugs are handy - not all of the hungry critters will be large and human. Although I have to say I do prefer the .22 for smaller critters (Some .22's will not take a 22L). Some 9mm and 380's are interchangeable, as well as some 38's with 357's. It's good to have a versatile weapon. If I'm going to eat what I shoot, I prefer not picking scattershot out of my meat. Hurts my teeth.
Barter
SifuPhil, is your stripper/girlfriend/barter item a good cook? Y'know, sex is wonderful, but afterward someone is going to have to be able to cook all of those pizzas... I'd bet on liquor for the more effective trade. Some folks will empty a bottle and be done, but they might disparage you on time spent with an inexhaustible 'barter item' resource. Could be more trouble than it's worth. I'd keep her in the background and not let her out - and if she finds out how you've been talking about her, keep the guns locked up.
Ha. The sex and liquor will drain the little energy you have from those frozen pizzas,, what are those 2 shells for, suicide when its gone? lol
Dang - you're onto my plan!
Quote:
Originally Posted by ChrisC
Well, it's a good start.
You mean there's more?!?
Quote:
Originally Posted by SCGranny
Barter
SifuPhil, is your stripper/girlfriend/barter item a good cook? Y'know, sex is wonderful, but afterward someone is going to have to be able to cook all of those pizzas... I'd bet on liquor for the more effective trade. Some folks will empty a bottle and be done, but they might disparage you on time spent with an inexhaustible 'barter item' resource. Could be more trouble than it's worth. I'd keep her in the background and not let her out - and if she finds out how you've been talking about her, keep the guns locked up.
She's not that great of a cook. Thankfully I have a solar-powered microwave (with a China Diesel back-up).
Yeah, I'm a bit concerned with having just the Southern Comfort.
... maybe I'll lay-in some Jack.
She just saw what I was writing here ... how do you stitch up a wound from a 7" steel-reinforced heel?
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Could be more trouble than it's worth. I'd keep her in the background and not let her out - and if she finds out how you've been talking about her, keep the guns locked up.
