Doom&Gloom Folks

There have to be some "preppers" on this site. I'm looking forward to hearing their thoughts on this. I wouldn't consider myself a prepper, but you might see me in that light. I've had back up rations of everything that mattered to me since childhood, even before "prepping" was "in vogue". Doom and gloom has nothing to do with my preparation. I believe in Murphy's Law;-)

I'm prepared for an emergency. Not prepared for the end of the world scenario that some are preparing for, but I sure as heck got enough food to feed me and the family for 3-4 months. No bunker, no tactical training, but plenty of food, ammo, medical supplies, and water filtration/treatment. I have spent about $1,800 "prepping" if you want to call it that. Whether it is Kansas' first earthquake, a major power grid failure, famine, or government tyranny/foreign invasion or whatever; I want to be sure I can feed the kids until normalcy is restored. No, I don't spend sleepless nights worrying about it, more like boring afternoons romanticizing(sp?) about doing something other than work for survival. We do not consider ourselves extremists. We consider those that always expect the grocery stores to forever provide them with food to be extreme. Bad things can and do happen. At some point it will be America's turn. BTW, I have the medical supplies anyway; they weren't purchased for the sake of "prepping." I have guns and ammo as a hobby, but neither were purchased for the sake of prepping. The food.....yeah, I don't ever wanna be without food;-) Having back-up rations has less to do with who is in the White House and more to do with my desire to live independently if any of the luxuries we've grown accustom to are no longer available. Just the word "prepping" bothers me. I suppose that's a lifestyle that's altogether different from mine and probably different than the point(s) I'm trying to convey. Heck, the title of the thread is "doom @ gloom" so my post is probably high-jacking the thread. Doom and gloom is a bit different than having a safety net.

Having some back up food and means for purifying water is a good idea. You couldn't convince me otherwise.
 
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Tori said:
The guys were talking about the programme at work yesterday...(I do not have television and it is not because of any weird reasons hehehehee...I just think most of the content is total tripe) but I got thinking about these doomsday type people and thought what a waste of their lives...worrying yourself silly over what might happen when there are dogs to follow and the oven calling for gamebirds to cook...:eek:
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Hear, hear!! I'll hoist one to that. :cheers: I knew a few people who spent eveything they had and more on Y2K prep. What a waste of money and needless anxiety. Interestingly, these people did not seek information from mainstream media.
 
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KB, I wouldn't consider what you have mentioned as being extreme. I think it is more of being prepared for some unseen event. What concerns me is people that will throw away all common sense in fear of something that has no basis in fact. The original post of mine spoke of Y2k. I remeber people, my own step brother being one of them, filling their bathtubs and other vessels full of water. He was highly critical of me when I didn't want to fill mine up. He was sure the water plants would shut down because of the computers. There is a difference of living prepared, and living in a constant state of fear of " the next big thing". I too have a lot of food in the house, plenty of ammo, plenty of guns. OK the gun thing is just because like them. I am trying to convince my wife that a new o/u would be a great defense weapon... will see. Maybe 28 gauge, 26 inch barrels...... c'mon anarchy.
 
I don't think my wife and I are preppers... Probably more like hoarders.:laugh: We're not really "prepared" for anything, but we keep an obnoxious amount of food in the house.

If the Tuttle dam breaks, making my hill an island, I think there are enough rabbits in the yard to sustain my family until FEMA and the national guard arrive.:D
 
In the last two years we have had a major city earthquakes (tragically resulting in over a hundred deaths), and just last night one of our volcanoes had a bit of upset stomach so in ways, I do agree we do need to be somewhat practical and forwardthinking about how Mother Nature can throw us the odd curve ball (definately more pickled trout needs to be in storage!!)...but my theory is that worry and stress are not good for your complexion and makes your nails brittle:D:D:D

Mnmhunting, you've got beer in the cornfield? over here we usually keep it in the fridge:D:D:D
 
Tori, I've been known to have a beer or two while checking corn.

Bear though:eek: are they ever some wasteful critters. they'll sample a thousand ears per night trying to find the "perfect ear":confused:
 
National Geographic has gone to the cheap side with their new shows. Realitynever got beat up so bad. Even the Hutterites are pissed.
 
mnmthunting, I was thinking about the bears in your corn today and I felt really awful for being cheeky like that...I saw black bears in Canada and got thinking about the amount of damage they might do to the corn...flattening it etc. I would never have guessed that they actually try to eat it...:eek:
 
Hey! I thought of something to worry about:eek:
So if I killed that 500 pound bear, then what:confused: eat the dang thing:(

FCS, yeah, hard to give bear meat away, nothing but a big rodent.

Tori, made me chuckle:) good humor, thankyou.:thumbsup:
 
I posted this in two different spots. Here and on a site that I consider very helpful for auto, camper repairs etc. The response was nearly 180 from each other in my opinion. Everyone here has their feet firmly planted on the ground and I do believe cool headed thinking. The other site well most are similar to here but there are a few of those that I'd stay not only out of arms reach but probably 100s of miles reach. To say the bubble is not plumb would be putting it mild.:rolleyes:

Like one of the fellas here stated, we're all hunters and basically always have food and ammo around so it is no biggie. Being disaster prepared is smart, but being set for the next what ever is so far over the edge that it is funny. Again this is my opinion.

The one friend in Alaska that sees bad things coming has been seeing it for 35 years, now he is so excited at the prospect of others agreeing with him that he's nearly peeing his pants. His bothers and wife just let him go on and plan and such as long as it does not interfere with business.
 
I know a few folks who are pretty concerned about the collapse of our financial system. I try not to get too wrapped up in that, but I have taken some steps to provide my family with a bit of an emergency plan if things really went south. I have five kids at home, so I'd rather waste a grand or two stocking up on food now than have to look them in the eyes at some later point and tell them that I'm sorry, but they won't eat that day.

My dad made a good point a while back, that got me thinking. In the Depression of the 30's, our country was much more agriculturally-based than it is now. A significant percentage of the population lived rurally, and had a coop full of chickens, a dairy cow, and a few hogs or cattle that could be butchered. They also had gardens that could produce enough food to significantly contribute to their overall needs. Most could heat their homes with firewood. People probably had a few more morals then than today, and were accustomed to doing without.

Today, most of us live in cities, where the average home has a 4-5 day supply of food, and WalMart carries about a three-day inventory. We're completely reliant on the utility companies for heat and light. If supplies were ever cut off, or even slowed to any degree, I'm not so sure we wouldn't have people cutting each other's throats over a Salted Nut Roll by the second or third week. There are a couple of scenarios in which that could feasibly occur, including natural disasters, war, terrorism, or a big hit to the world's financial markets.

I won't buy into the end-of-times stuff that I read so much about, but I do think it makes sense to be prepared to get by for a few weeks if the shit did happen to hit the fan in some fashion. A while back, a neighbor teased me about buying a small container to keep a few extra gallons of water around. As he left, I wondered which of us would be knocking on the other's door if something came up and we lost water, and or what he would tell his kids when they ran out of food and water after the second or third day.

Don't get me wrong; I have no bunker, don't belong to a militia, and don't have ammo stacked up to the ceiling, but as crazy as the world has gotten over the past ten years or so, I'd feel a little irresponsible if I wasn't prepared to take care of my family for at least a couple of weeks on my own. I figure I owe them that much.
 
Ckirsh wrote...

My dad made a good point a while back, that got me thinking. In the Depression of the 30's, our country was much more agriculturally-based than it is now. A significant percentage of the population lived rurally, and had a coop full of chickens, a dairy cow, and a few hogs or cattle that could be butchered. They also had gardens that could produce enough food to significantly contribute to their overall needs. Most could heat their homes with firewood. People probably had a few more morals then than today, and were accustomed to doing without.

This paragraph brought back a memory from my child hood...we grew all our vegetables, milked a cow, ate more venison than anyother meat and my father always insisted on growing a half acre more than we could ever eat of potatoes (so we could give them away)...one morning my father came inside very annoyed but also bemused...pheasants had basically annilihilated the seed potatoes...there were few giveaways that year!!
 
My family survived the depression in good health solely because they were farmers and stockmen.
 
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