STUCK WITHOUT A DIE-OFF
To tie up a few loose ends before we start. The wheat buckets in Wal-Mart are in the food side, about half way down the aisles. I think the holiday isle but I could be wrong. It has a big banner, something preparedness. Sorry I can’t provide more info but when I shop it is early Saturday and I haven’t had my coffee yet. They carry other items, mostly in #10 cans. I don’t have any price comparisons to give you as a $20 can of freeze fried fruit is not in my budget ( vitamin C tabs and sprouts are ). I know how much wheat goes for in various forms and from different sources so that is why I shared that information. The other thing I did Saturday was to stop at Home Despot and got a few feet of rigid foam insulation. Two, 2x4 foot sections were about five bucks total. I yanked out the one layer of living room insulation and put them down along the couch and my reading chair. Much more effective in cutting down the cold from the floor. We’ve been having a steady stream of ten degree mornings and sitting for any period of time chills you eventually. The new ghetto insulation has been doing a bang up job so far. Lastly, I ordered two more LED bulbs from www.superbrightleds.com since I had a few extra bucks. I could have fleshed out the propane fund ( only half a tank for the whole month of usage so far ) but really have been worried about all the cloudy days. I even changed my NetFlix account from three at a time to one at a time DVD’s so I wouldn’t use as much juice. I was worried about using the 18 watt bulb in the bathroom. Now, I only need to use the LED’s. All my bulbs are now converted. I’ll most likely buy more as back-ups. The main reason I’m telling you is that this time it only took three days to deliver. So, if you use the cheapest $5 shipping, it could get there earlier than the $10 UPS or take twice as long. The post office has been more inconsistent than usual.
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I know a lot of you are losing sleep, wondering why I’m so consumed with the question of if we will see a die off or a slow decline. I kept coming back to the subject the last year. At first it started as I was writing the Life After The Collapse book. I was looking for answers. Curiosity got the cat. It was a mental challenge. Then, it was because I was feeling combative and had to argue with other authors. Next it was pride over being ignored. But it suddenly hit me. It was a very important question for another reason. If I’m wrong, I’ve put myself in a rather precarious position. If we suffer a die-off, I increase my odds of survival at my present location. There are a lot less people trying to kill me. Tens of thousands rather than millions ( take your location and draw a two hundred mile circle around it- the average American with a surplus of body fat to eat off of can walk that before they get too hungry- and figure out how many people surround you ). If I’m wrong, I’m beyond the ass end of an energy decline supply chain.
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As the supply of energy declines ( coal and natural gas will quickly follow oil as they are more rapidly consumed as a substitute for petroleum- Peak Coal 2030 and Peak Gas 2020 are holy optimist masturbatory fantasies ), vast stretches of area are going to be abandoned from the supply chain. Since we switched from canal and rail to interstate, once diesel goes, so goes groceries to the boonies. Our area has rail, but that is a frail lifeline with no guarantee of future service. Even if the peons are granted supplies, what is the cost going to be? I can justly fear a very short time where we are seeing Alaska/Hawaii style prices. By that time, corporate closures will have forced prices higher anyway as food chains go bankrupt. Inflation will have packed a wallop. Then, factor in downward pressure on wages as unemployment soars. The last price increase due to transport costs could make living here in the middle of nowhere too expensive for a lot of folks. Perhaps myself included. And that is just Depression effects, not from anything more serious. And from only the very basic survival costs such as food. Can we afford heat? Wouldn’t it be a bitch if we don’t see a collapse but I’m living off stored wheat and poached rabbit anyway?
END
I haven't bugged in for awhile to BUY MY CRAP!! www.bisonpress.com
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16 comments:
Decline? slow or fast It doesn't matter. The Government will set-up food banks. they'll supply all the food you need. Thats what I pay Taxes, I mean YOU pay taxes for. I dont pay taxes.
Now that the O-man my bro, Is get'in things fixed-up the economy will improve. Things are looking up already, my welfare benefits just increased this month. I may treat my self to a night out. Then I'll help my self with both hands!
Jim:
Interesting thoughts. I agree a slow decline would be very hard to prepare for but more likely survivable in the long term. WICKED painful but survivable. As you note, many ways to have a slow decline (what are we seeing in the US now may be considered a slow decline). Work harder, earn less, and pay more. Meanwhile China and India are thinking it is 1950 and everybody's buying cars and learning to drive.
I'd sell my car tomorrow if we didn't get so much ice and snow cover on the roads (I can do it, I just don't trust the SUV driving morons who think 4WD helps them steer and stop). Gas station on the way to work was showing $2.75 on the way home today. Doesn't even make the news anymore when it does that. Betcha we'll see $3 come spring.
A friend sent a link to a site about worm composting (wormmania). Do any of you know if you can you use it for human waste in the winter?
BTW outhouse works in winter. I am just thinking about maybe not having to go all the way to it to poop at 5AM in January when it is -10 outside and blowing off the damn ocean.
Post collapse, Ill just poop in the hallway of my apartment. Or I'll poop over the balcony railing.
I'm sure after TSHTF the Government will set-up portable toilets.
that sounds good jim... if it ain't some freakin' bug killing off the children, then it might be mass starvation...
did anybody notice that obama's health care 'Cadillac' tax would fall on teachers and government workers ? apparently the business world and workers can't afford medical care.
hey! but that's what you get with 'patent medicine' ? gee, didn't we all hear about the evils of patent medicine when we were in school and how we needed the government to protect us from frauds and thieves ?
and yet today, there's no real evidence that the government approved drugs really work except to pump up wall street profits.
gotta love my brothers and sisters, but in the final analysis, if you can't cook and feed yourself.... well you ain't gonna make it.
fat old white guy AKA:Joe,
I think Cadillac plans, clause means enhanced penalties/tax for those with that plan.
###Wouldn’t it be a bitch if we don’t see a collapse but I’m living off stored wheat and poached rabbit anyway?###
Since your questioning your own motives,let me jump in and....
Lord Bison I think you should go back to your roots.You are a survivalist.Survivalist acquire skills needed to survive in a TEOTWAWKI situation and in plain old simple everyday life..Seems to me you've been concentrating on STUFF instead of skills.Collecting shit is fucking Preppermania B.S.
Preppermania is an illness.Stuff will never replace skills.It may make you all warm and fuzzy inside when you have a year's supply of butt-wipe,it won't save your ass from the bad guys.
I know how to raise animals and I know how to grow my own food,that's not the problem.Human beings are the problem.Bad guys,gangs,zombies.
Pondering what will cause a collapse isn't productive either.I believe we are going down,doesn't really matter what the final straw is.Nobody can predict the future anyway.We just have to be ready for whatever comes and deal with it.
Preppers have corrupted "The Way", Lord Bison.There are too many blogger/prepper chicks collecting and sharing Doomsday chocolate cake recipes,they think they are going to continue living the good life when everybody else is starving.A lot of folks buy into this.Storing food is not going to save your ass from the bad guys. This shit really pisses me off.
Whatever happened to training? First aid,fire team/squad tactics,navigation and so on.Guns,guns,and more guns.
Why aren't you in a group?Do you really think you can survive on your own?
Folks planning on holding out by themselves in their thin walled suburban tinder box houses are crazy.You will not survive on your own.Your good neighbors won't help you when the bad guys come,even if they had a clue on how to defend against a gang.You really need to have a group set up in advance.You need to train often with your group.
I'm not finished yet...
I've noticed a lot of bloggers are giving out way too much personal information.
It's not that smart when you give away your location and post pictures showing your STUFF or your house,then tell folks that you're going away for a few days or tell folks your work schedule.
Get a clue folks.There are a lot of freaks out there.I'm in Germany,don't worry,I won't hurt you.
All a crook has to do is...
Do you know how easy it is to find out your name and address?
Go ahead and give out advice on prepping,I'm sure you're going to survive the die-off.
C'mon James.Please start writing about survival skills again.In the past you've come up with some pretty darn good ideas.I know you can do it again.
I still love you,Lord Bison.
Some folks are recommending that you cut back on firearms training,so you can save your ammo.Crap.
These ammo saving fools say that after you reach a certain level of proficiency with your firearm,you really can't improve anymore and that you don't need to practice.
Total B.S. You train to retain proficiency.Practice as often as possible.
James,
If it becomes that hard to survive in the boonies where you are, then collapse HAS happened where you are.
Then you get to start surviving the way you would have post-collapse, anyway.
Look at it another way. Why would collapse happen everywhere simultaneously? It won't.
So no matter where you live, you need to be ready for the post-collapse lifestyle. If it hits the remote rural areas first, that will be a blessing for those who lives there, because they get a head start.
Am I making sense?
I actually agree with Biguns a little bit.
Biguns, I see what you are saying but realistically what are the odds of doing much more than stockpiling grain and guns? Most of us don't have the time to learn new skill sets- the most you can do is take your skills you already have and work on applying them to PODA. I have few skills past Big Picture Wool Gathering. Perhaps I overcompensate with extra stockpiles. As with all my plans, I pick the Better Than Nothing rather than The Ideal. And I think all past post collapse skills I've written about have been of limited application. I could be wrong, still on my first cup of coffee. By all means, tell me when I'm full of crap. It saves me a lot of embarrassment later down the road.
What I like about John Michael Greer is that he somehow calms my nerves, at least while I am reading him. His psychological make-up allows him to be calm just by seeing the big picture, and his calm is infectious.
James Dakin somehow rattles my nerves, even while I am not reading him. His psychological make-up pushes him to hysteria by seeing the big picture, and his panic is infectious.
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