2012 TSHTF Preps

[delia_peterson]

I enjoy reading these kind of books...broadens my horizons and makes me ask myself "What if I was in this position?".:/

 

[big brown horse]

I enjoy reading these kind of books...broadens my horizons and makes me ask myself "What if I was in this position?".:/

Then you are going to love it. It is very well written IMO. Really helps you understand how grim the world can be ITSHTF.

 

[On Our own]

Maybe I missed it, but the last time we had a good long storm what we needed and didn't have (but do now) was a spare car battery. It helped start things that simply needed priming and to help out the cold bound vehicles.


After that, here is my philosophy: I do what we can to prepare so we can manage. I am working on skills and storage of basic things - not to match life as we know it, but to at least survive a decent while. But, in the back of my mind I know the truth - I am preparing my husband and kids to survive. I am medication dependent. I have a good supply on hand at all times, but it will run out at some point and then my time is limited.

For me it puts things in perspective. I am doing what I can so my kids will get to live. Teaching them to be SS. Teaching them how to fish and live off the land, hunt and scout. Every summer they spend an hour each day learning how to identify edible plants and how to prepare them.

I am not going to make it too far in a true SHTF scenario, but hopefully they will.

 

[k0xxx]

The largest problem would be the reaction of others.... and even with all I have - keeping it for the use of my family. Both from random violent people who are desperate & from starving friends & neighbors. I would like to say I'd share... but what happens when lawlessness & greed takes over? Could I kill them all? Would I want to? Could I stand by & watch neighbors starve?

I too would have a hard time turning away anyone starving, so I have always been of the mind that I should stock more than I think that my family will need.

It took only three days for the soggy veneer of society to fall away following Katrina, so I do believe that there would be some problems with violence, and I am prepared accordingly (as best that I can be, anyway). However, at least in our rural setting, I would hope that neighbors helping neighbors would go a long way to keeping that kind of thing from happening.

I totally agree that knowledge and skills are what will get people through a catastrophic collapse of our way of life. Stockpiling just puts off the inevitable. Know how to do things without a power grid, know what your neighbors can do and they know what you can do and work together. Know what resources you have as a collective and your chances for your group surviving improve greatly. No one can stand alone in such a doomsday scenario. That's why I'm working to improve my Crone's knowledge- we are the knowledge keepers of a group!

I also agree that knowledge is your greatest asset. If you can grow food and preserve it, your can make it through the tough times. However, what if this unknown and oft discussed calamity strikes in the Spring, making it impossible to grow a garden that first season? What do you eat that Summer, Fall, Winter, Spring, and Summer while waiting on harvest? For that reason I feel that stocking up is the prudent thing to do.

My husband was looking into it and the US seems to have had a pretty large solar flair back in 1859. They say it interrupted telegraph communications.

If I knew solar flairs were happening or going to soon I would keep things unplugged as much as possible. Some appliances are very susceptible to surges. Like don't leave the washer and dryer and computer plugged in unless you are using it.

As for the predictions of a solar flare causing a coronal mass ejection (CME) and disrupting technology on earth... while that is always possible any year, we will not be at solar maximum until sometime after 2012. A few years ago 2012 was predicted as being near solar maximum, but the current solar minimum has lasted longer than usual, so the next maximum may be more likely to occur around 2014, 2015, or later. The good thing (if there is any) about a solar flare, is that we should have from a day, to a couple of days warning before it hits the earth. That should give people and the electrical industry time to prepare. Hopefully, the damage to the grid would be minimal.

 

[Blackbird]

K0xxx, what do you think the warnings will be..?


I've posted this video before, but just because I can, here it is again;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbBmlHGgsgc

 

[dacjohns]

 

[Mackay]

I have a trap that I picked up at a garage sale. I figure we could be having squirrel dinners for quite some time. So far I have only used it to rehome the squirrels that get in to my duck pen. In a SHTF situation, that becomes free food.

Watch out for squirrl meat. I have heard that it can carry some pretty weird prion diseases that rot your brain.

 

[k0xxx]

K0xxx, what do you think the warnings will be..?

We have satellites monitoring the sun 24/7. The electric companies get the information directly from NASA. If you'd like to keep up with it, an great site to visit is SpaceWeather.com where they update solar activity daily.

As a matter of fact there was an M class solar flare recently, and it should spark some aurora activity in upper latitudes. No cause for alarm, there's no CME associated with it.

If we had a large CME headed our way, we would probably get a heads up through the news. However checking in on the site above, and others like it, would be the surest way to be warned.

 

[Beekissed]

I have a trap that I picked up at a garage sale. I figure we could be having squirrel dinners for quite some time. So far I have only used it to rehome the squirrels that get in to my duck pen. In a SHTF situation, that becomes free food.

Watch out for squirrl meat. I have heard that it can carry some pretty weird prion diseases that rot your brain.

Only if you eat the brains! My brothers always used to eat the brains.....hmmmmmmmm....wonder if that's why........ :/

 

[Dace]

Fish poop and jelly globs???? (Oh, and )

Hopefully, straining the water through a coffee strainer first caught all the fish poops and jelly globs! Any that were left behind are well cooked and will be so dehydrated, I don't think they will have much flavor. Any specks in the salt will be firmly referred to as "minerals from the sea!"

I was going to ask about pollutants. Where is the water from? I was thinking about this thread last night and envisioned myself going to the beach to collect water.....then I thought about how icky it probably was! Which of course got me to thinking about all the various brands of seas salt for sale in stores...wonder where THAT comes from?