A RAINY MORNING

More rain. Just what we needed. Like we need to be beaten with a ballbat this morning. But if rain is what God wants then let it rain. Everything will get done in it's own time. My High Wheeled Cultivator is due to arrive today. Can't say that I'll have anything for it to do but at least it will be here if needed. But it won't be any good pushin' mud. Mud won't do much more than mire you down. And that is what we don't want out of our efforts.

But people get mired down all the time. Their money runs low. Their mate has a change of heart and wants to stop their prep plans. They lose their job. They lose their MINDS! They acquire health problems. All kinds of things plague the human family. And you must face them and overcome them. Staying alive is the worst thing you can do to your enemies. They want to see you out of the picture. They don't want your ideas of defeating error to be manifested. Remember that there are people far up the food chain that want you to lose. They want sheeple and less of them. It is pretty well documented that the rich no longer need us and would appeciate a die-off. A smaller, more docile populace would fit their schemes to a "T". I can foresee the smaller populace but I am determined that it will not be more docile. At least not where I live.

I went through the survial litany yesterday. You know the drill. Beans, bullets and band-aids. Stock it up and keep stocking! And there are things that include homes and shelters that are not included in the litany. Water might be a fundamental that needs to be stressed to our growing group of preppers. If you have an easy, shallow water table to reach, I would suggest a hand pump if you can't afford a big electric pump. Hand pumps don't burn up and go bad either. And they are unaffected by grid-down conditions.

You might stock up on some "leathers" to make sure you don't lose pressure but those will generally last a long time. If you are going to build a building at your retreat I would suggest that you get your well and handpump in and pour your concrete around it to make your water accessible on the inside. Your wife will love you for it. It is a bummer to go out on a cold morning to pump water. It is also a bummer to have your pump freeze from being out in the cold. Not that these things can't be overcome, because they can. But there can come a time when you don't want to go outside and pump water. You would rather stay inside and watch for Freebooters and hold your shotgun. Priorities, you know.

Food production is very important at your retreat. Sure, you can stock up a years supply of food and wait the trouble out, let it calm down. And this is a good strategy. Sometimes the best action is no action. If there are food riots as some are predicting, you don't really want to go to town and show your face. You want to blend in with the countryside and be invisible. So you plant a garden. And you plant it as unseen from the road as you can get it. And not every precaution is doable in every location, but do the best you can. If town becomes unlivable for a long time, then your food production is paramount in importance. We do not know how order will be maintained in society after a severe economic meltdown. So being survivalists we prepare for the worst and any thing less than the worst will be a benefit.

Orderizing society will be up to the various governments. Our friends the governments. Especially the federal government. And unless we suffer a real enemy attack on our own shores, the fedgov will have the field to itself. I wonder what they will say to us as they tighten the screws. And they will tighten the screws. The media will be there to assist them in every possible way.

You will not get the truth of a situation from anyone working for the government. They figure to let you suffer what they feel is right for you to suffer. You see, we have reached the point of Master/Slave in dealing with the government. And we ain't the Master so guess what's left?

You will be told every lie in the book. You will be told that things are okay when in fact they are traumatic. You will be told that there is food being made available when in fact it is being sold to the highest bidder. The armed forces will be fed very well, as will their dependents. Gotta feed the muscle that will make the system work. It's the massess, the poor dumb pukes who have paid their taxes all these many, many years, who will get the short end of the stick. Let's you know how much they appreciate you. Let's you know how much respect you are entitled to from the bastards you have fed and watered all these many years. But times wil be tough and the tough have all the guns and food and fuel they need. You still planning on living in a city? Why don't you give up on that foolishness? Get the hell out before you realize that you have achieved some sort of criminal status by virtue of your existance. That's right. You will be guilty of being alive. And you must be made to pay for this transgression. If they get their hands on you!

It is one thing to write about your fellow citizens rioting in the streets over food and utilities but it another thing altogether to consider what the government will be doing to you to assure it's own existance. They will have everything they want and you will be begging. Like I said, not good treatment from folks you have fed and watered for decades. And thus we are forewarned and consequently forearmed. We will be ready. The government boys will not find us in a food line begging. We will not be complaining about vandalism to our homes. If anyone asks we will say that things are tough but that we are making it. And of course, our shotgun will testify to our determination to stay free and unabused. And our friends standing there with THEIR shotguns will make our statement of security more emphatic. "No officer, no one is bothering us. Things are pretty calm in these parts."
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A READER COMMENTS

Hi Mike,
I have been reading your posts. I have not figured out how to leave a post yet but I'm working on it. I was mulling over what you said, you know the profound statement about the cycle of nature so I have decided to follow my brothers example and step down two years early. 65 is the normal age we pass the leadership to the next in line, but with my health and only having a hippie daughter. Well.....

The family reunion is coming up next week. We (the old geezers) have decided that I should go ahead and sign the property over to my oldest brothers son. He's making a six figure income and can afford to hire someone to keep the wood shingles on the roof repaired, and have someone fertlize and plant corn in the spring. I used to do that stuff myself because I couldn't afford to hire a hand.

Following your advise, I intend as my last acts to put everything into metal trash cans, and seal. Store the extra flour and sugar for charity. Put some extra medicine, honey, and saws and other hand tools aside for barter. And add reloading tools and components to the list to store.

I have two questions, when the SHTF:

1) If you had your choice, would you prefer a mountain retreat with only about 3 acres of readily tillable land and almost totally isolated. OR over a 100 acres of rolling pasture with lots of grazing and tillable land for gardening only 20 miles from a large urban center. What do you say?

2) When hunger comes. Is there any animal that you would not eat? Would you eat possum and racoon?
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Michael sez: I was with you until you got to the point about being 20 miles from a population center and then I was turned off. I would stay on the isolated 3 acres and try to buy more land around it. And I would eat what was going to keep me alive. I have misgivings about the fat of these animals but the muscle meat should keep you going.

We just want to stay alive.

Michael

mboone@rtccom.net