OPTIONS

The East coast mid-Atlantic states got a helluva snow storm this past weekend. Some places got over thirty inches of the ugly white stuff. And they are to get more this Tuesday. If you read The Ornery Bastard you can get a view of a Safeway store that has been hit with anxious shoppers in the storm area. Pretty dismal picture. But Busted Knuckles put those store pictures in the blog for a reason. It is for you to get a glimpse of what is gong to happen when the collapse comes. The scatter brained American public is going to panic and the stores will be empty IN A FLASH. And this is just for a snow storm. When the word gets out that there has been an economic collapse, all stores everywhere will be emptied. And if you get there in time to get some supplies, you might not get them through the parking lot and get them into your car. There will be people of no money or very little money out in the parking lot that will take them from you. This puts you in the position of having less money and no supplies. It may put you in the hospital or the morgue. The people of this country are on edge, big time. And when they get pushed to the edge they will push back on whomever is in their way. This is a fact and not a theory. I got on the lists and forums after Katrina and it was survival of the fittest, jungle rules, for a lot of people. I read about this one young couple who had a old man Grandfather who was a bit of a prepper. He has the fuel in a shed out behind his house that would get him to Dallas, Texas, and the home of a good friend. Their story of how they made it to Dallas from their home North of New Orleans was very interesting. Twice when they were pulled over to put fuel from one of their cans into the truck tank, they had to show their pistols to keep others at bay. And this was a few miles North of their home. At least a five gallon can's worth.

But politeness and manners and just plain old consideration for others will be a rare event. The order of the day will be "grab and run" or just shoot and walk at your leisure. Any physical damage will be doubly bad for your continued existence. Medical help and assistance may be non-existent. Those people will be trying to keep body and soul together just like everyone else in town. You catch a ball bat to the head or the back and you could be messed up forever.

The thing we are talking about here is OPTIONS. One option is giving yourself the luxury of not having to go to the store. If you have a years supply of food then you don't have to go to slaughterhouse of the big box store or the supermarket. You just go to your pantry and select what you want for the day from you personal stocks. It may be chicken salad instead of pate de foi gras but it will be tasty enough and it will keep you alive. Pretty neat option. don't you think? Just don't forget to have plenty of sweet pickles on hand to sparkle up your chicken salad. Pickles are pretty much on a lot of things we eat besides hamburgers. You can't have Tartar Sauce without pickles. If you will be catching fish for your diet it might be happiness to have pickles.

An alternative water source besides what the municipality provides may be a good idea. It is an option that most people outside the prepper community never think about. The Handmaiden is wanting to get a water filter for home use and it may be a damn good idea. One of those Berky things will take care of us. You can't make it without good drinking water. If it is disease laden then you will be disease ladened also. And medical help may be hard to come by. But having good water to drink is NOT an option. You gotta have it. No way around it. If it has to come from boiling creek water then you got to do it. Some how, some way, the water has to be made drinkable.

Obama is a city dude, plain and simple. And he has money. He does not understand people who have to burn wood for heating and cooking. But here in the backwoods of Indiana we under stand wood heat very well. It is just part of life. And we understand saving ashes for the roads when they get icy and slick. You get your first lesson on burning wood when you are a kid and your mother, and then you, make smores. Yum. Especially if you have chocolate bits to put on them. Then you graduate to really GOOD food and start roasting hotdogs on a stick. We all know that hotdogs contain everything but the squeal from a pig but that smokey flavor sure does make that salty pork taste something wonderful. Somehow we survive the ravages of hotdogs and graduate up to a spit and turning a whole or half a hog for a Saturday picnic for the whole village. I've cooked so many hogs over an open fire I can't think of the number but I can think of how good they were. I did a lot of lambs too, and some big slabs of beef, from back in the day when we could afford such things. But we have that option and the city boys don't. The amount of venison I have roasted on a pit is in the tons. Hard to hunt them in the city. When the electricity goes out we just build a fire. Iron skillets and Dutch Ovens become our utensils. We have the option of a wood fire. The city slickers don't. The will get hungry real fast living their little "rat in a maze" life and come looking for your fire and your meat. Remember that old Simon and Garfunkel song? "Like a rat in a maze, the path before me lies. And the pattern never alters until the rat dies." Your job is to get out of the maze and create your own set of options. That is really what prepping is all about. Having enough options to choose from that will take you through a bad time with relative ease. And to stay alive.

Michael

mboone@rtccom.net