Remember the coworker I mentioned a few posts back? She finally got power up at her place restored Sunday night. She’s having car problems and her and her husband are sharing one vehicle. I offered to give her a ride home and to reclaim my loaned gear.
As I was driving her outta town I saw, literally, a mile of stumps and matchsticks where the powerlines used to be. Apparently once one or two go, they yank down the others. The wires were laying by the side of the road like garden hoses on a summer day. Some power poles snapped a few feet above the ground but it looks like some were snapped at ground level. It was a mess.
I did see quite a few power trucks and crews driving around so, despite the ‘the power company gives all their money to shareholders and not into maintenance’ ranting from the left here in town, progress is being made. But…those boys have really got their work cut out for them. I hope the folks out there are treating them right.
My new water cans arrived yesterday. Even though I personally suffered zero problems at my house because of this event, that doesn’t mean the possibility isn’t there. I had a half dozen of the Scepter water cans on hand in the basement. I just upped that number with another ten. Why that many? Three reasons: First, why not? Second, it makes it easier for me to help people that I choose to help (enforced charity, rather than charity-by-choice, is not charity), and finally, at some point I’ll need to be stashing some of these at an off-site location…could be Commander Zero’s Post Apocalyptic Bunker O’ Love And Lingerie Proving Ground, or it could be at a friends outbuilding along with a Pelican case of gear and some fuel cans. Regardless, they seemed like a good idea.
I really need to get my little hideaway set up and online. I am rapidly losing my ability to let living around these useless people not get to me.
A comment over at Bayou Renaissance Man really summed up the sheeple attitude:
A few years back, I read a piece on crisis management and why people screw up so badly, over and over. The writer, who is some sort of expert on the subject, said the chain of denial reasoning goes like this:
- It won’t happen.
- OK, it’s going to happen, but not to me.
- OK, it’s going to happen to me, but it won’t be that bad.
- OK, it happened to me, and it was so bad, there was nothing I could have done about it anyway.
This commenter is absolutely correct. As a disaster progresses, the unprepared go though those stages and never imagine that their level of suffering is inversely proportional to the amount of personal responsibility they’ve undertaken. The larger overall problem, I suppose, is that no one wants to take responsibility. In my town, like many other places, we have a huge amount of homeless people causing all sorts of problems. The lefties in town demand that we provide all sorts of services and accommodations for these ‘neighbors’. But, if you ask what about the responsibilities of the homeless to actively take part in their redemption…well, you’re clearly lacking empathy. The notion of taking responsibility for your situation is just not on the radar for these people….its all about the feels. Empathy, compassion, solidarity, etc, etc.
When it’s 2am and there’s no electricty, your water pump is dead as a doornail, there’s a puddle forming under your fridge, and the kids are telling you theyre scared….which would you rather have…empathy or a generator, some stored gas, and a few flashlights?
I really don’t want to be a misanthrope. I think that people are not fundamentally bad, but they are dangerous, not just when when they’re scared. It’s just downright foolish to ignore that the other person’s self-interest will usually trump yours. Men In Black was a popcorn movie but it had this nugget that will be forever making the rounds on the internet:
“A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it.”
And, worst of all, their vote counts as much as yours or mine.
I cannot get my heavily fortified little slice of Montana fast enough.
Where do you get your Scepter cans?
In this case, I just grabbed them off Amazon since I was too lazy to hunt down a distributor who might have them for less. Price variations were less than 8-10% so i just went with Amazon since I knew I’d get it quickly.
” I think that people are not fundamentally bad…”
You’re too smart to believe that.
Unlike those lefties you describe, I would rather lack empathy than common sense.
I would add one line to the comment you quoted:
OK, it happened, but chances are it will never happen again.
Here in the UK all that copper wire would have gone on a walk-a-bout by now.
Here in the US most newer overhead distribution lines are aluminum with a steel reinforcement wire. Copper theft is still common when it is in place.
Following. I do hard core harp on that whole “get out”, theme of positioning your self location wise in a better or best as obtainable situation and location for these kind of reasons. It may not be an idyllic place with a creek out back, and all the yuppie best features, but it will be way more strategic and tactically better, in many regards past a flow chart check off list of wants and needs. Reducing the number of useless eaters around you to just a rural area of usually hardy inhabitants or a small townie locale is a good to go option. The commander is in an advanced survivalism coursework here with gear and tactics, however the location position (for reasons understandably) can mute all of one’s efforts due to the shear numbers of these useless humans that are already now or will turn dangerous fast during spaz out situations. Reduce that human threats quotient down to nill by segregating yourself elswhere, even if you must drive in distances for a job, or box store waddling shopping forays, it will solve many prepper or survivalism problems that are people caused or affected. My power was out for only seven hours, and the little honda 2000 hummed away to keep fridge freezer going, no problems with gear or action plans. Also being located in a townie out in an empty rural zone took that whole idiot humans problems out of the picture, no concerns at all. It is kind of nice to go for weeks or months and not hear any stupidly screaming sirens, at all, that are indicative of stupid people problems like in urbans or suburbs. Stay frosty in your hermitage redoubts out there friends.
The enemy of good is perfect. You already know that friend.
Having a plump cash pile for the perfect “Retreat” that can be frozen by power outages or political theft (banking holiday) is worth a lot less than a place with a good well and solar pump setup for your long term camping site.
You were a decent human being to your decent neighbor; I applaud that sir.
But the bulk of leftist Gimme Dats are a problem that can show up pretty quickly and despite the heroics of the Warlord of LA that can be messy pretty fast.
Please secure a well friend, 3 days without water is bad.
I don’t live in L.A., but thanks for proving that you couldn’t go a few weeks without a gratuitous swipe. Character always outs itself.
You do you, stud.
Thanks, that adds value.
Imagine how I feel.
Friendly and unfriendly fire returned with a smile.
LOL its always about you Aesop.
But still When are YOU going to buy a defensive retreat?
We discussed it in a friendly manner a few months before COVID and you were going to buy a Camp Snoopy soon.
What was that 2+ years ago?
That big city ER job might be the end of you. Just saying.
It’s only about me when you go out of your way to make it so. I’ve lost track of how many times on how many blogs I’ve suggested not taking that approach, yet here we are again. I promise you, it’s still not too late to try it.
Real estate stopped being a getable thing hereabouts during COVID, and you might have heard about subsequent price hikes.
The ER job could have been the death of me pretty much any day in the last 25 years. Nothing to see there.
Meanwhile, property owners have this peculiar thing about getting what they want for land they own. Maybe you’ve heard about that too.
When my wants and their prices coincide, Camp Snoopy will occur. The point all along was a place to retire to, with time between now and that day to get things squared away. That’s still the idea. It was not to be a place to relocate to prior to that point, but rest assured I’ve been keenly aware of the utility of having it sooner than later just in case as well as more time to get it turn-key ready the day I tell the bosses at Shoestring General “Adios”.
All of which info you could have obtained with a polite query instead of a rude backhand.
Just saying.
Was out around 200 the other day and there is a highway that runs north so you would
Be west of the buffalo range . There is some decent country out there but a bit dry . Less populated than the mission valley and still not a million miles to zoo town . Might be an area to look around in .
28 goes north off 200 before you hit plains . There is a valley up on 28 that was on the lonesome side .
That up Camas Prairie way, right? Camas Prairie always struck me as amazingly beautiful…I used to pass through it when I had a friend living in Hot Springs.
I don’t remember camas prairie but yea I was on the way to hot springs area when we
Drive through the area that struck me as fairly remote .
Headed up 200 next week the other way from Missoula and there lots of cool country up there also but tough winters !!!
A good chunk of that area is on the reservation, and I’m told that buying property there is a recipe for disaster with the local/tribal poltics being what it is.
“And, worst of all, their vote counts as much as yours or mine.”
Yeah, ’bout that, which is to say zero. Don’t play rigged games.
On the Scepter cans : Do You rinse them out with a cleaning solution ( Warm soapy water ? ) after you receive them ? ( Or the ” Loaners ” you get back ? ) __ Do you have a pure water source you fill them with ? ( I am leary of using tap water for consumable use myself .( I know I’m getting plenty of ” Tap Water ” when I eat out . ) __ I do not know if the 5 gallon drinking water bottles that you can get at some retailers would be a good option to fill a ” Scepter Can ” , or even 24 bottle cases of “Spring Water ” that you buy anywhere. _ Do you have water purifiers to use on the ” Stored Water ” before you use it for consumable purposes ? _ How often do you rotate ( Change out ) your stored water ? Nosey Questions ; you are the only one I am aware of that is talking about stored water __ I do not have any of these Scepter cans now , all I have is the 24 case drinking waters. _ I did just buy two – 100 gallon collaspable water storage barrels that I have filled with rain water , ( For watering the tomatoe planters , and to flush toilets with if/when I lose tap water ) __ Empty 2-Liter Soda bottles are reused , full of tap water ; used for my shower for one thing , ( 2-3 bottles ) , when I lose water at the house ( TMI , I know !!! ) ( Too Much Information )
I rinse out new water containers with a mix of baking soda and bleach to remove odors.
If you are using municipal supplied water (“city water”) it is usually fine to store straight from the tap although the extra-prudent may add some bleach.
You wrote about the mile or so of snapped lines and poles. About 12-15 years ago we had a large ice storm hit New England. Same scenario for us. No power, stores couldn’t open or only took cash, many gas station couldn’t pump gas either. We were out 11 days, some people were out 14 days or more. Thousands of miles of lines had to be replaced. Trees were down all over, blocking roads. Hundreds of thousands of people with no power.
Too many people did not have generators, did not have food or water stored. The cities got back power sooner, within a week or less.
It was tough, but we had everything we needed, generator, wood for the stoves, food, water.
Any water can be used for flushing and washing. Rainwater, melted snow, bath water, running streams. If your dishwashing water doesn’t have grease, you can collect that for flushing too.