The problem with being a survivalist is that you get pretty jaded, pretty quick. Your eye is caught by every headline that says some sort of doom is impending and after a while you just sort of start going “Yeah, right”. I freely admit, I had that attitude when the Kung Flu started…another sensationalistic headline about how we’re all gonna die. -yawn-
As I suspected, the Kung Flu itself wasn’t , for me, the problem. The problem was all the associated things that it would engender – economic, social, logistic, etc. A couple months into it and I’m pretty much…unchanged. Oh, money is a little tighter as revenue slides a bit, but other than that it’s pretty much business as usual. Its the business as usual part that causes problems.
As I’ve said before, the sense of urgency feels a bit dialed back. Four weeks ago I was doing a good bit of last minute shopping with some urgency. Now…it’s a little less urgent. partially because a lot of gaping holes in my logistics base have been filled, but also because it’s a bit hard to keep that sense of urgency going when, other than some face masks, everything seems fairly normal.
But…media is now clamoring about meat shortages and second-wave explosions of infections. I didn’t take them too seriously last time, do I take them seriously this time? Hmmm.
I’ve got a little extra time on my hands for the next few weeks… I think I’m going to use it to straighten up and organize things a little better around here. That sort of thing usually goes a long way towards keeping my mind focused on being prepared.
What about you? Still feeling the sense of urgency? Are you feeling an even heightened sense of urgency? Or are you some frosty dude who has always lived every day like the mushroom cloud is only a day away?
Meat shortage will come not from a shortage of meat, but a wave of panic buying from headlines about a shortage of meat.
Big picture, commercial output of packing plants is down and a few hundred thousand animals will be euthanized instead of slaughtered. However when looking at 20,000+ processed per day per plant those are not large enough numbers to generate a real shortage.
Not really feeling a sense of urgency so much as a little frustration. Because of this slow motion train wreck many of the things I was planning on acquiring as funds became available are now either unavailable or prices have risen significantly.
Commander Zero,
I took the pandemic predictions at face value. Quite frankly, I really didn’t need anything that I absolutely had to have, given prior preps. Yet, because everyone else was doing it, I made Costco runs and loaded up on toilet paper and paper towels. I figured “more” is always better, and who really knew if the most dire predictions would come true?
I have a Facebook page only because a friend insisted that I should have one. I check it every six to nine months whether I need to or not. I saw a Facebook post sometime in April where a woman complained about not being able to find toilet paper and paper towels because “people were taking more than they needed.” So it seems that this woman watched news reports for a month about the panic buying situation, and she then, for the first time, deigned to enter a supermarket herself, expecting to find toilet paper that strangers had left waiting for her. “You can’t fix stupid.”
This crisis has been a comfortable one–except for the financial suffering many have experienced. The unfortunate takeaway is that most people will expect a slow motion build up of mere inconveniences and they will expect the next crisis to be the same. They got by this time, so they will expect to get by next time–although they are likely to keep a little more toilet paper on hand.
Like you, I slowly began to realize that this crisis “isn’t what it was cracked up to be.” While I thought that I might find it necessary to hunker down for months, with each passing week I have begun, more and more, to engage in additional trips to stores, although I religiously wear a mask and eye protection.
While the pandemic hasn’t turned out to exactly be a “nothingburger,” it hasn’t lived up to the dire predictions of the so-called “experts.” The CDC and WHO seem to have been run by the Keystone Kops. If I worked there, I would probably be tempted to lie about it at cocktail parties if someone asked what line of work I was in.
There is a strong movement to re-open the economy, and it is swelling in numbers each day. I don’t see how it can be stopped unless and until it is clearly demonstrated that tens of thousands of people died as a result of the premature lifting of the shut-in orders.
What REALLY scares me about this Wuhan thing is how successful the media and scum in gov were able to cripple us with hardly a whimper. Dont think they didnt notice how things went and are planning how to do it again some day in slightly different circumstances.
I must admit i admire how well they were able to pull all of this off.
Winston,
Sorry. I won’t apologize for taking this pandemic very seriously for weeks. Even the Bakersfield doctors whose video went viral said that the shut-in order was the right decision at the time. “Experts” were claiming that deaths could hit 10 million. Others said that 2/3 of the world’s population was going to be infected.
I get that civil liberties are being stepped on. Six weeks ago, however, the world seemed to be in a much different situation that we have now. As was said by a Supreme Court justice decades ago, “The Constitution is not a suicide pact.”
I simply think that we have passed the point where people should still have their liberties infringed. Lift the orders, and give people a chance to get back to work. Time will tell who is right.
This is the first known disease outbreak where the majority of HEALTHY people were quarantined (house arrest). Just as easily as you can say that shut downs slowed the spread; it can be argued that the shut downs will prove to be worse. Traditional medical principles would indicate that mass quarantine (house arrest) of the healthy will cause widespread lowering of immunities as well as many other health problems. What if the cause of a “second wave” is actually the shut down itself? This is a social experiment with no opt out.
Survivormann99, i’m not addressing the validity of the mass house arrests. I have no bone to pick with anyone taking either side.
Regardless of whether it was needed or not, the political/media elitists now see that they have a very effective tool for manipulating the asses, uh Masses. And some real world data that they can crunch and do it even more effectively the next time. As i said, they did a masterful job and while i hate it/them, i tip my hat to a job well done.
Here in the Land of the Frozen Tundra I’m always concerned. About the next winter. Or as I’ve been forced to call it “W”. Our Spring has been colder than normal so nobody wants to think about snow, etc. I’m already prepping and dehydrating food etc. for the next W. Lol
I live in a senior building and since the Kung Flu they have been dropping food boxes off for us. It’s amazing what humans won’t eat. Even most of the Vets won’t bother cooking rice or beans. So they give them to me. One of the Vets and I have been dehydrating vegetables. He and I have also been working on cook and no cook emergency meals sealed in Mylar bags. So I’m always working on something.
The thing is there is always Something. Real or imagined. Whatever.
Concerning this Kung Flu? I broke my arm back in January. So that’s pretty much how long I’ve been self isolating. Lol Then the State locked down in March. If you believe the county numbers we’ve only had one death.
Some of us Vets in this place are fairly well prepared. We’ll Improvise, adopt, and overcome come what may.
My NBC training showed this to be a bioweapon by the Chinese response ,it also became clear that it was not designed to be a slate wiper (80%-90% kill,ebola,capt. trips) but a nuisance weapon(enough to effect systems,cause enemy to harm themselves by overreaction). They were smart enough to limit spread domestically but allow it to spread back to origin and our allies. Early reports were accurate(if you were able to filter out hysteria) and determine .gov agents were used as carriers to spread to vulnerable populations-PLANDEMIC. Disappointed as did not use to benefit more financially. The quarantine is meant to destroy systems to allow control and purchase assets at greatly reduced cost(food/fuel/housing-basic necessities) and as a pathway to control. One of the most valuable things to have will be a positive antibody test/travel/work pass as you will outside their control zone. If you can a small garden/truckfarm/ pasture will be very profitable the next several years,they have picked the weapon and it is food.
Some folks see problems as opportunity. A farmer in Florida couldn’t get his crop to market so rather than just plow it under he told folks to come get what they want. Maybe the same could happen with beef, chicken and pork. Rather than euthanize and bury the carcasses have folks come get them and pay a fair fee. I’ll drive to the lot in my pickup, load/shoot/skin/gut/process the beast myself for protein satisfaction.
Not sure that the local health goons and FDA thugs would be okay with that.
They’re on hiatus too. 😉
👍
Even if the health goons allowed it, how many people are actually capable of that? Most folks wouldn’t have a clue how to process a cow, or have the freezer space to store it.
I believe my family and I have come through this with minor discomfort. I am very happy to be able to say that. We do without on somethings in order to have things when we need them. We are actually expecting snow here tonight in NEPA. My wife and are both lucky to still have jobs that are paying us to work from home. In my down time, I am working on the gardens and waiting for our new shed to arrive. I am surprised how well the VA is still working, didn’t expect that! I am about to arrange my workshop and have it prepared for the long haul as my side business has increased which I am again, very lucky for. As for preps, I have much like all of you done multiple AAR’s. There are things to do, but socking money away has been priority one and ensuring we are keeping our costs as low as possible. I do not see doing much on the buying side of any ammo or building any new guns either. I am still watching for wholesale prices on spare parts if I need any, but that is as exciting as it gets.
I’ve treated a dozen or more COVID-19 suspects, and a number of them subsequently graduated to Forest Lawn Memorial Park.
The average age has been 50, not 80, btw.
Otherwise, it’s been underwhelming hereabouts, even at work.
Lockdowns work, even against stupid people.
General trauma (bog-normal stupidity, for the most part) is waaaaay down.
Long-term?
I think I have vastly over-estimated the group IQ of society in general.
Between the idiots that never wanted to do the lockdown (NYFC), and the idiots itching to replicate and emulate NYFC’s success(!) with that approach by ending it at breakneck pace, the words from the 1960s executives in television were absolutely dead-on balls accurate:
“It’s simply impossible to underestimate the intelligence of the American people. There’s no bottom there.”
That dictates mainly plans for thicker walls, and deeper preps. Including literally.
Details? O hell no. Like the Three S Rule, and Fight Club, the first rule about Prep Club is not to talk abut Prep Club.
ABSOLUTELY ! Don’t sink Your own ship…..
Well, we are half way through flu season, 30,000 new cases a day, around 2,000 deaths a day, and 75,000 dead.
And we still have the fall to go.
This isn’t over yet.
I had to go in over drive getting supplies, I was trying to buy a house, in town, these last two years. I had let a lot go, food & ammo wise, since I didn’t want, or could, move it all over again.
75k is a johns Hopkins University made up number(reputation destroyed for short term profit),CDC reporting 36k and that is highly suspect as many are”suspected”(car accidents, gunshots,suicides). The hospitals and drs are heavily incentivised to report as reimbursement rates are MUCH higher and they have been shut out of many revenue streams.
Uh, no.
The CDC numbers you’re pointing at are, and clearly described as, “provisional”, from 2 months ago, and they note (and explain in blistering detail, 3 different times) why final statistics will take 1-8 weeks to post, and will go up drastically when finalized.
Thus the J-H ARCGIS site stats (of which CDC numbers are only one source used, out of six) are probably about as good as anything you’re going to get in anything like real time.
And since you didn’t know this, hospitals don’t report final causes of death, coroners do, and the coroners’ offices aren’t “incentivized” to report anything.
Sorry to get reality all over a perfectly good theory, but there it is.
In Texas we do not have coroner’s offices. We have ME’s offices in the larger counties but most counties still use the JP system of death recording and the JP will put on the death certificate whatever the doctor says.
Well, in Texas the problem, if it is one, looks like UNDER-reporting, due to under-testing.
So not a ringing endorsement of cheating to inflate the numbers.
FWIW, I’ve got contacts in hospital system C-suites, and they insist they lose money on every CV patient that .gov pays for, and they are being CRUSHED by loss of revenue from all the ‘elective’ procedures that aren’t happening.
In other words, my guys have no incentive to inflate numbers, but rather to get the CV patients out of their hospitals, and get back to doing all the stuff that pays for the fancy machines that go “Ping!” and all that ‘free’ care for the poor and illegals.
n
I’m about as ready as I’m gonna be. My preplanning seemed to work reasonably well during this little “crisis”. I really didn’t find too much in the way of major deficiencies. I’m of the school of thought that “if it ain’t BROKE don’t fix it”. I get the feeling that the PTBs are just getting started with MORE crisii. What was that line in MIB I?
” There’s always an alien battle cruiser, or a Corellian death ray, or an intergalactic plague intended to wipe out life on this miserable little planet. The only way these people can get on with their happy lives is that they DO NOT KNOW ABOUT IT!”
I’m just gonna take things as they come and live life and be happy till that battle cruiser or galactic plague finally wipes us out. I’m not going to fall prey to the folks trying to gain control by scaring the crap out of the sheeple, trying to impose their beliefs and system on everybody and generally ruining things for all of us just because they were abused kids…
Regards
I had some sense of urgency starting all the way back in October with a feeling that something big was headed this way. In the weeks running up to mid-March I was ALL about the urgency.
But now, I’m having a very hard time picking up the pace. It’s comfortable. Having the preps paid off. We’re just keepin’ on… Except that hurricane season will be here soon, and we’re already starting on preps for that.
And more bad is coming, and for longer and worse than people think. Waves of desperate people will be coming up thru Mexico, fleeing the collapse of their already tottering nations. Living in a border state, we’ll see the first brunt of it (if it comes) but they’ll move on thru to the rest of you, same as they’ve been doing for years.
If we’re at 30% unemployment, think what it will be like in a month, or two. When there are no buyers for your used truck, that you owe $40K on. Or your snowblower, dirt bikes, or snomobiles, or boats, or even your guns… when even normal people are starting to really feel the crunch and have no way left to raise money.
There’s a world of hurt coming to middle America. Having food will make it easier.
nick
If anyone can not find a buyer for their guns and dirt bike, let me know. I’m here for you!!!
Personally, this has been a really nice, long test run.
We haven’t needed to dig into preps at all. I just don a mask, and go grocery shopping every few days now instead of once a month or so.
It’s been interesting to note what’s been picked clean, and what’s been normal.
The only real urgency for us was to get the garden established.
Going over lists and reading sites like here. Gleaning from comments has been pretty neat. I made a cool directional antenna for my portable ham radios for about 15 bucks. Now I can hit the local repeater with my hand helds.
Perimeter alarms, ammo sales, etc.
I’m actually feeling pretty good about how we stand overall.
Being self employed, I’m working even more hours now so I can buy some items I have put off. (That and since everything is closed, can’t spend it on normal stuff).
E.g., Thermal scope mountable to either a bump helmet or sbr.
Prices have really come down, and quality is outstanding!
Splurging on a collector pistol. She should be here next week. I feel like a kid on Christmas Eve waiting for this beauty.
Having some mods done to the old powerstroke to make it more reliable.
Helped a friend yesterday with her garden prep. Nice day, looking forward to real food soon ! Ps 91
I guess my sense of urgency revolves more around the economic impacts. Some will be caused by changes in supply-chain logistics that could cause some shortages. Some by massive unemployment – and the lost productivity doesn’t just reappear. The big thing is the massive government giveaways that are are all deficit funded. Destroy a country’s currency and you’ve destroyed that country. I suppose they think it will give them a chance to rebuild it the way they envision it should be – and to hell with the chaos and human suffering it will cause.
But, how to personally prepare? Things don’t depreciate the way $$ do. So, to extent we can afford it, we should buy those non-perishables we will need in the future. Try to be prepped on shelter, food, protection, energy, transportation – the usuals. Just being on this site probably means we’re ahead of a lot of folks.
Venezuela, here we come!