THE Prepping thread - a new beginning :)

mardatha

GreyQueen that zerohedge link is scary as hell!

westcoastscot

Hi Guys,
Hope everyone is well - I've had a tough 18 months or so, my health got significantly worse, I had repeated bouts of pneumonia for 6 months and have had a change of jobs! My preps have seen me through brilliantly, but are very depleted, so lots of work to do there. Life chances are significantly impacted and am looking at planning for retirement early on a very low income.
It's been very wet here on the west coast this summer, but beautiful just the same. My garden is a little over-grown but still producing fruit and a little veg - am hoping to re-design my small patch to allow me to keep growing.
Can't really knit any more due to worsening arthritis in my hands, which has been the biggest blow to be honest, but am enjoying other crafts - crocheting, stitching, papercraft etc.
Looking forward to catching up with you all,
WCS :-)

GreyQueen

Yeah, I thought so, too.

I may have mentioned in the past that I have read several very thorough books about Hurricane Katrina, also co-incidentally in Louisiana and the adjacent states.

The same phenomenon was noted there; emergency services were taking calls from people stuck in the attics or on the roofs of single-story dwellings surrounded by floodwater so bad that houses were being swept away. People were drowning indoors or close to death from exposure to 100 F temps in a Southern summer, surrounded by deep waters with alligators, poisonous snakes, debris and toxic chemical spills.

Officialdom could not reach them. Unofficialdom came to the rescue with private citizens bringing their boats on trailers to flooded freeway ramps and launching themselves out to risk their lives to rescue complete strangers. Many heroic deeds have been recorded, many more will have gone unrecorded. Was the reaction of TPTB to do everything possible to facilitate these citizen-heroes? Was it heck, there were many attempts to stop them, even while the crisis was ongoing and people were dying.

I literally cannot comprehend the mentality of an officialdom which seeks to prevent self-help and help from other citizens, whilst simulateously seeming to be happy to let people suffer even unto death, and then do everything possible to hamper recovery efforts.

It bodes ill for the rest of us. Yep, we're not the USA and, no offence to mila and any other American readers, most of us are happy about that, but we do need to be aware that public protection from official sources is very thinly-stretched in normal times, and is likely to be overwhelmed very quickly in a crisis.

Which is why we need to build resilience into every aspect of our own lives, on the sure and certain understanding that the brown stuff hitting the orbital device will leave us largely thrown on our own resources, and that of our immediate family, friends, neighbours, church group, sewing circle or however you personally organise the venn diagrams of your social world.

maryb

Ye gods!!

In many ways it's surprising that it's the European countries that seem to be encouraging their citizens to ge self reliant since the legacy of the Enlightenment seems to be that citizens only have the rights that the State grants them. Whereas we derive our rights much more from common law and custom such that if it isn't prohibited you have a right to do it subject to common law requirements that your rights do not impinge on those of your neighbours. So you would have thought that Europe would be quite Statist in its approach but not so, it seems

And I always thought that the US tended more to the common law model despite the influence of the European Enlightenment on the Founding Fathers. But the more I read about petty restrictions the more I wonder

mardatha

Hi Westcoastscot nice to see you back - I wondered often how you were getting on. Stick with it pet, keep going x

GreyQueen

I've often meditated on the many inconsistancies of life in a democratic country with a social-welfare set up at odds with the free market.

F'rinstance, we allow the rental and retail market in domestic housing free rein, whilst drawing a very low floor under wages. So, it's perfectly possible to be working, sometimes working several jobs, and still not be able to afford even the humblest home.

And this is OK with TPTB and most of us, unless we're personally affected or know someone else who is, try hard not to think about it. Yet it is still possible to buy small plots of low-grade agricultural land which are plenty big enough to take a tent, a roundhouse, a mobile home or a cabin.

But gawd help you if you try to actually live a simple life on your very own property because the full weight of TPTB in the form of planning regulations will come down on your head. You own it, but you sure as hell don't control it.

Likewise with taxes; they are taken at such a level that most of us are not left with sufficient to make rainy-day provisions. But TPTB will decide to withdraw provision, or restriction provision, or just de facto strike you out of entitlement to various things which you were sure were part of the social compact. The nature of life is that you don't find out that you've been hung out to dry until it's far too late to do anything about it.

maryb

Hi WCS good to see you again but sorry that things have been so hard for you recently.

I know someone who now finds knitting difficult who has bought a second hand knitting machine which seems to be manageable for them. Would that be a possibility?

GreyQueen

Nice to 'see' you again, WCS. Are you still insulated with books? I've often recalled you mentioning that and thinking how excellent an idea book-walls are.

milasavesmoney

ALIBOBSY wrote: »

All this talk of bacteria and bugs reminds me of something I read that said the best thing you can do to avoid illness is to learn to not touch your face with your hands during the day, we touch so much stuff you can't just keep washing or using handgel constantly. Its the areas of the face that are moist so to speak, so eyes, nose, mouth and ears were bacteria and the like can multiply.

Thinking about it may have read the same or simular on this thread

Ali x

Great info to learn or be reminded of for all of us.

milasavesmoney

GreyQueen wrote: »

This may be of interest:

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-09-08/louisiana-officials-demand-self-reliant-locals-stop-surviving-flood-without-permissi

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2016/08/24/cajun-navy-volunteers-lauded-for-rescuing-louisiana-flood-victims-now-lawmaker-getting-heat-for-mulling-permit-fee/

Zerohedge is convoluting what this legislator is trying to accomplish.