Love the "Husband of the Boss" post...Too funny.
In another post Patrice reviews a book called One Second After by William Forstchen.
In Patrice's words:
"For those unfamiliar with the book, the story centers around a small town in North Carolina in the aftermath of an EMP (electromagnetic pulse) weapon. These weapons are not dropped on land; they are detonated in the upper atmosphere and take down the power grid. It’s hard to fathom the long-term results of such an event until you read this book."
(Since I live in North Carolina and love books my interest was peaked.)
Patrice lays out her "take away" points from the book. I couldn't disagree with any of them.
Prepper? What's a Prepper? I hadn't heard or read that term before.
I go on and read the comments too. Wow!
"Hey Baby...Wanna read something interesting?" Me
SM comes over and actually reads (not skims) the post. We've both heard/read terms like "homesteading" and "self-sufficiency" but "preppers?"
Never heard of them!
We consult google and find...(Thank you Wikipedia)
A prepper is an individual or group that prepares or makes preparations in advance of, or prior to, any change in normal circumstances or lifestyle without significant reliance on other persons (i.e., being self-reliant), or without substantial assistance from outside resources (govt., etc.) in order to minimize the effects of that change on their current lifestyle.
Preppers are sometimes identified as modern-day survivalists or neo-survivalists but are far from the stereotype of survivalists past. Prepping has also been dubbed as "survivalism light". Many do not identify themselves as doomers or follow the 2012 phenomenon.
Preppers have many different mindsets and cover a broad spectrum of survival and preparedness interests. Some preppers prepare for economic disaster or to escape genetically modified foods through organic farming or urban gardening. Some may prepare for the possibility of a complete breakdown of society while others store up extra food and water for a more localized disaster. In addition to natural disasters, terrorists attacks as well as other crises, Preppers also prepare for personal disasters and economic hardships such as job losses or the loss of a loved one.
"Well, I feel slightly better after reading that last part. We fall into this group, I guess. I mean we are preparing for tough times." Me
"You know there's a lot of people out there with "survivalist" mentalities. Stockpiling food, ammo...Did you hear about the congresswoman getting shot today?" SM
"NO!...What?" Me
We "Yahoo'd" for the latest news.
"So sad." Me "What is going on out there?"
Silence for awhile...
"You know"...(Bringing the conversation back to "prepping")
"I understand the urge to want protect your family but it's not like I'm at DEFCON 1 or anything." Me
"DEFCON 1?" SM
"Yeah...You remember that movie with Matthew Brodrick back in the eighties? Wargames? "Shall we play a game?" (computer voice)
"I'd say I was at DEFCON 3." Me
We look up what DEFCON means: Defensive Condition
DEFCON 5 - Lowest state of readiness Normal readiness
DEFCON 4 - Increased intelligence watch and strengthened security measures
DEFCON 3 - Increase in force readiness above that required for normal readiness
DEFCON 2 - Further increase in force readiness, but less than maximum readiness
DEFCON 1 - War is highly likely. Maximum readiness.
"Yeah, that sounds about right. I've been reading a lot and educating myself. I want to try and learn new skills like gardening and canning. But this just seems like the common sense thing to do. It's not like I'm preparing for the end of days." Me
"So you don't think we'll get to DEFCON 1?" SM
"I hope not. None of us will last very long if we do. We sink or swim together."
Ah yes, Defcon! Gosh I hadn't heard that in a long time. These are very good things for you guys to be talking about. Finding balace between letting it make you crazy and just being smart!!!
ReplyDeleteGreat talking points Tami!
I'll rate myself a 3 heading to 2.
Tami,
ReplyDeleteOh man yes, there is a giant community of preppers out there, at its getting bigger as our country's outlook gets darker. And as your excerpt suggestions, there is a WIDE range of levels, from DEFCON 1 to 5.
I would say that our family is at a solid DEFCON 3 or 2 right now -- both Emma and I believe that the economic path our country is on is completely unsustainable and will lead to "bad things" at some future date. A lot of our drive to move to the country is to make sure that we can survive most anything that happens in our country. But if the balloon really does go up in a big way, the city is the last place I'd want to be.
The biggest prepper blog I know of:
SurvivalBlog
Joseph
City Roots, Country Life
APG...It's true what you say. I don't want to be thought of a paranoid freak, so I try and "mask" as much of it as I can in the old excuse that "It's just good common sense to do these things."
ReplyDeleteJoseph...I've seen references to Survival Blog. I just might stop by today and see what it's all about. I suspect they might be just a bit over the top. I mean I really DON'T want to survive a nuclear event. What would be left to survive for? But protecting myself from inflation, growing quality food, developing a water and power plan...those things DO make sense to me.
BTW, nice job on your food storage posts. I'm personally courious about the actual storage and rotation plans.
I love Patrice's blog too. And though I would probably never use the word "prepper" to describe us, we are definitely in the group who believes that this nation can not go on as it has and that things are fixin' to change big time. Almost everything we do on our homestead is in preparation for that.
ReplyDelete