A husband and wife who have a cabin on 100 acres of secluded land in Park County have weaned their property from the electric grid, acquired a three-year food supply and taken other measures to become self-sufficient.
While there’s little threat of the earthquake and tsumani that rocked Japan last month in landlocked Colorado, other epic crises on the home front are possible: A flood or fire. A terrorist attack. A nuclear weapons launch. World War III. Or an apocalyptic-type scenario.
An increasing number of people say they are getting ready.
Yahoo news just had a story about the preparations of Mormon families who try to keep a year's worth of food on hand and I saw at Costco last month cases of Mountain Home survival food for sale.
Thomas Sowell: There are no solutions, just trade-offs.
There are always nutjobs out there, although it's not a bad idea to keep a month's supply of emergency food and water on hand up here. Three years is overkill.
I no longer feel like this is the domain of nut cases and survivalist whacko's.
Everyone should have months of food on hand - several months. Maybe not three years - but at least 3 to 4 months. Everyone should have a source of water that does not depend on IREA to be up and running. Everyone should have a wood stove or a way to provide heat without electricity. Extra ammo won't hurt either.
We are lucky up here in the hills. City folk will be in dire straights within a few days after an emergency event. So many people down the hill depend on local government for water, heat, electricity, sewer, communications - if those services were to go down it will be a matter of hours before they start to BBQ each other.
Here's the test- shut off your main breaker- turn off your cell phone and unplug your house phone, internet and TV. Assume the gas station is out of gas for your car - your GPS system does not work. It's going to be 10 below tonight.
Now..... How long are you gonna make it? Can you even figure out what has happened?
At least up here - most of us are on wells. A generator big enough to pump water from our wells and 5 gallons of gas could keep us in water for a few months. Wood growing all around us means we probably have what it takes to keep warm. It's easy to stock a few months worth of food - just 100lbs of rice and 50lbs of beans can keep 4 people from starving for quite a while. This can be bought and stored for about 120 bucks - pretty cheap insurance.
Look at Japan- look at what the people there are short on- No gas for cars - no Kerosene for heat - no electricity - no food. It takes time for transportation and other services to get restored - several months in the worst hit areas.
No- it may not be an earthquake that we face, but it could be any number of other things. If these times are teaching us anything, it's that it will not hurt to have a little backup. It will not hurt to be able to get by for a while without those services that too many of us are totally dependant on. As Americans we tend to think it can't happen here but it sure can. I think we face even harder times in an emergency. In Japan people help each other - even markets lowered prices after the quake knowing that once sold out they were not getting re-stocked. Here - prices will skyrocket for basic goods as people take advantage of the situation.
Mormon families have been storing food for generations - it goes back to the way they were treated in the 1800's. The church teaches that a years supply of food and basic goods is the minimum a family should have on hand- it's the "Safeway".
My mother remembers as a small child- mussolini's army coming through the village, collecting everyones valuables. Once they army left - they had no way to purchase even food. Thankfully- my uncles were pretty resourceful as kids and kept the family from starving - they had to resort to some pretty harsh tactics though. My grandfather could not help because he had been drafted into the military himself.
They never thought it could happen to them - and we never think it could happen to us. I always thought my mom was a little nuts because she always had about a years worth of food in storage.
She never was crazy- just experienced. It can happen to us.
kresspin wrote: There are always nutjobs out there, although it's not a bad idea to keep a month's supply of emergency food and water on hand up here. Three years is overkill.
Agree, the guy that is planning that society will melt down and he will no longer be able to buy food at any price (Highly unlikely) is ignoring the much more likely scenario that his home and food stores may be destroyed in a forest fire.
I have about 2-3 weeks of food, only 2 weeks if I lose power. But I do try to keep my savings up so that I can buy food for a long time if I lose my job. Once again a more likely scenario.
Thomas Sowell: There are no solutions, just trade-offs.
One thing that was proved out in Japan- it didn't matter how much money you had in your pockets, it wasn't worth anything after earthquake. Transportation and the movement of goods stopped - having money did not help when the stores were empty.
I also keep up my savings in case - but I am under no illusion that money will be worth anything following a emergency event or disaster situation.
My opinion is that having goods to trade will be worth more than money - that means having goods on hand before an event takes place. Water, Shelter, Heat, Fuel, Food, Communications, Ammo - these are the goods I'm talking about.
With the current financial situation I can see the collapse of the dollar and the total loss of products. hell Wall Street rich boys are hoarding gold silver and food supplies, and have bought alot of storage for fuel by pre buying it.
Laugh if you want but the depression is just around the corner.
If it doesn't come Hurray but the way the government has spent other countries will just stop taking the dollar and demand payment up front in another form.
Always better to be prepaired and not need it then to need and not have it.
