SHTF: Survivalist New Years Resolutions

I hate New Years resolutions.

Most people do not keep them and it is a symbolic waste of time.

They pack the gym and buy the bikes. They put in the big order to Jenny Craig or Nutrisystem. They clean the "fat clothes" out of the closet. They make lists and stick them on the refrigerator door.

Come February, they are parked in front of the TV watching American Home Idol with the Stars and stuffing their faces with Twinkies and Diet Coke. The exercise bike holds clothes and the fridge door is covered with kid drawings and coupons.

However, with the new year staring in less than a week, it is time for all of us to take stock where we are today and what we need to be preparing for in 2009.

How about a Survivalist To Do List for 2009 rather than a bunch of silly resolutions?

1) Start building up a cash supply
Cash will be the mode of exchange for days, weeks or months before the ax finally falls on society. Even afterwards, some fool will still take a Ben Franklin for a can of beans or roll of toilet paper long after the fall.

Start cutting lunches and coffee out. Stop buying treats at the 7-11. Take your lunch to work. Quit smoking. You know, all the little ways to save $20,50 or 100.00 a week.

Put that cash in a jar or envelope in the house somewhere and don't touch it. Stick your pocket change in another jar, sort it for junk silver and roll it for more green backs. Put those back too.

2) Build that food supply
Food is king. And food is cheap. Cheaper than that rifle or truck you want. Food is readily available at the corner market or Super Wal Mart.

Start buying an extra 6 cans of something, 10 pounds of rice, a bag of sugar or flour and so forth every time you go to the market. Put everything into a five gallon bucket you can get at the hardware store. Label it, close it and stick in the back of the closet.

3) Keep your car filled
Gas runs the world despite what all the renewable blabber mouths say. Remember Katrina? All the people with a quarter tank of gas stranded on the interstate? Keep your car above three quarters of a tank. Now it is easier than ever that gasoline has dropped in price.

If you want, and this is your risk if you do, keep a five gallon can filled in the garage or car port.

For sure, get 3,4 or 5 empty gasoline containers and put them in the garage. I carry an empty five in the back of my truck for just in case.

4) Plant something you can eat
A corner of the yard, ten big containers, the flower beds out back, heck, the whole backyard. Plant some food as soon as the weather permits.

Grow tomatoes, cucumbers, potatoes, carrots, anything that can be eaten and is good for you.

While you are at it, plant a fruit or nut tree on your property as well if you can. Plant something now before next fall when the stores are empty.

5) Start cleaning out your house and getting rid of the clutter
Sell your surplus junk and make some extra money for preparedness supplies. Have a garage sale, Craiglist or Ebay it. FreeCycle for that pile of stuff nobody will pay you for. Someone will want it and free is good.

6) Start a real health and fitness program
Eat right - fruits, vegetables, whole grains and less red meat, fats and stupid carbohydrates (beer, cake, cookies, junk).

Go the doctor and get a full physical. Do what he says (short of loading up on prescriptions).

Start walking every day. Buy a second hand bike and ride it to work once a week if possible, and to the grocery store.

Integrate exercise into your daily life and you won't quit.

7) Get some more clothes
After the SHTF the most valuable asset after food will be clothes and shoes well fitted for the post-SHTF world. My kids love their video console, but the price of it, I could have bought 4 pairs of good jeans, or two pairs of work boots or a couple of sets of Carhardts.

Jeans, coats, work shoes, socks, underwear, etc. will be worth their weight in gold in the month after the big one. Go buy a few extra things as money permits.

8) Get a bug out bag for the car and office
Stock an old back pack or duffle with the following:
- change of clothes
- pair of sock
- walking shoes or boots
- 6 .5 liters of water
- A Camelback (1.5 liter)
- 6 protein bars
- 4 Ramen noodles
- 4 Oatmeal
- 6 tea bags
- Condiment packet including sugar, salt, pepper
- Lip balm, sunscreen and bug spray
- rain coat, folding poncho
- tarp
- matches or lighter
- flashlight
- multi tool

Keep it in your office and another in your car.

9) Buy a gun
A .22, 9mm, 12 guage shotgun, bolt action rifle, etc.
Take it to a public range and practice shooting.
Buy enough ammunition as needed - 500 or 1000 rounds or more.

While never preaching that violence is best, having the means to defend your family and home is irreplaceable.

10) Water
Not a specific action, but a list.
Stock water in bottles and containers.
Get a good water filter and replacement cartridges.
Find alternate sources of water where you live.. well, spring, creek, river, rain barrels.

Water is essential to life and you never have too much when you don't have any.

10.5) Start learning
Make an effort to learn new skills.
Learn to fix things yourself.
Learn to build things yourself.
Learn to do things like canning or gardening by putting practice into action.
Start reading things that will help you and your family survive and thrive in the new world.

Resolutions are a waste of time, but resolving to do better in the new year is not only smart, but may save your life.

Happy New Year

SHTF: The coming food riots

So you have heard all about the looming, powder keg in the making, soon to be shown in an urban area near you, Food Riots?

Sure you have. Read any of the survival message boards or what not and you KNOW they are just around the corner, right? Soon, there will be little if any foods available in our grocery stores because of floods, global warming, global food demand, a shrinking food supply and the ever weakening fiat currency, the U.S. dollar, right?

Wrong.

In my opinion, I don't think widespread rioting in the United States is likely. In fact, I think there will be very little in today's man made, limited crises world. Let me explain.

First, food shortages will affect restaurants long before the grocery store. No, not that little boutique restaurant downtown. We are talking about the big box, mega chain fast food complex. When your average American cannot get a Big Pounder and bucket of fries to go along with that 55-gallon diet caca because the McRonaldary is out of food, they will know something is afoot.

Will they riot then?

No, they will then tramp across the street to Booger Royalty and see if the same situation applies there, and then on to Taco Heck and Was-Once-Beef before realizing "Hey, there ain't no food here!".

Now will they riot?

No they will call the local news station, ACLU, and BBB and demand a mini-cam come out and record their grievance. After all, food is a right, right?

But no riots not when there is a complaint department and an eager and compliant mass media.

Okay what about when there's no food at the local Kroger or Piggly Wiggly?

When food shortages finally reach the grocery stores, the real miff is going to be due to the shortage of ready-to-eat-and-die convenience foods, beer, candy, and cigarettes. The average American has no idea where food comes from and most have no idea what it looks like until it's wrapped in bright colored paper and has a serving suggestion airbrushed on the cover.

Never will they walk out of the frozen food section and see if there is any fresh meat, vegetables or fruits available and if there were, most would not know what to do with the ingredients much less be able to read a cookbook above the third grade level. So nope, no riots then either.

OK, what about when the REAL groceries start to disappear? Will there please be riots then?

When meat, vegetables, fruits, potatoes, pasta and what not starts showing up missing, there won't be riots then either. Rather, a bunch of entitlement freaks will stand in front of the store and want passers by to sign a petition, then they will protest and plan a boycott of the Big Evil Corporation which owns the grocery store. Someone will provocatively blog about it and another will build a web page to raise awareness. Then they will blame the president and want someone to bring them fast food, debit cards and a habitat for polar bears.

Nope no riots then either. However, there will be plenty of soundbites from "angry consumers" and "community activists". Yet, there will be very few riots.

The majority of American people no longer have riots in their veins.

The average American is deathly afraid of direct confrontation. Sure, they will vote for anyone who will promise to "get" the greedy corporations and and raise taxes on "that greedy rich guy". But this same angry consumer is a heck of a lot less likely to march over to the wealthy guy's house and demand that rich guy hand him a couple of hundred dollars and a bag of groceries because he feels he is somehow owed it. Better to use a faceless nameless proxy to get that which he is afraid to work for.

Nope, there will be no food riots. Rioting over basic necessities is no longer part of our plush, fat lifestyle. Rather, we are willing to riot over important events like aircraft seat assignments, concert tickets and exclusive pre-school enrollment.

And when the crowds finally wake up, and do become agitated because there is no fuel for the car or body, you should hardly care.

When the food shortages start, you should have already had a supply of food at home by carefully shopping and stocking up now.
You should also have had a back up plan for additional food from a garden in the backyard.
Further, you should be well aware how to get your mitts on more food from unorthodox supply locations.
Never should you be ready to hit the loot lines and hope to obtain a few choice canned goods and left over bags of pinto beans amidst the destruction. Those that join in the final fray of looting will find themselves injured, dead or herded off to a interment camp.

Nope, there will be no riots. Because by the time the average American wakes up and finds out there are no Ding Dong Donots or McStuffins available, it will be too late. So stop waiting for the food riots on TV. Instead, pop in a copy of Red Dawn on the old DVD player (or similar fine fair) and enjoy yourself this evening.

Food and Stress

Everyday I read the same thing on all the survival minded websites...

"When the SHTF your body is going to demand more fatty foods to deal with the stress.." or something like that. This is the rational to start stockpiling processed canned meat products and fatty convenience foods - as a hedge against mental illness post-apocalypse.

Crazy. The concept from this prepper mentality is that once the balloon goes up, all of us will be sitting in our retreats or bug out locations gorging on cans of Spam and Hormel Tamales in order to deal with the stress life has handed us. Our bodies will demand loads of fat, cholesterol and processed lard or we simply will collapse mentally.

Here is the real deal..

Take a real stressful situation and different people deal with it in different ways.
Remember when you lost a job? Had a sick child? Worried about that mid-term grade? Or maybe how you were going to pay that stack of bills? Bet you dealt with each of these in a variety of ways.. anger, depression.. The whole 7 Stages stuff we learn in psych 101..

My wife for instance, will probably get real grumpy, depressed and want to sleep long periods of time.

I am the opposite. I will suffer from insomnia and eat hardly anything for days.

I base this upon personal experience with things like death, financial problems, work stress, child rearing, birthing and sickness. I know when I am stressed, the idea of popping the top on a can of Vienna Sausages makes me want to hurl.

I know some people, when faced with insurmountable stress, do stuff their faces with sweets, or alcohol or chain smoke. Some will pop pills and others will go catatonic. The deal is all of us will handle things differently.

The way I see things, the first few days of a SHTF situation will have each of us concentrating on staying alive and keeping our loved ones safe. After a long period of incredible stress and worry, we will then settle down and adapt to the situation as it plays out.

Once we adjust to living without electricity and running water for instance, or the sounds of random gunfire and round the clock watches, then our bodies will begin to adjust as well.

We will work more manual labor doing tasks such as putting in a garden, harvesting, gathering wood and water and shoring up the home. That sort of physical work will push our bodies to demand more calories and fuel naturally.

However, I don't believe everyone has a sudden and universal physical demand on our bodies and minds which forces all of us to start consuming two times our normal caloric intake in fatty, processed foods the day after the end of the world. Some people may, others will not.

My own nasty belief about this mindset is the people who have it can't wait to dig into those cans of chile con carne, spam, tamales and the sacred, beef stew; they are merely making a pseudo-scientific nutritional and mental health case to do it sooner rather than later.

Post-TEOTWAWKI: Where to fill up?

Subject: Where can a fictional hero get fuel in a post-apocalyptic world?

I am writing a fictional story. Basically, the "poop has hit the fan" in the U.S. Our fictional hero has squared himself away quite well with a rural retreat BUT has found himself caught in a large urban area with the tanks on his BOV sorely low on fuel. After slapping himself in the head numerous times, he checks his list of handy-dandy spots to get gasoline or diesel after the end times are upon the land and all the gas stations are empty or burned to the ground.

So here are a list of places any imaginary survivor might find fuel after the lights are out and the stores are closed indefinitely!

- Places of business. How many companies have fuel pumps on site? Lots. Think trucking companies, commercial delivery services, parcel services, couriers, and taxi companies. And what about the mega car sales lots? Most have to have gas and diesel pumps and storage tanks on site.

- How about government facilities? Police and fire stations, ambulance services, and some federal offices all have their own pumping facilities.

- Truck depots and warehouses. Any place an 18-wheeler or two or a few dozen have been left for loading and unloading. Those tanks might be full or hold only a few gallons. Beggars cannot be choosers.

- Forget vehicles, what about generators? Some run on gasoline, others on diesel. Find generators behind office buildings or any other facility which must have redundant power. In a SHTF situation, nobody will be going to work at the local high rise, but the generators out back probably still have a few choice gallons left. Did you think of this gem? Cellular towers and phone switching stations both have backup generators.

- Been working on the railroad? Train engines, (diesel pushers) have massive tanks which can hold hundreds of gallons of diesel fuel. Train on siding and not running? You have a filling station.

- Odd ball places. A golf course might have a gas pump in the maintenance shed at the course. A funeral home might as well. Why? Both have multiple pickup trucks and tractors which are used exclusively on the grounds. Having the vehicles licensed and tagged to drive the city streets for fill ups is an extra expense. Better to keep the fuel on site.

- The obvious. Parked cars. Now before our hero runs next door to siphon someone's Subaru, he should be aware that the owner of the vehicle may still be around and may take offense at his lack of discretion. Rather, where might one find lots of vehicles and potentially plenty of unclaimed fuel? Why the airport of course in long term parking! The owners are somewhere else faraway. If our hero can make it to the airport, he can find numerous vehicles containing rapidly degrading fuel.

Remember, this is purely a fictional situation which I have been mulling over. If you find yourself someday writing your own story, perhaps your hero and mine will run into each other.

How fast will the SHTF?

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