Wednesday, September 12, 2018

personal prep plan 2


PERSONAL PREP PLAN 2
Researched this article, I was going back through my easily accessible checkbook ( from 2014-2016, not the earlier 2012-2014 which is SomeDamnWhere ) and I noticed I actually spent far less than I had assumed on preps.  It is true that I spent mad amounts of cash on wheat and buckets, so that wouldn’t show up in my checking account, but mainly it seemed I was just covering the BTN wife’s increasingly higher maintenance demands.  You might remember me complaining  how not even a few months after child support ended she “mysteriously” “coincidentally” started having heart issues that necessitated ambulance rides and hospital stays.  Right there were $200 monthly payments, half what child support was ( before I hear “that ain’t crap, my brother pays $800 per kid”, keep in mind that translated into 50-75% of my gross income when added to taxes and medical insurance.  Can you live on 25% of your wages? ).
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Now add beer ( alcoholic since before I met her.  Remember, this was the Better Than Nothing wife, the previous one-NOT the current New Old Lady ).  Renting a car to take her into town once a month to combat cabin fever way out in the B-POD, then gambling money while there.  Cigarettes.  With no refrigerator, two to three times the food budget as now.  It was a good thing I didn’t have the land payment anymore.  No rent, no car, no utilities and I’m STILL left with just a few hundred bucks at the end of the month.
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I think I remembered buying much more than I did simply because I had to pretty much buy everything up from near zero, except weapons and half my clothing.  When your stockpile doubles every year it can seem like a lot ( I had had a lot in Florida for Y2K but not much more than half the weapons stayed with me moving ).  So between trying to catch up to a minimal prepping level, living through a relationship that had gone south nine years previous and just kept sinking, trying to squeeze in some writing every day, lucky to get an hour a day in reading ( with bike commute and a lunch hour, it was a twelve hour work day ), it was only by extreme force of will that everything got done. 
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Oh, and let us not forget that in 2011 the boss bitch humped me after three years of an insane work load running the food bank by appointing the stupid pig girl from the soup kitchen as my boss ( the excuse was the health inspector required a food servers license, and I refused to study for that unpaid on my time ).  Every year after that my job grew more and more unpleasant.  She even tried to get rid of me by halving my hours ( well, reduced by 38%, rather than fifty, but close enough ) but I showed her by gum who was more stubborn! 
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Now, I was in really good shape.  A third of your calories in whole wheat and hours of exercise ( and lots of Vitamin C ) can do that for you.  Sure, there were a few minor issues such as pneumonia that almost killed me, from commuting in minus fifteen Fahrenheit for three weeks running, reduced lung capacity from breathing in too cold air, that sort of minor detail.  A growing stomach disorder from stress finally catching up.  But for age fifty, it was hard to complain.  But you know what they say about burning the candle at both ends too long.  I wasn’t going to die from that crappy little minimum wage job, and I had finally reached physical and mental overload. 
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But I think I had gone a few years too long before I quit.  Damage was done.  I still push myself, because I won’t be that fat guy who violates rule one in Zombieland ( well, cardio is compromised, but I still insist on being in the upper percentile for healthiness in my age bracket ).  But capacity is well diminished.  Performance is crap compared to just five years ago.  Even if I hadn’t damaged myself, old age alone would have kicked my ass eventually, but I still think deprivation and perseverance increase performance ( the mental toughness ) at any age.  Alas, you still must face reality regardless of necessity.  I could only deliver about 25% of near past performance.
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I’ve been saying for some time that Hermitage Is The Only Realistic Survival Strategy.  I have the land for that.  I just don’t think I have the endurance to start another homestead.  Sure, I can throw SOME money at it, more than I did before, but that is still no where near what I’d need to replace a good portion of the physical labor.  The best I could do was make a camping spot for a few months of occupancy.  And that should be done, as my B-POD is no longer a very good bugout location anymore. 
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What I had assumed was a decent-not great, not ideal, but decent-acre in the middle of nowhere turned into crackhead suburbs.  Sure, it was only six miles from town, but back then at least the town was a lot smaller.  Then everyone panicked and moved out to junk land.  But those junk land dwellers were working stiffs.  They were doing middle class, just cheaper ( because thanks to ONE friggin jag off puta neighbor-who just happened to be that dick boss from the Food Bank [ I think that clinched hiring me when she found out I just moved a few lots from her ]-paid big bucks to run out electric, dozens of folks then moved out there to piggyback on the lines without financial penalty ).
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A little while back I noticed a LOT of those middle class neighbors had moved back to whence they had come, as the town went from Gangbusters to Normal ( we have yet to crash ).  They had to have all lost their jobs, unable to pay the mobile home payments, loan for the well drilling ( starting around eight grand ) and the four wheel drive car payment.  So we had a nice period where is wasn’t quite so crowded.  Then…( insert dramatic orchestral music, probably some of those giant drums ).
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MORE people moved out there, but this time a lot were druggies.  You can usually tell as they live right next to the power line, in a beat to crap RV, don’t hook up power ( it takes a few grand in fees to do so-the only savings is you don’t need to pay extra on top of that to run out the actual line and poles ) and can’t be bothered to clear any of the high fire danger sagebrush away from their dwelling.   About the time the area started turning into a HillaryVille, that was when my property started getting vandalized.  Ya think that might be another indicator the neighborhood is going to hell?  Continued tomorrow.
( .Y. )
( today's related link https://amzn.to/2NW7ime )
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note: free book.  Sorry, all I could come up with as it has been slim pickings https://amzn.to/2x7XkHk .
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25 comments:

  1. Any junkland is going to have it's problems, less than ideal neighbos being one of them. I have a couple of party houses close but not next to me. At least all I can tell going on there is alcohol and weed. When I was in Elko I saw mostly meth, but that can work for you too. Just wait for them to dial down and then take a gallon of gas and a lighter near their property. The revenge factor for them messing with your digs alone would be worth it.

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    1. No place is far enough away from the asshats of the world. Here in town one winter a bum locked himself into the laundry room. Did I mention I hate people?

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  2. Reminds me a bit of the blog/story of the guy that went by Big Bear of the Bear Ridge Project. Bought remote land. Five years later and the area was crowded with all the wrong people. Man plans. God laughs. It’s hard to have flexibility when you want to store a literal ton of food somewhere.

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    1. Yeah, from your lips to Gods ears:)

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    2. I was listening to a Podcast about Jim Bowie. It was a hoot. Anyway the relevant part was that Jim wasn't exactly a people person and he'd move every time people would move near where he lived ole' Jim would move

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    3. Now that is dedication to hating people, especially considering every time you move there are new heathens to combat.

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    4. Sounds just like the father from the little house on the prairie books:

      “Going West”

      “Pa said there were too many people in the Big Woods now. Quite often Laura heard the ringing thud of an ax that was not Pa’s ax, or the echo of a shot that did not come from his gun. The path that went by the little house had became a road.”

      I can totally relate to Pa’s dilemma; other folks indeed suck :D But he had a family, and the wife didn’t take too kindly to him dragging them all over Timbuktu, and made him promise to stop doing it past a certain point. Then as with now, having a family can be a limiting factor. Few females would ever wish to live far enough out in order to survive the collapse. But that’s what it’s going to take in order to have a shot at such survival

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    5. Females are reluctant, and we are reluctant to move without them. As it should be, but that doesn't make it easier.

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    6. Hear, hear! If it werent for having a wife of nearly 30 years that I actually like, I probably would've been living in a van down by the river years ago!

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  3. Yeah, unless you can near full time occupy your domicile whether rural, suburb, city, anywhere, it will be looted or burgled. That is the new america. I ran down to the dog pound and got a Nazi Shepherd watchdog with foreclosures vacant and looted on each side of me as an example of direness. If you have that option of going deeper out even if miles by bicycle or donkey cart then plan accordingly. There will be more waves of people coming as many events (housing costs, unaffordable retirement options for pensioners, economy poops even more-again, etc) will push more scum and refugees your way. Do it now while you physically can and have a possibility.

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    1. I'm still getting vandalized, there just isn't anything left to steal. I think it is pure entertainment now. Die, already, bastards! Like I need the stress.

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    2. Oops, forgot. Knock on wood it doesn't get worse.

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  4. We're looking at a piece of property that is 14 acres with a small house and a small garage on it, very remote, 500 miles further north - colder, on a long peninsula with salt water on 3 sides, for $140k. It's a 1/2 hour drive to small civilization and an hour to a little bigger civilization, and multiple hours to BIG civilization. We can buy it with cash but it requires selling our current home first which is paid for. The problem, which I have been wrestling with for a couple weeks, is that it is on a peninsula. There is only 1 way out. So if the herds do go down that road we will be trapped. What to do, what to do, dear lord, what to do.....

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    1. Please forgive me if I sound dismissive, but why couldn't you just escape by boat? Also, I know you don't agree with me on this, but I have to say it. I'd be worried about the Happy Motoring collapse leaving you stranded out there. Now, all that might be better than your current location, so it might not matter much. Of course, you'd be giving up your tribe. Unless, as you say, they can't be depended on when things get tough.

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    2. I was going to suggest a boat myself,though by the sound of it it seems so remote that I wouldn't be terribly concerned with the herds. Getting "stranded" with no fuel could be a bummer, but with 14 acres you've got plenty of room for crops and livestock... and still not too far from civilization that a couple days on foot or horseback wouldn't be out of the question. For me having saltwater on 3 sides of me would be a dream, add solitude and 14 acres and its damn near perfect. And no mortgage?!? What the hell are you waiting for GS?

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    3. There are trade-offs. That's why the indecision. Regarding the absence of Happy Motoring, I'd like to have a couple horses and a wagon, etc. And some other farm animals. Try to be more self sufficient. But alas I am now elderly and not getting any younger. I surely do wish all of this was happening 30 years ago when I was better able to physically take it on. But, 30 years ago I might have been mentally ready for such a thing. You can't win...

      One other thing. In any move it is done larger partially blind. You can't tell what options and pitfalls await you til you're there. Like walking long distance for the first time in unmapped hilly or mountainous terrain, you can't see what's on the otherside til you get to the top. Could be a cliff, a plain, or more of the same. So you have to rely on and have faith in yourself and your abilities. Isn't that a big part of prepping? Preparing for the unknown.

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    4. Alas, in prepping, I think we rely a bit too much on thinking we know what is going to happen, or close enough. It is still a delusion, so then we fall back on hoping about the timing. But I take your meaning. Would I trade straight up to a better place? I'd be hesitant at my age, let alone yours. Not all fun and games without energy or peak health. Yes, the young squander their youth. And the old with their wisdom can do little :)

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    5. JL-sometimes you get to the point where the journey becomes too much for the destination. The known unknowns and the unknown unknowns :) I've said before if I was younger I'd have a better location for farming. Now? I wouldn't think of it. Just too much, for too little time left. Age, not civilization implosion.

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    6. Yeah, I get it. Being no spring chicken myself (just hit 50 a few months ago). The dream of building my own home on 20+ acres has given way to finding a shack on maybe an acre and riding out the rest of my days. Just don't have the juice I had but 5 years ago... Aging ain't for sissies!

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    7. I used to never understand how people could be alcoholics at age fifty. I couldn't handle the hangovers in my twenties. Now I can see how it would be equal parts reality avoidance and self medication for aging :)

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    8. horses sometimes require veterinarians and always require food. can you farm enough at your age with horse power to get in the hay and feed yourselves.
      also water supply, constant and clean, and able to be piped in somehow--water is heavy and if you must carry all that you need through heat and blizzards it will be tough.
      if making such a move do it soon and get everything settled for old age. that will make life easier in the short run, too, if water and firewood are close by.
      i will be 70 shortly and the power is gone.
      cannot leave civilization because there are doctors and grocery stores.
      would like to read the future but if we could see what's coming we would probably panic.
      husband died suddenly and unexpectedly 2 weeks ago.
      we have to find animal friendly housing on not a lot of money and with a debt load. depending on God to help us. daughter has a chronic disease and no income. though, thanks to God, she has a medical card and some food stamps. you never think when you are young that you will end up this way.. and it never occurs to you that you will become weak after a lifetime of being strong.
      not to be a wet blanket, gs, but consider carefully.

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  5. “Now add beer ( alcoholic since before I met her.  Remember, this was the Better Than Nothing wife, the previous one-NOT the current New Old Lady ).  Renting a car to take her into town once a month to combat cabin fever way out in the B-POD, then gambling money while there.  Cigarettes.”


    Damn. Both cigarettes and alcohol, two of the most taxable vices out there. You practically have to be an unhealthy rich dude to be a smoker anymore :D You should have picked someone with an inexpensive and prepper related hobby, such as crocheting or knitting. And even then, you get into some expense when you go with the high quality yarns, such as wool yarn.

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    1. Until the latest one, I picked on the criteria of copulation. It was fun while it lasted :)

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  6. Hey Jim. Good write up. I'm the trying to stay in shape, pill popping, going to move to Elko next year(saying for past 5 years) minion. There is a major drop off of stamina around age 50. So your crappy job isn't the main reason that you're falling apart. Its old age!!! ;)

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    1. Everything used to be the fault of the ex-wife. Now, it is all the fault of the ex-job. And Obammy :)

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