Hot and wet. Or cool and wet. But certainly wet. It rained all day yesterday with varying intensity in varying places throughout the Houston metro area… and it was cooler, mid 70s for the most part. I think today will be similar, but maybe less rain.
I did my auction pickups in the afternoon. Dropped a tool by my buddy’s house. Drove all over town. Then did auction bidding in the evening. W has me on the hunt for stuff and I’m trying…
Today I’ll be monitoring the garage fridge, and dealing with that if needed. First step would be clearing a path to the third freezer and seeing if there is room in it… Next would be cooking, or looking to score another freezer… I very much hope that won’t be necessary.
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Some discussion yesterday led me down a path that I think has some interest.
Why? Why have the BOL? What’s the plan, and why do I think it will work? Why will it be needed? Why make the choices I’ve made?
Well, my first rule for my prepping is that it can’t be irrevocable, or hurt my family. No moving to Idaho and going off grid to slowly starve until my kids leave. No selling everything or raiding the retirement accounts. I plan with the idea everything will continue as it is in my lifetime, while at the same time, planning for severe disruptions, both short and long term, both local and much larger. Funnily enough, both things can be true.
I plan for local or regional disasters, and for larger events with bigger impacts, and longer timelines. Hurricanes, floods, crime, civil unrest, those are disasters but are limited in scope and affect. I also plan for civil war, general world war, global pandemic, and economic collapse (probably brought about by inflation, maybe triggered or exacerbated by one of the other bad things.)
I think these things are the most likely, and we have had several since I started prepping. Got through them without too much trouble too. (I have considered stuff like an alien revelation, but I think it unlikely, and if it happens it will likely trigger all the stuff I’m prepping for anyway.) Unfortunately hard times will make all the other stuff harder too. War leads to privation, destruction, death, and disruption to the world socially and economically. Fortunately prepping for one goes a long way toward covering you for the others.
Humans have a tendency to think things will continue pretty much as they are. We evolved in a world where that was pretty true. Think of the building of the cathedrals in the west, or the ancient civilizations in the east. But. History shows that every so often, everything changes. Where are Ozymandias’ might works? Where is the Great Library? Or the Byzantine Empire? The sun never set on the British empire until it did. All roads lead to Rome… until they didn’t. And yet there are still Brits (now mostly naming their sons Mohammed) and there are still Romans in Rome.
I think we’re headed into one of those periods where everything changes. The world will look very different in 5, 10, or 20 years. I intend to do everything I can to get through this period of change and destruction and position my family to prosper during the next phase.
So I prep. I prep for the obvious local natural and man made disasters. But I also prep for the bigger, and maybe less obvious risks too. And I do that mainly by preparing to live in a resource constrained environment. There will be less of everything. Everything will be harder to do and take longer. Everything will be grosser and meaner in every meaning of those words. Safety nets will be non-existent or dramatically reduced. No one will be coming to rescue you.
I’m doing what I can to make my family independent of the systems that are failing. I’m taking responsibility for more aspects of our lives. I am hoping that my preps allow us to degrade gracefully rather than catastrophically. I’m hoping to preserve something for after, but at a minimum I’m ready to persevere.
Part of that is finding a community that I think is more resilient, more suited to living in a poorer and rougher world. It’s very difficult as an outsider to enter a community like that. They’ve been circling the wagons, us against them, for a LONG time. I’ll note that I chose a rural community. Other people will choose a more urban community, like a neighborhood, or a ghetto. There have been articles about welfare families being moved out of their projects and into the suburbs where they no longer have the community support they had. It’s a different world, and one I wouldn’t want to live in, but for the people who live there it’s home and they miss it when it’s gone.
All of prepping should be about creating options. You don’t need to rob and steal if you have food. You don’t need to risk food or waterborne illness if you have hygiene and cooking supplies. You can fit in with a crowd if you have the right clothes and the right attitudes. You don’t need to be raped or murdered if you have the tools to defend yourself. You don’t need to get on the FEMA bus. You don’t need to become a refugee.
The BOL gives me options. I can leave the metro area if it becomes necessary. I have resources stacked there if I lose access to my resources here. I have at least one friend, and several acquaintances… there are people who are happy to see me.
I’m learning as I go too, as having a BOL was entirely theoretical until we bought it. Now I’m discovering the unknown unknowns, as well as the known unknowns…
There is a LOT to learn. There is a lot to do. I’m getting older and slower, and weaker, but I’m on a mission. I’ve got plans, goals, ideas, not too many dreams, but enough to keep me busy for the rest of my life…
And it all starts with stacking.
nick
