Bad Stuff Just Happens

“But bad stuff just doesn’t happen to me…”
http://survivalprepdotnet.blogspot.com/2010/02/about-this-site.html

Maybe you don’t live along an earthquake fault, near the ocean or in any other region where natural disasters tend to occur. But chances are good that you probably live near other people. And people are often the most unpredictable and most destructive force in this world. The aftermath of Katrina, the Haitian earthquake and myriad other disasters have been made so much worse by people doing stupid, destructive things. You might as well just head for the backwoods away from everyone, right? Well, getting away from everything and everyone isn’t an option right now for a lot of people, myself included. And And some of us, myself included, just don’t want to become hermits so focused on our own survival that we cut ourselves off from the rest of the world and hide in the Montana outback with our beans, bullets and Band-Aids. There’s something to be said about being a part of a larger community of like-minded people who can help you when your own resources are lacking, especially during challenging times. ---CONTINUED---

A lot of people, even those who live in areas where there might be a natural disaster, are woefully unprepared. Every time tornado warnings or snow/ice storms are predicted around here, the stores are stripped bare.

We shop once a week and have often come in the store to find shelves stripped. This isn't an issue, since we have plenty at home, but it always surprises me because, some of these people have lived here for years, yet still decide to NOT be prepared!

BTW, our once a week trip is actually more of an errand-running social event...we are all neighbors and go together. We hit the yard sales, run everyone's errands, have lunch at a local restaurant, and then finish up with any shopping. It's a great way to save gas, enjoy each other's company on a regular basis and have fun.

Bad stuff happens to everyone at some time or another. I remember the time my daughter was shopping after work down in the city on a Sunday afternoon, when an underground transformer blew and everything shut down.

She was in the middle of checking out and couldn't pay for anything, she told the cashier that she is paying cash and the cashier said, "lady the registers are driven by power, you must be living back in the '60's".

I laughed like heck  when she told me that. I'm glad I prepare, hopefully, I'm prepared for just about everything.

rick1 wrote:B
She was in the middle of checking out and couldn't pay for anything, she told the cashier that she is paying cash and the cashier said, "lady the registers are driven by power, you must be living back in the '60's".

I laughed like heck  when she told me that. I'm glad I prepare, hopefully, I'm prepared for just about everything.

I'm thinking short-term emergency power out and they won't take the $$ but a long-term they'll start wanting the cash and will take your sale. I never thought of it, like that before ... that they won't immediately take a cash sale. That might change the way you will 'last minute' shop, if you want to top things off. Might not be as easy as some of us thought, even with a plan & cash in hand for that trip

I am fortunate that we live in a tiny rural area where, when the lights go out, they do still take cash. This is why I try to always have emergency cash on hand.

I am also trying to do more things with cash. It is definitely an oddity in the bigger towns, though.

So, I was wanting to know how the two grocery stores run when the power goes out and this is what they do:

Giant Eagle: They immediately lock the doors and with backup power, they finish sales to those in the store only.

Bi-Lo: They escort everyone out of the store and lock the doors, there are no sales at all.

We have no mom and pop stores in the area, so people here are out of luck.

Our power goes out routinely every winter. We just light the oil lamps, the wood stove is usually already running, so we cook on it. In the summer, we have two propane stoves. We can also cook on the BBQ, or over our fire pit. We harvest water off our gutters into a holding tank, so flushing the toilet is just a matter of keeping the buckets full to refill the toilet tank. We had a guest once staying with us, he marveled at how nothing really changed as we all pursued our hobbies that day (reading, watching DVDS, and I was working on my computer).

When the power goes out we have a fireplace , wood stove in my shop , wood stove in the barn (not hooked up yet) Coleman stove and a generator to run the well pump..

I'm going to work on a rain catchment system this summer just in case and just for curiosity sake I have been checking into diesel engines for my generator and little garden tractor ( in-laws own restaurants so maybe make our own diesel fuel)

We've had an ice storm the past two days, the power has flickered but not gone out. Driving to town today, very little damage except the tree that fell in our road (the neighbors apparently moved it to the side and then sawed it up for the rest of us to pass).

The store was surprisingly stocked, I managed to get all I needed. Last week, when the weather was good, some of the shelves were stripped in anticipation of snow.

Well, it seems like the young pot heads are finally seeing the light, or the lack of.

My granddad used to say, "fear will open the minds of the dead, even the educated ones":

https://www.foxnews.com/media/young-americans-doomsday-prepping-2024-election-system-stable-assumed

Well, let's face it, the world is in a hand basket, and traveling fast.

rick1 wrote:...
My granddad used to say, "fear will open the minds of the dead, even the educated ones":
...

Frankly, I will have to say: I am skeptical.

I recall, when living in an army town in Texas, about 100 or so miles from the coast, a hurricane was forecast. A pretty rare event.

Asking questions of people in the check out line, as everyone panicked to stock up, it was amazing how many thought their microwave would still work, if the power went out. (Buying microwavable dinners and popcorn.)

TRex2 wrote:Asking questions of people in the check out line, as everyone panicked to stock up, it was amazing how many thought their microwave would still work, if the power went out. (Buying microwavable dinners and popcorn.)

Up here for winter storms it seems there is always a run on bread, eggs and milk. I suppose people could have a way of cooking eggs, and snow is fine for keeping the milk cold, but it's gotten to be such a running joke that you can search for "French Toast Alert system" for dozens or hundreds of pages about it.

https://www.wgbh.org/news/local/2022-01-28/a-brief-but-delicious-history-of-the-french-toast-alert-system#

dmwalsh568 wrote:

TRex2 wrote:Asking questions of people in the check out line, as everyone panicked to stock up, it was amazing how many thought their microwave would still work, if the power went out. (Buying microwavable dinners and popcorn.)

Up here for winter storms it seems there is always a run on bread, eggs and milk. I suppose people could have a way of cooking eggs, and snow is fine for keeping the milk cold, but it's gotten to be such a running joke that you can search for "French Toast Alert system" for dozens or hundreds of pages about it.

https://www.wgbh.org/news/local/2022-01-28/a-brief-but-delicious-history-of-the-french-toast-alert-system#

Nice article dm, I bet there's enough wood burners in Mass., that you can cook that french toast.