Avoidance issues

I’m tryin’ like heck to stay away from the world mess. Apologies to all if you found my two small forays into the goings on, offensive. Believe me, there is so much more I could add to things, and my opinions aren’t exactly ‘nice’ towards certain groups,,, So I just shut my trap and watch as it all unfolds.

There may come a point in the future, where I just walk into the sunset and turn my back on things. I know what that point is, but currently, well, shit, NO ONE KNOWS what road we are going to trip and fall onto.

I want to talk about other things, self sufficient things, independent things, but finding the best approach without slapping you in the face with tons of information you can’t practically use in your situation. Thats not my style. I want you in a better situation than you are in, but I can’t isolate and expand on EVERY scenario. Like buiilding the rocket stove heater for homes. Every home and location is going to require different materials and designs, and I’m no expert on this stuff. For ‘experts’, you need to go to Permies and other outlets that are frequently experimenting. Dive deep and be willing to play with what you learn before you commit to it. More importantly, THINK outside the box of Regulations and Building Codes. Personally, I don’t think that much of that is going to be such an issue in the next 10 years. I could be wrong and sort of hope I am. Only sort of as I would like to see things getting a bit more relaxed, but not at the expense of the modern world collapsing.

Ok,,, follow along as you can or want. Lets talk about REALITY. There are certain things every one NEEDS. many things we desire, but the NEEDS are going to be the focus. Water, Heat, Shelter, Food. That order is not set in stone with the exception of water. That MUST be the priority in all situations, be it survival or just living a life. Clean water obviously, though if you have a steady source of clear questionable stuff, you have options. Collecting it into something where you can readily access it is your second concern Cisterns, holding tanks, water barrels, whatever, so long as you can access them, and keep them clean. Transporting the water may be buckets or plumbing, it all depends on you, your resources and TIME,,, Always that time thing,,,

Heat is more confusing,,, COMFORT might be the more apropo term here, and keeping that in mind, SHELTER takes second place with comfort drawing third. The Real point of shelter being DRY and out of the ELEMENTS. Comfort levels are going to be dependent on those two factors FIRST, heat (or staying cool) comes second. If you have a home already, look around at how its built and examine how it was made with ‘out of the elements’ FIRST, with comfort coming in second place. Look at our modern HVAC equipment that requires so much energy to maintain an internal environment. The world hasn’t shifted so much in 100 years, and people dealt with much the same conditions we deal with now, and were able to keep homes warm or cool without modern heatpumps: research those methods. And I’ll bet ya a steel penny that they are much cheaper and more reliable than that $8000 heat pump going on the fritz that requires hundreds of kilowatts to run. You might be able to incorporate them into existing structures (and likely skip the permit process so long as you keep your nose clean and mouth shut) Your milage will vary from mine in that regard. (I am already much closer to pre-industrial standards of living.)

But really, the biggest hurdle that anyone is going to face is “Lifestyle Change”. and it sounds so innocent, but believe me, if things get really strange, wyrd and sideways, that alone is going to kill more people than anything. Far too many won’t be able to get their heads around ‘that don’t work no more’ , and many many haven’t the wherewithal to adapt. Or adapt fast enough.

Probably not my readers though. I’ve had my head in the “world is on the cusp of a new dark ages” for near 20 years and thats really the touch stone of this here ‘shop’. Its why I taught myself oldskool machining skills and not CNC stuff. (besides, I didn’t have the means to buy the CNC stuff.) (and really, I have had my head in survival stuff since I was a kid, at least the really fingers in the earth type stuff, like ‘shirt on your back and a pocket knife’ survival ) Building my home using salvage materials and barebones pre-industrial level ‘climate control’ was expediant and educational. Going off-grid for power and water was just the natural evolution of the rest of it. And those of you that have been here for at least the last 10 years KNOW, I live what I preach. I don’t just quote passages from books I have read. I’ve done or I am doing. (or figuring if its worth doing.) I had my water source lined up and plumbed before I laid my foundation.

And I am always open to new or better ideas, and will admit when I have been wrong. I don’t know it all, but I know a lot, and the more I know, the more I realize, I’m still an ignorant bumpkin in the great wide world. Like Mike in Fla said in comments,(and I paraphrase here) ‘I gotta learn, I can do no other’ and the day I stop learning is likely the day they bury my carcass (but thats just the transition to even MORE learning, IMO)

But I digress,,,,

water, shelter, heat/cool,

FOOD.

This is my weak spot. I have stocks put away for if things get scarce, long storage stuff and not just MREs. But likely only enough for myself for 6 months or a month for a famliy. I have options to supplement that with foraging (knowledge base,) and hunting, but I am not the only one around here that will be taking that route. Things could get very lean if worse came to worser-er. But I have one peice of knowledge that can only be gained by experiance. FASTING. I know how long I can go without eating a bite without ill effects. I also know that with fasting, I felt better in short order than I have felt in YEARS, There really is truth to this meme.

(and I am going to take a World Stage bend for a second) Maybe the upcoming shortages are Gods Hand showing us, in a backhanded fashion, that we are NOT living right. (and those of you who read my spewings on faith know, when I say GOD, I mean Universe, not the God of the Old Testament.) Actually, much of what is going on in this world is taking on many biblical proportions and I am seeing more and more people reaching for Faiths to sort out the mess. Maybe this is part of the fourth turning,,, Dunno. (I am also seeing more and more question the old Ideologies and seeking better answers.)

What does all this mean to you, right here, right now? The quick take-away: start figuring out the old ways if you hadn’t already. That is what I meant in a recent post with “look to the past for the map to the future.” There is plenty of information out there to guide and teach you. Keep in mind, there is alot of junk information as well. Use your better judgement. Learn to THINK, then RESPOND,,, don’t just react,,, that’ll get you killed. Practice in your head worse case scenarios and plan on different responses depending on what you may or may not have with you. Do that while you have the luxury now, and when that luxury is no longer around, you will already have programmed responses into your thinking; you’ll be less likely to react badly, and respond in a positive and productive manner. Note, I said ‘less likely’ , I make no promises, but it should help .

LEARN

LIVE

LOVE

LAUGH

LOAD!!!

I don’t type those out every post for shits and giggles,,, Live them!!!