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!!!
Fears
Darkened thoughts this T-day eve, started way early, but I held off on any posts until I could get a finger on the pulse of the world.
Remember this little tidbit I linked to several times in one post? That has been the weight on my mind today. Started around three A M and didn’t let up. Jotted down notes of what I was thinking and went to work for a half day of goofing off. Didn’t have much that needed done, but I did make some stuff that had nothing to do with fences, the job, or the company. Yeah, I totally waffled the day away making parts for a kayak rudder for a bud. (damn do I love that plasma cutter,,,)
SO, back to that FEAR FACTOR. I am told otherwise by many people, but deep inside, I feel I am just an average Joe-blow,,, Nothing special about me, Never been wildly successful, never spent more time in jail than needed to get my butt into a court-room and the Snafu straightened out, never went so broke that I became desperate. C average student when i cared to give a damn. About the only ‘exceptional’ thing about me is my GEAS for self education, and even there, I find it annoying that so many DON’T have that drive.
Those are the people driving my fear right now. Not the asshats that came up with this Regressive Progress that more looks like Feudal Europe before the Magna Carta was signed. Nope, My fear is of those that would find the situation acceptable for them since it would take away so many of the troubles they struggle with. They don’t see the pandoras box of shit that will get opened by this ‘reset’, but they sure do like the cradle to grave, go along to get along vibe of it.
And we KNOW, it won’t work. There has been too much evolution of mentality since the days of Feudal lords, and that is exactly what the designers of this mess want to be: lord and master of all that they see, with the people beholden to them. Even in Europe when things were starting to get beyond kinddoms you could cross by fast horse in one day, that feudal lord thing was showing cracks. Sarah has a good post about that very point up, and I find it funny that her thinking twisted the key in my mind as to what was really going on in my hindbrain over all of this. It isn’t the collaborators of the Great Reset that are troubling me, they will be dealt with in due time, one way or another (they aren’t immortal after all), but the people that would stand FOR this shit and allow the collaborators access to the levers to do GREAT HARM in the meantime while their “paradise” destroys all that we find good in this world. Scary enough, many of them are your friends and family. (and I know of at least one in my family that would fall in line RIGHT NOW, if the reset happened overnight. It won’t, it can’t, there are too many cogs that need placed yet for that to happen. And they still have to throw the switch of Economic Collapse to engage the machinations they are fabricating). I try to keep my spirits up by thinking that there are more of US than them, but looking around me day to day, I feel quite alone. One here or there, but far to few between the masses of ‘don’t give a shits’ that couldn’t care less who has the reins of power so long as they get their three squares and roof over their heads. And some of them would be happy in a communist situation since they wouldn’t have to strive to be equal to everyone around them. (the bottom of the ditch is the Taj Mahal to them apparently.)
In that regard, no, I am not average. Most definitely on the right hand side of the bell curve. Probably even extremely right on that curve. I don’t want mediocrity in my life, I endeavor to keep learning more and more so that mediocrity doesn’t get its hooks in me. (and maybe, if I would take what I have learned and apply some of the energy I use to learn into action, I might become that highly successful person I haven’t met yet. Yes, I know: excuses, assholes, they all stink,,, ). Looking at that bell curve as mentioned, the big hump in the middle would be WHY I fear this reset thingy even being tried. Of course, if they do push it through, that big hump is going to get whittled down quick as the designers start to eliminate dead weight. Thats the only way they can make it work for them, and like all good lefties, they have plans, but can’t see that plans NEVER survive the first engagement of reality. They also never calculate for people like me, because as far as their self-image goes, people like me CAN’T exist in the world,,,, And they would find me and my cousins of the mind to be rather troublesome thorns indeed.
It the points between ‘right now’ and ‘then’ that have me irked. I’m just a little whisp of a voice in the sea of the world, no credibility on the world stage and not loud enough to get tagged by one of the many heads of Leviathan. (maybe I have, but I am not certain. I know I am on several lists, but I don’t move around enough to attract attention that would let me know HOW troublesome I am considered.). The last time I was contacted about “shit” was two days after the Oklahoma Bombing, and that was a cursory call to former EOD peeps not still active: a “just checkin on ya’ kind of call.
Keep your head on a swivel out there. I mentioned that Switch called Economic Collapse, and we all know we aren’t all that far off from some serious kabooms in the currencies. That large hump in the middle of the curve are the ones that are going to be screaming “FIX THIS!!! YOU CAN HAVE MY FREEDOMS IF YOU JUST MAKE THIS GO AWAY!!!” Thats my fear. The designers are just waiting for that moment.
Tomorrow is Turkey Day here in the States (yes, I see y’all over in the old country taking peeks here) The day where we gather to give thanks, and I have several reasons in particular to give THANKS this year. I will be off and about all day Thursday and most of Friday, Posting may be light, but y’all need to spend time with your’n while we still can. If you aren’t feeling particularly thankful, use the moment to get a feel for those of your extended family are members of that large hump in the bell curve. You probably already have a fair idea, but make it solid while you still have the leisure to do so.
But most especially, I want to Thank ALL OF YOU that come here and listen to this old curmudgeon, and occasionally give me feedback. Thank you one and all.
Dio's Workshop 