Underground Refrigerator !

I refuse!!!

As I chat away tonight on the Twitter gathering known as #preppertalk, I've been struck by the willingness of the "Prepper" community, to aquiesce at the thought of "Making do" with less.  If that is the objective... Then why do we prep???  Aren't we planning, stacking supplies, and building up our stocks of tools, in order to improve our futures?  We MUST resolve ourselves to not only survive our uncertain future, but to do so with "Style"!  To do so with some measure of a quality of life.  Anyone can entertain a future where they are living in a cave, and subsisting on whatever grubs they can dig from the base of trees, but we have to ask ourselves a question... Is that living?  We have the greatest informational tool mankind has ever invented, in this wonderful thing called the World Wide Web.  Nearly the sum total of all of mankind's knowledge can be found here.  We as preppers, need to find better ways to share the information that we need to not only survive, but to truly live in the future.  I refuse to give in to a future, where there is no hope of laughter.  Where there is only drudgery at the end of a shovel, and axe.  I will not live a life without dancing!  We must find ways to use today's modern technologies, coupled with the ageless wisdom of our grandparents, to reduce the drudgery of an SHTF existence.  Any prepper worth his or her salt knows how to home can foods. How many know about Tattler RE-USEABLE canning jar lids, or how to build a rocket stove, so that the fire wood we have to feed the canning process is reduced to a tenth of what an open fire would use?  Why are we not all trying to find an "EMP" resistant vehicle, so that if the need to "Bug out" ever presents itself.... NO ONE gets left behind?  Why do we in our community always concern ourselves with the worst outcomes, instead of networking to find solutions?  I've watched thousands of videos on Youtube about the plans of the so called "Secret Societies" of the elite.  I've never ever seen one video posted by anyone, about how to avoid winding up in a so called "FEMA camp".  Why is that?  We're wasting the opportunities we've been given.  

EAT THE RICH!

Oil!!!

                    Current worldwide supply;

About 88.1 Million barrels per day.

Current worldwide demand;

About 89.2 million barrels per day.

(source - http://omrpublic.iea.org/ )

                                                                                                     

(Source  http://www.eia.doe.gov/cabs/Iran/Oil.html )

Iranian production

3.8 million barrels per day.

Unrest--- >

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olEETyfeoeo

Libya production

1.7 million barrels per day

Unrest--- >

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=wXsXk2H31fs#at=82

Algeria production

1.3 million barrels per day

Unrest--- >

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hDR417pV3s

                                                                                                                                                                    

Worldwide production                                       88.1 mbpd

Iran                                                                 -    3.8 mbpd

Libya                                                              -    1.7 mbpd

Algeria                                                            -    1.3 mbpd

                                                                                             

Total                                                               =  81.3 mbpd

Possible supply reduction =   7.7%

                                                                                                             

If demand already exceeds production, by 1.1 mbpd, and Middle east unrest threatens to disrupt supplies by 

another 7.7% or  6.8 mbpd... How does that play out for supply, and demand pricing???

You do the math!

Community!

I uploaded a video on Youtube the other day about the aftermath of our recent blizzard.  In that video, I talked about the necessity of community in a post SHTF. world.  I was so utterly amazed at how the little town that I live in, came together, pitching in with shovels in hand, and every farm tractor for miles around, coming to the rescue of their neighbors.  I had cleared our own driveway well enough for our little four wheel drive "Tracker" to get in and out, but it was "Re-plowed" at least six times by our neighbors that day.  This is the kind of "Pitching in", that will be necessary for both a community, and the individuals that live within it to survive the coming uncertain future.  You run across so many folks who act as if they are going to be able to run out into the woods, and live off of bear meat if the world collapses around them, that it's staggering.  The truth is that they will either starve, of freeze to death.  The concept of being self sustainable is a misnomer.  The task at hand too great, too overwhelming to imagine.  If the future does bring about an apocalyptic scenario, we will have to rely on our local community more than we can imagine.  We will also have to learn to be a contributer to our communities as well.  Some will have strong backs, some will have the skills necessary to provide for security, and some... Even the elderly, will provide a knowledge base of the ways that people got by "In the old days".

I happen to believe that if we are to suffer through a "Collapse", there is a greater than fifty, fifty chance that it will be more horrible than most folks can imagine.  I also believe that, again there is a greater than a fifty fifty chance, that the "Bad times", could last for a very, very long time.  We have to begin thinking about what the future is to look like, if Mankind is to survive (As well as our families).  It's pretty darn clear that our population has started to "Over run" the planet's capacity to support us.  I don't say this as a Tree Hugger, but as a realist.  We have to start thinking about localization of food production, and using resources on a more reasonable scale.

The only way to do that, to survive, to thrive, in the future that we are facing, is to rely on community.

Wake up call

I spent the day Sunday online with a few of my friends gleefully watching the events unfold in Egypt.  Mrs. GoatHollow , however was not amused!  She had a conversation with me yesterday morning, and to make a long story short... I got spanked.  I felt like a schoolboy who was caught red handed dipping Suzie's pig tail in the inkwell on my desk.  It seems, that although I've been talking the talk, I've forgotten to walk the walk for the last couple of weeks.  My "Preps" have stalled.  As Mrs. GoatHollow usually is... She was right.

I've always felt that the most important thing to make sure, where being a prepper is concerned, is to NEVER lose momentum.  Every small step we take, down that "Preparedness road", get's us closer to being ready.  It doesn't mean that we will accomplish great deeds every day.  It means that we accomplish SOMETHING every day.

When you lay down to go to sleep every night, You should be able to ask yourself the question.  "What did I do today to prepare?"  You should be able to honestly have an answer for that question.  It could be something as simple as having researched how to save a certain kind of seed from your garden, and how to re-plant it the next year.  It could be something as grand as having finished an outbuilding, that you are building.  What's important is that you did something!  Kept the momentum going.

It really does us no good to be "Awake", and not do anything about it.  As the winter doldrums set in, the sky's turn gray, and everything around us seems to be depressing, we have to force ourselves to keep our chin up, and be able to answer "The question" every night!

What does Egypt mean?

So as I was watching Aljazeera English this morning, It came to me that maybe this event as well as last weeks events in Tunisia, are the beginning of a Tsunami.  A wave of unrest sweeping over the land.  The people standing atop the Ivory towers of Wall Street, must be feeling like the guy that was standing on the second floor of that hotel in Indonesia, taping that now famous video of the wave coming in over the land.  Standing there watching the inevitable.  Unable to do anything about it.  Unable to affect the outcome.  This all is, of course a vindication for me, as I've said for a long time now that "The powers that be" have no chance at all of controlling the situation.  Once Pandora is out of the box... it will take on a life of it's own.  So now we have videos of an Egyptian man (Toddler daughter in hand) standing atop a tank, and shaking hands with the soldiers in that tank.  I think that we will find our military here here in the US., more likely to be shaking hands, than firing their guns as well.  Keeping this in mind, why do we worry so much about "Them" taking over the world, and locking us up in FEMA camps?  We should be more concerned with the economic conditions that the "Tsunami" will soon be bringing down upon our heads.

What is a Prepper?

I recently had a conversation with some young people that called themselves "Preppers", but during that conversation the topic quickly turned to the "Evil New World Order".  This got me to thinking. What is a "Prepper"?  What makes one, what does that term really mean?  The Urban Dictionary defines a prepper as quote - "Someone who focuses on preparedness, generally for various worst-case scenarios like peak oil or Armageddon. Sometimes used to avoid the more loaded term Survivalist.".  I would prefer to define my fellow comrades in the prepping world, as someone who eats, sleeps, and lives 110% of their time, thinking about, and doing preparedness.  We all know that the proverbial Fecal Matter is about to impact the  Oscillating Air Movement Device... And that it's going to do so very soon!!!  I'm always therefore amazed when I run across someone who calls them self a prepper, but knows all the intricate detail of how the "Illuminati" is going to take over the world, or can recite word for word, what's carved on the "Georgia Guidestones".  I just can't understand how someone, who is trying to prepare for TEOTWAWKI can find the time for such pursuits.  What time I can find between work, chores, and the other pursuits of simply living in this modern world, seems to be filled with actual prepping (Or making videos LOL).  I don't seem to think about the evil NWO much any more. I've come to believe that the collapse, will be complete, and long term.  Any group that is now planning to "Take over the world", won't have the horsepower to survive such a total and complete reordering of our society.  If things are to get that bad, and maybe stay that way for a very long time, doesn't it make since to dedicate yourself to spending your efforts on developing sustainability?


Our world may soon be very different than it is today.  Nobody has a crystal ball, but the fundamentals in the economy don't look too promising.  If you want to call yourself a prepper, do your family a favor.  Spend your time preparing, rather than worrying about "Them".