Another Apoca-List

Sometimes my mind starts racing and I have to dump it all to a list if I hope to remember half of it the next day. Last night I was thinking about the pending gridcrash and I realized that I needed a clearer idea of a) what needed to be done ahead of time, and b) what my goals would be after the gridcrash.

I'm the only one in my entire family spending any time preparing. Most people have just learned that this is part of who I am and they humor me when I talk about how close to the edge our unsustainable society is. Well, that's fine. I'll do my best to prepare for my entire family.

To that end, I have divided my Post Apocalypse Task List into two main goals. The first is to improve our farm to make it a useful part of a cooperative. Goal two is to setup and initially lead the aforementioned cooperative.

Really the big idea with our farm is to grow enough veggies to feed ourselves and enough hops and barley to make enough beer to trade and for a little personal consumption, of course. With the law being gone (or utterly unenforceable) we may even branch into some other types of cultivation...

• Pre Apocalypse Tasks
• Top off ammo supplies
• Obtain Barley Seeds (en route) [edit: 01-09-2009]
• Obtain Hop Sprout/Seeds
• Build Hopvine Trellis
• Get Planted
• Increase long shelf life food stocks
• Post Apocalypse Tasks
• Start a Cooperative on Our Road, resources including:
• 2 Vinyards
• Brewing
• Corn Farm
• Horses (Plows? Hauling?)
• Metal Working
• Close to railroad tracks
• Multiple ponds (fish?)
• Our Farm
• Build a Root Cellar
• Rain Collection System
• Build Composting Outhouse [edit: 01-09-2009]
• Gather Firewood (tree down by road)(uses last of chainsaw fuel?)
• Compost Pile
• Start Crops, depending on season
• (Peas, Radish, Onion, Spinach, Cabbage, Swiss Chard, Beet, Carrot, Lettuce, Kentucky Wonder Beans, Corn, Cucumber, Squash Zucchini, Green Pepper, Winter Squash, Tomato, Barley, Hops)
• Water Distiller
• Setup Butcher Shop (for hunting: deer, rabbit, & squirrel are abundant)
• Get Some Dogs
• Beer Brewing Equipment Setup
• Gather Rocks
• Spring Improvements
• Firepits
• Landscaping
• Sources
• "New Driveway" & Back by Alamo (a part of the farm on which we used to play "Alamo")
• Scavenge Electrical Resources From Town
• Solar Panels (be on the lookout for those now)
• Electrical Wiring
• Generators (for use in hydro or wind applications) [edit: 01-09-2009]
• Turbines (for use in hydro or wind applications) [edit: 01-09-2009]

Ex-Commie Doom Prognostication

A Russian bloke by the name of Igor Panarin predicts that the U.S. will disintegrate by 2010. I'm not sure that I completely buy his prediction on how things will go down, but I do think it's interesting that notable people moving in high circles could openly espouse such an idea.

Reading a bit about him I see that he's basically a Russian talking head - like one of our Sunday morning pundits. According to one site, he moves around in Kremlin circles quite a bit, so maybe he's a step above punditry.

He's also a professor and published author. Okay - maybe two steps above punditry, seeing that many TV pundits in this country have no more qualifications than hosting a radio talk show in Albuquerque and a high school diploma. On slow news days the 24 hour news channels will probably put you on with just a diploma.

In any event, for an apocalypse junkie like me this is interesting stuff.

Gridcrash

We are teetering on the edge, my friends. The auto industry nearly collapsed, and still may in the near future. Three million jobs down the toilet - nearly. Can you imagine the fallout from that?

• Three million people (nearly all at once) added to the already bulging unemployment rolls.
• Three million more people without any health insurance...
• Three million more people with drastically reduced buying power. A real problem since our economy is fueled 2/3 by consumer spending and all.
• Hundreds of thousands more foreclosures in relatively short order... this could have easily sent an already weak new housing market into oblivion.
• The possible collapse of foreign automakers' operations in North America. All of these companies worked with the same suppliers that would have gone out of business if GM, Chrysler, and Ford went down. How many more people would that have put out of work?
• Repeat all steps above as service industries related to auto plants, parts, dealerships, etc fold - everything from fast food joints, to stores, to office supply companies, etc, etc, etc.

We are staring economic oblivion right in the face. If you haven't woken up to just how close we are to another Great Depression, then you need to pay attention. The Fed finally admitted to a recession dating back to December 2007. As of the very moment of that announcement, we were in the longest running economic downturn since - you guessed it - the Great Depression.

Each new day we wake up still in this recession is another day added to the record of the longest recession ever. Most economists think there is no chance we'll come out of this in 2009.

Once the mightiest manufacturing sector the human race had ever seen - the Big Three - now is reduced to begging for taxpayer money like some homeless child. What's worse is that the guys who got us into this mess, Wall Street, came asking for twenty times as much money and got it without so much as a batted eyelash.

Let someone who actually makes something come ask for a paltry sum in comparison and it's like the Spanish Inquisition. What does that say about us? It says if you're white collar and take a shower before you go to work, then you can do no wrong. Be as greedy, corrupt, and stupid as you want - we'll bail you out no questions asked.

But if your collar is blue and you shower after you get off work, then expect to be demonized when you come asking for a loan. Expect to be treated with suspicion. Why? Because we don't respect hard, honest work these days. We respect money, and the making of it, above all else.

We respect it above hard work.

We respect money more than honesty.

We respect the acquisition of wealth no matter the means.

In short, we are sick. We have lost our center - and I don't mean that in any sort of religious manner. I don't mean that with any political bent whatsoever. I mean that when we don't respect that which made us great, then we will be great no longer.

Hard work and opportunity used to be at the center of the American ethic. We no longer respect hard work in and of itself and I fear that the same opportunities that were afforded me coming up will no longer be available or attainable to my children.

Why? Because the wealthy and elite have been allowed to run our ship aground - again. The difference is that back in 1930 people actually lived closer to the land, They knew how to darn socks and plant crops and raise animals. Many didn't have electricity.

Nowadays the dispossessed will not know what to do when there's no supermarket. They won't believe any of it until it's already happened - until the lights actually go out.

Well, my friends - I am not one of those people. I have a piece of land to retreat to when the sh!t hits the fan. This land has a source of clean water - a source spring. I have guns and seeds. I have the skills needed to protect my own (first aid, CPR, marksmanship). I have the skills needed to provide for my own (hunting, fishing, basic gunsmithing, gardening, construction, electrical engineering). I have a library of books dedicated to things like making drinking water safe, emergency shelter, gardening without petroleum fertilizers and pesticides, composting, shelter, and more.

Batton down the hatches. Gridcrash is a-coming.

Stockpile Progress

I had to scale down on some of my stockpile goals. It's just too much money. I may get there over the long term, but in the short term I have accepted the following goals:

COMPLETED:

Remington 870 Express Pump Shotgun
SKS Assault Rifle
GP-100 Ruger .357 Magnum Revolver

300 rounds .38 special
50 rounds .357 magnum
360 rounds 7.62mm x 39 FMJ
500 rounds .22 cal rimfire (fer critter & bird hunting)

INCOMPLETE:

Shotgun Loader Kit
Gunpowder (qty?)
Shot (qty?)
Other Loading Supplies (qty?)

100 rounds 12 gague 3 in 00 buckshot (have 30)
50 rounds 12 gague 3 in slugs (have 5)

3 Heirloom Apple Trees to plant in Barboursville (have 0)
high quality non-folding blade knife

Financially this puts me nearly 3/4 of the way there. I'm probably going to a gun show in Richmond soon, so maybe I can find some deals on ammo, a knife, and maybe even a loader kit and loading supplies.

Solidarity!

I've found that a friend of mine seems to share my thoughts on the potential for gridcrash. At least it would seem so based upon the brief email exchange we had. He may be coming with my brother and I on our Hike-n-Shoot* on June 8th. If not, then we're sure to get together for a beer soon to mill over the topic.

Also, my wife just read the book Peak Oil Survival by Aric McBay (linked in the Required Reading section to the right). That's a good thing. I'd hate to think that if anything happened to me that all of the survival-type knowledge in our family would go with me. She seemed to find it an interesting read.

My brother and I also may have made some headway on getting her to come out and shoot with us. Not sure how the logistics of that would work (with the kids), but it's encouraging that she's at least opening up to the idea.

* Hike-n-Shoot: A morning of backpack hiking in the mountains followed by an afternoon spent target shooting in Barboursville. An event we will be doing every other week.

The Basic Plan

This will be the first time I’ve written down plans that I’ve been brewing in my head for quite some time. I’ll be totally honest about my preparations and what’s done or not. I’ll start this off in very rough outline form for this entry and then flesh it out as time goes on.

This plan is to cover the eventuality of a rapid collapse or a major emergency. The idea is to get out of the urban center in which I live and get out to Barboursville (my chosen Evacuation Destination).

(*) = not done

The Basic Plan

1. Everyone heads home immediately – no side trips
1. Detail who gets who. Do not assume anything.
2. Upon arrival home we gather emergency packs and bring them to the front door
1. Each person has their own pre-packed backpack (*)
2. Each person’s backpack is in their closet(*)
3. Each car has an emergency pack(*)
4. Gather camping gear and bring to front door
1. In my closet
5. Gather emergency food and bring it to front door
1. 5 gal. dried lentils
2. Non-hybrid garden seeds
3. 5 gal other dried food(*)
6. Gather weapons and distribute
1. Me
1. Cletus – loaded with safety engaged
2. Hilda – loaded with safety engaged
2. Son
1. Harry(*) - loaded with safety engaged
7. Gather Ammunition and bring to front door
8. Load Gear Into Cars
1. One person stays armed and alert, on lookout
2. Load People into Cars
1. Detail who will ride in what car in advance so there are no arguments or confusion.
9. Drive To Evacuation Destination (Barboursville, in my case)
1. My car in front
2. Route:
1. Directions Here
10. Evacuation Destination Arrival
1. Unpack Gear
2. If No Electricity Setup Hand Crank Radio – Monitor for News
3. Take Stock
1. Is everyone OK?
2. Anyone missing?
3. Anything missing?
4. What family members have not arrived?
5. What supplies are lacking for the immediate future?
11. Formulate Immediate Plan
1. The Immediate Plan addresses the aforementioned items as follows:
   
   1. Is everyone OK?
   1. If no – administer first aid as needed
   2. Anyone missing?
      1. Where are they? Are they able to get out to Barboursville?
   3. Anything missing?
   1. If critical – how to replace?
   4. What family members have not arrived?
   1. Get in contact if possible
   5. What supplies are lacking for the immediate future?
   1. How to acquire?
2. Formulate this plan quickly
12. Enact Immediate Plan
1. It is called an Immediate Plan for a reason
2. From the time when you arrived to the time you enact the Immediate Plan should be no more than 5 minutes.
3. If the plan calls for a trip somewhere, send no more than two people out