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Heyduke
04-15-2014, 12:58 AM
I was travelling/camping last week. This is the first night I'll sleep indoors in many days. Ironically, tonight is the night of the blood moon, so I'll have to stay up and get a peek at that. I'm up at almost 1,000 feet of elevation here, so I should get a good look. I'll be hitting the road again tomorrow. I got a backpacking hammock that smashes down to the size of a super-burrito.

There are two schools of prepping, you know, for the zombie apocalypse or whatever. The first school of thought is to build the compound. You build a defensible compound and stock it with ammunition, food and fuel. If that's your school of thought, and you've built the mightiest of compounds, you'd be sort of stupid to admit to it on the internet. You'd want to keep that sort of thing close to the vest.

The second school of prepping is the stealth nomad strategy. That's where I fit in. I don't own a gun. Ammo is heavy. I have a wrist rocket, and I practice with it, and a well placed rock could probably stop a zombie. It worked for David, right? You can pick up ammo here and there as you walk.

I practice walking through the woods at night without a flashlight. That's a skill. It's not a lucrative skill in today's world, but it would come in handy if I ever were confronted with some sort of post-apocalyptic situation.

Training your stomach... I've always pushed the envelope when it comes to eating food that's past its expiration date, just to test my gut limits. I leave cooked meat unrefrigerated and eat it days later. Hey, the pioneers could pack bacon for a 6 month journey in the back of a covered wagon. They had well-trained stomachs. I really think that my 6 years of wrestling under Spartan coaches and cutting weight trained me somewhat to excercise without eating. I've noticed that most of my friends really have a difficult time functioning after missing a couple meals.

Local knowledge. I recently caught a fat trout with a found stick and some scavenged line and a home-made hook. I know where the quail are, and how to make a box trap with a mousetrap trigger. I know where the deer are. I know a few places that are over-run with wild pigs. I know how to ID wild plants and shrooms. These are things I've always studied. Most importantly, I know where to find clean water.

Running is a good skill. I hate running (I much prefer a mountain bike), but I make myself do it. Anyway, running is just for escape. Endurance walking is the usual mode of the wilderness prepper.

Finally, what about boredom? That's huge. People underestimate the tremendous shock of what it would be like to be cut off from modern conveniences. What about psychology? What about nervous breakdowns? I'll tell you, I don't relish the idea of being holed up in a compound with a few other panicky folks with itchy trigger fingers.

Refugee
04-15-2014, 01:41 AM
I’m too old for all that now and I’ve told myself for years that when I get to 70, I’ll stop my health insurance and await the end gracefully. As I’m now in my late 50’s, that’s not too long and will help me save on insurance costs! :laugh: The thought of being stuck in a wheel chair, dribbling and trying to squeeze every last drop out of life, like an already empty toothpaste tube, isn’t for me.

If in the next few years something happens, we’re off to my wife’s village in northern Thailand and back to nature, so I’m not altogether skeptical that nothing will happen, but what kind of catastrophe do you envisage that would lead to preparing for a survivalist mode of life?

Bob
04-15-2014, 01:51 AM
I am going to be 76 this summer and I sure see my doctor. I feel pretty good. Don't walk enough. But plan to. This year or next. LOL

Bob
04-15-2014, 01:53 AM
I have camped out all of my life. But taking a chance on old meat? Not for me. If you want to eat bugs, none of my business.

Refugee
04-15-2014, 04:21 AM
I am going to be 76 this summer and I sure see my doctor. I feel pretty good. Don't walk enough. But plan to. This year or next. LOL

I don’t live in a welfare State anymore and the UK State pension won’t be all that big. It’s enough to sort of get by and with my savings we’ll be OK for a few years, but . . . My wife and I will get old together and I suppose if she died first and I ever go back to the UK I might change my mind. Looking at the state the UK is in though, that’s doubtful. While my health lasts I’m clever enough to make money, but if that goes I’ll bow out gracefully. :smiley:

Heyduke
04-15-2014, 11:37 AM
I’m too old for all that now and I’ve told myself for years that when I get to 70, I’ll stop my health insurance and await the end gracefully. As I’m now in my late 50’s, that’s not too long and will help me save on insurance costs! :laugh: The thought of being stuck in a wheel chair, dribbling and trying to squeeze every last drop out of life, like an already empty toothpaste tube, isn’t for me.

If in the next few years something happens, we’re off to my wife’s village in northern Thailand and back to nature, so I’m not altogether skeptical that nothing will happen, but what kind of catastrophe do you envisage that would lead to preparing for a survivalist mode of life?


My post was somewhat tongue-in-cheek, although I was genuine about the skills I try to maintain.

As far as eating bugs goes, I don't go out of my way. But, I'll pick a chard leaf or a blackberry without looking too closely or washing it. If there's a leafhopper or an aphid on there, it doesn't bother me. Chitin is good for you, as well as insect protein, and there is now a burgeoning industry in mail-order processed insect supplements.

People like to speculate about certain disaster scenarios. I find it interesting that mainstream Americans were preppers during the 1950's. On the old TV show Happy Days, Mr. Cunningham builds a bomb shelter in the back yard. The nukes we dropped on Japan were fresh in people's minds during the late '40s and thru the '50s. The Cold War frightened people during the '60s, and people were frightened during the '80s that Reagan was going to start WWIII. Now, nuclear warfare seems to us a very remote possibility. We've reverted back to a pre-WWI Hegelian optimism about our inevitable salvation thru technology.

In reality, our dependence upon electrified networks has made us more vulnerable than ever. Here, a legitimate concern is a mega-quake centered on the SF Bay or LA. I can think of other scenarios like a Carrington event knocking out all the satellites; an EMP or virus attack wiping out the grid; the Ebola virus going airborne; a sudden uprising of a growing underclass; etc.

Refugee
04-16-2014, 01:37 AM
My post was somewhat tongue-in-cheek, although I was genuine about the skills I try to maintain.

As far as eating bugs goes, I don't go out of my way. But, I'll pick a chard leaf or a blackberry without looking too closely or washing it. If there's a leafhopper or an aphid on there, it doesn't bother me. Chitin is good for you, as well as insect protein, and there is now a burgeoning industry in mail-order processed insect supplements.

People like to speculate about certain disaster scenarios. I find it interesting that mainstream Americans were preppers during the 1950's. On the old TV show Happy Days, Mr. Cunningham builds a bomb shelter in the back yard. The nukes we dropped on Japan were fresh in people's minds during the late '40s and thru the '50s. The Cold War frightened people during the '60s, and people were frightened during the '80s that Reagan was going to start WWIII. Now, nuclear warfare seems to us a very remote possibility. We've reverted back to a pre-WWI Hegelian optimism about our inevitable salvation thru technology.

In reality, our dependence upon electrified networks has made us more vulnerable than ever. Here, a legitimate concern is a mega-quake centered on the SF Bay or LA. I can think of other scenarios like a Carrington event knocking out all the satellites; an EMP or virus attack wiping out the grid; the Ebola virus going airborne; a sudden uprising of a growing underclass; etc.

I vaguely remember the Cuban crisis and all the grown-ups getting edgy; everyone was getting leaflets through the door for a few years after that:

6832

The further we move away from those days, it just seems the closer they’re getting. When dictators and religious theocracies, (N. Korea, Iran), can build nuclear devices, I think it doesn’t bode well for the future. I think what people don’t bear in mind is that one of these modern bombs makes the one on Hiroshima look like a toy. Yes, you’re right; turn off the lights for one day and our civilization comes to a standstill.


It’s not our world anymore, it’s the younger generation’s. We’re just bystanders now; our generation might have messed up the world, but we won’t be the ones to destroy it. :smiley: