Survivalist?

OPI - Other People's Issues.

I nod and say "wow, sounds like you are prepared for anything!". I smile and go on about my day. :)

I do not worry about the world ending anytime soon - but I do live in an earthquake area... we have a reasonable stash of canned food, water and since being out of power for a day last winter, also a small stash of firewood. That's it. 3 days 3 ways.

We've got 4 billion or so years before the sun becomes a red giant and expands to engulf the earth.
I'll be dead in less than 100 years.
We take some basic precautions for hurricanes but we don't have a bomb shelter in our back yard.
When your Mom starts in on you, count to 3, then tell her the survivors will be the unlucky ones, they'll envy the dead, and try to bury your body deep enough so scavengers won't eat it.
After that, tell her that people who overcome obsessions have to admit they have a problem and take steps in order to get better.
If she still rants on after that, ear plugs are your only hope.

it's good common sense to have some back-up food, water and provisions in case of emergency (hurricane etc, probably not the zombie apocalypse) but a little nutty to cache weapons and MREs and ammo.
living in fear isn't good for anybody.
khairete
S. (whose kids are totally prepared to handle the zombie apocalypse)

Prepared for what?

A hurricane?
The end of the world?
Cancer?
Car accident?
Robbery?

IME, the things we stress over and worry about happening, are the things that never do.

Guess what? I guess I would be considered "unprepared" and it doesn't bother me in the least! I'm more concerned with living my life to the fullest!

If you ask me, "survivalists" and "preppers" are just a few fries short of a Happy Meal. Did you see the Doomsday Prepper show on TV, O. dad times his kids' evacuation from the house & drives them all to their base in the desert? Once there, they practice shooting at good guy/bad guy targets. And the dad shot off his own finger. Yep. He's prepared alright!

I thought it was our own government (like FEMA) that has repeatedly warned us to be prepared for disasters. We can have destruction by tornado, hurricane, earthquake, tsunami, massive volcanic eruption, ice storm, massive snow storm, flood, whatever. We once had no electricity for two weeks in the middle of winter because of a severe ice storm. No one around had electricity either. But at least we were prepared. We had a generator, kerosene heaters (we even cooked on one), "space" blankets, etc.

And sure enough, we did have to help out neighbors who were caught completely unprepared - one of whom was handicapped and sleeping out in his van with the motor running trying to keep warm.

We have a device to purify water. Heck - even if you are a hiker you probably have something to purify at least personal amounts of water.

As for weaponry... Let me just say that I know a large neighborhood that was NOT looted after a major hurricane just because some of the men stayed behind with some weaponry, and met a truckload of looters coming into the neighborhood... No - no shooting happened. All that mattered was that there were armed citizens. The looters simply turned around and went elsewhere.

Of course, that does not mean YOU need weapons. LOL -- just hope you have a friend or neighbor that does! ;-D

I am in an area where plenty of people hunt and/or love shooting outings with their family (at the ranges). Other areas of the U.S. are not so hospitable to the sports.

So my advice is at the minimum to follow the minimal preparedness to last a few days without electricity or clean water.

I dare you to find one person on earth that cannot survive with what is in their pantry for at least a month. :p

<grin> I know EXACTLY which stores I will rob and for what purpose.

Does that count?

I simply don't have time to obsess over possible apocalyptic occurrences. Your mother sounds like she needs some different hobbies! If you enjoy gardening and canning -then great, do so, but don't start hoarding food staples and ammo. I'm sorry, but that's just a bit nuts!

There is nothing wrong (especially if you live in a high-risk zone for hurricanes, flooding, etc.) with having emergency supplies in case a natural disaster befalls you, but the whole "end of the world" hoarding thing is silly. Just roll your eyes at her and brush it off -don't let it influence you so much. Also -if she starts harping on you about this particular thing again -just tell her you're planning to come to her place since she's got it all taken care of.

Preparing isn't just about TEOTWAWKI ("The end of the world as we know it"), it's also about being prepared for natural and man-made disasters.

Don't think they can happen to you? Check out this incredible real-time map: http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/index2.php

Nobody really thinks they're going to wake up to a major disaster and have to bunker down or high tail it out of their home...but it happens every day, several times a day. A responsible person is ready. And if you're a parent, you have even more to prepare for.

Don't know where to start? Start first with an emergency bag for your car which would allow you and your family to survive for at least 72 hours if you weren't able to get back to your house or if you had to evacuate immediately.

Check out the FEMA website for more information.

All the best!

S.:

Why do you let your mother get under your skin? There is a difference between someone who is prepared and someone who is a DOOMSDAY person. Your mom sounds like a doomsday person. Not a survivalist.

You CAN be prepared....I am, we are. I have MRE's and backpacks ready....I check the expiration on medications as well. We aren't overboard. We don't have a years worth of food stocked.

We have our camping supplies ready as well. Why? Because I grew up in Hawaii and California. We had Tsunami warnings (thank God never experienced one) and earth quakes. So we had to be ready to evacuate and "live" for a few days. We have about 7 days work of MREs...maybe more.

If the world ends...no amount of preparation will work. When God calls you home. He calls you home....

Why not be ready? Get a backpack for each member of the family. Put things in it that one would need to evacuate the house: flashlight...poncho...hand warmers...etc. In my backpack we have matches, a good knife with a compass on it and a can opener. In each one we have flashlights that are waterproof.

It's not going overboard. I haven't lived in Michigan. So I don't know what you could expect. What do you do should the electricity go out for days? Are you prepared for that? I know I am.

Feel free to PM me and I can go over my stuff with you. It's OKAY to be prepared...you don't need to go overboard and you don't need to worry about it. but you CAN be prepared in the event of an emergency.

I don't understand buying health insurance and life insurance and writing wills is ok, but having extra food, water and something to defend your family with makes you nuts!?!?! All of those things are just different ways to prepare IN CASE something happens.

We get health insurance IN CASE someone gets hurts or sick so we don't lose our house to the medical bills. We buy life insurance IN CASE someone dies prematurely in order to help the family make it without the extra help or salary. We name gaurdians for our children IN CASE something happens to us so they don't end up in foster care.

So why can't we store some water and food IN CASE the power goes out for a few days, or a tornado or earthquake or fire or flood disrupts the utilities? Why can't we have a gun IN CASE someone breaks in and tries to rob us or hurt our family?

We all hope nothing ever happens, but it's just another form or preparedness. Personally, I think it's sad that we all think the government or someone else will take care of us if something goes wrong. What happened to personal responsability? If someone breaks into my house, I'm not going to wait 15 minutes for the cops to get there. I want to take care of it immediately. If a natural disaster or terror attack occurs, I don't want to wait in lines fighting for food and water, I want to be able to give my kids what they need when they need it.

I'm not saying I'm a prepper. I don't have an underground bunker and I don't have my kids shooting AK-47's at targets in the backyard. I'm just saying why do we make fun of people who think ahead? Anyone remember the story of the ant and the grasshopper?????? I'd rather be an ant anyday.

In all seriousness, I would store water and food. Weapons are a very personal matter you have to decide for yourself. But it doesn't have to be a catastrophic event or nuclear war to disrupt the flow of resources. I live in the midwest and last summer we had some storms (not even tornadoes, just really high winds) and there were people here without power for over a week. And we're in a very populated area, it's not the boonies.

If you are interested in having some food on hand in case a job is lost or hubby dies and there is no money, etc...then there are some realistic books you can read and take from them what you want.

I love Peggy Layton books. She is a Home Ec graduate and writes many books on food storage and being prepared for an emergency, she does not go overboard.

http://peggylayton.net/

My favorite book she has written is:

http://peggylayton.net/index.php?app=ccp0&amp;ns=prodshow...

You track the foods you buy AND use, not just a list of foods you SHOULD have on hand. It gives you some very simple guidelines and is very very normal.

There is being prepared for an emergency, and then there is trying to prepare and expect the apocalypse!! Look, when the world ends...I really think guns and supplies aren't going to keep it from ending with you. Do you? It CAN end at any time, but what can you really do about that? Nothing. If it ends, it ends...and you're going down with it. So...what's the point of obsessing and being prepared for something you can't change? With that said, you CAN be prepared for a disaster. We live right on the edge of tornado alley. It's smart for us to have flashlights, some food and water, etc.

With a child in the house you should be prepared to some degree. Its the ones who are unprepared that have the worst of it when a natural disaster hits. At least put your important papers in a safe and put a pack of water in a waterproof bag.

That really stinks your mother has put her anxieties on you!

I have no weapons in the house but we do keep a baseball bat under the bed.

Nope, no stash in the garage or anything... hubby and I were just talking about this the other day. Like, we should probably have a few gallons of water or something on hand. But that would just be in case of an earthquake and my water supply was shut off or something, which is kind of a real possibility in CA... More real than an intruder in our house that we'd need to wack with a baseball bat (please, we don't have that great of a house, I am sure they would pick a nicer one!)

I don't think we need to be prepared for the apocolypse or zombie invasion or anything though... if something THAT big happens I'm going down with everyone else.

When the proverbial Shiz hits the fan I certainly don't want to be hanging around in my bunker living off canned beans for who knows how long. I plan to take my family out and myself as well. Sorry - haven't planned for logistics so not exactly sure how it's going to happen (but if it's from the big bomb I won't have to worry - given my location my entire city will be vaporized before anyone knows what hit them) but I think the so called "survivalists" aren't really thinking about what it will mean to be ALIVE after it all goes down. Yeah - you've got canned goods and water but...???? I don't know - ever read "The Road"...I got through about 3 pages before I felt ill and put it back. Post Apocalyptic America is not someplace I want to be - nor my family.

I lived in Southern California from 1985-1995, I experienced quite a few Earthquakes. However we never had any damage or lost power so I was lucky. Several people I knew had the big bottles of water that you can buy from the companies that supply the water for office water coolers and a supply of canned foods just in case. I always had a small charcoal grill in case we lost power or had to cook outside.

You can drive yourself nutty trying to prepare for every emergency. Stop and think about what real emergencies can really happen where you live. You are in Michigan--I'm in Wisconsin we are not going to get a hurricane and probably not an Earthquake bad enough to be an emergency. So we need to be prepared for a blizzard that could knock out electricity or a bad tornado. If you have candles and or battery operated lights, a supply of fresh water, food in the freezer or lots of canned goods and a way to cook you are probably safe.

I feel that survivalists are control freaks and fear mongers. They are also afraid of death. They seem to actually believe that they can control their time of death and are happy to throw their fear all over the place.

The next time your Mom starts in with the survivalist stuff stop her --if you have to put your fingers in your ears and say LA-LA-LA until she stops. Tell her she is free to believe whatever she wants but to stop the fear mongering around you and your family.