#foodforthought – Page 2 – The Boring Old Man

This “Green Thing”

Found this on the interwebs and it’s too good not to share:

Checking out at the store, the young cashier suggested to the much older lady that she should bring her own grocery bags, because plastic bags are not good for the environment,.
The woman apologized to the young girl and explained, “We didn’t have this ‘green thing’ back in my earlier days.”
The young clerk responded, “That’s our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations.”
The older lady said that she was right our generation didn’t have the “green thing” in its day. The older lady went on to explain: Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled.
But we didn’t have the “green thing” back in our day. Grocery stores bagged our groceries in brown paper bags that we reused for numerous things. Most memorable besides household garbage bags was the use of brown paper bags as book covers for our school books. This was to ensure that public property (the books provided for our use by the school) was not defaced by our scribblings. Then we were able to personalize our books on the brown paper bags.
But, too bad we didn’t do the “green thing” back then. We walked up stairs because we didn’t have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn’t climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks. But she was right. We didn’t have the “green thing” in our day.
Back then we washed the baby’s diapers because we didn’t have the throw away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy-gobbling machine burning up 220 volts. Wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days.
Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. But that young lady is right; we didn’t have the “green thing” back in our day.
Back then we had one TV, or radio, in the house — not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana.
In the kitchen we blended and stirred by hand because we didn’t have electric machines to do everything for us.
When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap.
Back then, we didn’t fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power.
We exercised by working so we didn’t need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity. But she’s right; we didn’t have the “green thing” back then.
We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blade in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull. But we didn’t have the “green thing” back then.
Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service in the family’s $45,000 SUV or van, which cost what a whole house did before the “green thing.”
We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn’t need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 23,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest burger joint.
But isn’t it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn’t have the “green thing” back then?

-borrowed

Now, as a Gen X person, I cannot say ALL these things were still around in my youth, but a lot of them were. We still had a ‘milk man’ that delivered milk, and the used glass bottles were returned for re-use with every delivery. I can remember taking soda bottles back to the store for money, with which I’d usually get enough for an ice cream cone, which was 15 cents at Thrifty’s. Can you imagine a 10 year old kid walking 10 blocks, pulling a wagon of glass bottles, for 15 cents nowadays? Can you imagine buying a single scoop of ice cream ANYWHERE for 15 cents? I was in high school before my family got a second car (and my mother got a driver’s license). I cannot recall a single time from elementary school through my Junior year of high school (where I ALWAYS used brown paper grocery bags to fabricate book covers!) where I was driven to school. In my senior year my Pops got a company truck, so I inherited his 12 year old International Scout and would drive myself. For a few years in elementary school I did take a school bus, but I walked a few blocks to the bus stop and then home again after drop off. When I needed to go somewhere as a kid, it was on two feet or later, on a bicycle – and of all the bikes I had growing up, only one of them were new, all the others were second-hand. And I used those second-hand bikes to deliver newspapers and to ride out to my Grandmother’s house to mow her lawn… In fact, pretty much every “recreational” thing I had growing up was second-hand. And it was not uncommon to wear hand-me-down clothes either. I didn’t have older siblings, but I got a lot of things passed on from my next door neighbor that was like an older brother to me. And when summer came around we didn’t go out and buy shorts, we cut the pant legs off last year’s school clothes and that was that. Once a month my Boy Scout troop would go door-to-door throughout the neighborhood collecting newspapers to be recycled into – you guessed it – newspaper for printing. We had one TV in the house until my high school days, and it wasn’t until then we had Cable TV. I don’t think my parents had a VCR until after I’d moved out at 19… I used “Thomas Guide” map books as a teenager delivering Pizzas and later as a legal courier. No cell phones, no GPS, just some paper (that never lost signal or ran out of power) and a little common sense.

I consider myself a nature lover and an old school “environmentalist” – as in, don’t litter, leave nothing but footprints, etc. – but this whole “green thing” is mostly hogwash. While some of it may be well intentioned, it is chock full of unintended consequences. As someone much smarter than me once opined – “when factories producing solar panels can run 100% of their production from solar power, I’ll believe it’s a viable, long term solution at scale.” Or something along those lines, that was years ago and Im paraphrasing. And as I far as I know, that has not come anywhere near a reality. Most of the physical waste comes from corporations trying to maximize profits (plastic vs. glass is a prime example) and most of the ‘solutions’ come from government trying to ‘create jobs’ and maximize revenues. After all, providing a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist, or more likely was CREATED by government, is what government does best.

By all means, re-using and re-purposing are fantastic and I think everyone should do this. Walk more, drive less? Absolutely. And reusable grocery bags over plastic? Yeah, I don’t have a problem with that. I just think it would be swell if today’s “greenies” would get off their high horses and recognize that they don’t have all the answers either. In 25 years they will be getting slammed for all the toxic waste from lithium EV batteries, dead and depleted solar panels, poisoned water tables and the fact that our most fertile, food producing land was paved over for “multi-use commercial/residential buildings” in the name of “progress”. We all do the best we can with what we have to work with. Not all ideas are bad just because they’re old, and not all ideas are good just because they are new. In general, I think it’s a good idea to be less wateful and to take care of your things so you maximize their lifespan. Less consumption overall. Simple, right?

Ok, that’s enough of my blathering…

Thanks for stopping by.

Out of Sight, Out of (my) Mind!

This weekend the Mrs. was on a girls’ trip with our daughter, so I was left to my own devices and for some reason I decided to be productive. What was I thinking???

I started out simple enough, just a little organization stuff that was long overdue, then Sunday morning I decided to take a whack at our ‘extras’ closet that was LONG overdue… And the next thing you know, 6 HOURS had gone by!

This closet – really an alcove, but I threw a curtain over it and thus dubbed it a closet – is where I’ve been storing a lot of my “prepping” stuff since about 2012 and during “the Plague” years, especially early on when nobody really knew what was going on or what was coming, I STUFFED that closet with everything I figured was important should things go completely sideways.

On the surface, not a bad idea. BUT! I didn’t have anything organized and I didn’t inventory anything. If something I thought I might need became available, I bought it and stuffed it in the closet.

Fast forward a few years and Holy cow! I had stuffed every square inch of that space, had no idea what I had and couldn’t find anything without an ordeal.

On Sunday, I put an end to the madness!

On the bright side, I discovered I have more #10 cans of freeze dried goods than I realized. And I have a TON of first aid stuff, a lot more than I thought I had. On the downside, I have way too many bottles of hydrogen peroxide, and waaaaay too many kitchen sponges. These latter things primarily because everything was so disorganized I bought multiples not realizing I already had those things.

And happily I found some things I COMPLETELY forgot about!

It wasn’t fun, but it was time well spent. Time I SHOULD’VE spent two years ago! Better late than never I suppose.

Last but not least, it inspired me to get off my keister and keep the cleanup and organization going.

It’s great to have “stuff” in emergency situations, but its way better if you know what you have and where it is!

Anyhow, that’s about it for today. This year got off to a rough start with illness in the family, a rather unpleasant injury and the loss of a beloved pet, but this little project felt like my shell cracking and letting me get back to life.

Thanks for stopping by!

Another Lesson Learned.

Most everyone that knows me, and those few of you that have been reading here for a while, know that I’m a vocal and ardent advocate for preparedness.

There are a number of factors that led me there, starting with a family Patriarch that grew up in the Depression era and the Boy Scout years of my youth.

Anyhow, I started getting really serious about it around 2008 or so, and while I wouldn’t say it’s my “lifestyle”, it certainly has been a constant in my life.

There are a number of pillars to preparing for the unknown – food, water, shelter, medical and hygiene, energy and a means of self defense. The people that really go down the rabbit hole concentrate on a lot of other things too, but if you focus on the pillars, you’re going to be in much better shape than the vast majority of people, come what may.

When I first got serious about preparing, I was recently laid-off from a job, and while I found a new gig rather quickly, we were very much in the world of the working poor. Living check-to-check, no savings, nothing extra… barely squeaking by.

Nevertheless, I knew it was important and I was determined to build up food reserves, even if it was only a can or two a month.

I stuck to the sage advice I’d found online at the time – “store what you eat and eat what you store”. The idea being that you would rotate through the backup foods without them spoiling and also avoid sending your body into shock with an instant diet change, should disaster happen and you need to rely on your reserves.

So that’s what I did, a couple cans here, a couple cans there until I started feeling like we had a good start on things.

Fast forward a short while, the employment situation had improved, I wasn’t quite destitute and I started getting smarter about my buying. I would scour the weekly mailers from the 3 different grocery chains in our area and take advantage of the “loss leader” sales (big thanks to Jim “Lord Bison” Dakin for showing me that!) and then upped the ante even further with a Cosco membership so I could buy in bulk. Things were looking up in the food storage realm, to the point of needing new furniture to store it all in!

Then, as often happens in life, things change. We started trying to eat a little healthier, so we started going to farmer’s markets and avoided canned goods. And we were all working more hours and I was constantly stressed out from work so we started getting lazy and relying more and more on takeout food. When our daughter moved out, it seemed more of a hassle to cook and clean for just two so we got even lazier about cooking.

But in 2020 when “the Plague” hit, I really went off the deep end. I was buying food like a maniac, storing it away and we continued eating out as much as possible, with the thinking that “this was it” and we needed to hold on to our stored foods as long as possible because there might not be any foods to obtain in the next year… Or if there was, we might not be able to afford it. (Been there, done that!)

It seems foolish now, looking back, but the fear mongering propaganda was in hyper-drive at the time, so I was simply doing what I thought was prudent to make sure we could eat when everything fell apart.

Anyhow, that’s the (mostly) concise version that brings me up to the last couple weekends and a very important lesson that I learned the hard way.

As I said, I went off the deep end with the food buying AND we were cooking significantly less at home over the last 3+ years, and the Mrs. and I had determined that this year we were going to get back into cooking. I’m no slouch in the kitchen and the Mrs. is an AMAZING cook, plus it’s better for both our physical and financial health, so it seemed like a smart move. The problem was I had filled every nook and cranny in the kitchen, plus 6 or 7 large plastic crates and at least that many 5 gallon buckets on the periphery of the kitchen, so trying to find anything was an excersize in frustration. Keep in mind we live in a 650 square foot apartment!

It was time to clean house.

Over the last two weekends I spent close to 20 hours going through all the kitchen cabinets, checking expiration dates, looking for signs of deterioration or infestation and I threw out LOT of food. I do mean A LOT. So far six big Hefty bags, full to my limits of lifting them, have gone in the dumpster. It was painful. I felt like I was just flushing hard earned cash down the toilet.

But, I have no one to blame but myself. I was lazy about it. I didn’t bother with “proper” food storage techniques, thinking we’d use it all before we needed to bother with that stuff. As a consequence I had to throw out multiple bags of flour, boxes of pasta, cereal…all kinds of stuff that bugs got into over the years. I didn’t properly rotate canned goods, so I found dozens upon dozens of expired foods. Now, I’m not really a stickler for expiration dates, I’ll usually be comfortable with something a year or so out of date…but cans of tuna that expired 4 years ago? Canned beans with a “best by 2017”. Nah, I’m not gonna risk it.

In short, I feel like a moron. And what’s worse, I’ve been living with a false sense of security for a number of years. Thinking you’re squared away and actually, factually BEING squared away, are two different things.

I foolishly thought we had 6 months of food on hand, but after the cleanup, I’d guess we’re closer to 2 months. Nothing to sneeze at of course, but it’s a shock to the system to make this realization. I guess the silver lining is that I made the discovery BEFORE we needed to rely on it. And while I was beating myself up about the “lost” money after throwing so much away, I convinced myself to look at it as having paid an “insurance premium” and didn’t need to make a claim. For whatever reason that makes it easier to swallow.

I’m still a strong proponent of preparedness, don’t get me wrong. But take it from me, if you don’t do it with care it’s gonna cost you one way or another. Luckily it only cost me money, and you can nearly always make more of that. Much better than risking Botulism or something because the family is starving…

Right now with the world on edge and uncertainty and chaos around every corner, I feel that preparedness is more important than ever, but don’t do it like I did – be SMART about it. I’m out here learning lessons the hard way, so you don’t have to!

Be safe out there! Thanks for stopping by!

A Small Victory

Buzz, buzz, buzz says the alarm at 5am…

Lizard Brain: Nah, too early, too tired, catch a few more Zzzz’s

Semi-conscious Brain: Get up, don’t be a lazy bastard.

Lizard Brain: Listen, you stayed up too late. Drank champagne. You’re too tired. Go back to sleep.

Semi-conscious Brain: All that is true, but another 15 minutes of sleep isn’t gonna help anything…

Lizard Brain: Yeah, but now it’s already been a couple minutes. You’re gonna get out of the house late… It’ll stress you out and ruin your whole day.

Semi-conscious Brain: You’ve got a good point there…

Lizard Brain: Of course I do… Listen, you can always go to the gym tomorrow to make up for today. Go back to sleep.

Semi-conscious Brain: Wait! You sneaky SOB, putting off until tomorrow is what got me into this mess! STFU.

Lizard Brain: … … …

Next thing I know, I’m in my gym gear and brushing my teeth. Yes, I DID in fact get out the door 5 minutes late. Yes, my morning routine was rushed and a bit stressful. However, I knew I’d regret missing a workout MORE than I’d appreciate the extra sleep.

I think I’ve finally turned a corner. Turns out the hardest battles are often in your own head. Sometimes you’ve got tell that comforting, excuse making voice in your head to shut up, and push yourself to do what you know is best… Procrastination is one of my absolute worst habits and hard as hell to break, but the payoff feels great. I highly recommend it.

Thanks for stopping by!

Monday Memes…cuz why not?!?!

Exceptionally busy at the moment and I feel like my brain is just grinding gears right now…

If I could form a coherent thought I might write something, but things are a bit too scrambled…

That being said, here are some memes to give you a little insight into a tiny fraction of what’s cookin’ in the ol’ brain stew. Just the part I can share publicly, of course.

Enjoy your days. Heck, your nights too! I’ll be back soon.

Thanks for stopping by!

Sick of Being Sick!!

Here we go again, ANOTHER bout of illness that I simply cannot seem to shake.

I’ve been ill more in the last 2 years than in the previous decade, easily. Maybe even longer.

I haven’t seen (or even have!) a “primary care” doc for I don’t know how long. I’ve got insurance, that isn’t the issue. I just haven’t needed one for so long that I didn’t bother jumping through all the necessary hoops to find a new doc when my insurance changed 6 years ago.

I started this current job in February ’18 and I believe I got sick once between then and 2020 with some stomach issue that kept me down for a day or two.

Then “the Plague” happened in early 2020, and I held out on the jab as I didn’t trust it. As I’ve mentioned before, my job is “Healthcare Adjacent” and I was in and around several waves of C-19 throughout the year and well into 2021.

Finally, on July 22, 2021 I succumbed to the pressure and got the jab in the face of certain employment termination. Company policy, don’tcha know!?!

Then, after two YEARS of being neck-deep in Plague infested facilities, I got C-19 myself in January ’22. Weird, right?

I’ve never been so sick in my life, I seriously thought it was the end for me. At that point I’d been struck with suspicion. How was it even possible that I worked for 2 years around all these sick folks as we ramped up precautions and EVERYONE was masked and gloved and distanced and the entire world was turned on its head to “stop the spread” and NEVER got sick? But then less than 6 months AFTER INOCULATION I get the WORST sickness of my entire life?!?!

Fast forward two years, I have now had 3 confirmed cases of the Plague, I’ve had two really terrible bouts of flu, and I’m currently on day 7 of some new illness that just whooped me, and badly. It still isn’t over. I’m back to work but suffering a serious “brain fog”.

I was so bad this time I went to an Urgent Care clinic, only to discover (not having been to a doctor for ages) that my blood pressure is dangerously high, I put on considerably more weight than I realized (figured I needed to drop about 20-25#, but in reality it’s closer to 50!) AND I’ve got a nice start on arthritis in my left shoulder. Yay.

Keep in mind I had NONE of these ailments the last time I’d had a check up. I was in great health. Before the jab I was at the gym 4-5 days a week, eating (relatively) healthy, and the future was looking pretty rosy.

So I decided, maybe it’s time to relent and go see a western med doc, get myself a new primary care physician. Maybe have my heart checked out, get some bloodwork done, you know, actual Boring Old Man stuff… After a grueling time on the phone getting passed from one operator to the next, to the next, I finally got passed to the right person. I told her, no preference on docs, just please give me the FIRST AVAILABLE appointment for a new patient, and a couple minutes later I had it set… for JULY 31st!!!

Yeah, you read that correctly. July thirty-first. Six and a half months from now until the first available appointment for a new patient.

WTAF?!?!

So for now it’s back to the Chinese Medicine doc I’ve been seeing the last couple years in hopes she’s got some potion that will help lower the BP, or at least hold it steady while I shed some pounds, change up the diet and attempt to avoid any further crud getting in my system.

A lot of people were saying ’24 is going to be a doozy, and now I’m starting to agree… Lifestyle changes are generally not fun even when it is necessary to continue life.

If I could go back to July ’21, I’d let ’em fire me… I think in the long run I’d have been better off. Should have trusted my gut.

This and 24hrs were enough to conquer ANYTHING!

Thanks for stopping by my personal dark cloud today… Beware the snake oil salesmen. Stay safe out there!

Good advice…

I’ll be honest, I’ve been having a real struggle trying to get myself into the Christmas Spirit this year. I fully recognize that my life is pretty darn good generally speaking, but that doesn’t alleviate the worry/concern/incredulity that has been running non-stop through my head since early 2020 and has frankly, just been getting worse – seemingly by the hour – for the last 18 months. And I know I’m not the only one feeling this way.

Nevertheless, there is more than likely someone you know, maybe someone right in your inner-circle, that is having a rougher time than you. Keep that in mind, and try to keep kindness in your heart. I’m not saying you need to go out of your way to make their lives better or take on some other burden to get it off their shoulders…just don’t make things worse for ’em. Sometimes the smallest gesture can make the biggest change in a person’s day.

Ok. I’ll get off my soapbox now.

Wishing you all the best, and please know that I appreciate y’all.

Thanks for stopping by!

This is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things…

As a lifelong Californian I am no stranger to living amongst the homeless. For a number of years I lived in both Downtown San Jose and East San Jose, both areas habitually populated by the down and out, going back to the early 1980’s. Quite possibly longer, but that is when I personally became aware of it…

When I lived downtown I had a 10 block walk to work. Every day I was accosted by transients asking for money. Every. Single. Day. It was exhausting. I was poor, very poor, at the time. Like 5 people in a 2 bedroom apartment poor, no insurance – health or otherwise – poor. I looked at these folks as in desperate need and tried not to have my heart hardened towards them. I took to carrying food in my pack and when I was asked for money, I would say no and then offer them whatever food I was carrying – maybe a granola bar or a little bag of chips or whatever…simple grab and munch stuff. More often than not the offer of food was refused. That told me a lot about these people. It was an eye opener to say the least.

Fast forward 35 years or so, and the problem is 100x times worse. San Jose has shanty towns (aka “encampments”) all over the place now. Events they used to have, like the annual Music in the Park events, went down the tubes because they were becoming overrun by the derelict mob. San Francisco, a mere hour north of San Jose is infinitely worse. It is a sad state of affairs State-wide.

Year after year we’re told we need to spend MORE money to combat homelessness, despite having spent hundreds of millions of dollars over the last 20 years on the problem and the problem getting bigger and more pronounced everywhere you go in “The Golden State”.

As if the whole situation weren’t enough to make your blood boil, then you come across stories like this…

https://news.yahoo.com/sacramento-county-clears-way-200-215626445.html

Our glorious “leaders” devise this super-genius plan to spend EIGHTEEN MILLION TAXPAYER DOLLARS to supply between 175 and 200 “tiny homes” for the homeless as “transitional” housing.

$18,000,000 ÷ 200 = $90,000

If you click the link and see the pics, you’ll note that these “tiny homes” are essentially garden sheds that cost between $2-3k each at your local Home Depot or Lowes… Add some insulation and an AC unit, you might spend 5 grand. So where does the other $85k per unit go?

Most of the $17.7 million grant will go to operations and administration: Up to $14.6 million is slated for First Step Communities, which will operate the site, and $842,000 will go to county administrative services. The county is also paying WellSpace $2.2 million for a three-year lease of the lot.

I’m sorry, but this is simply disgraceful. They’d be better off putting $85k in a trust for each of the 200 people and pay a single trust administrator to dole it out responsibly. That could get a person into actual housing. Get them into a treatment center. Allow them to find a job… But no, instead we’ll spend millions to “help” and NOTHING will change for the better. In fact, I’d bet hard money that within 3 years our homeless population will be double what it is now, we’ll be “on the hook” for ever more taxes and our quality of life will be further degraded. For starters.

The most current estimate I could find puts the Californian homeless population at just under 172,000. Extrapolate the math above – 172,000 x $90,000 each for “help” and you’ve got a price tag of 15.48 BILLION DOLLARS. Putting it into a different perspective, that $18 million “investment” in Sacramento will impact less than 0.12% of our CURRENT homeless population in the state.

I expect there are going to be a lot of people getting big paychecks over this, and subsequently more than a few politicians getting some really juicy donations to their reelection coffers, but for the taxpayers, we’ll just keep getting the shaft and the homeless will get more lip service and empty promises.

This is a hopeless situation given the current crop of bureaucrats. Don’t get your hopes up for clean streets and safe neighborhoods. So long as the grift carries on like this, things are only going to get worse. After all, our “ruling class” has a ton of money to make off our collective misery!

We’re gonna need a lot of tar and feathers, folks!

Sorry for the crabby rant, but thanks for stopping by!

Gosh, what a surprise…

So Guvner Gruesome has repeatedly said that he is NOT running for prez. Since anyone that knows anything about him knows he’s a pathological liar, his constant denials have put many of us on edge. And now this in today’s news:

“President Biden told a group of world leaders that California Gov. Gavin Newsom “could have the job I’m looking for” if he wanted, amid a low approval rating and discontent within his own party.

“I want to talk about Governor Newsom. I want to thank him. He’s been one hell of a governor, man,” Biden said Wednesday during a welcome reception for Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders in San Francisco. “Matter of fact, he could be anything he wants. He could have the job I’m looking for.”

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/biden-reveals-who-thinks-have-job-running-for-2024-shadow-campaign-rumors-swirl

I think old slow Joe got his sentence jumbled up again – it should have been ” Life’s been hell with him as governor, man”

Good grief. Let me just say, as a life-long Californian and former Democrat, as bad as Joe has been, and let’s face it, NOTHING has been getting better since his (s)election, Gruesome would be 100x WORSE.

He is the epitome of the entitled, self righteous, “connected” class. He DOES. NOT. CARE. ABOUT. YOU. OR. OUR. COUNTRY. His concerns are money, power, and control for him and his cronies. PERIOD. He and his ilk are a cancer on this country.

You’ve been warned. Don’t fall for his greasy grift. He lies, lies about lying and lies some more. Unless you’re a donor of course, then I’m sure he’s a swell guy…

My apologies for ranting. I simply loathe this guy and I seriously fear for our country with him at the helm.

It is my most sincere wish that the rest of the country sees through his tired shtick and sends him packing. Seriously, for the love of all that is holy, do NOT let this tyrant anywhere near the Oval Office.

Our nation is in horrible shape, and headed down a very dangerous path. We are divided as a people more now than any time in our history and we need someone that can mend fences and bring some brightness back to our lands. A ham-fisted charlatan with illusions of grandeur is absolutely the last thing we need.

Ok, I’m going to take a walk now and try to get the old blood pressure to recede…

Thanks for stopping by!

Preaching to the Choir?

It is personally shocking that we’re already in September. They say time moves faster as you age, and I can attest to that!

Nonetheless, September happens to be “National Preparedness Month”, so here I am again to implore any and all readers to embrace preparedness and set aside a little time this month to work on your personal and/or family plan.

I know ” prepping” and “preppers” get a bad rap, and if you only look at the fringe elements I can see why. But honestly, it’s just a little common sense, mixed with a touch of planning ahead. It doesn’t have to be anything off the wall crazy, it doesn’t need to become your lifestyle, but there is really no downside. Think of it as an insurance policy or a savings account. Worst case scenario, you save a little money buying food you were going to eat anyway because you bought it before inflation devalued our dollars just that much more. Best case scenario, it could in fact save your life. Or at least make post-disaster a little more bearable while you put your life back together.

Let’s face it, in an emergency the LAST people you want to rely on is The Government. Nobody is going to care about you and your family as much as you are. So do something about it while you can. Even a little something is better than nothing.

I’m not going to go into all the details of what you should do – there are countless other resources for that. But for this month, just worry about the basics: food, water, shelter, first aid/medical needs, hygiene…and don’t forget to include your pets in the planning. They rely on you too!

If the whole pandemic thing taught us anything (aside from the fact that you can’t believe anything the media or the government says!) it’s that disruption can happen quickly and once something is no longer available, that’s it. It doesn’t matter how much you need it or want it or how much you’d be willing to pay. If it’s not there, you’re outta luck. That something may come back, it may not. Maybe in a month, maybe in a year. Maybe never.

There is already a lot of chatter about new “variants”, mask mandates and lockdowns. The war is eastern Europe is not going well for anyone and the house of cards in D.C. seems to be on the verge of tipping. China is having financial problems, and “activists” are turning into arsonists to show us how bad climate change is… Not to mention the usual suspects of earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, and all the other stuff Mother Nature does from time to time to remind us who’s boss.

Look, I know. This stuff isn’t fun. It isn’t sexy or exciting. In fact if you think about it too much, it can give you anxiety and stress you out. The “what if’s” you discover when you start going down that rabbit hole can shake you to your core – ask me how I know. People that do emergency stuff for a living look at people two ways in an disaster situation, you are either an asset or a liability. If you are squared away to take care of you and yours for a week with no outside input, that puts you in the asset column.

That’s a good place to start- put back enough that you can get by without assistance for a week…enough food and water to survive, a way to charge your phone or laptop, some basic first aid stuff and meds if you require them. A way to see and cook if there is a power outage. Simple stuff.

I feel by now if you’re seeing this message and you’re not already doing at least a little something, you’re never going to. That the people that understand are already doing it and I don’t need to keep harping on the subject. That I’m preaching to the choir. That’s OK. I gave up trying to convert people to this way of thinking a number of years ago. Prepare or don’t, makes no difference to me. After all, the emergency response people will need liabilities to deal with, lest they get bored!

But seriously, I look at self reliance in an emergency as a civic minded thing too. If more of us looked after ourselves and our neighbors, there would be even less need for Uncle Sugar and all his beauracracies.

Take care of yourselves out there!

Thanks for stopping by!