My friends in the Northeast tell me Irene wasn’t so strong as she was just full of rain with some wind. Local flooding and power outages abound, but it sounds like the utilities are coming back pretty well. Meanwhile, we have wildfires here in the Heartland. Just a dozen miles from here semi-rural real areas are burning, covering several sections (square mile areas). Other parts of the state here are seeing more such fires, too.
We are under no threat here for the time being. So today I was refitting my bicycle.
My knees are giving me just a bit of relief, enough that I can walk more. I got my hands on a really nice welded aluminum basket set for the rear, but had to cut off chunks to make it fit. It was designed for a smaller bike frame, so I modified it to sit on my existing rack. I’m also working on designing a front carrier of some sort. It’s tricky because I have shocks on the front, so whatever I devise can’t attach on the lower forks. Hopefully I can come up with something versatile.
It’s important to me in the midst of all these natural disasters because the man-made economic disaster has yet to show it’s worst face. For example, the Dollar Index (dollar value against other currencies) had been trending down until the banks in Europe, particularly Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain (PIIGS) started hitting the insolvency wall. That brought the Euro down a bit against the dollar. But the trend is clear, and at some invisible point, if history is any indication, the thing will simply plummet as everyone panics and decides to dump their dollar assets. Depending on whom you ask, that line is around 60 or 65. It’s been sliding slowly down under 74 in the past week. It had touched 73 briefly a couple months back, and it seems sure to be there again soon.
There are other indicators, such as the gold price and some other things. If you analyze them all from the perspective of what keeps them from getting out of control all at once, it’s a lot of background work from various government and big-bank proxies. What makes these things noteworthy is the apparent level of effort is reaching a saturation point, and we see a decreasing return on investment, as it were. Doing all they can, it’s still sliding down, just a wee bit slower than otherwise. There isn’t much left to throw at it.
I don’t have a word from God on these things, and I won’t pretend I’m smart enough to estimate what and when. I do believe I understand enough to see sweat beading on many brows as their strength begins to fail. So I’m getting my bicycle ready to use more like a substitute car. During the time when my knees wouldn’t let me walk much, I managed a couple of rides near or over 30 miles. Not much for a serious cyclist, but pretty good for an old fat guy on a mountain bike. So long as our grocery stores have something to fetch, I can get to one or another with just a 5 or 6 mile ride one way. Sam’s Club is just over 7 and a Wal-Mart is 9. Nothing worth the trouble is any farther out. So I figure I can fetch what will fit on a bicycle until there’s nothing left to fetch.
I’ve grown weary of folks like the 700 Club President saying Irene was a warning from God. No, it’s too late for warnings. The wrath has begun, and it won’t stop until we as a nation are toast. Given all the incredibly foolish things we have done earning that wrath, hurrying the process along, it should be one wild ride.
It’s my foolish personal opinion September will see some truly crazy changes in our American way of life. Lordy, I hope I’m wrong.
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We are nowhere near self-sufficient. We are almost done with the albatross of unwise student loans, but getting rid of that has taken up all of our resources for the duration of our marriage. Could you post on steps, in order of most bang for your buck, to take towards self-sufficiency in the coming scenario? IE, if you can only do ONE thing, do this thing first? If you can only do TWO things, do these two first?
Thank you very much!
Too many variables. I don’t know your situation and your talents, but most of all I don’t know your divine calling. Survivalists will tell you it’s location, supplies, equipment and planning, but not always in that order. The problem with location, for example, is you may have been called by God to the place you now occupy, and other considerations don’t matter.
If you’ve read much of my stuff, you’ll expect the first thing is decide suffering and death don’t matter. That’s more practical than it sounds, but it’s my primary readiness effort. Having nailed everything to the Cross, not much else can ruin my day. Connected to that on a human level, though, your greatest asset is flexibility. That is, know what you can do to survive and have some idea what to avoid.
I’m a builder and fixer. I can scavenge and manufacture things I need. I have collected hand tools I know how to use, and have taken the time to acquaint myself with civil engineering on a small scale. I could probably work out water purification. I have some idea what it would take to drill a well, construct sewage and drainage. I have some ideas about making things I use but which may not be available at any price. I don’t seriously expect to have to make my own shoes, but I could. I know how to grow food and organize it on a larger scale for a community. These things reflect my talents and interests. What are yours?
I know how peace can be made between people who get on each other’s nerves. I have a firm idea what is fair and what doesn’t matter — the whole point of this blog. If I had to, I could organize security and even defense. I know how to take charge and probably know when I shouldn’t. I know an awful lot about contributing without being in charge, and leading from the back. These things are useful any time, but critical when things get rough.
The reason I suggest these things is because I have only a rough notion of how bad things will get. I’ve already positioned myself geographically in one of the few states with everything necessary for modern or primitive life, and with an economy likely to survive the worst. I live near a city, but not in it; that’s the first thing I thought was necessary. But that’s for me and my family. You may find a given city is worth the risks of social instability arising from shortages. There will be shortages, mostly because of prices. Our smooth system of distribution and delivery of goods will be seriously disrupted all up and down the chain, and most people living now haven’t seen the older systems. I don’t think it will be apocalyptic, though, at least not everywhere at once. For example, I still sense I’ll be using computers for a while, yet.
So after I got my heart ready, I got some tools and equipment, and got some skills. Almost all of it was a simple matter of following my best inclinations long ago, or building on those experiences. You have to assess where your own situation.