Comments on: Spread the message of survival this holiday season

By: ckb

ckb — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 02:53:52 +0000

Hi, greetings from rural north central Oregon! It is Thanksgiving evening, and I wanted to share how preparedness/hard times came up in our family conversation several times today while gathering for the holiday. I had loaned my dad Rawles novel "Patriots" several weeks ago, and he brought it up several times during the day. While eating pie, my parents, in-laws, husband and I got into a long situation of "what would you do if" such as extended power outage, flooding, etc up to SHTF type situations like in the novel. Both sides of the family have men who hunt, my mother-in-law helps cut up the meat plus she is an avid canner, she mentioned how she cooked a stew on their stove top several years ago during a power outage. We discussed what type of skills would be handy, and agreed a range of skills (as in the group in "Patriots") was good, and then talked about who had what skills…my husband is a carpenter/handyman, knows livestock, can work on a forge and shoe horses, weld, hunts, camps, etc…I especially am the gardener/preserver/prepper, my mom has EMT experience, etc. So we actually discussed preparedness issues several times throughout the day, but in a positive, not doomer, approach. My dad seems to be fascinated by my growing food storage, and I think he understands the motives behind it now, because of reading the novel and our discussions. Interesting!

By: TheSurvivalMom

TheSurvivalMom — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 15:23:23 +0000

Debbie, I must be more goal oriented than a lot of people because I do like to look at all the cans of soup I have in the pantry! LOL Your point about being able to utilize what you have is one that I hope people heed. Case in point. We bought two new fire strikers at a gun show a while back, and this weekend the Paranoid Dad attempted to use one to light a fire in our firepit. Well, the striker was coated with some type of protective material that had to be removed, but we didn't realize it until he had striked that darn thing near thirty times! Now, he does know how to use a striker, but a less experienced person might end up with a survival tool in hand, have the need for it, and not know how to use it. Education goes hand in hand with stocking up. Thanks for the comment and have a beautiful Thanksgiving with your family!

By: dlt

dlt — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 16:08:43 +0000

My family is not into prepping per se however they are prepared for changes that may come. I think the difference is that there are preppers who live to "prep" and those who are prepping to live. The first get a high from a sale, their growing stockpile etc. and that kinda turns people off however the latter take into consideration all factors of being prepared. It's not about how much you have but the ability to utilize what you have…so yeah my family will be gathered around the Thanksgiving table giving thanks that we can celebrate once again this wonderful day and discussing the changes and how best we can manage through that time….together!