[Trutu]

Maybe I am just having a bad day/week but it seems things just continue to get worse. Inflation for one thing is way out of control. I heard on the news that 2 million home foreclosures are on the horizon. Taxes continue to rage out of hand. Lawmakers continue to create incredibly lame bogus laws, that do nothing better than to see that the government has control over every aspect of our lives. The future of our 2nd amendment rights seems to be in doubt depending on how this election goes. The constitution is becoming more and more just an antiquated document, that is nothing more than a tourist attraction. Our industry continues to outsource labor to foreign areas, creating fewer and fewer jobs.

I live in a pretty rural community, we have a farm and we grow mostly corn and hay. Since last year fertilizer has gone from 500 dollars a ton to 1400 dollars a ton. That is almost a 300% increase, it has never ever been this crazy before. Costs on everything and I repeat everything have gone sky high here. The price on basic materials from steel to oil to food have skyrocketed. Cost of living has way outpaced the wage in our area and its not going to get better anytime soon. Doesn't it seem like in just the past two years things have gotten completely out of hand? I mean things were steadily getting worse in the years before but these past couple years have been beastly!

Four years ago I was living comfortably on the income I made but now I am barely able to keep my head above water. Tax time deadline is nearly here and I have a huge hit to pay this year and I don't know how I am going to do it. I am just about to flip out, maybe it's just tax time has me in a bad mood but I don't see how things are going to get better unless something incredibly drastic happens.

I see one of two things on the horizon, first is a revolution of some sort, people will finally get sick of everything and will finally just say no, we are not letting this happen anymore. Second is a collapse of our nation to a severe level, I'm talking starvation of the masses.

We have put a fair bit of ammo and food away just for this situation and I hope its enough. Well anyways sorry for the rant but I needed to vent a little. Truely though I think we are in trouble as a country especially with our current crop of presidential contenders, anyone of them have the ability to finish this country off. The current situation were in is just the sort of thing our forefathers tried to gaurd against, oh well maybe next time!

 

[Roc Rat]

Hey Bub,, don't feel alone. I know it won't really help anything other than your spirt, but there is a lot of this going on. I went back to work a month ago,, driving 200 miles to get to southern NH to do maintenance and spring clean up,, strict 40 hrs per week and little bonuses to help offset the price of meals and gas. Worked for three weeks and then back to lay off status. I'm hearing my Hoe Ram might be slower this year than last. Lost $15,000 in spendable income last year,, construction is being hit hard. When I hear of how much some people make, and just plain PISS away,,, what great deals you can get on vacations and airfare,,, 500 hp Mercedies, and the lovely way Martha Stewart can decorate a dinner table for ten of her friends so they can talk about the best buys on Wall Street over smoked salmon I just want to shoot somebody.
The gap between the rich and the poor is widening everyday.

 

[DOUBLE8]

YES! Yes it is.

oh, im sorry, was i expected to explain myself?

 

[xdevildog]

I'm with Double8 on this one.

An overview reading of the history of most any civilization goes from nothing to organized, sometimes brutally, around a central idea to stable to speculative to divided to destroyed back to nothing (either by internal or external forces - or both). My feeble mind says we are somewhere between the speculative and divided stages.

I'm approaching geezerhood, and I'm not sure the whole house of cards will come down in my lifetime, but I have some disposable income so I put away food, funds and ammo in the hopes that the grandkids will have the sense to know how to put them all to good use when the time comes. I hope I live long enough to teach them how to plant potatoes, how to keep a knife sharp, and how to cut up a steer with it.

 

[Trutu]

xdevildog, one of the problems I see is that the old geezers like yourself who actually have skills are dying off, and not enough of our youth are learning these skills. Who needs to learn metalworking when you got NINTENDO! A lot of these skills will be needed in the event of a collapse.

We have been spoonfed for way to long and its just this that will be a huge factor in how hard we fall. I have been hoarding all the information I can find on basic things such as metalworking or chemistry etc.. Having grown up on a farm I have learned many things, but there is always more. One thing I have taken to doing is if I find anything worthwile I print it and put it into a folder for safe keeping, so when the time comes I will have it to refer to.

 

[Rory]

trutu and xdev, you can't blame my generation in its entirety you more need to blame out parents' generation. few of my friends know anything about building or manual construction of anything. in reality this all stems from the parents. i am handy, mostly because i just wanted to learn how to do this stuff. i like to learn about anything that i can as i never want to be held back by not knowing how to complete a task. i know that my skills with many things are far outpaced by others. welding for instance. i can do it. i understand how and hat and where and why and know a bit about structure. enough to overbuild everything just in case. the real blame though is the generation ahead. my parents were super super young and most of their generation have kids that are now entering adulthood. i am rounding 30, this weekend actually, and know that most others just hire things out. or well, call me for help.

there is hope though. all of the lovely young ladies are looking now for more manly men. look at all the beards on young folk right now. may be just symbolic but it is really a pattern. those who did not learn from their parents are really trying to pick things up now. it is a retarded growth pattern but it is still growth in the right direction.

more later i am working

 

[Rory]

on that note, what food stores safely for over a year?

canned goods sort of do but not recommended. so what stores the best?

r

 

[AaronHorrocks]

MREs do. Pick up a few cases.

 

[Roc Rat]

Whole grains, rice, wheat, and corn,, in 5 gallon pails capped off with nitrogen will keep almost indefinately. Run a tube to the bottom of the pail and pump in nitrogen till a flame won't bure at the surface of the grain,, then seal the pail,, Gamma Lids work great,, store in a cool dry place. Get yourself a grain mill too.

I'm approaching "Geezerhood" too,,, and I know stuff.

http://www7.mailordercentral.com/longlifefood/AboutUs.asp
http://www.theepicenter.com/mre_military_meal_ready_to_eat.html

 

[Mouse]

Is the path our country headed down a hopeless one?

There are way to many layers of corruption to be able to fix it at this point. Each layer will protect the other as it protects its self and corruption will continue to spread like a wildfire fueled by gasoline.
Money and power are the factors at hand and no one who holds either will be willing to give it up, it will have to be wretched from their hands, all at the same instant or it will continue to feed upon its self until there is nothing left to fuel it.
The current system is to far gone to be recoverable.

 

[blackrifles]

Trutu,

Hang in there, you're by no means the only one feeling this.


Frank and I talked about this today, along with a short conversation with one of my old ex-mil friends, my feelings are it's too late to save it the way things are going, start making SHTF plans, you're gonna need multiple backup plans too.

 

[xdevildog]

Rory; I wasn't blaming any particular generation. My dad was a carpenter and cement mason. I learned his trades, but went into the Marine Corps and then into gubmint service. Have a grown son who is a mortgage banker and a daughter whose husband is an RN and who is about to become a stay-at-home mom. The oldest grandkid is five, and he already has his own .22 bolt action courtesy of the old man.

All I was trying to get across is that the old scout motto applies in any generation but I'm thinking much more so in this one. I know where hamburger comes from and how to get if from the hoof to my plate. My son and daughter know it comes from cows, somehow, and the grandkids figure Ronald McDonald just whips it up out of thin air. Once I retire it's a small farm for the frau and I and indentured servitude for any grandkid who wanders within arms length. They are lousy help, but they need to learn the skills.

Finally, stuff to store. First and foremost Hard Red Winter Wheat. Set it up just like Roc Rat said and it will last for 15 or 20 years as long as it is stored out of direct sunlight. Like gunpowder, the better the storage facility the longer term it lasts. The ideal is dry, dark and about 55 degreed F. That generally means part of a basement, but you can get creative if you have some large culvert, leach rock, welding and concrete pouring skills and a backhoe.

MRE's work too as a short term measure. For me, they are too darned expensive to store as a couple of years' supply for the whole family. (Even if you won't have the cost of a chemical tiolet to worry about. )

Make certain you buy directly from the packing house. I use http://www7.mailordercentral.com/longlifefood/home.asp They will last three to five years in the ideal storage area outlined above, and very nearly forever if you freeze them in the bottom of a chest freezer with a sheet of plywood on top so the packages aren't disturbed by taking stuff on and off the boxes. Repeat. . .do not purchase MREs at a surplus store unless you are taking them out hunting in a week or two. You have no idea how harshly they have been handled and they are rated to last only three months in 100 degree plus heat.

As you can probably tell, food storage is another hobby of mine. If you have questions or want other sources, shoot me an email and I'll do my best to help out. That goes for any of you other guys/gals, too.

 

[174th gunner]

Food

ya'll loking for food check out WALTON FEED those guys got what ya want in food that keeps.try for a years suply for the whole family and a little extra for trade....

 

[Trutu]

I am big on storing grains, especially rice and wheat. Key is to keep them dry, we have stored nearly 3 ton of wheat for about 5 years now and its still in great shape. To bad wheat is so expensive right now, somewhere around 9 bucks a bushel, rice is worse at 20 bucks. We got a great deal on our wheat at about 2 bucks a bushel 5 years ago.

 

[CaptMax]

Trutu, I have felt the way you say for the last several years. I have also agreed with you on many of your posts as well. I'm 44 now so I guess that makes me one of the older bunch. Luckily my father and his father taught me many skills that I use everyday. I see many of the younger generation have no idea what a hard days work really is. That is sad. I also see hope in several of them who seem to really understand what is happening as well. In either case, should the SHTF, I will be a survivor. Hopefully there will be others like you too.
CaptMax

 

[kansasrebel]

I know this sounds kind of crazy but you should buy some of the presweetened Kool Aid. It's in plastic so I will stay for quite awhile. It will make bad water tolerable and provides vitamin C so you won't get scurvy.

 

[blackrifles]

KR,

Good point, can we make the "Jim Jones" type for the thirsty masses that want OUR guns?

 

[franks71vw]

It is really sad that this nation has gotten to the point of where it is.. It wont suprise me if they are going to want to confiscate guns for the mere sake that all hell will break lose in these big citites.. can you imagine all the gimmie takers in NY, LA, Chicago, I feel for those guys.

 

[DOUBLE8]

Been storin food, water, med supplies (wife is a LPN) ammo, guns, reloadin supplies (have no clue what to do with them) and everything else we think will help us in SHTF. The wife is on a Radio trip right now, she wants a ham radio or base station so we can communicate with....i geusse you guys. Speakin of which, anyone got a good base station they want to sell?

 

[tomt]

mess

well we let it happen. we keep voting in the same retards year after yaer !! what the hell do you expect ? and the idiots keep doing the same thing to us year after yaer !!! and hillary is about to get elected !!!??? and a black muslim !!!?? jesus h christ people. we did it to ourselves !!!! vote them ALLL OUT !!!!!! lets start over with some americans !!!!!sorry, but it's the truth !!! tomt