Archive for November, 2009
Nov
30
Let there be light!
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Monday again… I hope everyone had a Great Holiday, giving lots of Thanks! The Prepper family had a good trip to visit family in Central Oregon and got spend a night at the BOL too!
The BOL is well into the wet season and the associated mud issues… Even with the addition of many loads of rock, the driveway is still on the soft side. I guess we’ll just have to wait out the needed TIME to allow all the settling to take place. I say “I guess”, since I’m growing weary of dumping load after load on only to see it get pushed deeper into the ground? I have good access and as long as I’m careful I don’t tear anything up to bad but it would be nice to not have to fill ruts next spring…
We normally see lots of deer on any given trip but this last weekend there seemed to be an abundance. Not that this local herd wouldn’t be easily wiped out if the SHTF, it is comforting to know they’re there now. I saw some real nice bucks this year on our property and the surrounding land! I’m currently not a hunter but still in my wanna-be stage. I have the gear and requisite shooting skills but no hands-on experience. I hope to fix this in the near future.
Alright, enough of the small talk… I was going to bring up the subject of the back up lighting in today’s post…
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I would guess that many if not all of us have the standard camping lantern in the garage. Probably even a couple of flashlights scattered throughout the house and cars too. Is this the extent of our plan for backup lighting? It might be alright but I suggest giving this a few minutes thought. We’re coming into the winter months and its better to have thought these things over sooner than later!
I have a project coming up, probably next spring, to add 12 volt lighting in the BOL. This will be a long term solution to an everyday need. I have a couple of solar panels now that aren’t being utilized very well and I’m going to get those setup to start producing for me.
What I wanted to discuss today was the options we might want for that shorter term power outage type of situation. Any of the solutions I will propose could work long term but I don’t think they are best suited for that use!
Dietz Lanterns
As you see in the photos, I have a few examples of the items I suggest. You also will notice that I have been neglecting these tools the last couple of years. I did some clean up on them to have them better prepared for the coming winter but like a moron, I took the pictures before I cleaned them up rather than after… I wonder about me sometimes too! These have been stored in and around my previous BOL. The place isn’t used a lot now by its current owner, a good friend of mine, I just hadn’t made it a priority to get these items brought up to snuff…
All of these lights today, are of the Kerosene fueled variety. They would also work with the more expensive paraffin lamp oil. I stock kerosene as this is a more economical choice and I need it for our back up heaters too. As a side note, I suggest shopping around before making a kerosene fuel purchase, prices very greatly in my experience. There is a range of possibilities in these lamps, lets take a look at a few…
First are the Dietz brand lanterns, these are the old fashion looking ones. They’re a good choice but be sure to get actual American made - DIETZ brand. There are an abundance of CHINA knockoffs that are of poor quality and will leak almost 100% of the time from the tank seams. I like the looks of these lamps in particular, which of course is not that important. They’ve served me well on several occasions that I’ve used them for an extended period of time. The brightness isn’t anything to write home about but they are sturdy and will produce a nice calming steady light source inside or out.
There is a large number of available variations in both size and even colors. Color of the lantern body itself but also color of the glass globe… I have one lantern that has the red globe, supposedly a remake of the old railroad lantern… Some have integral reflectors to help produce a better focused light but the lanterns I own are pretty basic, they work well and I highly recommend them!
Dietz Lanterns
There is a large number of available variations in both size and even colors. Color of the lantern body itself but also color of the glass globe… I have one lantern that has the red globe, supposedly a remake of the old railroad lantern… Some have integral reflectors to help produce a better focused light but the lanterns I own are pretty basic, they work well and I highly recommend them!
Simple oil lamp - $10
Second, are the “Plain Jane”, glass oil lamps. I also use Kerosene in these, it burns a bit dirtier but the recommended paraffin lamp oil is to pricey. I do have some in my stocks but I can’t imagine what I was thinking when I bought it. I checked the price on this at the local grocery/department chain and it was over $21 a gallon yesterday. These lamps run somewhere around $10 dollars a piece and are fairly attractive for sitting on a kitchen counter or even a dining room table.
When burning kerosene it goes without saying that care must be taken when filling the thing as it isn’t a pleasant smell you want soaking into your wife’s table cloth. Just like with a kerosene heater, it can be a good rule of thumb to light and extinguish these lamps outside to minimize the odors.
The third possibility are the Aladdin Brand lamps. These are quite the product! Some offerings are quite decorative, almost to decorative. They come in many variations from Victorian style hanging chandeliers to more humble wall mounted cabin style lamps. These have a proprietary mantle that is required versus the standard woven cotton wick that is used with the other two lamps. This special mantle is what creates the super bright light that is characteristic to the Aladdin line of lamps.
Simple oil lamp - $10
Aladdin Kerosene Lamp - 6owatt
Over 10 years ago I purchased a low end, aluminum tank model. This was still over $100 dollars at that time but I had heard many good things about these lamps and wanted to see for myself. I was impressed with what I received, a beautiful lamp that put out the equivalent of a 60 watt electric light bulb. No false advertising on their part!
I like these lamps and would consider them well worth their price! However, it takes a little fine tuning of your technique to get their operation correct. It isn’t that they’re hard to operate but if you’re not careful they’ll get overheated and I cracked one glass chimney before I realized what I was doing wrong. Also, these special and very delicate mantles do break easily. Both of these two parts are something that a prudent prepper should have spares for and in abundance!
I’m like most everyone else and love the gadgets… I feel pretty well covered with my battery operated light sources! However, as I get older and see where I’ve been shortsighted in the past, I want to go back and recover some old ground. I have these lamps already but if I didn’t I would purchase a few to have on hand… Batteries will eventually run out or a situation could arise at the worst possible moment… Say when the battery supply was JUST ABOUT to be restocked… Sound familiar? I guarantee very little but I will guarantee you this – Unfortunate circumstances WILL COME and at the worst of possible times! Mark my words, add redundancy now when it’s easy – it is only money!
I can hear my hecklers already, “Light sources - how boring”, why doesn’t he talk about the latest M-FORGERY accessory, all the cool kids just bought… That’s alright, call me old fashion but I like to have options. As with just about everything I discuss with all of you, this is just the stuff I have running through my head. I want to always be encouraging my brothers to do their fine tuning now while its convenient. If you have this area covered than don’t give it a second thought… If you don’t, well you know what to do! Get out there and DO SOMETHING!
See ya tomorrow!
Prepper
Aladdin Kerosene Lamp - 6owatt
Nov
29
Guest Article – It Takes Money to Make Money
Posted by: | CommentsHello All, the Preppers are making their way home from a weekend with family. I grabbed a shot at an internet connection to at least get something new up for you guys… Technically, it won’t be new to all of you as it’s a Guest Article from over at www.bisonsurvivalblog.com. I really appreciate the way James Daken’s mind works and a lot of the conclusions he come’s too… Give this a read and I hope to be back on my normal schedule, starting tomorrow!
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We all know that it takes money to make money. In a sense, this isn’t completely true as far as government welfare, perhaps the occasional inheritance, but 99% of the time, it is a hard and fast rule. So, this being something we can all relate to, it should be quite easy to translate this over to the size of government. It takes a surplus of resources to get more resources. Look at the general state of affairs as far as colonialism is concerned. The European states that had the resources to invest were able to conquer foreign lands and exploit the resources to further their growth and conquest. Without a surplus in the first place, they were unable to score more resources.
This is really all there is to it. No extra to invest, no returns are possible. Look at England and France. In an agrarian economy, France always had an advantage and rose in the ranks of nations. England had a smaller base and was limited. Alas, in an accident of history, England had the coal whereas France had a lot less. From that point on, we entered the carbon fuel economy, England was able to parlay its energy surplus into foreign energy acquisition. It began to falter once coal was replaced by oil.
Those countries that had the oil, namely the US and the Soviets, began to exploit other countries resources. Even those countries with oil ( middle east, South America ) were conquered, as America entered the race first and fueled its military so that a later oil surplus yielded no advantage. The Cold War between America and Russia was more an Oil Titan clash than a political contest.
Now, let’s enter a period of energy scarcity. Industrialism dies from lack of fuel and we will transition back to an agrarian economy. Metal will not be as scarce as it was historically due to our above ground mining ability ( use the scrap of the Oil Age ) but we won’t have the energy to fuel mass production. If you can’t produce nitrates on an industrial scale you can’t conduct warfare on an industrial scale. You can’t farm on an industrial scale either, which hampers your ability to grow more soldiers.
Industrial war was mining resources to conquer more resources, just as in all conflicts through history, but on an unseen scale because of the carbon fuels. When nations or groups go to war to steal more resources, they use up all their surplus in the fight. They are betting all or nothing. They win, they defeat and kill the enemy and gain extra resources. They lose, mostly they starve and die due to using their capital as well as their interest ( to use the financial metaphor again ). Without carbon fuels, warfare will shrink back down to agrarian economy levels. Without extra population fed by petroleum, battles will be far smaller.
On a tribal scale, the farmers or the herders double as fighters. Once you get above that scale to a larger plot of land, you need to have a surplus of warriors to assist nearby settlements. If a group of herders are grazing over wide areas, they can defend large areas. The young and aged can look after animals for a short time while they fight. Plus, they are mobile by nature. Their transport lives off foraging.
In a farm community, everyone is tied to the land. After the planting or harvest, you can free up the men for fighting, but that then leaves the community wide open to attack. Without the surplus crops to support a permanent caste of fighters, you can’t fight as needed outside the community. Say you envision a county or state as a nation. Town A is twenty miles from town B. A and B can defend their own towns. But when one is attacked, the other can’t respond quick enough to help defend them. Not unless a dedicated military is patrolling or engaged in offensive attacks to keep enemies away. This is where your trouble lies. If you don’t have the surplus resources, you can’t defend larger areas or attack prior to trouble. An invading army picks you off one by one.
Why do you think the Dark Ages had such small political units? Why were they defensive in nature? It wasn’t just the introduction of gunpowder that brought down the defensive castle. It was the surplus of energy which allowed an industry built around gunpowder to emerge. The knowledge of powder wasn’t enough, you needed the investment in excess nitrates and metal production. Without surplus, the “tribe” stayed local and never expanded. They couldn’t project power out.
When surpluses came about ( most likely from the exhausted soils recovering ), then the offense was born again. If you can’t feed an army, or equip them from surplus, you don’t grow past local. You need all your meager resources just for local defense ( and sometimes that wasn’t enough if your neighbor had just a bit more than you did ). Consider this carefully. The one with more resources will usually win. Use the leftovers from the Oil Age carefully, because once they are gone our polluted and depleted soil can only support a limited number of people. And more than likely, there will be no surplus.
END
Nov
25
Reader Questions
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Well, I was trying to figure out how to get as many posts up for you this week with the Holiday and maybe even keep it all interesting… I hadn’t decided to do a Readers Questions for sure yet but after the barrage stemming from yesterdays post, I have to respond…
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Question #1 - “Are you an unhappy person?”
Actually, I am a very lonely and miserable person… NO, I’m not an unhappy person! That is a really strange question but I guess we are still all getting to know each other? I have a feeling that this person is looking for a more in depth answer. See my lengthy comments to follow and I think it will fill in the blanks you’re after.
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Question #2 - “Are you trying to mock the American Dream?”
Yes and no, I am mocking the American Dream that was outlined in the “story” I posted yesterday. Let me clarify, I am a proponent of any and all of the things that Mr. Right did in the story, as long as they are things that help you achieve your goals. Such as education, I’m all for it! What I am wholeheartedly against is DEBT! All to often that education comes with a DEBT that lasts longer than it takes to raise a child. Don’t tell me that you did it without debt because I do know it can be done, it just seldom is…
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Question #3 - “Is this story what the American Dream means to me?”
Bingo! Absolutely not! This is the stereotypical version of the American Dream – HALLMARK CARD CONSUMERISM, even if the things being spent on are “good ideas”, my definition or yours… My friends we have been sold a bill of goods on the whole American Dream idea! Hollywood has corrupted every foundation of this once great society.
Think back to what we all learned in High School history class… I know, I know – a lot of it was revisionist history but still the part I’m going to refer to was pretty accurate as far as I can see. Do you remember the immigrants that came from around the world to settle in “AMERICA”? Why did they come here? Was it possibly an “American Dream” that they were following? Yes, even in large part to provide better living conditions for their families, much like the choices Mr. Right made yesterday… Take this a little deeper though, these folks came from great distances to get something we had and they could never have? Can you think what it was?
I’m going to tell you – It was LAND! Land folks, not a new HUMMER or a 100K college education, so they could work as a barista at Starbucks when daddy or the tax payers got done paying for them to have the “College Experience”. Does anyone disagree? These folks came from every corner of the globe to seek out the riches that America had, yes but in large part they came for the LAND. America was the only place in the world that a common person could actually own land! Ever think about that? We are still one of the only nations that allows the little people to own it! We have allowed the ugly boot of government to bastardize this freedom with a property tax that goes on forever but still we own it as long as we pay their fee! Mexicans can gain the use of land but never own it, they get a lease from the .gov for 99 years? Now why would that be? So, it never actually changes hands and the common man has nothing to hand down to his children and leaves the .gov firmly in control of their peoples destiny!
The American Dream was land and the FREEDOM that the land could provide! We’ll talk more about that important point soon!
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Question #4 - “Do I have a problem with prosperity?”
Not in the least. I want to have money and nice things in my life, just like anyone else! I DO have money and nice things in my life! I don’t buy into the popular misconception that many Church’s teach their parishioners, “Money is the root of all evil”. Its not the money but the LOVE of money folks that’s our undoing. Poverty is not what my God wants for me and I don’t espouse an ideology of the “Righteous” poor.
Where my views on money differ from others is that I have adopted a real HATERED of DEBT. I have previously looked at debt as being potentially both good or bad. Let me give you an example of this good debt…
If a real estate investor was to buy a rental house with a mortgage payment of $1000 per month and then rent it out for $1200, he would have a cash flow of $200. I’m over simplifying this process but you see how this mortgage debt could be viewed as acceptable… I used to believe this was true, actually made these kinds of investments myself. I guess in truth I couldn’t fault someone for believing this but I choose to no longer participate in the DEBT scam! I have a few more to pay off and then I’m out and I’m not going back… There are other creative ways to create opportunities, even in real estate without exercising your credit score!
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Question #5 - “Am I Mr. Right?”
Yes, I’m Mr. Right – at least as far as Mrs. Prepper is concerned! No, I was writing about a fictional character but I do have a few young guys that I know and see a treacherous road ahead of any young person starting out in life! Exciting times to be sure!
The Mr. Right in the story could be just about anyone of us. Male or female for that matter. I would even admit that as far as the choices made in the story, Mr. Right did better than 90% of the folks in our society right now!
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Question #6 - “What exactly was the stories point?”
I guess I have to apologise for not making my point very clear. It is difficult to get all these thoughts in my head out on to the page. What I was hoping to accomplish with this illustration was nothing more than to show that even when a young guy played by the rules, he could become trapped. Trapped in debt!
The trap was NOT the wife or the kids… It wasn’t even the house, student loans, cars or credit cards. It was the place the young man ended up. He had lost his freedom, not for an individual item or even any individual choice… He lost the freedom to come and go as he wished, work less hours or make a drastic change in lifestyle. All because of the well thought out snare he laid for himself in trying to do the right things and from a young age.
Time has a way of teaching us lessons. What looked good and made sense a few years ago might look like a HUGE mistake now! How can this happen? Just like the young Mr. Right, we make decisions today that have a long lasting lifespan! We sign 30 year Mortgages, like they were nothing more than a credit card receipt at the steak house on Saturday night… 30 years is a very long time to make a commitment for. All to often as Americans our marriages don’t last anywhere near as long as the mortgage commitment we signed.
The moral to this story is simply – “Be very careful what you sign up for or you may find yourself arriving at a destination you hadn’t intended!”
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I want to wish everyone a very HAPPY THANKSGIVING! The Preppers will be heading out to first the BOL and then to spend a couple of days with family… This means that my access to the internet will be sporadic but I will be attempting to have a couple more posts before Monday!
Prepper
Nov
21
Check These Videos Out…
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The American Scream!
Posted by: Prepper | Comments (0)Well, thanks for joining me for another week at the old grind… Oh wait, that’s right, it’s a short week! Thanksgiving! Yeah, I do have a lot to be thankful for and I bet you do too. It’s way to easy to get bogged down in the details of the day. Don’t get me wrong, I am convinced that we’re speeding around and around the toilet bowl of current events, moving ever closer to that tipping point that we can’t return from! We might already be past that critical point and if so I’ll allow my unfounded optimism to get away from me because of the nature of our celebration later this week!
I know we have some new readers that have joined us in the last couple of weeks. Welcome! I’ve mentioned briefly in the past, preppernation has had the privilege of being featured as a Guest Article over on the bisonsurvivalblog.com website the last couple of weekends. As a junior member of this blogger fraternity, I appreciate the vote of confidence from James Dakin and the loyal Bison Minions!
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Today I want to share an account of a young man that I’ve been thinking a lot about lately. This is a specific young man that I’m going to refer to but I think he is representative of most any young man starting out in life, at least for the majority of the timeline we will be examining.
With wide eyes and a healthy sense of immortality this young man leaves the security of the life he has know. Properly prepared to move forward in life having been trained by well meaning, loving parents to always make the right and moral choices.
Our young man was faced almost immediately with a life changing decision. What would he do to provide himself a living? It seemed that there was two main options for him to weigh as he made this critical determination. One, he could move directly into the work force, taking an entry level position and advance slowly as he obtained his skills on the job. Or two, he could continue his education for the next several years and secure a college degree, allowing him to achieve the higher level employment positions later in life.
Our boy decided to make the right choice and continue with his education. After enrolling himself in a 4 year program at the local State University, he threw himself into his studies. His diligence paid off and 4 years later he was awarded the degree he sought, graduating with honors. Atta Boy!
With his degree in hand, he set out to locate a firm looking to employ an honorable hardworking man such as himself. It would take a bit of time to secure the right position with the upward mobility opportunities he was after. That was alright as this was an important decision and those student loan payments could be deferred for a while yet, at least until that perfect position opened up. So our guy, always up to the task, made the right decision and took his time looking for the sweet spot.
OK! Now, he had arrived. A large corporation swept him off his feet, offering him a rare position in a department that had plenty of ladder climbing capacity! They were giving him the recognition that a talented graduate deserved. He would be working with some of the big boys and be expected to keep up with the team. A real high power crowd, expensive suits and spendy automobiles would be required to make the rightimpression on the clients. No problem, gotta dress for success! Our newly employed young man, found that the car dealers and mens furnishings store credit departments had nothing but confidence in him and his blossoming career years ahead. They laid out the trimmings he would need for a successful appearance. They even offered him the option to hold the costs over for 90 days. This would allow him the time he needed to find his groove without the payment pressures to distract him!
As we all would expect him to… He made the right decision! It took no time at all for our rising star to begin to make his mark on his new company. Sunshine and roses, it was all falling into place, just as he had planned.
Our young man, like most that will answer honestly, was looking forward to finding the perfect little gal to make his wife. That was the next item to be checked on his to-do list. Wouldn’t even consider it until he had the means of supporting her but that box was now checked! Like a smart fella he knew he wanted to find a wife that would be his equal, intellectually. What better place to begin his search but back at his almamoder. There was a lot of bright, beautiful and eligible young ladies back in those stacks!
Once Prince Charming began the search, it didn’t take long to identify his choice. A wonderful girl that could not have been better suited to our guy. They had similar upbringing and views on family matters, even attended the same church denomination. Like “Mr. Right”, our gal had nearly completed her degree and would be graduating with honors in a month or two. Of course the addition of a second debt for her college degree would accompany “Ms. Right” into their new marriage.
It was a whirlwind romance and the “Rights” would be married early the next fall. These were the best and brightest, real smart kids and they wanted it all to be perfect. Why wouldn’t they? They had played by the rules and made the right choices and worked hard to achieve each accomplishment they had! They deserved their happiness! They had the world by the tail and the blessings of everyone…
The wedding was straight out of the brides dreams, not to big but at the same time couldn’t leave anyone out. The costs did mount as the “Rights” made all the final arrangements. The brides family did what they could financially and the kids made up the difference for the overages. It wasn’t lavish but did leave them a credit card bill for over 15K, once the romantic tropical honeymoon was factored in. They thought that it had all been pretty reasonable, considering they each had known friends to spend much more on their weddings! All said and done they had shown exceptional maturity and restraint in their spending, everyone said so!
They setup housekeeping in the responcibly located condominium that our good fellow had rented to be near his office. The work load and sales appointments could keep him well into the evening during the weeknights. It was for a good cause and would pay dividends down the road with the big bosses. Mrs. Right was ready to begin the search for her career entry point now that the wedding was wrapped up and they had her settled in her new home.
The weeks seemed to roll right on past and our young wife was thoroughly enjoying her new role as wife and homemaker to her fine hardworking husband. It was the right thing for her to want, to take good care of her husband. She did spent time regularly looking into what her employment opportunities were but her heart just wasn’t really in it. She was married now and that was after all one of her life’s big dreams too? A husband and some children of her own, eventually.
Our happy couple had a great relationship and our guy was really enjoying the benefits of having a loving wife waiting for him when he walked through the door each evening! He was doing well at the firm and was making more sales as his experience grew. Seeing his wife bloom in her new found happiness and with children to come, not to far into the future. He thought it would be the right thing to do offering to have her stay home full time, if that was what she wanted.
They had agreed that she would just take her time making up her mind about the career. They really were enjoying these traditional roles and having a great time together. Neither of them could believe that it would go so quickly but they rounded the corner on their first anniversary in no time flat. Since a career choice hadn’t made it to the top of the list for his bride, it seemed apparent that she was going to be content being his wife, full time. This wasn’t a problem as she was far exceeding his expectations and making him very happy.
As they entered their second year of wedded bliss, they decided that they wanted to open the discussions of their future family. They agreed prior to marrying that they both did indeed want to have children but it was the timing that was still up in the air. Since she had decided to make marriage her career. They felt it would be the right choice to move forward with the plans to start adding children to the family.
They agreed that the condo wasn’t the right place to be raising children, so they began the search for a home that would meet the needs of a growing family. They talked with their parents and examined two possibilities. Either they could rent a home or go ahead and make a home purchase. All parties agreed that a purchase would be the right choice. In the long run they would regret making rent payments and having nothing to show for it. The monthly expense would be a bit higher but they would be gaining equity!
In the city where our couple currently lived, homes were appreciating rapidly. Many trendy areas and it was common for the home sellers to receive multiple offers as soon as they put their homes on the market. Our young family wanted to continue living in the area, it was close to Mr. Rights office and seemed like the right thing to do.
A few short months past and our kids found out they were indeed expecting a delivery very close to their second wedding anniversary. That was wonderful news, the home they had selected was on an extended closing and the time period would work perfectly to have them moved in before the baby’s arrival. Everything was working out just right…
The happy couple had decided to save every penny they could and put them into a special savings account. They would then use this small fortune as their down payment on the house. There goal was to have a full 10% as a down payment, they had always heard from their parents that this was the right approach to home ownership… However, this required that only the minimum payments got made on all of their debts. They didn’t feel like this would be a great set back as they had only thoughtfully made credit purchases and always for the right reasons. In their two years of marriage they had accrued only a relatively small amount of credit debt including the wedding expenses, honeymoon. Take those few things away and all they had was the student loans and Mr. Rights “work” car… They felt a degree of pride as they continued to make all the right decisions, even though they had many friends from school and the office that were living far beyond there means…
Their home purchase closed and the family to be completed their move from the condo in plenty of time to prepare for the baby’s arrival. Their friends and family had been incredibly generous at the baby showers and they had most of the things the book said they would need. Just a few odds and ends to pull it all together, this added only a small additional balance to the credit card. No big deal as that total would have been a much larger amount if they hadn’t been blessed with generous friends.
Baby arrived “Right” on time as expected. They were the perfect family, enjoying a new home and all paths appeared to be leading to green pastures. The next several years went smoothly and according to plan. The “Rights” added a second child and Mr. Right was upwardly moving at the office. Life would always have the unknowns and they would field a curve ball from time to time, like most families. A replacement car would be required for their growing brood. The occasional upgrade of work related expenses, the usual office dress attire or newer model automobile. These were acceptable expenses as it takes money to make money or so the theory goes. A second set of this or that, now that there was two children… We all know the drill, always something to keep a young family busy and often broke! No, not broke in the traditional sense but more monthly expenses than ideally planned for and seldom that extra payment per year toward the mortgage that was suppose to happen.
Mr Right was very happy with his life and family, overall! He did however begin to grow weary of the long hours that the company and clients demanded. He began to find his mind wandering to other activities that he would do if he only had the time. Being the good husband and father, he put his personal longings for a change of pace down into the deepest parts of his soul. Better he keep these desires to himself and not risk appearing to have lost track of the right priorities.
The family continued to grow, as the years went by… The happy couple had welcomed a third and final baby to their home. Mr. Right knew in his heart that he had made all the right choices and wouldn’t consider doing anything to upset the delicate balance of their happy home. He had successfully denied the feelings he had been having for years, even his wife wasn’t fully aware of the quite desperation her husband felt.
Things at the “Right” household were sustainable as long as Mr. Right continued to run through his life at the breakneck pace he set for himself nearly a decade ago. In the beginning, it was all new and fun climbing that ladder to success. Our boy climbed, year after year and right choice after right choice.
He realized that he would have to keep this up, want to or not! He had three little mouths to feed, all under the age of 8, a wonderful wife that didn’t ask for much for herself but wanted good things for their children. That, of course, was understandable and the right thing to do, as well! Amazingly, the careful credit usage habits that had been a source of pride only a few years ago, had none the less mounted into what came to well over a 100K dollars of debt. Largely this was due to the student loans for his and Mrs. Right’s education. They had both believed these debts a cornerstone of their career investment strategy. Two car payments and a 30 year house note with 25 years of payments still to go. His having made the right choice and kept only one credit card in the house might have been a comfort, except that ONE had a balance of nearly 10K on it… Sales continued at the office but it seemed that other than keeping up with the standard demands on his income, our young go getter wasn’t making alot of head way. At about the time a good run of sales commissions would come through he would find that it was time to purchase a this or put a deposit on a that. Always for a reason and as ALWAYS the right thing to do.
A short time has passed and this brings us near the end of this story about the “Rights”… We now find our eager young man in quite a position. He awoke one day and looked around at his unfamiliar almost puzzling surroundings. There was no one with him but he also was not alone? He had a peculiar feeling that he new where he was and he tried to focus his eyes on a strange pattern in front of him. It was a grid of bars, a long row of vertical slats that he was staring at that gray day… How had he gotten to this place of despair, trapped inside this cell? He closed his eyes again and allowed his mind to find its equilibrium.
He began to regain his bearings, recognizing that he was indeed in a cell. The cell was the one he had built himself, one right choice at a time. Brick by brick those walls went up, willingly up and up they went. So high had these walls gone that now he had no choice, he was trapped. Trapped in a cell behind these bars, the bars also of his own making! This time in an even more literal sense, the bars he saw before him weren’t made of steel, they were of cedar. The bars were indeed the white picket fence in front of the house where our young man lives with his family. He had somehow fallen as he left the house for another evening at work, away from that family! Sadly, he picked himself up and continued on as this wasn’t just a dream – It was much worse, it was the – AMERICAN DREAM!
Submitted for your consideration -
Prepper