I’m back, you thought you got rid of me didn’t ya? What’s a guy expected to do, show up at least 5 days a week and share nearly every thought in his pea picken brain? Well, I’m not promising a darn thing, I’ll do my best but sometimes I’ll let ya down… Life, better get used to it!

   On a serious note, there has been a lot of hub bub on the net lately about today’s topic… Although not always referred to as a MZB, it’s still the same thing. Regardless what you personally like to call them – looter, brigand, scavenger, opportunist or even neighbor… Yes, I said neighbor! What’s the thread that could connect all of these different categories… Have’s VS. have not’s!

   Just to kick things off today I’m going to go through my view of the MZB’s that we might find ourselves up against or attempting to stay out of the way of. The typical MZB that survivalist lore has made popular is the motorcycle riding, dirty cannibal that would be the scourge of the countryside in any post apocalyptic world. Is this version of the MZB wrong? Nope, it could happen, just like the fiction suggests. However, I think other possibilities are more probable!

   After any disaster that puts a serious disruption in our national supply lines we will see our world break down quickly. I dare anyone to show me ANY evidence that this wouldn’t be the typical outcome, even here in America! We have a long supply line that covers literally thousands of miles across this nation and to points well beyond our borders. I might even be able to make the case that the people in America would degenerate quicker than the people did in Haiti or Chile did recently. We are a very indulged populous and have a case of the “Entitlement Mentality” to the worst degree.

   We see signs of a moral corruption at all levels of our society and I wouldn’t trust that a disaster would bring us together in any meaningful way. Yes, after 9/11 we saw an up tick in “Patriotism”, which in this country means adding a red, white and blue bumper sticker to our Japanese made automobile. This is nothing more than feel good patriotism and is soon forgotten when the next celebrity sensationalized awards event comes around the corner.

   Hold that tar bucket for just one minute… You thought I wouldn’t see you sneaking up behind me, didn’t you! If you’re the bumper sticker having patriot – GOOD FOR YOU! I bet you had your symbolised patriotism on your rig before anything noteworthy occurred – right? If that’s you, I didn’t mean you and I think you know that… I’ve heard from more than one REAL freedom loving American, how much those Johny come lately’s pissed them off. None of this even really matters as it was just supposed to be a small example of the state of many of our countrymen. Some of the things that I’m going to say these next couple of days are bound to get a few people upset… If that’s the case, I encourage you now to use that emotion for your own good and go get your families long term survival supplies in order so the rest of us don’t have to shoot you when you turn feral!

   Since we all see at least a dozen potential disasters and half a dozen likely to happen disasters, I won’t get bogged down in the specifics. For the sake of discussion we are all facing a new reality, whatever happened left us to depend on ourselves and if we’re fortunate a few trusted neighbors or family members might lend a hand. We have little or no grid power and the grocery stores have closed there doors due to the lack of new supplies and spotty grid power. Fuel for all of our needs is sold out at all of the normal suppliers and a barter economy hasn’t been formally developed for trade beyond the end of the street you live on. So now what?

   What’s your plan? You have a plan, right? Please tell me that you thought to add a few of those $18 dollar, 50#bags of beans and rice to the storage room…? That’s a relief, I was starting to wonder about you? I know how you’re feeling, “at least you can feed your family”. Yes and I know from our past discussions you thought to put in a wood burning fireplace insert to augment that kerosene heater and the BIG closet full of sleeping bags. I don’t know about you but I have most of the same things and feel blessed to not have been killed in the disaster.

   As the uber-smart prepper folks we have proven ourselves to be, we now can rest easy… We’re well fed in our nice warm house. The kids are getting bored but that was to be expected… The solar setup and car battery will keep the XBOX going for quite a while, life’s good! With the exception of not knowing if our extended families are safe, we are in pretty good shape… As long as life returns to a semblance of normalcy in the next 6 months we should be fine. This is America, how long could this last?

   So there you sit, much the way I would be tempted to as well… Smoke rising from the chimney, muffler noise from the generator out back for a few hours each evening. Between the wife and yourself, you’ve found that beans and rice can actually be cooked into something fairly exciting… One family up the block asked for a few gallons of gas for their car so they could drive to a family members house to stay, another borrowed a few staples from the pantry… Pretty quiet on your block, lots of speculation about the gun shots off in the distance but nobody lost their mind and started killing people to steal the last can of dinty moore extra chunky style chili… yet!

   With the first week of this under your belt, life is starting to become mildly annoying. Tensions are beginning to rise as you heard through the grapevine that a couple families on your street are nearly out of food and COUNTING on the .gov getting this fixed – or else! Vehicle traffic has slowed to a trickle and you have decided to save the fuel you have left for running the generator only very rarely. This situation isn’t nearly as fun as it seemed to be at first. That J-O-B is looking better all the time but fear not or on second thought -FEAR- might be more appropriate as this is only getting started… Can you hear it in the distance  – the MZB’s are coming or are they already here????

Prepper