First things first, FAMILY MEETING… Your kids had been taught better than to talk about what you did or did not have in your home. As bad as their breach might have been, yours was worse. However, we had to all get on the same page from this point forward.

   A quick review of the precautions that every family should be taking before a disaster event occurs but that were even more important now, afterward, was conducted. From now on, all doors were to remain locked and no excuses would be accepted. The only things that this family had were in and around this house. If we aren’t careful about who has access to them, we might be the one’s doing without. An abbreviated version of the exchange with the neighbor was given to the boys to show them how desperate otherwise good people could act.

   Alright, now we all have to get down to business. The boys were given their task and it would be overseen by Mom. The entire pile of firewood was to be brought into the garage and re-stacked neatly. This was to be accomplished via the back door rather than coming around to the front of the house in plain sight of all of the neighbors. Yes, it would be a whole lot more trouble but it wouldn’t do to have everyone see EXACTLY what they had.

   While the others were getting this done, you had the chance to get a good inventory done in the garden shed. It would be important to determine what else, if anything, would need to be relocated to the house. The mental picture of medieval towns-people rolling everything up and heading for the protection of the castle at the first sign of an enemy attack, came to mind. Meanwhile, you continued to fight an internal battle with yourself about not over re-acting!

   The family wasn’t real thrilled about the job they were given but they did get it done in record time. Your wife had allowed the use of the wheel barrel to get the firewood through the house. She laid out some old broken down cardboard boxes to keep the family room carpet from getting any dirtier than absolutely necessary. You identified a few items that would also need to be moved in from the shed but overall, the items were out there because they didn’t really belong in the house. Fuel for the generator, kerosene heater and a variety of other fuel cans. An assortment of garden tools and the makings for a decent sized garden were stored there too. Those shouldn’t be of a high theft value and the shed will be locked up tight to protect the fuel reserves.  There were also back-up versions of the camping gear that you were currently using inside that could stay. In the back corner, under an old tarp, was a Vietnam era foot locker trunk. This was the real target of your search.

   The contents were carefully prepared and stored away over 15 years ago. What lay inside hadn’t seen the light of day since long before the move to this house. You had known the time would eventually come when you would be glad that you had taken the opportunity to make the purchase and also had decided to break the law and not voluntarily turn it over to the authorities a few years back per state law.

   The small key had been riding around on your key ring for all these years and slipped into the key-way as though it had been doing it everyday. A flip of your wrist and the lock fell open. As you cracked open the top portion of the trunk an old familiar smell wafted out to meet your nose. It was impossible to mistake – gun oil! You had carefully cleaned and oiled the rifle before sliding it into the special sack designed for long term storage. Even in the low light of the shed, you could see that it was as good as new. Slowly, you broke the seal on the sack and slid the gun out into your waiting hands. It felt good to hold the well designed rifle again. It was of a common design and you had fired many of its kind over the early years of your life before their ownership became very costly and then outright prohibited.

   On close inspection everything looked to be in new condition and easily fit back together just as you remembered it should. The entire contents of the trunk looked as though the years had passed lightly. Ammunition and spare magazines, accessories and even a stock of repair parts – all present and accounted for. You never had any intention of going off to fight on some distant battlefield but you would defend your family and it’s ability to survive, if it ever did come to that!

   Carefully, you took the rifle and other contents of the trunk into the house. After you checked that the wheel barrel and gloves, etc. were returned to their appointed spots, you felt like you could relax just a little bit. It would be dark soon and that hotly contested firewood would come in handy as you had every intent of building a fire this evening.

   Your wife found you and explained that she moved most of the pantry items out of the kitchen and down into the garage storage area. She explained that if someone were to gain access to the home they would certainly be looking in the kitchen first. Food being the primary concern voiced out on the street corner. It would be a little less convenient for her to prepare the meals but she could cope.

   The conversation surrounding the new pantry arrangements was wrapping up, when there was a knock at the front door. You looked at each other as if to get the others permission to respond to the sound… The prospect of this being simply a neighborly visit or even another plea for help with a little food were slim… The way this day was going, you weren’t at all interested in having another altercation with a short sighted, demanding neighbor who felt entitled to share your preps. It was with great care that you walked to the front door, careful to not step on the spot of floor that always let out a loud creak. Slowly, you move closer until you could see out the peep hole…

Prepper

   Thanks for checking back in to see how the neighborhood is fairing with no electrical grid. The neighbors are running low on food and apparently didn’t have the fore-sight of knowing that a house isn’t much of a shelter without a heat source… These situations seem to have a way of going from bad to worse but we can always hope for the best! Let’s see where this one goes…

____________________________________________________________________________________

  You have to think fast to answer the question about sharing some firewood. On one hand this IS your neighbor, he’s always been thoughtful enough to wave as your cars would pass on the block… You do have a BIG pile of firewood still and could give him a few days worth without putting yourself in an immediate bind. Will this character keep his mouth shut about how much you have or will he expect to keep coming for more? How can you give him some and not let the others see? Wouldn’t it be better to just tell him you can’t spare any?

   “Sorry Man, I just don’t have much myself. If I gave you some, I’d be in even worse shape. I really wish I could help but you have to understand, it’s cold in my house too and we’ve been rationing our supply to make it go further.” The words just sort of came out before you had even made up your mind how to handle this… It was almost surreal that you would turn down a request from a neighbor that you had the ability to accommodate.

   His response also took you by surprise… “You must have mis-understood me, I wasn’t ASKING you!” he said more forcefully. The words were like a punch in the stomach. Was he really telling you what you were going to do? A million thoughts all tried to race through your mind at the same time, it was impossible for you to focus on formulating a rational response to this… What? Was it a threat? Was he only joking around? Should you cuff him once alongside the head, so he doesn’t start thinking he can push you around? If only you had anticipated this predicament.

   Without looking up at him, you replied – “I’ll assume you’re joking so I don’t take offence to that statement, this situation is bad enough without having to start fighting amongst ourselves over firewood.” Was this going to be enough to discourage him or would he continue to press you? You’d read the stories online about these societal breakdown scenarios and how people would do stupid things when they became desperate. This wasn’t a story and it had only been a little more than week since this all started. How could you guys ever look each other in the face again, once civilization was restored, knowing that you had fought over firewood?

   “Let’s just say I was kidding but unless you want to share the firewood with everyone on the street, I suggest we come to an agreement”, he said with a little less force in his voice. “I think that if you were to decide to share the wood supply with my family, we could see our way to keeping our mouths shut about all that fuel you have stored for your generator.” He said it in such a way that you thought he might have been rehearsing the interaction…

   “I’m not sure what you think you know but I’m down to my last 10 gallons of gas…”, you said this out loud knowing it wasn’t true – would he buy it? Everyone knew you had the generator, you had run it quite a bit over those first couple of days but how could he know what you had as far as a fuel reserve… This idea of leaving the house to engage the neighbors wasn’t working out so good.

  ”You’re not fooling anyone, we all know what kind of guy you are”, his tone of voice cold – “Your kid told my kid that you expected something like this to happen and so you always kept a lot of supplies around, just in case. You thought you were being so secretive but several of us saw all those boxes getting dropped off by the UPS truck. It was kind of a joke at the mail boxes… Someone would always ask if the other guy had been to Costco lately, it didn’t go unnoticed that you made a few more trips than what a family of 4 could have been using up on a regular basis. Why do you think that the neighbors are all knocking on your door to borrow food? Nobody else has anything to spare but you kept giving the hand outs? It was always good for a few laughs about what a crazy survivalist you were but nobody’s laughing now because you might have the things we all need…”

   It all started to rush through your mind, could you have been the brunt of the neighbors jokes and never realised it? Had you been to lax on your OPSEC? The answer to that was apparently, you had… Didn’t everyone carry boxes in the house from weekly Costco runs? “Crazy Survivalist?” Wouldn’t that make me the good guy, you thought to yourself. Quick! Think of something to say to this guy! “So, you saw those boxes being dropped off? Did you wonder what was in them? If I was smart enough stock up on fuel for my generator, don’t you think I’d be smart enough to make sure someone couldn’t just walk up and take it from me?” With that statement you stepped away from the other man and started up your driveway. You wanted to turn and throttle the guy just for the fact that he would be so disrespectful to you but thought better of it. It was wise that you hadn’t, when you turned to close the front door you saw that some of the other neighbors had been watching as the two of you walked away!

  As soon as the door was closed behind you, you released a very deep breath that you hadn’t even realised you had been holding. Your wife who had been watching from the upstairs window since you had left the house, came running down to see what the details were. The outrage you were feeling exploded all over her. This was completely unbelievable, veiled threats from a man that had lived across the street from you for at least 5 years. With the urging of your wife you were able to catch your breath and regain a bit of your composure.

  Who does he think he is? Doesn’t he realise that I could take him out ANYTIME I chose to? If he wants a war – “Bring it on”. Hold on, hold on, just one minute mister – you lose the moral high ground when you lower yourself to the same level, your wife reminded you! With a few more minutes of her prodding you were able to relay the details of the impromptu meeting and the exchange with the individual neighbor over the firewood.

   With this off your chest and a new perspective from your wife, it became clear that you had really fouled up when it came to OPSEC. Had you only taken a few precautions when having packages delivered or even while unloading the household supplies, you probably wouldn’t be in this pickle. Unfortunately, this genie wouldn’t put itself back in the bottle. The trouble-making neighbor was sure to leverage his information to make allies of the other “Have Nots” and then everything would go down hill quickly from there.

  At this point there was only one thing that could be done, unless you’re willing to give up your supplies without a fight. This wouldn’t wait until morning, it had to be done right now or the window of opportunity would pass and possibly with it, your firewood!

Prepper

   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

   I’m back and feeling a little better… I had the opportunity to really vent my spleen with a friend last night. We didn’t come up with any global solutions to this DOOM but it helped to actually vocalize my concerns. He didn’t disagree and had nothing in the way of a rebuttal. It appears that we may all be feeling the same way. This situation looks bad but we have no choice but continue to plod on each day the best we can… It’s this, best we can, idea that I want to wrap this all up with, what exactly should we all be doing right now…

_____________________________________________________________________________________

   What are the things that we all could do to better our chances of a comfortable transition to whatever might come next? Several things come to my mind and they aren’t new concepts to what we’ve already been discussing here. It appears that we’re hitting the same nails so much that we can’t help but make some progress… That is, as long as we are actually taking action, if you aren’t swinging your hammer than you may not be experiencing the results you could have!

   First, what is your debt load? Is there payments in your monthly budget that could be paid off early? Maybe moving money from a savings account to pay these debts off early would be wise? No saving account, than have a garage sale… Find some extra money that is currently being held captive in that back bedroom closet. Clean house, simplify and raise some funds that can be put to better use. I speak from experience here, I am currently doing this myself. It’s not easy to see old treasures go down the road but if I want to keep moving in the right self sufficiency direction, sacrifices must be made. 

   The debts that I would focus on are the one’s that are for anything you want to have with you on the other side of whatever is coming down the pike. For instance, if you have a truck that is intrical to your plans for the future – get it paid off! Anything that could legally be taken from you should be your highest priority. You only own the things you don’t owe on… Homes are included in this equation…

  I have to offer a quick side note… PAY ALL YOUR BILLS – DO NOT BE A DEAD BEAT! I do not hold the opinion that it is ever alright to not pay your obligations. You signed on the dotted line, now you follow through and pay the bill. A time may come where there is truly no choice but that is an entirely different subject…

   Second, we all need to make some educated guesses at what will be valuable in the coming economy… This next economy will even probably still be in dollars. It’s the value of those dollars that I call into question? Holding dollars and banking on them not being terribly devalued would be fool hardy.

   What are the tangible assets that we could buy and hold to weather the storm that will certainly bring changes to our business as usual status. Possibly items that you will need to have anyway? This approach would give us the ability to avoid any downside risk. If you were going to buy that particular item anyway, where’s the harm in buying it in advance?

   These items could fall anywhere on the spectrum from food items to truck tires. There are things that every family has to purchase and if we can identify those and agree that they will only be going up in cost, why wouldn’t we make a strategic purchase ahead of schedule?

   Obviously, we can’t purchase all of the things we’ll ever need but there are things that will put us in a better position to be self sufficient. Does anyone have children? It seems that there are always shoes or coats that have to be replaced. Maybe my daughter was different than other peoples kids but I doubt it. Each of us will have a list that will vary from the next guys but it’s worth thinking about…

   So you say you’re already squared away in the hard goods department. What else might be worth considering? How about old faithful… Precious metals? I know we are all hearing endless advertisements for these on the radio right now… Do not buy these because you heard that so and so personality is doing it. Think it through for yourself!

   I do have some silver in the form of pre-65 silver quarters, dimes and half dollars. These are a hedge as far as I’m concerned! I don’t view them as an investment per say. Yes, I do hope they go up in value but that traditionally only happens in correlation with a drop in the value of the dollar. If we do experience an inflationary event and we will, these coins could provide for my family if it came down to that.

   Whether we see inflation or an entirely new currency, precious metals as a commodity or hard currency would be convertible to what ever the powers that be had come up with to call money. Many people own these same coins as a barter good and I see the value in this as well. We are all seeking options to keep ourselves ahead of whatever curve is thrown at us.

   Another thing that I believe would be a good idea to have would be any tools of your trade. Lots of tradesmen own their own tools and have this covered but others don’t. If you’re fortunate enough to have picked a career that will be valuable in a new economy, unlike myself – paper pushing desk jockey, than be sure to have the requisite tools to perform your skill!

   For example, a man I know is a union plumber. Great pay and with seniority he’s able to avoid many of the dirtier jobs. However, he works primarily in the commercial side of the business and has a truck with everything he needs provided… Great, of course your employer should provide the required materials but what happens if you needed to do plumbing work in the “grey market” or as a barter-able skill set? Will you have the required materials to complete the job? What about the specialized tools to do a difficult project?

   We would never be able to have everything that we might possibly need for any given situation. However, there are specific items that each trade requires that if stored ahead of time would allow 90% of the typical work scenarios to be done. In addition to the idea of being able to do the work, you would be storing a hard asset in the materials. Some items are sure to change as the technology does but rarely would an item become completely obsolete. Your back stock of tools and hardware could become very valuable if and or when the local Home Depot is being run by the Chinese government. Other trades people would surely rather deal with you than them or the Mutant Zombie Bikers they hire to work the customer service counter! Just sayin, its worth thinking about…

   Did you say to yourself, “What skills do I have to offer?” I thought I heard someone in the back of the class say something… You’re not alone! Our current economy is chock full of office workers like myself that will most likely not be replaced the next time around… I have lots of “Jack of all trades” type of skills but nothing that would qualify as mastered… I’m not being humble either, I’m taking a good hard look at what value I might be if the time comes to prove my worth… I have a selection of things that I will be pursuing as a means to make myself more well rounded and also could be used to fill voids in a future society. I’ll keep you all appraised as I progress in my new skills.

   Are there personal interests or hobbies that you have now? What about that “Bucket List” of to-do’s? Find something that would be of use to your neighbors and set about learning all you can. Buy the tools and a good home study course on how to achieve some level of competence. Go take a course through the local trade school… There really is no wrong answer to this, whatever you decide is going to benefit you, even if we miss the big flush I truly believe is in the works!

   I have read or heard more times than I can count from people like us, you know “Gun Nuts”. “After the collapse I’m going to find a farmer to hire on with as security”, sounds good, do you actually have the skills to be of service to said farmer? Personally, I have the tools but they’re of far greater value than I am… I don’t get out and knock the dust off like I should. Our shooting skills are just like anything else, they have to be used to stay in practice. If we aren’t doing our part the tool will only carry us so far. Don’t get me wrong, I think there will be plenty of “Security” positions available. 30 rounds of ammo in the general direction of the gate or only 1 from cover? Your choice but I say whatever skill or skills you choose, work on perfecting them now!

   Hopefully, these ideas will get you thinking. There’s lots to do, at least for most of us and time appears to be short. We will all certainly get less done than we would have liked but if we just start we’ll get more done than if we don’t start at all… Think all of this over and see what you come up with.

   Maybe you think I’m being dramatic and everything will work itself out. The government will get this economic hemorrhage under control and we’ll see the return of the weekly shopping trips to the mall. A new car in every driveway and ever larger homes for ever smaller families. Only time will tell but either way don’t waste the time you have waiting to see if you get to be the one to point and laugh at ol’ Prepper this time,  I might just be right?

Prepper