repost from march 29,2008

Nutcase or realist?
Well yet again, no work today so here I sit. Cold and raining so of course, nothing is going to get done outside. I've been sitting here and reading posts on various websites that I belong to, and it's all got me thinking.
Our economy is in the toilet, gas here is varying from $3.19 to $3.69 a gallon, work has been slow and is everywhere in the trade, things everywhere are going downhill. So I have decided to take another look at things. I want to prepare myself and everything here for a possible total breakdown in society as we know it. Now I'm not going to turn into some nutcase survivalist and stock ammo and MRE's in a secret room in the basement, but I want to prepare myself for any and all possibilities. And even not so much as I want to prepare for an economy crash, I want to prepare for any possibility of any long term power outage. Outages aren't uncommon, a few years ago most of the northeast state, Pa, and NY were without power for weeks. And power (electricity) has us all in its grip.
Without power, we lose all that we are reliant on. Cooking on the stove is gone, lighting is gone, entertainment is gone, heat is gone, and most of all,without power, our well cannot operate, and thus we have no water. Everything in the freezer will thaw and rot, as will everything in the fridge.
We are already well on the path to losing the grip of the utility companies, but we are far from being off-grid. We are slightly prepared for any such emergency, but still have a long way to go. I am going to look at this in a different light, and imagine what I would need if I was camping for a month. The list may be long, but its fairly simple. Food, water, heat, and light.
Food is fairly simple, we already grow all of our own vegetables and fruit, and I am more than capable of hunting or fishing for food. Hunting for food will also mean a backstock of ammunition, mainly .22 and 12 guage. Water I plan on storing in empty milk jugs. Light will come from mainly the oil lamps that we currently use or coleman lanterns. This means stocking lamp oil, wicks, chimneys, coleman fuel and propane. (also plenty of matches) Heat will be somewhat tough since we rely on gas and electric for our furnace, but I do have a woodburning furnace in the garage which could be a last resort. This means stored firewood, which bring me to the next subject of cooking. I built a stone grill/fire pit out back which could be used for minimal cooking, and I also own several campstoves which can be used with white fuel or propane.
Most of what I have listed, we already own, though some will need purchased or stocked. Sometime this year I really want to try a drill of sorts on this. I want to take a weekend, and kill the main power to the house (except fridge & freezer) and see how everyone reacts. I'm sure the mrs and I will be fine, but I'm willing to bet the kids will just leave. Sad but true. For now we'll look at it as an experiment, and see how things go.