Why We Became Preppers

My wife and I are in our sixties and we discovered we were pretty naive. Probably still are. We learned a lot of things, new to us, that we had previously just ignored. I will discuss those things later but first we wanted to understand how we managed to let everything escape us.

We found our answer by observing our kids and their families. Having small kids in school and participating in activities, such as, soccer, baseball, karate and boy scouts does not leave time for much of anything else. You become so wrapped up in daily living that anything not associated with that will be ignored. That's exactly how we were. Simply living from day to day.

I'm not sure what event started us looking outside of our daily existence but for us, it didn't happen until our 60's. We were aware of a lot of things we questioned but not enough to make us get outside of our comfortable box. We suffered from Normalcy Bias .... don't worry, everything will remain the same.

I think one of the first things we began to worry about was the fact we were retired on a fixed income and prices started rising. We wondered what will happen to us IF gas goes to $8 -$10 a gallon and bread cost $15 a loaf and all the rest of our expenses goes up in a similar fashion. We either become a burden on our kids or we get a job, if we can and are able, and work till we die. Not a pretty picture.

Then we started doing research on things we knew about but paid little attention to see how it could affect our lives. Like the inflation thing wasn't enough.

So here are some of the things we found out.

If you do a search on 'Canary Island Volcano', one of the first things you will come up with is -

Scientists Warn Of Massive Tidal Wave From Canary Island Volcano

Basically, this has been going on for years but has scientist really worried because there is nothing they can do about it.  If the right earthquake and eruption strikes this volcano, a very large portion can fall off into the sea and cause a tsunami unlike anything this planet has ever seen. Do you remember what happened at Mount St. Helen? You ask, so how does that effect me. Well, that tsunami will be a mile high when it reaches the mid-atlantic and will still be several hundred feet high when it hits the entire East Coast of the U.S. from Maine to Florida. Nova Scotia and the Bahamas will also be hit. It is expected to wash inland about 40 miles which is 4 times further than the tsunami's that hit Indonesia and Japan. Also, it will only take about 8 hours for it to reach the U.S.  I can't imagine all the ways it can affect us but I'm pretty sure our power and food supply will be compromised. You know how we responded after Katrina. How would we respond to the whole East Coast being destroyed .... including Washington. This revelation caused us to move away from the coast.

Solar CME (Coronal Mass Ejection) and EMP (Electro Magnetic Pulse) are two things that happen all the time with the sun and cause the Northern Lights. The sun goes through cycles where the flares are rated kind of like the way we rank hurricanes and these flares will peak in 2012 and 2013. Here's the problem. Some of the more powerful flares have not been pointed directly at earth. We do have problems from time to time but nothing major. However, if a major CME occurs and is pointed directly at earth, the EMP it generates could destroy all of our satellites, our power grid and everything that has any electronics. This means no power, no cars except those without electronics, no planes, no TV, no radio, no phones. We would be thrown back into the 16th century in a matter of seconds. It could take years just to rebuild our power grid. Why? Because all of the high tension lines and transformers would be fried and we do not make these in the U.S. anymore. It is estimated about half of the population of the U.S. would perish by the end of the first year. Our government would not be able to help you. This kind of stuff can keep you awake at night.

Our power grid is also at risk from a nuclear explosion high over the U.S. causing an EMP like the sun. We are also at risk from an internet attack that could bring down our power grid or a terrorist attack on key installations. All of these situations have been talked about in the news. They are real. Regardless of what happens, how long could you survive without power, sewer and water? And food. That's right, food. If there is no electricity then how do you can and package food or refrigerate it to keep it fresh?

Now to current events. The U.S. is deeply in debt and is at risk of financial collapse. If that is not enough, there are forces that would like to remove the dollar as the reserve currency. What this means is that every country in the world must convert their currency to dollars to buy commodities, like corn, wheat, gold, etc. If the dollar is removed as the reserve currency we would have to convert our currency into something else to buy commodities and that would cause massive inflation in the blink of an eye.

Many people feel that if something happens they would rather go quickly. Unfortunately, that is usually not how it happens. I would not want to be holding my dying child or spouse in my arms and apologizing because I didn't prepare.

So, for this blog this is enough doom and gloom reasons for becoming a prepper. We go to prepper conferences, we can, dehydrate and vacuum pack. We also buy food from long term storage companies and we prepare for the worst case scenario .... no power. We also plan on planting our own crops. For protection, we go to gun shows, we are fortifying our house and we are prepared to protect what we have. Here is something to remember. Noah took no one on the Ark he had not prepared for.

So, how do you start. Easy. Just imagine you have no electricity, no water, no sewer and the stores will not have food. Make a list of what you will need to survive? You can live about 3 - 4 days without water. Do you know how to purify water? Do you have the means to purify water?

We did not do this all at once. We have been doing a little at a time but we would like to be somewhat prepared to take care of ourselves if a disaster strikes. Just the images of the New Orleans Super Dome after Katrina should make you not want to go into a FEMA Camp. You also need to understand that if you do have to go to a FEMA Camp, you will not be allowed to leave until everything returns to normal .... which could be years.

So, do your research, get out of your Normalcy Bias and start preparing to be self sufficient.