What do you all do to be prepared for long term power loss?

[paulsharvey]

My question is we've lived here 44 years and friends with all the neighbors. A few (FEW) prep, others don't. Now suppose a disaster occurs...which of the 3 will happen:
1) neighbors share what another neighbor needs.
2) invaders appear who you must dispatch.
3) neighbors who have dispatch neighbors in need, or at least turn them away.

So, the way I see it, if we want to think out that (hopefully only) fantasy;
1) You Will need more than just yourself and wife/kids; you will need to have some sort of system to get salt from your neighbor, and trade him rice or whatever; your Not going to stay awake 24/day; and honestly, your not going to able to on guard even 8 hours per day
2) live stock/medium game; you won't be able to eat a 180# hog or 120# deer before it spoils; so it's good for everyone if you can trade 10# of meat for 20# of floor,
3) You don't have every skill needed; others will have skills you need to lean on
4) no dead weight; I'm sorry, you're not going to support any true dead weight; BUT a 70 year old grandma watching the kids while others work/hunt/build is Not dead weight; especially if she can mend your shoes, or knit a sweeter for winter while doing it.
5) Some of those skills you may not respect will be valuable; sowing, mushroom identification, sailing, ect
6) You might need to, or want to, relocate once the first round of dieing finished; many of us live in areas that historically where not populated for good reasons; malaria, flooding, lack of reliable water, cold, hot, ect
7) You can't prepare for everything; break a leg, and you might be done; snake bite; infection; heck how many people died of intestinal issues from bad water
8) I think as much as anything, the ammunition thing is going to be shooting foxes/coyotes that mess with your free ranged chickens or are killing a lot of squirrels
9) Dogs (and to a lesser extent cats); dogs are one of the greatest inventions of humans; they might be a burden to feed, but I think in trailing game, alerting to visitors, ecr; they are worth their feed cost.

 

[fatjay]

This is what I was trying to say before. Lets say this is a real extended thing and these people show up. You have six months of stuff for your family, spouse and kids. Not for the additional 7 adults that show up. The power is not coming back on, law enforcement does not exist, what do you do.

I don't have a good answer, I know what I should do, and that is on the "harsh" end of things. Not sure if I would do that however.

If people think you have things they will be showing up at your door, for you to willingly take care of them, or for them to force you to take care of them.....one way or the other.

I have supplies for everyone i'm not willing to turn away, and that's a nice way of putting it, if it comes to risking my family's safety. Basically wife, kids, and my mother.

A buddy of mine came over to watch some tube and drink some beers and eat some chicken. He sees my garden, chickens, solar setup as we head to the shop. He says to me "man, if **** really does hit, I know where I'm coming." And I turned to him and said "what are you bringing?" And he looked at me and thought about it. Then he said "an able body". I said I did all this myself, why do i need another able body?

The trick is don't answer your door. Privacy fence around the perimeter of at least your immediate area, and within the privacy fence, barb wire.

 

[paulsharvey]

For anyone who wishes for total grid collapse; there is/was a CIA study about a total power grid failure in the late 80s. They had something like 1% population deing within 48 hours (medically dependent, car crashes, looting); then around day 7, you loose like 10% of people sue to lack of clean water; by day 30, you've lost like 40% of the US population; and by day 730, you are at 90% of the US population dead,

Even with isolated problems; the lack of air conditioning kills a lot of bed ridden folks; heat kills more people than cold.

Guess I'm trying to say; pray it never happens; too many preppers think they Want it to collapse

 

[fatjay]

For anyone who wishes for total grid collapse; there is/was a CIA study about a total power grid failure in the late 80s. They had something like 1% population deing within 48 hours (medically dependent, car crashes, looting); then around day 7, you loose like 10% of people sue to lack of clean water; by day 30, you've lost like 40% of the US population; and by day 730, you are at 90% of the US population dead,

Even with isolated problems; the lack of air conditioning kills a lot of bed ridden folks; heat kills more people than cold.

Guess I'm trying to say; pray it never happens; too many preppers think they Want it to collapse

I don't think many actually want it to collapse. I just don't think many have a whole lot of confidence in it not collapsing, at least partially. I think the last few years people have realized how easily things can crumble, and want to be at least semi-prepared for the event of a grid collapse.

 

[Hay Dude]

For anyone who wishes for total grid collapse; there is/was a CIA study about a total power grid failure in the late 80s. They had something like 1% population deing within 48 hours (medically dependent, car crashes, looting); then around day 7, you loose like 10% of people sue to lack of clean water; by day 30, you've lost like 40% of the US population; and by day 730, you are at 90% of the US population dead,

Even with isolated problems; the lack of air conditioning kills a lot of bed ridden folks; heat kills more people than cold.

Guess I'm trying to say; pray it never happens; too many preppers think they Want it to collapse

The CIA doesn’t tell us anything without having an ulterior motive.

I’ll tell you what you will see is a lot of rioting & looting from November through early 2025.

”not a joke”.

 

[dodge man]

This is how it would be for us assuming things went really south but no one was trying to steal our stuff. A week no problem. Two weeks you are worrying. Three weeks we’re opening cans of stuff we never use. Four weeks I’m trying to shoot stuff and learn how to clean it. Five weeks I’m in survival mode. I would be worried about water but actually think we’d get by there.

 

[BackRoad]

Interesting thread.

We've got 2 cats...might need to start fattening them up now...

Actually, we're now at least 120 miles from "anywhere". A gas shortage might actually help keep the majority of those in the metropolis - in the metropolis, or at least the suburbs.

We were direct hit with Hurricane Sandy in 2012. $65 Billion disaster, 160 deaths. Gas stations had gas, but no electricity to pump it, UPS became mandatory as a result.

And no grid power for over 10 days in the area we lived then.

Initially, all 4 roads out of our immediate area were blocked from hundreds of downed trees and powerlines. I have multiple chainsaws, but I might as well have had a hatchet for the little impact they would have on all the damage.

Batteries were important...food that didn't need to be boiled was important (we had an electric stove which is worthless in an outage) and it takes a lot of energy to boil water. We did grill using both propane and charcoal.

We filled both bathtubs when we saw the storm coming - "If it's yellow, let it mellow, if it's brown, flush it down". I don't recall if we had municipal water during the event (I think we did), but no hot water.

We had a battery operated "glow latern", which would light the kitchen or living area sufficiently at night...but we still went to bed a couple of hours after sunset out of boredom.

Ran the generator a few hours per day to keep the fridge and freezer cold...and to charge the Kindles.

And Scrabble...we played hours and hours of Scrabble...

But we didn't shoot anyone...honest!

 

[ultrarunner]

Urban and dependent on city water without many options except water heater tank.

About 4 miles away is a reserve drinking water lake and 35 miles away is brothers farm with natural gravity piped spring to house at 34 psi.

Several weeks easy food stores… not so sure about lots of generator use long haul… 50 gallons gas is the max I could pump from my tank if full.

Mild climate so heat and a/c non issues.

More concerned about car jackings and home invasion.

 

[Joel/ak]

A firearm comes in handy for car jackings and home invasions...if you know how to use it.

Just saying...

 

[paulsharvey]

A firearm comes in handy for car jackings and home invasions...if you know how to use it.

Just saying...

Yes is sure does, especially if the owner is resisting you