# Newbie - Just woke up



## WakingUp (Dec 30, 2008)

Hi All,

Introducing myself to the forum community. I've read through a lot of posts here over the last several days and believe I'm in the right place. Most (many) of you will probably not welcome me - as I have been/am one of those "sheeple" that has been (for the most part) part of the problem. All I can say is it's better to oversleep a little and get up ready, than it is to sleepwalk through your entire life. Hope you'll give me quarter.

My situation: I see what's happening and how imminent the various crisis are. I am in now way prepared, except for a few months stores, immediate self defense, and great skills with a rifle.

I am single, female, unhappy to admit I am scared, and hoping to find some neighbors and friends to help bring me up to speed. (My literal neighbors are no good to me, and probably pose a real risk to my well-being in the case of a long term "situation".)

So anyway... I look forward to learning as much as I can.

-C.


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## Jezcruzen (Oct 21, 2008)

Welcome, sister. As you can see by my post count, I'm relatively new as well.

Its better to wake up late than not at all. I think you will find this and similar sites informative and helpful.

Now, get busy. You've got some ground to make up!


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## Washkeeton (Oct 18, 2008)

Welcome... Im single, Female, and been on the band wagon for a while now. I have kids and a grand to think about besides me. My youngest is with me my oldest thinks I have totally lost my mind. Ok maybe not. She lives for the day and hopes that disaster will never come. She sees the writing on the wall but refuses to hear the call and do anything about it.


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## Canadian (Dec 14, 2008)

The more prepared you are the less scared you'll be. Just start stocking up and each time you add to your supplies you'll feel better. Talk to some of the people you know about the current world situation. You might be surprised by how many people are concerned as well. 

Are you scared of being unprepared? 

Or are you scared of facing the unknown by yourself?

Peace!


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## WakingUp (Dec 30, 2008)

Hey Folks & thanks for the warm welcome. Means a great deal.

I do have some ground to make up; and I have been trying hard for about the last six months starting small with topical books, heirloom seeds, some hand tools, food stores, defensive "stuff" and hunting gear. I have seen it coming hard for about the last three years, but was not in any kind of position to do much about it. (Married at the time and while the husband and I were of a like mind on the subject - he wasn't like minded enough to do anything much about it. We've been split two years now, and I am just getting back on my feet.)

Luckily, I don't have kids. Heck, I can barely prepare myself - I'd hate to think children depended on me! I do have an elderly mom (73) but she's so deep in denial it hurts me. I did FINALLY convince her to pay off her mortgage after the banks started going belly up - which actually saved her many tens of thousands of dollars when the markets tanked a few weeks later - but that's as far my progress with her has gotten.

Canadian - to answer your questions... Yes. And Yes.

I am typical of too many people. I have almost no family left (brother on the west coast with his family), all extended family is either dead or "gone to parts unknown". I live for my job and my odd little hobbies, but that's a pretty isolated life. Precious few close friends (husband got custody of those), and neighbors, co-workers, etc. think I'm a bit of a tinfoil skullcap freak. 

So that's my story, in brief. I guess it's not so unusual. It is what it is.

-C.


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## Washkeeton (Oct 18, 2008)

So what are these odd little hobbies that you have... Im curious.. you dont have to share really if you dont want to...

You just need to start some where... I finally am seeing progress but at the same time Im also kinda looking to sell out and move. My next biggest thing is to be mortgage free and in a place that is tax free also. I had a quarter acre cleared last summer to start this summer with some of a garden...Not really planning something big just something, which is better than nothing. 

I was raising chickens for the eggs and meat... I found I was allergic to the eggs so I continued on for the meat... Knowing I needed to down size from 70 bodies to .... well a wolverine came through here 4 times this past summer and helped with that effort... I have 7 left--2 roosters, 5 hens. I have a goose and a turkey... while out diging them out for the 20th time (snow drifts) this past 3 days of the wind storm we had I asked my son how bad he wanted to continue doing this and Im thinking of eating them all... 

You have made a start... and that is a good thing... 
It is me and my kids up here by ourselves. All my family is in the lower 48 over 5000 miles away.


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## Bearman405 (Oct 9, 2008)

Hello and welcome WakingUp.

Nice to see more people are awaking to the TRUE condition of our world.

Don't look on it as reaching the end of the trip and lacking knowledge......look on it as thefirst day of the rest of your life.............


Cheers................


Bearman405................


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## Backwoods (Oct 27, 2008)

Hello and welcome to the site and congrats on no longer being part of the sheep herd. Sometimes the hardest thing to do is admit there is a problem and then take the first step to make a correction. Sounds like youv'e done that just fine.

One thing is don't think you need to do everything at once. Try to make a basic plan of what you want and need, skills you have or want to learn etc......and try to build on it a little every day. The old saying about "Rome wasn't built in a day" really applies to living a self sufficent lifestyle.


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## WakingUp (Dec 30, 2008)

Hey Washkeeton.....

Hobbies: 
1] I collect an odd niche of antiquarian books (Civil War & reconstruction era). I am a bookish sort of person. Read a lot. Write a lot. Working on a book now... the third. Never published. Do it for me. Perhaps one day. We'll see.

2] Rifles and reloading. I used to be a competitive 1000 yd. shooter. Don't compete anymore. Have not been on a range in 2 years. It's not that I have lost interest. It's just that the "community" has chilled to me since my divorce. Sad... but another day will dawn - and the skills I learned are ever useful.

3] Fitness. I work out in the comfort of my living room. I quit the gym scene b/c I realized I could do almost all the same stuff right here - with my cats watching in absolute entertainment.

I used to keep chickens. We had foxes which were a problem. We managed the foxes with dogs - which was effective. I had a rooster that hated me tho... and he had to go. Cannot imagine doing all that in your climate. Here it is temperate (today was 68 degree F.) We have three seasons and can grow stuff all year long - even in the mountains. A lot of factory farms raise turkeys but here they are wild and populous - so you can hunt them without having to "keep" them. In this area homesteaders rise pigs, foul, goats, and use oxen and mules for work. Many people also hunt deer and wild boar. Despite the over population in the central part of the state, the extremes of the state are still very rural and bountiful. 

One day... hopefully... I will get back to all of that. I was raised in the far north east part of NC. Lowlands near the swamps. It was a great place to grow up. Now I am looking at the mountains - not sure why (except they have fewer people and people who are like mided) as I know how to live in the lowlands. The highlands take different skills.

--C.


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## WakingUp (Dec 30, 2008)

Backwoods - where are you?? I know VA petty well & used to have friend up near Louisa.


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## TimB (Nov 11, 2008)

Welcome to the board from one newbie to another.  Congratulations on "waking up". You're headed in the right direction- I don't post much but read a lot here. I've already learned several things in the short time I've been here. Lots of smart folks here. 


Tim


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## Backwoods (Oct 27, 2008)

WakingUp said:


> Backwoods - where are you?? I know VA petty well & used to have friend up near Louisa.


Central Va. Right outside Spotsylvania Co. I used to have some hunting buddies up in Louisa myself years ago. Nice area up there. Not as rural as it used to be though.

Sorry to hear you gave up competitive shooting. Did you ever shoot up at Quantico???????


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## WakingUp (Dec 30, 2008)

Hey Backwoods,

I used to shoot at Quantico and had a great time doping so! What an incredibly great range (and community.)

Louisa is odd in that Lake Anna had attracted a lot of "outside" commuter folks that work in Richmond or DC... but the locals are still very down to earth (if a little bit under exposed.) I love the area. Not as familiar with Spotsylvania but headed up there for a day trip soon to look at Civil War locations (where an ancestor of mine spent some time in 1862.)

*Tim B *- Thanks so much for the welcome. I believe I will learn a good deal here. (I have a lot to learn!)

--C.


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## Jezcruzen (Oct 21, 2008)

One of my sons lived in Raleigh for about two years while going to school. I visited a time or two. He now lives in Wilmington. Being close to the beach, I intend on visiting a lot more often. 

I'm a little west of Backwoods, near Lynchburg. Nice area as well, and the mountains are close.


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## Washkeeton (Oct 18, 2008)

WakingUp said:


> Hey Washkeeton.....
> 
> Hobbies:
> 1] I collect an odd niche of antiquarian books (Civil War & reconstruction era). I am a bookish sort of person. Read a lot. Write a lot. Working on a book now... the third. Never published. Do it for me. Perhaps one day. We'll see.
> ...


Cool on the books.. knowing history helps with preparing for the future... I loved the oral history that I got from both my parents and my grandparents.. they all lived through the last depression.... I read a lot too mostly on the old native traditons especially the alaskan native traditions... Very facinating people really....

Still wanting to learn to reload... I like to shoot but not competition... more for just for me.

I have 2 roosters that hate every one but they are my yard protectors... I dont worry about having unwanted visitors in the spring summer and fall... my roosters will attack you as any gander would and boy when they double team your in trouble... They protect the hens well and actually seem to be intellegent... some what... didnt know how to handle the wolverine that came in and killed every thing she could... Know it was the wolverine cause my son saw her? leaving 2 times and we found the tracks. I saw her on the solstice morning about 2 am (never gets dark here) she was back plodding around looking for another meal or 5. Thinking that it was a female cause she was seen in the area for over a month and a half... Wolverines travel 10 miles per day and never stay in the same place for long. She must have had a den and some little ones over one road from me. We did have a blackie go through but he didnt stick around cause of the dogs...(I have 7 sled dogs).

We have pigs, goats, mules, horses, cows... pretty much any farm animal down there we have up here... I have a friend that has cows and chickens up in Fairbanks.. You have to give them a warmed coop in the winters up there... here it is a matter of a couple of days that they need the warmth so they huddle together in a small mass ball... and all stay warm. I do straw them as well as the dogs for further warmth.


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## WakingUp (Dec 30, 2008)

I don't reload anymore since I have not shot rifles in a couple years. It's a good skill to have "just in case"... but not economically feasible. The cost of supplies and tooling puts it in the extreme category. The only reason to reload right now is for precision/competition work. One day, however, I fear that the knowledge will come in handy.

Wolverine? I don't even know what a wolverine is!! 

Your roosters sound like a hoot. I know what you mean about intelligent. We used to say that there's more going on in the ganglia of a chicken than in most people's whole brain. I also came to the conclusion that chickens and guinea hens, in particular, must be the closest modern descendants of dinosaurs - as they hunt like raptors and move just like those things in the movie Jurassic Park. The rooster I had trouble with was - we found out - the son of a competition Game Cock. I guess he must have been a champion, as he lived to have a family! That SOB came at me often - and one day caught me off guard. He managed to trip me up and I hit the ground - and then he really went to work. I never killed an animal out of anger or fear before - but this guy had me there. It really upset me - as I am an animal person. I love them all. I have never had any animal attack me. Even guard dogs that are trained to attack just melt with me. Never had a bad experience with any animal - until that rooster - and none since.

Your farm sounds great - if chilly. I'm a southern girl. Not so good in the snow and cold. Ice never did much more me. Spent some time in Sweden in the months of November and December - and I have never experienced cold like that. It made no sense to me. Took me coming home and till June to finally thaw out!


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## Washkeeton (Oct 18, 2008)

Im working to get out of the farm business up here and looking to more fish and hunt... there is a lot of natural resources food wise up here available so really I would like to take advantage of them...It isnt cost effective to raise animals. I have done it for 6 yrs now and I have loved having them but after a while you either realize that food is too expensive to feed your breeding stock over the winter or all the animals over the winter and your going to eventually have some sort of visitor...bear, wolverine, fox... something that will eat your stock and will keep returning because they found food and will return till either they eat everything or they are killed. 

Animal feed as in layer crumbles and all went up almost 10 per bag this past yr... dog food went up that much also. A lot of the mushers up here went out of the mushing business. 

Right now we are hovering at -10 to -20... we are also having wind and it is gusting to about 50 mph making the wind chills down around 60 below. Ok now I have to admit I hate that... I dont mind the temps around 60 or 70 below cause you can dress for it but there is absolutely not a thing you can do to dress for 60 below wind chills cause that wind will suck every bit of heat you have out of you any way no matter what you wear.....


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## NaeKid (Oct 17, 2008)

WakingUp said:


> I am typical of too many people. I have almost no family left (brother on the west coast with his family), all extended family is either dead or "gone to parts unknown". I live for my job and my odd little hobbies, but that's a pretty isolated life. Precious few close friends (husband got custody of those), and neighbors, co-workers, etc. think I'm a bit of a tinfoil skullcap freak.


Welcome to the site - and - if I might give you a bit of advice from someone who did the divorce-thing a few years earlier than you did ..

Get a new place - a new house - a new neighbourhood - a new job - a new ... everything. Get rid of the stuff that is holding you back from becoming the person you want to be.

My ex took quite a few of my friends with her - my first year alone I didn't know which friends I wanted to keep - which ones I trusted.

I joined an online dating site that encouraged "group dating" - open parties at bowling alleys, pubs, dance-halls - etc. There were house parties, excercise parties (shoe-shoeing, skiing, hiking, camping, etc) and all kinds of activities going on. Through that site, (_I can PM you the link if you are interested_) I built new friendships. Over time, I re-connected with some of my original friends - the ones that I felt I could still trust - the rest (_the ones that never tried to call me to ask if I wanted to go for coffee_) I slowly forgot even existed.


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## Canadian (Dec 14, 2008)

I have to agree. Dumping all the old stuff that reminds you of the bad old days is a great idea. My wife was divorced and we've finally got rid of almost everything from her ex. The clean slate helps a lot. She's got new hobbies, friends, new everything. 

It sound like this might be a good opportunity to re-connect with the outside world. Get out and meet new people. What can you lose? The whole world is coming to an end anyway. Right? Besides I bet you've got a good sense of humor. That's all you really need to get along with anyone.

Peace!

Peace!


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## wildman800 (Oct 17, 2008)

I suggest that you also check out:
MrsSurvival: Women helping women survive in the real world.
EQUIPPED TO SURVIVE - Outdoors Gear, Survival Equipment Review & Survival Information

You'll find a lot of good food for thought and other things that you are looking for.


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## WakingUp (Dec 30, 2008)

Hi Ya'll,

I am back... and appreciative of the advice. FYI - I have mostly lightened my load of all the old baggage" (mostly cause the X got it all. I just walked away with my life.)

I have spent the last week or so reading and getting my head wrapped around a lot of the issues regarding preparedness in the advent of "something". Right now I am reading "When All Hell Breaks Loose" by Cody Lundin. He seems very reasonable about the topic. I like his matter of fact assessment of the idea of personal responsibility. That's what it all boils down to.

What I really want is to find some like minded folks here in the area. I feel the need to practice what I am thinking - cause I know in my gut that it's all well and good to ponder from the comfort of home, but that pondering isn't going to do me a bit of good when it comes down to brass tacks.


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## jebrown (Nov 7, 2008)

Cody Lundin is an excelent author and his information is very worthwhile. He also wrote another book called 98.6 degrees, the art of keeping your ass alive. Both books are well worth the price and have an abundance of inforamtion for the beginers. 
I just don't share his enthusiasm for eating rodents. In a survial situation who knows?


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## WakingUp (Dec 30, 2008)

Ha!! I hear ya. I just got to the rats part. Though I do have to admit I ate plenty squirrels and even some possum once when I was a kid (in stew, not a skewer)... so a rat isn;t so far flung by that standard.

I bout 98.6 degree's as well... along with another couple books. If you are ever in the market for good books, always check abebooks.com FIRST. I buy a LOT of books. For these three (lightly used) I paid a total of eight dollars (including shipping.)

I love the guys house. I think I could *almost* build a house like that myself (assuming the correct site.)

Learning a bit. Much of it is refresher... but excellent reference source. What I am finding is that I have the benefit of having grown up very poor. So all the things we used to do as routine in our lives now all seem to be wonderful, mysterious, brilliant flashes of "survivalist" knowledge. It's kind of funny. Of course the thing is I live in a fairly moderate climate. What I know would not work in Alaska.


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## Magus (Dec 1, 2008)

Rat tastes like squirrel.cover the bugger in bullzeye bbq sauce and have at it. 
This is a decent place to pick up stuff.


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## WakingUp (Dec 30, 2008)

If rat tastes like squirrel I am all over it. Brunswick Stew is wonderful.

I draw the line at bugs. My opinions may move if I get desperate for something "crunchy".

Salt would be a necessity. And a good sweet beverage chaser. 

So I don't think I will be doing bugs unless I get bitten by a Vampire and become one of the damned.


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## AgentFlounder (Dec 12, 2008)

WakingUp said:


> Introducing myself to the forum community. I've read through a lot of posts here over the last several days and believe I'm in the right place. Most (many) of you will probably not welcome me


Welcome! I truly hope that we prove you wrong on that point  It doesn't matter where you were at yesterday but where you're headed now. A lot of folks myself included don't have it all figured out and aren't prepared properly for the biggest risks -- the most likely and highest impact things. It's ok, we can all learn from each other and learn to be more sensible.

I think the big thing is to not fall to hard into the morass of paranoia and fear (been there -- back around 1999....). It's easy to get all spun up and fall into that mindset of paranoia. Far better to address the risks you're most likely to face, and just be sensible.

What I mean is... why prepare for The End of Civilization or The Big Asteroid Collision or The Next Eruption of Krakatoa if you're not even prepared to prevent or stop a home invasion? Or to escape a house fire? Or drive defensively? Numerous studies show that those are far more likely.

Humans tend to hold greater fear of outlandish, spectacular threats than mundane, everyday threats regardless of which is more likely. This is one of the many cognitive biases that have been extensively studied in support of the field of Probability.

We don't know what will happen in the future... we don't know to what extent the current economic crisis will play out... (people DID survive the Great Depression who were dirt poor ... my dad being one of many... and people DID survive the Asian crisis in the 90's... and the 80's woes...)

We don't know if there will be any kind of enviromental crises (climate, lack of water in certain parts of the country, wildfires here in Colorado due to the pine beetle, etc.), pandemics, etc. Maybe nothing. Maybe like Y2k it all goes pfft and nothing major happens. Just a lot of minor stuff instead.

But to the extent that we can reasonably prepare to an appropriate level for the most likely risks we face, well, we oughta do that.

Nothing wrong with being scared. There's some scary things that could happen. The only problem is when the fear and paranoia send you down rabbit trails seeking unreasonable, inappropriate preparation for outlandish things that are far less likely than everyday dangers.

What's the use of being debilitated by the fear of TEOTWAWKI when you face the risks of falling in your bathtub, getting in a car wreck, or myriad other 'boring' risks that we all face daily?


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## NaeKid (Oct 17, 2008)

AgentFlounder said:


> Maybe like Y2k it all goes pfft and nothing major happens. Just a lot of minor stuff instead.


True, there was minor things happening during Y2K due to the bug - stuff didn't function properly afterwards and such - but - the problems were minimal due to the fact that people did something about it. During that period of time, I was a computer tech working 16hr days upgrading computer systems hardware and software and running pre-Y2K tests.

During the pre-tests, I had alot of older computer systems that failed the roll-over and the newer ones did better. They might have failed one or two of the 25 tests making them un-usable in 2000 for date-sensitive work in a business environment.

Knowing what I know because of what I was doing for a living during those few years - if the bug wasn't noticed when it was, the after-shock of systems not working the way they were expected to work would have ground the economy to a complete halt.


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## TimB (Nov 11, 2008)

WakingUp said:


> If rat tastes like squirrel I am all over it. Brunswick Stew is wonderful.
> 
> I draw the line at bugs. My opinions may move if I get desperate for something "crunchy".
> 
> ...


We must be related- we sure think alike.   I might go for rat if push came to shove but I dunno about bugs. 

Tim


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