Diversify- I Forgot This!!

I’d meant to talk about “Crypto-Currencies” in my post on diversifying your assets and I forgot to. I apologize for that. If you haven’t read that post, you should since this won’t make much sense and it won’t have any complete information on the topic of diversifying. You can read it here: Diversify?? What???

I, again, have to state that I am NOT a Financial Professional in any way, shape or form. This is just to get you thinking about putting your currency and future prosperity into a variety of items to, hopefully, do that. Part of why we prep is to make sure we thrive after a collapse/disaster/emergency/whatever. While I am making disclaimers I have one more to make. I do NOT know that much about “cryptos”! The person whom I look to for information on them is Bix Weir on YouTube. He has a lot videos on the subject. Keeping in mind that he is really in love with them and his info seems, to me, to be very one sided. Do your own research!! 😀

  That said, on to my thoughts on using cryptos to diversify. I’ve thought about putting some of our money into cryptos, but they are still really volatile. Meaning there are huge price swings, you can be up a thousand dollars one day and lose everything the next. A lot of the new offerings are, also, very suspect. Meaning it’s possible that the person or company doing the ICO (Initial Coin Offering) are just trying to raise some quick cash and you’ll be ripped off. Also, they are wholly dependant on technology, if you don’t have electricity or even cell service, you can’t use them during a collapse. The claim is that once the internet or power comes back, your “coins” will still be there. I don’t know how true or valid that claim is, so I can’t speak to that. I do think the technology behind it, called The Block Chain, could be the future of how money works in the future, but that’s just based on what others have said. Again, I don’t know enough about it to say for sure. However, cryptos are on my List of Things to Learn About.

  Do your own research, but be very sceptical about what you read and use multiple sources.

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Diversify?? What???

If you are like me, you’re watching video blogs about prepping and reading some articles, too. A lot of these bloggers talk about “Diversifying” your assets in order to prepare for an economic collapse. I’m not going to treat you, my Reader, like you’re an idiot and define the word for you. What I am going to do is give you some suggestions on how you can make it work for you. Keeping in mind I am NOT a financial expert and I am NOT handing out any kind of advice. 

Why we diversify is simple, we want to take care of our family and give them the best possible chance to thrive in the years to come. How we can do it can be just as simple, but like all things in prepping (and life) you need a plan. Don’t run away!! I hate the dreaded “P” word, too!! That’s why this will be simple, pretty easy to do and short. 🙂

For us, our diversity plan is in 3 stages. First stage is now, Building the Diversity. Second stage, During the Crisis. Third stage, Afterward/Rebuilding Phase (more ideas of what that could be later).

Stage 1: Right now is when you need to be thinking, planning and doing. As Americans (and I think everybody in the West), we’ve been fed a steady diet of what Wealth Building should be. Save your money, buy bonds, buy stocks, etc…. More recently, its looked more like, Use credit, buy a house, use credit, go in debt, use credit. Ladies and Gentlemen, that is not Wealth Building. It’s slavery, because you will work your entire life to pay that debt off and build someone else’s wealth. Saving your money is smart, but after this Fiat Currency System crashes and burns, about the only way the U.S. Federal Government can do is to do away with the “Greenback” currency and issue new currency. Since the current money will have been devalued to the point its worth less than toilet paper, you’ll only get “pennies on the dollar” for the old Greenbacks. In order to avoid this, most experts recommend buying gold and silver and then just cashing that in. You will also need silver and some gold post collapse because there will come a point when people who have things to sell will stop taking paper money and will demand either barter items or silver and depending what they’re selling, gold. So, what Now might look like is:

• Put around $1,000 cash in a safe place (or what you can afford)
• Gather a supply of barter items like ammo of different calibers, canned food, baby diapers and butt wipes, manual can openers, hard candies, aspirin, cold medicine, allergy meds, etc.
• Stock up on as much silver and gold as you can afford
• Learn or develop  a skill that will be needed in a society without the conveniences we’re used to. Learn gardening, woodworking or small engine repair.

Stage 2: During the crisis/collapse

• Depend on yourselves as much as possible (your food, meds, etc)
• Use your Fiat Currency to buy items you NEED and either can’t make or repair, have used up and can’t grow or produce yourselves for whatever reason
• After people stop taking currency you’ll have to start bartering with items you have and others need/want.
• Barter your services or extra produce from your garden for things you need
• Be creative and think outside the box after a collapse or during a long term disaster society as we’re used to it will change and those who adapt the fastest and the best will be in a better position to thrive. And. Maybe. Have a hand in what comes after.

Stage 3: The Rebuilding

• This is even more speculation than even Stage 2. That said:
• There will have to be some form of monetary system even during the crisis people are just too used to it
• Providing the crisis hasn’t gone on for years and years, you’ll still have silver and maybe some gold left and you can cash it in on the new currency and hopefully retain as much of your wealth as you can

The idea behind this article is to get you thinking about your current situation, your needs now and going forward.

I do feel I have to define one thing after all. “Need” and “Want”. We, in America and most of the West I think, have been conditioned to confuse those two words. We think our Wants are Needs and that isn’t true. We need Need a house, but we don’t Need that 4,00 sq. ft. 5 bedroom, 3 bath brand new monstrosity that was just built in the “Right” zip code we Want when there’s only 2 of us. You get my point, I hope! Sit down and write a list of what you think you need, the next morning look it over keeping in mind all you really need in the coming crisis is: food, water, shelter, clothing and safety.

Something to think about.

 

Are They Insane?!?

Let me start by apologizing if this post is disjointed or hard to follow. It was a long day, I’m beat, but I can’t get war thoughts out of my head!

Over these last few days we, the Citizens of Earth, have seen some insanity happening like we’ve not had before. We saw Kim Jung-Un(stable) explode a Hydrogen Bomb underground that was big enough to cause the bunker/cavern whatever they used to collapse. We then heard President Trump tell Prime Minister Abe that America will use nukes on North Korea if we have to in order to stop them from using nukes. WTF???!!! How does that even make sense??? We are right the fuck back where we were 50 or 60 years ago during the Cold War, except this time the dude with his finger on the other button is crazy. Yes, I mean both of them. Also, this time, I think we’re actually closer to one of them hitting that button than we were then. It could really happen this time.

What does that mean for us Preppers? It that we have to be more alert and start watching global events more closely. It means if you haven’t started stocking your pantry or doing any of the things I’ve written or others in the community have talked or written about, now’s the time. What you need will be: Food, Shelter, Medicine, Clothing, a Plan and a Way to Defend Yourselves. And don’t forget your pets when you’re planning, chances are they are loyal to you and you can do no less for them. You’ll need food for them, shelter unless they’ll be in yours with you and as much of their medications as you can get if they’re on any. More importantly, you’ll need a way to keep them calm and if your pets are small, like a cat or little dog, you’ll need a way to transport them if you’re going to Bug Out.

Other than me encouraging you all to do as I have and write your leaders and voice your opinions on this, that’s all I wanted to say.

I am Tired of Being Called “Fascist”!

There’s an awesome video on YouTube by my favorite Philosopher, Stefan Molyneux. He’s interviewing Dinesh D’Souza who is a researcher and author, his newest book is The Big Lie.

It’s interesting that the Liberal/Progressive Left, who are in control of public education, have left (no pun intended) out the fact that fascists and national socialists (Nazis) are two different ideologies. That the Nazis modeled their program against the Jews off of the so called “Jim Crow” laws put in place against the blacks post Civil War. They modified those laws because they thought they were too strict!! As a side note about the newest attacks, those “evil” statues of Civil War heroes, Jefferson and Washington, were all DEMOCRATS! Every single slave owner was a Democrat! Not one Republican ever owned a slave. Ever.

Fascism is an offshoot of Socialism; as is Nazism (National Socialist Party); and at Socialism’s extremity you have Communism (Marxism). Those on the Left are the ones calling for socialism here in the United States and have achieved it, pretty much, in Europe. They want to stop those who are speaking Truth by preventing their Right to Free Speech. To do this, the Left has spawned AntiFa, some supposed Anti-Fascist group, who show up to Free Speech rallies, who use violence and intimidation. They end up outnumbering the rally goers, sometimes 2:1 or more as in Charlottesville and Boston. They howl and shout that those who don’t agree with them are fascists and Nazis and call Truth “hate speech”.

The website, Google, has rewritten the definition of the word “Fascist” to make it a Right Wing ideology. <—– That was my observation.

Now, every time anyone who doesn’t agree with the Marxist agenda those on the Left are pushing, we’re called all the names we’ve been taught are connected with hate. If we try to express our point of view, defend ourselves or try and get the truth out, we’re screamed down and attacked. It was said months ago that it is OK to “kill a Nazi” and if you call everyone who doesn’t agree with you a Nazi, then in your mind you’re justified in killing them.

We who don’t want to see our country turned into a socialist nation, who want ourselves to be put first instead of those who aren’t from our country, who want our Rights returned to us, are called Fascists and Nazi. Well, I hate to break it to you, we aren’t. You are. The marginalizing of a group of citizens is a Nazi tactic. Screaming hate, threatening those who oppose you is a Nazi tactic. Dressing in a “uniform” is a Nazi/Fascist tactic. The Nazi Brown Shirts are the same as AntiFa in their all black. At least The Brown Shirts had enough guts to show their faces.

Please, watch or even just listen to the video. We need to start standing up to these bullies and take our countries back.

Leftist Fascism | Dinesh D’Souza and Stefan Molyneux

I am so ASHAMED!!

As the wife of a Certified Public Accountant, I am ashamed that I forgot to add Money to the list of items in my last post Let’s Review! Shall We? I am so ashamed of myself…. And not just cash, either, it’s also wise to add silver and some gold if you can manage it. Why the precious metals? We’ll get to that in a bit.

  First, lets take a look at what is probably going on, at least here in the U.S.

  In 1944, a conference was held in Bretton Woods, NH. The United States, which owned 2/3 of the world’s gold at the time, insisted that the monetary system created during the 21 days (July 1-22) be tied to gold and was redeemable for gold, called The Gold Standard. Out of this also came the International Monetary Fund among other things. For more information I found: http://www.brettonwoods.org/page/about-the-bretton-woods-institutions . The American Government also took control of the gold reserves of all the countries involved. In an interview I heard with Dr. Paul Craig Roberts, he stated the U.S. started doing questionable things with the gold, like “leasing” it to investors. Instead of answering to those countries or letting them see their gold, in 1971 then President Richard Nixon “closed the gold window” and untied the U.S. dollar from gold. With most of the world’s gold in our vaults the countries had no choice but to do the same. This ushered in the current era of “Fiat Currencies” which are backed by nothing but the “Full Faith and Credit of the Government”. The United States government, did find something to back our currency with, though: Oil. Nicknamed The Petro Dollar. Since countries needed dollars to buy oil and any other commodity in the world, they have to own dollars and buy them from the Federal Reserve Bank (not the US government). The dollar is the World Reserve Currency.

Anyway, this brings us to where we are today. This entire system is now breaking down the Fiat money, Petro Dollar and Reserve Currency status. Let’s face Americans, our government has totally abused the privileges we took upon ourselves. Countries are starting to turn away from the dollar and won’t need to hold them any longer and those trillions of dollars floating around the world are going to be flowing back here. They are, in fact, the Fed has been able to buy them back and prevent them from flooding the economy. So far. The current theory is a part of the Fed called The Exchange Stabilization Fund are the ones who’ve been buying the currency, but I don’t believe there’s really any proof of that….

  What that brief summary means is this: those of you who were alive when the Petro Dollar system was started will remember the turmoil, lack of jobs, inflation and general state of misery we went through here. We will look back on that time as the Good Old Days with what’s in store for us in the near future. Don’t believe me? Think about the state of the economy right now, GDP can’t get over 2%, unemployment is actually closer to 25%, retail sales are tanking with stores closing and chains. The loudest and best organized group are Left-wing Marxists who think that all the rest of us are so wrong and so evil that we should be shot. Add into this, all that money coming back which means prices will go up and to start, there will be shortages. If the banking system crashes, even temporarily, your debit cards won’t work and you’ll need cash to buy needed items. If society completely collapses your cash will only be good for so long before people won’t take it any longer. Once they figure out that it’s worthless. This is where having silver and/or gold could come in handy. Better yet, have barter items for this and save the gold for when the new currency is issued. Which will likely happen in the future if the American currency gets hammered too bad. Gold for thousands years has been a store of wealth and money, it is still a way to store your wealth today. Silver is also a way to store your wealth. It doesn’t have to be in coins or bars either, in some countries the women wear gold bracelets and other jewelry as a way to have portable wealth. Go through your jewelry box and see what’s there. Even if you have broken gold or silver chains, you still have stored wealth. It may not be worth anything as jewelry, but if it’s gold (purer the better) or silver the metal is worth something. In a real emergency and as a last resort, grandma’s silver may buy you something. I inherited a set of cutlery that had been a distant aunt’s that I never knew, I can always trade a spoon here or a fork there for needed items. Sentimentality will go right out the window if you are cold and starving.

  So, to review: Have a stash of cash $1,000 or what you can afford to put away and not touch. Convert some of that stash into silver and if you’ve saved enough and can afford it some gold, too. Dig through your jewelry box and find any gold or silver jewelry you have and put it with your “preps” so it’s there with everything else in case you have to leave in a hurry. After the crash/crisis/emergency/disaster/whatever, use you currency first, then barter if you can with what you have, then use the “junk” silver and gold (jewelry or flatware), then break into your silver/gold coins last. Keep as much silver and gold as you can for the future when things settle back down in case the government issues a new currency. Oh, why do that? Because, when a new currency is issued you’ll only get “pennies on the dollar” for the old and that $1,000 in cash could end up only being worth $100 or less. Ouch!

OK, that was all. I guess it was a good thing I forgot about money, it really needed more than just a mention on a list….  

Let’s Review! Shall We?

Hello again and I’m sorry for disappearing again. Bear, my husband, lost his job the first week of June and we’ve been in survival-mode pretty much ever since. A lot of the items we use up regularly, like razors, shaving cream, canned vegetables, I’ve had stocked up. But, they will have to be replaced at some point. I try to buy one as as use one, however, that doesn’t always work out on things like vegetables where you use more than one a week. This is a very demoralizing time, we’ve been accepted for Medicare and I know we’d qualify for “food stamps”, but I haven’t called yet. My pride is getting in the way….. Sitting here and writing a blog that’s anything but a raging tantrum over what’s happened has been beyond me. Even now, I’m wearing out the “Backspace” key to keep from turning this into a pissy rant.  That said. Here’s what I really need to say:

  With things in America (and most of the rest of the globe) starting to get bad, the “Fiat Currency” system we’ve been living with since the early 1970’s is starting to fall apart. The Central Banks have pretty much destroyed the economies they’re connected to. Some countries, like Greece, most of the assets have been sold off the multi-national corporations. Here, in America, our country has been divided into The Right and The Left; each side is being told the same information and that the other side is the one doing it; almost 100 million people are out of work and there are no real good job openings; the people who are lucky enough to be working find their wages have stagnated, but prices are going up. Unless of course you’re in that very tippy-top of society, then, everything is fine for you! In the last 8 years, 95% of the wealth created here has gone to 0.05% of the population…

  Let’s Review (in no particular order): 

1. Have a Plan to either hunker down and stay in your home and defend it and an alternate Plan to Get Out of Dodge.
2. Have an Alternate Safe Place to go to if you can’t stay in your home
3. Have a Group of People you Trust and a Plan to Ride out the coming storm together
4. Have at least 3 months of Non-Perishable Food for each person
5. Have at least 1 gallon of water per person per day
6. Have at least 2 alternate ways of obtaining clean water
7. Have clothing for each person that’s appropriate for every season
8. Have as much extra prescription medications for those who need them as you can
9. Have reliable method of transportation if you aren’t staying in your home; Or
10. Have backpacks for each member of your family packed and ready to Bug Out
11. Have all your important papers in one place in a Zip-Lock Bag or other water-proof container
12. Have at least 2 ways to make fire for cooking, boiling water, warmth or comfort
13. Have as much diapers, formula and baby food as you can get (at least a month’s worth)
14. Have as many days worth of food and medications for your pets as you have for yourself
15. Radios, flashlights, batteries, cell phone chargers and/or a solar charger

Well, that’s about all I can think of right now, but this list should be enough to get you started thinking about your situation and needs. I honestly and truly believe we are running out of time to get prepared for what is to come.

Been Sold Out

How many of you in America know anything about the Federal Reserve Bank? Why is it called “Federal”? It’s working for our own good, right? They only hold the money that the government creates, like my bank does. It’s called a “bank”, so it operates like my bank. Right? They are here to protect the economy, right? Wrong on all counts. Sorry 😦

First and foremost: The “Federal” Reserve “Bank” is as much a part of the American Federal Government as Federal Express is. Which is nothing. Just like the Bank of England has no real connection to the British Government, Deutsche Bank has no connection to the German Government, Same for the Bank of Japan, the Central Bank in Canada….. Pretty much every country in the world has a “Central Bank”, these banks have NO connection to the governments of those countries, they aren’t run by the government, they aren’t a part of the government in any way shape or form. What a Central Bank is is a Privately held and run banking(like) institution whose sole purpose is to make obscene amounts of money for their owners, off the taxpayers in that country. I can only speak for America on some of this, but I do know all Central Banks share some basic similarities. They are owned by private individuals, they have no connection to the government and they are the ones who actually create the currency used in that country. In America, that is directly opposed to our Constitution. This document specifically grants that duty to the government and only the government. Oh, well, they try and get around that by saying the Constitution says the government is to mint coins and they do, but it doesn’t say anything about printing paper currency. So, it’s OK!! It’s just one more example of how this document is being trampled on, but that’s a topic for another time…

Our governments have sold us out to a private banking cartel. How did they do this? In every country that has a central bank, the government issues bonds, they then sell those bonds to the central bank for the currency they use. That’s a simplified version, but it’s what’s at the base of the scheme. Major banks have also being selling the central bank “toxic assets” for currency which they are either investing in the stock market or putting into a “savings account” at the central bank. Back to our government. The government isn’t actually “selling” those bonds, however, what they are more like would be loan papers because the government is supposed to buy them back. With interest!! Every dollar that’s been created since the central bank was formed has interest owed on it. Where will the currency come from to pay that interest? More “loans” from the central bank, of course! And THAT will have interest owed on it, too. The $20,000,000,000 the American government claims it owes, is mostly owed to the central bank. Anyone know what the Federal Government put up as surety (collateral) on those loans? Nothing big, just the whole damned country and the American people. If I remember right the wording goes something like, “The American People will stand as surety for these bonds”. Do you remember being asked? Or your grandparents or great-grandparents? Sold Out by the very government that is supposed to protect you from that.

The people who run the day to day operations of these Central Banks, did you vote for them? Here, the President nominates someone, they’re called in front of Congress, answer some questions and if Congress is actually doing their job decides on the merit of the answers if they’ll be a good choice for the job. If Congress is behaving like they have been: petty, childish and divisive; then they’ll bicker and vote how their Party wants. Or, how the corporations who funded their campaign want them to vote.

One last thing, this cycle of creating currency from debt. Do you think the $20 trillion owed will be paid off in your lifetime? Your children’s lifetime? The rate things are going, money created now and spent now, will have to be paid back by your great-grandchildren!

How do we fix this in our lifetime and not condemn our descendents to having to pay our bills? Here in America, our Constitution has a remedy our Founders has the foresight to include. Article V gives us the ability to have our state legislatures call for an Amendments Convention, where predetermined Amendments will be debated, refined and sent to Congress for approval. Congress then sends the Amendments to the States to be ratified and then those Amendments will be added to the Constitution. We need 3/4 of the States to call for the Convention, so that’ll be 34 States. So far, we have 11 that have passed the legislation and several more where it’s passed one House and a lot more that have started the legislation. I’ve been involved with an organization founded by the man who got this started, https://www.conventionofstates.com. I recommend going to their website and looking around.

Something to think about….

Lessons From the Trenches

*Been trying to get this done for days, but I couldn’t get the pictures to upload!!*

Sooooo, Friday night our area was hit by a major storm with heavy down pours. There was a tornado sighted, but it didn’t touch down by us anyway. We had 80-90mph winds plus straight line winds. Bear and I had met friends for dinner and our foster dog was home in a crate that she barely tolerates. I have to play YouTube videos that are for releasing fear, otherwise she panics, tears up the crate trying to get out and the anxiety causes her to have liquid diarrhea…. yay…. We knew a storm was coming and were keeping an eye on it, when one of the group came in after “burning a lung” and said it was sprinkling we headed home. * sign up for local weather warnings * Shortly after getting in the truck our cell phones started ringing, “Code Red” was calling to alert us that the we were under a Tornado Warning. Plus our cellphone provider sent text alerts saying the same thing. The storm had rotations, heavy rain, hail, 80mph winds and straight line winds. We were a half hour from home and Bear punched it. About 4 miles from home we hit the storm and went from driving almost 80mph down to 10mph. We were driving into the storm and the heavy rain driven by those high winds meant we couldn’t see except in between gusts. After getting off the highway we were turned so those winds were hitting the truck broadside and almost flipped a full-size Chevy pickup. The visibility meant we couldn’t see debris in the road til we were almost on it. The main road through our town was blocked by half a tree that had been blown down. The route we took around it was the road that runs in front of our house and it was blocked by a tree limb, too, but since we were only a block from home Bear just drove over the end of it (almost in the ditch). I saw the road ahead was blocked again, but realized that was right in front of our house! I thought our young Maple tree had come down, turns out I was right, a huge limb from our Maple tree had taken out a section of our fence. The power in town was out and we were even more concerned for our foster dog being alone with all the noise of the storm and the destruction going on. Coming into the yard stopped us in our tracks, though, it was full of huge limbs from trees and the biggest was on the fence. This is the first thing we saw:

Southwest corner of the yard.

The Maple Tree is from an old growth tree in our neighbor’s yard, it’s about 50ft. long.

Where the section broke off. Looking southwest over our fence.

Second picture right on the fence. You can see my little garden under there, behind the chicken wire.

Third photo to get in the whole tree!

What’s left after the tree was removed. There’s our foster dog, Bailey!!

Remains of half my garden. The beans on the right are OK and so are most of the strawberries. I know, I need to pull that grass growing there!!

South fence line. The branches right behind it are what they pulled off it. Yep, there’s Bailey photo-bombing again!

We have been prepping for a few years at this point, we have made sure we have back-ups for heating and electricity. We have a year’s worth of food; ways to obtain, store and purify water. We have medications and first aid supplies. Hygiene is covered, too. We were set Friday night and weren’t concerned at all that we had no electricity at the house. But. It had been a hot and humid day all day and it didn’t cool off that much even after the sun went down. The only fan we had was the little tent fan I use when I’m camping at festivals and it was not enough to keep two adult humans and stressed out German Shepherd cool. It was a clear reminder to keep ALL the seasons in mind and not just worry about winter and freezing. The heat can kill as easily as the cold can.

It’s been almost a week since the storm hit and the clean up has been slow, the stress of the last few weeks have taken its toll on Bear. The weeks of high stress working for a new boss he couldn’t please, then his great-aunt passing away, getting fired 2 days after her funeral with no warning and a couple weeks after that the storm hit. The muscles in his lower back locked up so tight he couldn’t get out of bed for 2 days. That’s also a problem to be dealt with going forward.

OK, this is getting long and has taken too long to write. Time to post it!

 

 

Time to Kick it Up

Ladies and gentlemen, Preppers and non. The time for reading, researching and thinking about getting prepared for the economic collapse is over. I am not a financial expert, but I have learned a lot over the last 17 years being with someone with an MBA in Finance and International Finance, plus he’s a CPA. I’ve been listening to experts like Gregory Mannarino, Bix Weir and Gerald Celente; they are experts and they are saying that this economic house of cards we’ve been living in since Nixon “closed the gold window” in the early 70’s. In the last 9 years, since the last crash, the creation of money that’s backed by nothing have excellerated. Look at the statistics put out by the Federal Government (for those in the US) on unemployment, job creation and the economy in general; then look around yourself and ask if you’re seeing it. Stores going out of business, more people begging for money, houses being up for sale for months and not selling. I’ll bet you have at least one friend out of work who can’t find anything better than a part time job with no benefits. Or have had give up trying to find a job because there’s just nothing out there. Is what you’re seeing, in any way, matching the garbage, lies and fantasies put out by the Feds?

What does all this have to do with this post? The above mentioned experts all agree that things are going to be changing here, possibly in September when the current budget ends and the government once again runs up against the debt ceiling. The same government is putting on dog and pony shows, like the Comey testimony; is watching we citizens assuming we are all criminals that just haven’t been caught at it yet; meanwhile, this same government is allowing some serious criminals walk free and appear to be arming and funding the very terrorists they claim to be fighting. There are violent Marxists and Marxist groups gaining strength in America who’s goals seem to be preventing the Free Speech and attacking anyone who disagrees with them. They have guns, bats, knives and (it seems) urine and aren’t afraid to use them to intimidate people.

Reading about preparing yourself and your family for what could be coming isn’t the same as doing it. Just like reading a diet book isn’t the same as following the diet from the book. You need to have at least 3 months worth of food and water for everyone. You need to have shelter, if that isn’t where you are living, then you need to have as many routes to the second location as you can find. You’ll need extra fuel for the vehicle/s to get there. You should have Bug Out Bags filled and ready to go in case you have to walk there, so that means the secondary location has to be stocked with food and water. If you’re sheltering in place, you’d better have a means to defend it. You need to have at least 2 ways to heat your shelter if you live where it gets cold. You need to have appropriate clothing for everyone, for the current season and the next one coming up. This includes good sturdy boots and shoes. You should have more than a month supply of all your prescription medications and the ones everyone else takes on hand.

I know this is a long list, but these are just the bare necessities. I could add: a generator and fuel; livestock to feed yourselves; seeds, gardening equipment and the means to preserve your crop; hunting and fishing equipment, the knowledge and skills to use it and clean what you take…. Well, you get the idea. Americans and a lot of people in the Western World, aren’t self-sufficient anymore. Our idea of hunting for meat is digging through the cooler at the grocery store.

It isn’t impossible to get ready by the end of September, but the time for doing it slowly, a little bit at a time, is pretty much past. So, time to stop thinking and start doing. If you’ve been taking it slow, it’s time to pick up the pace. I can’t make you prepare. I won’t do it for you. And you can’t come stay with me and take advantage of our hard work and sacrifices.

Women’s Issues- Pregnancy

Hi Ladies! I was looking over my last post on this subject WARNING!! “Girl Talk” and at the end I said I’d try and address pregnancy in a future post. After much consideration, I’ve decided not to do so. The liability is more than I’m willing to take on at this time. There are numerous prepping websites and blogs where this is covered, I’ll leave the liability to them. I won’t even offer suggestions on which ones I think are good or not, I’ll leave it to you to decide that. Only you can decide what information seems “right” to you and who you feel you can trust.

I will say this: women have been having babies since there have been females walking or crawling on this planet. It’s only been in the last 100 years or so that we’ve been taught not to trust our bodies or listen to them. We’ve been told/taught that we need to have medical intervention in order for our bodies to do what they were designed to do. I call “Bullshit” to that. If you are healthy with a reasonable level of fitness your body should be able to handle this process just fine. Will there be exceptions to that? Yes, there always has been and there always will be. But, for the majority of women, if you just stop interfering with your body’s natural processes you’ll be amazed at what your body can do. It will be uncomfortable and messy, but well worth every second of that when you’re holding your baby in your arms for the first time.