Doomsday Preppers.

I'm not sure of anyone's point. Functional shutters would be just as much work to nail shut as the plywood. Maybe you wouldn't buy the plywood, but that's a minor expense, plywood is cheap.
 
$40 per sheet of plywood per window does not sound cheep to me. That would cost me over $500 for my little house. For about $100 more you can make functional shutters that would last many years an would not need nailing.
 
I've never seen the show. I don't watch "reality" tv as it's so far from my reality I just can't tolerate it!

That said, I am a prepper. What do I prep for? Not The End Of The World As We Know It.

Brief power outage. Anyone can lose power for 3 days. How would you cook, keep warm or cool, or get water if this happened? How about lighting......how many flashlights do you have in your home right now? Now, of those, how many actually work?

Unemplyoment. As an RN you'd think I would always have work. Wrong. I've been unemployed twice in the last 3 years. Scary scary scary. We had enough food stored I never had to chose between paying the mortgage and buying food. We tightened things up a lot but didn't have to sell animals, etc or make major lifestyle changes.

Disease. I'm not even talking pandemic. I'm talking about my ds11 having a contact allergic reaction to some thing that gave him hives and wheezing at 10pm. I have Benadryl on hand, he was fine without a run to the all night pharmacy where the same med would have possibly cost me double. I'm also talking about me getting sick. I'm chief cook and bottle washer here. My husband is perfectly capable of cooking, but if I'm sick it's comforting for me to know I have lots of canned food my family can eat with minimal prep. Or the day I came home running a fever and just wanted some chicken soup. I didn't want to start from scratch, so just opened a pint of soup I'd canned last year and felt ever so much better!

This one isn't for everyone, but how about getting stranded? My husband sees snowfall as a personal challenge to test the truck's ability to drive through it, and we've gotten stuck in the mountains more than once. Okay, kinda our own dumb fault, but we're now ready to either shelter with the truck or walk out to where we can call for help. Moms with young kids, how would things be if your rig broke down even in a fairly populated area and you had to wait even half an hour for a tow or lift? Some water and snacks in your rig could make a huge difference in how your family deals with that.


Or, if none of those does it for you, I'll just tell you I'm prepping for those gorram reavers.

Kudos to anyone who gets that!
 
I'm not sure of anyone's point. Functional shutters would be just as much work to nail shut as the plywood. Maybe you wouldn't buy the plywood, but that's a minor expense, plywood is cheap.
see, you don't have to nail shut well made shutters, and they can be just as cheap if you are willing to make them yourself.
Have you priced plywood? that stuff gets pricey, especially if you have to buy some every season, plus I was originally talking about expensive houses with large decorative shutters, those people could obviously afford functional shutters that are just as nice, and no ply wood over their windows.
 
This one isn't for everyone, but how about getting stranded? My husband sees snowfall as a personal challenge to test the truck's ability to drive through it, and we've gotten stuck in the mountains more than once. Okay, kinda our own dumb fault, but we're now ready to either shelter with the truck or walk out to where we can call for help. Moms with young kids, how would things be if your rig broke down even in a fairly populated area and you had to wait even half an hour for a tow or lift? Some water and snacks in your rig could make a huge difference in how your family deals with that.

Every been to Buffalo, NY? They have it bad in a very well populated area. Back in the 2007-2008 winter, there was a blast blizzard that hit when the schools let out and rush hour traffic was picking up. The I-290 was snow dumped really hard. Traffic came to a stand still, over a thousand vehicles including school buses and semis became snow trapped until the very next morning. Most cars during the night ran out of fuel to keep the people warm. The snow was higher than the hoods of the cars. Front loaders worked all night from exit ramps trying to get to the people. When the wind died down, choppers came in to air life out the frost bitten people. Some Joe citizens road ATVs and snow mobiles tor rescue or bring out provisions from the Red Cross who could reach these people.

Being trapped for nearly 24-hours in the winter in one's vehicle is not safe unless you prepare.

Remember the Great Ice Storm of '98 in Toronto? Millions without heat, power, lights, fuel and water for nearly 4 months !!! It wasn't just Toronto, this storm hit the northern coast of WNY too! The US sent thousands of electrical repair teams and emergency crews.

Living up north can be very difficult if you need to flee in the winter time to some safe location that is prepped.

The Hurricane Sandy is another good example. Life in the FEMA camp was very hard for sheltering thousands. The story of the guy who was able to charge up his electric car and escape the FEMA camp life driving out of the area nearly 400 miles just to find normal life was interesting.

The Great 100 year Nashville flood was extremely serious too. One could loose the home, car, supplies and lives. Chemicals floating all over the place, bodies of animals and even people that were swept away could be seen. The only place was to be on higher ground.

The earthquake and tsumami of Japan is another bad happening. The earthquake was too bad, but several towns and cites of 10 of thousands totally swept away.

San Diego, California and the wild fires is another problem to deal with as well. Everything can be lost too!

When making preeps, one must know the region and the possible problems. Location is the very first place to choose to prepare. If it's picked wrong, then all of the prepping is for nothing.

If one is a good prepper, then this site is a must know to survive all types of problems. http://zombiehunters.org/forum ZS is packed with all kinds of helpful info for those just starting to those who are well equipped. Being a farmer in the right location can keep you and your family life going.

Failure to plan means planning to fail, even if it's your own life.




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We used to own a store selling camping and survival gear. One year we had a huge winter ice storm, predicted a full 3 days in advance, roll into town. The response of the general public was pathetic and disgusting. During the 3 days leading up to the storm, did most people rush out to get supplies??? No, they sat on the arses, and when ice coated everyting and brought down trees and powerlines, they whined and cried. They just couldn't BELIEVE that local stores didn't have a generator for each and every family sitting in their storerooms. After all, stores should be REQUIRED to have enough supplies, of whatever type might be imagined for any possible event, on hand (nobody ever thought that maybe they PERSONALLY should have shelled out the money in advance of the disaster and kept said products in their OWN storeroom at home). I can't tell you the number of people who did not possess ANY canned food in their homes, a stove to heat it on, or even a manual can opener to open a can... instead, they wailed about how expensive it was trying to feed their families every day, every meal, by going to one of the few restaurants that was open (most all businesses lost power too, so there weren't many).

We personally did just fine throughout it all. We only lost power for a very brief time, and were able to take the generator and propane heaters to my parent's house, whose power ended up being out for 2 weeks. We sold out all of our stock that were usually rather slow-moving items. After the storm, when most people had their power restored, we were able to purchase large quantities of various prep items for pennies on the dollar, barely used, because people said they wouldn't need them anymore (?????????). I always wonder how some people get from point A to point B, manage to hold down jobs, raise children, and do anything besides lay in a slobbering heap waiting for their next diaper change, because I just don't believe that the brain cells are there or that they're firing on all cylinders.

Oh yeah, before we had the store I worked at a convenience store, midnights, out in the middle of nowhere (well, nothing else open at night for several miles in any direction). You cannot believe the number of people who would come in that place in the middle of the night IN WINTER in their jammies, or wearing just socks and shorts and maybe a t-shirt. They did not even have a coat or jacket or shoes in their cars.... no thought whatsoever as to what they would do if the car broke down. Just amazing.
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$100 is a good price for food grade an $60 is just wow. I use to sell non food grade for $50 but could only get food grade for around $200.

If I had a good truck I would trust to drive up I would go get 9 or 10
food grade Gerkin barrels down here cost about 25-30 bux with sealable lids.
 

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