Better Things, Or, Doing Versus Talking September 18, 2017 By ncscout
So I’ve had a lot of recent emails asking a lot of questions…several boiling down to Just Where the Heck Have You Been????
In short, I’ve been getting my family more off-grid ready than we already were. My family includes my closest friends and my neighbors; people that really matter in the long run. I’ve been working hard in the meatspace. I’ve been organizing folks, locally, and sizing up resources. Not in a militant sense- but just strengthening bonds. I’ve broke down the barriers with neighbors that I just didn’t have the time previously to get to know as well as I should have, being surprised at just how many really do come out of the woodwork. And most important, I’ve tried to get better with the Lord. I’ve a had a lot more fun too.
The world seems to be headed down the tubes. Ol’ Kimchi is lobbing shots at Guam or wherever else, folks are getting frisky at home, people are parading with tiki torches, trashcan lids or pro-commie signs, take your pick- it’s all the same parade in the streets. Everyone wants a war and nobody cares about the cost. One guy even complained to me that “we” appear to be tone-deaf, whoever the “we” is supposed to be, to the goings-on of the world here in this ‘blogosphere’, as if such a thing actually matters. Quite the opposite, actually.
I know it’s all going straight to hell, it’s nothing new and it’s what many have been saying for a long, LONG time. We are a nation under Judgement. Don’t focus on the big picture. You can’t fix it. But you can fix your own situation locally. You can meet the good folks next door. You can meet the good folks raising their own food and selling it at the farmer’s market. You can meet the good folks owning the micro brewery and hosting the beer festivals. You can meet the guys testing the handloads at the range and swapping numbers. You can lane coach the couple struggling to zero that new AR while you’re at that range. You can talk to like-minded people on the radiowaves, like I do with my friends. You can go to church, even if it’s not ‘your’ denomination, just to meet people who live and do in your community. It doesn’t do anyone any good to simply read what they want to hear, channeling some useless venom that doesn’t do anything other than cause more of a problem- thus I stay above it, as do the wise. More often than not the stuff is written by people who can’t do, hence why they complain.
Get out there and do it, whatever it is. Stop making it a hobby and start making it a lifestyle. Take care of home and hearth along with your close ones, and don’t forget those close by. Even if you think they’re a lost cause, people will surprise you, with a lot more folks into this preper thing than you realize- with a lot of folks not calling it that. You can learn from them, and they you. And with every hurricane, earthquake or human disaster, more good people wake up. Those late to the game tend to prep even harder, because they’ve got even stronger motivation. Go drop a deer or two this fall, learn how to skin game, make sausage and fill a freezer without spending a bunch of money. Teach your kids the joy of eating wild. And while you’re at it, start figuring out ways to work independent of a grid- find out how folks did stuff back in the days before consistent power.
Take this laundry stove for example- [img]
https://brushbeater.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/img_0410.jpg?w=375&h=500[/img] too small to be of efficient heating use and was used as a lamp stand until sold to me for pennies for the purpose of doing all the things it’s really meant for, like heating water off-grid from the wrap-around pot belly hot water tank and being able to efficiently cook on small amounts of wood at the same time. We can fry, pressure can, and have hot water as long as we have wood- which we’ll never run out of- on top of having several commodities for barter should the need for such arise. How many people have the ability to pressure can off-grid? How many have the ability to pressure can anyway?
I don’t plan on simply surviving, miserably, out of a ‘bugout bag’ or non-stop running and gunning like a Jerry Ahern fantasy. Living out of a ruck ain’t fun, and you can’t do it indefinitely. Neither is learning how to take care of your family after the fact. Figure out ways to move to a more sustainable lifestyle. Get with other folks in your community, locally. And take a lot of what you ‘see’ on the internet with a big grain of salt. Don’t forget to enjoy life a bit while you’re at it.
Stuff to think about.
