Autumn

I love this time of year. The trees are a riot of color, the air is crisp and clean as new sheets. Soon, the rain and snow of winter will come, but for now, life is quite good.

I don't think I could leave New England. There is a certain something to the land here, it's hard to describe to someone from another part of the country. I've visited most of the country, and I lived in the deep south for a while, but there was nowhere that felt like home, or that could become home. Maybe the rest of the country isn't rude enough for me.

My preps are going well. I'm going to cut down on the amount I shoot, as I've gotten pretty damn good in the few months I've been slinging lead downrange. I am to the point that instructor-led training will be needed for me to continue to advance. My birthday is coming up, maybe I'll treat myself to the Sig Academy for a couple days. It's up in Exeter, NH so it's reasonably close.

Above is a photo of my secret stash. It's not the best quality photo, but it came out better than I though, considering I was stuffed into the corner behind my galvanized garbage can which has some pasta and boxes of mac and cheese inside. The photo from the doorway didn't come out at all, as the lighting is just awful. Since I am single, you are looking at about two months of food if I drop my caloric intake to 2500/day. Every shopping trip I get another two or three days worth of food, or food-related supplies. There is a shelf above the photo with more canned goods, and a big metal box full of more pasta.

On the floor I have a 6-pack of propane cylinders and two 7 gallon jugs of water. I have 22 gallons of water here, with another 5 or so upstairs. I regret not getting another pack of those propane cylinders, I got them really cheap from BJ's in the summer, and they had run out a week later.

The ammo boxes are all labeled clearly. I have 12 gauge slugs and buckshot, .22 LR, .45 ACP, and 7.62x54R for my Mosin. I need more ammo, and I will be buying more here and there as I switch gears in my prep buying. I invested in mylar bags and O2 absorbers to store grains. I'm having trouble with the company I bought the bags and absorbers off of, they have yet to bill my account and ship it, so I'll have to call them up and see what's going on.

Some of the more interesting items I have are big bottle of hand sanitizer and a huge box of baby wipes. Tons of salt, it's cheap and can be used for food preservation and trade. Needles, thread, etc for barter items. Gallon jug of EVOO, and 5 lbs of honey. I have an extra bottle of Hydrogen Peroxide for trade, next trip to the dollar store and I'll pick up travel-sized hand sanitizer and more Hydrogen Peroxide.

I guess the point of all this is to encourage everyone to start to prepare, no matter how small an amount you can set aside each week. Over time it will add up to a surprising amount of food. I can easily survive a couple weeks without power, and maintain a healthy and relatively clean lifestyle. Even with this looming financial crisis, you need to stock up, it is not too late. Focus on gathering food, water, and medical supplies. Then worry about security. My stash is deep in the back corner of my basement, obfuscated by crap I have running around. The way my basement id laid out, you would have to have a pretty good sense of 3D space to figure out there is a 2 foot closet back there. It's not even locked, as a big padlock would draw attention to it. I plan on building another closet in front of it to help hide the second closet, but that is lower priority until lawlessness rises sharply.