Saturday, May 28, 2011

Water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink

Whether you're a "Worrier" who just kind'a sort'a wants to be ready in case something happens, a "Prepper" willing to lay out a few bucks and commit some space in a corner of the garage to being prepared in case something happens or a full fledged "Survivalist" who's made major lifestyle changes preparing for TEOTWAWKI you're most likely going to need water first whenever it (whatever "IT" is) happens.

Worriers will want enough water to last a day or two until the water company gets "it" fixed. They'll probably have no idea how much "enough" is.

Preppers know that the average adult human requires one gallon of water per day and will want enough water to last at least three days (times the number of persons expected to be present when the disaster occurs) plus a little extra for washing dishes and persons.

Survivalists Consider three days worth of water a good start.

Water Storage
One US Gallon of water (H2O) weighs approximately eight and a third pounds and cannot be compressed (as I discovered in my youth when I tried to use a wooden mallet to hammer a cork into the top of a brim full of water glass milk bottle -- in our living room).

That's about sixty-two and a half pounds per cubic foot so you probably shouldn't store large amounts of water in your attic.

If you're serious about storing water there are two ways to go about it: actual storage and faux storage. Faux storage would be simply collecting containers for filling if an emergency occurs. Actual storage is a bit more complicated.

Faux Water Storage
You can assuage your water worries, and spend virtually no money, by washing out and storing empty thoroughly dried out food grade plastic bottles like one gallon milk and juice containers.

Going to the next step there are food grade five gallon water bottles like you see atop water coolers available in grocery stores that can be stored full or used and then stored empty. Just remember they don't come with reusable caps so you'll have to improvise your own.

Commercial distilled water, stored away from light, should be good for at least a year probably more before green stuff starts to grow if stored in complete darkness. You can put oxygen back into stored water by pouring the water back and forth between two clean containers.

Storing one gallon bottles of chlorine bleach (to use to treat suspect water) is problematical. During the run-up to Y2K I stored two one gallon plastic bottles of unscented Clorox bleach® under a sink. A year or so later I discovered the bleach had eaten through the side of one of the bottles emphasizing a point to keep in mind i.e. commercial containers are not designed for long term storage.

In view of the above I'd be hesitant to store full or used chlorine bleach bottles for long periods. However, instead of washing used chlorine bleach bottles out (you'll never get all the Chlorine bleach out) try filling the used (empty) chlorine bleach bottle with tap water and clearly marking it (with a felt tip pen) to be used for sanitizing and washing ONLY. By diluting the little bit of bleach left in the bottle you'll probably avoid the mess I found under the kitchen sink.

Actual Water Storage
My wife prefers to get her H2O from a reverse osmoses kiosk down by the shopping center. She buys gallons of bottled water from the supermarket and then reuses the plastic bottles. At any given time we've got about a dozen one gallon bottles of water on hand and the stock is constantly being rotated. Naturally we'd have to refill some of the empty ones in an emergency since there's little chance that whatever happens will occur on the day after she's filled all the bottles. But we have the bottles on hand.

Another way to conserve water is to have a supply of paper plates; plastic spoons, forks, knives and 'sporks' on hand. The plastic utensils are listed in the order of the numbers you'll need. If nothing else get spoons.

Sanitation suffers if you don't wash dishes so being able to toss the paper plates and plastic utensils saves water while preserving sanitation.

And, of course, if you need heat you can always burn the paper plates.

Googling for large (over 55 gallon) water tanks I found that although prices varied, many of the "Survival" and "Preparation" sites had this same picture of the large tanks (meaning they're all ordering from the same place) so you'd best call around if you're shopping for price and don't forget the freight charges.

Where's the water?
Of course your stored water will eventually run out so what are the alternative sources?

Anyone who's ever watched one of those "disaster preparedness" videos knows there are gallons of drinkable water in the tank above the toilet. Dip it out right away and start poopin' in the back yard, there's no use flushing that valuable liquid resource down the toilet.

If you own a home it probably has rain gutters so collection barrels, treatment & storage containers can extend your water supply virtually indefinitely with sufficient uncontaminated rainwater.

If you live in a desert you'll have to depend on water storage for short term emergencies and migration if necessary.

How can you extend your water supply if it happens?
Tap water from municipal utilities has enough chlorine in it for long term storage. Be sure to cap containers tightly because chlorine will dissipate if exposed to air.

-------------
Water disinfecting
Katadyn water filters come well recommended. Or you could carry a small amount of household bleach (unscented Clorox) to disinfect as you go.

Solar water disinfection

Other methods

Water from puddles, lakes & streams should be filtered. You can use cloth/clothing, coffee filter, or a screen in combination with either of the first two to get the lumps out. Then comes phase two; purifying.

Purifying water with bleach
Two drops of unscented 5% bleach can be added per liter or quart of clear water and then allowed to stand covered for 30 to 60 minutes. After this treatment, the water may be left open to reduce the chlorine smell and taste.

Purifying water with iodine
Iodine should be allowed at least 30 minutes to kill Giardia

Purifying water with chlorine
Ratio of Clorox Bleach to Water for Purification
2 drops of Regular Clorox Bleach per quart of water
8 drops of Regular Clorox Bleach per gallon of water
1/2 teaspoon Regular Clorox Bleach per five gallons of water
If water is cloudy, double the recommended dosages of Clorox Bleach.

Superfluous Survival Tip of the week:

Emergency Last Minute Water Storage
If you are lucky enough to get word of an oncoming disaster that will impact your water supply fill everything that'll hold water. Non-sanitary containers like bathtubs and dirty clothes cans can hold "gray" (non-drinking/cooking) water or, if worst comes to wurst; it can be boiled, treated or filtered and drunk. Using it for cooking might be better.

Remember, you'll need a gallon a day per person so you'll want to deal with quantity first and quality later.

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Sunday, May 22, 2011

Old Time Radio

Even wonder if that old radio you threw into an ammo can and put in a corner of the basement still works?

Well that thought occurred to me the other day so I dug'em out and gave'em a try. There were two failures.

I'm not going to go into the features of these old radios beyond noting what did and didn't work after a dozen (dozens in most cases) years of storage in a cool dry place because none of them are manufactured today which means you couldn't buy one if you wanted to.

The point of all this being that if you store your preps properly (generally that means in a cool dry place) they'll be in condition to help you in an emergency.

My little test determined that even out of date equipment will work if it's been stored properly and IF you've provided the necessary accessories.

Suntech solar am/fm radio receiver model #810405 (no longer made)
( Suntech seems to have moved on from cheap handheld solar radios to "Commercial, Residential and Utility-Scale" solar panels. I could find no hand held radios on their site nor solar panels that looked to be less than three feet to a side.)

I dusted it off and took the old radio out into the back yard where the Velcro attached solar panel did indeed power the radio in both AM and FM. Of course it took me a minute to read the instruction sheet and figure out that the palm sized solar panel needed to be plugged into the radio before anything would work.

One other thing, this is a daylight radio only. The instant I covered the solar panel the sound died. Although I should note that the instruction sheet said the radio would work if a light bulb was held directly over the solar panel. It didn't say what wattage was required and I haven't tried it.

TEC Ranger-2 has a hand crank generator and an adaptor jack (not included) to charge batteries but I couldn't test that function. Dials on the detachable water resistant front cover allow "foul weather" control of power on/off, tuning, volume and flashlight and they all still worked. The AM/FM/Weather bands all worked when the crank was turned.

I didn't test to see if the built in battery would still hold a charge because that feature would only be beneficial if I intended to use the built in flashlight without turning the crank and I've no intention of using a two handed shoebox sized flashlight when I have a half dozen real flashlights.

DAK model MR-101S receiver with FM stereo, SW1 (short wave 2.3M Hz – 6.2 MHz, SW2 (short wave 7.1 MHz – 21.85 MHz and MW (medium wave band) 530 kHz – 1610 kHz

This is the only radio I'd stored with batteries. Wisely I'd put them in a plastic sandwich bag so the corroding of one of the three batteries didn't ruin this fine radio.

Unwisely I'd failed to remember that this radio requires four, not three, batteries.

Note to self: When storing batteries for electrical gear be sure to have enough plus spares and be sure they'll fit. Oh, and store the batteries in a separate container.

With four new batteries I tried the "Auto Scan" on. MW, SW1, SW2 & FM. All four channels locked onto stations although many were unreadable (probably do to distance and time of day).

TRS 455 40-Channel CB Radio Base w/ microphone and manual. At least one Internet source says this is a "tube type" radio so it might survive EMP better than the others. I've got the antenna for it but…

Unfortunately the case requires a six pronged power cord which I seem to have stored somewhere else and cannot now find.

Translation: It's a large heavy out of date doorstop. Last I heard CB'ers were going to Single-sideband and have probably moved on to something else by now so even though an investment in time and money might bring the old TRS 455 out of retirement I'll pass on this one.

Realistic TRC-427 mobile CB radio w/ microphone. I didn't get far vetting this one. Although I have two "whip" antennas and one antenna mount for it I'd forgotten one minor little detail – I'd sold the other half of the unit's under dash mount along with the pickup truck it had been mounted in. Someone with the right electronic skills might be able to jerry rig something together and make it work, but I ain't that guy. Also I couldn't find the wire that goes from the antenna to the radio so that's another bit of jerry rigging for someone to do.

The technology of both the TRS 455 and TRC-427 has been replaced with smaller, more portable units and I heard there were enthusiasts who like to play with these antiques so I took the old swaybacks down to a local radio club and gave them away.

So, as Shego the evil sexy sidekick on the Kim Possible show used to say to the evil Dr. Drakken after a (failed) mission, "What have we learned?"

1. Radios store well in a cool dry place.
2. Electronics become obsolete quickly but still may be useful.
3. Batteries don't store well.
4. Solar or crank powered radios can get along without batteries.
5. Solar charging units for batteries extend a radio's usefulness.
6. Be sure to store all manuals, parts and accessories with the main unit.
7. Periodically check your preps!

Superfluous Survival Tip of the week:

Contact Lenses in the Field?
The US Army forbids its soldiers from wearing contact lenses in the field noting that "Vision ready is mission ready."

(Translation from Milspeak to civilian: when you run out of cleaning fluid for your contact lenses a pair of current prescription eyeglasses could keep you from making a spectacle of yourself in front of that band of looters you mistakenly thought were the neighbors.

According to DA PAM 40-506 "Contact lenses will not be worn during basic training, field exercises, gas chamber exercises, deployments, or combat."

So what's bunch of Army red tape got to do with you, a civilian?

Just this: TEOTWAWKI & WTSHTF events are likely to be very much like basic training or combat.
As the US Army puts it: "Field deployment = Unfriendly environment" pointing out that the dirt, dust and mud of field conditions contribute to poor hygiene which makes it difficult to keep your hands clean during the extended hours of continuous operations.

"Extended hours of continuous operations" Hummmmm sounds like what you'd expect in the wake of a When The $#!t Hits The Fan event to me.

WTSHTF aside it's unlikely you'll be able to maintain and use contact lenses day in and day out in an EOTWAWKI situation. At some point you'll have to decide between bare eyes and eyeglasses.

That's assuming, of course, that you had the foresight to have a pair of current prescription spectacles made before the balloon went up.

Also remember one of the mantras of our beloved Navy Seals (Yay SEAL Team 6!) is, “One is none and two is one.” so I have a spare pair made and keep the old prescription glasses around.

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Saturday, May 14, 2011

Perception IS Reality At Least Insofar As We React To It

Perception is reality at least insofar as we react to it.
Expectations are predictions of the future based on past experience filtered through perception.
-- Desert Dave -- (Quotation, with attribution, permitted and encouraged.)

(Be sure to view the picture of Osama bin Laden's gravestone at the bottom of this page.)

Massacre
In 1622 Chief Opechancanough made a huge mistake. The AmerIndian chief expected the English settlers to do what the locals would have done after losing. They didn't which is probably why you are here and speak English.

"Opechancanough did not finish off the colony. Instead he withdrew his warriors, believing that the English would behave as Native Americans would when defeated: pack up and leave ... Following the event, Opechancanough told the Patawomecks, … , that he expected "before the end of two Moones there should not be an Englishman in all their Countries."[14] He misunderstood the English colonists and their backers overseas.

Chief Opechancanough was a slow learner. Over a decade later the Chief's expectations were still being filtered through the perceptions he'd built up over a lifetime. He was unable or unwilling to evaluate the newcomers and the new situation.

"After twelve years of peace following the Indian Wars of 1622-1632, another Anglo-Powhatan War began in 1644, as a last effort by the remnants of the Powhatan Confederacy, still under Opechancanough, to dislodge the English settlers of the Virginia Colony. Around 500 colonists were killed, but that number represented a relatively low percent of the overall population, as opposed to the earlier massacre (the 1622 attack had wiped out a third; that of 1644 barely a tenth). However, Opechancanough, still preferring to use Powhatan tactics, did not make any major follow-up to this attack."

Moving on now from a leader failing to accept and adopt new tactics to leaders employing old tactics (that old tactic being if you want to stay in power in a democracy you make it look like you're fixing things whether you are or not) for example the war on terror.

You could say The Terrorists Have Already Won. What was Osama's game plan post-9/11? To bankrupt the US? If that's the case he certainly helped our free spending politicians along that road to ruin.

Over $42 Billion taxpayer dollars is being spent this year alone to ensure, among other things, that you are groped, searched and x-rayed every time you fly commercially. And that goes for your luggage too.

All of that "return on investment" from an al Qaeda expenditure of probably a lot less than a million dollars spent to train and equip a few dozen terrorists. Not a bad deal from the terrorist's point of view.

Of course Osama, like Opechancanough before him, ultimately died at the hands of those he'd so treacherously attacked.

gravestone (grĂ¢v´ston´) noun
A stone placed over a grave as a marker; a tombstone.

(Excerpted from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Third Edition © 1996 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Electronic version licensed from INSO Corporation; further reproduction and distribution in accordance with the Copyright Law of the United States. All rights reserved.)

And yet somehow, despite your expectations, you "got it" anyway. Congratulations by recognizing that the sandal was the "gravestone" you've proven yourself to be an adaptable human being.

Superfluous Survival Tip of the Week:

(A friend of mine, Dan, recently passed on to me a pack of "Urban Survival Playing Cards" each of which has a survival tip printed on the face. Dan's generous gift has inspired me to start this Survival Tip of the Week feature which will continue for at least 52 weeks. Thanks, Dan! I don't want to plagiarize the cards so I'm using the subjects from each card as a jumping off point for my own tips with my own research. I have an advantage over the cards in that each card tip is restricted to the space available on the face of that card whereas I can ramble on for pages as I seem to be doing here.;-)

Using Foods from Your Refrigerator or Freezer after a Power Outage
1. Open the fridge/freezer as seldom as possible for the shortest periods of time possible. Consider making a map/list of the contents and what shelves they're on to shorten future door openings.
2. Frozen food will stay coldest longest so eat from the fridge first.
3. Eat highly perishable foods like meat, milk & fish first.
4. If it's a WTSHTF (When The $#!t Hits TheFan) event consider organizing a "block party" outdoor barbeque to consume food that would otherwise spoil.
5. If it's a TEOTWAWKI (The End Of The World As We Know It) event consider salting or jerking to preserve foods you can't eat fast enough to prevent the spoilage.
6. Rice, beans & noodles not stored in airtight containers are subject to bug infestation and spoil if they get wet so eat'em up first.
7. Canned goods, stored in a cool dry place, will last 30, 40 even 100 years so store them well and eat them last.

To Comment on this article Email Unless you specifically ask me not to, I'll post your reply here in the blog so everyone can read it. Of course I'll remove your last name, email and any other specific information for privacy purposes.

Saturday, May 7, 2011

We Are NOT Ready!

There are some things you don't forget. The feelings I, a young soldier stationed on the East German border, had when placed on alert after the November 22, 1963 JFK assassination; the feelings I had January 28, 1986 when I walked in the door to our store #1 and saw the look on my wife's face as she watched on TV as space shuttle Challenger disintegrated in mid air; and the feelings I had on September 11, 2001 as my wife and I watched together, on live TV, as terrorists crashed the second hijacked airliner into the south tower. I thought to myself "This is this generation's Pearl Harbor." Osama Bin Laden here's your first batch of virgins; the rest will be along as soon as they finish loading.

You remember where you were when you heard about the 9/11 attacks. You may also remember the attacks had an immediate and overwhelming effect on the U.S. population. (My wife placed American flag stickers on the gateposts in front of our house – they're still there.) At the store we sold out of American flags, all sizes, in an hour and couldn't get any more for months.

Of course the Internet went ballistic. I recall reading posts by guys warning us all to carry our battle rifles and hundreds of rounds of ammo in our vehicles. Others were talking about carrying rifles, pistols and shotguns with us at all times. (I'll admit to throwing an extra spare ammo magazine pouch on my pistol belt for a few months.) People were calling the cops on "suspicious" men carrying cameras seen near "important" buildings and bridges.

The military locked down its bases as police and military tried to increase security everywhere at once. Of course, you can't guard everything all the time.

Our local Army base went from an "open" to a closed base almost overnight. Temporary concrete barriers were set up channeling traffic into checkpoints. I knew a large local fence contractor who ran crews seven days a week for over a month to get the base surrounded with razor ribbon topped galvanized chain link.

The local Veterans Hospital must have gotten their order in late because the barriers they set up were Jersey barriers and it would seem doctors don't know how to do security. The main entrance to the twelve story hospital was set up with the water filled plastic barriers down the centerline leading up to the checkpoint. Once drivers got past that first plastic barrier they were forced to drive up to the checkpoint.

Problem, if a terrorist driving a bomb laden truck chose to steer to the left of that first plastic barrier and drive about 100 feet going the wrong way on the wrong side of the road he could bypass the checkpoint and drive into the parking lot and thence right up to the hospital's main entrance.

But of course we all know a terrorist wouldn't want to violate a traffic law on his way to commit mass murder.

Fearing truck bomb attacks like those at Oklahoma City and Khobar Towers authorities tried to put up barriers at all potential targets. Of course there weren’t enough barriers to go around.

The situation at the local National Guard armory was almost comical. Like the VA hospital they were worried about a truck bomb, but didn't have the pull to get a hold of the then scarce barriers so a single orange traffic cone was placed in each of the parking spaces next to the building. Of course we all know that terrorists won't risk getting a parking ticket to blow up a building.

That armory lies along one of my regular walking routes. The armory's motor pool contains 16 M119 howitzers plus the normal assortment of Army Humvees, trucks and trailers.

Near the back gate of the fence around the motor pool, there has been a hole in big enough for a skinny man to crawl through for as long as I've been walking there (over a year). I've told a sergeant and a major about the hole. It's still there.

With the killing of Osama Bin Laden it was announced that security levels were raised all over the USA. I don't know about the rest of the country, but locally things didn't improve much.

I had occasion to go to the VA hospital the day after the announcement of Osama's death. The only improvement in security that I could see was a sturdy pole on a pivot which would have stopped a bomb laden truck, unless, of course, the terrorist was willing to drive over the surrounding grass lawn to get around it.

The Armory has upgraded its anti terrorist defenses too. There's now yellow "Police Line Do Not Cross" tape strung between the orange traffic cones in the parking places.

Immediately after 9/11 real off duty cops had been hired to guard the local airport. Mostly they just walked over and told you not to stop next to the building while waiting to pick someone up. (Question; once you're next to the building, how long does it take to set off a bomb?)

Airport security has long since degraded as administrators sought to reduce costs. Now it's unarmed rent-a-cops. As of last Monday night, local news quotes an airport administrator as saying: "no upgrade of airport security is contemplated at this time".

Hopefully by the time you click on this link to the United States Army Public Health Command (Provisional) page on Emergency Preparedness & Response the links to
Biological Emergency, Chemical Emergency, Explosion Emergency and Nuclear Emergency will have something to say other than "Web content on this subject is currently in development, please return soon!"

It will take a few more bombings and the loss of hundreds of lives before our leaders get serious about Homeland security. When they do they'd do well to look to Israel for some tips from the pros.

Superfluous Survival Tip of the Week:

(A friend of mine, Dan, recently passed on to me a pack of "Urban Survival Playing Cards" each of which has a survival tip printed on the face. Dan's generous gift has inspired me to start this Survival Tip of the Week feature which will continue for at least 52 weeks. Thanks, Dan! I don't want to plagiarize the cards so I'm using the subjects from each card as a jumping off point for my own tips with my own research. I have an advantage over the cards in that each card tip is restricted to the space available on the face of that card whereas I can ramble on for pages as I seem to be doing here.;-)

Emergency water from your water heater:
1. Turn off the water to the entire house.
2. Turn off the (gas/electric) heating element.
3. The lower outlet drain valve will probably accept a screw on garden hose. If you cut the hose, be sure to cut it long enough to raise the cut end up higher than the top of the water heater in case the heater's valve won't close properly.
4. If you don't have or don't want to use a hose be sure to have all your water containers on hand when you first open the valve so you won't loose precious water if the valve won't close.
5. Open the pressure relief valve near the top of the heater.
6. Open the drain (lower) valve. You may be able to control the flow of water from the heater with the pressure relief valve.
7. Close the lower valve (or raise the hose end) when you're done.
8. Be sure to close/reset all valves before turning water on to the house after the emergency. You may want to call a plumber.

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Sunday, May 1, 2011

Can You Trust "The Man"?

This post is a continuation, as promised, of my post last week

This post is a report is of my other attempt at gaining national notoriety as a photojournalist albeit a semi-pro one. The event was a Woodstock redux in northern California shortly after the iconic Woodstock concert everybody remembers.

As dozens of Woodstock wannabe concerts sprang up across the nation I drove north with fellow photographer Bob Burroughs in my Volkswagen bug to the faux Woodstock at Laguna Beach arriving Sunday evening. We had to park miles away and hike on muddy trails over the hills to get in because local law enforcement was having a conniption fit over the "hippie invasion" coming so soon after the hysteria following the real Woodstock.

They had blocked off the road leading into the area. Even with my real genuine issued-by-the-police press pass they wouldn't let bearded me & long haired he in.

Arriving at the concert site about 1 a.m. we went to sleep among the hippies. Bob had had the foresight to bring along his sleeping bag. It was a cold night and in the dawn's early light I awoke freezing to find I'd been spooning up against his bag to keep at least one side of me warm.

Also by the dawn's early light I saw a line of police officers and sheriffs deputies coming over the crest of a hill with their riot batons in their hands. One of my pictures on the front page of a San Diego weekly newspaper. Click to enlarge picture. Then click again to enlarge again.

I woke Bob up and started taking pictures while he rolled up his expensive sleeping bag. By the time the bag was rolled the cops were upon us. He'd had the foresight to bring a sleeping bag; I'd had the foresight to bring my press pass. My press pass allowed me to stay while my credentialess companion, and the rest of the hippies, were unceremoniously ushered out of the valley.

The valley was broomed. No one without a press pass was allowed behind the police lines as the line of officers swept down the valley pushing everyone before them. No one was allowed to pack up their tents, sleeping bags or any other gear they couldn't pick up and carry with them on a moments notice.

I took great pictures of the cops coming over the hill, burning "abandoned" hippie belongings etc. I sent the prints off to the L.A. Free Press which, at the time, was the counter culture's newspaper of record.

The L.A. Free Press printed every one of my photos on it front page, but never sent me a cent which is why the endeavor was a photojournalistic failure.
My Pictures on the front page of the L.A. Free Press. (Above the fold) Click to enlarge picture. Then click again to enlarge again.

The L.A. Free Press still exists, online at least. In its dead tree publishing days their mantra was "Freedom!" but its present maxim is "Yesterday, it was the Counter Culture... Today, it’s all about us." Today the Free Press's online presence looks more like the Wall Street Journal than Haight-Ashbury's answer to the Los Angels Times. My Pictures on the front page of the L.A. Free Press. (Below the fold) Click to enlarge picture. Then click again to enlarge again.

This brings me, at last, to my point, two of them actually. One is the effect of peer pressure on your friends and neighbors and the other point is the effect of peer pressure when magnified through the lens of government.

It seems the locals had put pressure on the land owner who'd rented out the concert site. Under that pressure the owner reneged on his agreement with the concert promoters and, at dawn, the cops came to enforce a suddenly extant trespassing complaint.

I don't know if the land owner knew what he was getting into when he agreed to rent the concert site to the promoters, but I think he got more than he bargained for.

His farmer friends and ranching neighbors he'd known all his life (and would likely be living with for the rest of his life) didn't appreciate him letting "hippies" into their neck of the woods. It's doubtful that many of them had ever had any direct contact with that crowd from Haight-Ashbury, but they thought they knew all about "Hippies" and rock bands.

Perception is reality at least insofar as we react to it.
Expectations are predictions of the future based on past experience filtered through perception.
-- Desert Dave -- (Quotation, with attribution, permitted and encouraged.)

Since the country cousins knew all about hippies they knew what to expect from them now that "they" were in the valley. Maybe "they" would try to start a pot growing commune!

Lesson learned from that experience:
Guard your reputation! If you're branded a "Prepper" or worse yet a "Survivalist" people will begin behaving differently around you in times of stress.

Point two, your local LEO (Law Enforcement Officer) is a manifestation of the community's perception of reality. E.g. when local governments thought they'd found a new money tree in the form of traffic light cameras they openly bragged of the money the jurisdictions were raking in. Citizens groups went ballistic.

In jurisdictions where the local government failed to get ahead of the issue with a PR campaign presenting the red light cameras as a citizen's safety issue rather than yet another money grubbing scheme by the politicians to wring even more money out of the wallets of the taxpayer's public pressure forced the removal of the cameras.

When the road of life takes a sudden detour you don't want to be perceived as a red light camera by your friends, neighbors, co-workers and voters.

Wearing cammies to the school board meeting doesn't raise awareness of the need for us all to prepare a 72 hour survival kit, but it does mark you as a kook.

Right now "Preppers" are looked upon by the public as slightly kooky while "Survivalists" have a darker image. We can't allow politicians to paint us all with a broad brush and demonize us.

As shown in the pictures above the police did things at the hippie camp that they wouldn't dream of doing if a church's summer youth club campout got out of hand.

If, as I expect, hyperinflation rears its ugly head in the near future politicians will be franticly looking for scapegoats. They may not be able to lay the blame teens of trillions of debt on you personally, but they'll be looking for something, anything, to deflect the public's attention. "Never mind what I voted for; we need to find those people hording food!"

Don't be a whipping boy; let the politicians find their fall guy elsewhere. The guy who's been bragging about his garage full of food has pinned a target on his chest and another on his back.

The establishment may send LEO's to the front door to confiscate "hoarded goods" while "friends" and neighbors are hauling them out the back door.

As for the LEO's:
When push comes to shove you can count on "the man" to habitually follow orders, at least until it becomes abundantly clear that law and order and paychecks don't exist anymore.

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