We love our families. My wife's family especially (7 siblings, 21 cousins/grandchildren) are very loyal.

Nevertheless.

If Y2K goes Milne or thereabouts, all layers of relationship, from nation-state down to marriages, will reconfigure around serious issues of survival and mutual help. Twentieth-century American (it is native to our shores, you know) prozac narcisscism will be banished with the remains of the infrastructure.

This will lead to odd happenings. You will welcome that ornery brother-in-law who, it turns out, wants to pull with you so that everyone makes it and turn away the sister whose whining and complaining will enervate everyone's will to go forward.

Ditto for your relationships with neighbors, your town, your state and even your country.

This is not cold-heartedness or even some form of nasty social darwinism but the heartbreaking requirement for combining truth with mercy. As a Christian, I recognize that my God may call me to surrender many of my preparations for others, but it won't be due to a cheesy sentimentality on His part. And He is just as likely to urge me to shut the door on a "viper", whether they come clothed in the natural garb of family ("who is my mother, my brother and my sister?" was a question posed by the carpenter Himself) or stranger.

We may well see and experience some very strange things in the coming years. Do everything you can to honor your parents and be affectionate to your siblings ..... then leave them, in the best sense, to their own destiny, some with you, some not with you.

One of the very worst aspects of our culture has been the mass infantilizing of adults. It's bad enough that our government and our media major in this. Let's do our best to avoid it ourselves (I'm not scolding, but pleading).

Both our living and our dying (and, as some of us believe, that ain't nothing compared to what comes after that) are awesome realities: don't trivialize the responsibilities of others for themselves.

We need every GI (and, yes every DGI who GI later) to live an adult life, which means, ultimately, they are responsible for themselves. That is the best way (to bring it back to topic) my family members can help me and me them.

-- BigDog (BigDog@duffer.com), January 10, 1999

Answers

I told my family from the get go that if they plan to come to my house to be prepared for the following rules:

1. Don't come empty handed. If you come to my house bring food, water, bedding. 2. My husband is captain of the ship. If you don't like the orders, then you best not come because every one pitches in. Be prepared to stand watch, everyone will take a turn. 3. Be prepared to shoot a gun, and bring your guns and ammo with you. It's a matter of life and death, and everyone is depending on you. If you can't stand the thought of shooting a gun, then stand the thought of loading one. 4. There will be no family squabbles, or spousal arguing. Leave it at the door or get it straightened out before you show up to my house. If you insist on upsetting the apple cart, bring your bugout bag with you because you will be asked to bug out. 5. Two meals a day will be served, breakfast and dinner. No complaints about the food will be tolerated. Keep your dreams about eating at McDonalds or Burger King to yourself. 6. Toilet paper will be rationed out from the get go. You get one roll to last you one week. Use it however you wish, but don't ask for another roll until Sunday. 7. One gallon of water a day will be given to each adult. You can do whatever you wish with it, but don't ask for another one if you decided to wash your hair with it. Ration it, save it up and then wash you hair. 8. Everyone is responsible for keeping their living quarters clean, and the premises picked up. Anyone leaving stuff laying around will find it down the hill. 9. If you find that you aren't cut out to living in a tight knit commune where your expected to pull your own weight, or you don't like what's expected of you, then you better find a better alternative to your situation.

My mother who is 75 will be with me. I will take care of her, and she is quite in tune with what can happen with Y2K. We have an obligation to take care of our elderly parents, but no obligation to take care of our grown children, brother's, sisters, etc. I want my children to be here, but they know the rules beforehand.

-- bardou (bardou@baloney.com), January 10, 1999.

If you really are sure that TEOTWAWKI is in the future, buy about 2000 pounds of feed grade hard winter wheat for the "show uppers" in your future.

I have a few of those that I expect around the first of next year. Fine, you grind the wheat, I'll cook it.

Seriously. You can get 50 pound bags of hard red wheat for around $9.00. Buy lots of wheat. ww

-- WAYNE WITCHER (WWITCHER@MVTEL.NET), January 10, 1999.

Bardou:

One teensy quibble: The one gal per day of water is sufficient for consumption but NOT hygeine. ESPECIALLY in the summer, where this will be enough for consumption if you are doing next to NOTHING physical. (trust me. In the heat a person may need 2 - 4 gals if they are exerting AT ALL!) You expect the folks to wash ANYTHING (much less hair) you'll need to up the ration.

cr

-- Chuck, night driver (rienzoo@en.com), January 10, 1999.

I am not stocking water for showups. Thats for my family and fellow preparee's.

For showups, I am stocking BUCKETS. There is a crick at the bottom of the hill. Runs even in the winter. Clean water. Don't show up at the bathroom door without a full bucket to flush.

-- art welling (artw@lancnews.infi.net), January 10, 1999.

That idea of having to go and get a bucket of water from a ways away makes me really glad I sunk the money to get a solar powered water pump. :)

Good rules, all in all, though.

-- Bill (billclo@hotmail.com), January 10, 1999.

Neglected to give you the fact that we live near a lake. They can take a hike and go take a bath. One gallon should be sufficient to brush teeth, wash face, and for drinking. If they don't want to take a hike to the lake, Oh WEEEELLLL!

-- bardou (bardou@baloney.com), January 11, 1999.

I've read that people get used to even the strongest odors in time. I lived in St. Paul in the 1930's. South St. Paul had a large and active stockyard. When the wind was right in the summer the smells that came our way couldn't be ignored. We never got used to it because it was intermittent. But those who lived near the stockyards did. The mayor of So. St. Paul came back home after an official visit to California, and announced, "It's good to be back where you can taste the air."

-- Tom Carey (tomcarey@mindspring.com), January 11, 1999.

Tom: My son lives on 10 acres and is surrounded by cattle, pig and dairy farms. Every time I visit him, the smell is almost too much to handle, not to mention the thousands of flies that invade his house. He doesn't plan to stay where he's at for Y2K. He lives near the state capitol and feels ranchers and farmers will be the first hit by gangs and starving bands of people. His plans are to move in a couple of months.

-- bardou (bardou@baloney.com), January 11, 1999.