Wife is aggravated. Y2k this, y2k that. Can't renovate the house because of y2k, spending all this money on y2k, can't wait until this year is over, etc., etc. Finally, wife announces in a moment of extra frustration that if y2k isn't a disaster like we have prepared for, I'll have hell to pay. OK, so here I am hoping for the end of civilization as we know it so my wife can't yell at me and tell me I told you so. Is there something wrong with this picture? Send sympathy.

-- Catchin'it (frozen@whipsawed.com), March 25, 1999

Answers

Catchin,

If I were you I'd get a new wife. Dead serious.

-- @ (@@@.@), March 25, 1999.

Been there, doing that.

Forum was supportive. Go to this thread and read, read, read.

http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=000dSr

Cheers!

-- FM (vidprof@aol.com), March 25, 1999.

Catchin' It,

Tell her how easy it will be to do all the things she wants to do next year if nothing happens. No groceries to buy, more money to do things up right!

My husband and I get a little resentful of all our preps too. But we have a 'yard stick' we go by. "If TSHTF would we want new carpet we can't vacuum, or would we want food?" Food wins every time. "If TSHTF would we want new wallpaper, or would we want to be warm?" Being warm wins every time! "If TSHTF would we want a new dishwasher, or would we want lights to see by at night?" Lights win every time.

Somtimes we reassure ourselves that if next year is less than we are preparing for, we will have alot of money to buy the things we want to buy this year. We also take a break every once in a while and go out to eat, relax and take in a movie. Or we will buy something that is absolutely non essential to y2k preps, to 'reward' ourselves for staying on track.

It is easy to become overwhelmed by the preps, realizing you can not possibly prepare for any and every thing. That is when it is easiest to become resentful. Try our 'yardstick' with your wife, but do it sparingly! A constant reminder of potential problems when she is already resentful could have you preparing for one!!

Best of luck and keep your chin up!

-- (mybit@cyber.space), March 25, 1999.

Not the exact problem, but similar. We live near a big metropolis and have made plans to move at the end of April. My spouse is supportive of preparing for y2K... or so he says... But I am doing all the work... And every time I turn around, he is making plans that involve still being here in this area!

My grown children are DGI and think I am "loony tunes"... Two sisters and spouses are semi GI, another one thinks we have lost our minds. We all live great distances apart.

Very depressing... sigh.

Thinking of possibly leaving this area alone and looking for a prepared group somewhere in south Louisiana or Mississippi...

Just griping, I guess... :-(

-- just gloomy (lurkinghere@home.com), March 25, 1999.

Catchin it: How much is enough? Mrs. Rimmer and I struggle with this everyday. We certainly don't know. Our entire goal is to be over-prepared. Better too much than not enough. Here's where we've set our own goalposts:

We are prepared to live without electricity for several months if need be.

We are prepared to live without grocery stores for several months if need be.

We are prepared to heat our home with wood if other fuels are not available.

We are prepared to share some food and drinking water with some neighbors if they are prepared to help us.

We are prepared to live without banking for a time if need be.

We are prepared to sit on our thumbs and not panic and give others an opportunity to fix the problems which may potentially occur. But we certainly don't expect those fixes to happen in 3-7 days. If the critical stuff can be, than that's great, but I'm not willing to bet my family's lives on it. It's your choice though.

We are prepared to raise a portion of our own food. I've grown several hobby gardens in my life but I'm certainly not a farmer and have no illusion about being able to grow enough to feed my family over the long haul. It's a challenge I'd face if I had to but there are serious doubts as to how successful I'd be. I'm a software person and that's how I would prefer to make my living. It's that nice division of labor stuff you know...still, I will practice this summer.

We are prepared mentally to live without many of the things that make our lives more convient today.

We are prepared, as best we can be, to have patience.

For many contingencies short of total chaos, I know that at least my family will have plenty of food, water, shelter, heat, sanitation, clothing, and lighting. I will do what I can for my immediate community but I will not put my family at risk in order to do so.

However, there are some things we are definitely not prepared for:

We are not prepared for roving bands of professionally-trained marauders. Given our location, we think this unlikely. But we couldn't even hold off a single trained person unless we just happened to get lucky - extraordinarily lucky. We have no illusions about being able to hold off any significant attack.

We are not prepared for containment breeches at the nearby nuclear power facility - uh, beyond having an escape route and a second "plan B" location. We don't think we'll need it. We hope we don't need it. We pray we don't need it. We've lived here for 10 years without a problem. The plant's been a pretty good neighbor so far. We'd like to continue living here.

It's a bit like whistling in a graveyard though. One of the senior engineers at the facility lives just up the road. I told Mrs. Rimmer that I thought we should hold our position until we see a "for sale" sign go up on his property...

We are not prepared for some idiot with a cause to release bioweapons in our area. If that should happen, lights out, the story's over.

We are not prepared to live without medical care. Yes, we are doing what we can for basic medical preparedness, but I do not have the time to become a doctor. This greatly worries us, especially in light of the lagging health care industry and it's utter dependency on imported products. Extend PNG's challenge to medical devices. Name one digital, electronic medical device that does not contain components made in Asia. From chips to chromium to insulin, quality health care depends heavily upon foreign imports.

We've been prepping very hard since last summer. But we've skipped the night vision goggles, the potassium iodide, and the bomb shelter. We chose instead to use what resources we do have to pay down our debts, and buy more food, water storage, wood, clothing, fuel and lighting.

We are becomming prepared for limited (several month) disruptions in basic infrastructure. We are certainly not prepared to fight a war nor are we prepared for TEOTWAWKI (total social and economic meltddown).

Frankly, if things get that bad, only the folks with a reservation at Cheyenne Mountain will stand a chance of surviving.

We pray we have over-prepared. I suspect most of the regulars here feel the same. If we have over-prepared, then we will be jumping for joy at this time next year.

Anyway, that's where we drew the line.

Nothing would make me happier than to be able to say next April, "we had way more than enough". Mrs. Rimmer wanted your wife to know that it will be a very good thing if we can all say that next year.

-- Arnie Rimmer (Arnie_Rimmer@usa.net), March 26, 1999.

My husband was the same way, I know what you are going through. The difference between your situation & mine was that we don't do any major purchasing without consensus, so my plans were in limbo. Then, one day, Husband GOT IT! And when he did, we started things rolling!

I have a wonderful man for my husband, and he has embraced me many times since and said:

'Honey, I'm so glad I finally listened to you', or 'Honey, I'm so glad you kept badgering me about this', or 'Honey, we're so much better off than the vast majority in terms of being prepared for this thing... I'm so lucky to have you!'

I'm not making this up, these are things he has actually said to me in the last few months. It means a lot when my personal Gary Cooper talks to me like this, believe me!

So, Catchin'it, keep your eyes on the prize. Someday soon your wife will understand what's happening, and you will be her hero and knight in shining duct-tape for sure. I can't tell you how good it feels. You are doing the right thing, no doubt about it.

-- Arewyn (nordic@northnet.net), March 26, 1999.

Catchin,

That's why I'm looking for a pretty Alladin or two - the the petromax and moolighter model kerosun will provide us sufficient light as well as do a good job to moderate the cold. But the Mrs. says Y2K is all trumped up to line the pockets of computer companies. So I figure something nice (and coincidently functional) for her tolerance would be a nice gesture.

She isn't keen on my alternative energy plans (that money could make down payment on a sunroom addition) but I asked her to set the priority and minimun requirements - well pump must run. She also knows that my interest alternative energy predates Y2K and that it is simply providing justification for me to get some more toys - when I spent over 200 on compact flourescents a number of years back she thought I'd lost my mind. But, we haven't had to replace one yet and I figure it reducet our electric bill $3-4/month. So we've now saved more than the cost of the bulbs and then some.

Perhaps you can make a deal with with your Mrs. something like: humor me for on one and if Y2K is a bump, I owe you big time and if Y2K is bad, you can be glad I was stubborn, and I owe you big time....

Good Luck jh

-- john hebert (jt_hebert@hotmail.com), March 26, 1999.

Arewyn,

Exactly what made him GET IT?

Cheers!

-- FM (vidprof@aol.com), March 26, 1999.