Well.....wonders shall never cease. This morning hubby turned on the local TV station and it was the beginning of a church meeting held in Ocala, Fl. Ocala is what we call town from where I live in the Forest. There had to be at least 250 people there by the looks of the crowd and I wouldn't be surprised if it were more. Well...this preacher gave an hour talk on preparation of Y2k. And while he said that the gov't recommendations were 3 days, his friends who have done a great deal of research said 3 wks to 4 months. He talked about his feelings that banks were safe, but emphazized that if one removed ones money to put in a safe place and it was NO ONE ELSES BUSINESS! Told them to avoid the freezer, the cookie jar, under the mattress, etc. Talked about rolling brown and black outs, gasoline shortages, food and JIT. I told my husband that either he or his friends must be on this forum. He passed out printed material which I gathered was a guidline for preparation and a synopsis of what is y2k. He also kept encouraging people not to panic and if they were in a panic they would make costly mistakes in preparations. That if they were in a panic they were not trusting in God and to ask God for focus. Then he said that they were going to be out in force in Sam's club, WalMart, Home Depot, LOwes, etc watching people stock up and to make sure they were in focus and not a panic. It was so super to hear someone talk reasonably, not be selling anything, not spreading panic but encouraging preparation. He encourage them to get out of debt IF they could do so and still prepare. Otherwise, think of family preparations first. Talked about getting hard copies of everything and of being very thankful that God has blessed them by their living in Florida where they don't have to worry about freezing to death. Urged people to investigate on their own and to help their neighbor,; the elderly, etc. Can't tell you how this made my day. All of this done in a very calm, cool and collected manner with all these people taking notes. And ya know what? I saw some of them at Sams and again at WalMart today. The first I have seen of anyone stocking up. I am going to call that preacher tomorrow and tell him how much I, as a GI, appreciated his reaching out and putting his own neck out on the chopping block for others.

Taz...who truly feels blessed in soooooooo many ways.

-- Taz (Tassie @aol.com), May 16, 1999

Answers

Nice synopsis Taz of a public talk that should be duplicated everywhere.

Thanks for your keen attention

(bought a garden tractor today)

Bob P

-- Bob P (rpilc99206@aol.com), May 16, 1999.

What an extraordinary guy! Lucky you! There is still NOTHING, NADA, ZILCH being done here in central NC. Overtly, anyway. The Church Lady across the street is involved in all sorts of city-wide and state-wide church stuff and keeps her ear to the ground--has heard nothing.

Every time I go to load up on sale items (and Kroger has triple coupons this week, y'all), I very rarely see anyone who might be buying a little stash for Y2K.

Possible explanation: the median age is pretty low here, the unemployement rate is consistently very low, has been for years, building boom has been going on for years, salaries not bad, real estate still rising nicely, etc., etc.

-- Old Git (anon@spamproblems.com), May 16, 1999.

Taz, are you sure you didn't just sleep-in late this morning & dream that you saw this church meeting on t.v.! ;-)

Seriously, this is fantastic news! Is the church making plans to stock up food & water for DGIs in the congregation and/or community? Please keep us informed. I CRAVE good news such as this!

-- Bingo1 (howe9@pop.shentel.net), May 16, 1999.

Taz, I am envious. You and yours may be in the best location in the the United States for 'roughing it.' Fertile, fecund ground, copious water (give or take a mocassin or two), wildlife...you are truly blessed. Shades of old King Micanopee.

-- Spidey (in@jam.com), May 17, 1999.

Taz, superb news, and I guess you have gators too if all ele fails :)

-- Andy (2000EOD@prodigy.net), May 17, 1999.

gators are good eating,better than lobster :>)

-- Daryll Smallwood (twinck@wfeca.net), May 17, 1999.

Taz, great news!

Slowly ... ever so slowly ... it shifts.

Diane

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), May 17, 1999.

This is MinnesotaSmith, author of the Y2K-perparatory website http://y2ksafeminnesota.hypermart.net. Yesterday I went to Sam's Club, and it was packed. People who were there often commented frequently on this within my hearing. Didn't notice any pattern to people's purchases, to be sure. The best deal IMO was 50# of white rice for $12.45. Yours in preparation, MinnesotaSmith

-- MinnesotaSmith (y2ksafeminnesota@hotmail.com), May 17, 1999.

Ole cowboy sayin' - "The fastest way to move a herd is slowly."

-- marsh (armstrng@sisqtel.net), May 17, 1999.

Yep...we got gators. The locals eat them and I have had it at a barbie. Also have crab, shrimp, lots of fish and some deer. Can grow anything and my water storage is the Florida Aquafir. We live near the largest and purest spring in the world. We have these springs all over and go swimming in them. Water is a constant 72Degrees year around and very pure. I agree...I think we are in the very best place of all. For those of you who have never been in Florida, you probably don't realize how rural it is in nature, especially from Orlando North. It is the 2nd largest cattle producer in the nation. And our area is 2nd only to Lexington in race horse farms. In fact Charasmatic who now has two legs on the triple crown is a local horse/trainer. So was Silver Charm. And small farms are cheap here. You can buy 5 acres and a nice moblie home or stick house for $60K You can grow your own food here year around. And being in the national forest, the masses can't move in on us. This is the Big Scrub country where Marjorie Kinnen Rawlings lived and wrote the YEARLING and the movie was filmed about 8 miles from us. There is waterfront property everywhere as this area is full of rivers and tons and tons of lakes. There are over 30K lakes in Florida. The fact that you can camp anywhere in the forest free and there are all these spring fed lakes, is the reason I expect to see some tent cities here if we get TEOWAKI.

Taz.

-- Taz (Tassie @aol.com), May 17, 1999.