With a little over 100 days to go, I thought it might be interesting to try and get a handle on the how many are preparing question, using samples from those folks we are most familiar with: Its a long shot, but perhaps well learn something.

About 7 out of 10 among both my family and friends (including extended family) have been making various levels of preps. As far as closest neighbors, half are doing at least some level of prep that I know of. Our parish has made small preps for a while, and included some general Y2K prep info on Sunday a few times. (The church leaders continue to live in terror of looking foolish, and basically refuse to do much more). Our community is lucky to have a GI mayor. Unfortunately, some of the councilmen do not want to appropriate much in the way of prep funds. It is an ongoing battle. Very little in the local rags. Most items readily available still.

On a scale from 1 to 10, with 10 being as prepared as possible, here is how I would sum it up:

Family 7, friends 7, neighbors 5, parish 3, community 2

How about you? (Please consider using the scale)

-- Rob Michaels (sonofdust@com.net), September 12, 1999

Answers

Family(parents/siblings)5,friends 2,neighbors/parish/community ? would guess 1

-- Mikey2k (mikey2k@he.wont.eat.it), September 12, 1999.

Family - Big Fat Zero. Friends in CA - 3 seriously, 3 lightweight, most think they will grab some water and beans in December 'just in case'.

-- Mumsie (Shezdremn@aol.com), September 12, 1999.

Most family preparing for a week or so. Most everyone else I know not preparing much if at all. Sigh.

-- citygirl (citygirl@idirect.com), September 12, 1999.

Of my friends and extended family, my wife and I are the only ones preparing. Everybody I am close to simply refuses to take Y2K seriously. As for the comunity and county, nothing that I have heard about is being done. Parish (as in church, not a Louisiana county) preps are much like my family; they refuse to take it seriously. I think our pastor is aware, but is afraid of being ridiculed both before, and afterwards (if it is JABITR).

So, my wife and I are preparing for 14 instead of just us 2.

Gerald

-- Gerald R. Cox (grcox@internetwork.net), September 12, 1999.

family - one two-person household making minor preps. Everyone else, zero.

friends - finally convinced one couple (in another state) that Y2K is serious. They set out to prepare, but we haven't heard from them in a month. Other friends professed interest, but I don't think they took any action. Probably waiting until closer to the day.

neighbors - my guess is zero (comments by me met with glazed looks or a change of subject)

entire community - see neighbors

-- Pearlie Sweetcake (storestuff@home.now), September 12, 1999.

Hi Rob!

Family: about a 2. Friends: I would say an 8. Neighbors: of the ones I know that are preparing, probably a 5, Church: as a whole maybe a 2, several are VERY prepared, some moderately prepared, many not at all. As to community, that is hard to say. I would say awareness in Texas is pretty high, but when you live 40-50 miles from 4 million people.... I don't even want to think about it!

-- Gayla (privacy@please.com), September 12, 1999.

Sadly: Family 2 (exception of mom who is a captive to a Y2K preparer), friends 3, neighbors 7 (they are all farmers), parish 0, community 1 - After compiling this it looks even sadder.

-- Sammie Davis (sammie0nospam@hotmail.com), September 12, 1999.

family: 7, friends: 2, neighbors: 4, mom's church: 0, community: 2

-- Gus (y2kk@usa.net), September 12, 1999.

3of 4 immediate family members = 7 (rest are denialists), friends say "Get real, you gotta be kiddin, prepare? for WHAT?), city officials said same thing.....live in a community of 30,000 and the only soul I've ran across w/prepps is immediate family......sad, very sad.....

-- New Kid on the Block (BetterGetPrepped@aol.com), September 12, 1999.

I can tell you this much: people in rural areas, such as Northwest Arkansas, are preparing to some degree but not saying much. Over the weekend, I picked up a used 1,000 gallon tank to hold diesel fuel; had to go all the way to Texas to get it, big ones like this are almost impossible to find. Along the way, I noticed a few churches had "Y2K" mentioned. The old farmer that I bought the tank from says that he is selling the 500 gallon tanks, which he apparently buys cheap, re-furbishes, then sells, exclusively for Y2K worried people.

I think that it is in the more urban areas that Y2K is just not talked about much, nor is a lot of preparation being done. Probably because you cannot do a lot before you question how much you can do in such an environment.

-- Jack (jsprat@eld.net), September 13, 1999.

Family (23 total) - 8.5-9 Friends - 5-6 Community - 2 Church - 0.0 (head in the sand)

-- mom (mom@mom.com), September 13, 1999.

Family? All GI's! Must be congenital. Friends? Another story. I often try to present the risks to aquaintences/friends/etc. and then offer to provide additional information IF THEY EMAIL ME (not vice versa). I do this to make them take the first small step. I have made this offer to dozens of people. I have received two emails.

-- Dave (aaa@aaa.com), September 13, 1999.

I just received a call from a friend who travels around the U.S. quite a bit as part of his job. He tells me that regardless of where he goes in the country, people just are not talking about Y2K. It is not on the radar scope.

How many days are left? Little more than 100? Based on the responses so far, plus what he told me, I cannot help but be more and more concerned. God help us if its bad.

-- Rob Michaels (sonofdust@com.net), September 13, 1999.

Zippo.

The all laugh & think I bring the big fires & such with me when I come visit [I keep telling my son 'it's just a coincidence']. One friend, when I called to help evacuate their LA home, said "We were just talking & said 'hey, it's a natural disaster' & we KNEW you must be back in town!".

On more than one occasion, they've said to each other 'well it's a good thing that -insert disaster here- happened to her, because she's the best prepared.' I hope it happens again, I'd gladly take the hit for all of 'em. I've got a bad feeling this time, though.

-- flora (***@__._), September 13, 1999.

Since most of us, myself included, are preparing for an extended period of time, I would have to answer Zero's across the board when compared to my personal standards for preps.

However, viewing this poll as recommended by the govt (3 days) or in line with Stan's excellant 14 day suggestions, the outcome would be different. And really, can we expect much more even down too the wire?

I would be delighted if everyone I knew and/or cared about was preped for 14 days. Sadly, of course, this is not the case.

-- Lilly (homesteader145@yahoo.com), September 14, 1999.

Hope this will help you, the way I plan is to try to get enoungh that I can with food that will go a long, soup etc.. How far is harvest. If you can make it from on point, to the next you can make it. Wild food,spring ,wild food summer, wild food auntum, wild food winter. These things are always there, you only have to learn check your local librarey. There are places on the web just do a search for wild food.

-- ET (bneville@zebra.com), September 18, 1999.