Hello, bardou:

Although you refrained from accessing the Internet and this forum for four months, I could not hold off longer than four days. Why? Well, the time is short, and I think that the Internet will crash soon due to unexpected power grid failures. But for now, cyberspace flows well...

These are the best of times and the worst of times. When the grid collapses, millions will gripe at their keyboards...

Ergo, I am enjoying, or so I imagine, my limited time in cyberspace.

I do NOT watch any television, so I have missed out on what televised "specials" are being broadcast. I obtain all of my news from magazines, radio and the Internet.

Ooohh... The Internet. Corrupt and evil. Worthless. Those are the common opinions of those who DGI. They will NOT trust ANY news from the Internet. But TV is cool, especially the sitcoms, movies and infomercials.

At my US Post Office I have been talking to several people regarding the forthcoming Crash of '99.

One lady, who is at least in her late 60s or early 70s, does NOT want to hear my warnings. Why? Well, she and her family are very wealthy in real estate and stock holdings. My warnings are poison to her ears, so she laughs off my words. Yet, she is worried, and I can discern this with every reaction to my warnings.

My hope in old people is becoming diminished. I thought they, the ones who survived and continued through the Great Depression of '29 would be wise. Unforturnately, my assumptions have been proven wrong.

Why? These old timers are complacent and computer illiterate. They seem to believe the governmental media spin, so everything is OK.

So, back to the water situation: From what I have discerned, you live on the West Coast of America and have not any readily available water supply from any deep aquifer.

Are you storing water in barrels?

I have received my second order of water drums and plan to disinfect them tomorrow after I finish work at the factory. This plan is for my residence in the city. With many gallons of water, I can help my neighbors with cookings needs. But it they want to wash their clothes, they are on their own. (And they are NOT prepared!)

-- Randolph (dinosaur@williams-net.com), September 17, 1999

Answers

Hey, bardou:

I waited until nightfall to empty my 55 gallon water barrels. Two couples and two cars drove by my driveway, but they did not notice my movements.

I had the lights turned out, so things were somewhat awkward.

Then I had a neighbor, a DGI who helps maintain a bison ranch in northestern Indiana, stop by. He talked about the bison and Indians.

I was uncomfortable until I realized he had not seen me emptying the water barrels.

There are two people's decisions with whom I must await placement of the water barrels.

Until they make their moves, I must hide the water barrels in der Lagerraum.

-- Randolph (dinosaur@williams-net.com), September 18, 1999.

Randolph--leaving to go out to dinner with my husband, will answer you tomorrow......bardou

-- bardou (bardou@baloney.com), September 18, 1999.

Randolph: We have access to water, but I still have water stored in barrels and in 1-gallon jugs. Do you realize how many gallons of water you use a day just for your family alone? I assume you pay for your city water so get your water bill out and figure out how many gallons per day your family uses. I bet your eye balls will pop out of your head when you figure it out. A load of laundry uses about 40 gallons, a shower (depending on the length of the shower of course) is between 40-50 gallons, one flush of the toilet 1-5 gallons, dishwasher 10 gallons, landscaping--I can't even guess on that one, but if you plan to have a garden you must factor that in. I'm figuring on 1 gallon of water per person per day and that's just for the bare necessities of drinking, cooking and personal hygiene. If you plan to take care of your neighbors, your going to need a heck of a lot of barrels and room to store them. We have a lake near us and a county maintained water ditch near our home. The water in the ditch comes from the lake and will have to be boiled and chlorinated. I am going on the assumption that people will be coming in droves to get water and I don't want to be out with the crowds for safety reasons. So when I run out of water, the ditch is my only until the dust settles.

Now that your neighbors know that you are preparing, do they know you are also preparing for them? What will you do when the water runs out and you can't provide for your neighbors any more? How do you think they will react when the spigot is turned off? Will you provide food for your neighbors and will you let your family go without just so the neighbors can eat too? These are hard questions to answer for someone who is thinking about theirs neighbors well being. While to some it sounds callus and cold to turn your neighbor or stranger away, it will be something that we all will have to eventually do if we want to survive ourselves. So, at what point would you do this? For myself, I will do it from the beginning. Knowing human nature, once you start feeding and caring for people and then cut them off, you will have a another set of problems to deal with. Some people will stop at nothing (except a bullet), to get what they want. The more you tell people about your plans, the more vulnerable you become. Even though I talked to my neighbors 1-1/2 years ago about Y2K, I never told them I was preparing. Water won't be that big of a problem with my neighbors, it will be a food problem. There are some tough situtations to face ITSHTF and I'm not looking forward to it at all, but I am prepared for it.

-- bardou (bardou@baloney.com), September 19, 1999.

bardou, thanks for the feedback.

I would feel very uncomfortable living on the West Coast Bay area, which is a large target for nuclear missiles.

I've been training garden hoses on various bushes and trees so that their roots will grow deeply. Next year I might lose the city water and have nothing but rain and roof collections into barrels for the plants.

BTW, if you are bardou, is your husband barbuck?

-- Randolph (dinosaur@williams-net.com), September 19, 1999.