Well, the lights stayed on. I didnt think it was likely that they would go out, but the stakes were rather high so I prepped for that worst case scenario. And being that I have been blessed with the ability to make more money than 80% of Americans, and probably 50% of TB200 regulars, I felt it was only right that I make preps for some of those beyond my immediate family and friends. So I bought a bunch more food for the pollies and plain uninformed to eat. It would have been a drop in the bucket had our collective hairs got caught in the fan belt, but I had to try.

So now we know that we are not to be subjected to a world where the things that 99% of us depend on have been yanked out from underneath us. Whats next? There are the possible economic impacts of the Y2K bug. That means a shifting of gears for me. Its time to convert all this stash in to cash. No. Im not selling off everything. Thanks to Y2K issue I have taken a look at banking and stocks and I didnt really like what I saw. I will keep a pantry, in the grand old traditional sense of the word. And it will be for me and mine and a few others who just may need help. What I mean is I will now use my preps to cut down on cash expenditures. I am already, aside from my mortgage, debt free. (Again, God and the Free Market Economy have been good to me.) But I will use the surplus foods up to (drastically) cut down on my grocery bills, use my alternate heating preps to reduce my electrical bills (and this doesnt even touch the kerosene devices), and draw down my other consumables in medicines and personal hygiene products. Anything that will expire before I can use it (and that aint much!) will be donated to a local charity. In this way I can increase funds to help face any recession/depression that may arise from Y2K or just plain old Irrational Exuberance. I will also use what I have learned to help local food banks gear up for additional homeless by adding my newly found Eat Cheap for Years knowledge to theirs. And donating some of the more expensive equipment like a quality grain mill to them. (Ill but them their own, Im keeping mine).

I sure hope that this forum and TB2K preps doesnt go anywhere. They have become important news and information sources. And the trolls.well, theyre what we have instead of commercials.

Watch six and keep your

-- eyes_open (best@wishes.all), January 07, 2000

Answers

Don't worry, we ain't leaving ....

Sounds like you're allocating Y2K preps sensibly and graciously, though I'd hang on to most of them for just ... a ... bit ... longer before making too many decisions.

As for the future of this forum, please contribute to this thread:

http://hv.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=002Cav

-- BigDog (BigDog@duffer.com), January 07, 2000.

BigDog...I contributed below. At this time I am unsure of what to discuss on this forum. Are we heading in the direction of recipes to use our preps? (I am not trying to use them up, just use and replace at this time.) I am interested in recipes, rural living, livestock, alternative energy sources, security issues and many other things, as you brought up down below. What direction are we heading? If people get the idea we are only into "recipes to use up preps" they will get bored and move on. Just my thoughts tonight. What do ya think? :-)

Peace Hope

-- Hope (hope@spirit.com), January 08, 2000.

Hope -- Just as a couple of for-instances, I hope we can enlist Bill Schwenker to take us further down the road to ham and other alternative comm options; Al K. Lloyd to help us explore alternative energy; A. T. Hagan to expand our thoughts on food storage and usage; Don Kulha to chime in on alternative energy as well and a host of related topics ... and so it goes.

Recipes are cool as are all the other very "humble" topics we discuss here. They keep us grounded. But there is no reason not to fly a bit as well. Yesterday's talk on alternative energy is not today's "preps". Today's talk will be tomorrow's simple preps.

-- BigDog (BigDog@duffer.com), January 08, 2000.

I also think that for those that made the move to the country or small town (even for those that haven't), this is the place to go for those unexpected "events". I have seen people ask questions when a problem arose and they have gotten wonderful information from the people here. This could be about most anything - animals, wells, wildlife, gardening, etc. As they say "Life goes on" and so do the problems and questions.

It will be spring soon and animals will be birthing, the garden needs planted and fence needs mended - the never ending cycle of life and work. I think there will be lots of questions about things that this forum can address.

-- beckie (sunshine_horses@yahoo.com), January 09, 2000.