Did you have regrets and surprises on New Year's Eve?

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In a previous post (one about to scroll off the main prep forum page), Big Dog asks where the road of self-reliance and intentional lifestyles may takes us-- especially those of us who began our journey with concerns about Y2K. The URL for that post is as follows:

http://hv.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=002K5R

Hopefully, some of us will find some time to add our thoughts there.

Perhaps, it would help to think of our thoughts about preps on New Year's Eve. For me, New Year's Eve was a hectic day, we had a long drive, and there was a lot of emotion going on. We were on the road as the Greenwich Mean Time passed. And the car radio didn't give much Y2K coverage like people got from the tee vee. On the way down, several things went through my mind. Like the fact that I only had one pair of shoes. And I was wearing them. Before we had left, I went downstairs to get my several other pairs of shoes and found only shreds of shoes. The dogs had got to them and nothing could be salvaged. It was as frustrating as it was hilarious. And more hilarious to everyone else.

How about you? Was there something you forgot and didn't remember until the rollover was just hours or minutes away? Was there something you wished that you had got? Did you have any unpleasant surprises?

Sincerely, Stan Faryna

-- Stan Faryna (faryna@groupmail.com), January 20, 2000

Answers

I put all thought of Y2K, preps, and everything related out of my mind for at least the 8 hours on either side of the rollover. It was delightful, of course. Except that we toasted with and the quaffed copiously of Martinelli's sparkling apple-grape out of storage. ;^)

Hey Stan. Good to see you're still about. There may still be some preps that can be accomplished before .....?

>"<

-- Squirrel Hunter (nuts@upina.mizzenmast), January 20, 2000.


Hi Stan,

I felt peaceful and free to enjoy the new year. Yes, I kept tuning into CNN every so often, but my preps. made me feel safer. No unpleasant surprises here...

I do not regret preparing, and in fact, my preps. continue to grow. I previously expressed this in my "Help! I Can't stop prepping" thread. Just today, they had tomato sauce at the store for 10 cents a can, so I had to buy a case, of course :)

-- No Polly (nopolly@hotmail.com), January 20, 2000.


No.

-- Mad Monk (madmonk@hawaiian.net), January 20, 2000.

Hi Stan....Good to see ya around. Hope the New Year is treating you well...

No, no suprises at New Years, Just grateful that it wasn't a big deal and I could continue to build my preps. No critters here to eat my boots (have a couple new pair stashed) thank goodness.

Continuing preps...Just as concerned (maybe more) about chem/bio and terrorism; bought a new-in-box MCU Mask in my size, a crate of hoods for the MCU and M40 series masks (70pcs), a case (10) of the 6 packet decontamination kits in the plastic boxes, 2 more MOPP suits and some books on chem/bio incident analysis and response.

Bought a new Military 2 cyl.,16 cubic inch gas engine to upgrade my DC genny, getting a new solar panel rack, bought more clothes to add to the stockpile, getting more antibiotics (silver sulfadiazone ointment, Rifampin), bought some more food and am rotating existing stocks.

More preps coming up. Planning to build a new solar oven before the prime solar cooking season. Building more LED lights. Upgrading radio (2-way) gear and looking into setting up an FRS repeater system for our canyon community.

Just bought a new screamer G4 Mac and "stuffing" it (bumping the RAM to 192mb, adding a 27gb drive for 37 total) for upcoming CD-ROM production. Getting a new laptop to replace my old one. Guess these fall under the heading of "getting it while the gettings good".

As always, looking for deals to add to my preps. Feel a lot more "comfortable" knowing I have 'em.

-- Don Kulha (dkulha@vom.com), January 20, 2000.


Squirrel Hunter,

You're right about that. There's time to keep on prepping. At least, there was today. I don't have much cash at the moment, but I have been giving some thought to what I might add to my preps. I have also been thinking what things I would like to change. For example, I got bug out bags that weigh close to 80 lbs each. I need to break them down into 20 pounders for hiking and put the supplements in car bags.

No Polly,

That's a real good deal. And I will admit that I have been eyeing the canned vegetable and fruit aisles for good deals. I'm also thinking about putting in a big freezer-- if I can find one in the penny saver.

Mad Monk,

Glad to see you are still around. No surprises?! Then, again, I kinda figured you'd have everything under control. Meg sends her very best.

Don Kuhla,

Go, man, go. One of my next big projects is putting in some small intensive garden beds and maybe a small koi pond (to water the garden with). I don't quite know when I am going to start breaking the ground-- probably as soon as the ground is soft enough. I may need to go over to Eastern Europe for a bit, so not sure how I will have time to do too much on our property, myself. Traveling overseas these days doesn't quite make me happy. But I hope to feel better about it after a "successful" (I hope) end of the month processing.

Sincerely, Stan Faryna

-- Stan Faryna (faryna@groupmail.com), January 20, 2000.



Hiya Stan - Good to hear from you! Happy New Year! Never had a Happier one!

Surprises, yes, I was really surprised. I had done so much research and really thought things would be worse, especially overseas. It came and went here uneventfully like elsewhere.

But then on Sunday, our power went out! It was well after dark and we were in the hustle bustle of getting ready for the work week. I said "everyone, just stay put for a minute!" and went and got matches and candles and oil lanterns. Power was out a couple hours. My daughter was *really* disappointed to have to go to school in the morning!

But a few days later she said, "Mom, you know when the power went out and you went STRAIGHT to the matches and candles in the dark?" I said, "yeah?" and she said "That was GREAT!"

That moment made it all worthwhile. Even the scowls from dh every time he looks at that Big Berkey...

Here in Texas it's been so warm I went ahead and put the cool crop garden in yesterday - carrots, lettuce, parsley, onions, shallots, peas, broccoli, and sweet peas for bouquets. Hope they don't all get mown down by a hard freeze now!

-- mommacarestx (nospam@thanks.net), January 20, 2000.


Stan

I spent New Years Eve putting together a back pack with appropriate clothing to keep in the back of the car in the event that I would have to walk home the 47 miles from my job. That took about an hour and I spent the rest of the day being annoyed that I was going to have to be at my "post" for the night. Spent the night at the hospital (RN administrator) sleeping poorly on a stretcher (Just exactly why are hospitals so noisy at night?!!!), got up and ran into the MIS head (he didn't spend the night) and I relayed just how amazing that nowhere in the world was there a single reported problem of any signifigance, and we all owed the IT professionals a huge thank you! Being an IT guy, he didn't get the irony.

Drove home (good thing I didn't have to walk, I was exhausted) in the bright sunny morning. I just couldn't believe it. Nothing, nothing at all. I still don't believe it.

Since rollover I've reviewed what preps I did and realize that I did nothing but expand a lifetime of preparation in a little more specific way. We always had 3-4 months of foodstuffs (now we have 6- 8), generator/fuel (country folks-lights go out regularily), etc. I was brought up with a germanic sense of "pay as you go" and keep what you owe the world to a minimum. No regrets or second guessing about what we did.

I like to take the opportunity to say thanks to you Stan for all the effort you put into trying to help people give a little thought to how they could prepare (14 days!!!) for what could have been a nightmare. The fact that we all dodged a bullet does not diminish in any way all your work. I am sure many, many people benefited from your logical/reasoned/and reasonable efforts.

Take Care

Bill

-- Bill (Bill@SHF.com), January 20, 2000.


Stan,

The last few days before rollover were awful. I forced my way into the homes of friends and family and left food and water over their protests. We set up at least seven households with both and told them to share with the neighbors -- we would try to supply more. I had some tense moments with relatives who were talking about insanity. We had to choose between propane or food, and we chose to stock more animal feed for human consumption. We added about 3 months of bare staples for 40 people to the original inventory.

I cried whenever I was by myself. I made insanity jokes with the rest of them. I told them to go along with the crazy lady until she's safely out of the house...just take the damn water!

Our last meal before rollover was spaghetti. We had several pounds of pasta and many cans of sauce in storage. We had a grand total of one tablespoon of parmesan.

We watched the rollover from the first televised celebrations. All those millions of dollars of fireworks were putting on THE most spectacular display -- and all I watched were the electric lights behind the show.

GMT came and went without a flicker. Fifteen minutes before our local rollover, I sat down in a chair to watch...and slept through it. Woke up to see the Christmas tree lights were still on. It was beautiful.

I expected teasing from family and friends, but they called to say thank you. At the very end they had gotten nervous, and they had appreciated the food and water.

This is a new chance, more time...like being told you're still going to die eventually but not from the illness, not today. What we learned from y2k was that we could meet nearly all of our own needs for a certain length of time just by paying attention to our small finances and keeping to our plan.

Tuna went on sale at 3 cans for $1 last week ... who could pass that up? :)

-- helen (sstaten@fullnet.net), January 21, 2000.


No, no surprises on the night of the roll over but then I was ready for anything from nothing at all to happen to watching New York getting nuked.

My only regret on New Year's was catching a head cold (a gift from my five month old daughter, Katie) that made the night much less pleasurable than it otherwise would have been. We still had a great time. Celebrated New Year's at an old friend's house who was a definite polly about Y2K but had preps as good as mine in most areas for other reasons. Didn't matter to me, prepared is prepared is prepared.

..........Alan.

The Providence Cooperative - A great source of preparedness information

http://www.providenceco-op.com

-- A.T. Hagan (athagan@netscape.net), January 21, 2000.


I was greatly relieved that Y2K has thus far proved to be a non event (pratically speaking). Though we had no television and didn't get to see the waterford ball drop in Times Square, I assumed that all was well since the lights stayed on, we had an internet connection and radio, and nothing terrible was being reported on the web or radio. I was greatly relieved that all those I knew and loved and those I had come to know here... were safe. And, yes, I anticipated that the best possible outcome would be a 4 for January. While I did somewhat dread the unlikely worst, I'm very glad that none of us were put to any test. Of course, many of us now have something of a start on living a life of greater self-reliance.

Even the pollyanna-ish inconveniences that were expected could have been tragic for some. But any testing at 8 or more would have been a terrible test in my imagination. And it would have been terrible (from the start, later on, or both) for the best prepped people that I have come to know. In my mind, the best preparations that I had seen first hand were inadequate in one way or another-- especially my own. Whether or not it is possible to prepare for a near teotwawki event in a way in which you don't just meanly survive only as long as your individual resources and skills meet what I imagine to be a daily testing... is an interesting question that I continue to reconsider.

Mommacarestx,

Yes, that's another thing some of us now have a handle on. We're ready for whatever survivable emergencies and inconveniences may test us. I've been waiting for a brief blackout to light up the aladdin lamps and try out the kerosene heater that I had picked up from a neighbor (naval war college professor) when they moved out of town in a hurry.

Bill,

Thanks for the compliment. Reposting the 14 Days of Preps got on some nerves (especially Polly nerves), but it seemed like a reasonable place to start thinking about what is really important to keeping well in the event of a disaster. Mommacares also did a great job narrowing down the 14 days of preps to something someone could do when there was little time left to prep.

Helen,

You shone as I knew you would. The hardest time for me was hitting the road and worrying that the GIs that stayed might not fare well. It was very hard on me, though most really weren't interested in any kind of team effort. I was especially worried about Elaine. I prayed a lot. Maybe, my prayers were answered.

Sincerely, Stan Faryna

-- Stan Faryna (faryna@groupmail.com), January 21, 2000.



Alan,

Alan,

The Providence Cooperative sounds interesting. How many members do you have? Why don't you share with us some of your insights about setting up a cooperative effort like the one you have going in Gainesville.

Sincerely, Stan Faryna

-- Stan Faryna (faryna@groupmail.com), January 21, 2000.


Stan- I have held you in great esteme for your dogged and disciplined approach. You have shown concideration and care for untold numbers out here. I was alone in preparing. Alone during the roll over and alone now. I knew only that I had to prepare and had no real image solid in my mind exactly what to expect. However, I was and am shocked at the small impact so far. My efforts to inform others fell on deaf ears. My efforts to encourage family was snickered at. I prepared for myself and others as long as my finances lasted. My efforts were and are mostly secret because of the reactions I recieved. I now have quite a supply of foods. Much I cannot use because of allergies. Sometimes I feel foolish--especially over the 10 5 gal water containers I bought and hid upstairs. Just in case. And the 100 jars hid in another part of the house. Just in case. And the 500lbs of dried items I am allergic to that I bought in case I needed to feed others. I would like to feel proud of my concern and year and a half of effort. But be damned. It appears an empty gesture. I will keep what I have. Just in case. And if not needed within the year, I will try to give it somewhere for people to eat. I learned some very hard lessons. Some very painful lessons. I already trusted my self-sufficiency. I had no clue (and still haven't) to the need for propaganda against preparation. The use of ridicule and discount has been such a shock. The personalization and name-calling. The shame making. That those I love and value the most fell into this has been simply breath robbing and numbing. I would have wished for much more. Sometimes $@#$ happens. MOVE ON.

-- Just Me (justme@home.com), January 21, 2000.

Stan!!!

Happy new Year, to you!

This is funny, in an ironic kinda way. I remember thinking, the day after New Year's, that we were really lucky nothing happened, because there was something really important we forgot. But now...well, now I can't seem to remember just what that item was, so I guess it wasn't really that critical. It sure seemed important, the day after rollover, though.

-- Bokonon (bok0non@my-Deja.com), January 22, 2000.


Just me,

In the face of awesome and terrible risks, you demonstrated courage, compassion, and prudence. Don't let the sneers and jeers get you down or fester in the heart. You shone brightly. Continue to shine bright!

Bok,

My tale of the one pair of shoes is a good ice breaker when talking to DGI friends and family. (grin) How's the chat room these days? I miss our all nighters.

Sincerely, Staan Faryna

-- Stan Faryna (faryna@groupmail.com), January 22, 2000.


As far as me and my family go I could not be happier about the day after rollover.

The one great thing about having preps when you are on a budget, and I mean a tight budget is that you don't have to pay full price for everything you need when you have them stocked in the pantry. You have the grace to wait till it comes around on sale again to restock.. :-)

I have paid 4 cans of corn for a $1.00 to stock up, and if it is not on sale for this I can now wait. What a relief for our budget.

Every one should stock and stay stocked if they want to stay in a food budget.

Lots of smiles

Beth

-- craig (craig@icu2.net), January 22, 2000.



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