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Wisconsin family unapologetic for $25,000 in Y2K supplies
Even now, Dennis Olson wants everyone to know he doesn't feel silly _ not about the 600 rolls of toilet paper stacked in his basement or the new $13,000 emergency generator sitting in the back yard or the 200 cans of tuna on the shelf.
``We're just normal people,'' he said Sunday, nearly two days into a new millennium that was supposed to arrive with a calamity of Y2K problems. ``We're not all right-wing, survivalist nut cases.
``It's not wasted money,'' he insisted of the estimated $25,000 he spent preparing for the worst.
As Olson, 41, sat in his North Hudson home, feeling relieved but warning that he wouldn't breathe easy until June, the computer consultant talked of how the experience had been an ``awakening'' for him, his wife and his family.
Olson never bought into the most pessimistic predictions of what might happen, he said, and he learned to be skeptical of those who said it would amount to nothing.
He also learned, he said, to ignore the neighbors who complained to city officials when contractors came to install the emergency generator, which is big enough to completely power two large houses. ``I don't care,'' he said of the neighbors. ``It's a lifestyle change.''
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Ready to go
At 5:30 p.m. Friday _ a half-hour before midnight, Greenwich Mean Time _ Olson pulled a red lever in his basement that took his house off the utility company's power supply and pushed a black button that kicked in his own generator. The unit out in the yard, the size of a Volkswagen, sprang to life.
There were eight 55-gallon drums of water, ready to go, in the basement. He had rented a 500-gallon propane tank, bought 250 pounds of beans and 175 pounds of bagged pasta _ part of an estimated $7,000 in stockpiled food _ and, just in case, had enough ammunition for the hunting rifles.
``You never know,'' Olson said of the ammunition. But he quickly added: ``We didn't go over the top.''
There was even a $500 ``Hospital in a Box,'' a sophisticated medical kit that would allow him to perform minor surgery if necessary.
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Y2K `refugees'
To add one last twist to the preparations, Olson agreed to temporarily ``adopt'' a 15-year-old mother, Jennifer Berks, and her 11-day-old son who were at the last minute desperately looking for a home that was ready for the worst. ``I didn't carry him for nine months just to have him die,'' Berks said in explaining her arrival at the Olsons'.
Olson had learned via the Internet of Berks' plea to be with a ``GI Family'' _ a family that ``Gets It,'' in the jargon of Y2K worriers _ and said he happily accommodated.
But the pivotal moment came Friday _ and then went, without a hitch.
On TV, the crowds could be seen celebrating the new year in Moscow, Rome and Paris, and then later, in New York, Washington, D.C., and, finally, Minneapolis and St. Paul.
``I was happy. I was very happy,'' said Olson. ``But I didn't turn off the generator until . . . 12:30 in the morning.''
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Relief _ and skepticism
Olson's wife, D'Anne, was equally relieved. ``I just wanted it to be done,'' she said. D'Anne Olson, 33, who married her husband when she was 16 after a three-month courtship, said she never doubted her husband's concerns.
``I'm a lifelong Mormon,'' she said. ``Food storage is always part of the program. We're taught from a young age you should always have a year of food storage on hand.''
If there was a skeptic in the house, it was Brian, the Olsons' 13-year-old son. As his mother and father posed for pictures Sunday in the family's basement, surrounded by shelves stacked with food, Brian stood off to the side with his hands in his pockets. ``Couldn't care less,'' he said of it all.
``I'm not dealing with any of this,'' he added. ``It's not my business. I just keep out of it.''
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Keeping an eye on things
Dennis Olson, meanwhile, is not resting easy yet. He will wait, he said, to see how the world's banking system fares through the end of the week. He will see how worldwide oil production goes the next 30 to 60 days, he said.
And, he added, he will monitor the general ``global supply chain'' during the next three months.
``I know,'' he said, ``things aren't over yet.''
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