As I reflect each evening I look back and ask my self

"What Have I done to day to improve my preperations"

The answer changes every day. It may be I gathered more information (not a good day), it may be I bought some more food, or I prepared to make money if it is only a "4".

I have not found one area in which to prepare which excludes other preps. Medicine, water, cooking, library.

It gets hard to do something everyday, but as I look back over the last year I see that I am in a much better place than I was. Little steps become big steps. I could not have belived a year ago that I could buy as much stuff now as is available.

Time is short, I believe what Ed is doing with Humpty Dumpty. Plan for everything between 2 and 9. And thank you Cory for your reminder that we do not have to be 100% self seficient(sp?).

Question: Do you try to do "something" to prepare everyday?

-- helium (heliumavid@yahoo.com), August 11, 1999

Answers

Helium,

Good question. Wish that I could say that the answer is yes. I do alot of research, I guess more along the lines of trying to prove to myself that I am doing the right thing.

Monday night, I canned 16 pints of bread and butter pickles. Won't need to rush out and try to purchase those puppies on the 31st. Frankly, I am running out of space to store stuff, however every day I can think of just one more item that I should get. Monday, I went and purchased another $200.00 of food, mostly canned.

I am waiting for the heat to break some before I get into the heavy canning, as the 113 heat index puts a damper on wanting to cook, let alone can.

Here is hoping that each and every one are almost complete in your preps. I hope that we all can enjoy some of the fall that is quickly coming down the path.

-- (cannot-say@this.time), August 11, 1999.

...but as I look back over the last year I see that I am in a much better place than I was.

I'll bet many of us have more of any one item - say, pork and beans - than are on the shelf at the local store. I think Cory mentioned something about that in one of his weather reports. One family... and yet we have a bigger supply of several things - wheat, flour, beans, canned fruit, canned milk, tuna, etc.... than the store carries to supply the REGULAR needs of the whole community. This supply has been built up gradually over months and months.

So... what happens when the REST of the community.. the rest of the world.. decides sometime in December that maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea to get ready for that 2 - 3 day snowstorm.

Not a pretty picture.

Keep on keeping on. Time is short.

-- Linda (lwmb@psln.com), August 11, 1999.

Every day. This is so true. I think about this each day and try to do something. Walmart on Sunday, Sports Authority today. At the same time I am trying to envision what I will do for work next year. I am thinking more and more about that form of prep. There will be a lot of people looking.

-- Mike Lang (webflier@erols.com), August 11, 1999.

There is always more things to do then time to do it in or room to store it in. Today I dried some more bannana chips. My girls love them on their cereal. I need to make up some more hot cocoa mix(the girls drank it all). I am waiting for the cooler weather in fall so I can have more room to store food in. The garage is just too hot. Right now we are tripping over the boxes of food I have stacked up under the kitchen table.

-- Homeschooling Grandma (mlaymon@glenn-co.k12.ca.us), August 12, 1999.

I try to do what I call little shopping at least once a week. I go to the dollar store and buy things like coloring books, wrapping paper, toothbrushes, pins, hair brushes, and maybe a few cans of canned meat. I go to Sam's once a month and just buy more of what I already have.

-- Carol (glear@usa.net), August 12, 1999.

I, too, try to do something each day and have been working on things since January of this year. Many times it is several hours of time and others it is several days in a row.I'm sure my experience in the many hours/days to properly prepare for a problem is not unusual. Imagine, then, the inability for the same preps in a matter of only three months, or three weeks. There are some things I have which took weeks to find and then months to wait for the order. If I "got it" with only two months to go, a point will will be at shortly, I would panic. I will not be surprised if others act the same way if and when they "get it" with only a few months left.

-- smfdoc (smfdoc@aol.com), August 12, 1999.

I too follow your approach and ask myself each evening, 'what have I accomplished for preps today?' When I go to the store I look for items I don't have such as sauces or soups that would give variety. I check out all our 2nd hand stores on thursdays as their 'sale' item stickers change, I buy cold weather items for family that will be visiting, or neighbors that may need. Also, games, lots of games for community morale. I look for useful unusual items, PVC pipe, tools, chafing dish parts to use with ecofuel to give those unprepared a way to heat and cook. I want to contribute to the neighborhood community when it is needed.

Just doing it one day at a time ;->

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

For me, prepping for next year is far more than just filling up my basement. Fortunately, I am pretty much through with that, probably because for a long while there was nothing quite as therapeutic as just one more run to Sam's. Almost all of my time through the end of the year, and what will turn out to be the largest part of the effort, involves seemingly unrelated activities, like major repairs to my home, closing up my folks house and moving them in with me, doctors' appointments, sorting out and compiling my most important papers, and so on.

-- Brooks (brooksbie@hotmail.com), August 12, 1999.