So, have you thought about what you might to in anticipation of higher oil prices and the ripple effects thereof? Do you think we're likely to get pulled into the Israeli-Palestinian situation vis a vis troop commitment? Do we need to review stash and what should we concentrate on? What do we get from the ME area (besides oil and Medjoul dates, of course)?

-- Anonymous, April 07, 2002

Answers

What do we get from the ME area (besides oil and Medjoul dates, of course)?

Intelligence. Although that sounds odd these days...

-- Anonymous, April 08, 2002

Gawd, send me a couple of pounds of that.

-- Anonymous, April 08, 2002

Rugs!

-- Anonymous, April 08, 2002

OG, in all seriousness, I have been asking this same question of various folks; no one agrees on any aspect, except that the situation in the ME is complex. (Gee, thanks for that tidbit!)

That said, my advice as a prepper is to take a quick inventory of goods that you use daily that have the potential to be affected by a gas shortage and to stock accordingly; ditto any items that are shipped from overseas. I still have a good stock of R/W CDs, but that's one item I would stock because even thought the bulk of them come from Taiwan, I consider that an unstable area, as well.

The second area I would consider is alternative transportation. If working, can you car pool, walk, ride a bike, take a bus, etc., in the event gas goes to $5/gal or some such? As I wrote on another thread, I now have two bicycles, and I'm trying to arrange my schedule so that I can work at home several days a week, plus I'm now riding my bike daily for exercise.

My last suggestion would be to stay flexible. It's possible that the US or "someone" will manage to broker some sort of "peace" and all attention will turn to the next crisis du jour, which I suspect will be an invasion of Iran or a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. Obviously, I don't have a working crystal ball! So, I don't recommend that anyone go out on a limb and suddenly dump 5K into preps or move to a bunker in the middle of Kansas, but making sure that the pantry is full, water has been rotated, and other preps are topped off could well avoid annoyances later.

PS -- I don't advise stocking large amounts of gas at home, unless one has an underground tank. In some places, nosey neighbors and civic leaders are looking for gas caches and will turn in offenders. Some areas have fairly specific laws as to how much gas a homeowner can store. A way around this is to keep the gas tanks in your vehicles full, and if you do elect to keep some gas, store it properly and out of sight.

-- Anonymous, April 09, 2002

Meemur, I heartily agree with the approach of achieving and staying flexible. I think that is likely to mean financially, or just keeping up with outside appointments while life is calm enough. (I really don't want to see my dentist if he isn't prepared to devote his entire attention to me.)

My stash of extra clothes have run down. I really liked having a "y2k trousseau", so it's time to replenish it. I filled up a bin with the clothes I was likely to expect to need in the next couple of years, mostly bought on sale, like additional jeans, sneakers, u/w, work pumps. It was great to be able to go into the basement, open the bin, and pull out something I already knew to be the right size and style rather than have to wander around the malls.

-- Anonymous, April 09, 2002

Funny you should say, that Brooks. I've been stashing shoes over the last couple of weeks. Chadwicks catalogue has some good buys (shoes and clothes) and Land's End has some excellent Birkie lookalikes at a very reasonable price. Costco has Dockers for about 15 bucks. Must get out on the yard today and plant some Malabar spinach and a bit of lettuce. Rabbits are plentiful this year so must also remember to put some chicken wire around the greens.

Fertilizer is something important that comes to mind. Am out and don't need to get caught short.

Yes, I do remember the idiocy about the gas. People were storing gallons and gallons in their garages and their neighbors were right to turn them in! I wouldn't want a petrol bomb next door ot me either. I remember we also talked about stashing garbage bags, as well, definitely a petroleum product. I still have some in the stash. Need to stock up on laundry detergent too.

-- Anonymous, April 10, 2002