Prepping « Robin Writes

If you read last week’s post, you’ll know that SHTF is something that, in my opinion, could very well happen in two weeks.

Yes, the election. Politics aside, things could get bad. Or not.

The best way to be prepared is to actually do so—and if nothing happens, you have some extra stuff that you could use in a power outage or during a weather event.

So think about this: what if you couldn’t get to a store to buy what you need? What if what you need is not being made, or shipped, or stocked at the store? Now think of the worst-case scenario, and dial it down by about half. That still has some pretty serious potential.

Over the next two weeks, we’re rounding out our supply lists. Now, we certainly won’t starve, even if we eat some pretty unusual meals or even—heaven forbid—we have to use stuff from the “icky” shelf. That’s the food you seem to accumulate for no good reason, like sardines. Ick. Hence the name of the shelf.

But we’re adding to our first aid supplies, our OTC and prescription meds, gasoline and other fuel, batteries, pet food—although in a pinch, they could eat table scraps or the cats could forage; Arthur seems particularly adept at catching frogs—some food items that we can’t make from ingredients on hand, extra personal care items, stuff like that.

I know a lot of you don’t have the storage space that we do, but you can still find space for an extra tube or two of toothpaste, soap, detergent, batteries, propane tank for the grill, food items, or whatever you’re short on at the moment. Keep your car tank at least half full. Keep some cash on hand in case you can’t access the bank or use a debit/credit card. Ask your doc to change your scrip to 90 days or for an early refill; some will do this, some won’t.

And have a plan to meet up with family members if necessary. Go to the spot where you all can best manage to live if things get dicey. Plan for communications to be down, too, or at least slowed; much like the Internet outages this past week.

I don’t know what’s going to happen, but people who know more than I are warning everyone to be ready for an economic downturn, civil unrest, not-so-civil unrest, and power issues. Sure, some are doomsayers, but many are respected professionals.

Just be safe.

Remember when President Obama was elected the first time? A lot of folks thought TEOTWAWKI was coming—and again, when he was elected the second time. I’ll admit it, that second election had me stumped.

We don’t hear so much, during the current election season, about either candidate being the Antichrist, but there are plenty of rumors about TEOTWAWKI.

The funny thing is that is depends entirely on which candidate you’re supporting. The news clips and articles, I mean.

Some take the threat of Russia very seriously—and perhaps we should—and are convinced that if Clinton is elected, Russia will act against us. Some also believe that many of our freedoms will disappear, Russia notwithstanding, if Clinton wins the presidency.

Others believe that Trump’s win would set off a world war, based on his personality and other characteristics, as well as set us back, collectively, a hundred years’ worth of civilization.

I think it could go either way.

By that I mean that, regardless of the winner, things could go south in a hurry. Everyone is so eager to believe the worst of their opposing candidate, that I think it’d be silly to dismiss the doomsdayers’ predictions outright.

So what do you think? Is now a good time to prep? Why?

For me, it’s always a good time to prep. I’ve been doing so for over four years now and will continue. I don’t KNOW what’s going to happen, but I’m ready no matter what. Besides, it’s much easier to go the barn storage unit than run into town if I happen to need something I don’t have in the kitchen.