REDUCED « Robin Writes

I know I’ve talked about this often, but you really can’t have too much security around your homestead. Okay, maybe some things are a little over the top, but just like anything else, you have to construct, implement, and practice on a consistent basis.

We have had some fencing from the beginning, nearly the entire property. All but one side has been mostly fenced at one time, but two sides need repair and the front had huge gaps—most obviously by our gate.

Today, that changed. Four-strand barbed wire is now in place.

See, this has been on our list for some time and last week we bought materials. But when our neighbor called yesterday, and we were on the road about 30 miles away, to tell us someone had simply zoomed AROUND our closed and locked gate and gone to the house, I’ll admit that I panicked.

A bit.

He texted back soon after that it was the mail carrier. Still pisses me off. Who the hell drives around a locked gate?? Mail delivery or not!

So we stepped up our timetable.

Our purpose in buying materials when planning to put up the fence “soon” was because, well, you never know what’s going to happen and you certainly don’t know if any wire or posts will be available for purchase. So we planned ahead.

Yes, I know security is crucial and it should have been done sooner. The point is that nothing happened—although it could have—and now we have one less worry.

We’ve also installed a small security system and will be adding to it. It’s quite simple: motion detectors with a receiver that sounds in the house.

Honestly, it’s annoying as hell when one of us goes to the barn or gate and we forget to turn it off . . .

But it also sounds off by gate and is guaranteed to scare the crap out of anyone wandering around up there.

Additionally, we have a mobile receiver in case we’re not actually in the house and someone enters the property—by the gate as well as other points along our boundaries.

Overkill? I think not. You can’t stand in the middle of the farm and see everything, after all.

Let’s not forget neighbors—if ours hadn’t been paying attention and been able to contact us, and, of course, if it was someone besides the mail carrier, we’d have been in trouble.

And I can’t stress this enough: lock up at night and when you leave the property; maybe even when you’re out and about working on site. It really depends on your personal situation.

Around here, there aren’t many people that have business on our road; it’s a dead end and besides the neighbor across the road, there’s only one other family past us that normally accesses their property from here. Anything new or different, someone will notice and check it out.

Basic security—perimeter is first and depends on deterrence. Deterrence hinges on on ease of access: a gap versus barbed wire and heavily wooded property versus a cleared and clean look. You need some kind of alarm to tell you that perimeter has been breached, which allows for your second line of defense.

And that is often up to you.

Around here, I suspect the ETA of any deputies, or perhaps highway patrol, is at least 20-30 minutes by road. It could be less, sure, particularly if a LEO happens to be on a county road or state highway nearby. Still, we’re looking at probably close to ten minutes in that case.

That, too, is assuming there IS law enforcement. During SHTF, there probably won’t be.

Your home, it goes without saying, should be defensible and you should have backup plans for even that.

As always, whenever there is a new media circus around a shooting event, many preppers begin the call of doom. What was that movie? DOOM ON YOU! DOOM ON YOU!

I don’t do that, particularly for a single news story, but when they seem to come in waves with a definitive “us versus them” addition, things seem a lot scarier.

Now, we’re in a good location and we’re pretty much ready for anything, but we still have been stepping up our game this past weekend:

The new security system is operational.

Supplies are inventoried and increased.

We have plenty of practice ammo and more, if there are intruders.

That does NOT mean we’re looking for trouble or starting any. It simply means we’re ready and now we’re going about our business.

Long ago, I read a book with a saying that has always stuck with me: “Prepare for the worst, then forget about it.”

When I’ve had biopsies, when my husband had cancer and heart issues, when one of my kids was doing something stupid, all these times I’ve prepared myself, mentally and otherwise, for the “worst” and then I’ve been able to “forget” about it.

Of course you can’t actually forget—no one can, and no one should. Not about those things, not about things happening in the world today. Sure, there are times that I tell myself “enough,” and stop reading the same old shit on a different website. Anything new, yes, I’ll keep informed. I particularly find it hard to read the human interest stories—not because I don’t care, but because I need to keep my sanity.

So I know what’s happening, I keep abreast of the news and events, but I don’t have to WORRY about my family or myself.

I know some of you do. I am sorry for that.

Some preppers, vocal ones, well-known ones, like to make predictions about when or if SHTF. I listen to/read their remarks and draw my own conclusions.

Some theories are pretty far-fetched. Some have their adherents. Some are downright wrong and/or silly.

For a long time, I watched the market, checking trends twice a day. I still do that, but I no longer think that economic collapse is the most likely SHTF scenario. Not that it won’t happen, but it will be a result of other things besides the performance of foreign markets.

The election is coming up. It’s a farce. Not just this one, but many or most or all of them. I’ve thought this for a long time, decades even. And it doesn’t matter who wins. Things are going to change, but maybe not in the way you’d imagine.

I expect more riots, more unrest; I expect more “them vs us,” regardless of who the players are each time. I expect supply lines to be erratic, and by this I mean your local grocery store may not have enough food for all the shoppers. I expect gasoline to be in short supply, as well as all the products that make modern life so convenient and easy.

And it may even be worse than all that.

I’m not worried. I’m fine. But I am concerned that all of you may not be so fine. SHTF is not necessarily a doomsday scenario with burnt-out buildings and buzzards circling and dirty survivors running around shooting each other.

It’s people living without power and no way to get to work if they still have jobs, or finding blocked roads when they venture out to find food or other goods—and not finding anything at all. Or having a job but no way to cash that paycheck, if they get one, or being intimidated by neighbors or strangers into giving up what they do have . . .