robin tidwell « Robin Writes

Yeah, yeah, I’m running behind. Shocker, yes? Ha.

I had a topic, but it will have to wait for another time since I didn’t have a chance to finish my research and besides, I’m in a hurry to get this posted before I forget. Again.

With all the news of the Colorado floods, I decided to mention, once more, how important prepping is for EVERYone. I have family out there, my mom and her husband live in a small mountain town that was almost completely cut off from everywhere else. They were evacuating folks in choppers – heh – and the local Safeway, fortunately, got in a delivery after a couple days. Mom said she had to run down there and see if they had jugs of water.

I, of course, pointed out that, if she’d stocked up on a few things, she wouldn’t have to worry or even to go out and try to navigate closed roads, traffic, mud, and, well, water. I’m sure you’ve seen the pictures online.

Besides regular, basic supplies running low, there was no landline service OR cell phone coverage for three or four days. None. Nada. Once in a while, someone could get a call through inside the town itself, but nothing to the outside. One road open, and being it’s September, that could close at any time – due to snow.

Now, we all don’t or can’t keep walkies or shortwave radios around, but it’s definitely something to consider. Oddly, the town had Internet access, so email was working . But communication, timely communication, is key.

Most of us don’t live in areas that could or would be completely cut off from civilization, but you might want to reconsider that – after all, half a dozen roads out there were covered with water or had collapsed. That’s ALL of them. You wouldn’t think, say, here in St. Louis, that all the bridges over the Mississippi or Missouri rivers would be closed at the same time, or that all the major highways would collapse. Probably not.

But isn’t it better, and less stressful in the long run, in a just-in-case way, to be ready? To have alternate methods of communication, to have basic necessities for a few days? The point is that basic stuff should be at-hand all the time – in case of flood, fire, or collapse.

People always seem to think that it won’t happen to them, or that, if it does, things will just magically work out. I hope it does work out. But if not, well, there’s prepping.

If you’re a prepper, surely you’re ready for SHTF or at least you’re working on it. But what about your family? I’m not talking about your immediate family, those who live with you, but about other family members who may live nearby or who may be scattered around the country. Or outside the country.

Chances are that they aren’t all preppers, by any definition, either die-hard or lackadaisical. You may have tried to convince them; they may disagree. They might even think you’re crazy – and believe me, there are a lot of crazy preppers. That, of course, depends on your definition of crazy.

So what happens when SHTF? Those who live at some distance are probably out of luck, but any family members that you have in the same area as yourself are likely to remember that you mentioned the possibility.

Of course you want to help your loved ones – but can you? At least one friend has said she knows what to do: come to my house! She’d probably bring a couple other people. Would I turn them away? Of course not, but that means I need to step up my stocking and have a more detailed plan instead of a vague idea in my head.

And then there are the kids – three, plus two spouses, plus three children. And another who lives about six hours away. Fortunately, this last one also lives near a prepper friend of mine and she could go to her IF she could get out of the city.

So what do we do? We plan for not just the family living here at home, but for all of them. Yes, all of them. Now, it may turn out that it’s not needed; it may be we can convince them to do their own prepping, or at least to start. Some will, some won’t. But when SHTF, it’s gonna get real.