st louis « Robin Writes

As I said last week, there’s lots of talk online and on news channels about “something big” coming in September. Sure, it could just be rumor, but I, for one, don’t want to wait and find out too late.

The market is going down, down, down. If you—like me—aren’t an investor, why should you be worried? Well, I don’t pretend to know all the ramifications, but you can Google it; the main reason, though, is that this is an indicator of economic health.

You know, economics: prices and value and cost. Hey, give me a break; I’m trying to keep it simple. Also, I don’t have enough coffee in me yet to make a lot of sense of this.

The point is that, sooner or later, this effects the prices you’re charged for goods like food, gas, and other products.

Now would be a good time to step your prepping.

And that’s exactly what we did this past weekend: convenience foods, staples, water, etc. And gasoline. Probably a few more things this coming week.

You all know we’re planning to GOOD next spring. We’ve changed the timetable for that too . . .

I decided there were some things that I didn’t want to leave behind, if it came to that, and so I started packing. We’ve gone through two rooms so far, packing and moving things that we likely won’t need between now and spring—so if we have to GOOD sooner, we won’t have such a loss.

But keep in mind a few things:

We’re moving just a few hours away;

We have a place to go to;

It’s not like we could never return, if we needed to or wanted to do so.

I’m not expecting a major apocalyptic event that levels our house or burns down the metro area, although I guess things could get very scary here. I’m not expecting to have to LIAH, but if we did, we’d be pretty well set as far as clothes and personal items and so forth.

Remember, if you have to LIAH, you’re going to be limited in what you can take with you. In our case, we’d grab all the food we could, important papers and cash, phones, wallets, and pets. Not necessarily in that order, in case you’re worried about Fido.

The other thing that has me concerned is, again, the market. Falling shares could mean a run on banks or a banking system snafu. Or credit cards shutting down. It’s been suggested that one withdraw cash in the next couple days, just in case.

That is, after all, what preppers do—look at the just-in-case scenarios.

Due to certain, er, issues, we’re stepping up our game a bit.

Let the move begin!

Ha—this is the second house I’ve lived in that I’ve stated, vehemently, that I’M NOT MOVING AGAIN. NOT.

Ah, well. Things change, right?

And for those wondering about all the actual work posts, well, school started and so our schedule changed. We can only work at the farm on the weekends now, which gives us approximately 50 days to finish the prep before we fully make the move. That’s not counting “snow” days when we can’t travel down there.

Remember last winter? We bought the place sight-unseen because we couldn’t get to it and were afraid someone else would snap it up. So, there’s that . . .

As we reviewed our leave-in-a-hurry plan the other day, I realized that sure, we’d get out of the metro area with our lives, our pets, and most necessary items, but what about other needed things and, too, some sentimental pieces?

So that’s where we sit: packing.

Yes, most of my friends and family think I’m nuts. It’s always a possibility. But what we’re packing are things that we don’t need between now and spring, but are nice to have around, and the things that I want to keep but, if the leave-in-a-hurry plan is implemented, probably won’t be able to.

Think about this for a moment. At best, leaving your possessions behind may cause sorrow and regret after the fact, days or weeks later; at worst, the idea of doing this is a distraction while you’re in the midst of LIAH.

Not everyone will have this problem, of course. Right now, though, I’m in my office looking at the manual typewriter my grandmother used in 1930, and the rocking chair that my great-grandmother used to put babies to sleep since 1915. What can I say? These things are important to me.

Just because we’re going to live in a cabin in the woods doesn’t mean it’s only going to be furnished with sticks and rocks.

And now, I’m off to make a fashionable tinfoil hat . . .