A Pandemic of Preparedness

The leaves are changing and falling, the grasses and weeds are turning brown and scattering their seeds. The earth, in our corner of the world, is slowly dying and preparing for the deep sleep of winter. The animals have eaten heartily to store up a layer of fat for the lean times that are coming. The spiders quickly spin and repair their webs each day in hopes of another tasty meal before they lay eggs and die. The nights are cooler, even though the days remain warm, with a hint of the passing summer, it’s not quite over yet, but it will be soon.

There are many things that will soon pass away from our world. Civility. Culture. Massive food production. Easy mobility. Just in time everything. Driving. Processed fossil fuels. Banking. Credit. Electricity. Cell phones. Internet. Information at the touch of a button. Our world has had it’s day in the sun with massive growth in population, food production, manufacturing and technology. Just like the waning of the seasons, the stability and control of many countries is also waning. 

Some folks like autumn, the crispness in the air, a time when the rhythm of life gradually slows down. As winter approaches, many people and animals prepare to ‘hibernate’ from the activities of the summer. As life continues to become less safe, more expensive, and less free, there are many that are planning where they will relocate and hibernate. Just like the ant filling it’s colony and tunnels with food for the winter, many people are doing the same, and that is good, very good.

The pace of our work here is sometimes so fast that we can’t keep up with ourselves. As we complete projects, one right after the next, it changes the way we live, and that is good. We now hang out the clothes to dry and have started growing food in the greenhouse. We now have three radio antenna towers in the ground waiting for the concrete to cure, so we can increase our ability to communicate. They will soon be powered by solar panels and a battery bank, which is another project on the list. The Survival Radio Relay Net is growing each time it is conducted. We are amazed at the distance between participants, and what that could mean for the safety of everyone involved. We have begun talking to a few folks about starting some sort of community trading post, and have had very positive responses so far. These are just a few of the activities that have occupied our time in the last few weeks.

We want to encourage you again to prepare every needful thing for you and your family, now, while there aren’t many restrictions on doing so. If there is a financial collapse or major downturn, what will that do to your ability to prepare? If war breaks out somewhere in the world, how might that affect your ability to prepare? If there is a major natural disaster where you live, how might that affect your ability to prepare? If there is a terrorist attack, how might that affect your ability to prepare? If the government restricts your mobility, ability to buy, your money supply, or ability to relocate, how will that affect your ability to survive? 

Let’s face it, regardless of what this ‘thing’ is that we all know is coming, survival will be the bottom line. It is literally impossible for us, meaning all of us, to be ready for every possible contingency, impossible. What we can do is evaluate our lives, our survival needs and possible wants, to determine what areas are lacking in our preparations. THEN DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. We have had people comment about friends and neighbors that say they know they need to buy some extra food or something, but they don’t. We all know people that just laugh and tell us we’re crazy. We all know people that think we should be turned into the authorities for hoarding or something. The time for warning our neighbors will soon be past. The time to be very, very serious about completing those tasks that will help increase the survival rate of our families is here. I pray, truly pray, that we are all wrong, very wrong, but unfortunately, I don’t think so. 

Every single day is filled with a drive to work and complete our survival projects. We have never worked harder in our lives. Literally. We’ve talked about it several times recently. Why would two retired people entering the ‘golden years’ work their tails off everyday? I hope that sharing our preparations will infect people with with an uncontrollable desire to do the same. I pray that this infection will be so contagious that it will become a pandemic. An uncontrollable pandemic of preparedness. That wouldn’t be such a bad illness to suffer from, would it? Unfortunately, there are more people that have been vaccinated against this illness, than suffer from it. They are immune to preparing anything for themselves and their families, and when the time comes, their immunity will kill them. If you’re not suffering from a full blown infection of preparedness-itis, work on it. Your example may be the one thing that infects another person, and you may never know it. Be a carrier. We pray that our example can somehow be infectious.

Until next time – Fern

Visit Thoughts From Frank and Fern at http://thoughtsfromfrankandfern.blogspot.com/