Posted on 01/21/2012 9:20:17 AM PST by Jet Jaguar
When Patty Tegeler looks out the window of her home overlooking the Appalachian Mountains in southwestern Virginia, she sees trouble on the horizon.
"In an instant, anything can happen," she told Reuters. "And I firmly believe that you have to be prepared."
Tegeler is among a growing subculture of Americans who refer to themselves informally as "preppers." Some are driven by a fear of imminent societal collapse, others are worried about terrorism, and many have a vague concern that an escalating series of natural disasters is leading to some type of environmental cataclysm.
They are following in the footsteps of hippies in the 1960s who set up communes to separate themselves from what they saw as a materialistic society, and the survivalists in the 1990s who were hoping to escape the dictates of what they perceived as an increasingly secular and oppressive government.
Preppers, though are, worried about no government.
Tegeler, 57, has turned her home in rural Virginia into a "survival center," complete with a large generator, portable heaters, water tanks, and a two-year supply of freeze-dried food that her sister recently gave her as a birthday present. She says that in case of emergency, she could survive indefinitely in her home. And she thinks that emergency could come soon.
"I think this economy is about to fall apart," she said.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Preppy girls. It's surprising how little individuality you can achieve if there's no thought going on inside.
I always remember this clip from the series “Connections” about the technology trap, and how people would cope, and this was over 30 years ago, it’s even worse today.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6H-w9Rm46o&feature=related
My comment was somewhat tongue-in-cheek because the pictures are animations of the same girl.
As far as the gene pool is concerned .... welll ... MY father told us (6) boys, "A stiff dick has no conscience" .
You learn all that societal stuff waaayyy later in life ... after kids have been born and etc.
Don't let that fairy in the pink trousers fool you! If necessary, when TSHTF he'll claw your eyes out for a bottle of shampoo and conditioner!
bflr
I don't believe that a significant number of preppers are worrying about an "environmental cataclysm". Our concerns are political and economic.
My liberal in laws think we are kooks for having 6 months of food and necessities on hand. Ditto (especially) for our projectile oriented home protection devices. IMO what is really stupid is shopping on Sunday and buying only 1 week's supply of food and essentials. They will literally be going hungry on day 8 or 9 without going to the grocery store. They think (and more or less say) that anything more than 2 weeks of preparations is wacko. Of course they are all set to vote for Zero again.
So now being prepared and self-reliant gets you labelled as being in a "subculture," whereas those on the rooftops of N'awlins during Katrina were just poor victims of George Bush, who didn't like them to begin with.
I believe that those "three" are really one.
It’s very possible, especially if obamma incites his people to rioting, etc. I was a boy scout.
Where abouts in Seattle did you live?
Mercer Island, then Kent, then renton, then bellevue, then Mercer Island, then Kent, then Renton and finally Bellevue (factoria) in anticipation of my move out here. I actually lived in the apartments just south of T-Mobile corporate. It is because the last five years I worked there. For the last year and a half I walked to work every day. Five minutes from door to desk.
Now I drive 50 minutes, but on deserted two lane highways at 70-80 mph. I love my commute, but I’m burnin’ through my car.
anything more than 2 weeks of preparations is wacko
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
That is a meme instigated by the government in preparation for making anything more than 2 weeks illegal.
Alas Babylon was the first novel (non school related) that I bought. I think that I paid $0.25 for the paperback. I later read his "Forbidden Area", and I was hooked on reading for life. Recently came across a reprint of Alas, and bought it and reread it. I was never aware of the survival manual, might look for it.
I’ll take the 3 on the left...to help with repopulating and all
my duty...honor
Ah. I had a house on the west hill of Kent for several years. Lived in Federal Way and Auburn, as well. Lived on Queen Anne hill in the mid 60’s and early 70’s(with a detour in the army) before it went to hell in a hand basket.
Lived in Gardiner by Sequim, up in Chinook pass, Olalla which is between Port Orchard and Gig Harbor, Seabeck, and Deer Park north of Spokane.
Ok, U suck PGR88! I just spit the almonds I had in my mouth all over my laptop because of your post!! Though I don’t like being labeled, I lost my job several months ago and have been storing Long term foods as much as possible for the past couple of years. When a grocery store throws out their loss leaders (can goods etc.) I stock up. My wife and I learned to can this past year and we are eating quite nicely off of the meat we bought and canned.Picked up two solar generators this year (tax deduction) at least I can get 7 hours of tv/computer out of them if I need it (POS the technology hasn’t changed that much from the 70’s). We have two generators (no power at the shack i.e. compound) and I rotate the 50 gallons of gas out monthly. DO NOT USE GAS WITH ETHANOL! It goes bad in about 30 days. If I get regular gas it can be stored for several months. My three children and their family all know to meet at our 11 acre “compound” in the hills of NC if it hits the fan. I’d have to make a couple of trips there to move everything we would need. I have enough “toys” to hunt anything I need to If I have to. I’ve thought about buying a cow and a couple of feeder steers.. Bottom line, be prepared and talk to your neighbors. Yep gold is a joke.. can you eat it?
a few did...but not many...one is pretty close(25 miles) to where I live...Gaskin's Farm, near Hohenwald TN strange progression from an exodus of Haight hippies to now all sorts of Whole Earth Catalog stuff...some not so bad...they take in all pregnant women for instance and they used to offer refuge to LSD casualties
Never mind the cows. They are big, can’t hid ‘em and you need a way to preserve all of that meat. Go with rabbits and chickens. A rabbit is eatin’ size in 8 weeks, they take up very little room and it doesn’t take much to feed them. Chickens can do a lot of foraging for themselves and you get eggs.
I’ve got the food, water and medicine stored, but my home is still too “urban” for my comfort.
I envy anyone who has a place in the country to which they can go.
I agree with you my fellow Scotsman! We had rabbits and chicken growing up but I like milk too! You can pressure cook and can the meat which I have done this year and it is awesome. I actually had lamb chops for the first time in my life a couple of nights ago. It tasted like some of the best beef I have ever had. That appears to be an option too.
you find a way to get here with what you have and we’ll figure out what to do. I have 17 acres here but 11 in the middle of nowhere. We’ll exhaust what I have there and then head to the hills!
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