'Preppers' in Brighter Spotlight after Natural Disaster

WSAW TV ^ | 11/5/12 | Al Knox

[Kartographer]

You may have seen the National Geographic show "Doomsday Preppers," and wondered if it really is all that common. It turns out; there are preppers all over the nation, including central Wisconsin. And they're more in the spotlight than ever.

Superstorm Sandy left much of the East Coast scrambling for power, warmth, gasoline, even food. But preppers say they're ready for disasters - natural or otherwise.

Cheryl is one of them.” We’re different because we don't spend our money on gadgets. The newest smart phone and things like that. We put our money into things that we can use and keep, things that are enduring."

[Kartographer]

Easier than trying to figure out which dumpster to scavenge from.

[Carriage Hill]

GOOD GRIEF. IS THAT THE ENTRANCE TO HELL? I’ve never seen a septic lid THAT big! Takes a freaking backhoe to uncap it. Tie a rope around your waist and to a tree, man! You fall in a you’re a goner!

[freedumb2003]

Properly sized for Super Taco Night at Paco Taco

[Carriage Hill]

I lived in Coral Gables and had a place down on Big Pine Key, back in the 70s, so you’d have to bolt that tank down/secure it, somehow. If it got loose in a flood, it’d be like a battleship running amok. Latrine tanks don’t work out real well down there.

[Carriage Hill]

That’d make a ‘dent’ in it, but still have a lot of room for more ‘contributions’.

[tomkat]

I'm still 'seeing' the section drawing of a little two-seater privy with that silo plumbed up underneath it and  

[SCalGal]

All that glass will break in an earthquake.

[Carriage Hill]

LOL! I knew it was a “two-holer”, too. I can see the hilarious cutaway drawing, now that you mention it. I’d bet the zoning board went nuts when presented with those plans. “Lady, what’cha eating down on that farm?”

[PA Engineer]

I'm still 'seeing' the section drawing of a little two-seater privy with that silo plumbed up underneath it and

Thanks. Every time I use the head I will be thinking of that drawing. LOL. I wonder what the take-off is like for a Nuclear Cesspool?

[RedMDer]

[norton]

Or she could just pick up a regular old fashion phone and then have the skills and the training to handle it until help shows up. You don’t need the latest I phone old GSM phones can be tracked.

Typical folks ask why I have a land line and dial telephone as well as the cell phones they all rely on.

...blank stares when I ask what they'll be doing when one critical tower goes down.

Yes, I also have a radio & scanner although I'm hardly expert with either.

[immadashell]

That might be a typo; maybe a 3,000 gal tank. But 30,000 gals? That's a really, really, really massive tank. Kudos to her if she does!

She'd need a leach field the size of Milwaukee. hmmm wait a minute! How far is that farm from Milwaukee?

[Carriage Hill]

“...leach field the size of Milwaukee...”

Heck, just pump it over to Detroit, above ground; who’d even notice? LOL.

[300winmag]

I was thinking more of Bloomberg: "A phone next to your bed is better than a gun."

With emphasis on your. For his mayorness, it's probably a big red button that brings in a dozen of his elite bodyguard, and alerts the gunships.

Although, I suspect Bloomie carries a piece, even if just a .32 pimp gun. He seems to speak from a lot of experience when he says some men want guns to make up for their physical and emotional shortcomings. :)

[Kartographer]

Earthquake in Wisconsin? I would say that’s far down the list may be just about alien invasion. I me the kind from outer space the other started their invasion long ago.

[glorgau]

Cheryl, what’s the first rule of fight club?

[MrNeutron1962]

I use to believe that too, until Hurricane Irene revealed that my land-line was connected to a remote switch that required a trailer mounted generator be connected to it after it's batteries died (about 4 hours). My land-line phone was the first thing to fail, even before Cable TV, which lasted almost a whole day (something of a shock really). My cell phone worked the entire 7 days, as the closest towers either never lost off-site power, or had decent generators with a good fuel supply. Three days later the telco got around to this switch and powered it up, but my old ideas about land-line phones being more reliable took something of a hit that week.

[SCalGal]

Earthquake in Wisconsin?

WI is a good place to be... That fault line in MO, though..... a lot of people are going to lose food stored like that in glass. Even if it doesn't tumble off the shelving (which it will), it'll smash against the jar next to it.

[Kartographer]

The boot heel of Missouri to Wisconsin? You realize you are talking about better than 500 miles? They may feel it maybe even a jar on the edge might fall, but that’s about it.

[Kartographer]

Anyone who believes land line of cell phones are reliable in a in a shtf situation is going to be disappointed. Your experience with you cell service was not typical of the area effect by Sandy. Nor was it the case with Katrina or Northridge, need I go on?