Some thoughts on prepping for y2k and liviin in a "yuppie" neighborhood (long)

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Having been a "lurker" now since January of 1999, I'd like to share some thoughts with this group. Maybe some of you can relate. First some background on myself. I grew up a farm girl, I'm now in my early 40's. I learned alot of practical skills from my mom and dad - cooking from scratch, gardening, canning, sewing, fixing machines (my dad was, and still is, a farmer and is a real crackerjack of a repairman!). I learned how to make a room size braided rug from old wool coats, build items with wood, lay carpet, and work with all kinds of tools. In short, what my mom and dad did for themselves, they also taught me and my 3 elder siblings. I now live in what you'd call a "yuppie" neighborhood. My family and I moved here last August. We sold our house, which was fully paid for ( I know - OUCH!), passed up a 8 acre hobby farm site, with a house complete with cistern and outbuildings for $62,500 (double OUCH!!)which we could have paid for in full and had NO mortgage and moved into a town of 13,000 into a home valued at $150,000. We now have a mortgage balance of about $62,500. WHY did we move here? Well, this is the town where my husband works and our neighborhood is filled with his fellow employees. It was, when we moved in the home of our dreams. To us, the home was just "made for us". We live on the less expensive part of the neighborhood; in our backyard, is a mobile home (manufactured housing) park of about 300 families. Two blocks to our west are homes on a lake worth over $500,000. 5 years ago, there was a "fight" in the neighborhood between the park residents and those who live in the fancier homes. There was a petition drive on the part of the yuppies to remove the park to make room for more fancy housing. The city refused the petition, but the resentment still lingers. It was a fight between the "have mores" and "have less" and the wounds have barely healed. We live "on the border" between the two areas. When we moved in, we made an honest attempt to get to know everyone - whether in the park or in the famcier homes. My upbringing is closer to those who live in the park, but our income is closer to those living in the homes. My family and I first became GI in late December of 98. When I finally realized the possibilities of what COULD happen, I was stunned. First panic, then anger, then the realization that if I prepared one day at a time, we might survive. So my husband and I began having weekly "powwows" on the subject - what where we going to buy, what to take care of first, etc. We ended up putting in a woodstove, and a chimney to take care of heat. We live in MN; we figured if the natural gas quit, no guarentees of fuel for generators, we'd heat with wood. Our neighbors in the park thought it was rather unique and "radical" ; our neighbors in the fancy homes thought we were weird. When we took out the sandbox that was in the backyard and planted a garden (not unusual for me since I grew up raising gardens) and planted 4 trees by myself (I didn't hire a landscaper to do it) a lot of eyebrows were raised. The kids from the neighborhood thought it was different. One of my "yuppie" neighbor kids actually told me that her mom thought I was a little weird but at least I had good taste! ooooooookay. The kids are astounded when I tell them that I make my cookies from scratch and my bread isn't made in a machine. What does this all have to do with y2k? Some thoughts come to mind: 1) Will we find ourselves on the edge of a looting area - out of vengance on those who "have more"? I read Old Git's post on looting and it does make me wonder. 2) I have made offers to my neighbors, when they comment on my gardening, baking, etc. that I would be glad to teach them how to do it. They have always declined and I tell them the offer will always stand. Will I find myself teaching some skills to neighbors next year? 3) We are the ONLY home that heats with wood in the neighborhood. Everyone in the park or the yuppie homes heats with natural gas. If the electric does not stay on 1/1/2000, we will have neighbors knocking. I am planning NOW to take in a few select individuals with severe disabilities that are my good friends. I can take in no more; I am not Superwoman nor a savior. I can only do so much. 4) My neighbors not only are DGI, but they are severely lacking in what I call practical survival skills. I happen to like my neighbors alot, but I am VERY concerned about their abilities to physically, spiritually, mentally survive the rollover. Our local paper recently ran 3 full pages on y2k preps being done by the city which boiled down to "We're working on it, don't worry, be happy, but you never know what can happen". So no one in the neighborhood is worried about it except me. 5) We live in a neighborhood with no sense of "community" how is that going to affect us? I don't know. 6) We don't own a gun - yet( We have two huge dogs), but I'm planning to purchase one this month and have my brother-in-law teach me how to use it. Guns are common place in the park - alot of the residents hunt wild game. I have no idea whether anyone else on "the other side of the border" has one. I can say that hunting is a definite "no". 6) IF the electricity stays on, I would rate the effect a "5" locally, a "9" if the electric, natural gas, sewer, telephones all go. Am I toast? 7) I am a nurse by trade. Will my family be able to survive since I have medical skills ( maybe I'll be seen as having a valuable ability - will that protect us from getting hurt? I don't know) I have other skills as well - how can I use them for the benefit of the neighborhood? 8) Kids and adults from the mobile home park have told me more than once that our family is "nicer" than the previous residents. Will our efforts to make friends with everyone pay off, or will my yuppie neighbors see us as "one of them" and turn on us? 9) Sometimes it's awfully lonely. I really wish I could talk to someone other than my husband about what we face. That is why I put this on this forum. My husband has an easier time with our yuppie neighbors, because he grew up in a privileged home himself. Plus they are his colleagues at work. 10) I am keeping our preps to myself - so are my spouse & daughter. However, we don't have alot of space, for storage, and I'm thinking of renting space for some of our preps. I can rent storage space , generic 12 x 12 rooms, for $40 month. Is it a worthwhile investment? Our home does not have a root cellar; how do you store items for y2k in a non-y2k house? Think about it; yuppie homes are for show not storage. 11) Will y2k bring about a change for the better in relations in the neighborhood between those who "have more" and those who "have less"? If our monetary system and way of life changes drastically, will it put everyone on a more even floor or rung of the ladder? 12) I have never really considered myself a "yuppie" and I would suppose my discomfort shows. But I can only be myself, and I am thankful that I grew up learning the skills I learned. It is amazing how many preps our family has made in such a short period of time. I hope to wind it up by the beginning of September. Finally I wish to say THANKS to this forum. I have learned so much from you. My e-mail is real if anyone wishes to respond to this post privately. My apologies for the long post. Thanks for your patience.

-- luann (flataufm@hutchtel.net), June 19, 1999

Answers

it,s the yuppie-types who resent the'go-back-to nature types.my question for-you &your spouse'is''how you gonna fight-off a whole neighborhood'of d.g.i.s?? hope you got plenty of ammo. && mean-dogs. can,t you relocate-temporarily?? our local-sherriff said looting is a REAL-CONCERN.sure hope thiers enough nat. guard to control things. but i,m not counting on them.

-- al-d. (catt@zianet.com), June 19, 1999.

I grew up in St. Paul. Winters can be fierce.

Be sure to have enough wood to get through to spring.

How will you feed the dogs?

Storage should be on your own lot. Hauling commodities several blocks may not be a good idea. Anything in above ground storage will freeze.

There's still time to excavate a basement, or expand the existing one. Not a cheap option.

Neighborhoods are not monolithic. The trailer park may include some fine people. The yuppie houses may include some creeps. You won't know who is which until the crunch.

The real estate market is still working -- you might be able to switch to a semi-rural site like the one you passed up.

Your skills are invaluable.

You already know all this.

-- Tom Carey (tomcarey@mindspring.com), June 19, 1999.


Luann, Without being mean, you might as well have called your post "How to Get Killed in A Heartbeat Without Even Trying"

sorry,

-- Paul Milne (fedinfo@halifax.com), June 19, 1999.


Luann,

Is there a spare bedroom you can use for storage? Do you have children that each have their own room that could perhaps share one bedroom in order to free up space?

If not, how about garage space? That can be used for dry food storage that won't be affected by freezing. What about under your beds? Believe me, you can store MANY cases of food underneath beds!

In the early stages of my preps, I decided to do a 're-con' of the house and garage, and consolidated many items in order to 'free up' space. It helped tremendously, and had the added benefit of allowing me to do an 'inventory' of things we already had, but had perhaps forgotten about, saving us duplication of efforts/money.

I agree with Tom; you *do* know this. Some days it's daunting, but you mustn't allow yourself the luxury of not pushing ahead. After all, you wouldn't leave the cows half milked, or the wheat half harvested, would you? Of course not. Take a breath, gather your thoughts, and press on.

-- Wilferd (WilferdW@aol.com), June 19, 1999.


Luann

You remind me of a stranger in a strange land. How things like having a woodstove could be considered wierd is beyond me. Good luck, sounds like you may need it. At least you seem to be a handy person to have around.

-- Brian (imager@home.com), June 19, 1999.



An interesting & well-written essay that lays out all the problems.

Unfortunately I suspect Milne may be right about this. Preparations are good only if y2k is a 3 or a 4; but if it's an 8, 9, or 10, none of our preps will save us. Human nature will take over. Those who chose not to prepare will then choose not to watch their families freeze/starve. If they even suspect that you have food, fuel & supplies, they WILL come & take what you have.

I suggest that, along with physical preps, you include some spiritual preparations; get ready to stand before your Maker. Your neighbors will take care of the details.

-- not looking (forward@to.it), June 19, 1999.


Thanks for the posts, people. To those of you who have privately e- mailed me, let me answer a few questions. 1) if I need to bug out, my mom and dad will be taking us in. They live 35 miles from us on the original homeplace; it is very secluded. 2) If my family and I stay, we are using our extra bedrooms for my 2 friends who will be with us. This is ONLY if the electric is still on. Storage space is being filled rapidly by the preps we are to make. We have not stopped prepping; if anything they have picked up speed because as I said we want to be done by September. 3) I know I have valuable skills; I am grateful I have them. However the question is how can I best use them? Example: when I offered a yuppie neighbor to teach her how to landscape her yard, I said I would do so, for a price. Landscaping takes skill, after all. She offered me $50. I said I would not teach such a skill for less than $250. I pointed out that landscapers around here run a couple hundred more, so she was still getting a bargain. She was dumbfounded; I know she can well afford it. I just don't want to be taken advantage of, that's all. My skills are worth something. I'd be very willing to barter my skills for something else I need next year. By the way, she walked away saying she didn't want to get dirty anyway. Well, all I have to say to that is next year, she may not have a choice. I want to be known as a tough, but fair person. 4) My dogs are a lab/spanial mix who is 3 1/2 years old and a 4 1/2 month old lab/German Sepherd mix. They are excellent watchdogs, and let me know in a heartbeat if something is wrong. Our 3 1/2 yr old is about 60 lbs and acts like she is 260 when riled. Our puppy is already 60 lbs and will be about 130 lbs when fully grown. We are stocking dog food, folks, believe me (Twenty 40 lb bags - enough to last a year). We are also putting up a 6 foot fence around the yard - over 400 feet - and a 10 x 12 shed for all of our lawn equipment, garbage barrels, etc. But if someone says our dogs are mean and complain to the police about them, they be impounded. I can train them to be watchdogs, not dogs. Our city does have ordinances and laws we have to follow - whether it is a storage shed or dogs. 5) Finally I'd like to say that our times are in God's hands. As a Christian, I believe God has put us on earth for a purpose. Maybe next year, I will know if the Good Lord had a specific purpose in mind. With that thought, I sleep fairly well at night, for I know God is awake and watching over us. I know that He is a Refuge and a Strength, a very present help in times of trouble. My faith gives me strength and hope. God bless! :^)

-- luann (flataufm@hutchtel.net), June 19, 1999.

Perhaps you should stage some supplies at an alternate location and get out if necessary. In a prolonged crises your location does not sound good.

-- Will (sibola@hotmail.com), June 19, 1999.

Oops! Typo error. it should read "I can train my dogs to be watchdogs not dogs." Sorry!

-- luann (flataufm@hutchtel.net), June 19, 1999.

GEEZ! I don't want my dogs to be trained to be VICIOUS! There that should get it in the posting!

-- luann (flataufm@hutchtel.net), June 19, 1999.


I'll second Will's suggestion. Since your parents are only 35 miles away any you plan for that to be your fallback location, put most of your supplies there.

And because of the unique circumstances of your location, skew your bugout criteria towards a lower trigger threshold. Don't wait for trouble before trying to leave, go when the first hints that it's possible are detected. It's only thirty-five miles to your parent's place, a short enough drive if it's a false alarm.

Consider buying or building a storage shed on the farm with the money you would spend on a storage unit near your home. An insulated 20ft shipping container would probably be a handy solution for a grand or so, and they're now very common on working farms. (We're looking at burying one as out root cellar solution.)

That way if things go bad, you don't have to have a semi or make multiple trips to get your supplies to there. If things don't go too bad, then your supplies are still stored in a safe location and you get to visit Mom & Dad on a weekly basis as you bring down a week's worth of goodies.

But again, don't key your plans to staying in place. Your location sound doubly vulnerable. First from a high population density in the park which will be caught short economically and space-wise if they could afford to prepare, hence they likely won't be prepared.

And then you have your "yuppie neighbors" who might prove more dangerous, simply because most have probably never gone without. This will make them more unpredictable to deal with simply because their actions will be total unknowns, matching the situation unknown to them.

WW

-- Wildweasel (vtmldm@epix.net), June 19, 1999.


Luann,

I, too, have many skills that are both useful, helpful, and marketable, including landscaping, gardening, food preservation (canning, dehydrating and meat smoking)sewing and tailoring, and others. My husband is an accomplished carpenter, mechanic, and is an all around "McGyver" in all things engineering. We have offered our 'services' to our neighbors many times -- FREE OF CHARGE -- in the spirit of neighborliness and brotherhood. While we may be able to command a certain wage in the work place, we don't charge our neighbors who want to learn. In turn, we've learned plenty from our neighbors, too. There is a certain intrinsic value that is GAINED from teaching those that have the interest and the will, to learn a new skill: we have 'better' neighbors -- neighbors that are more self sufficient, neighbors that have pride in the knowledge that they, too, can grow a garden, etc. It makes our neighborhood just that much better in which to live.

The next time a neighbor is interested in learning how you do something, offer to teach them and don't ask for monetary payment. The 'payment' you will receive will be much more than if you received only money.

-- Wilferd (WilferdW@aol.com), June 19, 1999.


Those yuppie neighbors will become different folks when their mutual funds fizzle into oblivion. They will be in a bind when they have to pay a mortgage on a home that loses 90 percent of its value. In the Depression this is what happened to home values. The trailer park folks are more accustomed to hard times.

-- Joe O (ozarkjoe@yahoo.com), June 19, 1999.

Luann:

I still think it is vitally important to have your neighborhood prepared. I would probably go to the parents if I were you, but you have the opportunity to do a service to your neighbors by educating them. You may never know what a difference you make, but it's worth a try.

I've put together a series of "How to Talk to Your Neighbors" papers on my website. They worked for me.

http://www.y2kkitchen.com:/html/neighborhood.html

-- Sally Strackbein (sally@y2kkitchen.com), June 20, 1999.


Luann ---- Take Paul Milne's advice. You are very lucky to have your parents live so close and to also live on a farm. Get your supplies over to your folk's place. Get some supplies hid around that farm and dig some holes and hid food and survival things where "no one" would find them. Your lucky to have a family and a farm that close. Your parents are really going to need you during this time also. Good luck!

-- thinkIcan (thinkIcan@make.it), June 20, 1999.


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