Yesterday I posted my thoughts on How to Survive Hard Times (the long thread with no paragraphs, remember).

The survival ideas in that thread came from four sources:

1. My own first hand experience from my younger days.

2. Conversations I have had with other folks over the years.

3. Books I have read during my lifetime.

4. Information that has been posted on this forum over the past year or so.

I have had enough birthdays to know that nothing I say will be new or original. Everything has been said by someone else at some time in the past. Im just a reservoir of facts and experience.

The reason I posted my thoughts was because I believe most of us will have many, many, many neighbors next year who are not prepared for Y2K. In order for them to have a fighten' chance, they will need some cold hard survival facts - condensed and to the point.

I also think it would be inadvisable to hand them something with Y2K printed on it. That would give the impression that we were foresighted enough to be better prepared than they are.

On the other hand, if we passed out some generic information on How to Survive in Hard Times, then it would not directly reflect on our level of preparations. We would just be passing on a copy of something we found and saved because it was interesting. Nowhere in my post did I mention Y2K or computers. I just talked about hard times in general.

The bottom line is that we would be sharing some really valuable information with our neighbors which might help them survive Y2K with a minimum number of scars. My personal opinion is that anyone who is not prepared on January 1st will have a very small chance of being alive in the spring. But nobody really knows for sure. We are all just making our best educated guesses. On the other hand, I think the very least we can do is give the DGIs a fighten chance in the final stretch of the game (if we happen to be right about Y2K).

If you agree with this line of thinking, then I would be happy to repost my thoughts (with paragraphs added next time - if Imlucky). That way folks can print out a hard copy, and then make lots of photocopies now so they can later pass them out to their neighbors if the SHTF. None of my thoughts are of much value unless the hard times actually hit, so you wouldnt be withholding valuable preparation information. And if the hard times never occur, then you can trash the copies and nobody will ever know.

May God Bless.

Grandpappy

P.S. - Many of you have mentioned that you will be sharing some of your seeds with your neighbors next year. I think that is an outstanding idea. Several months ago I made about three dozen copies of the 1919 Gardening Book (the one Cory sent free to his subscribers - the one that has an expired copyright). My wife and I will be handing out a copy of that book along with the seeds so our neighbors have the knowledge to use the seeds to their best advantage.

Second Postscript - Although I have been an avid reader of most of the posts here for a very long time, I have never felt the need to post anything before. The rest of you have made such a significant contribution in preparation ideas, there was really nothing for me to add. Even the idea for this post was not my own. It was suggested by Brooks on June 23, 1999 in a response to the thread titled: Its January 4th, the Power is Still Out, and your neighbors are gathering in the street ... posted by Roland. I waited a few days but didnt see anyone pick up on the idea, and since I did have a little experience in this area, I decided to write something that I could pass out to my immediate neighbors next year (in addition to seeds and the 1919 Gardening Book). That was the motivation behind my 'Hard Times' thread, if anyone is interested.

-- Grandpappy (Grandpappy@old-timers.hom), June 29, 1999

Answers

Your first post was terrific, formatting is trivial.

That's the kind of information we'll all need. Give us more, if you can. You'll never know whether you've helped anyone or not, but my guess is you will.

Anybody here has the brains and the awareness to get ready personally. The trick is how to handle DGI neighbors when reality hits, hopefully without resorting to guns or a bunker mentality, hopefully to end up with the neighbor as ally. The info you gave might help us make do on less when the crunch comes.

We are all gonna lose some weight, next year.

-- bw (home@puget.sound), June 29, 1999.

Grandpappy

I would welcome a "revised" repost of the "Hardtimes"

-- Brian (imager@home.com), June 29, 1999.

Granpappy, I enjoyed reading your post. Thanks for taking the time to share it with us. Good Luck to you and yours. Carol

-- Carol (glear@usa.net), June 29, 1999.

Please do continue to share with us. Brings back some old memories and reminds me of things I need to do in preparing for the changing times ahead. Good solid information is always worth hearing!

-- Old Gramma (Gotitincalif@webtv.net), June 29, 1999.

You go, Grandpappy!!

Add, add, add, don't just repost.

Much appreciated.

Blessings...Mercy

-- Mercy (DivinMercy@aol.com), June 29, 1999.

Grandpappy...I'm sure that many of us are indebted to you for your tips to survive in hard times. And that we would be honored to have further ideas on survival, or memories you wish to share.

I hope to learn how to use my new printer to copy your recent post and share it with those I care about. Thank you for caring about us! Best wishes to you and yours.

-- Jo Ann (MaJo@Michiana.com), June 29, 1999.