This was the last time a special food for neutered cats was purchased until who knows when because I have to commute to PetSmart to buy it. And this PetSmart is right buy a CostCo and a WalMart, and the person I'd go Y2King with is no longer willing to be near those two in particular under any circumstances (I agree), and it has left me with an odd feeling.

I had kept asking like so many, "Is this the REAl start of it all?" Even though we'd read of reports talking of failures, glitches, and troubles. Somehow "it" hadn't started.

The two bags of cat food purchased until who knows when, and those two bags being for the now, not the tomorrow in a stash, brought about this powerful feeling of "It Has Begun." It has for me.

I think It Began for me was the poster who experienced the Costco checker almost assaulting him though it took a day or so. As the Y2Ker I know put it, "They're losing it watching those purchases come through, people who can't afford it working the registers...blah...blah."

It's so surreal I can't articulate my feelings very well. I will not be purchasing cat food until who knows when. I sincerely feel like I am in a ship that has just sailed out to sea. I mean I really will not be buyuing cat food until who knows when.

Gawd this feels so weird.

Tomorrow I am buying the last dog food for the now, not the tomorrow, for the last time for who knows when. I am buying cigarettes for the last time for who knows when.

All I be doing beyond tomorrow is once in a great while going to a local store if possible and picking up some daily food, and not much of it since there's no point to filling up the freezer.

This is so surreal! Oh my gawd "It Has Begun."

-- Paula (chowbabe@pacbell.net), November 22, 1999

Answers

Paula:

You're not alone. I'm on $300/month Y2K budget (every cent of disposable income) and have been since I first heard of Y2K (Dec/98).

One paycheque (mid-Dec) left. Whether the doors are closing now or later, they will close for me in about three weeks. You can't do it all, just do your best.

Here's my thoughts:

1999 has been a challenging year. Ive discovered (for my family and myself) many threats to our lives all appearing at the same time period: renewed threats by communist powers, solar coronal mass ejections, comets and meteors in the inner solar system, the y2k problem, and threats of terrorism by extremists all arriving at the end of the millennium. On the one hand, reasoned anxiety leads to despairbut this is a lie. Despair is for those who know the future and that there is no hope. On the other hand faith in God leading to the joy of serving Him and the hope of His return. Each and every day I face this constant battle. Each and every day my faith is tested and my future is challenged.

For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39

-- (Kurt.Borzel@gems8.gov.bc.ca), November 22, 1999.

Paula, meet 'What Scripturer Rules'.

-- Truth (at@the.ready), November 22, 1999.

Thanks Paula and Kurt

Kurt - I got a flood of emotions reading your post. I won't even try to express myself here and now, but I am urged to resubmit something that came upon me a couple of days ago. While attempting to look something up in the Bible, I opened it and read the first thing my eyes fell upon, it was this -- II Corinthians 8:15 -- "as it is written: he that gathereth much did not have TOO much, and he who gathereth little, did not have TOO little" ( emphasis mine).. To be a bit presumptuous I might think it through to this "he that gathered naught, also has all that he deserves." CHOICES

Peace be with you friend, end well.

RWL:

Michael

-- Michael (mikeymac@uswest.net), November 22, 1999.

FYI-you may wish to check with Petsmart and Costco, as they are both offering delivery options in my area. They may offer it in your area too. I, too have not done the "crowd scene from November thru December"-ever. I hate crowds and if you plan ahead, it's unnecessary. Also, try not be influenced by those mindsets around you, especially if they are not positive in nature.

-- Big D (ddac@yahoo.com), November 23, 1999.

Really -- I don't mean to throw a wet blanket on things, but what you are experiencing is that meta-fear which equates with "the fear of fear itself" which is probably the same thing as panic. That comes ot from anything that happened in trying to buy specialty dog-chow for your neutered pet.

If you ask me, the surrealty comes from reading a TB2000 hypertext onto your own mundane affairs: "The surreality started for me when the poster experienced the Costco checker almost assaulting him ..." The poster's experience becometh a surrogate for your own -- and since you are powerless to act in such a hyper-reality -- a "virtual" reality generated by the online acting with your imagination -- it would be no wonder if you might go into adrenalin overdrive. I think, if I may say so, that it would be wise to get outside for a walk, or even a jog under the moon, and not let the groupthink of the forum replace your own direct experiences. OPne swallow does not make summer; nor does one surly checker out of tens of thousands make for the beginings of progroms against doomers and preppers. Relax. There are too many here who are palpitating to be the first to panic with you .....

-- SH (squirrl@huntr.com), November 23, 1999.

Paula,go over to the prep forum and read Old Git's post on pet food.I think you will be pleasantly surprised about the info.

-- Maggie (aaa@aaa.com), November 23, 1999.

Koreans Chinese and Phillipenos,Love those dogs and cats, the tasty dog dish in Korea is called Kagogi, kill and bleed animal,beat vigerosly with a club to tenderize,skin,chop up bones and all(marrow is good chop.)if you can put animals on a human diet for a few days they taste much better.I prefer rodent to cats but they both make good tacos.Insects are good chop(grubs are the best)the old indian pemmacin sp! recipies are best and last all winter.Ps ,save and salt the dog hides as they make great overshoes and cloaks.

-- doggie diner (picking my teeth@fullbelly.com), November 23, 1999.

Concerns about Y2K have give me a meta-fear-fetish that I'll be ravished by cruel NWO amazons in black jumpsuits.

-- Ocotillo (peeling@out.===), November 23, 1999.

What struck me is the poster of the Costco scene was to the best of my knowledge a reasonably mature adult man, not some skinny little smug whatever. Imagine if he had been a petite middle aged woman coming through that line?

Then there is the abrupt end of Iraqi oil and the prices rising visibly and wildly in the night.

Another round of Y2Kers vanishing in the night in self-protection, only unlike early 1999, certainly Y2KNewswire ducking for cover is a whole different breed of em. As in some bigger names this time and people like Mike Adams are not ignorant, they don't go cuckoo, and start doing ignorant and silly things.

Then we begin to discuss what is the new currency? Count your rolls of t.p. That is like a literal throw back to the times of the Druids. The royal couple has a fight about which is more wealthy, her or him, their inventory is pulled out and the count is on. She or he has more rolls of toliet paper? And compare that with the 50 pound bag of pinto beans against the 100 pounds of rice.

This forum doesn't "get" to me in the sense mentioned. I personally think one needs to know the Costco checker went flippy at an adult male Y2Ker. They're valid warnings of trouble brewing out there. These are eye witness accounts and personal testimonies. I'm very grateful to know the temperature changes of the water out there. It may not be my area, but we do all know there is a herd like mentality to the overwhelming majority of people in our respective nations. If she was working at that Costco she is working at one of the ones near me also.

Then come the real bone chiller. We can see with some Y2Kers be it narcisstic It's All About Me personalities or people simply stressed out of their minds, they do forget this picture is larger than just themselves, that our feet are on our nations' soil, our nations are civilizations, they have flags, they have laws, some have constitutions, and it is our duty to uphold those civilzations. So imagine what the herd is going to be like? If those with the ability of long sightedness and complex thought forget that higher picture, what is that herd really going to be like when it becomes genuinely stressed? It is scary. If Y2Kers who have been heavily preparing can be spotted with government dependency thoughts (And I carry my share), what will this be when that heavily dependent herd wakes up to the real world?

People we don't know out there preparing and they're stealing wind mills from yards. Those criminals aren't the herd, quite obviously they are very aware of Y2K. Two rednecks "gett'in ready" or is that a very real black market kicking into gear and those windmills are going off to desperate businesses? Estates? Gangs filling a warehouse "for the right time?"

Instead of spotting ripe Christmas shoppers as marks, is the seasonal criminal element down at Costco watching for Y2Kers? At WalMart? At K-Mart? With dreams in their heads of home safes full of gold coins and cash? Costly solar panels? Stashes of tobacco? Stashes of ammo and guns?

I don't think I am in panic. I think I am seeing It Has Validly Begun.

I didn't tell this but I will now. You know how people are noticing massive amounts of containers arriving where they've not been before? Like stockpiles unto themselves? I was out the other day and I had an angle view of some dairies and there was a massive amount of the white containers, and all parked side by side. It was absolutely surreal looking. Quite obviously those containers are not about a spike in demand. These business have pulled up anchor and have set out to see themselves in a frantic effort to try and retain being a business when nothing is out there, nothing is coming in, and it's all starting to reveal what is coming is a breakdown in the transportaton sector for starts. Dairies not Walmart or K-Mart this time around. And this time I saw it with my own eyes.

It Has Begun.

We can see what is ahead from our wee sail boats, it's not the calm quiet waters of some tropical paradise with water so blue you can't believe its real, but no after peeling some paint off we notice our boats were once named the Pequod, and our chartered course round the cape due to the current.

Oh gawd we're going to go round that cape! We'll be hanging on for dear life and tying ourselves to parts of the Pequod to stay on board.

I don't mean to sound hysterical, I don't feel I am, but when one writes things don't often come out sounding as one would like it too. That's death we're seeing as we count those containers. Nothing is going to be out there. Nothing coming in. Those businesses are the ones hoping to survive and make it round the cape, and they obviously really thought they had to do that to survive the coming times. One dairy out of how many will survive? One store out of how many in its own chain? Out of how many outside its chain? One dairies productivity against how many millions and millions needy mouths? 50 dollars for a gallon of milk? 100? 200? 500? 1000? A replay of Iraq when one can of milk cost a professors whole monthly income?

It Has Begun, and that may be an "event" that is personal and different for each one of us, my own reaction is that everyone should pull up anchor and get braced for rounding the cape on the Pequod. Be it a voodoo doll or a Bible, I agree, one is going to need to hang onto dearly whatever one believes in as a spiritual comfort. I'll be hanging onto Socrates, cuz I really do believe we come back to regather our original selves and already learned wisdoms. Obviously, there was a pressing need in regathering what I already know to round the cape on the Pequod. If not, I am in deep doo-doo as I find going around the violent and deadly cape absolutely terrifying. I'm not having fun and I don't have this voyage down as an "adventure." I'd like to have some memory eraser medication to take along.

-- Paula (chowbabe@pacbell.net), November 23, 1999.

So why didn't you go to the dairy barn and ask why they had those containers? Maybe the guy is storing hay in them. We used to do that. Maybe he ordered a year's worth of feed/grain for the cows. They too have to eat. A lot of livestock operations get all of their feeds in for the winter. We used to put in about 300 tons of hay this time of year. That amount of hay takes a lot of room and today containers are cheaper than hay barns. And then maybe FEMA/RC has used his land to park containers of food, blankets and other shelter supplies. Is that a bad thing? Seems to me that all this bodes for the good. Once you have accepted the necessity of such things, you will look upon such preparations as a good thing rather than confirmation of fears.

Taz

-- Taz (Tassie123@aol.com), November 23, 1999.

Paula,

We were in WM a few weeks ago and had 3 buggies and one had about 150lbs of dog food. The guy behind me asked if it was for Y2K, I said No it's for our dog. Special pet food needs may be desirable, but is probably cost prohibitive to stock. You might buy some less expensive food just to have (the critter will likely adjust).

As far as smokes, find and buy the Buglar cans, they come with about 200 papers and one can will last myself and the wife a couple of weeks (with additional papers). If you did not learn to roll in college, also get a small rolling machine. We found the cans for about $4.50 about 6-9 months ago, now they are a little more than $7...

-- BH (bh_silentvoice@hotmail.com), November 23, 1999.

I'm about a year on dog and cat food. I guess I expressed myself badly. I was buying for the last time thinking I'd use what I just bought and then be going into my stash because of timing. I've also got the cans of tobacco, TOPS, and a bunch of turkish packets, papers and rollers, plus cartons. Yesterday on the net I found cigarettes, 10 cartons plus shipping for about 104, so this is my last purchase of cig's. http://www.dirtcheapcig.com/Welcome.asp

I also have some tobacco seeds. I tried to grow a crop but it is pretty hopeless where I am. It didn't live. Tobacco is so regulated I wasn't sure if it was legal to grow it where I am. I had called the police a couple of towns over to be sure it was. The Chief told me it sure is legal because it is so HOPELESS, and I was left with the impression every cop and her brother has tried to grow tobacco for self out in the ole backyard.

These "lasts" feel so strange.

When I go to the store for daily stuff I'm still going to add a few cans of this or that to my own stash. So long as there is still food out there I am adding. I don't know where I am on my own. I was able to inventory it up to 3 months, I then deliberately pushed it to 6 months, and then gave up trying to keep track of it all after that. Of course a part of that is some stuff I put aside to help others, if the situation appears safe and right for me to do so. I'm getting really worried about the coming summer and the year 2001.

What is 2001 going to be like as a year with a shattered "system," severe shortages, and closed businesses, and nations that went into mayhem behind itself?

-- Paula (chowbabe@pacbell.net), November 23, 1999.

Paula,

People push flats at the Costco in Scottsdale all the time with incredible quantities, and no one says "boo." Now this past Summer, when I began, was the last time any checkout clerk said anything...but I agree...the doors are about halfway closed, and will slam shut about second week in December.

-- K. Stevens (kstevens@ It's ALL going away in January.com), November 23, 1999.

Paula:

HANG IN THERE KIDDO!

Let me tell you a story with a moral... I've had the honour of serving in the Canadian Forces and-in basic training-we used to do something the instructors called "group therapy"

Teamwork pushups until sundown.

"TEAM!" -down "WORK!" -up

etc.

I learned that this, among other benefits, instills in young people the necessary mindset for the battlefield. Teamwork produces results.

The payoff came when I was on outpost duty, on a night patrol, on winter night field exercises, etc. WHEN YOU'RE NOT ALONE YOU CAN TAKE ALOT OF PUNISHMENT and still smile! If you're alone, it's too easy to let fear crush your will to carry on.

MORAL: team up with someone you trust. Remember you've got a big crowd of unruly types here who are pulling for you. You are not alone.

-- (Kurt.Borzel@gems8.gov.bc.ca), November 23, 1999.

White storage containers at the dairy farm?? I am guessing that they are nothing more than the white plastic "dog houses" that the farmers put out as a shelter for the young calves. RELAX...... America is still asleep and will continue to sleep until the lights don't come on. Prepare as best you can and enjoy the good times. This is like worrying about dying -- no use worrying, it is going to happen eventually. Just be prepared and enjoy the days we have.

-- RickE (vrevans@bigfoot.com), November 24, 1999.