I find myself distancing myself from people now , being particular and no doubt peculiar in my antisocial behaviour.

I have been prepping for my husband and myself, but have started to pot a little extra away just in case my daughter and her gentleman friend happen to arrive here. They don't have wheels of any kind as they live in a place where a car is not really necessary. One can walk anywhere in very little time. I think that she would go to her biological father's place, as it is a lot closer, and a bigger home. The rest of our neighbours are pretty much stand on their own feet, kind of people, (except for a couple), as they raise animals and have big gardens, and process /preserve their bounty. We can work with those good folks in a crisis.
We are really fortunate, that on our little back road, we have a blacksmith, a nurse, 2 meat cutters- butchers, a log home builder, cement mason, and the list goes on. Any one of them will mentor you in what they do best. This is a great place to be.

We are really fortunate, that on our little back road, we have a blacksmith, a nurse, 2 meat cutters- butchers, a log home builder, cement mason, and the list goes on. Any one of them will mentor you in what they do best. This is a great place to be.

It is nice to see a little optimism still exists. I too consider that things aren't as bad as many paint it. Chaos can occur for those ill prepared and I'm sure some will conclude that violence is the answer. But the majority of mankind will stiffen their resolve and keep on living. The pipelines to resources will faulter, but not be completely severed.

Look at the people of Ukraine. They show teachers in the east that haven't been paid in 5 months still teaching classes and students still attend them. People around them die daily in their present situation and yet they prevail. Sure there are some robberies and murders, but overall they maintain moral standards and impose a harsher judgement to those who prey upon the weak. So why do so many folks presume anarchy is the only way to survive in such a situation? Would you too not support those trying to maintain order in such times? We all may have to tighten our belts a little more, but then most of us can afford to lose some weight along the way too.

I agree with you, Knuckle, that things are not as bad as some people think. I just do not like to take the chance of being unprepared. Our little back road is fairly tight knit. The moccasin telegraph works real well. This afternoon, I discovered, when I went to stoke the wood stove that the stack cap was plugged.....got a face full of smoke when I opened the door. What a surprise that was, as we had the chimney and cap cleaned in September. Wouldn't you know it, that our live here handyman had just left to work elsewhere! I hiked down the road about half a mile to see a young couple, to see if he had time to come and help us out. Less than 15 minutes after I got home, they arrived and he took care of the problem. While they were here, we had one phone call, and one visit from other neighbours, asking if we needed help. With my husband's disability, he is not very mobile any more.....sometimes he can hardly make it into the house, let alone climb a ladder to the roof; so it gives me a greater feeling of security to have a backup in place.
KK

With my husband's disability, he is not very mobile any moreometimes he can hardly make it into the house, let alone climb a ladder to the roof; so it gives me a greater feeling of security to have a backup in place.
KK

This leads me to another idea. Years ago many people would hire live in help, of which they received room & board, and probably a very small amount of
money . Would this be an idea to help with all your chores, and in the event of SHTF , you would have them around also to help ? It would mean
you would need to prep for them also , thus maybe they would not get much pocket money then ?

Not really sure what a fair deal is for each side of the equation , or if this is a good idea.

With my husband's disability, he is not very mobile any moreometimes he can hardly make it into the house, let alone climb a ladder to the roof; so it gives me a greater feeling of security to have a backup in place.
KK

This leads me to another idea. Years ago many people would hire live in help, of which they received room & board, and probably a very small amount of
money . Would this be an idea to help with all your chores, and in the event of SHTF , you would have them around also to help ? It would mean
you would need to prep for them also , thus maybe they would not get much pocket money then ?

Not really sure what a fair deal is for each side of the equation , or if this is a good idea.

As with anyone, if you spend some time with an individual, you soon get to see the other side of that person whether they want you to or not. It would be best to test such individuals before a situation occurred tough as later makes it hard to get rid of those you don't trust. The thing that often ruins any such agreements is the promise to do something that can't be later met. Stay honest and expect the same in return.

Our live on our place handy-man has his own 5th wheel trailer that he lives in. He has his own generator, and has looked into solar (which is not a viable option here in the winter). He put together an outside wood fired heater out of "crap" he salvaged from our property. It was stuff we thought we might use, but probably never will, so told him to go for it! He does two days a month work that we pay him for, and another two days a month that covers his rent. He keeps my wood carts full, and our snow shoveled. We have pipe insulation for him to install on our water lines so they do not freeze. That install will hopefully happen within the next couple of days. He is on a WCB pension, so isn't broke, as well he works a couple of days a month as a handy-man at a store in town. He laughingly calls himself the escapee from the city.....Vancouver; really wants to be left alone, which we do, unless we need him. It has been really cold here the last week; he is having a hard time keeping his little place warm, as it is an older unit, and not well insulated. We offered him an extension cord to run his heater, but he declined. He wants no handouts from anyone!
I have talked about prepping with him. He buys a little extra every time he shops, usually from Dollarama or Dollar Tree. I have put away a little extra for helping him out, but he more than likely will not take it, so I am not doing any more there!
Hope this answers your question. He is an honest, hard working guy. We don't mind him being here at all. One more line of defense, if you get what I mean!
KK

kootenay kid, I'm interested with the handy man story.

How did you meet and why you decided to let him in?

We met, while parked in a lot in town. DH was waiting for me in the car. Handy man was parked behind us, facing the opposite way. The trailer he had behind his motorcycle had his contact information printed on the back. My DH could not read what was there, so asked the fellow what it said. Handy man came over and spent quite a while talking with DH. DH then said for handy man to maybe go inside and talk to me. Handy man then said that we had already had a good visit. He still came in anyway, and helped me carry my stuff out to the car. Later that evening, we sent handy man an e mail and teamed up a meet. After that we just followed our gut feeling.....a good gut feeling and talked to him (a few days later, about him moving on to our property) So far things are working out very well. I have not lifted a snow shovel this winter. He's holding up his end of the bargain very well, and manages to keep my chores done, and work 30 hrs a week elsewhere. Life is good.

That actually sounds nice, something I'd might be interested in if work slows down. Though I don't have a trailer...

He really likes being fully self contained, and independent. We have offered him power for times when he is low on gas for his gen set, but he has always said no thanks. He does have one basket in the freezer, that he sometimes uses. He asks for nothing, just a place to park his rig, and to be left to his own resources. I can do that!!!!!

He really likes being fully self contained, and independent. We have offered him power for times when he is low on gas for his gen set, but he has always said no thanks. He does have one basket in the freezer, that he sometimes uses. He asks for nothing, just a place to park his rig, and to be left to his own resources. I can do that!!!!!

Wow, I could do that for a measly 50k a year

He really likes being fully self contained, and independent. We have offered him power for times when he is low on gas for his gen set, but he has always said no thanks. He does have one basket in the freezer, that he sometimes uses. He asks for nothing, just a place to park his rig, and to be left to his own resources. I can do that!!!!!

Dang, this guy must have an interesting history. Thumbs up for y'all for the nice example. Since I've stayed in various people houses while trading it with service, I can say that when someone's opened up their doors for me that gives a very nice feeling. I can sleep on the side walk, under a bridge, rest in those 24 hours Mc Donnies, or set up camp in the woods with no worries but only when some folks says you can stay in the garage if you want, that's really gives a warm feeling inside.

Don't forget singing Willie Nelson's On the Road Again when traveling 😀

By the way, after SHTF when friends come...
Well sometimes we have to kick some ass but that depends on how many asses we can handle and will those ass gonna overwhelms you.

And for looting... Umm, I've done it long time ago during a natural disaster and so far the best defense I've observed is when you can gather people around to collectively defends an area. Once I saw a clever boss-man gathers his employees and their families and offering shelter and food, but actually he is building a defense line to prevent outsiders entering his premises.

One more thing. So many people still thinks prepper is a condiment, while the term survival is widely recognized. I myself differentiate between prepping as a preparedness method to maintain a certain level of comfort when SHTF, and survival as the last resort where the worst is we are left with only ourselves and have to manage with our own ingenuity. So let's make prepping as an art.

Yes, he is getting a good deal with us, BUT, I feel that DH and I are getting an even better deal. Our handy man does everything we ask him to do, and more. Things might not get done on a super timely basis, but they always get done well. He does two days a month (16 hours total) to cover "rent". and anything more than that we pay him cash. Seems to work well for all of us.
Where he parked his unit before here, he could not run his gen set after 9pm. He could not work on his truck or bikes there, and had to be plugged into the power system. He was not even allowed to do a little smoke, even inside his unit, when all his neighbours were drunk by noon. He found that living there, he had very little money left over for food. He sure was happy to get outa that "Dodge"! We don't care when he tuns his gen set, or that he works on his truck here....or has a little smoke. Many of our friends do just that, so join the clan, so to speak.
He also has a few years military under his belt, so that is a bonus.
That's it for now
KK

Well, all good things must pass. Our handy man just gave me his notice. He will be "out of here" by the end of December. He says that he is spending too much time driving to town for work, that he can't afford it any more. Oh well, we have a back up fellow that is happy to do anything we ask, and not quibble at $18.00 an hour. I feel bad that he is leaving us, but maybe it's best this way.