I remember the Great Gas Crises of the 1950s. I filled several metal five-gallon cans with gas and put them behind the seat of my 1941 Plymouth 6-cylinder Business Coupe. I got 21 miles per gallon with that peppy little car!
When Kennedy’s Cuban Missile Crises came about I dug a foxhole in my Mother’s back yard — which she later filled in and used as a flower bed.
Then the Cold War with Russia, where we rattled ballistic missiles at each other. I actually built an above-ground fallout shelter out of a retired metal dumpster and a piece of conduit big enough to crawl through. A hill of dirt left over from a construction job finished it. My shelter looked like an earthen igloo, built in the high desert above Phoenix, Arizona . It lasted about 7 years, until the new owner of the property took it down.
One day at a gun store I met a man who was high up in our regional electric company. I asked him what would happen if the Russians nuked Phoenix. He replied that if we were lucky, our electricity would be out for a few weeks to a few months! If they scored a direct hit, then it could be years before the power could be restored!
Convinced, I went right home and started assembling my own small solar electric system! Several years later the Berlin Wall was taken down. But I kept my ‘Small Electric Company’ operational. I still use it every evening! In addition I picked up a pitiful little generator some guy had taken out of his motor home.
Eventually Y2K came on the scene. I sold my little noise maker and replaced it with a new Coleman 3,000 watt, no frills, short run generator. It is just big enough to run the wife’s washing machine and any of my shop’s tools one at a time. This machine was a great comfort as the year 2000 came closer. I figured on running it just 2 to 3 hours per week during the crisis. That way, I would not have to store large amounts of expensive, flammable gasoline. I still maintain this generator in good working order by using it to power my electric chainsaw 2 or 3 times each year as I cut wood for our stove.
During the pre-Y2K months an old Baptist turned-Mormon school chum convinced me to start a food storage program. So I went out and bought 3 or 4 cases of Ramen noodles. In time I learned to hate Ramen noodles! My thrifty wife insisted on recycling or rotating them through my digestive tract! I think I have finally got her convinced to save the last case for our neighbors who fail to prepare for the big one! I now buy canned pinto beans, pork and beans, canned corn, green peas, green beans, potted meat, Vienna sausages, stuff I like or can at least tolerate! I figure on keeping 6 weeks to 3 months supply of food and water on hand and rotating it every 3 years, keeping it no longer then 5 years.
This is an ongoing thing and saves us a few dollars as the price of food continues to rise. Uncle Sugar just keeps printing money and devaluating our Dollars, thus higher prices!
Now along comes the Mega Depression of 2009, [minor rant snipped] so this then is my biggest challenge, just to survive this coming period of economic disaster, political turmoil, and civil unrest. I am in the process of improving the latches on my exterior doors and outfitting a designated bug out vehicle capable of sustaining our lives for 30 days. I am teaching my wife to use a battle rifle and improving my rain water barrels. I instructed my financial advisor to prepare my investments for the worst, plus taking some independent action of my own in the way of trade goods, reconstruction skills and a small investment in precious metals. I have talked up the need to prepare with friends, loved ones, and neighbors. Is it enough? Only time will tell.