[SchroedingersCat]

My wife is mostly on board. A few reservations. Also, no doomer talk is allowed after 9pm.

Her family is a different story.

[Ferretlover]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Polemic', ' ')Are you disappointed in him, Ferretlover, because you're having to do "the man's job", so to speak? You know, like foresee coming disasters and protect the family from them.

[WildRose]

You know what, Pops? When I first started reading everything on LATOC and PO.com, Wolf at the Door, etc. (about 3 years ago) and relating it to my husband, he thought I was worrying needlessly and thought up all kinds of reasons why this and that would never happen. Of course, because he works in the conventional oil and gas field, he heard information from his co-workers, bosses and people in the field that was quite contrary to what I was reading. However, over the last few years PO has been in the news more and a few things have happened that point to problems with maintaining oil and gas production at the levels we need now, and will need in the future. So, the result is that hubby is more on board now, although he still holds out hope for market-driven technological solutions. We discuss and debate these issues quite often, even with our kids, though we don't scare our kids.

We are together on equipping ourselves with all the necessary home and yard tools, warm clothing, extra blankets, water, first aid kit, extra food and home repairs. We want to be prepared in case of any kind of emergency, whether it's a power outage, serious viral outbreak or severe weather. A few weeks of extra food and water can't hurt. And if you watch the sales in your local mega-market, you can find some good weekly deals - last week, I bought tuna, salmon and apple juice at low prices. This week, I'll look and see what else I can find for a good deal.

Actually, something that has helped my cause is that my workplace has sent around pamphlets for families, outlining emergency preparedness. I have these on hand and share them with my husband.

[Eli]

My wife thinks I am nuts.

But I did convince her a few months ago to bail out of the stock market. That turned out to be good, her account would have been down 15% by now.

On the other hand she does seem to be getting the idea that things are not all that rosy out there.

[emersonbiggins]

Yes; my wife senses that something's amiss, and agrees with me about PO, though I can only say that she "puts up with" my excessive dedication to the topic.

[BigTex]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('strider3700', 'M')y wife is completely on board but is critical about some of my preps. I can understand her point, she just wants me to be more balanced in my preps.

I want lots of gardens, some livestock, some stored food, lots of guns and a bunker.

She wants gardens, some livestock, lots of stored food, a few guns and more space in the house.

In the end working on either hers or my plan puts us further ahead so we work on the common parts of the plan and now and again we each get our own way. The only real sticking point is the bunker. I'm thinking that I should start construction on a really really strongly build and well buried root cellar for her. All root cellars come with back up power and solid steel doors right?

[jesus_of_suburbia_old]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I') will never understand why so many people are "freaked out" by the thought of stocking up on essentials. Why does it bother people to have extra food on hand?

[Ferretlover]

lolol
My theory has always been, "if we have it, we won't need it, so get at least one!

[Lumpy]

We talk about it and/or its impact every day, in one way or another.

But it's kind of frustrating sometimes. I am a pragmatist in this matter. He worries more than I do about what's going to happen to all the people who aren't preparing.

While I appreciate his compassion (and am a compassionate person myself), I have observed that sometimes his worrying/ruminating can consume way too much of his personal energy.

I believe in facing the facts, trying to spread the word, but PRIMARILY taking personal responsibility to do what needs doing in one's own life to get as ready as possible.

But at least we both believe -- so that's a good thing. I can't imagine being with someone who refused to look this thing square in the face.

Lumpy

[topcat]

My wife and I talk about it every now and then. She is consumed with earning the majority of our money now and I don't want to overload her.

When I became PO aware, she listened and skeptically came onboard. Once I explained that extra stuff could also come in handy due to storms, bird flu, or financial problems she became more receptive.

Now, it kinda goes unsaid. I mention getting food on sale and she comes home with several cases of canned food.

[wisconsin_cur]

The bride has started to come more on board. The turbulance in the world has helped as has my steadfastness in my convictions. It helped that I started talking about preparations as "insurance" in case x, y or z happens instead of saying, "I expect x, y or z to happen.

She still probably thinks that I am buying a little too much insurance but in the end I think she has just decided that I could have a more destructive hobby so why fight it?

[Ayoob]

I don't talk about peak oil to anyone anymore. It's depressing.

Instead, I talk about self-sufficiency and a high quality of life in a small town, having useful skills, stocking up on things, etc.

It is received much more readily. Frankly, I've become less interested in peak oil and much more in living a simple, sustainable life. I think things will work out fine for me.

It's a much more positive focus, and I have come to appreciate having an honestly optimistic outlook.

[Zardoz]

I don't think it's "about to get tough", to the point where we should stock up on supplies, and neither does she. We're both in the slow-decline, gradual-deterioration camp.

We're on the same page: There's no point in planning for an unknown event that may or may not happen at any point in the future, if it actually happens at all. Think of the time, effort, and money you could waste.

We both feel there's nothing we can do about it in any case, so we might as well just carry on, like everybody else is doing, and that's what we'll continue to do.

[hamlet]

My lady and I were getting ready early Tuesday morning, the t.v. was on, and we caught the -465 point drop in the dow. Because we've got shitty local business coverage, I attempted to go online and find out what the hell was going on, as I had been watching the Asian markets tank the night before. When windows was booting up, the power when out (windstorm). There was a moment of silence, then, booming out of the darkness I hear:

"F/ck! I'm not ready for this sh/t. My check hasn't cleared the hold at the bank yet, I don't have enough tampons, I don't have enough bullets!"

[Revi]

I expect things to deteriorate quicker around here. We are out in the boonies compared with the rest of the east coast. Do you think we're going to be top priority? I think the economy in Maine will go down, but it's already pretty far down there, so what's the difference? I suspect we'll find out soon enough.

We have been prepping for about 5 years now, but it is now time to get the food storage going and really get ready. It could get bad any time in the next few years. It's already getting weird and it's only the end of January.

[Iaato]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('hamlet', ' ')There was a moment of silence, then, booming out of the darkness I hear:

"F/ck! I'm not ready for this sh/t. My check hasn't cleared the hold at the bank yet, I don't have enough tampons, I don't have enough bullets!"

[oldstyle]

We got married in 2000, and very shortly afterwards I was laid off from work. A week later I found out we were going to be parents. Due to bad industry, bad timing, and a city full of people in my profession all out of work at the same time (thanks Enron & Compaq) I was out of work for months. I found something eventually, and was laid off from that job after a few months because I wasn't very good at shafting customers for profit.. it just wasnt a good fit. Anyway, we wound up moving across the country for work and me getting laid off again a few years later which was when we moved back. It's stable and good now but we have had some bumps. Also to add perspective, I grew up poor, me and my sister raised by a single mom and we had a few years with some government assistance (free cheese and the like). My wife is from central america and moved here when she was 8 to escape civil war and the atrocities that come with it in her country. We have come along way from where we started, we both understand what it's like to have needs go unmet and how scary it can be to be unprepared and unable to care for our family when it counts. While I dont share all of the PO or economic details with her she is my rock. She is onboard with the ideas of being less dependant and more in control over our lives. During Katrina/Rita she saw first hand how fragile "just in time inventory" is. Stocking up doesn't freak her out, but she doesn't really like the guns.

We trust each other and she says she's onboard with whatever we need to do. I dont talk to anyone at work about this, but I have mentioned to friends and family the importance of being somewhat prepared for emergencies. I pitch the discussion with the mindset of a week or two interruptions but my own actions do not relfect that. Right now she is working on a plan and budget for insulated (thermal lining) curtains and I am working out details for water collection strategy. Neither of which were directly PO driven efforts, just the right things to do and it fits in with priorities. The curtains are to help lower energy usage and control temps in the house and the water collection is an alternative to a french drain to deal with some standing water issues since I put in the back patio. Normal homeowner things but were fixing them in a PO aware mindset.

[Pops]

It is an interesting thing; she and me are both from fairly poor circumstances – not hungry often but sometime just oatmeal and toast.

Our dynamic is that I try to bring home the bacon (or scrapple) and she makes do.

Not that she doesn’t worry about the bills, but as I usually make enough for the payments; income is my area.

As a consequence I worry about the outside and she worries about the inside of the front door.


BTW, Susan approved this message.

[vision-master]

I just give my doggie a big hug - she's cool with it!

Funny thing is my 88 year old Mother understands PO. I have a younger brother that is flat broke (house is paid for thank God) but he seems to have enought to eat. Mom says he is doing better than many during the 30's cause he has enough food to keep him going. :yikes:

[RedStateGreen]

My husband is a skeptic. I think it stresses him too much to think about it. I mention things from time to time but he usually has a reason why it's not so bad or "the market" will take care of it.

Which is okay. If it turns out that nothing happens, I haven't done anything I didn't want to do anyways.