[PrairieMule]

I probably just had the most serious conversation with my parents last night.

Both my father and stepmother are tuned into peak oil. I had the most doomerist conversation with both of them stating with oil rocketing upward we must prepare for a collapse. Yes I said the "C" word-collapse. I held nothing back. I talked about the most dire possibilities we discuss about here on this site. This was not a conversation you could have with a average person.

They agreed.

Not only that my parents want me to transition full time to the ranch with in the next few years.

Everyone here deals with the anxiety about relaying our deepest fears regarding the end of cheap abundant energy. We often get "Uh-huh" or "It' can't happen". To be honest, I am bit shaken to get back "We agree". It's almost like looking into a dark mirror and verbalizing you fear into an abyss. Then the mirror responds back "You are right". I mean I can talk to you folk on the net but its different when you talk about these things with the people that raised you.

[BigTex]

World events are shaking loose a lot of long-held views and assumptions about what is possible and what is impossible.

When these views get loosened up enough people start acting in strange ways, the whole thing gets momentum, and that's when things can happen that history will look at and say: "What must that have been like? What were people thinking right before it happened?"

What does a dam look like right before it bursts?

But then again, we are part of it, so we shouldn't fool ourselves into thinking that we are somehow seeing things objectively either.

It reminds me of the comment about keeping a clear head in battle: "No one is wise on horseback."

[charliebrownout]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('PrairieMule', 'I') probably just had the most serious conversation with my parents last night.

Both my father and stepmother are tuned into peak oil. I had the most doomerist conversation with both of them stating with oil rocketing upward we must prepare for a collapse. Yes I said the "C" word-collapse. I held nothing back. I talked about the most dire possibilities we discuss about here on this site. This was not a conversation you could have with a average person.

They agreed.

Not only that my parents want me to transition full time to the ranch with in the next few years.

Everyone here deals with the anxiety about relaying our deepest fears regarding the end of cheap abundant energy. We often get "Uh-huh" or "It' can't happen". To be honest, I am bit shaken to get back "We agree". It's almost like looking into a dark mirror and verbalizing you fear into an abyss. Then the mirror responds back "You are right". I mean I can talk to you folk on the net but its different when you talk about these things with the people that raised you.

[PrairieMule]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('charliebrownout', '
')
Congrats on having good parents. You're a lucky person. When you see them next, give them a huge hug and thank the universe for providing them--they're rare.

I wish I was in the same boat. As it stands, if ANY of the more doomerish scenarios take place I'm screwed and so are my kids.

So, alls I have to say is, hope things are nice on the other side of the die off. We won't be joining that party.

[BigTex]

PM, can you share more of your Dad's thinking on the issue from way before anyone was talking or thinking about it?

What was he saying when oil was $15 a barrel?

Does he look at this forum?

Has he considered becoming a Nigerian tour guide?

[WildRose]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('PrairieMule', ' ')I have had Peak Oil preached to me since 1992. My father is a petroleum engineer.

[PrairieMule]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('BigTex', 'P')M, can you share more of your Dad's thinking on the issue from way before anyone was talking or thinking about it?

What was he saying when oil was $15 a barrel?

Does he look at this forum?

Has he considered becoming a Nigerian tour guide?

[DomusAlbion]

PrairieMule wrote: "On the subject of Peak Oil, in the early 90's I would get calls at my dorm telling me "You will run out of oil in your lifetime". Ok Dad, whatever. Even in the early 90's, the writing was all over the wall. It did not sink in until about 5 years ago."

I had a similar experience in the early 90's. I have a cousin who is about 6 years older than me. He worked in management for Arco in Alaska his entire working life. In 1994 his father died and he was down in Washington for the funeral. At the time he mentioned that he was being "bought out" by Arco and was taking early retirement. He didn't say much but hinted that I should keep my eyes on the oil production situation. Within the year he had retired at 58 and bought several pieces of rural property north of Spokane, one to live in near a city, the other further out on the Pend Oreille river as a "retreat" as he called it.

[Pops]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('PrairieMule', 'I') mean I can talk to you folk on the net but its different when you talk about these things with the people that raised you.

[TheDude]

Sharon Astyk came up with the term Brother-In-Law Syndrome - the nightmare of having relatives move in out of desperation. I'd sooner face a zombie horde!

I've been waiting for the fuel cell cars for 30 frickin' years! First heard about the inevitable extinction of oil when I was a little kid; but solutions would be easy to implement - they said. It's like you've lived your whole life believing in Santa Claus!

[PrairieMule]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('TheDude', '[')url=http://sharonastyk.com/]Sharon Astyk[/url] came up with the term Brother-In-Law Syndrome - the nightmare of having relatives move in out of desperation. I'd sooner face a zombie horde!