[Location] Urban/Suburban Transition

PrairieMule

Benzoil,

Like you I live in a Metroplex(Dallas). I have been preparing for when TSHF for about 6 years. Not on a end of the world level-more like you can stay, leave or go to the Superdome planning. A great book for the urban dweller is John"Lofty"Wiseman's SAS urban survival handbook. Deals with all kinds emergencies without a "Rambo"mentality. In fact it has very little on guns and more on how not to get electrocuted in your house, pest control, gas leaks, and such. It's a great handbook of practical wisdom for anti-gun peacenicks.

On the subject of IT guys and dairy cows, my current occupation is credit analyst at a Mortgage company. Over the last few years I have sharpened my ranching skills and could find work as a able bodied Ranch hand. I can fix and string fence, run a tractor, cut trees(fallen on fence) with a chainsaw. My point is everyone can cross train, do so while there is time.
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Hair in my eyes like a highland steer, spring in my step like a white tailed deer. Hitch in my hip like an old sheep dog, puff up my chest like a big bull frog.-Corb Lund

benzoil

PraireMule-

I agree on the cross-training. To quote the immortal Robert Heinlein, "A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects."

Most of my current secondary skills are construction related: drywall, roofing, rough carpentry, etc. I'm considering going back to school for an RN (!) degree. Even if Peak Oil is a non-event (maniacal laughter) then I'll be able to find work that can't be outsourced. Of course, I'm also reading up on raising chickens, gardening and other fun stuff. Someone on this board mentioned that there is a place in Wisconsin where you can learn to install solar water heaters. That's another possible plan.

Of course, I can only execute plans so fast and we are running out of time. Give me another 12+ months of housing market (more maniacal laughter) and solid economy and I'll be all set.
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TANSTAAFL

Ludi

I know I'm always pushing these books, but I think they are vitally important to anyone wanting to grow their own food in a small area, those who don't have the money to buy a farm, or who don't want to live in the country:

http://www.bountifulgardens.org/shop/growbiointensive-books.html
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"...powerdown so soft and fluffy you'll think you're living in a pillow." - jboogy

RonMN

You're right Ludi...i keep those catalogs as well (seeds of change as well as bountiful gardens & others)...they have alot of info in them...even identifying if a plant is medicinal or not.

ashman · Coal Joined: Nov 30, 2005 Posts: 4

This site is, if nothing else, a great avenue of "therapy" for those of us who really do care about others, want to try to get the word out and, of course as many posters have exclaimed, are ridiculed or at least ignored as "loony" or "doom-and-gloomers".

Three short months ago, I was beginning to plan for my retirement. I am only 39, but my plan was to buy a used 40' sailboat, restore it to glory, and set off to see the world by sea, so I thought it would be appropriate to get a head start since I am not independently wealthy and expect no suprise endowments any time soon. I manage several bookstores for a small technical college, so books are an everyday part of my life. I began buying a variety of books on boats, sailing, etc. and decided to include some titles on survival in my library. Browsing around Amazon, I found a recommendation for Kunstler's book, The Long Emergency, and ordered a copy. At the time, I did not know what I was in for...

TLE sat on a shelf in my store for some weeks until one day when I was not very occupied with business and I sat down to give it a cursory read. I spent every available minute of the next few days reading it with great interest and concern until I had absorbed the contents completely.

I sat around "dazed and confused" for several days, even though I am a bit skeptical by nature, because the scenario for the future painted by Kunstler (and, as I now know, by many others including Matt Savinar who should probably get some credit in TLE...) seems logical enough. After the initial "set-in" phase (and, man, reading Alvin Toffler's Future Shock has helped me to be able to reduce the impact of just this kind of information...), I quickly began to think, plan, and act "post-peak". This was not a difficult transition for me as I am a "doom-and-gloomer" and proud of it. I see on a daily basis the results of a "broken" society; the dishonesty, corruption and greed of our politicians; and being a resident of Atlanta, GA, the enormity of investment in a cheap-oil-based way of life.

The implications of fuel shortage versus growing demand appear to me to be probable, but very much possible. I made the decision without any hesitation that my family and I would do eveything possible to avoid being one of the "first ones out". My dad was a Marine Corps Gunnery Sergeant and he drilled me from the time I was a kid to have a survival mentality and to be prepared. Pay off time.

So, to make a long story longer, my wife and I are selling our house in the southernmost 'burbs of Greater Atlanta and moving into the city. This will be a temporary arrangement while my wife finishes work on her Master's degree. We are explaining the situation to our kids. We are building a library of titles to assist in a transition to low-tech. We are reducing our spending and paying off our debts. We are looking at relocation possibilities, probably somewhere in one of the Great Lakes states (cold- yes, but ample supply of freshwater and, I hear in Wisconsin, plenty of ale...).

I have the requisite "survival" stuffs: first aid kit, bottled water, camp cook stove/fuel, several weeks of foodstuffs, etc., etc., but though this is good to have, it really only comes in handy when I am camping or if there is a sudden overwhelming calamity. Long-term, this stuff is going to be fairly worthless. What I think folks should focus on is a way of life that is very low-tech. I hope to be as self-sufficient as possible, learning old-world skills and techniques which I can pass along to my kids so that they can, in turn, pass them on to their kids, as by that time low-tech will most likely be a pervasive reality.

I do believe that there will be many people who will be completely unprepared for things to "go south" (where did that expression come from?) and those of us who have prepared will be faced with a variety of "moral" dilemmas. I am usually a "live and let live" kind of guy, but when it comes down to last man out, well, I'll assuredly be heavily fortified and without compunction. In the meantime, I'll preach Peak to anyone willing to listen.

Pops

Interesting post ash - welcome

I think the phrase comes from the urge to move to a warmer climate when things get tough or maybe the direction a line on a graph goes when things aren’t so good. Maybe from slaves being sold "down" the river...

Anyway, I would very much enjoy having you post in the Assessments and Plans thread, as it has few in a situation such as yourself. It is fairly self-explanatory: http://www.peakoil.com/fortopic321.html
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Make a plan and work it:

peaker_2005 · Intermediate Crude Joined: Sep 02, 2005 Posts: 742

RonMN

1 Question for you guys...

I never had a problem being "labeled" or thought of as an idiot or "gloom N Doomer"...but i've stopped telling people about PO mainly because i don't want all these people on my door step if TSHTF. I think that is the one possibility that scares me the most. I do care for alot of these people & really don't want to see any harm come to them, but i also don't want them thinking i somehow have a master plan to fix the world after all hell broke loose. They refuse to lift a finger to protect themselves currently, as well as continue to mock me if i bring up any "bad" subject they don't wish to hear.

Lately i've heard alot of people still talking about "spreading the word of PO"...am i the only one who has fears/trepidation about this?

mommy22 · Heavy Crude Joined: Jul 22, 2005 Posts: 270

No, Ron, you aren't alone. I only use the term Peak Oil to a handful of people who are aware and preparing. With neighbors and other folks in my life, I just live my life as if everythings the same as it always has been. But, people always ask how my garden is growing, and stop by to see it, visitors are intrigued by the lemon and orange trees in my house, see me walking my daughters the 1/2 mile to school instead of driving, or walking the 1 1/2 miles to downtown with a backpack on, or riding my bike all over the place, or growing potatos in trashcans, or hanging out my laundry and comment on hardly ever using my dryer, and picking up kindling wood on my way home from dropping the girls off at school (lots of trees in my town), or learning how to can jams and pickles, etc.., and u-picking anything I can, and preserving it somehow, and bagging my own groceries with cloth bags and baskets, and arranging car pools for my kids activities, and bringing up the idea of bike racks at the kids' schools in this town at the PTO, and teaching my Girl Scout troop about the evils of one-time use products and to try to tell their moms not to buy them....hmmm, no I'm just the neighbor who just does things a little different. They would think I'm crazy if I told them the world is going to change drastically before they know it.

ashman · Coal Joined: Nov 30, 2005 Posts: 4

I guess a this is a little off-thread, but a good perspective worthy of discussion. Re: RonMN's "fears/trepidations" about "public discussion"-

Ron, I as other posters, agree with you. I share your concern and that is one of the main things drawing me to the forums here. I mention talking to others "willing to listen" and this would be a tiny fraction of daily acquaintances. After my initial "discovery" of PO, I spent some effort to share my discovery only to incredulous response. It didn't take long to figure out that this is something to be treated "close to the vest". mommy22 seems to be flying under the radar; quietly preparing for the transition while consciously doing the little things that make a difference.

One thing for sure- all the asses who mock in utter disbelief will be the first pie holes to show up for help...

PrairieMule

Ashman,

Sounds like you already have it together. I think you sould get that sailboat. On small to moderate bodies of water, I think sailboats will become the new way of transporting goods. I used to sail Sloops when I was a boy, wish I had the money to pick up that sailing again but I have to many hobbies already(ranching, backpacking, and hunting).
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Hair in my eyes like a highland steer, spring in my step like a white tailed deer. Hitch in my hip like an old sheep dog, puff up my chest like a big bull frog.-Corb Lund

ashman · Coal Joined: Nov 30, 2005 Posts: 4

PrairieMule- Thanks for the vote of confidence. With regards to Mental Transition, I think I have a good start, however will take some time and doing for things to actually begin to transpire. I have given some thought to the advantages of pursuing the boat idea, one of them being as you mention, the idea of goods transport. I just don't like the idea of having to be armed to the teeth in order to protect such a vulnerable little piece of property. Not that I have a problem with weapons of self defense, I just prefer to use them on good old terra firma.

Meanwhile, stuck in holding pattern waiting for the house in the 'burbs to sell. Looking forward to getting moved into the city as will immediately begin to see a savings of about $400 a month as a result of decreased daily mileage. Other savings are anticipated. I would strongly encourage others who are currently deluded by the American Dream and driving exaggerated distances from the 'burbs into town to consider relocating while intown property prices are still somewhat affordable. The problem of getting ready for ______________ (name your own "downhill" scenario)for a lot of people is personal debt. Our monthly savings in gasoline costs is going directly to pay down our debt and begin saving for our ultimate property purchase. If you are currently thinking that things are going to remain status quo ad infinitum- wake up and smell the coffee. Time (of plenty) is running out and it will take cash money to prepare for the coming times (of need).

Of course, rebuttals are welcome.

PrairieMule

From one sailor to another, remove the dagger board and let them have the boat. Even in rough weather they should get about 25 yards away from shore when they raise the main sheet and discover something is wrong.

Check out a book called Trailsafe:Averting threatening Human Behavior by Michael Bane. As far as defense, this goes beyond guns and it helpful to peacenicks as well as the gun crowd. It's all you ever need.

here is a link
www.dovetailstudio.com/michaelbane/book-trailsafe.htm

I changed jobs last year and now commute 8 miles roundtrip each day. Big savings!!!
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Hair in my eyes like a highland steer, spring in my step like a white tailed deer. Hitch in my hip like an old sheep dog, puff up my chest like a big bull frog.-Corb Lund

Laurasia · Intermediate Crude Joined: Jul 10, 2004 Posts: 534

Well - just hit the wrong button (watching the movie 'Supervolcano') and lost my post. So I'll start again...I'm in the suburbs and in all probability that is where I will stay, due to being the only Peak Oil convert here. So I do what I can. I have about a three-month supply of food stowed here, and water containers (but need some more). I have quite a good & varied supply of heirloom seeds (vegetables & medicinal herbs) stored in the fridge. And I'm TRYING to learn to grow at least some of our food. I have a small but growing supply of cash that only I know about, but might come in handy sometime. My next (big) project is to get in shape, and encourage the family to do the same. That will be a New Year's resolution. I will keep working as long as I can but my job is airline- related.

Other than that, I will just try to keep vigilant to local and world events, and fight panic with action (always plenty of work to do!). I come over like a doomer, but maybe I'm just a realist. I've stopped trying to tell my friends at work, but keep on at my family.

Regards,

L.

TommyJefferson