The idea of this post is due to an unfortunate common line of thinking that keeps coming up here on the board. it is spawned by the idea of "be prepared!". How do I prepare, what can I do!11??!!, panicky and snarky comments then follow. We've seen many examples of SHTF in the past few years, the water problem in MS, the power issue in central TX, not to mention all the antifa rioting, and the recent situation in NC also gave me reason to revisit this topic. How many are prepared for things in general? Can you deal with no power for a few hrs if a storm hits, can you stop the bleeding from an accidental laceration, do your kids know who they can go to in the event you had an auto accident and no one can communicate with them? Simple questions, but in our easy access, amazon delivers tommorow society, things have become easy, made people soft, and forget skills and plans they should have. So I am not talking about welding 1/2" steel sheets inside your house to prevent incursion, nor inferring you having 50k rounds of ammo. I am speaking about being prepared in general. How resilient are you, are you self sufficient or how much do you depend on others? Something said in a video by a former SERE instructor lays the crux of what I am saying here, no one is coming to save you....
Using my first example, the power goes out, police, fire, EMS will sort out things by priority, the power company will more than likely have their hands full trying to figure out what happened and then get it fixed. If you stubbed your toe in the dark, guess what my friend, you are on your own. Probably on average, the time a first responder gets to you from initial call is 12 mins, If you do not have a plan of response, you might be in a bad way. In the simplest, you might lose the food in the fridge or freezer, worse case...who knows. Do you have a relative with medical needs that lives with you or at home alone, and a long term power issue might be cause for concern? In the various Q drops, it was expressed not to worry, fine don't worry, but don't rely on others to make preparations for you, or tell you everything will be alright. Sure, this post to some will sound like redneck prepper deluxe, I leave that decision up to you. Think about how you prepare for common, everyday events, you buy extra soap for the dish machine, you have toilet paper, you have extra beer...in case, you have 3 bags of doritos b/c you simply can't run out. But are you prepared for things that can actually affect you in a serious way?
Some of the points below repeated for emphasis:
Q/cabal specific:
What do you know that others don't about what is coming?
Have you told anyone you know about what is coming?
Are you going to tell anyone what is coming?
If so, are you explaining things to people?
In general:
Do you have an emergency plan if the power/water/etc go off? (and not b/c you didn't pay your bill)
Do you have a rendezvous plan with family/friends if things go sideways for a few weeks?
Are your vehicles maintained and is there extra fuel? Can you repair your own vehicles?
Do you have enough supplies to last for a while >3 weeks? (you need to figure out what you need)
Do you have a network with neighbors, family, friends, i.e. communication chain, and I don't mean with cell phones.
How self sufficient are you, do you have the ability or capability to help others who aren't?
Do you have any basic fieldcraft skills?
Can you use a P-38 can opener, do you even know what that is?
Can you cook for yourself w/o electricity or a microwave?
Do you have a working flashlight...that is fully charged, and do you know where it is?
Do you know any level of basic first aid or have an IFAK?
Are you in shape, can you run a mile in an emergency, can you lift a 200# piece of furniture off someone?
Have you laid out a venn diagram of who can do what between family/friends/neighbors?
That should be a good starting place for most. No offense, but people need to unplug from the world's influence once in a while(including here) and actually think things through without interference. Engage the logistic side of your brain and start planning things. Freaking out and panicking when trouble hits is NEVER how you deal with things. It's fine to pause and let the emotions loose afterwards, but during a crisis only induces more problems. When you control yourself, you can more easily function in any situation....calm, cool, collected.
Last few things here. This is about asking yourself if you are ready, please do not start posting how much of X you have, and so forth, who the hell knows what kinds are lurking this board, don't out yourself. Second, whatever gear you have, use it, practice with it, you can $50k of the finest camping/survival gear but if you are not familiar with it, it doesn't mean a damn thing. Same goes for being in shape, if you are a 300# fatbody and you need to get up a ladder quickly, is your heart going to stop you or the flood water rushing towards? Chance favors those who are prepared.
I lose power for 5-6 days a year because I live in an area that has many tall trees. My neighbor kindly let me borrow his generator last year. A generator still isnt in the cards for me this year, but I am looking to build a small power system to run my (natural gas) heater if we lose power again. It really only takes 200ish watts to run the heater ignitor and fan. My heater is already wired to a plug, and plugged into an outlet in my garage. What I plan to do is find 2-3 car batteries and wire them in parallel. Then, use an inverter (1000w) connected to the batteries to convert the voltage to 110. Then I turn off the circuit breaker, use a male to male cord (make sure you know what you are doing if you do this) and plug it into the same outlet my heater is plugged into. Power! Then, I can use the car and a battery charger to charge the batteries furing the day (or just run the inverter off of the car) and then run on battery power through the night. Not a generator, but better than freezing.
I was amazed at how much power a lithium phosphate battery would hold compared to the lead acid & how quickly they charge on a couple of panels.
Not a perfect system, but works in a crunch & will power all my family needs in a camper if the worst case happens.
I have heat in one room that doesn't require electricity at all. It's propane with no blower. The room is over 400 sq. ft., so there's room to stay in it indefinitely.
Tall trees...install a wood burning stove. Never worry about batteries for heat.