I may have converted ONE family?!?!

[Klayton]

Monday during lunch break, my co-worker/partner for exams, asked me what I did last weekend.

She and her husband, with a 2 y/o son, are hardcore Hussein supporters (liberal democrats). So I waited for the "jab". Normally she would immediately say without letting me reply, "Let me guess, went to the gun range? Or, worked on your garden?" etc etc

So I told her, "Bought 250 pounds of rice, and bucketed it up for my 'Just in case' stockpile."

So, as normal, she states "We are coming to your house if something happens."

I replied, "I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Then another co-worker jumps into the conversation, now this may or may not be important, I am the only male worker at my site during my shift, so mind you I am SURROUNDED by women and their opinions ALL DAY!! But this coworker states "You wouldn't give her food? You two are like a battling sister and brother friendship."

My reply, again I have never been known for being PC.

"It's like my grandfather taught me when there is a drought endangering your herd.
You assess the situation, determine how much feed you have in backup storage, then cull the herd accordingly. If the drought was severe enough you cull the herd all the way down to your breeding stock. ((then I looked at my coworker and lowered my voice)) I am pretty sure you would not be breeding stock."

Got the "YOUR EVIL" talk for 5 minutes from the group in the break room, yadda yadda yadda...

BUT today during training, my class partner asks, "Can you tell me what I have to do to start storing food?"

I SMILED FROM EAR-TO-EAR!!
:cool:

[Matt In Oklahoma]

Awesome, got me one started from work this week. Outta the blue she walks up asks me if i'm a prepper. Told her nope i'm a survivalist, if you think you can buy your way outta this then we aint got nothing to talk about. 1 hr later......

[Cimarron]

Interesting. It must be something about March 1st..

I have a co-worker who is in our Security Dep. and on the reserve PD. He's a gun enthusiast and stocks up on ammo, "just in case" and buys gold and silver coins, "just in case". I asked him one time, you stocking up on food too "just in case"? Cause you can't eat those coins and bullets. Anyway's he's done some stocking and asked a whole lot of questions. Last week I gave him a couple pouches of freeze dried food and he loved them.
Today he walks up and says he knows a couple other guys (one is another co-worker) that has the same mind-set and that we should get together about being on the same page with preps. I replied that would be great and something else that would be handy is going out and training. He had a funny, questioning look on his face and I told him "let's throw on a pack full of gear and go live in the forest for a couple days..."
He didn't immediately say yes, but I could tell he's thinking about it.

Or he's thinking I'm a loon. Lol

[WiseOwl]

Man, I wish I knew some like minded people in my circles. They either just backpack, just hunt, just shoot guns, just collect guns and ammo, just garden, just exercise or just collect coins. I got my brother and his wife storing 6+ months of food and gear and he just bought her a 12guage and getting himself an AK next week and they just moved 2 hours away to NW GA. But I have no one to pair up with or even bring it up to. I am real "keep it to myself" but I guess we need to have a GA campout. Would be nice to be around some folks that have it all (or mostly) put together mentally.

[EX121]

It must be the time of month, at the local Goodwill I was buying a couple of small tote boxes and the gal jokingly asked if it was for my BOB. She then went into great detail about her various kits. I also was suprised at our local Ham radio breakfast on wednesday morning when one of the guys said he & his wife had got into a minor tiff because she wasn't keeping up on the ratation of their food stores. Then pretty much everyone in the group fessed-up to have a good supply stashed away. Maybe not good OPSEC, but I finding more local like minded folks.

[610Alpha]

I have a coworker that I have been working with on this...I keep sharing the Podcasts and anything else that i find to help them on this journey. I would like to find people closer to where I live...

[monkeybird]

New people need to know HOW to prepare. It's isn't common knowledge to the 21st century adult. When I first awoke I knew NOTHING. I had to research on the net. Some advise was terrible, I later discovered, some excellent. It's easy for a newbe to make mistakes and waste money. It's hard from them to know whose advise to follow. I learned to store food from the PAW videos showing you guys putting up food in mylar and pails. I believed the advise was good, so I copied your method. Thankfully, you were honest knowledgeable people.

That's why when new people ask the same questions over and over again, it's important to take the time to answer them. What good is a new convert if they go about prepping in the wrong way.

[610Alpha]

That's why when new people ask the same questions over and over again, it's important to take the time to answer them. What good is a new convert if they go about prepping in the wrong way.

I am all for answering questions. If they have read the sticky's under the Basic's section and watched the PAW/Survival Report videos and still have questions then ok but when they don't and they don't use the search function and don't put forth a few minutes trying to find the answer I get grumpy. Its part of forum etiquette. Its just like when my son asks me where his toy is when he hasn't looked for it, sad thing is its usually a few feet away from him. When newbies come to the forum I put this as my welcome:

Welcome to S & P we are glad you are here. Lots of good people and info here. Do a quick search before asking your question, we have talked about a lot of things so it might be covered. Check out the blog articles there is some good info there. Include meta tags on threads you start so that they will be easier to search for. Look on youtube for videos made by PAW Productions - delta69alpha and also survival report. Lastly share your experience with the rest of us.

I recently added the meta tag sentence. I do this in the hopes that they will do some leg work to get some good basic knowledge and then if they have questions we can work from there...I am sure the mods and some of the others get a little tired of re-answering the same questions. Like LD3 said in his latest podcast about decision making...make a decision while you can still make mistakes and live from them. Experiment for pete's sake....just make sure your thumb is out of the way...LOL

[SCinPNW]

I have to say that I am amazed at what seems to be a sudden increase in people's interest in preparing and personal defense, but maybe I should not be surprised given the current state of our country and World. Just last night I was speaking to the mother of my daughter's friend and she was telling me about all of the break-in's in their neighborhood, most of them during the day. She then went on to explain how scared it made her, and then she got very quiet and explained that her husband had purchased her both a handgun and rifle. From there we got to discussing shooting and she explained that she knew how to use the guns but that was it. I told her it was very important to get training and shared with her where I have received my training, followed up with an email on both of the schools. She now wants to sign up for classes, which I am happy to hear about since I think safety and learning proper shooting skills is very important.

Monkeybird, I too was right there with you on the food storage in not knowing the first thing about it. I have learned some from my Morman neighbors, as well as some from reading on the internet, some trial by error, and alot from watching the P.A.W. videos. I also think it is a learning process. I know that my mindset on preparedness today is not what it was when I first started. When I first started it was all about getting/purchasing what I needed for our family to survive a given situation, and then, I started getting more into sustainable preparedness, and now, paring sustainability with learned skills thanks to Matt and all of the folks here continually showing and teaching skills.

This is definitely one of the best preparedness sites I read. In fact, it is really the only one that I actively post on.

elittle, yes everytime I see your welcome message to a newcomer here at S&P I smile at your cut and paste search paragraph. :)

SC

[610Alpha]

elittle, yes everytime I see your welcome message to a newcomer here at S&P I smile at your cut and paste search paragraph. :)

SC

Well I hope its a good smile :)

I freely admit that I have been one of those people, in the past, that has put a question on a forum just wanting an answer (immediate gratification type of thing). I have since grown up, a little bit, and I do as much Googling (sp) as I can before posting a question. I try to get as much knowledge as I can so that I can ask a more intelligent question. I am trying not to be one of those people that just asks a question without even searching cause I am the first to ever think of that question (sarcasm).

Its the age old, I can't do this math problem so give me the answer type of thing. The person may get the answer but they don't learn how to solve the problem.

[SCinPNW]

Well I hope its a good smile :)

I freely admit that I have been one of those people, in the past, that has put a question on a forum just wanting an answer (immediate gratification type of thing). I have since grown up, a little bit, and I do as much Googling (sp) as I can before posting a question. I try to get as much knowledge as I can so that I can ask a more intelligent question. I am trying not to be one of those people that just asks a question without even searching cause I am the first to ever think of that question (sarcasm).

Its the age old, I can't do this math problem so give me the answer type of thing. The person may get the answer but they don't learn how to solve the problem.

Yes, it is a good smile. It helps to remind me to do a search first before asking a question. Like you, in the past, and maybe not so distant past, I too have posted a question without doing any research--but I am trying to be more dligent and not repeat those same mistakes. Your little welcome and be sure to do a search paragraph is a very good thing, keep up the good work. :)

Not to create thread drift, but this really is a great forum. I think the people here come across as very honest and trustworthy folks who are truly trying to learn and help others.

SC

[Matt In Oklahoma]

it must be an epidimic, had a 2hr conversation today with another coworker who is semi like minded. The food threw him a little and he is trying to figure out how much without being crazy LOL that concept is new to him so he needs time to absorb it.
I'd actually like to get him on my team because of what he brings to the table but we will see

[MustangGal]

I was visiting with another parent today during the Man Cub's karate class. When he learned we had just sent our hogs to slaughter, he was very excited. Wanted to know what all he needed to raise a hog. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if he had a couple of pigs by the next class. He also told me he was buying a bull for his heifers. I expressed concern because the heifers were only about nine months old. He said he really wanted to get it squared away now, because he was very concerned about the current economic climate. I helped him figure it out - he has enough land to keep them separated - the bull calf can live with the donkey. LOL

No matter how well Washington says the "economic recovery" is going, there is still a tide of fear creeping across the nation.

[Cimarron]

Man, I wish I knew some like minded people in my circles. They either just backpack, just hunt, just shoot guns, just collect guns and ammo, just garden, just exercise or just collect coins. I got my brother and his wife storing 6+ months of food and gear and he just bought her a 12guage and getting himself an AK next week and they just moved 2 hours away to NW GA. But I have no one to pair up with or even bring it up to. I am real "keep it to myself" but I guess we need to have a GA campout. Would be nice to be around some folks that have it all (or mostly) put together mentally.

Owl I know exactly what you are talking about. Many in my circle that I think would be a good survivalist aren't. They are just not willing, or unable to understand a well rounded surviving plan. It appears they have huge gaps in thier thinking of being "prepared" and ready to handle anything. Granted, I have some pretty big gaps in my own planning but I'm always looking to improve or find ways I could adapt to a situation. Finding people in your area sometimes seems an over whelming chore.
I don't know how many times Matt and I have lamented over living so far apart and not being able to do more due to time, distance, and traveling costs...but it is what it is.

keep preaching it brother, you never know when or who will open up and get the message.

[WiseOwl]

Owl I know exactly what you are talking about. Many in my circle that I think would be a good survivalist aren't. They are just not willing, or unable to understand a well rounded surviving plan. It appears they have huge gaps in thier thinking of being "prepared" and ready to handle anything. Granted, I have some pretty big gaps in my own planning but I'm always looking to improve or find ways I could adapt to a situation. Finding people in your area sometimes seems an over whelming chore.
I don't know how many times Matt and I have lamented over living so far apart and not being able to do more due to time, distance, and traveling costs...but it is what it is.

keep preaching it brother, you never know when or who will open up and get the message.

I couldn't have said it any better man. You spoke exactly how I think. Its better to have a group because your group can give constructive criticism and tell you if you are doing it right or wrong.
I have nothing or no one that I can "train" with. Thats one of the reasons I like this site so much is because I can feed off of you folks' knowledge, experience and lessons, apply it to my own thoughts and experiments.