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WARNING!! There's a Texan in the crowd!
My Dad always told me, "Son, never ask a man where he's from. If he's from Texas he'll tell you, and if not, then there's no use in embarrassing him.";)
Now that I've properly ticked a few people off, I guess I'll introduce myself.....I started my prepping mindset after going through hurricane Celia on August 3, 1970. I was eleven, but remember it like yesterday. My town was destroyed. No electricity for 6 weeks (in South Texas summer heat), no safe running water for 4 weeks, no gas, no open stores, looters everywhere, standing in line for MREs being handed out by the National Guard, curfews, etc. My folks were not prepared, and it left an indelible impression on my young mind. I decided I would NEVER be in that position again. I started by getting my Dad to gather more camping gear and by learning everything I could about survival. I encouraged (with limited success) my parents to lay up more canned food in the pantry. The fact that I just happened to read "Alas Babylon" that summer was, I think, another defining moment for me. It was one thing to read about something, but another to live it. No, a hurricane isn't a nuclear war, but it is still a disaster and, in my case, an eye-opener to the vulnerability of our day to day lives. That particular book became my initial guide to where my efforts should focus. I actually still have that now-tattered copy in my library. I can't even count the number of times I've read it.
I became obsessed with flashlights, knives, primitive skills, shooting skills (one of our neighbors was invaded by looters and while getting shots off, did not hit anything....a mistake in my opinion then and now). We had a 360 acre hay/horse farm outside of town. I learned how to establish a garden....a BIG one, with a selection of different foods. Our farm hand was exceedingly helpful in teaching me how to do this, and I am grateful to this day for the depth of skill he passed on to me, and which it took me years to fully appreciate. We started raising chickens, both for eggs and meat. By the time I was in high-school, I had a pretty good grasp on what it took to be self-sufficient from many angles.
I got into competitive shooting, and actually put myself through college via coaching others to shoot or doing light gunsmithing to acccurize their rifles. I also trained horses for folks to help finance my schooling and my growing level of preps. When times were slow, I worked construction, and thus learned framing, running plumbing, running electric, and about anything else useful to build and maintain a home. There was also my time with Uncle Sam's fitness center and travel agency, where I learned many lessons while visiting exotic vacation spots via my luxury accomodations aboard a C-5.
With the farm, and horses, it is a given that I learned to build and maintain fences and farm equipment. Tractors, pumps, generators....whatever broke, we boldly tore into it with the intent to find the problem and fix it. With practice we even started to get it right more often than not.....though I still was never able to figure out why I couldn't get the '46 Willys Jeep to shift out of low range on the transfer case. Sadly that particular Jeep succumbed to a massive attack of littlebrotheris idiosys, and was intombed in a tidal flat by an incoming tide in an area that to this day carries the name "Stuck Buck Creek".
But I digress from my favorite topic...ME! I am now the proud father of three sons, two of whom have followed their Dad's lead and taken a career in engineering. The youngest is still in college, but aspires to a career with ESPN. I'm still working on that one. I've been married to a girl I met in college for almost 33 years now, and it only took 9/11 to convince her and her family that I am not paranoid by prepping. I still train horses, repair my own vehicles, built (and crashed and rebuilt) my own airplane, ride Harleys, SCUBA dive, hunt, fish, garden (food, not flowers) and make my own beer. I'm still competing in local shooting matches, but fewer 3-gun and benchrest events and more sporting clays. I still do my own gunsmithing, and am currently working on gathering parts for a new 1911 project. In whatever time I have left, I volunteer with Equusearch and have other roles in the community in disaster planning and relief efforts. Beyond that, I'm pretty much like the rest of you here and on other forums I associate with....planning for the worst and hoping it never happens. I'm embarrassed that I have only now found this site, but I hope to both contribute and learn while here. Be seeing you around!
Now that I've properly ticked a few people off, I guess I'll introduce myself.....I started my prepping mindset after going through hurricane Celia on August 3, 1970. I was eleven, but remember it like yesterday. My town was destroyed. No electricity for 6 weeks (in South Texas summer heat), no safe running water for 4 weeks, no gas, no open stores, looters everywhere, standing in line for MREs being handed out by the National Guard, curfews, etc. My folks were not prepared, and it left an indelible impression on my young mind. I decided I would NEVER be in that position again. I started by getting my Dad to gather more camping gear and by learning everything I could about survival. I encouraged (with limited success) my parents to lay up more canned food in the pantry. The fact that I just happened to read "Alas Babylon" that summer was, I think, another defining moment for me. It was one thing to read about something, but another to live it. No, a hurricane isn't a nuclear war, but it is still a disaster and, in my case, an eye-opener to the vulnerability of our day to day lives. That particular book became my initial guide to where my efforts should focus. I actually still have that now-tattered copy in my library. I can't even count the number of times I've read it.
I became obsessed with flashlights, knives, primitive skills, shooting skills (one of our neighbors was invaded by looters and while getting shots off, did not hit anything....a mistake in my opinion then and now). We had a 360 acre hay/horse farm outside of town. I learned how to establish a garden....a BIG one, with a selection of different foods. Our farm hand was exceedingly helpful in teaching me how to do this, and I am grateful to this day for the depth of skill he passed on to me, and which it took me years to fully appreciate. We started raising chickens, both for eggs and meat. By the time I was in high-school, I had a pretty good grasp on what it took to be self-sufficient from many angles.
I got into competitive shooting, and actually put myself through college via coaching others to shoot or doing light gunsmithing to acccurize their rifles. I also trained horses for folks to help finance my schooling and my growing level of preps. When times were slow, I worked construction, and thus learned framing, running plumbing, running electric, and about anything else useful to build and maintain a home. There was also my time with Uncle Sam's fitness center and travel agency, where I learned many lessons while visiting exotic vacation spots via my luxury accomodations aboard a C-5.
With the farm, and horses, it is a given that I learned to build and maintain fences and farm equipment. Tractors, pumps, generators....whatever broke, we boldly tore into it with the intent to find the problem and fix it. With practice we even started to get it right more often than not.....though I still was never able to figure out why I couldn't get the '46 Willys Jeep to shift out of low range on the transfer case. Sadly that particular Jeep succumbed to a massive attack of littlebrotheris idiosys, and was intombed in a tidal flat by an incoming tide in an area that to this day carries the name "Stuck Buck Creek".
But I digress from my favorite topic...ME! I am now the proud father of three sons, two of whom have followed their Dad's lead and taken a career in engineering. The youngest is still in college, but aspires to a career with ESPN. I'm still working on that one. I've been married to a girl I met in college for almost 33 years now, and it only took 9/11 to convince her and her family that I am not paranoid by prepping. I still train horses, repair my own vehicles, built (and crashed and rebuilt) my own airplane, ride Harleys, SCUBA dive, hunt, fish, garden (food, not flowers) and make my own beer. I'm still competing in local shooting matches, but fewer 3-gun and benchrest events and more sporting clays. I still do my own gunsmithing, and am currently working on gathering parts for a new 1911 project. In whatever time I have left, I volunteer with Equusearch and have other roles in the community in disaster planning and relief efforts. Beyond that, I'm pretty much like the rest of you here and on other forums I associate with....planning for the worst and hoping it never happens. I'm embarrassed that I have only now found this site, but I hope to both contribute and learn while here. Be seeing you around!
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