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never know until it happens. but if it does happen, and those people in the prepper community did put items back for their own survival, then they will last a whole lot longer than some ******* that did nothing at all for themselves.
I do agree that someone who is at least taking steps to prepare for a SHTF scenario is ahead of the pack but it doesn't guarantee that said person is going to make it. Furthermore, since rural areas are mentioned, I think that the prepper community is mistaken when they assume that all rural areas are safe to go to for long term survival. I live in a very rural state and life out here is far harder than what is depicted in the media and this state still requires Uncle $am to hold its hand in good times. During the Great Depression there was also the Great Dust Bowl and the rural heartlands of the Midwest suffered far greater than the coastlines. Also, you have much harsher winters and summers out here. Rainfall patterns have changed to where the Great Plains aren't getting the rainfall they used to. Even with the relatively wet summer we've had out here the long term look is for a much drier climate. The crops grown out here do require considerable rainfall to at least grow properly and a lot of farmers were really hurting last year from what they're telling me. Long term farming is going to be tough here, I'm being brutally honest.
As far as the locals go many of the people out here aren't anywhere near as prepped as the average prepper is shooting for. We get quite a few snowstorms out here in the winter and half of the locals go bananas over it. Remember, this is in a part of the world where snowstorms are the NORM in winter and they still can't really handle it. Also, if you're from outside the community it is likely that you'll need YEARS before the locals accept you if they ever do. It doesn't matter that both you and the locals are sick of Uncle $am and Big.Gov or you both don't like the coastal states and their ways, they see you as an outsider, plain and simple. Society is far more tribalized in the heartland than in most other parts of the USA and this crowd isn't what is depicted in the media and the online community. Furthermore, forget the idea that these are libertarian or paleocon types, they're nothing of the sort in real life. At the local level here in the Great Plains the locals will pass all sorts of laws just to spite you especially if they see you as someone who "doesn't belong here."
I hate to sound like a party pooper but that's real life in the places a lot of preppers are wanting to go and this is first hand experience from someone who has lived here for over 20 years.
I do agree that someone who is at least taking steps to prepare for a SHTF scenario is ahead of the pack but it doesn't guarantee that said person is going to make it. Furthermore, since rural areas are mentioned, I think that the prepper community is mistaken when they assume that all rural areas are safe to go to for long term survival. I live in a very rural state and life out here is far harder than what is depicted in the media and this state still requires Uncle $am to hold its hand in good times. During the Great Depression there was also the Great Dust Bowl and the rural heartlands of the Midwest suffered far greater than the coastlines. Also, you have much harsher winters and summers out here. Rainfall patterns have changed to where the Great Plains aren't getting the rainfall they used to. Even with the relatively wet summer we've had out here the long term look is for a much drier climate. The crops grown out here do require considerable rainfall to at least grow properly and a lot of farmers were really hurting last year from what they're telling me. Long term farming is going to be tough here, I'm being brutally honest.
As far as the locals go many of the people out here aren't anywhere near as prepped as the average prepper is shooting for. We get quite a few snowstorms out here in the winter and half of the locals go bananas over it. Remember, this is in a part of the world where snowstorms are the NORM in winter and they still can't really handle it. Also, if you're from outside the community it is likely that you'll need YEARS before the locals accept you if they ever do. It doesn't matter that both you and the locals are sick of Uncle $am and Big.Gov or you both don't like the coastal states and their ways, they see you as an outsider, plain and simple. Society is far more tribalized in the heartland than in most other parts of the USA and this crowd isn't what is depicted in the media and the online community. Furthermore, forget the idea that these are libertarian or paleocon types, they're nothing of the sort in real life. At the local level here in the Great Plains the locals will pass all sorts of laws just to spite you especially if they see you as someone who "doesn't belong here."
I hate to sound like a party pooper but that's real life in the places a lot of preppers are wanting to go and this is first hand experience from someone who has lived here for over 20 years.
nothing is ever guaranteed, but better to have something to fall back on than nothing at all, which means most of the people in the USA.
I am not the most prepared, I am just someone who works toward that end. I also do not look to having uncle sugar come and help me out if something happens. if something happens that screws up the country nationwide, then people in the rural areas are not going to be on the governments list of things to do, unless it is to steal from those same people.
I do agree that someone who is at least taking steps to prepare for a SHTF scenario is ahead of the pack but it doesn't guarantee that said person is going to make it. Furthermore, since rural areas are mentioned, I think that the prepper community is mistaken when they assume that all rural areas are safe to go to for long term survival. I live in a very rural state and life out here is far harder than what is depicted in the media and this state still requires Uncle $am to hold its hand in good times. During the Great Depression there was also the Great Dust Bowl and the rural heartlands of the Midwest suffered far greater than the coastlines. Also, you have much harsher winters and summers out here. Rainfall patterns have changed to where the Great Plains aren't getting the rainfall they used to. Even with the relatively wet summer we've had out here the long term look is for a much drier climate. The crops grown out here do require considerable rainfall to at least grow properly and a lot of farmers were really hurting last year from what they're telling me. Long term farming is going to be tough here, I'm being brutally honest.
As far as the locals go many of the people out here aren't anywhere near as prepped as the average prepper is shooting for. We get quite a few snowstorms out here in the winter and half of the locals go bananas over it. Remember, this is in a part of the world where snowstorms are the NORM in winter and they still can't really handle it. Also, if you're from outside the community it is likely that you'll need YEARS before the locals accept you if they ever do. It doesn't matter that both you and the locals are sick of Uncle $am and Big.Gov or you both don't like the coastal states and their ways, they see you as an outsider, plain and simple. Society is far more tribalized in the heartland than in most other parts of the USA and this crowd isn't what is depicted in the media and the online community. Furthermore, forget the idea that these are libertarian or paleocon types, they're nothing of the sort in real life. At the local level here in the Great Plains the locals will pass all sorts of laws just to spite you especially if they see you as someone who "doesn't belong here."
I hate to sound like a party pooper but that's real life in the places a lot of preppers are wanting to go and this is first hand experience from someone who has lived here for over 20 years.
Rural America isn't monolithic. Many places have a large percentage of transplants; some of these transplants have chosen their selected areas as retreats. Transplants frequently have more money than the indigenous population. I'm excluding the middle class and above of the local places. They may not invite the new arrival to a taffy pull, but if that new arrival comes with money and expresses a desire to keep the place just as it is he'll have no trouble.
If there's a redneck element they'll try to sneer. Watch for people who call better homes than they have ''McMansions''. They're bitter about their own failure and jealous of their betters. They're no different from their urban brethren. Avoid rural slums or any place near them. Don't be the rich man in the area; be one of the folks in an area that is rich. Then blend into your environment in every possible way. It's far easier to do in the country than in the city.
If an area has an indigenous population with few transplants and a lifeless economy it's best to avoid it. It's important to get a feel for an area. Take trips there; talk to people other than real estate agents. Read my other posts on choosing the right area. Try to talk to recent transplants especially people who have hobby farms, usually a euphemism for a relatively self-sufficient retreat.
Visit as many different places as necessary; look very carefully before you leap.
Last edited by Happy in Wyoming; 08-09-2014 at 01:12 AM..
Watch for people who call better homes than they have ''McMansions''. They're bitter about their own failure and jealous of their betters. They're no different from their urban brethren.
There is a difference between a mansion and a "McMansion." I suppose there must be several popular definitions of McMansion floating around. The one I've always ascribed to is not that of a big, lavish, expensive home (there are plenty of those around that are very nice, or even truly magnificent), but a big, overly expensive (for what you get) "home" often built within an endless field of carbon-copy eyesores, which makes a very poor run at mimicking a truly well-built, stylish, large home and is in reality a piece of trash--built of shoddy materials in a shoddy manner by shoddy, unskilled, near-minimum-wage labor. A McMansion tries to look like a nice "rich" home, yet only manages to be a dismal joke. Even the designers (I won't use the word "architect" because I don't want to insult the profession) clearly dropped out of the architectural program at a mail-order degree mill within the first few days.
A McMansion is not a large, well-built, stylish home that makes a pleasing architectural statement. It's a poorly-built, hideous barn with a fifth-string attempt at architectural ornamentation that manages to only to be a malignant blight on the countryside (whether in the city or rurally). A McMansion is clearly built for folks who want to appear rich and tasteful, yet are neither.
Rural America isn't monolithic. Many places have a large percentage of transplants; some of these transplants have chosen their selected areas as retreats. Transplants frequently have more money than the indigenous population. I'm excluding the middle class and above of the local places. They may not invite the new arrival to a taffy pull, but if that new arrival comes with money and expresses a desire to keep the place just as it is he'll have no trouble.
If there's a redneck element they'll try to sneer. Watch for people who call better homes than they have ''McMansions''. They're bitter about their own failure and jealous of their betters. They're no different from their urban brethren. Avoid rural slums or any place near them. Don't be the rich man in the area; be one of the folks in an area that is rich. Then blend into your environment in every possible way. It's far easier to do in the country than in the city.
If an area has an indigenous population with few transplants and a lifeless economy it's best to avoid it. It's important to get a feel for an area. Take trips there; talk to people other than real estate agents. Read my other posts on choosing the right area. Try to talk to recent transplants especially people who have hobby farms, usually a euphemism for a relatively self-sufficient retreat.
Visit as many different places as necessary; look very carefully before you leap.
it is especially nice if you cannot see a person home from the road or the air, and the road leading to your home is nothing more than a dirt path.
There is a difference between a mansion and a "McMansion." I suppose there must be several popular definitions of McMansion floating around. The one I've always ascribed to is not that of a big, lavish, expensive home (there are plenty of those around that are very nice, or even truly magnificent), but a big, overly expensive (for what you get) "home" often built within an endless field of carbon-copy eyesores, which makes a very poor run at mimicking a truly well-built, stylish, large home and is in reality a piece of trash--built of shoddy materials in a shoddy manner by shoddy, unskilled, near-minimum-wage labor. A McMansion tries to look like a nice "rich" home, yet only manages to be a dismal joke. Even the designers (I won't use the word "architect" because I don't want to insult the profession) clearly dropped out of the architectural program at a mail-order degree mill within the first few days.
A McMansion is not a large, well-built, stylish home that makes a pleasing architectural statement. It's a poorly-built, hideous barn with a fifth-string attempt at architectural ornamentation that manages to only to be a malignant blight on the countryside (whether in the city or rurally). A McMansion is clearly built for folks who want to appear rich and tasteful, yet are neither.
I've never heard that definition before. The first time I read of the term in an article in the WSJ the author specifically used it to describe very nice and especially very large homes situated on abnormally small city lots in expensive areas. It was a sarcastic term used to describe a house for people who had to take their pick between house and land since they couldn't afford both.
Do you recall the scene in Atlas Shrugged (book, not movie) that describes Dagny Taggart's visit to the closed factory where John Galt had worked, the place that had switched to a philosophy of, "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.''? She was driving a new and expensive car in a neighborhood obviously populated by White trash. When she and her companion (I don't recall who it was) returned to the car someone had smashed the windshield with a rock. The people who refer to ''McMansions'' in forum posts here and elsewhere are the same people who would either do that, or, more likely, dream of doing it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by monkeywrenching
it is especially nice if you cannot see a person home from the road or the air, and the road leading to your home is nothing more than a dirt path.
The nearest may live twenty miles away, but there are always neighbors.
While I like your way of thinking, the reality is a great many areas won't hold water because of the soil type and geology. If you happen to live in one of those areas then you'll have to use some geotextile or compacted clay or some other water proof material to make the location you've chosen for your pond actually hold water. I've seen lots of people make small ponds (or even medium sized ponds) on their suburban McMansions only to find the location won't hold water or there is no inflow of water so it just becomes stagnant and slowly dries up even with pumps.
Of course, I live in a fairly dry area so your mileage may vary.
There is a difference between a mansion and a "McMansion." I suppose there must be several popular definitions of McMansion floating around. The one I've always ascribed to is not that of a big, lavish, expensive home (there are plenty of those around that are very nice, or even truly magnificent), but a big, overly expensive (for what you get) "home" often built within an endless field of carbon-copy eyesores, which makes a very poor run at mimicking a truly well-built, stylish, large home and is in reality a piece of trash--built of shoddy materials in a shoddy manner by shoddy, unskilled, near-minimum-wage labor. A McMansion tries to look like a nice "rich" home, yet only manages to be a dismal joke. Even the designers (I won't use the word "architect" because I don't want to insult the profession) clearly dropped out of the architectural program at a mail-order degree mill within the first few days.
A McMansion is not a large, well-built, stylish home that makes a pleasing architectural statement. It's a poorly-built, hideous barn with a fifth-string attempt at architectural ornamentation that manages to only to be a malignant blight on the countryside (whether in the city or rurally). A McMansion is clearly built for folks who want to appear rich and tasteful, yet are neither.
That is not a definition I know. When I think McMansion, I think someone who came from a city/corporate background to a rural area, purchased a lot of land and built a monstrosity / sore-on-the-landscape that will house two people yet is overbuilt and tacky. It says "look at me, I got money".
That is not a definition I know. When I think McMansion, I think someone who came from a city/corporate background to a rural area, purchased a lot of land and built a monstrosity / sore-on-the-landscape that will house two people yet is overbuilt and tacky. It says "look at me, I got money".
And anyone with a problem with that is "look at me, I am jealous".
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