Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Sas, Sad tale to say the least, but I too can identify with parts of it.... A good part of me living in a tee pee 3 years was due to being discouraged by modernman.
I was hurt on the job and after the money ran out so did my first wife and she took my son with her.
The state handed me a pre-existing condition sentance. It is a sentaces worse than for murder and it lasts for life..
The only amussing thing is NOW obams will want me to buy in, and after all this time from 1987......
LOL Thanks Obama but No thanks... I have pretty good health for my conditions.. I don't need or want any more Govt help.
I consider that the little taxes i pay (1099) ; that I have more Govt than I paid for and of it all I ever hear is denied!
I have come to realize that those of us in our forties and fifties were born and raised in the most prosperous and strongest years in our country, and have felt and experienced it's very stark decline the most.
I have come to realize that those of us in our forties and fifties were born and raised in the most prosperous and strongest years in our country, and have felt and experienced it's very stark decline the most.
Yes, very true. It would be nice to be able to just take our retirement and travel extensively, turning a blind eye, heedless to what appears to be a piling up of storm clouds on the horizon....
I and my DH have been lucky, no doubt about it but we also have worked very hard, even when we technically didn't need to. Partly because we are cheap by nature and partly because we watched our peers go deep into debt over big houses and the newest toys, we did not partake of the consumption-fest that characterized the last few decades. We were downsized and buying second hand before it was cool. As a result of decades of buying used, third or fourth generation technology or doing without, between myself and DH, we can fix, upgrade, restore, up-cycle or clean pretty much anything. Useful skills for post consumerism indeed.
We were fortunate to have lived in AK when the oil economy popped hard in the mid 80s and observed first hand what the rest of the USA is going through now, a real estate collapse, bank and business failures, bankruptcies right and left, jingle mail, foreclosure and asset auctions and the like. I think that having a front row seat to the preview of coming attractions has given us a unique view and an education for optimizing downturn opportunities and avoidance of pitfalls that we have put into action since.
I don't know exactly what we are preparing for but like others I see climate change happening (for whatever reason, I don't wish to debate causes) and we have again had a front row seat for the past decade or so. When we were married in early September 1992, the photos show the leaves in full fall color and that was pretty normal. Labor day equalled fall. Now our falls don't come till late September at the earliest to sometimes mid October. We have a full month more of what we call summer or Indian summer. While that might seem to be a good thing for us. (There are bumper stickers up here that say "Alaskans for Global Warming".) it also brings with it a certain instability climatologically speaking. As gardeners/farmers, more instability to an already cyclical and unreliable system (weather) is not a good thing.
Like a few others that have posted we are at the end of the line for the "just in time" delivery system and in a state known for massive earthquakes, volcano eruptions that shut down airports, high winds and extreme weather. It only takes a week or so of delivery interruption and we are out of basic supplies. Fortunately most Alaskans know this and have at least some supplies laid by. Fortunately too, we are not on an extensive grid intertie system but the geographical isolation that gives also is a source of trouble as well.
We are prepped for interruption of transport however that happens. We have another property on the treed edge of the mid plains that is our winter home and Plan A or B depending on the circumstances. We have built knowledge and skill bases that will be useful in times of want. We have an extensive practical library. We have the ability to perform hours upon hours of stoop labor though we are in our 50s without too much ibuprofen or aspirin. We still have health insurance that is at least decent for catastrophic illness or injury barring dental. We have enough and varied resources to help us transition a middling type of personal emergency or from one lifestyle or location to another. We are building both home bases for sustainability and when we get finished with that, we will travel while we still have the opportunity to do so. And finally it doesn't take much "stuff" ironically to make us happy though we have plenty of stuff.
My first career taught me all about having Plan A through Z if needed and the ability to immediately and seamlessly switch plans when something wasn't working in a timely enough manner to avoid disruption or over-correction. Though it was also probably a skill that I possessed to some degree already, the workplace lessons spilled over into our lives and allowed us flexibility when we most need it, in crisis.
I feel that we are lucky as individuals but also the regret that one feels at the close of a the last company picnic that got too expensive to continue.
I have come to realize that those of us in our forties and fifties were born and raised in the most prosperous and strongest years in our country, and have felt and experienced it's very stark decline the most.
Yes, very true. It would be nice to be able to just take our retirement and travel extensively, turning a blind eye, heedless to what appears to be a piling up of storm clouds on the horizon....
..............................much snippage.......................................... ..................................................
I feel that we are lucky as individuals but also the regret that one feels at the close of a the last company picnic that got too expensive to continue.
That hits the nail squarely on the head and drives it home. I so agree and share those sentiments.
Perhaps most frustrating is my inability to "wake up" some friends and family. Not only do they not see this as a long term condition but they don't see what their young adult children will be facing and how by coddling them and allowing them to postpone responsibility and skill building, that they are setting them up for failure in the face of this global paradigm shift.
I've had to come to accept the fact that all I can do is prepare to take them in if they should ever turn to me in the future. So, I prepare not just for myself but for the ones I love who will not accept the reality of those storm clouds building on the horizon.
having gone hungry for more than just a week at a time. I promised myself if I had enough money in the future I would put foods and other things back in case of hard times fell upon me again. if my job is lost today, I can feed myself and my family for 2+ years at 3000 calories a day. to me it is food insurance just as people will buy car and home insurance but will not even buy enough food to last them the week.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
