# Why I Started Prepping - A Visual Guide



## Mosinator762x54r (Nov 4, 2015)

Imagine if the grid were down and this happened...

Today's temps.


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## Targetshooter (Dec 4, 2015)

you would freeze your azz off and die ,,,,,,,,,,,, a very good reason to prepare your self for what's ahead ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,


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## Camel923 (Aug 13, 2014)

Weather/Natural disasters are number one on my list for preps. Everything else is building on that. Just the way my parents thought having grown up during the Great Depression has been my number one influence.


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## Plumbum (Feb 1, 2016)

A good reminder to expand my supply of fire wood! This winter has been very mild but in a bad one we can get -25.


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## Mosinator762x54r (Nov 4, 2015)

Cold weather is why i started due to a blizzard that knocked out our power a few years ago. But after I got into it...as we all know...it morphs into anything and everything. Most well rounded prepping covers all the bases anyway but now I take a look around and I wonder if people realize just how close they are to disaster. Can't even be measured in weeks. Some would be lucky to have A week. Most would have days. Some as little as hours.



Camel923 said:


> Weather/Natural disasters are number one on my list for preps. Everything else is building on that. Just the way my parents thought having grown up during the Great Depression has been my number one influence.


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## Chipper (Dec 22, 2012)

Imagine -18 with a 15-20 MPH and a windchill of -30. Like we had yesterday. With a high of 0. So guess what the we did in WI?? The Special Olympics held their Polar Plunge in Eau Claire WI. Which is cutting a hole in the frozen lake and jumping in. People get sponsors for jumping in the water to raise money. So it's really is skinny dippen weather. Not a big deal.


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## AquaHull (Jun 10, 2012)

We had a Rocket Scientist run his 4 wheeler and passenger into a polar plunge hole last night in Montcalm County on Pickeral Lake.
He died


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## Mosinator762x54r (Nov 4, 2015)

HA!!! They actually canceled our polar plunge due to the temps!!!



Chipper said:


> Imagine -18 with a 15-20 MPH and a windchill of -30. Like we had yesterday. With a high of 0. So guess what the we did in WI?? The Special Olympics held their Polar Plunge in Eau Claire WI. Which is cutting a hole in the frozen lake and jumping in. People get sponsors for jumping in the water to raise money. So it's really is skinny dippen weather. Not a big deal.


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## Mosinator762x54r (Nov 4, 2015)

I liked this...then I had to unlike it because at first I didn't see the part about the guy dying.



AquaHull said:


> We had a Rocket Scientist run his 4 wheeler and passenger into a polar plunge hole last night in Montcalm County on Pickeral Lake.
> He died


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## Mad Trapper (Feb 12, 2014)

Mosinator762x54r said:


> Imagine if the grid were down and this happened...
> 
> Today's temps.
> 
> View attachment 14875


Furnace hasn't kicked on here this winter. It was - 17 oF last night outside, 80-85 oF by the woodstove (102 oF difference), 75 oF at the far side of the house from the stove.

It has warmed up to 0 oF. today.

I have 1/4 cord of dry hardwood in the next room, in a mortise and tenon framed wood rack I built using hand tools: chisels, crosscut/rip saws, auger.

The rack layout was done by scribe rule, using only a compass chalk line and plumb bob; no rulers or squares involved. It is quite sturdy/strong as the joints are tapered housed mortise and tenon.

The wood is ash trees I harvested off my land and milled into lumber using a logosol chainsaw mill. The waste from the milled logs became firewood.


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## Smitty901 (Nov 16, 2012)

Sub zero is not uncommon here. Periods of 10-20 below happen. I have always said the my number 1 reason for prepping was natural disasters, weather being biggest. We have long been ready for what ever winter throws at us. It then grew as Social unrest became more of a threat. 
We prepare not out of fear but because it make sense.


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## Moonshinedave (Mar 28, 2013)

Had someone a year or so back complain about all the posts about starting and building fires. To paraphrase it went something like: "how many ways do we really need to know how to start a fire?" The answer in my mind is never enough. Good breathable air, drinkable water, then heat in cold weather, three things a person isn't going last long without. 
As far as that deciding point to start prepping, for me it was a few summers ago when a freak storm knocked out power over a large portion of the state. The very next day people were waiting in long lines at the few gas stations that were open. Ok, I was already prepping, I had a good supply of fuel, food and such, but that little episode opened my eyes as just how fast it could go down, and kicked my prepping into another gear.


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## NotTooProudToHide (Nov 3, 2013)

This is embarrassing but what got me started was watching The Walking Dead.

We always had a few basic supplies for tornadoes and we always had hunting firearms in the family. I joined these forums seeking firearm advice after watching some videos on youtube and to be honest that and politics have made up the majority of my posts. I enjoy talking about guns and who's telling us what we can and can't have. However I have picked up some great advice from people here and have started my own water storage, and my own food storage. They aren't extensive at all but I believe I have a week or 2's worth which is better than where I started and much better than your average American. I'm also working on them buy spending a couple extra bucks every time I go to the store. I've almost got all the firearms that seem to be the popular choices along with magazines and I'm building my ammo stores. I built a get home/car/bug out whatever you want to call it bag based on some of the recommendations and other bag threads posted here.

I've still got a long way to go no doubt. I probably should slow down on the gun purchases but hey they make me giggle so no promises lol. In the next couple of days I'm going to buy a good EDC knife, looking at a Kershaw Flipper, to go along with my swiss army knife and my Kukri. My goals this year will be to slowly increase ammo,water, and food stores along with possibly getting a generator.


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## Jp4GA (Jan 21, 2016)

Good reason to prep. I am always amazed at the number of people that run out of food and water during a weather event. We became aware of the need to have stored supplies in 1996. My husband worked at a home for boys and got snowed in with them for 3 days. The home ran on a tight budget and by the end of his time there they were out of everything. They lost power and had to find materials to burn for a fire in a fireplace that was rarely used. After that we always kept 2 weeks of food and water on hand. Recently we have started planning for a possible longer term event.


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## SOCOM42 (Nov 9, 2012)

Mosinator762x54r said:


> Cold weather is why i started due to a blizzard that knocked out our power a few years ago. But after I got into it...as we all know...it morphs into anything and everything. Most well rounded prepping covers all the bases anyway but now I take a look around and I wonder if people realize just how close they are to disaster. Can't even be measured in weeks. Some would be lucky to have A week. Most would have days. Some as little as hours.


The exact same reason I started. My epiphany storm occurred in 1978, never looked back since, every week there is something added.
Have had many occasions to use what I have stored.
Two major winter storms over the years left us without power for one and two weeks, was ready for them.
Every year there is a power outage for at least two days.
This winter, two or three weeks ago it was -15 and -18 here plus the rest of the week was below 0.


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## M118LR (Sep 19, 2015)

It consciously began when I passed an extra physical conditioning and swimming test in boot-camp. Before that, I was just a kid that thought everyone in the agrarian system lived the life! Folks just called preparing COMMON SENSE when & where I was raised. Folks used to pay special attention to Orion Samuelson's Radio Broadcast back then, but that was back before the JFK moment.


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## ride free (Feb 9, 2016)

I was worried, living in a trailer house. Oh. Excuse me. Manufactured Home in a Manufactured Home Community. I knew I was vulnerable, so I prepped with water, food, etc. I even bought and had installed a really great wood stove that you can cook on. Then 3 months later, my Farmer Guy asked me to move in with him. Heck. He didn't want the wood stove. And I couldn't say no without breaking his heart. So I said yes. Moved, sold the house and am working on him and I buying a wood stove. The answer there is no, but I'm working on it. :-?


I have a lot more food preps to get, but that will come. If push comes to shove, we have the steers in the cow yard. And the pigeons in the silo. I'm working on it... We have 3 generators on the farm. But I'd feel a lot more secure with that wood stove. I've got some preps (hand tools, extra this and that that doesn't freeze, hidden in the bottom of the silo. If the house burned down, we would still be good to go. We have enough out buildings and straw bales that we can make it work until summer.


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## SDF880 (Mar 28, 2013)

April 3rd 1974 the super tornado outbreak. Most of the homes in our area were destroyed. My house had damage but was ok. The power in our
area was out a month or so. Dad had a generator and we had a well. I remember we seemed to get by just fine. I think this was the seed in my head to start 
prepping down the road. I'll never forget that day and please pay attention when a tornado watch is issued and especially if a warning is issued!

Here is a map of the 148 tornados from this outbreak. I was number 43 on that map. The tornado that hit us touched down as a F-3 then became F-5 then back to F-3. During the F-5 stage most of the
homes about 1/2 mile from us were simply vaporized, gone, nothing left but the foundation!


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## TacticalCanuck (Aug 5, 2014)

For me, it was weather as well.

A stretch of highway from the boarder to the first city is about 200km. There's nothing in between just some farms. We got hit with a huge storm. I was just ahead of it, I planned my time properly. I got lucky. Those stuck in it were stranded with their cars for 3 days. Not dressed properly, not prepared, lost, hungry, thirsty. People died trying to find aid. Some weren't found till the spring. 

A few years ago I would paid little attention to this. But for some reason, it resonated with me. I started looking at emergency car kits. That was it, just a car kit. And it opened my eyes from there to the world, it's state of affairs, the atrocities being committed by governments daily, the military, religious and financial monopolies that are present, and the power struggles of emerging countries.

Ya, all from a car kit. So I got the kit together, than it was a get home bag, then a bug out bag, which got split between my get home and car kit. Then the firearms. Then food and supplies, tooth paste, all that stuff we like to have on hand.

Hunting, wilderness survival all that. I was a wilderness camper when I was younger, but it was just to get out somewhere where I could smoke some weed, stay up late, have a fire, and cook some dogs.


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## M118LR (Sep 19, 2015)

TacticalCanuck said:


> For me, it was weather as well.
> 
> A stretch of highway from the boarder to the first city is about 200km.
> 
> Hunting, wilderness survival all that. I was a wilderness camper when I was younger, but it was just to get out somewhere where I could smoke some weed, stay up late, have a fire, and cook some dogs.


First City? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Augustine,_Florida


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## TacticalCanuck (Aug 5, 2014)

M118LR said:


> First City? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Augustine,_Florida


First city from the boarder. NOt a place called First City


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## M118LR (Sep 19, 2015)

Est-ce que ca importe? 

Hot-dogs and a little herb, Freedom means so much more to so many others. Borders are drawn, humanity isn't. Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Words worth dying for in my opinion. JMHO.


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## TacticalCanuck (Aug 5, 2014)

M118LR said:


> Est-ce que ca importe?
> 
> Hot-dogs and a little herb, Freedom means so much more to so many others. Borders are drawn, humanity isn't. Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Words worth dying for in my opinion. JMHO.


The pursuits of youth are frivolous. But good times were had and a lasting appreciation for the natural world around us was deeply rooted. So much so that it's never really stopped. I can't paint whole lives based off a few sentences. Not without context.


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## M118LR (Sep 19, 2015)

Context? Perhaps my words are not heard by those today!


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## TacticalCanuck (Aug 5, 2014)

M118LR said:


> Context? Perhaps my words are not heard by those today!


They are heard and I get it. i wish we had the values of yesteryear in some ways.


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## SOCOM42 (Nov 9, 2012)

Mary Hopkin had a beautiful voice and great looks, but she was a socialist/ communist sympathizer and anti war protester.
Hollywood continues to follow that bent even more voraciously today.
Turds like Jane Fonda still exist(sadly), caused unknown pain and suffering with her attachment to the same subversive groups.
Joan Baez, Judy Collins and Janice Joplin fell right into the same category.
They had their values, I had mine and they were diametrically opposed.

I was never out there like some chanting, "ho, ho, ho chi min, the nlf is going to win".
I would have had like to have shot those traitorous bastards. that was 48 years ago.


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## Mosinator762x54r (Nov 4, 2015)

I was born and raised about 70 miles north of Louisville. Seen my fair share of what tornadoes can do. It comes and goes without warning and what happens on one city is insanely different than what happens on the next. That shit is completely unpredictable.



SDF880 said:


> April 3rd 1974 the super tornado outbreak. Most of the homes in our area were destroyed. My house had damage but was ok. The power in our
> area was out a month or so. Dad had a generator and we had a well. I remember we seemed to get by just fine. I think this was the seed in my head to start
> prepping down the road. I'll never forget that day and please pay attention when a tornado watch is issued and especially if a warning is issued!
> 
> ...


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## SDF880 (Mar 28, 2013)

Mosinator762x54r said:


> I was born and raised about 70 miles north of Louisville. Seen my fair share of what tornadoes can do. It comes and goes without warning and what happens on one city is insanely different than what happens on the next. That shit is completely unpredictable.


I'll never forget that day! My high school baseball game was rained out so a bunch of us we went to our small town hangout and we got a basketball game going. Maybe 10 minutes into the game a call came to the house and it was
from a controller at the airport and dad to one of the kids with us and he said something bad is coming get home! We kept playing and one of the kids looked up and said what is that? We watched maybe a minute and a freaking car hood fell out of the sky not far from us! All hell broke loose a few minutes later!

I lived next to a big farm and 22 cattle had to be put down! I remember seeing boards sticking into the cows and broken legs, sad ! My dog chowing down on a neighbors refrigerator contents still sticks in my mind!
My first car upside down in the back yard sucked too as I had put my first official fill-up in it on the way home from school!

As we head into spring and tornado season I recommend to everyone in those favorited areas to get a NOAA alarm radio with county specific programming and know what tornado watch and warning mean and
have a plan of action ready!


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## Medic33 (Mar 29, 2015)

well dude imagine this at one time there was no grid.
we did it once we can do it again.
I started prepping because I don't want to depend on the grid -now don't get me wrong I like all the fancy do-dads we have smart phones cable tv(oh dish netwurks now) fiber opric high speed dsl and yah like going to McDonalds and getting a cheeseburger every now and then heck I might even get a happy meal (for the toy surprise of course).
but if it goes away no sweat after 30 + years of prepping with the piece of mind of having 2 bug out locations I really don't care anymore.


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## SDF880 (Mar 28, 2013)

Medic33 said:


> well dude imagine this at one time there was no grid.
> we did it once we can do it again.
> I started prepping because I don't want to depend on the grid -now don't get me wrong I like all the fancy do-dads we have smart phones cable tv(oh dish netwurks now) fiber opric high speed dsl and yah like going to McDonalds and getting a cheeseburger every now and then heck I might even get a happy meal (for the toy surprise of course).
> but if it goes away no sweat after 30 + years of prepping with the piece of mind of having 2 bug out locations I really don't care anymore.


I need to try to prep to your level no doubt! I'm good for a year at best if no out forces try to take me and that is not good enough!


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## chocks141 (Nov 21, 2015)

mine was weather related also, in the form of 44" of snow in 36 hours.
After 3 days we were pretty much out of everything. On the 4th day, a neighbor with a road grader came and dug us out.
I made it the 25 miles to Wally World and found the National Guard securing the store because the people in town had pretty much started a riot when the shelves went bare.
Now, I can sit here all comfy and cozy for 6 months if need be.


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## Maine-Marine (Mar 7, 2014)

I grew up in Maine and I have lived in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and PA.... Never Never take winter for granted

in the car we keep extra clothes and snacks

we mostly heat with wood...so we are ready

Coldest I ever remember -22 (not counting wind chill)


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## Gunn (Jan 1, 2016)

I have always had my "Years Supply and 72Hr Kit". But the earthquake in Japan and the Tsunami result a few years ago (Our Elevation is 10 feet) got my wife on board. Living in "The Peoples Republic of Oregon" just help expedite it.


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