Everything you wrote could be found on an average farm or in an average farmer’s truck and wouldn’t be considered the least bit ‘weird’ or the least bit of being a ‘prepper’. (Well, except the porta-potty thing. That’s why God made bushes… the only place you need a porta-potty is on the boat.)
IMHO - Preppers are like any other club. There are the My Little Pony guys who like to dress up and play pony games. There are LARPers who like to make their weapons, outfits and pretend to be in the middle ages… then there are preppers who like to dress up and role play about the end of the world.
I don’t think it is a mental illness so much as an expensive hobby and a fascination with becoming the ‘hero’ by virtue of being the last one left standing when the SHTF. I say all the more power to them, let them have their fun and they may drive some industries to make improved versions of stuff that farmers and others actually use on a daily basis IRL.
But, I have to admit that once you’ve burried a shipping container in your back yard… you’ve taken the tree house concept to a new level of weirdness.
Lots of things can happen. They probably won’t. But they can. Why not be prepared? It works for the Boy Scouts.
I can’t vouch 100% if this is true, but this account of someone who was in Bosnia during the war is pretty compelling. He cautions against traveling during the day because of snipers, says don’t wear flashy clothing or carry flashy weapons, and he found things like lighters to be valuable currency rather than, well, currency.
I agree that it’s good to be prepared for natural disasters/storms and such, but as for preparing for anything worse…look, isn’t it better to put such time and effort into preventing things like that than preparing for them?
For example, a few years ago I read about a guy who’d spent something like $25,000 for a shelter, supplies, etc., for extreme emergencies like “the depletion of all natural resources.” But if that was what he was worried about, wouldn’t it have been better to donate that money to renewable energy research?
Like others have said, what’s sane is totally dependent on where you live and what you reasonably expect to face.
I live in N. Texas, so the main natural disasters I’ll likely face will be some sort of tornado aftermath (assuming me, my family and house don’t just go straight to Oz), some sort of hurricane remnant, or possibly some kind of winter storm that would cut power for a short while.
My grandmother lives very near the Gulf Coast (~2 miles or less), so her preparations are a bit more extensive and less theoretical than mine are. She weathered Ike without batting an eye (I think it’s her 10th hurricane or something like that- she’s 88), and so did my parents farther north in Houston.
I misread it as “preggers”. Not even joking. Perhaps this was influenced by the last poster at the time being “bump”.
I think it’s obsessive and paranoid to carry it to extremes. My idea of being ‘ready’ in the case of a disaster is to make sure the RV is fully gassed, that the propane tank is full and the batteries fully charged. I run the generator for a while once a month so I know it will start. We keep non-perishable food in there that would last us a week or two, plus a few gallons of water. I lived through the 1964 Alaska earthquake, a 9.2 seismic event which took place when there was still snow on the ground, and which disrupted power, water, and services. The city had the power/water back on within a week. Granted, that was a small city back then. The governor called up the National Guard units to prevent theft and to stage soup kitchens and water supply points in the city. We would have been better off to have had additional food/water in the house, but survived fine without it.
I like this post. lord knows there are worse hobbies you could have.
Those “in the know” say to NOT bury a shipping container without extensive reinforcement. They are constructed to be load-bearing only on the four corners, and the sidewalls will eventually collapse if you pile a bunch of dirt on top.
The lady who bought the old hotel because her “spirit guide” directed her to, and then later discovered a hidden cache of freeze dried foods therein was…odd.
Most of these preppers, IMHO, have suffered some type of personal catastrophe that has left them scared (VERY similar to hoarders or extreme couponers, I think) and they are trying to control their environments to give them some sense of peace.
~VOW
People who prepare are not crazy. People who post YouTube videos of how prepared they are, are.