Thursday Open Thread 8-3-2017
Sometimes the idea of resilience, the ability to bounce back from a set-back, disaster or hardship becomes confused with survivalist or the current phrase a prepper. There seem to be a number of people who are looking in anticipation for the next disaster so to experience hardship, heroically push through and show their ability to survive despite the odds.
The current disaster of the week in my area is the eclipse. I had to do a little commuting this week and listened to the radio while driving. I am definitely unprepared for the roads to be in grid-lock, perhaps no emergency services or the road to the fast food joint jammed.
ATM's may run out of cash or electronic transactions slowed and ATM wont give out money. Need to load up on cash just in case the debit and credit cards do not work at local businesses. Worse yet, because of carrying large sums of cash the odds of being robbed increased.
Those of us who are prepared might survive without experiencing great hardship. The main event is only slightly longer than 2 minutes, majority of the traffic congestion will happen the two hours before and after the main event, and the extra tourists are expected to be in the area for 1 or 2 days. Need to get to the grocery, pharmacy and bank at least 2 weeks before disaster eclipse day.
I may have to stay home, cook my own meals and eat what is in the cupboards and refrigerator. The neighbor plans to place a backhoe across his driveway so he is not invaded with eclipse watchers. The state is deploying the national guards.
Farm Report
Passing by Peter Skene Ogden State Scenic Viewpoint, stopped to take a stroll and a few pictures. Crooked River is crossed by three suspension bridges. The railroad, new highway bridge and old highway bridge, which is now a walkway for those without Acrophobia.
new highway bridge
looking down
railroad bridge
Noticed this evening how the canopy of the small grove of black locust trees looks similar to a single large oak tree.
Sky on the walk up to feed the ferrel cats this evening. I will make lots of noise just before entering the barn. Surprised a young skunk last week, fortunately his scent glands were not working yet we were only 6 feet apart.
Comments
Beautiful, beautiful pics. Thank you for those and for
your essay. I especially love your pics and farm reports because they contrast so with my city life. Good for you for doing what you need to do to prepare for the eclipse. I am ill-prepared for any kind of disaster. I did buy a radio I can crank, for whatever good that will do me. I do have some canned goods "just in case. (Better check the expiration dates!) That's it. Not even a jug of water or a stash of cash.
You must be in that neck of the woods
that is on the trajectory for the best eclipse viewing. Some people have been anticipating this for a long time so yes, you may be in for a sudden influx of tourists. I had not thought of that as being difficult, but I see how it can be a challenge. I suppose those communities who always have to deal with a large ebb and flow of tourists have this mindset. You do have to plan ahead so your own life is not completely disrupted by the sometimes overwhelming disruption of tourists.
Enjoyed the pictures, good morning everyone.
Tourism is part of the life in Central Oregon
Since the early 1960's one of the main economic development strategies has been to increase outdoor tourism. The destination for brew pubs is fairly recent. The area has highest concentration of destination resorts in the Pacific Northwest is Central Oregon. Not to mention campgrounds, motels and other lodging options.
Our infrastructure was developed to accommodate visitors and move them in and out of the area, not for local livability. I live near one of the major highways and vehicle traffic has still not reached the level of congestion of 2007 just before the recession.
If there is one area of the country that did not need to create citizen panic over the eclipse seems reasonable it would be here.
Still yourself, deep water can absorb many disturbances with minimal reaction.
--When the opening appears release yourself.
Beautiful country, great pics
Why do people have to go anywhere to watch the eclipse? Backyard and look up? Northern Michigan where we plan to be for the next couple of weeks is expected to be cool, cloudy, and rainy. We'll be lucky to see the moon and stars. I know what you mean about traffic and lines though. To be avoid no doubt.
"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."--Napoleon
Those outside of the eclipse zone will travel to get into it.
Those outside of the totality zone will travel to get to totality. Both will contain a goodly number who figure "since I have to travel anyway, I might as well head for the zone of longest totality duration. Hence, folks will concentrate.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Eclipse viewing from the backyard
I can simply look up from my backyard to see 1 min 18 sec of total blackout.
This link shows the degree of sun cover in every area of the US and Canada.
Still yourself, deep water can absorb many disturbances with minimal reaction.
--When the opening appears release yourself.
Eclipse viewing
will not be good in my backyard, If I want to see it, I may just have join the throngs and go to Oregon.
Guardian article link fix here
For those who follow links: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/aug/02/preppers-survivalist-summit-constitution-americas-midlife-crisis
nice photos
thanks
Thought provoking article . . .
Thanks for sharing it. Much more than a review of a preppers convention!
Marilyn
"Make dirt, not war." eyo
Now I see it too in the main essay . . .
Since I live in Texas, there are definitely folks around who toy with prepper ideas. However, I have yet to meet anyone into prepping at the level of the folks at that Ohio convention.
Some might have a few extra cans of food or freeze dried food (yuk). Many have gobs of guns.
And yes . . . they think Jesus will take them in the rapture before the truly bad stuff happens.
The prepper mind-set, or the rich person's idea to sneak off to New Zealand . . . there simply are not any solutions there. And you can't even see solutions if you are scared out of your mind.
I am sure I sound much like Pollyanna sometimes. But whatever shit ultimately happens, somehow we need to approach living each day with some kind of positive grateful embracing aura. And we need to include that aura in planning activities. We are still aware of the shit. We are not ignoring the shit. We are not letting the shit own us?
Am I doing this? Once in awhile, yes. Often, no.
If we let the shit own us, we lose before we begin.
Marilyn
"Make dirt, not war." eyo
Thanks for the help
to much confidence in my typing skill, didn't double check.
We have a large number of preppers and survivalists moving into the area. It is a different mindset. I had misunderstanding with an aunt and uncle. They thought since I canned food, raised livestock and am pretty self sufficient I would be welcome Oath Keepers gatherings on the property.
Still yourself, deep water can absorb many disturbances with minimal reaction.
--When the opening appears release yourself.
it's one thing to be preparED for a week-long
(or even two-week-long) interval of crisis caused by weather or some other oddity.
it's entirely something else to be preparING for the collapse of the social contract.
i have no interest in living in a post-civilization world, so the only thing i need in order to be prepared for such an eventuality is a bottle of booze and a knife with which to slit my wrists.
The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.
@UntimelyRippd One of my neighbors who
One of my neighbors who has built a compound has a sign on his gate that says "I shoot trespassers twice, or until they stop wiggling".
My assistant and I had a chat to start the workday yesterday wherein be both agreed that we have no desire to stick around if things get worse than they already are.
We both just got too old to do any more work than we already do.
Booze and bullets were discussed.
What a damn world.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Your message recalls to mind my sixties era nuclear war kit -
a hypo, a tab of owsley,a vial of distilled water, mortar and pestle and a step ladder. If and when that incoming alarm went off I planned to crush & liquify the tab, load the hypo, climb to the roof, face San Fran and shoot up.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Totality of consequnces of a post-civilization collapse
is not what what most people are thinking about. It is more they will have supplies and techniques to wait out the initial upset, watch the chaos and then emerge out of the rubble to build a new life.
For most of us the world shattering event that changes our lives is aging, a sudden change in physical status due to injury or medical condition, a job loss, death of a spouse, evicted due to land development or other man caused event. It is the mundane and ordinary, not the exotic.
Can understand your plan of action for world-wide social collapse.
Still yourself, deep water can absorb many disturbances with minimal reaction.
--When the opening appears release yourself.
Oh great...
'Let's hunker in the bunker' and fear our neighbors until 'The Rapture'(TM commercial megachurch) . Sad (TM evil orange haired guy) way to live.
Lovely pics.
...and morning all!
I want a Pony!
Rapture came and went.
About 1980 or so. You didn't notice because the Worthy of Ascension were jungle tribesmen and bush people. We're the Left Behind. We're 35 years deep in the 1000 year Tribulation. An' it ain't gonna get better!
There is no such thing as TMI. It can always be held in reserve for extortion.
Morning
Sad is a great term to describe the outlook of looking for disasters around every corner. It has become part of the US psyche we export to other countries.
Still yourself, deep water can absorb many disturbances with minimal reaction.
--When the opening appears release yourself.
Thanks, SOE. To me resilience is largely about minimizing
dependence upon and participation in the mainstream economy. It is more about not feeding the monster than about surviving extended collapse and chaos.
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
Zackly...
Looking for different solutions (resilience) can spring from a ....
ideal. Similar to Gandhi's efforts or E.F. Schumacher 'small is beautiful' ideal, or even the DFH. It's an ideal that is consistently and always predictably discredited by the mainstream because hey... 'you think you get to be different?'
On a brighter note . . . loved the pictures!
Read the article shared by eyo. Really excellent.
Ooo . . . lots of grim comments here. And it is pretty easy to walk around completely terrified these days. And if you once give into it, it can be extremely difficult to shake.
I was having a hard time shaking it this past week for a different reason. The pharmacy by mail company my husband's insurance wants him to use kept screwing up my daughter's meds that she needs. She went without for 6 days and finally we just got the doctor to send it to a local pharmacy. I kept calling and leaving messages and faxing requests (the only way to communicate). Shit. That sucked. I was so worried about her. Finally got the meds yesterday.
But it was still hard to shake the gripping inner anxiety.
When it happened, it was not a result of anything I had done. It rained.
It was almost a month of no rain and temps of up to 113. The high was maybe 77 yesterday with over two inches of rain. I was able to work in the garden. For me, it was a moment of grace.
I wonder if there are more moments of grace out there and I am just not seeing them.
Marilyn
"Make dirt, not war." eyo
We notice best what we are looking for around us.
There are moments of grace happening around us not being noticed. No one is going to point them out to us. We need to learn to see and appreciate them ourselves.
The feeling of terror is harder to shake when it is threatening a loved one. Good gardening, enjoy the moment of interaction with the earth.
Still yourself, deep water can absorb many disturbances with minimal reaction.
--When the opening appears release yourself.
:)
Marilyn
"Make dirt, not war." eyo