How do you stay low key ....

[bwframe]

Kids love to talk about their parents habits and possessions. They need to be schooled on this. The same would go for their friends that come over.

 

[Octomonkey]

Kids love to talk about their parents habits and possessions. They need to be schooled on this. The same would go for their friends that come over.

This is a really good point.

 

[longbow]

I just became a hippie-guns are yuckie - yuckie

I will live on the handout of others and beg for money at the local airport....

my sign will be

need cash
ammo is expensive

 

[1946]

Some on this thread are talking about staying low key and avoiding such things as what you let the repair person see when in your house. Ever stop to think about what the mailman see's each day in your mail delivery? Meds, gun magazines, information from the NRA, mail order catalogs pertaining to our hobby (obsession)?
Just sayin'. To me it's almost impossible to become invisible to everyone, especially if you have any contact with the 'outside' at all. If ****F then those outside are going to be getting together and exchanging knowledge on where they can scavage.

 

[longbow]

Some on this thread are talking about staying low key and avoiding such things as what you let the repair person see when in your house. Ever stop to think about what the mailman see's each day in your mail delivery? Meds, gun magazines, information from the NRA, mail order catalogs pertaining to our hobby (obsession)?
Just sayin'. To me it's almost impossible to become invisible to everyone, especially if you have any contact with the 'outside' at all. If ****F then those outside are going to be getting together and exchanging knowledge on where they can scavage.

so we should also get:

liberal stuff
alternate life style stuff
greenie stuff

just to keep the ones who know-guessing?

 

[longbow]

Question to you all...

If I posted a rainbow flag and and don't tread on me flag in my front yard, what type of image would that send to those driving by my place....

would that keep them away if the shtf?

 

[Bucky623]

...Ever stop to think about what the mailman see's each day in your mail delivery? Meds, gun magazines, information from the NRA, mail order catalogs pertaining to our hobby (obsession)?...

You can get a P.O. box for the smaller stuff. Of course UPS and the like will still have to come to your house.

Bucky

 

[teknickle]

Question to you all...

If I posted a rainbow flag and and don't tread on me flag in my front yard, what type of image would that send to those driving by my place....

would that keep them away if the shtf?

Only if you add a Mexican Flag and Confederate flag.
That should confuse them enough.

 

[caneman]

Reading brings something to mind. One persons everyday seasonal readiness becomes a "survivalist" to those who live week to week not thinking about tomorow.

I have two 350 gallon propane tanks and wish I had one more. I try to do a lot of my heating with wood, but all of my cooking and water heating are propane. The tanks will normally get me through a whole winter avoiding the mid-winter price spike which recently has been about an extra $1 a gallon. That saves me $300 a year in my propane cost. One persons intelligent planning for the average year becomes anothers survival mode.

 

[Z350Godfather]

Simple answers. Pay cash and don't talk about it unless they are in your survival group. I forget who wrote about backing into the garage... but good idea, I've started doing that now. Thanks!

 

[Big John]

Even if I was fully prepared if SHTF I would be in line with the sheeple for a couple reasons.

1. If people don't notice you in those lines somebody will want to know why you are not there.
2. Supplement my supplies or use for hand outs.
3. Look as desperate as everyone else, part of survival is going "grey" or blending in.


Part of this is also in your look, if it is a long term deal you do NOT want to go in looking a healthy and well fed if you know everybody else is hurting, you will have to hurt some yourself till your area is clear.

Keep Your Mouth Shut or STFU!

And above all I don't care how redneck you are remember Camo is for hunting not being "Grey".

 

[PatMcGroyne]

Hey LongBow:

""so we should also get: liberal stuff -- alternate life style stuff --
greenie stuff -- just to keep the ones who know-guessing?"" LongBow, to many people, "Perception Is Reality."
So one of the first stops on my E&E trek (if needed from my metropolis, in any of three directions) is at one of three near-by (as a crow flies) burgs that have these things: a USPS office where I have a mail-box, courtesy of friends who have moved, a gun/ammo/hunting/bait shop, and a storage-barn rental spot. I schmooze with the mail-gal, after collecting my L.L.Beane, MotherEarthNews, Indiana Environmentalist, and GreenPeace propoganda, Newsletter fron The Red-Tail Conservancy (which believes that Man is an invasive species in Indiana, and needs to be removed -- unless you're a red-man) and a hunting magazine or two. An Obama sticker on the front, NOT the back. That's the image I project. To most Hoosiers, Image Is Reality. In the storage spots are my 4-wheelers, completely outfitted for two for a week. The woods near and beyond the farmland (that's not the name of the town) can provide enough shelter and cover if we don't do much. Water and weapons are buried there. We won't be the only couple there. There are enough MREs, water, and Kotex in the shed for another 6 months. Try to NOT project Ninja-ism if at all possible. Act like a Lib., prepare like a Conservative. And Know Thy Enemy. (Why do you think that the Minutemen shot at heads, not bodies, and horses before soldiers?) Invisible In Plain Sight Works for me.
For Big John: +1, and more.

 

[jsx1043]

+ another 1, BigJohn. Way to think outside the box.

As for me, it's not hard to conceal my preps, as being a public servant (with free four-wheeled advertising in the driveway) and having a family of four really take a chunk away from prepping funds. That being said (and not being an excuse,) I've realized that situation puts me in the "mobile" prepping category. I try to have my scenarios established two ways:

Bug-In: Stay at home for the small scale disaster, power outage, snowstorm, flooding, civil unrest outside my AO, etc., to last in the 3-7 day area.

Bug-Out: If necessary, at the appropriate Bug-Out time, I take the family to my dad's place, which is close, stocked and well prepped, and I go to work (which will inevitably come up.) As a back-up, or if the situation calls for an immediate arse-removal from the area, we (any combination of my family, mom and dad, and brother's family) head out to an undisclosed back-up location (for the TEOTWAWKI scenario.)

With this strategy in mind, and not having much room for extended "conservation and storage of survival supplies," I have prepped in such a way that most of my preps can be moved quickly in a vehicle, with an "on-foot" back-up set of supplies.

As a side note, I see bugging-in for the long term to be the preferred, most comfortable way to do things, but as a pragamtist, I don't see me being able to do it for a very long time. If I did go this route for the long haul, I'd see the intelligence of locking down like the zombies were down the road: good light and sound discipline and beefed up security. Don't make your home a target. With that said - if someone sees your house and believes it to be empty, it WILL become a target. Goes to show that there are so many variables in the survival mindset that one has to constantly think outside the box and be flexible to those kinds of changes. As they say - "don't put all your Officers on one Shuttlecraft!"

 

[csaws]

not yet

they live over 4 hours away and one has never been to my place because its to "country"

well at least it's beautiful country, I love the drive out there.

Me too, my wife said it reminds her of the Waynesville, NC area. She's right it is a lot like that area.. foothills of the Appalachian and Smoky Mountains

 

[bigjoe1968]

We keep the fix-it guys to a bare minimum and use as many private contractor Patriots as possible. Country folks can get by with the fuel and propane tanks where city folk cannot. Buy your ammo at gun shows where cash and annanomity are accempted. Buy food at the bend and dent or Aldi's stores where stocking-up for next to nothing doesn't raise eyebrows. Keep you trap shut about your storehouse - make sure your kids do the same.

 

[teknickle]

As a side note, I see bugging-in for the long term to be the preferred, most comfortable way to do things, but as a pragamtist, I don't see me being able to do it for a very long time. If I did go this route for the long haul, I'd see the intelligence of locking down like the zombies were down the road: good light and sound discipline and beefed up security. Don't make your home a target. With that said - if someone sees your house and believes it to be empty, it WILL become a target.

I would ask that you consider what 'deprived' neighbors would think if they found out you had a generator (or some other reason to have all your lights on).
Better bet: convert ALL outdoor light to solar (landscaping, floodlights, porch lights).

That way:
1. It won't cost you anything to run.
2. it will work when power is out
3. you can quickly pass it off to neighbors as a 'well, at least I have outdoor light'.

If you have a generator, then you have freezer, microwave, water pressure, computer....anything that someone else feels they desperately need and YOU WON'T SHARE. Meany.
Better to also appear to be at a disadvantage as much as possible.
Downplay EVERYTHING you do and drop hints that you are not prepared.
"Dang, wish I would have filled up the tank on the car before power went out" (then they do not assume you have any extra..or even gas for generator)

"glad we got the outdoor solar lights so we don't have to burn candles out here too"

"Had to burn all those HOPE2008 signs just to stay warm"

 

[Octomonkey]

"Had to burn all those HOPE2008 signs just to stay warm"

 

[irishfan]

If you had a generator then I would think you would be better served not using it to light your house when its dark. I would use it to charge batteries and maybe twice a day for the fridge but not to run lights in the house. Lighting should be done by candles and other sources IMO.

 

[Big John]

If you had a generator then I would think you would be better served not using it to light your house when its dark. I would use it to charge batteries and maybe twice a day for the fridge but not to run lights in the house. Lighting should be done by candles and other sources IMO.

2 hours in the morning and 2 hours in the evening lets you get water and keep the fridge cool and the house warm in the winter, plus like irishfan said charge batteries. I have twin deep cycle batteries and an inverter to run my well pump so if I keep the batteries charged I am good to go on water.

Will be doing a similar setup using solar for my outdoor wood burner so I can run the blower on it, I upgraded the blower and it will actually blower quite well through all of my home vents now but the load is slightly high so I need a larger battery/invertor/charger system now.

Little trick for you guys with generators too.. Use a car muffler all it takes is a little creative pipe cutting and welding, then dump the exhaust into a 5 gal bucket of water. Also use your landscaping and home / garage setup to your advantage to muffler the sounds of the motor running.

 

[longbow]

just black out the windows with heavy blankets if you need lighting for the gen set