The "I know were I'm going" comment

[clodhopper]

The simplest way I have found to deal with this situation, opsec. No one knows, no one asks, no one thinks to head my way. The wife will occasionally talk about it with her bonehead family, but they all live across the country, so I don't worry much about them. Otherwise, we just don't talk to anyone about it. My boys grew up doing it, so to them it is just normal living, nothing to talk about.

When I get questioned about a big purchase, I just smile and tell my tale about have lots of kids and a wife who always loves more babies. Gotta make those dollars stretch when something is on sale. Or how much I enjoy frittering away a weekend canning with my wife cause I just enjoy spending time with her. Either one gets a big dopey "awwwe, dat's so sweet" and they chalk me up as a simpleton with misplaced ideals. Which works just fine for me.

Having a wife on board with prepping and having agreement on methods certainly makes life much easier. I cannot imagine having a wife who cares not about the future and lives only for the moment.

Then again, I would not have married such a woman to begin with.

[GunsRBadMMMMKay]

"The "I know were I'm going" comment"

IDK why but I thought fire and brimstone when I saw this........

[clodhopper]

Oh, and if you store your preps in the garage where the world can see them when the garage door is open..... you just might be a dumbass.

Attic, basement, rental storage unit not far from home, whatever, go figure something out other than the garage.

[rbeau30]

I probably should try doing what you are saying better than I am. Recently it is much easier to write off the general public and anyone new that I encounter. At work it is harder... I actually like those folks, so sometimes it comes out with a few like-minded individuals.

The kids on the other hand have no interest in any of it, so they are kept in the dark about it only given limited info as well. Especially now that my two have been with mom full time. Outside the circle I guess you can call it.

[clodhopper]

I probably should try doing what you are saying better than I am. Recently it is much easier to write off the general public and anyone new that I encounter. At work it is harder... I actually like those folks, so sometimes it comes out with a few like-minded individuals.

The kids on the other hand have no interest in any of it, so they are kept in the dark about it as well. Especially now that my two have been with mom full time. Outside the circle I guess you can call it.

I get you on the work thing. Fortunately, I work with a few very libertarian types, and the rest are not long out of college and generally overlook anything other than I-phones and such. I have spent considerable time honing an "old codger" atmosphere. Co-workers generally see me as a hunting type who does things "old school" cause I am too old to do otherwise. I am not that old, but it works for me. It explains why I tend to always have a knife on me, and why my daily backpack seems to always have just the right thing in it. "Why you ask? Oh just old habits from being a hunter I guess."

Seriously. If you really are a prepper, you will NOT fit in with the normal dopes in life. You are typically looking at things differently and have different interests. I know it sounds a bit CIA-ish, but developing a cover story (or stories) for your habits will significantly reduce the number of inquiries in the habits you keep. If you are confident and proud to be just enough different, most will leave you alone as our PC society tends to shy away from confrontation.

Study the people you interact with on a daily, or even less than daily, basis. What people would you expect to go to a gun store and buy a case of ammo and you wouldn't think twice about it? Who would go into a grocery store and buy 72 cans of black beans at one time and it wouldn't even rank a second thought from you? These are the types of people to emulate.

I imagine my UPS driver has a better idea of my prep habits than anyone else, but I doubt he cares in the least. Impersonal on-line purchases can help keeping things on the down-low. Unless you are concerned with paper trails. It is hard to buy from Amazon with cash. Just decisions you have to make.

[clodhopper]

The kids on the other hand have no interest in any of it, so they are kept in the dark about it only given limited info as well. Especially now that my two have been with mom full time. Outside the circle I guess you can call it.

Kids can be tough. Prepping is more a way of life for my sons, so it isn't anything special to them. And why talk about boring stuff to your friends, right? It has a lot to do with their mindset. My boys have also been years in Boy Scouts, so the concept of be prepared is well understood. One method is to get them on board to prep for a weather disaster, but you continue to prep for whatever you are prepping for. Then they are at least doing something and you are not dragging them through it.

If they are as anti-prep as your wife, there may be nothing you can do. Just accept the fact and prep for yourself as best you can. Get yourself mentally centered and let the criticism roll off your duck's back. Maybe start exploring hobbies and activities that you can interest your kids in that require equipment that doubles as preps. Camping is a common one. But fishing, hunting and other outdoor activities are good. Cooking, canning, gardening? Woodwork, fabrication, welding, machining? Automotive?

Are your kids interested in engineering? Start doing Saturday fun projects (there are tons on youtube) and blend into prep related challenges. For example, lets assume all the power went out, how many things in our house can be operate with alternative energy? Ya know, go green and all that? Once they get into learning and do those kind of things, you can start working them into more prep focused projects. You get prep, they get knowledge, you both have fun doing it. I spend more time teaching my boys skills, and learning new ones with them, than I do acquiring stuff. Creative, innovative and capable means more than a case of beans and a lantern.

[rbeau30]

Once they get into learning and do those kind of things, you can start working them into more prep focused projects. You get prep, they get knowledge, you both have fun doing it.

I was tasting the pickles I have fermenting in the crock, and my 16 year old seriously did not know that pickles were made from cucumbers. I have given up on kids nowadays. If I had as much information literally at the ends of my fingertips like they have? They sure as heck can remember how to get through a level in a video game by heart, or can follow a you tube channel with people jumping off buildings onto cacti or kicking each other in the nuts or settingthemselves on fire, but they do not know where pickles come from.

[clodhopper]

I was tasting the pickles I have fermenting in the crock, and my 16 year old seriously did not know that pickles were made from cucumbers. I have given up on kids nowadays. If I had as much information literally at the ends of my fingertips like they have? They sure as heck can remember how to get through a level in a video game by heart, or can follow a you tube channel with people jumping off buildings onto cacti or kicking each other in the nuts or settingthemselves on fire, but they do not know where pickles come from.

"Your" 16 yo? Is that a reflection on them... or you? Not trying to be a d1ck. But, seriously? Your own kid being a dumbass as an example of failed society and not think that reflects on your parenting?

[rbeau30]

"Your" 16 yo? Is that a reflection on them... or you? Not trying to be a d1ck. But, seriously? Your own kid being a dumbass as an example of failed society and not think that reflects on your parenting?

It could you are right. This is what ASSuming what knowledge a child has gleaned from 16 years of existance on earth. Didn't actually think that I needed to conduct briefings at the dinner table of where pickles came from or similar subjects. But yeah you are right, and we are getting off topic. Feel free to PM me if you wish to provide me with more construuctive criticism.

[brutal]

There's a member here, whose handle escapes me at the moment, that says, "Sure, bring your daughter."