What got you started in Prepping?

Well, I was aware of the Y2K problem and was preparing for it a year, or more. I was lucky that my family had the RV and many of the other preps, so I only needed to buy the food, some ammo and fuel. I still have some of the ammo, used the fuel and ate the food. I wasn't one of those people that got a couple of cases of bottled water and a case of canned food in December of 1999, but I was a looong way from prepared.

 

I read that book, and still have it. I wished they would make a movie, but it would be another Hollywood "based on" movie.

 

A good accurate-to-the-book movie (maybe update the space-capsule bit) would be great, but they'd probably go woke and disneyfy it.

 

Doesn't the ISS still use Russian space capsules for emergency escape vehicles? They could also use the SpaceX Dragons, especially if Musk paid for product placement.

 

Yep, but the book had them on an Apollo mission. Updating to a current system would be good.
The parts with the religious cult swarm and the biker swarm could be right out of today's news.

 

I kinda felt like "Deep Impact" was trying to be a movie of Lucifer's Hammer.

 

As much as they fucked up World War Z and the remake of Red Dawn, Lucifers Hammer may turn into Mulan.

 

The original prepper, my Pops.

 

My Dad wasn't a Prepper, but he did grow up in the Great Depression, in a coastal fishing town in rural Florida. His family was fairly poor, not "dirt poor" but they went without a lot. He taught me a lot about being self-reliant and independent, being able to repair what broke, because they had no money to just buy a new one. How to hunt and fish, and gathering certain wild foods in the woods that are forgotten now - skunk cabbage, poke weed, etc. We hunted and ate some critters that are now protected, and not considered 'game'. The big King Woodpecker and fat Robins put Quail and Dove to shame All manner of turtles.
I grew up maintaining my bicycle, then my used motorcycle (Sis got a brand new car), and eventually my own cars. I can do basic carpentry, home plumbing and electrical, and land clearing/yard maintenance. He did some home canning, made his own sausage and ground beef. Made his own wine. Dad believed in never paying someone to do what we could do ourselves. I've tried to carry that on.

 

Same with my Father, he grew up on a small cotton farm in NW Alabama. They had to make it themselves, repair what they had or do without. They only spent a hard-earned dollar when they had to. As an adult he was a farmer and small business owner and taught me about self-reliance. He also, gardened most of his life, but always said that hunting and fishing were too iffy to depend on.

 

The space mission was a joint USA/USSR venture, but as I remember it the Apollo capsule took a hit, and the Americans and Russians had to return to Earth in the capsule with CCCP emblazoned on the side. They also landed IN California rather than in the water, like an Apollo would have.

 

So, you bought into VHS rather than Beta. Always remember that the newest and latest is also the most expensive. It's good to wait before you pull the trigger on buying new technology, as they will work out any bugs and the price will come down...or it could be like Beta.

 

My Father and I both read Mother Earth News because we both wanted to build something/anything out of junk that would allow us to beat the system and save a buck. I was interested in solar power back when the only place you could get solar cells was at Radio Shack!

 

My grandparents & parents lived through the Great Depression, so there was a natural though process to preparedness, Moved to the Northwoods as a kid where it was not uncommon to get tons of snow in the winter with multiple days of not getting plowed out, long driveway middle of no where, took awhile for the plow to get to us. Not uncommon to have multiple days without power, so there was always plenty of supplies to get by, it was just inherent to me

 

My Dad had a Beta Max early on. He liked it so much he spent a lot of time and money getting it repaired when it broke - Beta was already defunct in the market. He did finally switch to VHS. When movies came out on DVD, he actually figured out how to copy those "copy protected" movies over to VHS, as he hated dealing with menu selections. He had taken a TV repair course at a Vo-Tech school, and was largely self-taught! I guess I inherited that gene, as during my IT career, I was tasked with copying a bunch of old tape cartridges to DVD, which was basically impossible as the two technologies were not in any way compatible. But I developed a method of copying from one tech to another, then another - using four different unrelated platforms. It worked! I was able to deliver them to the Comptroller's Office.
Dad never could quite get the hang of PCs though. Got his when he was over 70. I hooked it up for him, taught him the basics. Then a few times he'd complain of it being slow. I'd find a bunch of viruses, never mind we had antivirus on it. I checked his browsing history. Dad was surfing the naughty websites! I kept telling him to not do it, explained viruses. Sheesh, thought I was gonna have to turn on parental controls!
He finally have the PC to my BIL.

 

I was just born to perform this way

 

Parents who grew up during the dirty 30’s, grandparents who had a self sufficient farmstead during the dirty 30’s and still used draft horses through the 50’s. Growing up during the Cold War and threat of “Red Dawn” daily.

 

Originally hooked by wilderness survival skills - firecraft, shelter builds, and foraging. But recent global instability turbocharged my focus into practical preps: stockpiling calories, securing water sources, and drilling core skills weekly.