On Valentine’s Day, we rushed to be among the people signing up for “The Prepper’s Roadmap”. Initial enrollment ended on February 18, and we paid $197 for the privilege. The course seeks to educate enrollees about how to prepare for calamities, whether they be natural disasters (like earthquakes or wildfires here in San Diego) or crisis of human instigation (like cyberattack that takes down banking systems or power grids), among others. I would recommend the educational series, if the first-round of registrations hadn’t closed. You can’t sign up today; in the future, though.
My wife and I aren’t so-called preppers—and we never expect be. Meaning: If you’re looking for a horde of food or supplies during an apocalypse, we won’t have it. Our apartment is small and we aren’t of the mindset. That said, we do recognize the increasingly dangerous times in which we live, when looking at advancing economic crisis or Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, for example. Not being naturally paranoid about catastrophes and preparation for them, Annie and I liked the idea of getting some no-nonsense advice from someone who is sensible rather than the typically fanatical.
The course comes from the man behind City Prepping, and we watch his videos on YouTube with some regularity. He also lives in Southern California and, unlike most other preparedness purveyors, he is pragmatic rather than sensationally alarmist. His Roadmap breaks lessons into topical survival guides that build from 3 days to 3 weeks to 3 months. For newbies like us, his content and presentation are refreshingly useful.
How unprepared are we? How much time do you have for explanation? Before Annie and I watched module “Your 3-Day Survival Kit”, the Wilcox household had nothing as basic as work gloves. After some delay, on March 8, I ordered the suggested Wells Lamont pair from Amazon; $9.96, before shipping. We found them suitable enough that the day they arrived, I decided to order more. What? Overnight, the price had nearly doubled, close to $19. I wasn’t prepared for this.
Tonight, I see slight reduction to $15.56 but that isn’t happening; I’ll wait or purchase something else. The lesson is this: In these trying times, if you need something but procrastinate or might want the item in the future, buy now or pay more later. Supply chains are still disrupted from SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus 2)/COVID-19 lockdowns and the Russian-Ukrainian war is sure to impede flow of goods. All that ignores inflation (currently at a 40-year high of 7.9 percent) and resulting rising prices on goods.
Our immediate focus will be securing basics—everything from hand-crank radio to extra vitamins to first-aid kit—ahead of further price hikes. And another pair of gloves or two. Duct tape and extra batteries we got last week. All these things are at some time or another useful household (or outdoor adventure) items to have at the ready; no disaster necessary. Now that is sensible preparedness.
I used Leica Q2 to capture the Featured Image, today. Vitals, aperture manually set: f/4, ISO 100, 1/1000 sec, 28mm; 2:44 p.m. PDT.