Merchandise and Food Shortages in a National Crisis

[Michigan Swamp Buck]

Jeez Beez! Do what you can, but if things go south, you are going to be pretty well screwed.

My oldest brother, probably the first in our family to be the survivalist/prepper, is in a home now and needs a kidney, so dialysis every other day or end of story. My GF had thyroid problems and now has to take synthroid daily or she'll be toast in about a month. Pig thyroid glands might do the trick, of course human ones would be better (muh, ha, ha, haa). Me, my big problem is hypertension, but that can be controlled (and is being controlled) through diet and exercise, in other words, weight loss and on my feet constantly, something bound to occur when the SHTF.

The outlook for us older folk and our medical issues isn't all that great really, prescription medications should be at the top of the list for us dinosaur turds. Otherwise look to alternative treatments and the natural sources for any meds you will need. I mentioned salt, because, despite what they say about salt, you will die without it just as sure as you can starve or dehydrate to death. You need fat too. A high protein-low fat diet, like eating rabbit all the time, will starve you to death. If you have a healthy thyroid, then iodine is a must, it's hard to find naturally except for ocean kelp. Vitamin C of course, without it you get scurvy. etc.

[beez]

Jeez Beez! Do what you can, but if things go south, you are going to be pretty well screwed.

 

We all have our crosses to bear.

I hope your family fares well.  My prayers and best wishes.

I may be old, crippled (going to the VA next month, getting my rating to 100% disabled) and ugly, but I'm mean and I didn't get to be this old by being a pussy and rolling over and dying.



I've got boom sticks, a skill set, and a temper.

[NightskyeB4Dawn]

Jeez Beez! Do what you can, but if things go south, you are going to be pretty well screwed.

 

We all have our crosses to bear.

I hope your family fares well.  My prayers and best wishes.

I may be old, crippled (going to the VA next month, getting my rating to 100% disabled) and ugly, but I'm mean and I didn't get to be this old by being a pussy and rolling over and dying.



I've got boom sticks, a skill set, and a temper.

You left out the most important part. With that age comes a bit more wisdom. Though some of us don't use it as often as we should.

Oh, and the kids don't want us to share it with them unless their assess are in trouble.

[beez]

Jeez Beez! Do what you can, but if things go south, you are going to be pretty well screwed.

 

We all have our crosses to bear.

I hope your family fares well.  My prayers and best wishes.

I may be old, crippled (going to the VA next month, getting my rating to 100% disabled) and ugly, but I'm mean and I didn't get to be this old by being a pussy and rolling over and dying.



I've got boom sticks, a skill set, and a temper.

You left out the most important part. With that age comes a bit more wisdom. Though some of us don't use it as often as we should.

Oh, and the kids don't want us to share it with them unless their assess are in trouble.

Aint that the truth!

[Ninurta]

Jeez Beez! Do what you can, but if things go south, you are going to be pretty well screwed.

 

We all have our crosses to bear.

I hope your family fares well.  My prayers and best wishes.

I may be old, crippled (going to the VA next month, getting my rating to 100% disabled) and ugly, but I'm mean and I didn't get to be this old by being a pussy and rolling over and dying.



I've got boom sticks, a skill set, and a temper.

You ain't all alone.

If the SHTF, Grace and I are toast in a very short time. She had CRPD, and has had her back broken with 3 surgeries so far, and doesn't get around as well as she used to. I probably have some medical issues, but since I don't go to doctors, I've no idea what they are. I know that the mere act of carrying groceries up the hill and into the house screws me royally, so I'm guessing at the very least some breathing issues, maybe some heart shit going on, too, since it tries to thump it's way out of my chest on such occasions.

My teeth are fucked over the last 4 years or so, and that is what will eventually kill me if the SHTF doesn't. The gummint insurance I've got doesn't cover "yer teeth are gonna kill you, bro" so I don't bother with doctors at all if I can't go to the ones that can fix me, and the ones I can go to  can't get to the root of the problem. It would be a waste of BidenHarris-inflated gasoline to do so. BUT - the gummint can feel good about my dyin' ass because they "cover" me for free, even if that "coverage" is utterly useless to me and goes entirely unused.

So we won't be running and playing like youngsters, either.

However, like you I have a few boomsticks and a really bad attitude. When that Evil Day comes, I have no illusions that it isn't going to kill me, as it most certainly will. The only question at this point is just how many miscreants I can take to Hell with me - to carry my baggage as my porters I reckon -  before they get me. I will beat the piss out of their spook asses if they don't, and then will beat them further for pissing. I've  no doubt I can get that done, because my Spook self isn't subject to the same physical restrictions my physical self is, and they'd have that really bad attitude to contend with. I think I can out-asshole them.

Like Samson on his Evil Day, I plan to take as many with me as I can, the rationale being that the ones I can take out before they get me won't be troubling any decent folk thereafter.

Samson got 3000 according to the Bible, and he had been blinded. I can only hope to top that.

Time will tell. I reckon it depends on how many come on That Evil Day.




Editorial note: I'm still trying to figure out if that "stripper guy" in that video is Alan Tudyk. "Wash" from Firefly and the alien from "Resident Alien". He looks suspiciously similar to me...

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[beez]

Jeez Beez! Do what you can, but if things go south, you are going to be pretty well screwed.

 

We all have our crosses to bear.

I hope your family fares well.  My prayers and best wishes.

I may be old, crippled (going to the VA next month, getting my rating to 100% disabled) and ugly, but I'm mean and I didn't get to be this old by being a pussy and rolling over and dying.



I've got boom sticks, a skill set, and a temper.

You ain't all alone.

If the SHTF, Grace and I are toast in a very short time. She had CRPD, and has had her back broken with 3 surgeries so far, and doesn't get around as well as she used to. I probably have some medical issues, but since I don't go to doctors, I've no idea what they are. I know that the mere act of carrying groceries up the hill and into the house screws me royally, so I'm guessing at the very least some breathing issues, maybe some heart shit going on, too, since it tries to thump it's way out of my chest on such occasions.

My teeth are fucked over the last 4 years or so, and that is what will eventually kill me if the SHTF doesn't. The gummint insurance I've got doesn't cover "yer teeth are gonna kill you, bro" so I don't bother with doctors at all if I can't go to the ones that can fix me, and the ones I can go to  can't get to the root of the problem. It would be a waste of BidenHarris-inflated gasoline to do so. BUT - the gummint can feel good about my dyin' ass because they "cover" me for free, even if that "coverage" is utterly useless to me and goes entirely unused.

So we won't be running and playing like youngsters, either.

However, like you I have a few boomsticks and a really bad attitude. When that Evil Day comes, I have no illusions that it isn't going to kill me, as it most certainly will. The only question at this point is just how many miscreants I can take to Hell with me - to carry my baggage as my porters I reckon -  before they get me. I will beat the piss out of their spook asses if they don't, and then will beat them further for pissing. I've  no doubt I can get that done, because my Spook self isn't subject to the same physical restrictions my physical self is, and they'd have that really bad attitude to contend with. I think I can out-asshole them.

Like Samson on his Evil Day, I plan to take as many with me as I can, the rationale being that the ones I can take out before they get me won't be troubling any decent folk thereafter.

Samson got 3000 according to the Bible, and he had been blinded. I can only hope to top that.

Time will tell. I reckon it depends on how many come on That Evil Day.




Editorial note: I'm still trying to figure out if that "stripper guy" in that video is Alan Tudyk. "Wash" from Firefly and the alien from "Resident Alien". He looks suspiciously similar to me...

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We'll all be drinking in the halls of Valalla!

[OmegaLogos]

Explanation: @"Michigan Swamp Buck", @"EndtheMadnessNow", @"Ninurta"

I recommend that y'all watch the videos in this thread of mine linked in the OP ...

[Wholistic Medicine] Unrefined Salts, Spinach And Seaweed!

Personal Disclosure: Basically Refined salts = bad for you, where as unrefined salts, in the correct dosage amounts = good for you.

Be well ok!  

@ Everyone ....

Now back on target and stay on target ...

As for prepping ... I suggest my fellow rogues and the wider audience members get a clue and understand that heirloom seeds are worth their weight in gold literally and they are food and can grow more food etc ... and ... a gun and the right ammo for hunting are important survival tools that are also worth their weight in gold and I would source both if I could, and some salt as well, way before I'd get some gold and more silver than gold ,to store value but personally I'd go for cheap pain medicines and the highest proof white alcohol you can find and also packets of ciggies,  with a lighter as peoples addictions are a luxury which they will trade much stuff that you want in return for a few minutes, hours of escapism for the SHTF clown world come a cropper eh!?

@"Bally002"  I heard an enlightened Guru once said that before enlightenment comes the secret is to chop wood, fetch water! And the secret for when enlightenment has already come is to chop wood, fetch water ok!

@"NightskyeB4Dawn" A Country Boy(Girl) Can Survive!




@"beez" As for ammo ... do yourself and your family a favor eh? Will you save some for yourself and your significant other and those who depend on you to live? A quick mercy killing is aweful but sometimes a required as a necessary evil ok. If the Portland zombies house invade you and they get inside ... well I care ok ... don't want to see you or yours suffer SHTF situation X fallout and blowback eh? I personally thank you for reporting from that frontline ok! You have served in the military and I deeply respect that and so I know that you know that such things must be spoken openly and clearly so everyone knows where they stand when shit hits that fan ... all I know is if I survive the 1st hour of ww3 then its going to really sux for me but I also know that I am completely expendable to do what is ever required out of necessity to protect and rebuild as best I can do with whatever is left for me to care about ... otherwise I'd simply opt out and take a large injection of air into my veins ..to induce a heart attack and expire as quickly as possible as starving to death is horrible way to go and I simply dont have the stomach or guts for that! I have all the plans and all the gear required ...I just dont have a timetable and that seems to be outa my hands anyway. Go Hard OR Go Home (back to God asap) I say. Be well!

[Ninurta]

As for prepping ... I suggest my fellow rogues and the wider audience members get a clue and understand that heirloom seeds are worth their weight in gold literally and they are food and can grow more food etc ... and ... a gun and the right ammo for hunting are important survival tools that are also worth their weight in gold and I would source both if I could, and some salt as well, way before I'd get some gold and more silver than gold ,to store value but personally I'd go for cheap pain medicines and the highest proof white alcohol you can find and also packets of ciggies,  with a lighter as peoples addictions are a luxury which they will trade much stuff that you want in return for a few minutes, hours of escapism for the SHTF clown world come a cropper eh!?

My tobacco seeds are all heirloom - about as heirloom as it gets, as it is the same tobacco American natives were growing and using when the Europeans first arrived. I shot for some heirloom corn and bean seed this year, but missed the mark, Sunflowers are on the agenda as well, for the oil and fats they provide.

I'm with you on the notion that folks will pay a premium for their vices, especially in hard times for a few minutes of escape. The last carton of cigarettes I bought, about 5 years ago, I paid 30 bucks for. now they are in the 65 to 70 dollar price range, proving that there are folks out there who will pay a premium to keep their nic-fix happy. Grace got me a cigarette machine, and now I can make them for about 10 or 15 bucks a carton, a substantial savings. When the tobacco comes in, that will go even cheaper, since that is the bulk of the cost to me at the moment. So, yeah, I can make at home what folks will pay a premium for, and moreover they have a will have a vested interest in keeping me safe and healthy so the smoke supply doesn't dry up.

If the fixings for cigarette production were to dry up, I can make pipes to smoke the loose tobacco in. I used to make my own pipes all the time, and it really ain't that hard if you've got some corn cobs and box elders or prickly ash  available (for the stems). so one way or another, the nic-fix is covered for folks that have an urge to trade.

Grace makes our own vape juice as well, so back before the USFDA choked on their own petards and make it too difficult to obtain, we stocked up on pure nicotine to make it with. We've got a 20 year supply of it at our current consumption levels, so plenty for trade. Also stocked up on PG, VG, and flavorings to produce it.

I can make my own spirits, too, for trade, but in a SHTF scenario, I imagine the sugar is going to be hard to come by. Yeast not so much, as it floats in the air all around us, and can be got by mixing up some sourdough starter. So the trick is to find a high sugar content crop to make white liquor out of, and around here that has traditionally been sweet corn - but apples and various fruits also have a fairly high sugar content.

I have enough ammo for hunting to do us for a while, assuming I don't have to burn too much of it up fighting. The whole purpose behind getting the black powder gun and accoutrements is that I can make my own ammo for that, from scratch if it comes to that and I run out of ammo for everything else. that's one gun I'll never run out of ammo for.

What I'm short on is arable land to squeeze food crops out of. This land around here is for shit when it comes to enough crops to keep body and soul together. Hence the need or trade items.

Cheap pain medicine? Did you know you can make a legal opium substitute out of wild lettuce? Imagine that!

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[beez]

@"Ninurta" 

If you take 800mg of ibuprophen and 1000 mg of Tylenol, it packs about the same pain relieving punch as a Vicodin, just without the "high".

[ChiefD]

@"Ninurta" 

If you take 800mg of ibuprophen and 1000 mg of Tylenol, it packs about the same pain relieving punch as a Vicodin, just without the "high".

I have Advil Dual Action, has ibuprofen and acetaminophen. They work great for pain of all kinds. I kind of hoard pain pills. I have hundreds of Vicodin tablets from 30 years ago when my doc gave them out like candy. I never take them because they only work a little for me for pain, and they make me weepy and sleepy. But I can trade those with other people who want them and get what I need. I have hundreds of benzos too that I never take. I hate narcotics but I can barter for many things if the SHTF. 

You’re not alone Beez. I and my hubby would be screwed. I am on synthroid for my thyroid, have to take them daily or I’m in a world of hurt. I’m also on meds for high blood pressure, cholesterol, and depression meds. My hubby is in a nursing home, and I hate to think how he would get by. I think if things got really bad, totally gone to shit, I would just hole up with my hubby till the end. At least that way we’d die together. 

So after reading all these posts, I’m in tears, have lots of sympathy for everyone. I hope it never gets to that point. But if it does, I want to be with the man I love more than life itself. I just don’t want to die alone.

[beez]

@"Ninurta" 

If you take 800mg of ibuprophen and 1000 mg of Tylenol, it packs about the same pain relieving punch as a Vicodin, just without the "high".

I have Advil Dual Action, has ibuprofen and acetaminophen. They work great for pain of all kinds. I kind of hoard pain pills. I have hundreds of Vicodin tablets from 30 years ago when my doc gave them out like candy. I never take them because they only work a little for me for pain, and they make me weepy and sleepy. But I can trade those with other people who want them and get what I need. I have hundreds of benzos too that I never take. I hate narcotics but I can barter for many things if the SHTF. 

You’re not alone Beez. I and my hubby would be screwed. I am on synthroid for my thyroid, have to take them daily or I’m in a world of hurt. I’m also on meds for high blood pressure, cholesterol, and depression meds. My hubby is in a nursing home, and I hate to think how he would get by. I think if things got really bad, totally gone to shit, I would just hole up with my hubby till the end. At least that way we’d die together. 

So after reading all these posts, I’m in tears, have lots of sympathy for everyone. I hope it never gets to that point. But if it does, I want to be with the man I love more than life itself. I just don’t want to die alone.

Be with your man.



We all have to go out sometime.

It's the nature of life.

HOW we go out though is entirely up to us.

[Ninurta]

@"Ninurta" 

If you take 800mg of ibuprophen and 1000 mg of Tylenol, it packs about the same pain relieving punch as a Vicodin, just without the "high".

I imagine that might get a little rough on the liver if carried on for a while.

.

[Bally002]

[quote pid='85610' dateline='1653234263']
@"Bally002"  I heard an enlightened Guru once said that before enlightenment comes the secret is to chop wood, fetch water! And the secret for when enlightenment has already come is to chop wood, fetch water ok!


Tick that box each day okay!




@"OmegaLogos"
[/quote]

[NightskyeB4Dawn]

@"Ninurta" 

If you take 800mg of ibuprophen and 1000 mg of Tylenol, it packs about the same pain relieving punch as a Vicodin, just without the "high".

I imagine that might get a little rough on the liver if carried on for a while.

.

You are going to die from something. 

Pain is a weird thing, and is the one thing that is truly unique for each individual.

Pain is an alarm siren. It is your brain's way of alerting you something is wrong.

When you take a medication for pain, but do not resolve the issue causing the pain, the brain assumed you did not get the message and dials up the intensity of the pain.

That is why, people need stronger doses of pain medication over time. I have known 90 pound patients that were taking enough morphine to kill three elephants.

Another weird thing about pain is that it also works in the opposite direction. When you ignore the pain, over time, the brain will assume that you got the message, or will never get the message, so it stops using it's reserves to send the signal.

In both cases, if the issue causing the pain is not resolved, your body goes into a responsive loop, that will continue, until so much damage has been done that not much will be able to be done.

Pain medication is not a cure. It is a bandaid. It is sometimes worse for you than the disease, and even sometimes, more deadly.

[NightskyeB4Dawn]

[quote pid='85610' dateline='1653234263']
@"Bally002"  I heard an enlightened Guru once said that before enlightenment comes the secret is to chop wood, fetch water! And the secret for when enlightenment has already come is to chop wood, fetch water ok!


Tick that box each day okay!




@"OmegaLogos"

And life goes on. Knowing the sun will rise in the morning and will set when the day is done, will not stop the birds from singing.

I love the sound of birds singing at night.

[beez]

@"Ninurta" 

If you take 800mg of ibuprophen and 1000 mg of Tylenol, it packs about the same pain relieving punch as a Vicodin, just without the "high".

I imagine that might get a little rough on the liver if carried on for a while.

.

It's hard on the stomach, liver and kidneys.

I've been on it for a while and got a blood test done to determine if I needed to quickly schedule my shoulder replacement or put it off based on how affected my liver and kidney function is.

Good news is that even after a year, I'm still pretty darned good.

I told my doc that my liver and kidneys would be fine because I wash them in alcohol constantly.

[Michigan Swamp Buck]

Years ago, when I lived with may parents, there was a weeping willow tree and having known that aspirin came from willow bark, I tried it.

I got some of the inner bark and boiled it in water. It turned dark blood red and when I tried a drop on my tongue, it numbed it like novocaine. It was quite powerful, high potency stuff, just like cocaine with it's numbing effects.

The problem is, there is no way to know doses when cooking it up on the stove. I've never tried that since, but I think I may get a willow tree for near the house or try the ditch willows around here.

[Ninurta]

[quote pid='85610' dateline='1653234263']
@"Bally002"  I heard an enlightened Guru once said that before enlightenment comes the secret is to chop wood, fetch water! And the secret for when enlightenment has already come is to chop wood, fetch water ok!


Tick that box each day okay!




@"OmegaLogos"

[/quote]

That explains a lot.

When I was a teenager, I chopped wood and fetched water. A lot. Hauled logs out of the forest by horse-power, or if the brush was too dense for a horse, then by Ninurta-power. Then we cut them into chunks and I split the chunks with a double-bitted axe. It warmed you 3 times that way - when you brought it out of the woods, when you split it, and finally when you burned it.

I fetched water 12 gallons at a time, in 1 gallon milk jugs tied into twos. I criss-crossed the binding ties of two pairs of jugs into an "X" so that I could carry 4 gallons in each hand, with 4 more over my shoulders, two draped across each shoulder. And I carried it like that for about a mile or so from the spring I got it from.

I was "enlightened" back then, from that...

... but then I got old, stopped doing it, and got all stupid again.

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[Ninurta]

@"Ninurta" 

If you take 800mg of ibuprophen and 1000 mg of Tylenol, it packs about the same pain relieving punch as a Vicodin, just without the "high".

I imagine that might get a little rough on the liver if carried on for a while.

.

You are going to die from something. 

Pain is a weird thing, and is the one thing that is truly unique for each individual.

Pain is an alarm siren. It is your brain's way of alerting you something is wrong.

When you take a medication for pain, but do not resolve the issue causing the pain, the brain assumed you did not get the message and dials up the intensity of the pain.

That is why, people need stronger doses of pain medication over time. I have known 90 pound patients that were taking enough morphine to kill three elephants.

Another weird thing about pain is that it also works in the opposite direction. When you ignore the pain, over time, the brain will assume that you got the message, or will never get the message, so it stops using it's reserves to send the signal.

In both cases, if the issue causing the pain is not resolved, your body goes into a responsive loop, that will continue, until so much damage has been done that not much will be able to be done.

Pain medication is not a cure. It is a bandaid. It is sometimes worse for you than the disease, and even sometimes, more deadly.

I rarely ever take pain medicine. Ask Grace - she thinks getting me to take a pill of any kind is like trying to herd cats.

I tell her I NEED my pain - it's what lets me know I'm still alive, and it's there to tell me when something is wrong and needs to be addressed.

There is a reason for my pain when I have it, and I don't care to mask that reason out and ignore it. That just causes me to move in directions I otherwise would not, which allows the damage to increase rather than heal up.

Her pain is different. It's chronic and permanent, and the CRPD will never go away. As I understand it, it's a "phantom pain" caused by nerve damage and signalling a pain that is not really there except in her nerves. So she needs the medicine to block it just to function, and I need to stay away from the medicine, also to function.

You are correct in stating that it is unique to each individual. It takes all kinds.

When I was in my early 30's, I went to a dentist, and in order to drill a tooth, he shot me up with some kind of (experimental at that time) 'caine. Every time he tested for numbness, it wasn't there, so he'd shoot me up again. It took him about 3 doses to numb me, and he commented that I must have a "high pain threshold" since it took so much to numb me, and that has never made sense to me - if I had a high pain threshold, it seems to me that I'd feel less pain rather than the same, and especially with that 'caine running through me.

This is a strange, strange world.

.

[Ninurta]

Years ago, when I lived with may parents, there was a weeping willow tree and having known that aspirin can from willow bark, I tried it.

I got some of the inner bark and boiled it in water. It turned dark blood red and when I tried a drop on my tongue, it numbed it like novocaine. It was quite powerful, high potency stuff, just like cocaine with it's numbing effects.

The problem is, there is no way to know doses when cooking it up on the stove. I've never tried that since, but I think I may get a willow tree for near the house or try the ditch willows around here.

Try Black Willow (salix nigra) instead of weeping willow, and see how that works for you. I think Black Willow has more salicin. 1 tsp. of dried and crushed inner bark to a cup of hot water, steeped rather than boiled. Put the bark in the cup, then pour the boliling water over it and let it steep for 10 or 15 minutes, stirring occasionally and filter the crunchies out when it's done, or keep 'em if you want a little roughage. it can be sweetened with a little honey if you like.

Rather than peeling the bark off in sheets or strips, remove the outer bark, then scrape off the inner bark with a knife held at about 90 degrees to the wood. That will shave it off into fine little curlicues about like cigarette tobacco for easier steeping.

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