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People we don't know.
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People we don't know.
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The Richter Scales! Rockin' folk, them! I give 'em an 8.. to die for!
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If you plan to live in an isolated area when SHTF, you will NEED other people living on the property who are your allies in order to help defend it. If you can get there, so can other people, and you will be an easy target if you are secluded and without plenty of help. Also, you or a family member will need urgent, professional medical attention at some point SHTF or not, and SHTF conditions increase the likelihood of that, so living relatively close to it should be a consideration.
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Welcome to the Forum NW Mike. I lived/worked in Morton for about 3-4 years. Still have friends there. I'd go slow with the wife and prepping, but highlight the SHTF natural disasters like the 9.0 RIP earthquake, or the unpredictability of wildfires....look at Alberta! I'd follow advice of previous poster Keep both, use the one place for a redoubt but live comfortably in town. To me prepping is like car insurance....I don't hope to have to use it, but if I do. Plus a lot of our preps are natural canning and we consume and then next harvest can again.
As time permits do a little rehab on the redoubt in the country so if you do have to go there...it's mostly GTG. SHTF I'd be happy to survive sleeping in a shop with a woodstove...anything better than a bivvy in the cold down pour is the HILTON after SHTF, IMHO.
I'd be thrilled to have your options. Where I am, only about 5,000 zombies to deal with in 60 sq. miles if SHTF. Others would have to swim to rain on my parade.
Brutus Out
As time permits do a little rehab on the redoubt in the country so if you do have to go there...it's mostly GTG. SHTF I'd be happy to survive sleeping in a shop with a woodstove...anything better than a bivvy in the cold down pour is the HILTON after SHTF, IMHO.
I'd be thrilled to have your options. Where I am, only about 5,000 zombies to deal with in 60 sq. miles if SHTF. Others would have to swim to rain on my parade.
Brutus Out
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Must be nice... Base Camp is far enough out in the foothills to be a nuisance for everyday, close enough to be a nightmare when the Urban Zombie Horde comes a-Walking Dead-ing.Welcome to the Forum NW Mike. I lived/worked in Morton for about 3-4 years. Still have friends there. I'd go slow with the wife and prepping, but highlight the SHTF natural disasters like the 9.0 RIP earthquake, or the unpredictability of wildfires....look at Alberta! I'd follow advice of previous poster Keep both, use the one place for a redoubt but live comfortably in town. To me prepping is like car insurance....I don't hope to have to use it, but if I do. Plus a lot of our preps are natural canning and we consume and then next harvest can again.
As time permits do a little rehab on the redoubt in the country so if you do have to go there...it's mostly GTG. SHTF I'd be happy to survive sleeping in a shop with a woodstove...anything better than a bivvy in the cold down pour is the HILTON after SHTF, IMHO.
I'd be thrilled to have your options. Where I am, only about 5,000 zombies to deal with in 60 sq. miles if SHTF. Others would have to swim to rain on my parade.
Brutus Out
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Indeed. Many people in the know tout "The thick of it" modality.. whereby you'll be a fat little chomper trapped down and all competing with the rats (mmm!) under the collapsed skyscrapers.
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I mean, it's a nuisance for *me* getting around, but still close enough that I'll have to fight off the horde of Walking (Brain-) Dead.
Worst of both worlds...
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Can you build a small habitable structure inside the ruins of the un-inhabitable one? (camo)...
...nothin' says, "nothin' worth your life here! Move on." like a collapsed burnt building (with what seem to be desperate idiots shooting at you)
...nothin' says, "nothin' worth your life here! Move on." like a collapsed burnt building (with what seem to be desperate idiots shooting at you)
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Interesting idea... if I were doing a new build in a more semi-rural area I might actually consider deliberately building and then half-trashing such an "outer shell".
Problem is, the Planning Commission thinks they have a right to know all, see all, veto all...
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Thank you all for the comments and advice. Lots to think about and to learn from the experience of others. At present we are equipping a small RV we have on the secluded property with a small woodstove designed for small areas (Cubicwoodstoves - Grizzly) and putting in a manual well pump. We want to at least cover water, shelter and food as the basics. Moving forward there are lots of choices but I believe the important one is knowledge and mindset as expressed by Selco on the SHTF School site. We will have lots of salvageable beams and 2byX's that we hand milled for the additions onto the house so we could if we wanted to build a smaller structure later on. Apart from the insurance aspect of having the place available there is the added benefit of having a vacation place that is quiet and also developing a shooting range that is fun to use. My wife is catching the shooting bug and it can be something we share together. Thank you all for the welcome to this forum.
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That was (is) my idea for over here. Find an OK building and make the insides nice and livable
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Kinda like a converted ICBM silo or LCC?
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No - something more like an earth bermed house with most of it not visible. It is much harder to shoot through earth with concrete walls inside, also harder to burn it down. Easier to hide it behind brush and/or burnt timbers, etc. - whatever you want to use. Also much less thermal signature and much more thermal efficiency.
When I retire I plan to use the equity I have built in my current property to buy some land further out. On that I will build a shop with living quarters on one end. The walls on all four sides will be ICF (Insulated Concrete Foam), the back wall will be earth bermed almost all the way to the top, maybe over the roof. The sides will be mostly earth bermed, possibly up to the roof. The front will be exposed, but the lower half of the front wall will have a facade made of real stones. The vehicle doors will security rollup doors, maybe with soft armor on the inside of the door (to be lightweight).
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@The Heretic Nice! I've been looking at "Converted Shipping Container" architecture, and those might give you a ready-made internal structure between the concrete outer walls, or even a solid "support pillar" between your bays. (TBH, I was mainly looking at something that could be closed up, relocated and reassembled on a new site without any of the fighting with boxes of traditional moving, but they might lend themselves to "pre-outfit and inter" too.)
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One of the things I was toying with was a refer container that would serve as a "gun room".
Another idea was a heavily reinforced bunker either inside the shop or on the back of the shop (completely buried), with a "tunnel" going back into a hill/slope that has a secure emergency exit in case the residence is overrun.
If that happens I won't have the time or opportunity to load up anything and move it. I will be leaving with I have on my back, so wherever I go had better have what I need or I had better be able to get by on what I have on my back.
I am also building a 4x4 RV for my retirement so I can travel during the winter. That would maybe be my backup.
Another idea was a heavily reinforced bunker either inside the shop or on the back of the shop (completely buried), with a "tunnel" going back into a hill/slope that has a secure emergency exit in case the residence is overrun.
If that happens I won't have the time or opportunity to load up anything and move it. I will be leaving with I have on my back, so wherever I go had better have what I need or I had better be able to get by on what I have on my back.
I am also building a 4x4 RV for my retirement so I can travel during the winter. That would maybe be my backup.
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Concealed emergency exit's always a good idea. Frankly, I'd be tempted to have a fully stocked BOV packed and ready, with a vehicle-size exit--maybe something rigged so you blow it with det-cord and it drops the "cover section" to form a ramp up and out.
Personally, other than the need for fuel and ground support (and a runway), my dream RV is a C-130...
Frankly, I'd be tempted to have a fully stocked BOV packed and ready, with a vehicle-size exit--maybe something rigged so you blow it with det-cord and it drops the "cover section" to form a ramp up and out.Personally, other than the need for fuel and ground support (and a runway), my dream RV is a C-130...
