Paranoid Prepper: My One Year Anniversary

Time flies when you are having fun, and I’ve been enjoying posting here on 3BY for a full year now, making this post my first anniversary post! When I first introduced myself here, it was as a person who had experienced a few (okay, more than a few) disasters. I am pleased to say I did not personally experience a disaster this past year. 😊

However, we as a country (assuming you are in the USA) have experienced a series of Hurricanes, several mass shootings, terrorists in trucks, and a bellicose North Korea threatening nuclear war, not to forget, record cold temperatures.

I hope that neither of my faithful readers was caught in any of these events, but they are certainly reminders that sometimes Murphy is among us. Let’s see how relevant my posts were to the disasters our society actually experienced.

Hurricanes

This has been a big year for Hurricanes, with Harvey, Irma, and Maria all causing damage in the US during a relatively short period of time. I had written early about Hurricane Sandy. This year’s Hurricanes were large, long running, and left millions of people without power. Like Hurricane Sandy, this year’s crop of Hurricanes caused a lot of flooding. (While Sandy did not flood a huge area in comparison, it did manage to flood really expensive parts of New York City.)

I followed up with a post on Lessons from Puerto Rico.

Terrorism

Terrorism continues around the globe, notably in Europe. We’ve had some incidents here too, like the fellow who drove a rented truck through a crowd of people in New York City. Posts that touched on terrorism included my introductory post where my World Trade Center experience was mentioned, and my Escape from New York posts. Terrorism is likely to remain a problem for the foreseeable future.

Nuclear War

No, we haven’t had a nuclear war in the past year. (I would have noticed!) However, as North Korea continues to threaten us, and as it continues to develop inter-continental ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons, one would have to be living under a rock to not be thinking about the possibility of a nuclear strike on the US. I wrote about my plans in the event of Nuclear War and hope that Murphy continues to spare us that one.

Mass Shootings

I wrote a post about Mass Shootings. However, I wrote that post more in reaction to what has been happening, like the Las Vegas shooting, than out of any foresight. Fortunately, your odds of being in a mass shooting are low. Of course if I had any ability to predict disasters, I wouldn’t have been in so many myself. ☹

Economics

I wrote a series of PrepperNomics posts, so Murphy has rewarded me with a relatively benign economy. The US economy grew at a better rate than it has in a decade. There has been good job growth. The stock market is up. Maybe the powers that be (TPTB) are reading my posts? 😊 I think I’ll just enjoy the nice economy while it lasts, but continue to prep as though the economy will be interrupted by events at a time of Murphy’s choosing.

Blizzards

I wrote a post on Blizzards before the winter began. I probably should have kept quiet because we hit record cold temperatures on a number of occasions, including New Year’s eve. Locally, we had plenty of snow as well, running all the way to April. I read a news article about sharks freezing. It reminded me of the Sharknado movies. Maybe I should write about Global Warming? 😊 Locally, some of the snow storms brought down trees, cutting off power, and giving the generator a short workout.

A string of Northeasters dumped considerable snow on New York City and the surrounding area for the fifth year running.

Personal Events

My loyal readers, both of them, are aware of the fact that I have a 20-person MAG and an untrained pack of “Jersey Boys”. With that many folks and pets there has been some change. One member of the MAG left when an engagement ended, and one of the Jersey Boys died of old age. However, the birth of a grandson and a new puppy seem to have kept the numbers stable.

My Suburban BOV wannabe still sits at the restoration shop. Maybe someday. Meanwhile, my non-EMP proof Jeeps just keep running.

The wildlife here in the burbs continues to multiply. Conflicts between automobiles and deer continue.

Conclusion

Prepping is all about being ready for Low Probability events. I’ve been fortunate this year, and hope that you have been too. None of the Low Probability events happened to me personally, unless you count snow in April. However, Murphy’s Law has not been repealed, so I’ll continue to prep, and I advise you do the same.