I've never owned a gun,
but as I analyze the world around me,
I realize it may be sensible
to buy myself a gun or two.
Let me explain why,
below the divider doodle.
The reason it makes sense to own a gun or two,
is that in our modern American way of life,
oil is food,
and both will soon be gone.
http://www.energyinsights.net/...
http://www.condition.org/...
http://www.jala.com/...
The reason I say,
oil is food:
Crude oil is delivered to oil refineries.
From a barrel of crude oil,
that's 42 gallons of crude oil,
the refinery delivers
4 gallons of jet fuel,
10 gallons of diesel fuel,
19 and a half gallons of gasoline,
and 10 gallons of odds and ends,
such as petroleum jelly and mineral oil (the basis of motor oil).
In case you did the math,
42 gallons of crude oil becomes
43 and a half gallons of refined products.
The refining process makes the molecules expand that much,
if I understand correctly.
Anyway.
In America,
nearly all the food Americans eat,
even the food most farmers eat,
comes from grocery stores.
The food in the grocery stores,
to the best of my knowledge,
is all produced and distributed
using diesel fuel.
The tractors and harvesting machines
that plow, plant, and harvest the crops,
all run on diesel fuel.
The farm trucks that move the crops to the grain elevators
run on diesel fuel.
The freight trains,
that move the crops to the processing plants,
run on diesel fuel.
The big rigs,
that move the finished product
from the processing plant to the grocery stores,
run on diesel fuel.
If the finished product is feed for livestock,
the meat, eggs, and milk
are delivered to the grocery stores by trucks
that run on diesel fuel.
Look at the links about oil again.
Or, look at them now,
if you didn't look at them yet.
Sometime soon,
the supply of oil will go down so low,
that the whole system will fail.
I think at least 300 million Americans will die.
I think at least 10 million Americans will survive.
Many sensible Americans are taking steps to make certain they do survive,
even though I don't know if any of them
see the end of oil
as the end of groceries in the stores:
http://americanpreppersnetwork.com/...
My plan,
in addition to storing a year's supply
of water and food,
is this,
subject to revision:
Shotguns,
with lots of shells.
http://www.gunbroker.com/...
Reloader machine.
http://www.ebay.com/...
Compound bows,
with lots of arrows.
Machetes.
Dig a trench around my house.
If we manage to kill
the first intruder who tries to steal our stash of water and food,
we could put his head on a stop sign post near the house,
with a big sign,
telling folks why we killed him.
After the neighbors all die,
we'll need to build a big bonfire,
to dispose of all the bodies.
For the future,
after the bodies are burned:
I want to plant
soybeans and peanuts,
potatoes and tomatoes,
beans and peas and carrots,
and whatever else my family wants.
I want to build a big greenhouse,
and grow olives and avocados.
We might raise the following livestock:
Chickens and ducks,
for eggs;
goats,
for milk, butter, and cheese.
Any excess livestock,
such as chickens and ducks not laying eggs
or making babies,
goats not giving milk or making babies,
such livestock would serve as treats to eat,
since I feel that meat is not a basic food,
but a tasty treat.
The human body needs to eat fat,
since fat has nine calories per gram,
and digests more gradually,
to keep me healthy,
to keep me feeling satisfied.
That's why I want
soybeans,
peanuts,
olives,
avocados,
eggs,
and cheese.
There are no usable calories in protein.
On the topic of feeding my family
by way of hunting and fishing:
I live near a large pond,
and we could learn to make nets,
and drag in whatever we can find,
and pick out what we want.
Also, there are more than 7 million feral hogs
in America.
We could go hunt feral hogs.
If they're fat enough,
feral hogs would feed my family well.
We could smoke and salt cure the pork.
The urban and suburban land,
it seems to me,
is better for growing crops
than treeless, barren farmland.
Better at holding water during times of drought.
We can cut all the trees down to fence top height,
so the resulting shrubs
will hold the water in the soil,
while the open sky,
with no tall trees,
will let the sun in,
so the crops can grow.
I think planting on the east sides of houses is best,
so the houses can block the brutal, withering, afternoon sun
from the crops.
Of course,
I'm not an actual farmer,
so I could be wrong.
Conclusion:
Storing water and food first,
and farming from then on,
are the most important topics,
for survival after the oil is gone.
But weapons may be needed,
at least for a little while,
and maybe on rare occasion
in years to come.
Thanks for reading.
Alright.
This is an update,
posted here as an actual edit.
The original diary is above,
the update below.
I've never done this before,
but I just realized,
I can copy and paste the comments I want to respond to,
and write my responses,
here in the body of the edited diary.
I hope that does not anger anyone.
So,
here we go.
First,
to respond to those not familiar with my writing style:
Why does this read (0+ / 0-)
like e. e. cummings was posting at RedState?
You are going to wear out your return key (4+ / 0-)
before dooms day comes around. Seriously, you need to study meter and rhyme a bit more, if you are getting into the dooms day prepper poetry genre.
The way I write is called
free verse.
The purpose of free verse
is to help the reader pause
at the same breaks when I would pause,
if I were speaking to each of you,
face-to-face.
Next topic:
destruction of our environment,
presented as a more immediate threat
than the end of oil:
the biosphere will collapse before we run out of diesel.
So yeah, there will be a massive die-off, and people will be shooting each other for food . . . but by that point you probably won't be able to grow anything.
We will run out of diesel fuel
before the year 2100.
The biosphere will still be very good for growing crops
and grazing livestock,
for the next 100,000 years.
Especially since most humans will starve and die,
or die from killing each other,
as soon as the oil runs out,
before 2100.
The biosphere will recover very well,
with well under one billion humans,
maybe only 100 million humans,
and no diesel fueled equipment
to constantly fuck it up.
This next idea is the one
that most folks feel,
deep down,
will rescue us:
Ingenuity will generate workarounds for much of the problem as oil gradually dries up.
The problem is,
the oil will not dry up gradually.
The end of oil will last only ten or twenty years,
from the time the crisis is recognized as a crisis,
until the system collapses.
And,
humankind has made no technological advances,
except computers, rockets, and medical imaging,
since the 1890s,
with the invention of the diesel engine.
The latest,
most advanced technology
for producing and distributing food in America,
is the diesel engine,
patented in the late 1890s.
We cannot eat computers.
We cannot eat rockets.
We cannot eat medical images.
For the commentor who gave me a link
to trucks ready to run on
compressed natural gas,
I've already researched that:
http://www.cngnow.com/...
If you go to that map,
you will see,
there are only a few filling stations,
in cities.
Farms are not in cities.
The farmers cannot run their tractors
and other equipment
on compressed natural gas,
since the farmers don't have access to
compressed natural gas.
Besides.
Using natural gas,
rather than liquid petroleum,
talk about kicking the can down the road!
I have not done much research yet,
to see when we will run out of natural gas,
but that day will com, as well.
The garbage truck company
that picks up garbage at our house
will soon switch to compressed natural gas.
Their garbage truck parking lot and offices and shop,
is located just down the street
from the only compressed natural gas filling station
in Wichita,
one of only two in the state of Kansas.
The garbage trucks will not feed my family.
This next point may be valid:
You know where your plan goes all wrong? (1+ / 0-)
If God forbid this "apolcolypse" happens, it won't be just "the first guy who comes". They will come in large groups, better armed than you and won't stop till your dead and they carry off your wife and children as slaves.
If my family fails to keep our supply
of water and food
a secret from our neighbors,
or,
if a large armed gang comes,
and they get past our defenses,
they will kill us.
The hard fact is,
no matter what our family does,
no matter what any family does,
we will most likely die, anyway,
from not enough food,
or we'll be killed by someone coming to take what we have.
That is the most likely scenario,
seems to me,
But,
it seems to me,
the sensible thing to do,
is take some steps,
do something,
try to get ready,
as best I can.
By the way,
read the preppers link.
There is no talk of weapons at the preppers link.
The ideas I presented about defending my family
are all from me.
The idea of a human head on a stop sign post,
that sounds too gruesome to think about.
Now.
Now,
while we can just go to the grocery store,
and get more food,
cheap and easy,
the idea of taking a hard line,
killing folks,
and scaring away other folks,
to guard some food,
that sounds too crazy,
when the grocery store
is a short drive away.
When the food is gone,
such ideas will seem more reasonable.