Whats your weakness.

[don heath]

Having grown up in a home that was 'off the grid' and mostly operating from one now...getting over ones electricity dependence is mental. When I first got married we were based in Harare, and the power cuts were not too bad..so I installed a two plate gas stove and a 12v light above the stove which I could connect to a car battery parked outside..has a couple of gas lights for reading etc...well that was 2004 and now electricty cuts in Harare average 17hrs a day...The same with water..used to be off one day a week...now it is on one day a month. You would be surprised just how well people adapted and have 'overcome'. My wife is a gentle lass from a world where there was little extravegance but no shortages. The farm always seemed very 'rustic' to her (to put it mildly) but she married me, wanted to stay in Zimbabwe so just got her head around the problems and helped witht the solutions.

Most Americans coming out for an extended bush stay suffer withdawl from internet/cell phone rather than having to fill the bucket for a shower and using kerosine lamps and cooking on a wood fired stove. Attitude covers over a multitude of weaknesess 

[SHOOTALL]

Many Americans have little problem roughing it on a day to day basis. Problem is they don't have funds to hunt Africa either. Shame the world only gets to see so many of the spoiled ones 

[don heath]

Shootall- we see quite a few young American men who just wander through Africa 'finding themselves'- and they are usually not rich. The rich come on hunts or photographic tours with the likes of me and expect (and recieve) luxurary. The youngsters who come ans ask if they can work for a month or two for their food  and get some dangerous game experience are not in the ' have made it' class yet! However, they will certainly return home with a much better idea of how to 'make a plan' when things go wrong and you don't have the right kit to solve it...they go home mostly giving thanks and praise that their Ancestors moved to America and not Africa.

[SHOOTALL]

I have know several of those , to a man they had a safety net in wealthy parents that could bail them out if need be. Then also wealth can be mesured in disposable income when there is little obligation for a youngh person.

[The Hermit]

At 75, I'm still a tough old fart, can shoot, hunt, fish and fix things. I can still carry a full packbasket, but have to leave the canoe home now, can't do the portages like I used to. I can still live at either one of my cabins off the grid, comfortably.
I have 2 weaknesses: One, I find it tougher each year to live alone. I think man was meant to have company. Donna told me before she passed to find another woman, but I just can't bring myself to do it.
Two, I'm afraid I'm getting absent minded. I can tell you things Harry Truman said as president, but I can't find my truck in the grocery store parking lot sometimes, nor tell you what I had for lunch. Sometimes I buy supplies and can't remember where I put them away, and it irritates me.
What am I going to do about it? Well, I don't know. I suppose I will not worry about it and keep on living this way till something changes.  We all should do the best we can, help others and still be able to defend when needed. God, I hope some of this makes sense.


The Hermit

[zeke08]

PATIENCE is my biggest weakness. Then I guess metal work, I am good welder but have never used a furnace/forge and anvil to make anything. I plan for the worse an hope for the best. My family will be a BIG issue as my wife has only 2 skills accounting and office work. She loves the outdoors/camping but she doesn't take the time to LEARN. My son who is 3 and requires breathing treatments daily and meds will be very hard to take care of in SHTF scenario. I have stock piled food, ammo, guns, and meds. I reload and can do most things but master none. I have spent 19 of my 39 years studding some form or another of martial arts and instead of helping my patience or lack of it has only made it worse! I want to learn everything I can and right now. I hope to live to the age when u just plug your brain into a computer and download what you want to learn. lol Great thread!

[Dee]

At 75, I'm still a tough old fart, can shoot, hunt, fish and fix things. I can still carry a full packbasket, but have to leave the canoe home now, can't do the portages like I used to. I can still live at either one of my cabins off the grid, comfortably.
I have 2 weaknesses: One, I find it tougher each year to live alone. I think man was meant to have company. Donna told me before she passed to find another woman, but I just can't bring myself to do it.
Two, I'm afraid I'm getting absent minded. I can tell you things Harry Truman said as president, but I can't find my truck in the grocery store parking lot sometimes, nor tell you what I had for lunch. Sometimes I buy supplies and can't remember where I put them away, and it irritates me.
What am I going to do about it? Well, I don't know. I suppose I will not worry about it and keep on living this way till something changes.  We all should do the best we can, help others and still be able to defend when needed. God, I hope some of this makes sense.


The Hermit

Makes perfect sense to me Hermit. I ain't but 61 and suffer from some of the same things. BUT! Like you, I can still hunt and fish, fix a lot of things, and I will dang sure fight if pushed. Changed some tactics and their kinda drastic but, I won't be run over, nor will my family as long as I still breathin.

[Almtnman]

Hermit and Dee, I know exactly what ya'll are talking about as I'm 70 myself. My left shoulder wore out years ago from hard work and it hurts sometimes (thank goodness for Advil). I still like my rifles, so I found that adding a good recoil pad to them is like having a new shoulder. I try to keep myself young and actually look younger than I am. I can still do a lot of things and try my best to stay active so that I can stay that way longer. I guess that if I get to old to walk much, I'll just get one of those electric chairs we all see on TV and strap my rifle across the armrests and stay at it. 

As many others have mentioned, it will be hard to do without electricity for long periods of time, so I'm thinking of stocking up a little heavier on canned stuff and food that needs no refrigeration.   

[RB Rooson]

Great question for a Topic!!!  Now, I immediately thought of some very unusual answers (maybe not that unusual, but what would do me in a "Survival" situation.....?):

Here goes.....

Chocolate!!!  Chocolate you say?  I really get a hankerin' for it and I know it sounds silly.  I can go for months without any and then one day.....BLAMMO!  I gotta have a chocolate bar.  Go Figure...??!!

Pretty women!  A pretty woman would probably be the undoing of me in a survival situation.  I would just have to try and help.....even to my own detriment.

Dogs!  Have owned exceptional dogs my entire life and would justifiably (in my own mind) help a dog in distress even to my own detriment again.

Yah, I know I'm strange......