Quote from: Biggie Smiles on February 15, 2026, 10:16:41 PMI built my own rain water catchment system using a quick swap out on my existing gutters that will fill a 55 gallon drum

...

You read about people "bugging out" during a shit hit the fan situation.

I'm bugging in... and my house is a well stocked fortress. If after 2 years shit is still toast then I'm fucked... but at that point shit aint never coming back and do I want to be around anyway?

My Great Grandad had a water system like that. He wouldn't let us use normal pipe water to simply wash our hands, we would use the jugs of rain water.

I use to overthink about bugging out. Lots of locations to bug off to and such. But then other factors came to me, like limits on how much you could bug out with, and possibly carry. It becomes a reduced survival chance, depending. Then, years ago, I had overheard a militia group talking, and they seemed like the "not good" kind. Talking about how they would lock down this one main roadway, and raid the folks coming through. So in an ideal bugout, if forced to, Im sticking to the woods and mountains. Other than that, Im holding up here.

Quote from: Reggie Essent on Today at 12:25:55 AMYou don't know what you're missing.  Squirrel is quite tasty.  Especially fat ones like the ones in my yard that have been feasting on walnuts for years.

And they're easy to cook too.  You just skin and gut them, drive a stick through its ass and out the gullet (assuming you've decapitated it while skinning it) and roast it over a nice and cheery hardwood fire.  You'll know when it's done because your mouth will start watering from the smell.  A pinch of salt and you're good to go.

I've always wanted to try squirrel. My uncle use to have a freezer full. My first time of trying it, I've always wanted to do it like that... over a fire with a stick up its ass lol.

Quote from: Blazor on Today at 11:25:27 AMMy Great Grandad had a water system like that. He wouldn't let us use normal pipe water to simply wash our hands, we would use the jugs of rain water.

I use to overthink about bugging out. Lots of locations to bug off to and such. But then other factors came to me, like limits on how much you could bug out with, and possibly carry. It becomes a reduced survival chance, depending. Then, years ago, I had overheard a militia group talking, and they seemed like the "not good" kind. Talking about how they would lock down this one main roadway, and raid the folks coming through. So in an ideal bugout, if forced to, Im sticking to the woods and mountains. Other than that, Im holding up here.

I never understood the majority of the prepper communities' "bug out" philosophy. In a densely populated city where you are not allowed to own weapons and resources are controlled by the democrat scum yeah, makes sense to get the fuck on outta there as fast as you can

 but you have to be an idiot to be living in one of those places to begin with.

Myself on the other hand, i'm about 50 miles north of a densely populated city. I'm situated on nearly 2 cares of property adjacent to a large pond that has lots of fish and is itself an excellent source of water if you know how to purify. I'm at the end of a back road which is pretty easy to defend, I have another 18,000 gallon water source sitting a few feet from my living room which I can tap in a pinch, hundreds of trees on unowned land and the ability to chop them down without power tools, hundreds of pounds of food sealed in mylar bags with oxygen absorbers, vacuum sealed meats and I can grow vegetables if I really need to.  all kinds of preps and power backups etc etc. So why would I "bug out" and leave all of that behind just to go wandering around hoping to find supplies?

I'm reliant mostly on solar with a 10 kw system and a carefully planned power consumption model. I have lots of supplies and the means to get more. I have every propane refill station within 10 miles written down in a logbook with directions on how to get there with no GPS. I know where every water refill station is within 10 miles too. I have 3 bicycles to get  around short distances if gasoline is short and I'm buying an electric powered golf cart in a few weeks for leisure (but will be a supply hauler if gasoline is exhausted).

I Have 7 bedrooms and 7 window AC units that are sill in boxes due to their lower power consumption. I'll need all that since I have 5 kids total plus their partners. A total of 15 rifles (if you add up all the weapons my kids own) including AR-15s, 10mm carbines, a 308 and a few shotguns... and at least 25 handguns of varying calibers

When shit hits the fan someone comes around my house looking for trouble they're going to find it as every person in the house will be armed with at least one rifle and one handgun.

If all of that is not good enough then I'll just accept my fate and it's off to the next life for me because if I ain't safe and surviving here I ain't safe and surviving nowhere.