Little Women

• Mar. 17, 2006 - Did we learn anything from Y2K?

A series of posts on a different forum made me pause to think. I'm not one to get easily upset about news stories, especially those we can't do anything about. But someone was worrying about the bird flu, and I skimmed the postings. I noticed something I hadn't thought about before.

One of the concerns, apparently, is that, if a lot of people were to become ill, it would greatly disrupt the trucking industry. In our day of just-in-time economics, where grocery stores stock only 1-3 days worth of food, this could quickly become a problem.

I had previously thought--no big deal, I will just order groceries online. But what if there were no groceries? Few of us grow our own food, and even then, we rarely grow ALL of it.

Even without bird flu, chances are that there will be something similar, at some point. Maybe it would be 10 years--maybe 10 months......

I remember many, many people, at the time of Y2K, talking about how it wasn't just "fear of Y2K," how preparation was a good and godly thing, how Joseph prepared for famine, etc. As soon as Y2K was over, however, ALL of this discussion I was hearing went completely away.

Perhaps it would behoove us to be similarly prepared for whatever emergencies could arise, be they earthquakes, major computer viruses, or even, if the case may be, bird flu.

• Mar. 17, 2006 - I agree

Posted by homeiscool

We just had a record snow here in our town, we are fairly remote, about a 4 hour drive from each of the 'major cities', Tucson, Phoenix, and Albuquerque. About 3 days after the BIG SNOW, we ventured out to WalMart, and found the shelves to be bare! It was incredible. Like something you see in a disaster movie. There was one kind of cheese left. About 2 different loaves of bread to choose from. Hardly any milk, and the list goes on. This got me thinking, we need to be a little better prepared. I'm not going to go as crazy as I did during Y2K, but I am going to fill my pantry again, and now that wildfire season is approaching, never leave our vehicles with less than half a tank of gas.

Permanent Link

• Mar. 28, 2006 - I was just thinking about the same thing . . .

Posted by Anonymous

At the post office yesterday, they had a little brochure, put out by the Department of Homeland Security, on being prepared for whatever happens. I can't help but think it isn't just coincidence that we had Y2K, then 9/11, and now the bird flu - seems to me we do need to keep a few things on hand just in case. Water seems to me to be the biggest need - though also the most difficult thing to store - followed by canned or dried foods. Hmm - definitely got me thinking. And if something serious ever did happen, wouldn't we be upset with ourselves for not preparing ahead of time?

Great post, sis!

Permanent Link

• Apr. 3, 2006 - I think that this is one thing that the neighbors may be doing right.

Posted by higginszoo

They do a lot of odd things that I don't always understand, but keeping a year or 2 worth of food in event of widespread or very local disruption in the food supply (anything from earthquake to job layoff) really does make sense. We're working on building a supply up. Maybe just a few months, but it does make sense.

Permanent Link