Trying to get through to the thick headed

A little over a year ago (2/22/11) I posted about hanging out with a friend of mine in the desert.  This friend prides himself with being a survivalist but he's wrong.  He's an excellent hunter and fisherman, and he's supplied my family with plenty of antelope, elk, and salmon.  But, a survivalist he isn't.  He came for a visit yesterday.  He spent a few days at the coast in his trailer and figured he'd make the couple hour drive inland to see how things were going around here.  He left the trailer at the ocean since his mother, sister, and brother were going to stay there for the next couple of weeks.  He won't be as he has to return to work on Friday. 

He told me that he is retiring on Dec. 21, 2012.  He picked that day on purpose because he's thinking that TS will HTF on that specific date.  If that's the case don't you think you should retire the week before?  Isn't that a bad day to have to spend in the big city filling out all your paperwork?  Besides, TS may HTF on that day but it won't be because the Mayan calendar is predicting it.  It will be because the calendar is causing it.  I told him that I would expect shortages and craziness to begin at least a month before then and to really escalate within the week before.  Why?  Because people are going to stock up at the last minute...just in case.  Those people will cause shortages.  They will end up being the cause of TSHTF.  Perhaps he should retire on December 1?  

He wanted to know about my putting food up.  He has canned in tin cans, which I've never done, but he's never used a pressure canner for canning jars and he's never heard of boiling water baths.  He has a smoker and a food saver.  He's never used a dehydrator.  He has never gardened.  He doesn't know where to buy silver coins.  He has a lot to learn.  

First thing is his expectation that he will be able to just go out and hunt.  He may be good with a gun but doesn't he realize that everyone and their brother and sister will be out in the woods hunting and that's not the best idea?  He needs to be able to support himself on his piece of property, wherever that is.  Originally he talked about heading to Mexico or North Dakota or Montana when TSHTF.  Now he's talking about in the mountains of California or even bugging in there in Southern California.  If he does it right he can make it.  But I'm sure he won't do it right.  

He wanted to know how I figured out what to put into our home store.  I put in what we eat!  Sure I have freeze dried cheese in there that I don't want to open but that's because the 5 pound bags of cheese can still be bought at Costco and my refrigerator and freezer still work.  We also have MREs that we don't eat.  I explained that we eat just about everything that's stored so it continuously gets rotated.  He'd never seen Gamma seals for buckets and didn't even know where to get buckets.  I explained how I will buy a 25 pound bag of rice and flour then stick them in the freezer for a week to kill off bugs.  Then I'll pack it into the buckets.  I explained Mylar bags and getting rid of oxygen.   He said he wants a home store like ours.  All it takes is money and a bit of time.  He has the money but I don't think he's willing to put in the time. 

I can offer my services of setting up the house.  Since he has a large family (mother, brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews) would he be setting his place up for all or just a few?  I wonder?  Perhaps I'll make him an offer...for $5,000 I can set him up with food for a year and some silver coins.  The problem would be that I could shop, set up shelves, buckets, and all but when TSHTF you should already be familiar with your preps.  You should be eating pretty much the same way now as then. Your lifestyle shouldn't change too much if possible. 

It's been over a year since he and I first spent time discussing survivalism.  He still thinks it means cool clothes.  At some point he's going to have to realize that money won't buy what he needs.  That is a change he will have to make in himself.  I hope it won't be too late.