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Mad at my husband >:-(

by: Northstar

Sat Feb 03, 2007 at 20:18:37 PM EST


I just gotta vent.
Northstar :: Mad at my husband >:-(
My husband's a smart guy, he "gets it", he really does. But he doesn't "get" the implications of it all like I do. Our cable was acting up, so today when the cable guys show up, down they traipsie to the basement where all our preps are stored -- they are literally _falling over_  and working around food preps stacked to our rafters.

Now, I had no idea cable wires came in through the outside to the basement and then up through the house. Had I known this like HE did, I would have thrown a sheet or something over our shelving and stacks!

Now he thinks the problem is that I'm mad at him. No; his problem is now that two cable guys worked all afternoon around our stacks of food and know where to find some when they get hungry. I'm already worried to death about where we live -- in a densely populated suburb near a not so good area, by a large city. (Detroit)  I already think we're in big trouble if civil unrest hits... now I've got these working guys to worry about.

I've told him if he had the dreams I have about me and our kids being executed while being robbed for our food he wouldn't be so lackladasical about our security issues. I'm just so upset.

What does one do about these spouse issues? How can we get even our nearest and dearest to _wake up and get it already?_ Ahhhhhhhhhhgh!
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Mad at my husband >:-( | 72 comments
It Ain't Easy Being Us
I feel your pain Northstar.  There are some things that I see and some things that hubby sees and some things that we just have to work around because we don't see eye to eye.

A lot will probably depend on your hubby's day-to-day exposure to people.  Working with low-income, at-risk families and seeing the mess some of them (not all of them of course) make of their lives, and the lives of their families, and how they always look for ways to "make do" and "survive" off of others' work ... well, you have to be careful not to let it drive you completely around the bend.  Of course socio-economics doesn't always dictate if someone is going to mess up, but it is where I experiences are.

Our experiences have given us a fairly clear picture of how bad things could get and we've planned accordingly as possible.  We had our remaining rose-colored glasses slapped off last year when someone vandalized one of our homes to the tune of about 100K in physical damage alone(figured didn't include contents).

One quick kick of reality's boot on his backside and he'll probably be a lot more understanding ... but it sure is painful.

Mine is I need a little physical help with prepping ... I'd love for him to go shopping with me a few times, or sit down and budget exactly how much to spend and when and on what item.  His time isn't very free, but sometimes I get frustrated and would just love for him to hop off of his train and take a ride on mine for a little while.

He gets it, I know he does.  He has given the OK and we've made mutual decisions when it comes to certain purchases and plans.  We talk about things late at night and there are no arguments, just good sound discussions.  But I still feel like I do most of it myself.  He makes the money, I spend it.  It makes me have to justify things more and be even more careful when it comes to purchasing items.  [sigh]  I'm afraid of being wasteful or "over enthusiastic."

I think every couple has something that they aren't on the exact same page with.  At least our husbands are sympathetic and are basically of like mind overall.  I know there are some gals ... and guys ... on here that have significant others that think they are just plain nuts.

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world, indeed it is the only thing that ever has. -- Margaret Mead

Men!
Kathy, if we didn't live in different states I'd swear we've married the same guy. (s) The post you wrote the other day about your/his roles and attitudes was right out of our lives, too. I'm immensely grateful that hubby is supportive, compared to what other people have to deal with, and the hairy eyeball is relatively rare.

But you're right about different experiences. He works with well-groomed professional types; I grew up with seedier experiences and know all too well that casual crime is just a way of getting by for *lots* of people... and that those with no boundries *at all* are getting scarily common and are even glorified as leaders. We've had armed carjackings within a mile of our "nice" neighborhood. Hubby can envison neighbors knocking on the door asking for a cup of rice; I can see thugs kicking it in and us only being obstacles to get rid of.

I had to laugh when you mentioned being irked by the physical aspect of prepping... same here! Recently I told hubby to pick up a case of canned fruit on his way past Aldi -- he volunteered to manhandle a flat of (6 oz) mandrin oranges. I think you can see the eyeroll from here! (And came home with the required flat of 29oz peaches and pears, which I can hardly lift!) 

[ Parent ]
Mad at my husband
Northstar, you have every right to be angry. It probably never crossed his mind to need to hide the preps. I'm sure after thinking about it though, he probably feels horrible now.

Those guys go into so many homes every month, I really doubt if they'll be able to remember where they saw the stuff when the time comes. Most people see or hear about food storage and preps and just think the preppers are a little wierd.

My 17 yr. old son's girlfriend thinks that we have totally over reacted to the bird flu threat. My husband asked her to please not ever tell anyone about our preps and although she promised she wouldn't, she was practically rolling her eyes and laughing out loud.

All you can do now is try to prevent the stuff from being seen again by disguising, hiding, etc.; making sure you have everything you need to secure your home against intruders wtshtf, and try to get your husband to realize the implications of strangers knowing about your preps. Maybe ask him to read some of the possible scenarios, watch the you tube pandemic video about the gang of teens breaking into a guys home, etc. Good luck and sweet dreams.

 

Loony birdfluers
Hi Debbie, funny, I had a similar experience with my nephew's girlfriend... we had them over to dinner and she was rolling her eyes about her "looney" mother (an RN) who was stockpiling food for bird flu... I just about choked! And of course pointed out how REALLY REALLY SMART her mom was. (G)

Like you say, I am hoping that a panflu is so far under most everyone's radar that the food storage, along with all the other junk in our basement, just looks eccentric rather than appealing. In another, more obvious basement room, I do have the preps draped (a previous visit from a furnace guy!) and they just blend in with the misc. bags of  baby clothes, old desks and etc.

 

[ Parent ]
looney Mom
Was this perchance in NJ?

It is better to look ahead and prepare than to look back and regret.
[ Parent ]
no, I'm not biased ;-)
I have a hypothesis, that women (doubly so if you are a mother) have a biologically hard-wired set of antennae for anything and everything that can possibly go wrong.  These work like metal-detectors, and are on 24/7, even when you are asleep, and even in your imagination.  If you don't believe my last point, think of all the times when a guy says "how was I to know that was going to happen" and you said "I could have told you it was going to happen".  ie the guy needed the actual concrete experience, and even then still cannot 'get it', whereas the woman runs it on autopilot and in simulation mode, without having to 'get it' in real life!

Northstar, sorry you've had this happen.  No, I won't tell you not to worry; it's a legitimate concern, and it adds to the difficulties of preparing for a pandemic.  OTOH, I don't think this is an insurmountable problem, it might have created the opportunity for you and your family to have a serious discussion about personal safety in times of social disruptions.



All 'safety concerns' are hypothetical.  If not, they'd be called side effects...

Real vs. Possible
SusanC, that is so true! (G) When I read scenarios or see the YouTube video, I've _already thought_ these things myself... so it's like "See! Other people are thinking this through, too!" But with hubby, he's funny about what I can show him; if it's not fact, it just annoys him. Forget anything imaginative; it isn't _real_ for him. Frankly, it's hard enough to show him factual stuff I think is important. I sat him in front of a hour-long think tank presentation by Dr. Olsterholm... when I caught him snoozing I had to punch him in the arm and say, "It's the end of the world! Try to pay attention!" (wry S)

I suppose what *really* bugs me is we have had those personal safety converstations. Just a couple weeks ago we purchased a serious handgun (we were both anti until recently) so he does grasp what we are up against in theory. But he can't make the jump that "these guys" (the cable guys) could be "those guys" (the people one'd be defending one's life from) if famine strikes and when push comes to shove.

Now, that is something I get.

[ Parent ]
Cable guys
Dollars to donuts [being men]they didn't quite notice everything as much as you fear they did. My DH is a smart feller', but dumb as a salad as to what's around him while he's working on a project. Literally-I think he'd walk past a stack of crips 50's looking for some power widget-winder or seomthing.
Men are also hard wired- to focus on only one thing at a time-ie watching the Superbowl while the house burns down.

It is better to look ahead and prepare than to look back and regret.
Re: Men are also hard wired- to focus on only one thing
Uh, no. That's not quite correct. I would most certainly be using a water hose on my burning house as I dragged my big screen TV out the back door, hose in one hand and remote control in the other! ;-)
[ Parent ]
BB
I stand corrected, Sir :)

It is better to look ahead and prepare than to look back and regret.
[ Parent ]
Attention deficit
Grace, I hope you're right. Hubby actually said, "They weren't looking at that stuff" but now how one could miss eight foot stacks of canned goods where you're working is beyond me. I mean, I could hear one guy swearing under his breath when the gatorade kept falling over around his feet where he was wiring! (Of couse it didn't help a beach bag of bathing suits and surf shoes fell on him, too.)

I just hope lots of weirdos keep food in their basements and on their basement stairs. :-( Don't think so, tho.

 

[ Parent ]
Weirdos
Sure, there are LOTS if us....................

It is better to look ahead and prepare than to look back and regret.
[ Parent ]
Weirdos!
Said with _all_ the affection in my heart!
Because anyone who hoards food in their basement NOT for birdflu, well, they're just plain weird, eh?
[ Parent ]
of course not!
only the catfood goes on the basement stairs!

[ Parent ]
LOL LOL LOL! n/t


"I am opposed to any form of tyranny over the mind of man."  Thomas Jefferson
[ Parent ]
Wish there was a re-wind button!
We had guys in who saw a lot of food too, and I hope they forget.  I was thinking of making some changes to the exterior doors, so if they remember the address they might think, Hmm, THAT wasn't here last time and either not recognize the place or judge it not worth the effort to break in.  One more worry on the pile.  (And unnecessary, that's the part that hurts.)

"The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it."  Flannery O'Connor
Take a horse to water, can't make him think
Jane, exactly, it was just unnecessary. I actually *have* in place our old mattresses that can be slid over our stocks and shelves to hide them... it would just take a couple minutes and it just looks like we have old mattresses leaning against the wall. Hubby has even practiced with me sliding them.

But it's just so frustrating that I can take it all the way there, but he can't think through the last step of actually sliding those things into place when we need the stuff covered. Or even letting me know they'd be down there so I could do it. AAAAAAGGGGH! Now I'm mad again!

[ Parent ]
Take a horse to water, can't make him think
Ahhh...a quote to remember...LOL
[ Parent ]
sorry to say
sorry to say so, but the cable guys see similiar and weirder stuff all the time.  We recently had a small lady crushed to death in her house.  She was a "horder" -- a mental illness of some sort in which a person feels they cannot part with any item (this includes used kleenexes and used burger wrappers).  Anyway, a box fell on her and no one heard any calls for help.

Anyway, police and public health folks often get called in and find a house stuffed to the gills with stuff.  It's not an uncommon mental illness.  (Although I don't know I'd tell DH this!  No use giving him ammo!). 

This may be a good thing for all of us -- I am thinking now that I could throw a tarp or sheet over some of our canned good shelves.  Might not be a bad idea. 

In tough times, if those cable guys are unscrupulous, I'll bet they will recall the house with the big screen TV, the gun safe and the walk in beer cooler.

In the eye of the beholder
Olymom, I am so glad you said that! It made me feel so much better! You are right; I see preps through my eyes as something very valuable but to others, what is "valuable" is going to be very different!

I am hoping that we just looked a bit eccentric, and with our basement in disarray, it isn't hard. We're in the middle of a big re-sort and toss-out so we have more room for preps and it's pretty trashed, so "junk" blended with the food stocks.

Oh, I've got one of those horders... my dad. Depression era guy, you never know when some useless bit of garbage is going to be handy. At least he's tidy about it... years of unread magazines are neatly boxed and slowly filling room after room. He still has his college textbooks from 60 years ago -- I told my mom at least they can burn them for warmth if a panflu strikes in winter but she said he'd throw himself on the pyre. (G)

It's an object lesson when I look at some piece of junk in my basement and make the decision whether it goes or stays.

[ Parent ]
Eccentric

I had a couple of furnace repair guys in my basement last spring--before, keep in mind, I even had begun to truly stockpile anything. They didn't realize I had come downstairs, and I heard one of say something like, "Hungry?" and the other one chuckled.

They were looking at one set of shelves with my normal Sam's Club bulk buys on it.

So yes, they thought I was eccentric. And I'm sure other repair people would, too.

The amount of goods I have stored in that space now would boggle those same repairmen.

I'm going to make covers for my shelving out of sheets, and if per chance anyone asks, I'm just saying I'm running a catering business! ;)


[ Parent ]
Sheets or cheep fabric
Sometimes I can't help but buy fabric when it's on sale.  I had this wonderful bolt of fabric from wallyworld, only $1 a yard. I cut the fabric into panels and sewed a pocket on one end then hung it from the rafters with wire using old conduit for a rod. I even had a curved piece of conduit so it covered around the corner of the selving unit. Looks great, keeps out the dust and light and prying eyes.  I pull back the "curtains" whenever I need a boost.  I makes me feel great!

Not silver or sage, just a blend of colors!
[ Parent ]
Holden Caulfield

Wasn't it Holden Caulfield (Catcher in the Rye) who would periodically survey the contents of his medicine cabinet and achieve a sense of satisfaction that it was well stocked? Or am I mixing up my high school classics?


[ Parent ]
Or maybe it's your husband's hobby materials or stuff from your parents' basement?
Catering is food, too, even if you don't say it's for emergencies.

"The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it."  Flannery O'Connor
[ Parent ]
Stored goods
I'd be inclinedto think a cover of the shelves would raise more curiosity than not.........

It is better to look ahead and prepare than to look back and regret.
[ Parent ]
I do believe that
the closer to a pandemic we get, the more our husbands and wives will get the picture. Sad to say, that for most this is what it will take. However, I've learned with my hubby, that prepping can not be labled "just for pandemic." Prepping is for emergency/disaster, and of course pandemic falls into that. I think too, we have to take some blame for our spouse's reaction over our "hoarding." I can totally see where being scared to death by a "bird flu pandemic, and a reason for hoarding", would create bad feelings between prepper and spouse. I think we've lost sight of our responsibility for keeping things calm with the people in our lives, concerning H5N1. I too, was having some problems with hubby, and it hit me during a conversation, that I don't have to talk about BF/pandemic to get him to understand the need for being prepared. Once I dropped birf flu from reasons to prepare, he got it. I used our experieces from emergencies/disasters to prove my point. He was more receptive, and more willing to help prep for those situations.
My advice is to back off on the BF talk, and focus on emergencies/disaster/ economics of prepping. They can understand that better than they can understand BF/pandemic.
Above all else, don't let it become a tension between you two. If he/she doesn't want to talk about it, than don't.

United we stand: Divided we fall
www.flunewsnetwork.com
Making the sale
Cottontop, I found when my husband was initially resistant, pointing out to him that when I buy a case of something on sale it means we don't have to pay the higher price ever. Pointing at a case of spagetti sauce bought for a dollar each and saying that it saved us at least $21, and a case of spagetti at a quarter each rather than a dollar saved us $15, made all the difference in the world to him.

Now, though, that he "gets it" and has gone through his adjustment reactions, I don't have to use these "excuses." But it does make for getting good prices on things.

[ Parent ]
DH's
My husband signed and groaned but put up with it until we ran out of coffee in the kitchen on a cold winter's morning.

Just went upstairs to the 'Strategic Supplyroom' as he calls it (my 26 yo daughter calls it 'The Armageddon room, the 34 yo calls it 'TEOTWAWKI Room'), grabbed a can of coffee and bingo! he saw the light!!!!

It is better to look ahead and prepare than to look back and regret.

[ Parent ]
I wouldn't sweat it
Most folks are too busy worrying about their own problems to notice much around them.  Those guys likely had one part of their mind on how to fix the cable problem and the other on why earlier that morning the wife got upset cause he wasn't paying attention to what she said over breakfast.  (Yea, we can multi-task think, but its usually concerning ourselves;-)  In all likelyhood, those guys glanced at all the preps and thought, "wow, that's a lot of stuff,...did my wife say to pick up some canned peaches this morning...uh, oh well....now, where's that cable box"
What we see, genderized
Okieman, having the "guy talk" here is really helpful... do you _really_ think it is possible that cable guys could see big stacks of canned goods and not have it register? Oh, please say yes, that's perfectly possible. Remember, women see lint on the carpet. We're just different.
[ Parent ]
guys see it too
yes they do see it. My contractor said "wow you sure have alot of food here! What are you expecting a hurricane?"

It was early in the game. I didn't think. I told him about Panflu.

Now i cover everything.

And I've learned how to fix almost everything myself.

Tell the truth

[ Parent ]
Just another day at work
Most men are not all that terribly observant, unless it is something they are interested in.  Most guys aren't interested in a bunch of canned goods.  It also sounds like you have a bunch of other "stuff" mixed in with the eatables.  I think anybody that routinely enters others houses to work on a day-in day-out basis (like your cable guys) probably soon no longer really pay attention to what they see.  I bet they did not give it a second thought.  Just another day at work. 
[ Parent ]
yeah, plus the fact that most folks don't even take this seriously
will keep you safely in the group of folks who are 'dismissed-from-mind-as-important'.  The only folks who are in the 'stick-out-like-a-sore-thumb' important category are the ones who have a Lotus or a Ferrari in their garage, or a posh spa retreat built into their basement.
[ Parent ]
me too
i always have my preps covered... first time i realized it, workmen were coming in to fix the electric.. right near my shelves... sheet went up immediately.

As far as significant others getting it as the pandemic nears...

I have been wrapping my mind around every possible contingency for close to 2 years... every day... almost all day (most of you do too i am sure) still live life... but always with Panflu in the background.

Do you think that when it hits, I will be able to decide what we do? hahahahaha
DW will be making all the decisions... right?

We are doomed.

Tell the truth

Atlas can't shrug, not really
Goju, that has been the thought in the back of my mind all along... if/when it hits, hubby is going to turn to me and ask, "what do we do?" So I better have it done because kicking him in the behind over not doing it himself isn't going to make us any better off when it comes.
[ Parent ]
Kicking in the Behind
Northstar, you said it perfectly.  My husband has also been supportive up to a point, but we disagree on some basic issues.  First, he keeps telling me that when the pandemic starts, we'll still have weeks to prepare for it.  I simply can't convince him that we'll have days at most, and that that the stores will be cleaned out in hours. Second, he thinks I go too far with my end-of-the-world scenario.  I keep pointing out that it's the CDC and the government who keep telling us these dire statistics of 40% workforce absenteeism, possible food scarcities and utility disruptions, and even civil unrest.  So I keep buying things like batteries and charcoal for those powerless days as well as extra rice and beans for our neighbors and relatives who are not listening.

And you are right about what our husbands will say when this thing happens.  They will assume that we have prepared for everything and know all there is to know about how to survive.  And if we don't, we'll get blamed. 

"I am opposed to any form of tyranny over the mind of man."  Thomas Jefferson

[ Parent ]
DH's
re" They will assume that we have prepared for everything and know all there is to know about how to survive.  And if we don't, we'll get blamed."

You hit the nail squarely on the head with that!!!

We sound like a red-hat meeting!!! LOLOLOLOL!!!

It is better to look ahead and prepare than to look back and regret.

[ Parent ]
Yeah well, sneaking food into the house is not my idea of fun.
And I've been guilty of doing that too.  It's not that my DH vocalizes his deep-seated fear that I have gone over the deep end; he doesn't do that much.  I just hate it when he looks at me with those accusatory blue eyes that speak volumes about how completely unnecessary all this hoarding of food is, and his secret fear is that I will eventually turn into the stereotypical crazy woman with a hundred cats. LOL.

I only have one defense to my name.  This is MY discretionary spending money, and I can do whatever I please with it.  He spends his on his guy-type hobby stuff, and I spend it on food.  To maintain the thin veil of being hip and cool, I try to cultivate the air of being a haute-couture cajun-chef-wannabe (LOL) so I can justify buying all that food.  But it's really lame, at best.  It's hard to explain why I have over a hundred pounds of rice stashed away in various parts of my house, as well as pasta coming out of my ears.  But as long as I cook foods that he loves to eat every day, he hasn't been too overly dramatic about his disapproval. 

Bless his heart. :D 

[ Parent ]
I had to punch him in the arm and say, "It's the end of the world! Try to pay attention!"
I about fell off my chair after reading this comment! LOL!! I feel the same way. My husband always says, "I don't need to worry about it. You do all the worrying for us. If it happens, I'll know where to get the info I need." ;-/

We live outside of Detroit, too. I am very worried that this prep work will be for nothing if so many others are unprepared and without resources. There are so many poor here. But even the wealthy, if unprepared, will go looking. How will we protect our preps if so many others are hungry? I often wonder if most of it will get left behind if we decide it is better to go north.

When I think about going north, I wonder how we will determine the best timing and not get stuck on the road unable to get through nor turn back. (Of course, I'm imagining the worst-case scenario) And we still have to work, so how do we leave? That thought is just as scary. I try not to think about it too much. I don't like the idea of leaving my things behind for an extended period, and we have no way of moving the preps and personal belongings up ahead of time.

both spouses need to know stuff
what if one of you gets hit by a pickle truck; excused early, or, just very sick with some garden-variety stuff where you're incommunicado for a couple of days or something?

At least have a notebook you each have half of to write "if you're reading this, I ain't here" stuff in. He can write instructions on how to do /fix things, and anything else you need to know, and you can write where the extra meds, legal papers, various bug-out bags, food, cookboks, cat litter - and what some of the stuff is supposed to be used for -if you had no cat!)

[ Parent ]
both spouses need to know stuff
Oh, I'm so excited. He came home from Costco with extra cases of beans, soups, veggies, and tuna. Maybe he's paying more attention than I give him credit for. He watched the Minn. video tonight, too, and we went through the preps.

He knows where everything is. I have three ring binders full of extra info, too.

[ Parent ]
Good to hear; live long and prosper! :-) n/t

[ Parent ]
and Ziggy sang, "Panic in Detroit"
Oh, I so hear you, wikimetoo... did you read in the newspaper today about how even the police are stunned at this new breed of criminal... ones who kill just to kill, and quoted the one saying if a person he robbed didn't have anything he "wasn't going to go home with nothing."

But you're right, starving people of any stripe will do anything. It's just that some will do it *sooner* *harder* and more remorselessly.

I too wonder if all these preps are for naught, to be left behind as we flee. My solution to the how far and when is to look for a property to buy within a couple hours driving and, in a pinch, long bike ride distance... and do what we can to have a desperation refuge ready. I'm talking Native American wikiup in the woods and laying low big time. It could be bad, really bad. Any further north than that, or U.P. and they'll blow the bridges, count on it.

I think there will come a time when the decision of leaving it all behind and running will be a decision that that will be obvious if/when it's necessary.

[ Parent ]
I didn't read the paper,
but it doesn't shock me. Sad that things don't shock me anymore. Was it here that I read something regarding an article on gang activity recently...something about gangs throughout the U.S. hording weapons, waiting for a civil disruption? Crazy.

Escanaba is looking better all the time. If the bridges are gone, less people to get through. :-( Too bad we have no family resources that far north.

[ Parent ]
You do all the worrying for us
My husband always says, "I don't need to worry about it. You do all the worrying for us. If it happens, I'll know where to get the info I need." ;-/

Ditto!!

Mine gets it- but only wants to hear the really imporant highlights and only once a day. Though last week I had just read about nigeria and them the whole broadcast on Thursday and I sent home an e-mail- get gas cans and propane tanks filled- water barrels? and when I came home- the tanks were filled and there were some extra barrels for the downspouts and he was on-line looking at large foodgrade water storage for keeping drinking water in the basement.

But he doesn't want to "discuss" it casually

NEXT TIME
try this...

"My church is having a food drive and I'll be glad when we deliver this to them next week."

Brilliant! n/t

[ Parent ]
Glad to see I'm not the only one
with spousal differences when it comes to prepping!  DH is supportive to a certain extent.  Several significant power outages helped to convince him of the need for a generator, if anything just so we have water (well).  But when it comes to prep items he definitely thinks I'm a bit of a nutter!  I'm forbidden from buying any more camping lights!  I know exactly what his reaction will be when I buy a 55 gallon water barrel (lots of eye-rolling and "you've got to be kidding.  It won't be that bad.")  And he definitely doesn't see the need to hide our preps.  I've covered everything in our basement and have scoped lots of hiding places throughout the house - if TSHTF much of what's in the basement will go into hiding.  It's down there now just so I can get to it, rotate, etc.  But he thinks hiding stuff is extreme.  However, I also believe that if he did more research he would better realize the gravity of the matter.  But he works all the time and spends what little free time he has with our family, so I can't ask him to scour the internet for AF developments.  He trusts my judgement - as long as it doesn't cost too much money! 

As for your cable guy - here are two thoughts.  1) Those guys go into so many houses everyday.  They've probably seen it all and then some.  What are the chances he'll remember your house 16 months from now?  2) If he's anything like the cable guys who have been to our house, he's lucky he can remember how to get back to the office.  Not the brightest bulb! 

Comfortably numb
LOL! They looked like biker bar rejects, the kind you don't want coming in your house anyway... and they kept going back to the van. I hope it was because they were smoking dope! (G)
[ Parent ]
You all must have been sending some good vibes my way
Something my hubby hates to do is shop.  Well, after church I was summarily pulled from the house and rushed to Lowe's so he could buy the pantry that I had been eyeing ... and was promptly told that he didn't like that.  He liked the more expensive one so that is the one we wound up buying.  [grin]  71 x 30 x 16.  Of course it is sitting in the floor waiting to be put together, but bless him he really meant to get to it tonight.  LOL!

Then he said let's look at the gas grills.  Didn't see anything we could afford there ... so off to wallyworld we ran.  We got a really great deal on a Brinkman 4 burner/60,000 BTU.  Wahoooo!

Two huge things off of my prep list.  I can't believe it.  Hoping the "vibes" are hitting your significant others as well.  ROFL!!!

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world, indeed it is the only thing that ever has. -- Margaret Mead

Good vibes
Must be something in the air... or just an apology of sorts. (S)  Some wives get flowers, but my hubby brought home 8 cases of veggies from Meijers! (Does it count that I told him to? At least he actually did it!)
[ Parent ]
here's my recent experience, on guys and gals ;-)
Without going into specifics, I recently needed to get my DH to phone the bank which was waiting for a document from company A, let's say, to complete the business.  I needed the stuff in a hurry, so I said can you call the bank and get them to chase up the company, and when they get the document, email it to me.  Now I've been married 25 years, so I know better than just give instructions on important things without making him repeat it back to me.  What did I get as "what I just said"?  He was going to call the bank, and tell them that when they get the document they should email it to me.

Here's the test, without going back to re-read the paragraph, (don't cheat now!) how many of you noticed what was wrong on first read?  Then, are you guy or gal? 

lol



All 'safety concerns' are hypothetical.  If not, they'd be called side effects...

Hmmm...this is a hard one.
Did your husband say, "Uhhh, lessee.  I'm supposed to go to the bank and get the document and email it to you."

That's what my DH would say, and then add something off the wall like, "How about faxing it over, would that work as well?"

LOL.

[ Parent ]
the key word here
was chase.

As in chase them up, not, whenever they get it, in their own good time.



All 'safety concerns' are hypothetical.  If not, they'd be called side effects...

[ Parent ]
yeah
doing something else counts as doing, you know.  ;-)



All 'safety concerns' are hypothetical.  If not, they'd be called side effects...
[ Parent ]
Red Hat Meeting
GraceRN - My education is sadly lacking.  What is a Red Hat Meeting and how do I get there?!

"I am opposed to any form of tyranny over the mind of man."  Thomas Jefferson
you sure? ;-)
http://www.redhatsoc...

Think you can turn them to the Prepping Side? ;-)

[ Parent ]
Yup-55 going on 21..


It is better to look ahead and prepare than to look back and regret.
[ Parent ]
I wanted to be at my house
when the guys came to hook up our DSL connection-but my daughter wanted to see a wildlife program at our county library, so I dropped her off in town, and she was to walk over to a friends house, (after the program) and stay till I could come get her.  She loves all kinds of animals and even has a little nature display in our basement-turtle shells, various bones, etc.  One of her exhibits  is a snake skin-that caught the attention of one of the cable guys.  I  told him I was pretty sure there weren't any live snakes in that part of the basement. 
  After they left(They weren't there very long)I picked up my daughter and asked how the program went and she said  fine-but was very quiet about it.  You could imagine my surprise when, a couple of days later  on the front page of our local paper was a picture of my daughter at the library program with a huge grin on her face ..... and an 8-foot snake draped around her shoulders!  That made the rounds in our town!  My co-workers put a copy of the picture on the bulletin board.  This was the same time that a blacksnake took up lodgings in my washer and I was grumbling about that.

  Some weeks ago, I offered my house as a place for our book club to meet, but the members politely declined and we met elsewhere.  I thought at the time it was because my house is out of the way for most of the members, but a good friend tipped me off that one of the members remembered the newspaper picture, and thought we had snakes running around the house (kinda funny, because, you know, snakes can't run.)

I'm thinking now that it might be a good thing to encourage this "snakes in the house" story.  Its an idea to get a big harmless but scary looking snake and plop him down in a tank in front of your prep shelves.  My guess is that workmen in the basement wouldn't be paying attention to your canned goods.  Just a thought.

or a realistic rubber snake.. do they come in coral snake? n/t

[ Parent ]
Yes!
Also cobra and rattlesnake.  A snake collector could have any kind, so it doesn't matter where you live.  Just set up a terrarium with light for heating it.  :)

http://www.thebigzoo...

"The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it."  Flannery O'Connor

[ Parent ]
notice preps?
I don't have the pleasure of havin a basement, so I do the closet thingy, I have three closets in my bedroom. The back of each one is stacked to the top with boxes of emergency foods and essentials. I don't have a hubby or even boyfriend to notice, but I do have a bug man come regularly to spray. I'm just so happy to know that I'm not the only one out there worrying if things get noticed. I do have to tell ya that he has told me a time or two about some shocking thing he's seen in people's houses. BUT happy to say none of it's been food stored away. Ladies it's mostly about, OMG you wouldn't believe how dirty some people are. They really notice stuff like trophies and men's toys, and how dirty a woman lets her house get. They don't seem to even see canned good sitting around . Now I do know they would notice if it was a Cake sitting on the counter or a big platter of cookies or brownies and gotta say men don't forget stuff like that . so if it's canned, ROFLMFAO, it's invisible. So I think if it's not cooked , your safe for the most part and I pray it stays that way. and if I bake it gets put away when the plumber or cable guy or bug man happens around. hahahah
notice preps?
I don't have the pleasure of havin a basement, so I do the closet thingy, I have three closets in my bedroom. The back of each one is stacked to the top with boxes of emergency foods and essentials. I don't have a hubby or even boyfriend to notice, but I do have a bug man come regularly to spray. I'm just so happy to know that I'm not the only one out there worrying if things get noticed. I do have to tell ya that he has told me a time or two about some shocking thing he's seen in people's houses. BUT happy to say none of it's been food stored away. Ladies it's mostly about, OMG you wouldn't believe how dirty some people are. They really notice stuff like trophies and men's toys, and how dirty a woman lets her house get. They don't seem to even see canned good sitting around . Now I do know they would notice if it was a Cake sitting on the counter or a big platter of cookies or brownies and gotta say men don't forget stuff like that . so if it's canned, ROFLMFAO, it's invisible. So I think if it's not cooked , your safe for the most part and I pray it stays that way. and if I bake it gets put away when the plumber or cable guy or bug man happens around. hahahah
Hi lady biker, good to see you posting again! n/t

[ Parent ]
uh oh
sorry about that........someone want to make one of these postings dissappear???? or me.........hahahh
You could take that one step
further, and put fake spiders in an empty fish tank, keep them moved around. Then you could have spiders and snakes.

United we stand: Divided we fall
www.flunewsnetwork.com
To Serve Mankind
Cottontop, think big! I could take it one step farther by ordering a medical display skeleton from Ebay, arranging the bones artfully in my unused canning pots in front of my shelves, and label my jars with a code such as "Mrs. Hansen" = chicken, and so forth.

Well, at least they'd leave the homecanned alone. ;-)

[ Parent ]
Hattip to lmwatbullrun for reintroducing me to Kipling's poem
The Female of the Species,
http://www.online-li...
medical bones from ebay........hahha
I am laffin so hard I can hardly type........I think if ya wanna make them run, would be to take it one step further with those medical bones and put them in jars and then label them. but again you do want to get the work done, not make them run for their lives. but sure would be funny to be a bug on the wall and hear what was said on their way up the stairs and out. I can only imagine. LOLOLOL
Be sure to mark one jar, Abbey Normal n/t


To calm the wife buy cases of chocolate, to calm the husband buy cases of booze, and to calm the children...... heck the booze and chocolate should work.
[ Parent ]
What hump? n/t ;-)

[ Parent ]
Make sure you have a manually operated security system?
You got your large caliber security systems?
Mad at my husband >:-( | 72 comments
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