A Sockalypse Now!

[Orange Krate]

Lt. Dan Taylor: Two standing orders in this platoon. One, take good care of your feet. Two, try not to do anything stupid, like getting yourself killed.

I’m reading Survivors, an apocalyptic book by James Wesley Rawles right now. One of the characters is stocking up for WTSHTF and one of the items he gets is tube socks. It dawned on me when I was getting ready for work that I have a pair of socks that I’ve been wearing for over 7 years.

Redwing socks, I remember because they were $6 for the pair! I was trying on boots and had been in mine for 12 hours and bought a pair out of embarrassment. When I protested at the price the salesman said, “Just wait. You’ll buy more.”

He was right…most comfortable socks I ever owned. I have almost 100% Redwing socks now and that original pair is still in the mix. I’m pretty hard on underwear(hold the jokes) being in boots from 10PM until 5PM next day so that’s really saying something.

So if you’re going to stock up on socks for barter I suggest Redwing. Cost a lot in this economy…but may be worth a few hundred rounds of ammo in the next.

What would(do) you stock up on?

discuss...

 

[Kaptain Krunch]

I have a decent arsenal, along with a few friends, so i personally wouldn't worry about much else. I would simply go looting to get all my supplies. Fuel however may be something to keep in mind, but gas doesn't last very long. even with stabilizer a year or two is about it. Diesel would be worth investing in.

 

[fowler]

ha hell yea

me and a freind spent 6 hrs on a bus to camp planning how to defend Esperance (our town) agaist the chinese invasion

we figure we have the biggest port in the area for a few hundred ks so we will be a target
we figure we could sink a few iron ore ships in the port that should limit the chance of us being a target

we are also a huge fuel depot with 11 of those huge tanks plus some underground tanks so were good for quite a while

we figure the land is basically deap flat
blowing out a bridge will only stop trucks as all the rivers are only 3 or 4 metres wide

so in that case well move back out to our farms taking as much as possible (screw everyone else)
if that fails we will move into the national park where it is impossibl to track people and the bush is too thick to see from above
theres a famous story where a jap sub landed on the shores below where our farm now is
they stayed there for a few days and left without detection

the only issue we have is ammo
because this is australia u cant buy 50 cal ammo at the deli
we have just one small gun shop and the ammo is ordered on request
but we figure we can make some good weapons
explosives isnt an issue as we have thousands of tonnes of superfosphate and alot of deisel
we rekon a leaf spring from a truck and what ever we findwill do some dmage

not sure why we figured this out but was a fun bus trip

and in a completlly differat direction
do u guys get explorer socks
they are the best
thick woolen socks because they are wool they are neither hot nor cold and they dont smell arter wering them
im the same as u work an average of 12hrs

 

[anderkart]

I think... If more and more people keep freaking out and planning for (and constantly talking about) WTSHTF, It'll help it to actually happen.

I also think anyone that believes what the kooks on most politically-inspired radio talkshows constantly babble on about, would be doing the whole world a big favor by simply changing the channel and listening to music instead.

I've got several close friends that are 'all into' talkradio and planning for doomsday, they've all ended up being miserable and dont do a dam thing that would actually help improve our current situation...

PS: However I do agree Redwing socks are freakin awesome!

 

[fowler]

Ha u don't think ye are serious

It's not like in fortifying my house or stockpiling food

It's just a fun mind game
It's good to do some problem solving now and again

 

[Orange Krate]

I agree too. I mostly engage in this line as a creative thinking exercise. For the most part, I always find I would be as screwed as the next guy. So, I try to change little things for self improvement.

We buy food in bulk because we have a big family. This sets a min-max inventory that always gets used and replenished. Believe me, I’m no survivalist but I am a step ahead of “The Wal-Mart Effect” here in Dallas/Ft. Worth where the slightest hint of an ice storm leaves the bread shelves completely empty. I’ve actually seen crazy eyed, ravenous people after just a 3 day storm. It’s unsettling.

Our cars have huge tanks so we rarely buy a whole tank at a time as the pump usually won’t allow it. So, I’ve gone to buying the top half of the tank…that way I always have at least ½ a tank.

I wear steel toe work boots to church. That way they’re already broke in for work and my work boots then become my yard boots and I just replace the church boots some time before Sunday. I always have at least 3 pair on hand.

I haven’t really changed my consumption in some kooky preparedness way. What I’ve done is just made my life a little easier. I’d whole lot rather buy boots when I happen to be at the store than to make a special trip. Little things like these I do as a result of common sense creative thinking exercises.

Most importantly, I don’t listen to talk radio, I listen to music because…

"I've got a shotgun, a rifle and a four-wheel-drive and a country boy can survive."

 

[fowler]

u have a liwit on the fuel u are allowed?

i can get 150lt in 2 tanks and try to keep it full because it sucks when u have to fill up in a small town and the price is double what i pay in the city

it would be intresting to see the aprocoliyps senerio everytime theres a snow storm
thets proberbly what anerkart is talking about

they alway perdict huge storms and winds so no one takes them seriously and ignores the warnings
snow really isnt an issue for us though


what the hell is WTSHTF
it sounds like u guys get some real beilivers in the end of world thing
iv never heard it discussed on the radio or on tv
no one really talks about it ever
maybe we are all too chilled out

there was one woman in a town a bit away from us that insisted the aliens were going to get her
so she biult an underground bunker with all the stuff a house would have but then lined it with lead paint to keep the aliens out
apparently the aliens can fly across space at light speed but cant be near lead???
not sure she had the soundest mind or the best reasoning
unfortunatly it got too much and she ended it

 

[landuse]

snow really isnt an issue for us though

We sometimes have light frost that makes people stockpile food

 

[fowler]

ha
fire is our only real issue
u should see the disasters on the freeway when it rains though
apparently wet roads in aus is worse than an ice lake
everyone must drive 30kph below the limit and if u dare drive the limit u are thought to be a mad man

 

[souperman000]

ha
fire is our only real issue
u should see the disasters on the freeway when it rains though
apparently wet roads in aus is worse than an ice lake
everyone must drive 30kph below the limit and if u dare drive the limit u are thought to be a mad man

Rain + Socal drivers = me getting hot roadrage.

The Zombie thing in America is a cult following. There are TV shows, merchandise, anything you can think of. In fact, an automatic shooting range in Las Vegas even has a "zombie package."

 

[machinist@large]

u have a liwit on the fuel u are allowed?

i can get 150lt in 2 tanks and try to keep it full because it sucks when u have to fill up in a small town and the price is double what i pay in the city




what the hell is WTSHTF
it sounds like u guys get some real beilivers in the end of world thing

He's most likely referring to the arbitrary Dollar amounts you can pour into your your tank at one time; it's at the discretion of the gas station's management how large a sale they allow on a charge/ debit card at the pump. Some will allow you to fill your tank if you select the "Pay Inside" option; other's, you have to stop, and restart so you can finish filling your tank(s) as a separate transaction. If you drive something with a tank that holds more than 15 gallons, this becomes very frustrating, very quickly.

WTSHTF= When The Sh*t Hits The Fan; If you ever saw the movie "Air Plane" with Leslie Nielsen, it has a textbook example in one of the scene's.

As far as having a LOT of people that REALLY, REALLY need Adult Supervision, you get used to it. It can actually be rather entertaining; if you work with one, the game is on!!!