Quietly Going Crazy in Deep Rural America

Have I gone crazy, or what?

Living out here on a gravel road in deep rural America, I've been following the financial news online lately. Greece, Europe, etc. This is the kind of stuff I've been following, with mild interest, for some time now. But just this morning I kicked into gear, in my own small way, for the very first time.

I made the long drive in to town to do my usual grocery shopping this morning. And I picked up a lot of extra groceries. About $100 of extra canned soup, canned vegetables, the kind of food I could eat out of the can if I were without power. Picked up other supplies as well: extra batteries, enough old fashioned light bulbs that I wondered if I might be asked about it.

I've got some cupboards in the back of my house, by the washer and dryer, largely empty. Every time I make a trip in to town from now on, I'm going to pick up some extra supplies, and stash them in those cupboards.

Maybe I'm being paranoid, but if so all it'll cost me is a few hundred dollars of extra canned goods and other miscellaneous useful items stored in the back hallway. Cheap insurance, just in case the shit hits the fan.

And if the shit doesn't hit the fan, I can always draw down my supplies, eating them at my leisure.

Meanwhile this afternoon I've been entertaining myself by hunting around and digging out my farmer matches, spare flashlight, sewing kit, folding and fixed-blade knives, and water bottle with filter. Hey, if nothing else it's a way to spend a rainy afternoon.

And I've even been pondering on the fact that most of my neighbors, who unlike me have lived here all their lives, are heavily armed, and what's more they know how to use their guns. I myself don't own a gun, and never have. But if the shit ever does hit the fan, and any troublemakers drift out here from the big city, they wouldn't dare come poking around my place. If they did, they'd be playing Russian roulette.

Having grown up as a good sane moderate middle class person, I can hardly believe I'm even typing this, much less that this morning something clicked inside me and I went and got triple my usual groceries. Nonetheless, if things head south and things get ugly a while, maybe I'll be glad for what I did. :-)