Simple Living

Did I Ever Tell You My Y2K Story?

July 12, 2023

It was minutes earlier than midnight on January 1, 2000, when my household gathered across the phone. Y2K was imminent and we had been excited with anticipation of what would possibly occur.

It was within the mid-Nineteen Nineties that we first began listening to about Y2K as a possible
impending catastrophe. Also called the Millennium Bug, the issue was that,
till that point, laptop programs notated years as two digits: 80 for 1980, 92
for 1992, and many others. The query was, what would occur for the yr 2000? May
computer systems inform the distinction between 2000 and 1900?
This incapacity to tell apart dates accurately had the potential to convey
down worldwide infrastructures for laptop reliant industries.

And so started loads of hypothesis and predictions of Doomsday, The Apocalypse,
and TEOTWAWKI (The Finish of The World As We Know It). Prepperdom was in it is
glory and other people had been inspired to arrange for the worst. Others pooh-poohed
the entire thing as utter nonsense.

Someplace throughout that point, one of many native church buildings was going to indicate the
C-SPAN movies of the congressional hearings on Y2K. Dan and I had some
questions; formally, our authorities was saying that there was no drawback and
that residents want do nothing, however there have been too many reliable sources
voicing considerations. We determined to go. After a presentation of the information, the
congressional committee’s conclusion was that Y2K was an actual drawback which
required actual solutions. On the finish of the video, the church’s pastor obtained as much as
converse. I assumed he would take the chance to evangelise, however he did not. All
he mentioned was, “If you wish to know what to do subsequent, learn the guide of Proverbs.”

OK, I assumed, I can do this. Proverbs is a guide of sayings which
distinction smart and silly dwelling. As I learn by way of it, I considered what
to do with regard to Y2K. The smart, I learn, are diligent, laborious working, effectively
ready, self-controlled, beneficiant, not given to get wealthy fast schemes, however
progressively save and retailer up in preparation for winter. The instance was the
ant, neither influential nor prestigious, however hardworking and ready. That
made sense to me and I made a decision to start out a critical meals storage, together with
issues that we could not develop for ourselves. We solely had a number of {dollars} every
week to place towards it, however slowly we had been in a position to retailer up fairly a number of months
price of meals. Step by step, we stocked up on canned and dried items, water,
kerosene lamps, kerosene, firewood, and a bath and laundry plunger for laundry
garments.

At 12:01 a.m. January 1, 2000, Dan picked up the phone receiver and
listened. We had a dial tone! The lights didn’t exit, and life went on as
typical.

Within the days that adopted, I bear in mind fairly a number of people had been offended as a result of
nothing had occurred. These had been those who felt “duped” after investing
1000’s of {dollars} in meals provide and survival kits. After which there have been the
I-told-you-so-ers, gleefully crowing as a result of they hadn’t bothered to arrange
something in any respect.

For myself, it was a helpful expertise, and I realized issues which made me
understand that we at all times wanted to be ready. This philosophy has served us
effectively. A number of instances, Dan was out of labor and we had been in a position to eat effectively with out
worrying about easy methods to pay for groceries. Then there was the time when our space
obtained hit by the remnants of three hurricanes. Whereas we did not get the hurricane
pressure winds, we did get torrential rains, flooding, and intensive street and
bridge harm. Like many others, our basement was ankle deep in water (and we
did not reside in a flood
zone!)

Regardless that we had a some harm, we had been lucky as a result of many in our
county had their basements collapse from all of the water and floor saturation.
Everybody was with out electrical energy for days, and our meals storage was a life
saver. The grocery retailer cabinets had lengthy since been worn out by people shopping for
up no matter they might get their palms on earlier than the storms hit. We fared very
effectively as a result of along with meals, I had been stocking up on matches, paper
plates and napkins, rest room paper, first support provides, and water. The most important drawback was
as a result of our effectively water required an electrical pump; we had no operating
(nor flushing) water. We did have a 55 gallon drum full of water, so by
rationing we had been alright.

The reminiscence that stands out essentially the most, nevertheless, occurred a number of years later. It’s of a good friend whose
husband had been out of labor for months. When her kitchen cabinets had been naked,
I might by no means have afforded to purchase her greater than a bagful of groceries. However I
might simply give her a
complete trunk load of meals from our meals storage, which I did. I used to be by no means extra
glad than then, to have heeded the recommendation to arrange.

Now, after all, we’re in a position to develop extra of our personal meals and have realized
low-tech methods to perform duties. We have realized easy methods to simplify our
life-style, in order that when issues like a world pandemic and lockdown happen,
our lives just about go on as typical. However, hopefully, these tales assist
clarify why I am so passionate about these useful resource bundles.

Yesterday, I shared 7
of the 43 wonderful sources within the
2023 Permaculture Adventure Bundle. As we speak, I am going to share 7 extra:

The “Fungi! Rising Speciality Mushrooms” chapter
from
Edible Landscaping with a Permaculture Twist
by Michael Judd