Not in Stores

My lovely wife and I were down to North Conway New Hampshire doing some shopping. There are a lot of stores. Many people come from out of state just to shop there. New Hampshire’s lack of a sales tax helps a lot too. 

There are a number of outlets that cater to the outdoor recreation crowd. I was looking for a couple of items that used to be pretty common but nobody in town had any. The L. L Bean outlet was a major disappointment. It’s probably about 98% clothing store now. Forget about buying most camping gear. We once bought a tent there but I didn’t see any this time. 

Much as I like to support brick and mortar stores they have to have what I’m looking for. When we got home I went on-line and quickly ordered what I wanted. That’s fine for some things, but some items are best when bought off the shelf. 

I’m a big guy and getting anything that fits is a trial. One shoe store manager explained that the suppliers won’t even ship the larger sizes to stores. They save those for on-line shopping. Clothing and shoe sizes only get you into the ball park -maybe. 

What I end up doing is ordering my best guess, wait for the item to come in, then half the time ship it back. It’s a waste of time and energy all around. 

-Sixbears

We are the crazy ones?

Day in, day out, a lot of us bloggers stress the importance of being prepared for emergencies. Somehow that makes us the subject of ridicule. Most of us do not want anything bad to ever happen. We do not want to have to deal with an emergency. Should one happen we want to be prepared. That is not a bad thing.

Now we are seeing people lose their minds because a storm is coming. Grocery stores are having everything stripped from their shelves. Preppers are not there. They already have what they need. Every prepared person is one less person in the mob at the store.

The hardware stores are getting stripped of everything from plywood to screws. Now it seems to me, if you are in an area where putting plywood over your windows is necessary, you'd keep that stuff in storage. In the old days people in snow country would put up storm windows for the winter. They didn't throw them out in the spring and buy new in the fall. Wise people stay prepared for what might come.

There are people who are in a panic because bottled water is hard to come by. The vast majority of those people have perfectly safe drinking water right from their taps. Fill up containers from your sink and save yourself a trip to the store. If you lack jugs, do what they did in the old days and fill up all your pots and pans. Fill up the bathtub.

If you think you may have to evacuate, evacuate. Sooner is better than later. If you guess wrong and wait too late, you could die. Weigh that against maybe looking a tiny bit foolish for leaving too early. That should not be a hard decision.

On a personal note, there are folks I know in the Virgin Islands right now. I hope they are well. I suspect it will be some time before anyone hears from them.

-Sixbears