Thanks HappyYellowJeepGirl!

We did buy our first house...and it has a basement. I'm sure we can make a connection underground somewhere and add at that bomb shelter.

I was at a conference this past weekend and one attendee was telling me about a student who was doing research on 2012. She said she had a hard time finding reliable resources on this "conspiracy" but after reading the student's paper, she is now a believer too. I suggested she build a bomb shelter. :)

Dreaming about Bomb Shelters

Last night I dreamt about bomb shelters...and it actually led me to an interesting idea. We've discussed where in terms of geographical location we would put a bomb shelter but not necessarily where wer would put the bomb shelter.

What I mean is...would you put in under your house? As a stand alone underground location? Underneath a garage?

I would think you would want to put it somewhere where people walking by wouldn't notice it but you also want to be rescued in case a building collapses.

Interesting.

I think I would put it under my house for easy access. Less outside air or contaminants as well. That would allow us access to the house if it is still standing. I would also have another exit coming out of the ground somewhere next to or near the house instead of just from the house itself.

Maybe a GPS beacon wouldn't be a bad idea if we needed rescuing? Something else to add to the list...

What does the R word have to do with bomb shelters?

Oh that scary R word...recession. As you may have heard, the United States is officially in a recession and we have been since December 2007! How can we be in a recession and not know it for a year? Most of the warning signs have been there for sometime...the huge bailout of banks/mortgages might have been the final clue??

So how am I going to tie recession and bomb shelters together?

Well, during a recession times do get harder, money gets tighter. We can't always afford what we want or need. A bomb shelter would probably be considered a luxury but it's at this time we need it the most. This is when the scary people come out of the wood work, when people become desperate, or even when items can become scarce.

That shelter can also be haven for items that you can stock up on in times of need. Even if you don't have a shelter, I urge you to buy a few extra items for the pantry. You never know when we may need them...at the least, a blizzard could be around the corner. :)

Stockpile Gold and Silver?

HECK NO! Ok, look at it this way- can you eat gold? Well, I guess technically you could. But it is not a good idea. And when there is a complete breakdown of our banking system and society as we know it, people are going to be more concerned about getting food and we will enter into a barter system where I will say, "Hey, I have some extra eggs from my 27 chickens, and I need some ammo for my gun." and you will say, "Ok, I will give you 20 bullets for 50 eggs." and I will say, "Deal!" That is how a barter system works people! I am not going to say "Please give me 3 pieces of non-edible gold and I will give you 20 eggs." Nope. Not going to happen.

That being said--you SHOULD stockpile farm animals. I know, it might be smelly and cramped in the bomb shelter with Daisy the milk cow and some crazy chickens running around, but hey, our ancestors in the Middle Ages did it (and some in the Middle East still do it!) and it won't kill you. (Unless your cow has Mad Cow diesase, or the chickens sleep on your face and suffocate you with their feathers, but that is a whole other blog entry entirely.) The best way to avoid this scenario is to build your bomb shelter with a seperate area for livestock. And, you can use their poop for compost for your garden!

Survival 102

You just have to look at the state of the economy, global warming, and world relations to realize that yes, we are facing the end times or at least heading down the wrong path.

Because of this, we prepare for the end times. Or at least, when the world becomes so messed up that markets fail, money is no good, and food and materials do not move along their destined route to the consumer. Our motto? Be prepared. You cannot rely on the government or your mom to take care of you if something hits the fan.

So here we will discuss how you go about selecting a safe site, building a bomb shelter and stocking it not only with essentials but also with items you cannot live without. What can you not live without? I'm sure I can list many but here are just a few: wine, books, friends, chocolate. Of course we could argue that these are essentials... :)