Survivalism On The Small Scale

At Curmudgeon Compound all hell has broken loose. Well actually it’s done breaking loose. Phase 1 has come and gone.

Now I’m busily establishing what euphemizers call a “new normal”. It might be a better normal than once was, so no regrets. (Also, if I say “euphemizers” is a word then on my blog it Goddamn well is an accepted word. YMMV if you try it on Scrabble.)

At the moment I’m not going to elaborate; OPSEC and privacy y’all… learn it, live it, love it. All I’ll say for now is that my blogging may not be up to its usual craptacular level for several weeks. I’m sure you’ll forgive me.

This unexpected event, coming in what has been an eventful year, washed over me like a tide. It could have been worse. At least it arrived definitively. There was no pussyfooting around. It was a real life IMAX, Technicolor, 5 channel surround sound, Smell-O-Vision, 3D, turn the dial to eleven, moment in time. Perhaps a younger, more high strung, Curmudgeon would’ve freaked out and dropped the ball; followed it up with an epic bloggable rant… possibly involving talking squirrels and time travel. Except I’ve changed. It wasn’t that big of a deal.

Or rather, big deal or not, I accepted it as simply an opportunity to “do the right thing”. Sometimes you know what you must do. Ideally, you have the maturity to follow through. We all hope to rise to such occasions but one never knows until they find out. This doesn’t mean I relish the need for stoics but it does mean I’m happy I can get things done when they need doing.

I just sorta’ rode it out and handled what needed handling and ignored what could be ignored and so forth. Chalk it up to luck or wisdom, but in the short term at least it hasn’t exceed the stored resources of Curmudgeon Compound or me (though I did pick up a wicked head cold).

This is where “survivalist” meets “real world” and that’s why I’m writing. Survivalism helps with the little stuff too. (You’re welcome to use the alternative term “prepper” if you want to sound PC and avoid scaring the squares. I for one find it ball-less and tepid. I’ll always prefer the grizzled, old school term. It bothers me that there’s a chickenshit zeitgeist that society is  turned off by the ideal of “surviving”!)

I’m not a “stack ammo until you crush the floorboards” kind of guy but I’m somewhere on a spectrum that includes “boy scout” and “homesteader”. Dutifully, I’d “kept my powder dry” for unforeseen eventualities. In my eyes, most people should do so. In reality few do. I’m an outlier. As a reader of my blog you probably are too.

Change is never like you imagine. For one it’s not the Jerry Bruckheimer, CGI laden, awesome-fest we fixate upon. It wasn’t a Russkie tank charging over the horizon. It wasn’t an extinction level, EMP event, zombie, sharknado. It’ll never make the papers. It was a small issue for a small personal world… and therefore supremely important.

Folks sneer at preparedness like it’s all Bert Gummer tactcool bullshit. Yet statistics hint that most of the nation can barely lift a sack of flour and tarry in the red zone a couple paychecks from perdition. If you aim to be tougher than nails and live in an impenetrable bunker, you can fall far short and still have what it takes to handle unexpected difficulties.

I’m most grateful to have the opportunity to do what needed doing, and the resources to follow up on intentions. Not the least of which is the support of Mrs. Curmudgeon, adequate health, and a solid heart.

I know this all means very little. I’ve written too generally to get at the heart of things. But not everything is Facebook fodder and perhaps part of riding out storms is to keep shit to yourself. We all face challenges. Adversity doesn’t make us special, it’s what we do with it that matters. Best of luck y’all. It’s been a rough year but I’m still swimming strong. I hope everyone else is too.