C5 say’s, Time’s Up

Posted on by Dark Green Mountain Survival Research Centre

With your Host, Category5.

This is not an article as you have come to expect. I’m not back. This is a RED ALERT post. Short and sweet.

I was doing a rather large supply run a couple days ago. A combo, reconnaissance, top everything up, run. The type where I worry about my suspension and tire pressure as I hit every road bump because I am running heavier than the Subaru was intended. On the trip I realized I should send out this note to friends, family and those compulsive types that keep coming back to my home page to see if I have anything to say about what is happening.

It’s about shortages and the break down of the supply chain and dramatic price increase. It’s highly unlikely you haven’t heard about all this already. I’m just here to say… this is a REALLY BIG DEAL and not to be tossed into the, “Yada, Yada, the worlds going to shit. What’s new”, file folder,..Or the, “It’s just the next over hyped bad news in the news feed. Prices go up but what’s new”, waste bucket.

This is The REAL DEAL. This will fundamentally change the world! Your world

And I mean……. Do you remember when I warned you all that Thee pandemic was The Real Deal… and will fundamentally change the world. Ya. Like that.

You will start hearing about people dying mid winter. People freezing to death. People starving to death. Critical infrastructure failures. Critical supply chain failures. Not just temporary inconvenience.

This is the Real Deal.

Plus the Fifth wave of the pandemic is on its way… but that is a different subject. You had your fun, pretending the pandemic might be over, over the summer, because of the vaccine. Instead, you will start hearing about waning antibodies.Losing immunity. Both the vaccinated and those ass faces touting natural immunity will realize all that effort vaccinating people had come to naught. All that had happened was that we had done the equivalent of last year’s “flattening the curve”. We will have to do it all over again. The antivax, anti-lockdown, anti-mask, free-dummy, conspiracy crowd have doomed us all… and I am rather pissed about this. I’m all out of fucks to give. No more compassionate nice guy left. I’m past, “Fuck around and find out” and moved onto “Go to hell. I’ll help you get there”. But as I said, That is an unrelated subject.

In the mean time, stay focused on the shortages. I’m sure you have heard of them. I’m sure you are facing sticker shock. I’m only here as your trusted, “This guy knows stuff because this is his subject matter expertise”, to let you know that you are not imagining it. This isn’t Lizard people running the guberment, X-Files stuff. It’s the real deal.

It’s not just shortages or time delays. It is the beginning of CASCADING FAILURES. “For lack of a paperclip” the heating for your home suddenly stopped, type of thing.

As in, My tires are bald and I just got a blow out but I can’t find a tire and I need to get to work. Someone quoted me 800 dollars and a month for delivery, type of thing.

Mid winter electrical brown outs and black outs. Not so Natural Gas at multiple times the price.

I don’t want to focus on specifics too much lest I look like a false prophet. Just to say, make sure the pantry is filled up. Even at inflated prices. Make sure you have gas stored. Even at these never before seen prices. Get that essential item to prevent your own Cascading Failure. Have cash on hand in case the banks go “We need a time out”.

Crap. This is looking like a full article and I want to stop. Some of you will be thinking, “I’ve been on this story for the last 4 months. What took you so long? Thanks for the confirmation, though. Glad to hear it’s not just me”.

I’ve been rather busy this year.

That, and “The problem with the world is that really intelligent people are full of doubt but fools are sure of them selves”.

I tried to write Red Alert posts on three different subjects but each time I got bogged down on my rising, seething anger at The Karens and couldn’t continue because I had to get back to work on my own survival.

Speaking of which, I have been working on my Year End Review. It’s a LONG one. I interrupted it because this info just cant wait. Every day. Every moment counts at this point in getting yourself squared away to get to spring. People will be in full hurt by then.

I’ve started that article 4 times but got bogged down. I just wanted to send some photos of what I have been doing this year to justify my existence. Something for friends and family without much writing. No luck. It will be titled, C5’s Year In Review. Forcynthia and Fascism. Rise Of The Planet Of The Karens.

Just so you are not shocked where I am going with it.

The last thought before I go. You may have noticed, people have been just losing their shit over the last year. Expect that to get much worse. Should I mention I upgraded our defensive capabilities? Hum. I believe I just did. You should to. People be cwazy.

Like the Karens below

Are Your Republican Neighbors Planning On Killing You?

————-

Tip Jar is at the top of the page.

Comments are temporarily open till I cant stand it any more.

Your Bonus Read.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/oct/08/global-covid-death-toll-higher-pandemic

Published by Dark Green Mountain Survival Research Centre

19 thoughts on “C5 say’s, Time’s Up”

  1. Dear C5,

    “Hollywood” level co-incidence. I’ve not forgotten you and have been waiting for my second pension to kick in, to send you a donation…good to hear from you again!

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      1. As a consumer, none yet that I’ve noticed…except that waiting times on a new car is five or six months, becuse of electronics.

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  3. Thanks for the kick in the ass C5. I’ve been watching this train barrel down on us and have been stuffing food into every nook and cranny (home, storage, office, autos…anywhere and everywhere) and getting in much better physical shape, but you reminded me that I overlooked fuel… Must remedy that post haste!
    Thank you for your work good Sir.

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  4. Food, check. Fuel, check. New batteries for the solar system, check. Spare panels in stock, check. Backup generator to keep the freezers running over a cloudy week, check. Just finishing up the secure gen shed since sound carries. Masks, OTC meds, check. Basically gearing up for the transition phase.

    What’s a transition phase? That’s the part between what’s happening now and the 1900’s lifestyle we’ll all be stuck with, where darn little is done with electricity anymore and a lot of people are no longer around.

    After the bottleneck.

    C5, the transition is starting just as you described, with supply shortages and outages, power outages triggered at first by storms in the area, then by storms in the same region but not in your area. Short outages (power and everything else), getting longer. Then longer. Prices up and then up beyond belief. Demand destruction. Job destruction. Banking holidays. Rent exemptions, then primary residence / place of business mortgage exemptions, then debt jubilee? Who knows Whatever keeps the riots at bay.

    Cell phones intermittent, longer and longer outages. Internet intermittent; failures from below and attacks from above. Gas rationing by price or edict because military and law enforcement will have first dibs. Crazies walking the streets, blaming what’s happening to them on whatever misinformation caught their ear first. Casting blame won’t help, nor will trying to talk them down, but it will make it dicey to travel, so people will travel less. Politics will get weirder and weirder. If you haven’t given up on social media yet, you might start tapering off. They’re designed to cause and maintain dopamine addiction, and like any addiction, it’s a bitch to kick.

    During this period, personal services will rise in importance. Very few have the land / experience / tools / supplies to make a farm work well. So services, depending on what you have and what you need to learn. A neighborhood bicycle patrol since the Ring doorbells are no longer reliable. Walk and bike because the car is broken down, can’t afford gas, or reserving the precious juice for that emergency trip or to keep the battery up so you can charge your electronics and battery-powered tools. Bicycle delivery and bicycle relay networks will emerge between farmers, other businesses, consumers and each other. That’s a young person’s game. Bicycle scrapyards and repair shops will emerge. Old folks can run those. For yourself, stock up on spare bike tires, tubes, brake pads and brake/shifter cables that fit the bike you have. Learn how to package them for storage so they don’t dry out or achieve a distorted shape on the shelf. Avoid electric bikes. Spend the savings on a good bike trailer. Don’t forget spare tires for it.

    Neighborhood radio nets will appear on civilian frequencies (Family Radio Service) since internet is intermittent (there’s people with plans in place for this already). Guys to help set that up, keep it up. Hams relaying info between neighborhoods, towns, counties and states (there’s always been a network in place to pass emergency messages). A lot of hams will be dusting off old gear. if you’re not a Ham, do you have your FRS no-license radios in place with spare batteries? Baofeng UV-9G is weather proof. Motorola Talkabouts, not so much. Midland if nothing else is available. Most of the rest are junk. Ham gear is a whole different story.

    Private armed security will boom, starting at stores to prevent theft, inside and outside. When seconds count, the police will be hours and days away. Gun repair will be a thing again. Heck, repair will be a thing again. Especially when it’s cheaper to sharpen a saw blade than to buy one, if it’s even available.

    Old tools will come off the shelves and out of dusty boxes and get put back in use. Most of them will be gross. Tool repair (de-rusting, lubricating, sharpening) will be a thing.

    Battery-powered tools are a thing now. Battery pack repair will become a thing. For a while.

    Not so sure about the longevity for small engine repair shops, auto shops. Much less auto body shops.

    Seeds, gardening (hand) tools, build a compost bin. We’ll all be doing personal gardens. Some folks might start raising / selling worms and worm castings. Easy, low visibility, critical business. I think the time has passed to get a good pressure canner. Or lids in quantity.

    Cuy farmers. Thanks for that, C5. Again easy, low visibility.

    Bee keepers. More gardens need more bees. Honey for sweetener, wax for candles.

    I understand socks and shoes are the most requested items at homeless shelters. Got spares for you and yours? Workboots beat running gear in the long run. Pants will become shorts. Shirts will become short-sleeved, then no-sleeved. Repair for clothes will become a thing. Treadle sewing machines, however, are rare and hard to find.

    A flashlight for area or distance lighting. A headlamp for your personal space doesn’t have to be super-powered. Ferfal reported that headlamps turned out the be really handy around the house in Argentina. If you don’t have headlamps and flashlights that use Lithium batteries, now’s the time to upgrade your equipment. Li-Ion-Whatever batteries last many years before needing replacement. Standardize on 18650-style batteries. Fenix brand flashlights and headlamps have a good reputation and their batteries can be charged with a usb cable. Night-time lighting will be a life safety issue.

    Small-scale chargers for batteries and talkies need AC power unless you spend a bunch on dedicated car adapters for every product. Best to have 2 (is one) pure sine wave inverters, 250 to 500 watt. Less than $100 unless you want to go ExelTech to get mil-spec durability and performance, then expect to pay 4x because you’ll be getting the same bombproof product the military does.

    The Transition will last decades, stair-stepping down in a random pattern. Eventually the batteries will be gone, and so will a lot of people. How will you Adapt?

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    1. It sounds to me like you just had to get that out of your head. LOL I’m pretty sure I will be dead by that point in the story but I have long time realized I will get to watch any of the electronic things I own break down. Which reminds me. I have to go pick up a couple breaker switches. Our hot water tank has been acting up. We only turn on hot water about a half hour before we use it to keep costs down. Doing so is bad for the switch though. It wasnt designed for that job.. Oh Joy. More E-waste.

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      1. LOL yea, it started short and before I knew it… but there are people younger than us around. I’ll find some viable candidate to hand down skills and tools for the next generation (or two). Save them from a life as a farm minion or cannon fodder. A small legacy.

        How the labor force to support farms and ranches will emerge will be interesting to watch. I know there are people setting up to breed draft animals, and of course all those bicycles will have to eventually be replaced by horses, leading to the associated vets, farriers, and makers of tack and saddle.

        As for that hot water heater. Replace the breaker switch because that needs to happen by now, but add an appropriately rated actual switch into the circuit somewhere. It’ll last a long time because it’s doing what it was designed to do.

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    1. Oops. I must have double taped the approve comment, thus unapproving. Fixed

      I was really touched by your enthusiasm..Two others, offline said the same words. Had me questioning my decision….

      The Muse has sort of left the building though. Best I stick with red alerts only and maybe a once a year update.

      I almost took down the entire blog this fall. We are reaching that point where keeping a low profile is in order…
      But perhaps the spirits were poking at my sub conscience that it is not about me and they are not quite done with me yet. Them pesky spirits keep ruining all my opsec. 🙂

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  7. So glad to see you posting! I stop by every few weeks, but gave up for a while because there’d been so many months without a post (can’t blame you–it’s been a crazy year!). After all the flooding and insanity in BC, I thought I’d come and check to see if you’d made a new post. Off to read your year-end review!

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    1. Nicole! Hey, SuperStar!
      Perfect. I ow you an apology. Been wanting to do it for a while and it is best that I have the opportunity to do it publicly. I had just lost my tolerance for dealing with Climate Change deniers, tolerated over at Permies. Unfortunately that came down on what you were doing at the time. Once again, My apologies. I didnt know how to make it right but I can do so now.
      You’ll notice though, every time I put up a photo in the next article of a galvanized gate, I instantly thought of you. That’s all you, SuperStar of the apocalypse. That was some good advice. You should see the galvanized posts in my scrap metal storage area.
      Well, I think I will go back and watch how many people unsubscibe to me after that post. Should be fun.

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      1. Funny thing is, when I I suggested galvanized fencing, I thought for sure that you’d already thought of it! I’m glad it was something new and helpful!

        There’s a thread on permies about preparing and dealing with natural disasters (https://permies.com/t/170598/threads-helping-natural-disaster-zone), so I gave your big Adapters Movement thread (and this website) a mention. It’s actually what made me think, “I should check his website to see if there’s anything new!”

        It’s rather terrifying seeing how things really are going downhill as fast as we thought. I really wanted to be proved wrong. But seeing a town in BC get to 120F and then burn down the next day…only to very likely be entirely washed out this winter by insane amounts of rain…well, that kind of confirms how downhill the world is going. And, it’s only going to get worse.

        “had just lost my tolerance for dealing with Climate Change deniers, tolerated over at Permies.” What I find ironic is that the climate change deniers often complain that permies is so leftest and blocks all climate change deniers, hahaha! In reality, we let everyone have their say as long as they can be nice. And, they just can’t separate their viewpoint from their delivery. I always appreciated how you understood the rules and played by them. I’m very glad of the time you spent on permies, because I never would have learned about your work otherwise!

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  8. I’m so glad that I found this blog.!! Nicole from Permies posted a link, Thanks! I have been studying hard for many years and ran into many slow downs, people that think they have skills, WOW. I have taught skills and survival for decades. Lead the Y2K talks in my hometown. People will die, it’s a fact. People want without thought, they are crazy! So few are mentally prepared. My current problem is; do I build an intentional community or not? I could use some thought out help on this one, like you said no one is self-sufficient, or an island unto them self. Community sounds and looks like the only way to group survive, I ask for your insight.
    Respectfully

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  9. I am private, so not posting my email address would be great, but I had to add my thanks. I too found your blog thru permies, thank you nicole. I found your writing humorous and quite enjoyable. I too am a relic and I have been on the same journey but without the land purchase due to my other half’s fear of my inability to get things more than 75% finished. My need for personal inventory has been joked about until the prices soared. Now it is more “I am glad you thought to have our own store in the cellar/garage.” Thanks for your writing, Leave it up and just pull the offending bits. It is worth it for those who just had the light turned on.
    Relic

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