My stance on the Y2K issue, has never been very popular. I always thought the doom sayers were a year off. I still hope I'm wrong. I also hope the people of this country (especially the mid west and southern regions) prepared for horrific weather, numbing cold, no heat, reduced power in the west,etc. The dow is dropping along with the temp., glad I'm not one to depend on such things. Hope you thought ahead, stacked the wood, and stocked the pantry. I hope everyone is warm, dry, and fed.

-- Kathy (catfish@bestweb.net), December 19, 2000

Answers

Kathy, I think you have the right idea. We stocked up for last year but we are terribly poor in that area now. So far we have not had the power problem here that they have in CA. then again Oregon is selling power to CA. and they are still having problems.

-- Hendo (redgate@echoweb.net), December 20, 2000.

Kathy, the people in my area did NOT prepare for power outages. We had a relatively minor ice storm here last week, only about 2", and the local cooperative still has not restored power to many houses. We were lucky and they fixed ours after a few hours, but many people are cold and unable to cook. You would think they would know better than to trust a company that has power outages every time it comes a good clap of thunder, but they didn't. Anyway, it has gotten so that the police have to stand guard and protect the cooperative people working in the office, and one of the irate customers actually had a heart attack at the office. And they are predicting another possibility of the same weather beginning Christmas Day and continuing through the 26th. Ah, when will they ever learn to prepare?

-- Green (ratdogs10@yahoo.com), December 20, 2000.

I second Green -- here in New England, ice storms and major snow storms are common in the winter, thunderstorms and hurricanes sometimes in the summer -- both can put the power out, sometimes for days in bad weather. But people still don't seem to prepare. We have our wood stoves, and hopefully enough wood to get through the winter if necessary, water jugs that we can fill at a spring down the road if our well pump is out, the only thing I need to stock up on is a little more food, though we have enough on hand to last a while. But a lot of people don't even have a wood stove anymore. Most of my friends in town rely solely on their furnaces -- though being on city water, at least they still have water even if the power goes out, which is better than our situation. We'll just have to wait and see what the new year brings, but I haven't heard any concern about the Y2K bug hitting this New Years. I am concerned about the stock market, not because I own any stocks (I don't) but because the market acts as a barometer of the general economy, and we are all affected by that, whether we own stocks or not. If the economy goes sour, we may not be able to sell our house here, or at least not for what we'd hoped to get for it. So we'll just have to wait and see what comes. And trust God, while doing everything we can ourselves.

-- Kathleen Sanderson (stonycft@worldpath.net), December 20, 2000.

We're more ready now then we were in Jan. Had another season to put back and prepare. Then it was hysteria and uncertainty, now its just living as usual.

-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair678@yahoo.com), December 20, 2000.

While I have lived on a lot of my stores this last year, I still have, probably, a five to six month supply. As business is slow right now, like Hendo, it would be difficult for me to stock up much more, barring some unexpected windfall. Fortunately, I do have the winter garden planted extra heavy this time and it's starting to bear some things (here in southeast TX we can grow many things thru the winter) and about three full cords of oak for the woodstove I installed last year. I still have lots of lamp oi, coleman fuel, etc., so I would be ok for a while.

I am becoming more concerned about the possible coming recession, although I heard on the national news last night that the Fed is going to try to head off a recession. But I wonder if the economy is too 'big' to control in such a manner? Sure wish I knew more about economics.

-- Hannah Maria Holly (hannahholly@hotmail.com), December 20, 2000.

Hubby and I have already wondered about the coming state of affairs. There are several local factories that have laid off workers (sending it to Mexico, for cheap labor), and the Christmas charities have noticed a BIG increase in requests for Christmas help. I have been buying extra groceries when I find it on sale (20 pounds of flour and two bags of sugar tonight). We learned the wisdom of having extra stashed when Hubby was laid off for nine weeks this summer. All that Y2K food was as handy as all get out!!!!

I guess I find it hard to figure out WHY folks move out to the country and then get rid the wood stoves. We had a weather-related power outtage last week, and lots of kids came in to school, cold and hungry, after getting dressed in the dark. We fed them breakfast and got them started on the day (thank God, the school still had power). But the power goes out so frequently here...seems a bit of prep would be prudent!!!

-- Leann Banta (thelionandlamb@hotmail.com), December 20, 2000.

Because I get vegetables in the summer and meat in the winter and want both year 'round (& don't like eating from supermarkets, it follows that I keep a lot of food in the house, mostly canned and dried. I heat with wood - unlimited supply just out the back door. This makes me feel more secure than a fat bank account. So the y2k disaster didn't amount to much? I still learned a lot from it (e.g., government policy: actively discourage people from preparing!). Disaster could come any time in many forms, maybe limited to my household. I don't worry - but maybe I would if I weren't prepared.

-- Sam in W.Va. (turnip55a@yahoo.com), December 24, 2000.

Excellent point Sam!

-- Wendy@GraceAcres (wjl7@hotmail.com), December 24, 2000.