Dreaming...

Denim Deb

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Wow, I didn't realize you were putting up w/all of that! I'd want out as well.
 

sumi

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@Denim Deb sadly that is not half of it… Trust me, I'm ready to start swimming across this puddle LOL I'm looking forward to putting all this behind me and sleep easy again at night.
 

baymule

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Tall walls around the house, spikes and broken glass on the top, big dogs outside, little dog inside to bark and give warning, burglar bars on all windows and doors, security lights and alarms, private security because police don't show up, can hear intruders walking on roof at night looking for a way in-and death and torture to you and your family if they do get in. What is really scary is that this could be any country after financial and government breakdown.

I had no idea. I just had no idea. I live in my safe neighborhood, in my safe town, in my safe state, in my safe country. If you google farm murders in SA, you better have a strong stomach. Horror.

Sumi, when you get to Ireland, you will have arrived in Utopia compared to where you are now. Praying for the sale of your house.
 

Britesea

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I know our country isn't nearly as bad as SA; I was just pointing out that we are beginning the slow slide here as well. Until recently, the idea of someone breaking into a restaurant to steal food was almost unheard of, but now....
 

baymule

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I know our country isn't nearly as bad as SA; I was just pointing out that we are beginning the slow slide here as well. Until recently, the idea of someone breaking into a restaurant to steal food was almost unheard of, but now....
That's why it's a real good idea not to let anybody know what you have. Right now, we live just blocks from City Hall and everyone in town knows we have chickens and a garden (garden is in the front yard). If SHTF, a lot of hungry people would be coming to our house. We are moving to 8 acres on a rural country road in a close knit neighborhood. I will have more room to grow a garden, plant berries, fruit and nut trees and have small livestock. If it got bad, I could help my neighbors and they could help us.
 

sumi

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@baymule please tell me you didn't read about the farm murders..? Even I don't have the stomach for that stuff and I should be "used to it" by now. The worst part was our temporary president, who made excuses for them, a few years ago. The crime is just some of it, sadly. Our biggest worry at the moment (after our government) is Eskom, who cannot maintain their power stations. We had daily "load shedding" last month because they failed to keep their DIESEL and WATER reserves topped up. Both diesel and water is freely available in this country… Before that their coal got wet, for crying out loud. Their response to the power crisis was to just about double the rates and after a few years of blackouts there is no relief in sight, while we're paying through our noses for the electricity and they keep telling us to use less, because they can't meet the demand. I swear they are just trying to make as much money out of the company before letting it all fall to pieces. Oh, our president and the rest are exempt from the black-outs of course… But they'll turn of the power to HOSPITALS!

Then there is the Post Office where theft is so rampant that Amazon blacklisted us a few years ago. I dread ordering parcels from abroad, because chances are they will not arrive. And the list goes on…

@Britesea I've spoken to a few friends in the states who are not afraid to be honest about what's going on over there and it's worrying. One friend told me how he fires warning shots daily to keep people off his farm? I really hope your country manages to pull itself together before things get out of hand, like it did here.
 

baymule

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Yes, Sumi, I did look up the farm murders. They are brutal, hate crimes. Horrible. The worst predators truly are humans. There are other countries where that sort of thing goes on, but it is kept hushed up as much as possible. I have no doubt that it could happen here too, if society broke down due to economic failure. I am glad we are getting out of town and moving to a more rural area.

Look up hurricane Rita, and the exodus from Houston, Tx. Our town is 75 miles from Houston, about an hour drive to the northern reaches. In the evacuation panic, it took 22-28 HOURS. Every town around Houston was covered with scared people running for their lives. We sheltered people in our churches and schools. I was a Red Cross volunteer, so I spent nights at an elementary school to help out. We were not a designated shelter town, traffic was supposed to go past us and spread out further north. But people ran out of gas and time. We had no supplies, no food, no cots, no nothing. Instead of being grateful for somewhere to shelter from the storm, lots of people got belligerent because we were not ready for that many people.

Over 2,000 people sheltered in our Jr High and they destroyed it, even rubbing feces on the walls. We sheltered about 60 people in our church and I spent a couple of nights there too. Members of the church cleaned out their freezers to feed people, so it worked out. The storm passed, gas trucks made deliveries, people could fill up their tanks and go back home. But if it hadn't gotten back to normal, it would have turned real ugly. The signs were already there.

Since then, my goal has been to get out of here. Houston is a prime target for destruction by enemy forces, pray to God that never happens. But must be realistic, I have been in the middle of the biggest mass evacuation this country ever experienced and it was an eye opening experience. If anything ever happens to that city, people will come boiling out of there like desparate rats. I don't want to be in their path.
 

Britesea

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All the large cities will be like that, @baymule .
It's so sad that people deliberately destroyed the very places that gave them shelter. I have never understood the need to foul one's own nest, as it were. I probably never will since the people who could give me insight into this behavior are the type of people I tend to avoid.

Incidents like the SA farm murders also happened in Argentina when their economy collapsed. Ferfal's blog talks about how it's worse to be way out in the middle of nowhere because the feral human predators know that they can take their time torturing you and no one will disturb them. ( http://ferfal.blogspot.com/2014/11/rural-crime-keeps-getting-worse-what-do.html ) Seems the best place to be is in a small, semi-rural town (ability to garden and have livestock), not too far from a small-to-mid-sized city (services, police)
 

goatgurl

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my heart just breaks for you and your family sumi. praying you get out of there soon. did your tenant say just when he wants to sit down and talk. hope it's now not later. and don't forget the up front money.
 

sumi

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@baymule Much of what happens here get hushed up and much is not "news worthy" any more, so you won't find a word about it online. I don't know if that's a good or a bad thing! On the one hand I feel our dirty laundry should be out there, may be some incentive for the government to do something about it, but on the other, we don't want to put off the tourists and business support we're still getting…

@Britesea in other countries that sounds like an ideal set-up. Our farm is just outside a small, rural town, but sadly, though we're quite safe compared to some towns and cities up North, we're not out of the woods. The local police here can't catch a cold, with respect. I have some friends here who are cops, but that doesn't make much of a difference when we need them.
 
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