sholio: Cocoa in red cup with cinnamon stick (Christmas cocoa)
Sholio ([personal profile] sholio) wrote2013-12-18 08:34 am

December posting meme: Zombie apocalypse

From [personal profile] lunabee34: I'd love to hear about your zombie apocalypse survival skills.

This may be unrealistic confidence on my part, but I think I could survive the apocalypse like a BOSS. :D

(We shall ignore the small issue where my body seems to need regular medical attention or it falls apart. Also the fact that I am completely blind without my glasses. SHUSH. XD)

But anyway, while I am not so sure about the actual "surviving the zombies" part -- my firearms skills are a bit shaky, not to mention the "hitting Grandma in the head with a fire axe" issue might be a problem -- assuming that I do either manage to hole up somewhere remote or find someone larger and more ruthless to protect me, I am all over the rebuilding part of it. :D I actually have fantasies along those lines periodically, which means not only do I have a lot of the applicable skills, but I already have plans! Utterly ridiculous plans which would probably not survive first contact with an actual apocalypse, but hey.

I grew up in rural Alaska without electricity or running water, and so as well as being used to not living with those things, I have a fairly useful pre-industrial skill set. I know how to garden, including saving seeds and/or selecting plants that are easy to propagate (potatoes!). I know how to raise, breed and butcher farm animals. I can fell trees and chop wood (although having to stay warm in Alaska without internal combustion engines at the very least would suck). I know most of the wild plants in my area, their uses, and how to obtain the edible ones. I recently learned to spin, and I have at least a general idea of the principles of weaving (though I would like to learn how to do it properly!).

I'm also married to someone who has the other half of the post-apocalypse skill set that I lack, such as blacksmithing and generally tinkering with things. One of his projects lately -- I am quite serious here -- has been building an electrical power generator in the creek from his extensive collection of scrap lumber and scrap metal; at this point he's still working out the mechanics of the rotating shaft, and I don't actually want the creek dammed considering that in the pre-zombie era we can get perfectly good power from the electric company ... but there is a definite possibility that the Chez [personal profile] sholio Post-Apocalyptic Compound may have electricity, at least in the summer. And, if I know my husband, internal wi-fi. You are all welcome to stop by, charge your laptops, and stay as long as you like, in return for news of the outside world and some help in the garden. :)
helen_c: (books discworld crossbow)

[personal profile] helen_c 2013-12-19 07:12 am (UTC)(link)
You know, surviving an apocalypse is actually something I occasionnaly think about (am I a nerd? Hm, probably). I keep thinking about the Little House on the Prairie books--how self-sufficient these people were, buidling their own houses, farming the land, living in near total isolation for long stretches of time (several months during winter, even), and how today, faced with the same conditions, most people wouldn't survive a month--not for lack of will but simply because we don't have that kind of knowledge anymore.

I admire people like you--who could, you know, survive more than a couple of hours without technology. :)

perspi: (BRAINS)

[personal profile] perspi 2013-12-19 02:55 pm (UTC)(link)
DUDE I AM COMING TO STAY WITH YOU IN THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE :D