I have been a prepper all my adult life.
It started with watching Terry Nation's never bettered BBC TV series 'Survivors' in late 1970's.
I grabbed a copy of Richard Mabey's Food For Free book and I was up and running.
In various ways, and to various levels, I have kept on prepping ever since.
Over the last decade or so, as I have got older and the earth has got rougher, my prepping has been accelerating at an ever faster pace.
Moving to our homestead at the turn of the century was a hyper-catalyst on our prepping journey.
The independence, the isolation and the insulation that our homestead provides is a critical key on our path to self-reliance.
There is the convergence and the divergence at the heart of it all.
On the one hand we strive for self-reliance and self-sufficiency in these 'normal times' just so we can STICK IT TO THE MAN as some would say.
But underlying and underpinning our quest to off-grid our lives in full 
What are the 'Bad Times'?
I use the term 'Bad Times' as a family-friendly euphemism for SHTF - When the Sh*t Hits the Fan.
Bad Times can come in many guises and in many levels of severity.
Like all good preppers I endeavour to prep for all eventualities, but like all realistic preppers I know I can't.
That does not mean rolling over and turning the other.
It means doing the best with what you've got.
Pennsif's Personal SHTF Scale (PPSS)
I am sure someone, some body or some worthy institution has codified this better than me but I have my own personal 'scale of threat' that I prep for.
I'll aim for the big #5, but if in reality I can nail down #3, or even #4 at a push, I know I'll have prepped my prepping best.
| Threat Level | Threat Area | Examples |
| 0 | Family | house fire, death of immediate family member, loss of main source of income, major illness |
| 1 | Local | major flood, explosion at a chemical factory |
| 2 | Regional | widespread flooding, terrorist dirty bomb, severe earthquake |
| 3 | National | extreme weather destruction across the country, multiple terrorist attacks in several cities, government collapse, cyber attack on the electricity grid |
| 4 | Continental | outbreak of war with Russia in Europe, major pandemic, terrorist detonation of a nuclear bomb |
| 5 | Global | major meteor strike, worldwide pandemic, outbreak of nuclear war between USA and Russia / China |
Everyone, everywhere should, one hopes, be minded to take care of Level 0 possibilities.
Ideally responsible families might make some provision for Level 1 threats.
Beyond that you are beginning to earn your prepper stripes.
I'm all in and shooting for #5.
Prepping for the really big one is a mental challenge of the first order.
It's all risk and reward, opportunity costs, getting your priorities right, hoping, praying and thinking it through.
The common voice I am sure will retort "that ain't going to ever happen...".
But it might.
A level 5 event is not impossible.
It may not be that likely, but if you sit back and think a while it is not too difficult to string together the news headlines that would take us there...
That is why I prep.
While you are here check out these to see what else I do :
The Alternative Lifestyle Show - Friday 6 July 2018 [recording]
A Dollar A Day charitable giving project : June 2018 - summary of donations received and given out
Pennsif's Progress #622 - Security in Numbers - can we build a community on our homestead
My Life in 8 Songs - Thursday 5 July - with @asonintrigue, @isaria, @wolfnworbeikood & @fatherearth
SteemRadio - schedule of all the steem radio shows - week beginning 2 July 2018
Pennsif's Sustainability Curation Digest for MSP - week ending 1 July 2018
[ photo by Jordy Meow on Unsplash ]