09:58 – This is our first autumn living in the mountains, so I’m not sure if the weather we’ve been having for the last week or so is typical. I suspect it is. Highs generally in the 70’s F, lows in the 50’s, and a lot of fog, particularly mornings. The winds generally pick up during the day, which takes the fog off but skies are overcast about half the time and sunny the rest. We’re not seeing any fall foliage to speak of yet. I suspect that’ll change as our lows drop into the 40’s.
I added the ABC News channel to the Roku box this morning, in case we decide to watch at least part of the debate tonight. Apparently, they’re expecting an all-time record number of viewers for this debate. I’m not sure why. It seems to me that about half the country wouldn’t vote for Clinton if she was the last politician on earth, and the other half wouldn’t vote for Trump. So why would anyone watch the debates? Undecideds seem to be the core audience for debates, and there aren’t many undecideds left. I may watch the first few minutes of the debate just to see if Clinton face-plants into the stage.
Email from Brittany overnight. She’s feeling a bit under-equipped firearms-wise after reading Jen’s plans yesterday. She and her husband don’t have even one black rifle, so reading about Jen’s family having one each is inducing AR-15 envy. I repeated my earlier advice to Brittany. Their situation is different from Jen’s. Jen’s family has four high-earners, while Brittany is a stay-at-home mom whose husband’s (secure) job supports their entire family. An AR-15 with magazines, accessories, and ammo will cost them at least $1,000, and they have other places that that $1,000 could be better spent. They’re already very well-armed compared to the average family, so spending lots of money on tactical rifle(s) should be a lower priority for them. They also live on the outskirts of a small town that’s remote from even mid-size cities. They’ve both lived there all their lives, are surrounded by family and friends, and very seldom see anyone on the streets whom they don’t know. In short, they’re part of a community. In a catastrophic emergency, the community will help protect them, and they’ll help protect the community. As far as I’m concerned, their situation is about the best possible one, and should allow them to ride out any serious emergency.
I wouldn’t say they can declare their prepping “complete”, but they’re already better prepared than about 99.9% of the population of this country. Anything more they do is icing on the cake.