What will you do if family shows up?

I have some extra rice, beans, oatmeal and a few canned goods to give to neighbors and family and will have to send them on their way. The only people I would let stay with me would be my daughters and their families, but only if they had already been quarantined in their homes and had not been exposed to anyone and came straight from their house to mine without coming into contact with anyone. They would have to also bring their weapons with them even if they have no other supplies to contribute I know they have weapons.

I strongly believe that these decisions must be made now.  Do not wait until the moment comes and then make the decision.  You must decide how long you feel you must quarentine, and prep for that time.  Then you can add extra for neighbors visiting family, charity cases etc. The point I am attempting to make is this.  If you feel your family of 4 must be isolated for 12 months and that is all you have planned for... letting anyone else in has doomed your family.  If you want to plan for extra people do so, but do not vary from the plan you have worked on. Do not make life altering decisions in the hear of the moment.

I didn't give this much thought untill yesterday.  My oldest son who is 20 and I were talking about the BF.  I said to him you really need to get some extra water and food.  I told him this MONTHS ago.  Well, he said "Oh are you talking about that bird-thingy you said something about a while ago"?  UUUGGGGG......My other son who is younger than him starting giving him a lecture full of BF facts and deaths and current situation.  I was very proud at least ONE of my five is taking this to heart! 

I already told my friend in Fl if she comes up to ohio she will be quarantined for 10 days in the pole barn maybe 2 weeks or my brothers cabins out back. Even if they say they were quarantined I will have to not believe them...even though they are the most honest people I know...known my friend for 30 years....but I have my kids to keep alive.

oldasrocks wrote: You have just enough food for the immediate group

Melody4Avon wrote: I already told my friend in Fl if she comes up to ohio she will be quarantined for 10 days in the pole barn maybe 2 weeks or my brothers cabins out back. Even if they say they were quarantined I will have to not believe them...even though they are the most honest people I know...known my friend for 30 years....but I have my kids to keep alive.

I think it is a good idea to have all this planned and said in advance. It will be so hard to set limits and boundaries when/if you are in a bad situation. I have been doing the same. If family shows they have to stay in the RV by themselves for a week or two. I have been stocking-up the rv, just in case. Only soup, canned fruit and water. I can put up to four in the boat too...I have put power bars and water in the boat, hope to get it more stocked in case too. Plodding along trying to get prepared for anything.

And the neighbors--they are the ones who have been banning Wal-Mart in my area (signs in the yard, meeting,picketing, etc), they get nothing!!!

Been doing lots of canning...got 5-#10 cans of powdered milk for $25.00 (25lbs) recently-great deal! For some reason it makes me feel better to have the milk??    
    

I have a list of close loved ones, if they are not on 'the list' then too bad!

Let's have some clarity here!

Turning someone away does NOT condemn them to death. Only a fraction of the population will get any kind of flu, and a much smaller fraction will die from it.

As much as I have I will share with whoever is brought my way. Everything that is currently in our house doesn't really belong to us anyway since everything we have, well, you may not like my spiritual answer, but everything we have is the Lord's anyway. (I can't seperate my beliefs out of my life).

If someone is in need, hurting, or ill, I hope and pray that we have the strength to be a blessing in their lives.

Like it or not folks, we are all in this together. We will all have to live or die with our decisions.

It's a hard call to make.  There are so many possible scenarios.  What if that neighbor in need turns out to be the very person WE need to help us get through this? 

Everyone that I care for and live near has a home.  I will share my food but I wouldn't put my immediate family at risk by allowing them in my house. Once we are in...we are in for as long as necessary and no one else is passing through my front door.  However, I will, as I said, put food out for them to take home if I have it. Two bags of dried beans , a box of ditalini pasta and  a little tomato sauce makes a substantial pot of soup and cost less than $3.00. That's a small price to pay to keep a family from starving.  Each time I shop I pick up a few bags of dried beans for 79 cents each.

First I would give some food to my grandma and step grandfather and some to a friend of my parents who help me put some shelves and didn't charge me for putting them up so I will give him some.  The rest of the family I will give rice , soup mix , and few other things although I won't give them like powder eggs ,powder milk and some of the good stuff  cause I prepared and they didn't at least they wont starve.

  having been in similar situations, and made these hard decisions, and having observed others do the same, often harder ones, i can say from a stand point of experience that no one knows what they will do until the pucker factor reaches maximum!  i believe that this is what engenders severe guilt afterwards.  when it gets real people make choices that they never could have done before, choices that change their lives forever.  sometimes these choices make us look at ourselves a little harder and we don't always like what we see.  the choice might be an absolute necessity for survival of you and yours, but many second guess themselves for the rest of their lives.

  in a less serious note, i have seen people say that they would never eat a bug, ever, but when you get hungry enough you will.  i know that one for a fact.  the biggest problem that i see is when someone says that they won't fight or kill.  then they always change their mind when they see a loved one threatened or attacked, they then start to fight.  unfortunately it's too late then.  for them and for their loved ones.  how many of the avowsd pacifists here could say truthfully that you would sit quietly on the couch and watch your children or spouse beaten or raped?  at that point everything changes.  if you are responsible for others, family, etc.  then you need to take that responsibility seriously and not just give lip service to that obligation.  if you don't then you are just as responsible as the criminal that commits the crime.  how do you look at yourself in the mirror then.  obviously you won't shoot anyone that comes near, and anyone who says that sort of thing is an ass and not fit for adult company.
  pat

Been doing lots of canning...got 5-#10 cans of powdered milk for $25.00 (25lbs) recently-great deal! For some reason it makes me feel better to have the milk??

Rjay: Your instincts are good. The figure does look low.

detpat: No one that knows me would mistake me for a passivist. I am ferocious when it comes to defending someone who is being bullied. I can be pretty intimidating when provoked. It just seems to be a natural instinct that sometimes I do struggle to control. I really hate evil and have battled it for a long time. Battles do seem to make you tougher. What is that saying? What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. As I have stated on other threads when this was discussed, I would protect my family members and neighbors from anyone who would endanger our safety.

There is a huge difference between someone looking for food, water or shelter from someone looking to rape and pillage. Someone coming to create havoc will be dealt with. People honestly seeking shelter from the storm will find it as I am able to provide. Yes, there may be a time when I have to close my door, post some guards and tell people to move on. If they refuse and are threatening us they will get every opportunity to move on.

There may be roving gangs out to take advantage of a horrible situation. I am not naive. I am not stupid either. Walk tall and carry a big stick.


I do believe that good always defeats evil in the end. It just may take a while to get to the end. What is truly right never changes and neither does what is truly wrong.

Would I kill someone for food or water? No. That would be murder and a demonstration of a lack of faith.
Would I kill someone attacking someone else to maim or kill them? If there was no alternative, yes. That is not murder.
Would I kill someone as an act of vengeance? No. That is murder. Vengeance is mine sayeth the Lord.
Would I steal for food or water if I or my loved ones were about to die. I would try to exhaust all alternatives first. I don't know where my will to survive would take me but I would pray to be delivered from the temptation to sin.
Do I think that a pandemic would cause a total breakdown in the fabric of our society? Nope, I really do not. I think that we will all be surprised by the amount of every day heroes we have walking our streets. I believe this will be very difficult but like the generations before us we will rise to the occasion and get through this.

I pray none of us are faced with tough decisions like the above mentioned scenarios.

So back to the original question: If family shows up they are certainly welcome but they must work.

detpat: I am pleased to make your acquaintance

So maybe I should be harder on those who cannot hear the warnings now. Maybe I am too softhearted and buy into the pop psych. soc. of the day by believing that some people just cannot hear that there is something major coming their way. They are in denial! They are good people who may choose good someday but for right now they aren't comprehending this. Some are brothers and sisters. We should turn them away?

This thread blends so well with what we are talking about in the religion room. Basically moral ethics.

We cannot pick and choose what we want to follow in the Bible. We are to give to all who ask. I pray for God to cover me. That is all I can do.

On the other side of the debate we have:

Noah and his family who were shut into the ark by God. All who were in the ark must of heard the people screaming and crying unless God shielded them from that. God sealed the ark and the inhabitants could not let anyone in. Those that did not hear the warnings by watching poor Noah build the ark on his front lawn for 120 years, too bad!

An act of God closed the doors. So again, I pray for God to intercede before the question arises. Close our doors, please.

This is all something to consider and debate about. I pray that more people here can view the Bible as a resource instead of something that people want to beat them over the head with.

hi to all,  I hav e started this post many times , and there is no easy answer. you will do what you have to do when the time comes. in my case , i know there is family, i will try to help , but not at the expense of my immediate family. the problem , will be my children, who get that this is going to happen, and help to prepare in small ways, but i know , they will want to feed everybody, and in the back of their minds this will be only temporary, food will come back to the stores , and this is only a  blip in their lives. the hard choices will be mine alone, roxy

Roxy: I hear your heart. Mine breaks daily when I look into peoples eyes and I see no hope in them. Precious children and teens who don't know and their parents don't know or don't care. This is what I cannot adjust to.

My kids friends are telling me that they are coming to our house. I have told them that they are welcome to share all that we have for as long as we have it. When its gone, its gone. There isn't much anyway. We are not set up to isolate or quarantine. I don't think that it will be necessary since we all have to develop antibodies. Stem cells and DNA manipulation for vaccines is just a little too intrusive for me so I wouldn't be one to jump on that bandwagon. To each his own I guess.

My door is and always will be open to any family member for any reason at any time, Period.

 

This includes my brother’s and sister’s families, our parents, aunts and uncles, cousins and their children. I could only wish that we all be together in the event of pandemic.

 

There is not one of us who would take food out of the others' children’s mouths and there is no one else on earth I would trust to defend, protect and provide for my children and grandchildren if I am not able to.  

 

In recent years there have been several serious crises in each branch of our family tree. No matter how desperate any situation became, one thing has always been certain: We take care of each other. Mine isn't a "grandma died, lets fight over her stuff" kind of family. (Yes she did, and no we didn't). We hold each other up and learn to move on. For many years I never realized how special that is, I always thought that’s what family does. I thank God for mine every day.

 

People talk of forming groups within their neighborhoods for “safety in numbers” issues and combining skills/assets. Having family show up on my doorstep would be a godsend compared to any perceived alliance with neighbors. Their duty is to their families, not mine.  

Before you shoot me down and say I’m living in lala land, stop. Most have at least one RV or camper and can share with those that don’t. These are kept stocked and can also include what’s in the boats and kitchen cupboards. This helps to address housing, food and quarantine issues and the supplies likely exceed the prepping I’ve been able to do so far. 

 

When you consider all the amenities self contained vehicles bring to a disaster situation, the skills of each person, as well as being among a group you love and trust like no other, I can’t think of a better position to be in.

 

oldasrocks wrote: You are prepped. Your family says your crazy along with neighbors. The BF hits and you close your place down. You have just enough food for the immediate group.   Then a week later family shows up at the front gate. Alcoholic brothers, pushy overbearing sisters who hates guns, neighbors that smell bad, lazy neighbors who you only see if they need a favor and whoever else knows you. What will your  response be? let them in? Keep them out? Put them out of your misery?

I am not critisizing anyone's intents or actions.  I just want to point out a few things.