The election is just around the corner and Covid numbers are progressively (whether really or artificially) going up. Illinois has already started reinstating stricter control over its populace because of Covid numbers. What some governors really want is control. Even last Friday, Steve (my husband) and I were watching The Last Ship. During one commercial, we heard Joe Biden say, “We need to control the Buyer.” Exactly. What people want is control.
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Possible Rioting After the Election
It doesn’t matter who actually “wins” the election next week. Challenges are going to be made and recounts are going to be done. If Trump wins (which sadly, I don’t think he will), I’m betting that there will be rioting in most of the major cities across the country. Do you live in a major city? Use these two articles (Article 1) (Article 2) to prepare yourself now. If Biden wins, we may still have rioting, but it will be celebratory instead of punitive. So please read those two articles.
Practice Situational Awareness 
It may sound simplistic, but we don’t live in the same country that you and I did when we were growing up. I grew up outside the third-largest city in Pennsylvania. I was allowed to play outside after dark a lot. No one batted an eyelash at it. So I pulled up some statistics. Erie, PA (where I grew up) had an approximate population of 280,000 in 1980 when I was growing up. Today, I live outside a city of approximately 108,000. Yesterday, I offered to pay my youngest daughter (14 yo) to clean out our van. I’m going to be doing some videos in the van here shortly for the website. So I would really like the van to be clean. When my daughter came to me last night and asked if she could clean out the van after dark, I really hesitated. My area isn’t known as a crime area, but I still didn’t want her working outside after dark. A lot of that is because I realize that we live in a different time than I did when I grew up.
Because we live in a very different country than we did forty years ago, don’t take things for granted. Be vigilant. Be aware of what’s happening and learn to read the consequences from it. Even as we get closer to election day, things can change and you have to be able to react appropriately.
Stock up
I’m reading all over the place that grocery store shelves are starting to clear again. Here, here, and here just to show you a few. But most people are stocking up because they see Covid numbers going up. I think that you should have at least 2 weeks’ worth of your “everyday” types of foods before the election next week. We don’t make potato chips a part of our regular food storage, but if your family eats potato chips regularly, then, I’d stock up on some of those – at least enough to get you through the next two weeks.
Are you purchasing and putting aside toilet paper? Paper towels and paper napkins? Did you know that gallons of milk will freeze? So you could even stock up on some of that. Make sure that you’ve got more than enough feminine supplies. If you have a little one, make sure that you have a decent stash of diapers and formula.
And just like I said back in July, when I first started warning everyone about the second wave of the virus lockdowns, make sure that you’ve also got some fun foods. For my younger kids, I purchased Tootsie Pops. For my oldest daughter and myself, I purchased dark chocolate mini peppermint patties. Since I can’t purchase and keep chocolate-covered strawberries – my poor husband was out of luck – unless I make them myself – which I have done on occasion.
Do you have a fireplace? Are you stocked up on wood to heat your home – or a portion of your home? Need some suggestions as to where to get firewood for free so you can save some of your resources to purchase. . .
. . . Equipment 
Are there any pieces of equipment that you need to purchase that you’ve been putting off? Have you been telling yourself that you need to buy a Berkey water filtration system, but you haven’t yet? And according to Honey (a Chrome extension that tracks Amazon prices, this is the time to buy one. The price is almost $70 less than it usually is.
Do you have a heater that you can use indoors? Many parts of the country are already starting to cool down. We’ve had highs in the 40’s this week! This is the heater that we have in case of emergencies. We could sleep all our kids in our room with us if we were without heat and then heat our room using our indoor safe Mr. Heater. We have a fireplace, but sleeping all six of us in our “Great Room” would be much less comfortable than sleeping everyone in our bedroom.
Have you been purchasing hard wheat, but you don’t yet have a grain grinder? This is the electric grain grinder that we have. I would highly recommend it! If you’re looking for a non-electric grain grinder, then we own this one, and again, this is the one that I would highly recommend.
Is a solar oven on your list of preparedness items to buy? Have you been wondering if you should purchase one sooner rather than later? Okay, this is a little trickier here. This is the solar oven that I own. It works in a pinch, but it’s best in summer. We’ve tried using it before and it doesn’t do well with dense foods. This is the solar oven I STILL want, but the price makes it a bit prohibitive for me. If I had it do to over again, I would save to buy the second one instead of buying the first one.
Money
I HIGHLY recommend that you pull some money out of your bank before the elections. We are wanting to pull out one month’s worth of expenses (if we did nothing, ate from food storage, canceled all lessons, etc). I think you get my drift. We’d pay the mortgage, the utilities, any insurance, and not much else, but we could do so with cash if need be. I suggest you think about doing something similar.
What About You?
Do you have any other suggestions of things that we should be doing this weekend before we have to deal with the aftermath of the election and escalating Covid numbers? Leave a comment in the comment section below so that we can all be better prepared.
Together let’s Love, Live, Practice, and Overcome.
I would recommend making sure you have enough prescription meds and OTC meds your family commonly uses to see you thru at least a month. Also, have a decent.home first aid kit and some form of emergency lighting. And make sure all your electronics and chargers are fully charged.
Another great blog Karen! One thing that does not get mentioned if people were to lose all power & electricity is a simple charcoal BBQ grill. We have big 20 pound tanks of propane too, but I want to use those for our Big Buddy heater & Coleman camping stove & oven. We live in Wis. & being without heat in the dead of winter is one of my biggest fears. Back to the charcoal BBQ grill…so much you can do on that type of grill even during the winter months, including making a pizza! I have been prepping for the second round of Covid-19 lockdown and way, way beyond that too. Nothing we have will go to waste. If we can’t or don’t use something, it will come in handy for someone else. I have been prepping since 2008 & will never stop, because there is nothing better than having our very own store in our basement! Glad we kept it as an unfinished basement (cement floors & walls) all these years.
Well, I’m a prepping newbie compared to most people I’ve encountered online in the past seven months, but I’ve learned so much! I feel like prepping is the niche I’ve been unknowingly looking for to help me quell the fears of the unknown or the potentially unstable future. I have a strong faith-walk with the Lord, but (like your last post, Karen) we are still called to use our brains and prepare for our family’s needs and not just waltz willy-nilly into the future. (Hence, Joseph warned Pharaoh to prepare for seven years of famine BEFORE it started.) I’ve made a lot of progress since March when I got on board and have come to understand so much about how to plan, estimate, store, and assess what we need. Just last weekend, the hubs and I tackled the “find an alternative way to cook” issue by going to our old storage shed to extract the propane grill we had practically forgotten about. We cleaned it up, checked it out, and it still works great, plus we had a full tank just sitting there with the grill. Check that one off the list! Item by item, task by task, we’re learning from you and the other people who so graciously share their knowledge! Thank you!
Absolutely, one step at a time. You’re doing awesome!
I know you live in a liberal state right now but I really think the rest of the states are going to bring this election home for all of us. The atmosphere is very different here from what you are probably seeing there. I do realize though that fighting off the election fraud will be fierce.