- Jan 12, 2012
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- 113
Some days like today offer unanticipated opportunities to learn. As it so happened, I went to Noblesville to pick up trees from another INGO member. They figure into my preparedness plan as well as my general everyday life plan. While driving, I was busy thinking about a number of similar dual-purpose plans both to enhance life as usual and also to prepare for a dystopian future, largely based on the notion that what most of us would consider TEOTWAWKI would be to people like the Amish merely SSDD. As it happened, the INGO member in question had other plans for the day and gave me his address, a description of the house and RV parked outside which he considered visible, and had also made mention of having the only house in a commercial area. Armed with this knowledge, it sounded to me like Ray Charles should be able to see the place. If only...
Upon arrival to the area, the GPS pinned the spot as some inaccessible bottoms. I had already been looking given that I know better than to take GPS for holy writ. I passed back and forth several time. I got frustrated, very frustrated. I finally made one really low-speed pass at about 10 miles per hour and finally found the place. Why was it so difficult you ask? The house, driveway, and RV were all obscured by assorted cultivated vegetation of varying heights ranging from what appear to be tall ornamental grasses to trees. The house and surroundings were otherwise exactly as described. Upon finding it, I felt simultaneously stupid and relieved.
Now, you are probably wondering what this has to do with survival, SHTF or anything that applies to anyone. I will share the things I took away from this experience:
First, human nature is to see what your are expecting and not see it if it is not as you expect it. Applying diligence and attention to detail, I finally found what had been invisible to me. Lesson learned is to pay attention rather than visually skimming for what I expect to see and miss what is actually there in the process.
Second, it speaks volumes about effective camouflage. I wouldn't have skipped a beat telling you that the farm where my grandparents lived, at the end of a quarter-mile long lane into the woods was for all practical purposes invisible from the road. I would not, however, have ever believed that the same effect could have been effectively carried out with a house that couldn't have been 50 feet from the road, but it was, and apparently without the intent of doing so.
Third, it is not necessary to be in the middle of the woods to reduce the visibility of your home and/or other buildings or pieces of property from the perspective of the passer-by.
No, I don't have a step-by-step paint by the numbers plan for hiding your house which stands right up against a busy road, but this does indeed demonstrate that between vegetation which serves to conceal and distraction from what amounts to visual noise around it, it can in fact be done.
Upon arrival to the area, the GPS pinned the spot as some inaccessible bottoms. I had already been looking given that I know better than to take GPS for holy writ. I passed back and forth several time. I got frustrated, very frustrated. I finally made one really low-speed pass at about 10 miles per hour and finally found the place. Why was it so difficult you ask? The house, driveway, and RV were all obscured by assorted cultivated vegetation of varying heights ranging from what appear to be tall ornamental grasses to trees. The house and surroundings were otherwise exactly as described. Upon finding it, I felt simultaneously stupid and relieved.
Now, you are probably wondering what this has to do with survival, SHTF or anything that applies to anyone. I will share the things I took away from this experience:
First, human nature is to see what your are expecting and not see it if it is not as you expect it. Applying diligence and attention to detail, I finally found what had been invisible to me. Lesson learned is to pay attention rather than visually skimming for what I expect to see and miss what is actually there in the process.
Second, it speaks volumes about effective camouflage. I wouldn't have skipped a beat telling you that the farm where my grandparents lived, at the end of a quarter-mile long lane into the woods was for all practical purposes invisible from the road. I would not, however, have ever believed that the same effect could have been effectively carried out with a house that couldn't have been 50 feet from the road, but it was, and apparently without the intent of doing so.
Third, it is not necessary to be in the middle of the woods to reduce the visibility of your home and/or other buildings or pieces of property from the perspective of the passer-by.
No, I don't have a step-by-step paint by the numbers plan for hiding your house which stands right up against a busy road, but this does indeed demonstrate that between vegetation which serves to conceal and distraction from what amounts to visual noise around it, it can in fact be done.