Here's What we know for sure. . .

You know it, we know it, everyone knows it. In this day and age it's only a matter of time before somewhere in the country we experience a power outage, be it man made or natural disaster.
So here's where great-grandmother's know-how meets today's modern electronic Mom and Dad. The author of this blog picks up where granny left off with simple everyday skills that will make living through a power outage a little less scary and hopefully, much more comfortable.

We are glad you're here.

Thursday, February 8, 2024

Cold Comfort

“The man is not sick because he has an illness he has an illness because he is sick.” An Old Chinese Proverb

Years ago, well actually shortly before C-19 came into being, I had a scary dream/vision sort of thing. In this dream/vision sort of thing there was a city with lots of people mulling around and the word Bacteria came across my dream screen. I woke up.

Later, maybe the following year, C-19 lockdowns began. How odd, I thought, as my brain reminisced about the dream/vision sort of thing I had. My dream must have missed the mark on that one.


In the last 20 years or so there has been the appearance of H1N1, a subtype of the influenza virus, SARS as a related coronavirus, MERS also related to coronavirus, and Ebolavirus which the CDC has a patent on it and the vaccine.

Of course there are other viruses, but, I”m thinking outside the box here. What if all these new vaccines are to weaken/destroy our human immune system and suddenly there are no antibiotics to be had anywhere? Reality finally puts that piece of puzzle in front of us to finish the picture. And there it is. It’s the bacteria that was the actual human depopulation plan of the WEFers all along. Was the weaponization of the viruses and vaccines just a distraction?


Virus vs bacteria. What is the difference?


10 bacterial diseases seen first after a disaster- not in any particular order.

MRSA- MRSA stands for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, a type of bacteria that is resistant to several antibiotics. Generally, it begins as a skin infection, but untreated can become septic.


Typhoid fever— Gastrointestinal infection caused by the Salmonella enterica serological variant Typhi in contaminated food and water. Infected people can be carriers of the bacteria for up to three months infecting others along the way.


Tooth Abscess-A tooth abscess is an infection caused by tooth decay, periodontal (gum) disease or a cracked tooth. Will not get better without antibiotics. Can be deadly if left untreated.

Pertussis- Whooping cough Human disease caused by the bacteria Bordetella pertussis. Click on the orange link (Pdf) to learn about a great home remedy for this bacterial illness.


Typhus—Caused by body lice, ticks,and rat fleas. Epidemic typhus generally occurs in outbreaks when poor sanitary conditions and crowding are present.


Hantavirus- From mouse droppings. 40% fatality rate.


Leptospirosis- From rodent urine found in stagnant warm water and pools. This bacterial disease has a 10 to 50% fatality rate.


Chaga disease- This one is an infection caused by a protozoan parasite. Affects the heart and intestinal tract.


Food Poisoning- Is caused by bacteria in spoiled, dirty, or undercooked food. Have activated charcoal on hand for this highly likely happening. Hospitals usually have this on hand in the Emergency Room. At least they used to.


Tuberculosis- Highly contagious! The World Health Organization (WHO) describes it as an “epidemic”. It reports that it is 13th leading cause of death globally and “the second leading infectious killer after COVID-19. Chlorine bleach has no effect on tuberculosis bacteria.


Now, imagine finding a journal in the rubble a few years after. . .


Journal entry November 24

I haven’t written in a while. We have mostly been moving around, trying to keep out of sight. I think we have got a good place to stay now, for awhile at least. Lockdowns were brutal, then they imposed a draft for young men and women. People rioted and protested. So, they brought out the UFO card and announced that aliens were real on planet earth. The world went nuts.

Then a huge, earth shattering event came in April of 2024. I still don’t understand what exactly happened, I don’t think anyone really knows. The power had been off since about the middle of December last year and most people were able to deal with a little inconvenience until the gangs and newly released prisoners started kicking peoples doors in and taking over neighborhoods.

But then there was a big flash and several mushroom type clouds of some sort in April. Some say it was the sun like a CME setting the earth on fire. Others say it was a nuke. Doesn’t matter now, many souls left the planet in April from that event. Maybe that was the bibles “left behind tribulation.” Those that didn’t die were left behind plus we didn’t take the vaccines the WHO demanded we have for our digital ID. There were thousands that didn’t go along with that nonsense and we were cast out of society and the smart cities. Government goons came after us, but there were pockets of resistors that survived anyway. Knowledge is king, the more you know the less you need.


Journal entry January

It has been a particularly cold winter so far here in the north country. Respiratory infections have been taking its toll on our group. For the most part the hunting has been good and the gardens were adequate this season so we have had plenty to eat. I’ve been designated pharmacist because of my herbal knowledge and remedies making skills. Runners have shown up from other groups to bater remedies and knowledge. I’ve become quite wealthy and popular. I have a ton of 22 and 9mm ammo now. I will need to increase the size of my herbal garden next spring.

I have recently learned to make clean activated charcoal. There were so many food poisonings in the beginning and people with the shits. Thank goodness I have a recipe too for making a Pedialyte drink. Saved a bunch from a miserable time. Dysentery and Cholera was a tough one. People were so desperate for food and water they would eat about anything. What a mess that was. Groups didn’t save enough plastic garbage bags in their prep supplies to handle the clean up. I felt sorry for them.


Journal entry March, I think.

It has been almost a year since the invasion. “The-powers-that-be” were responsible for the power grid takedown here in the US last December. They didn’t want Trump winning the election and people finding out how they had messed up the country. The digital ID thing didn’t work, people just didn’t get on board with it and all the government surveillance and control that came with it.

Tuberculosis showed up in a neighboring group this last winter. It had started showing up big time here in the U.S. when the Biden administration opened our borders to hundreds of millions of illegal people from just about every country in the world without screening them. It had not been much of a problem here until then, just a few cases here and there.

There wasn’t much I could do to help because people who had gotten tuberculosis. Most were lacking in vitamin D due to lockdowns and supply shortages early on. It was too cold to sit them out in the sun for very long. Herbal remedies helped some but many died, mostly they couldn’t cope with the tuberculosis and the wet cold of no heat in whatever they were living in. Also, from what I hear there was a case of Typhoid at a group in the area that they mishandled because the group was unfamiliar with Typhoid and just about everyone became infected. A few of the group didn’t make it, then came whooping cough for a couple of infants. I gave them what vitamin C I had left to those little guys and some rosehip powder. I haven’t heard if they got better or not. I don’t like not knowing.


Journal entry June, It seems like June mosquitos are thick

Rumors say the invading army has pretty much left or died or something. Their supplies had been cut off and they weren’t getting paid or the promised citizenship. No sense fighting Americans that are armed to the teeth and know the terrain. Those loyal Americans didn’t bow down to government bullshit and came away much stronger. Some of the invading army were all too happy to be absorbed into villages and groups, mostly down south from what I hear. They didn’t want to fight this war any more than we did. Insect bites, Chaga, ticks and fleas became a big problem. Also hunger will make people do unbelievable things.


Journal entry August, We are beginning harvest this week

Had a couple cases of gangrene starting. Glad to see they came to me early on. I guess by now most people recognise that the red line running up from an infected wound is not good. I ran out of black seed oil during the winter months. That is so sad because I won’t be able to replace it. Used flaxseed meal and cabbage leaf poultice, changed every few hours. Seemed to work pretty well.

During the winter months and again this spring, I heard older survivors had surcome to heart attacks due to the heavy workload. I’m surprised they lasted this long. Most had to be weaned off pharma drugs. That wasn’t fun, used up a ton of my herbal reserves.

We were able to make it to a traders rendezvous in, I think it was July. Some of the preppers were saying they made it this far because they had planned ahead and had water filtration. So many people they knew had gotten sick with water borne illness like, Leptospirosis, cryptosporidium,and giardia. Plus, people were not wiping the tops of their stored canned goods. Mice left droppings and urine on them that got into the food. More died unnecessarily because they didn’t practice good hygiene. Also, there was decomposing carcassi floating in ponds and streams they were telling me. Some animal, more humans. Industrial wastewater was another feature of pollution that could be seen floating around in the streams along with all that good stuff from unmanned wastewater treatment plants. Gross!

Glad we planned ahead too. Pressure canners have come in so handy. We can no longer find lids for canning so we turned one pressure canner into a water distiller, and another one into an autoclave. The more you know the less you need.


Journal entry I believe it is November again, the sun sets early now

It is so damn depressing were those dark days. There is optimism in the air beginning, however. I think we have turned the corner and things are coming back a little at a time. Americans can be so generous but those that could distrust strangers things and their stories is what kept some groups alive. It was a good thing too, you just couldn’t trust the aliens. They wanted people to trust them, but it turned out they just saw us as cattle. The rumor going around is that thousands of normal people were so hungry they willingly took their family into those FEMA camps we had been hearing about. That’s where they sucked the normal people up into their crafts. The craft then moved on to the next FEMA camp until the UFO was full then it left, just disappeared. Right?! Ok, then, whatever, eh? But that was the rumor.


Journal entry late winter

There are so few of us left in our area. It is a scary prospect but some of our group want to venture out to see who is left out there and if there is any news that they can bring back to our group. I am pleased to say, people are being more careful with their working habits and injuries are down. Those of us that are left are much stronger now and healthier. We have had a couple of babies born and they seem to be thriving without all the chemicals in their little bodies and those vaccines given to them in hospitals 10 minutes after birth. I call them “natures children”, the way god intended children should be.

There was a few feral hogs still running the woods. They wondered too close to our encampment and a couple of them ended up as dinner. I am surprised there are any animals left around here. Probably should have kept them for a starter farm. Maybe next time.


Saturday, December 2, 2023

Your brother-in-laws lack of foresight. Important repost



  Print this and save for later. Trust me, you'll be glad you did

Your Sister, Husband and 3 Kids, just came through the back door.


You had planned and practiced for your immediate household to be resolve and to stay the course with any crisis that comes to your neighborhood and you, your wife and children are ready to handle what comes your way. 

And so it happens. The disaster. 

Now the immediate crisis has passed and it's time to take inventory of your situation. Family, ok/check. Supplies, enough for several weeks-check. Skill set, wife and yourself are well seasoned in many modalities-check. Water and medical supplies are adequate-check. Yep, things are well and under control, when. . .

Two days later

Your sister, her 3rd husband, their 6 kids, two big dogs and a cat show up at your house expecting you to take them in because they know you have an alternative source of heating and it is getting cold. They took notes when you were bragging about spending your overtime pay on stocking the freezer, trying convince them to do the same.  But since they didn't take the hint, and the power has been out for a few days now, dear Sis explains to you that you need help eating all that frozen food before it spoils so we are here to help with that.

These family members "tell you" that they are here for the duration of the power outage or disaster because their place "is too cold, and there are no lights. It's just uninhabitable the way it is. You wouldn't want your nieces and nephews cold and hungry would you?"

You agree, it's not the youngsters fault, nieces and nephews do deserve a warm meal and a clean bed, even though your inept brother-in-law and sister saw no need to plan ahead. But seriously, your ability to care of another family will put your supplies and comfort zone in danger. Your immediate household, your children and spouse are always first in importance, as it should be.

Between a rock and a hard spot

Damn, that's not fair, you think, just because he didn't plan ahead for his family, it's not my responsibility but in your heart, you feel the need to take care of the kids at least. What are you to do??

Below is something that can help with this situation. Expressed, in no uncertain terms, that if they can't live with these guidelines they will be free to find another host. Please feel free to copy the following guidelines and distribute to your house guests. The earlier the better. You may even hint to them before any disaster, prepare them ahead of time. Everyone will be happier knowing where things stand. Life rules are much easier to enforce once all parties understand what is expected of them. Yes, this is hard core but, they are family after all.  You are saving his ass.

Have this ready and available, now. Then hand it to his uselessness and your sister.

Please read and sign; this is what/will be required of you should you plan to stay here. Things you will need to bring with you or retrieve from your place.


  1. Your children are your responsibility, no exceptions; bring what they need.
  2. Pets are also your responsibility; bring what they need. 
  3. Take note: Aggressive, dangerous, uncontrollable or unhealthy animals will be taken to the woods and dispatched. No exceptions. The groups' safety and survival always takes precedence. 
  4. All Pets; with this many people in the house it will begin to feel small and crowded. All pets, every single animal will remain outside or in the garage. Plan on it.
  5. Clothing; sturdy work clothes, shoes and easy care clothes. You will be responsible to wash your own clothes by hand and hang to dry. Plan on it.
  6. Food; bring with you as much as possible. It will be shared by everyone. Plan on it.
  7. Bedding; you will be responsible for bringing your own bedding or sleeping bags.
  8. Cleaning supplies, toilet paper, trash bags etc; with this many people it means more cleaning to keep everyone healthy. Bleach, if you have it will be greatly appreciated.
  9. Soap, shampoo, toothpaste, feminine products etc; you will need to keep yourself clean and sweet smelling. It may mean heating and hauling water, too. Plan on it.
  10. Weapons, ammo, hunting and fishing gear; until needed, weapons and ammo will be locked away. Kids will be taught what firearms are and the need to respect them. Older children will be taught to shoot. Plan on it.
  11. Your prescriptions and first aid supplies; you will need to bring your own meds, this needs no explanation. First aid supplies will be locked away and shared by all as needed.
Please take note; your personal items, such as clothing, bedding, prescriptions and childrens items etc. will be available for your own use. Everything else will be locked in the storeroom and shared with the house.

         You will be expected to work for the house each day. The greater part of work will depend on the need at the time. Plan on it.

NO chores, no food, no exceptions!! The following is a list of chores that you can expect during your stay, during this crisis. These are not all inclusive, more will be added as needed.

  1. Daily Chores; included in this section, but not limited to, cooking the meals and cleaning up after, sweeping the floors, cleaning the bathroom and removing waste to outdoor disposal site. Any other task that may be required to help the house survive.
  2. Hauling water and purifying it; the creek is half a mile away and water will need to be hauled to the house and purified. A wagon and containers will be provided.
  3. Hunting and fishing as needed; all the work involved from harvest to the ready to cook stage will be your responsibility for that day. Everyone that can, will have their turn at hunting and fishing.
  4. Gardening; this will include but not limited to, seed starting, tilling the ground, planting, weeding, watering, harvesting, canning and drying etc.
  5. Foraging; this is the gathering of wild grown food such as apples, raspberries, gooseberries, blueberries and elderberries. Also, roots such as dandelion, burdock and others. Herbs and other plants to assist and ensure flavorful meals and drinks. 
  6. Firewood; in the fall or as time permits, firewood needs to be gathered and cut, chopped, hauled and stacked. Everyone helps. Plan on it.
  7. Babysitting; this will be designated as a chore. 1 or 2 people will be that days designated sitter so mothers can work.

Childrens' responsibility; when in a long term survival situation children under the age of 14 will be fed twice a day. The rest of the household may not be so lucky. Children 14 and older will be treated as an adult, with adult responsibilities and all that entails. Children younger than 14 years old WILL be supervised at all times. There will be no exceptions.

Children 10 and up will learn how to use communication devices, those 14 and up will provide household watch. All others will be put on an outdoor security rotating schedule. 

  This is a survival situation; it is not a vacation! All members will sign this agreement.


For those friends and relatives that think you are one cookie shy of a dozen, or those who you love but simply tell you that there is no reason to prepare or don't need to prepare because they will just come to your house when things get bad. Leave this agreement laying around the house where they will be sure to see it when they come for a visit. It should make terrific conversation starter, or start a fight. Either way they will know in advance what to expect when showing up to your house after a disaster.

Sunday, May 8, 2022

Life Before the Superstore--How Great Granny Kept Her Family Fed



I should have paid more attention. I wish I would have listened to Grandmas stories a little more. Grams was born January of 1900 and loved us until she was 96. One day she simply said “This old body has had enough, I miss grandpa. I love you.” And she was gone. My grandparent spent 71 years together. I sure so do miss her sitting across the counter from me and my cousin, telling us stories of life in her cabin before the state made her and grandpa put in electricity. That was in the late 1960’s, if memory serves me correctly. She was upset about the whole deal, Grams loved the cabin just the way it was. My Dad and Grandpa built this home for their retirement. Lovingly put together from the trees on the property. Nestled next to an old dirt road, the log cabin faced a pristine body of water. At the time it was built there were no other houses around that crystal clear lake at all. It was peaceful and serene.

During my working days I spent many years caring for old people. Some in nursing homes, some in Care Facilities and some in their own homes. Old people are so full of information if you take a moment to listen. To an old person you are a new set of ears to spill their world of experience on for as long as your young ears are available. Their stories come from a different time and an entirely different world than we have experienced. I wasn’t about to lose another opportunity to learn what I could. I took copious notes of their stories.

On Tuesdays and Fridays I was scheduled to visit a ninety year old newspaper owner named Louie. This delightful senior has a forever spot in my heart. There are just some personalities you simply never forget and Louie was one of those guys. So full of life and charm, he was as sharp as a whip. Louie loved to talk about his religion. Louie was Jewish. I knew nothing about Jewish people or the Jewish religion in those days, but he trusted me with his most beloved possession, a look inside the Jewish faith. I accepted this gift with open ears.

Often we chatted while we went through his care routine, but this one particular day he had a cheese pizza delivered along with a 2 lt. bottle of Pepsi. We sat at his kitchen table and talked that whole shift about what it was like being a Jewish person and life in the newspaper business. He was so proud of his daughter who became a stage Opera singer. It amazed me how just listening to someone who is passionate about who they are can open up a whole new found respect for them and their life. I just loved Louie.

Then there was a dear lady named Melvina. She loved to watch Lawrence Welk on Tv. Petite Melvina loved ballroom dancing in her younger days. Even then, at 98, I can still see her in my memory standing at her walker when the music started and toe shuffling to Welk’s bubble music of the 1960’s and 70’s. On one delightful care visit Melvina began our day telling me a story about her birth. She was born at home, premature. That was in 1916, before the widespread use of electricity. So what did Melvina’s mother do to keep her tiny baby warm? When the new mother needed a moment to herself she put the fragile baby in a basket, opened the oven door on the wood cook stove, and set basket and baby on the oven door to stay warm. The heat from the oven kept the baby warm much like an incubator does for modern premie’s. Obviously it worked. I don’t know that I would have thought of that. I guess necessity is the mother of invention, so they say.

And of course, dear Josephine, she was also 90. Her story went like this; “We carried water from a spring about a half mile away.” She spoke as her memory carried her to another time. “Carried it in a pail. We used that spring as our refrigerator. Kept the butter and things like that cool.

You took your Saturday night bath in a tub. It was a good thing if you wasn’t the fourth or fifth one down the family, because you had to use the same water. You weren’t going to change water when you had to carry it half mile!”

Many books into my learning about the old ways, I discovered that in ancient times women were the keepers of the hearth. Grandmothers were the teachers and caregivers of the the children so their parents could hunt and forage for the tribes daily sustenance. Life was hard, actually borderline brutal sometimes. It was during these ancient times that soap was discovered purely by accident.

Many, many, many long years ago there was a cooking fire. It was a time of the big feast, this group was celebrating a successful hunt. The women prepared the meal and cooked the mighty beast on the central outdoor cooking fire. Men sat on blankets on the ground waiting for the meal to be served and enjoyed bragging about their part in the hunt. While these hairy fellows were enjoying reliving the days escapades, grease from the prized fat animal dripped down into the hot ashes. That night after their stories were told, everyones bellies were fed, and the joyful group headed off to into their sleeping tents, it rained. The next morning an observant early riser noticed bubbles coming from the cold cooking fire. Well-ah, this smart person played with the substance and soon soap was invented. Ash + water + grease = a crude soap.

When very ancient people traveled they carried hot coals in carved out stone carefully placed inside an animal pouch. These life saving coals would be the start of the next campfire. Grass reeds fashioned into cups and slathered with sticky tree sap became drink cups. These ingenious folks took hot rocks from the fire, shook off the ash and put them into the water in the grass cup to make a hot beverage of tea.

What I also learned is there are 4 basic things that humans need for survival in every human generational cycle. We all know about food, water, and shelter but we need each other too. Humans were meant to live with other humans. Rare is the human who lives isolated, it happens, but not often. Small groups of about 10 to 15 people seemed to hold the most survivability. More people than that, a splinter group broke off. The second most dominate male, chose his few and a new group was formed.

Drying and fermentation were one of the earliest means of food preservation. Meat, fish and some vegetable matter were dried over a smoky fire pit. Fermentation goes back to cave dwellers when it was discovered that they intentionally made a crude alcohol beer.

Traditional jerky making video

How to begin with fermentation video

Living without running to the grocery store is going to be a big adjustment. Below you will find a list of things to know about fending for yourself when our changing world turns off what we think is our normal.

*Growing enough to get you from one harvest season to the next harvest season is going to take some planning. An absolute must is putting away at least 2 years worth at a time because a good harvest every year is not guaranteed. Do you have the room to store 2 years worth of your labor? Can you save seeds? Yes, again, it takes years of planning and acting. It’s hard work to keep the belly fed.

*Living without refrigeration. Cooking every meal fresh. What to do with leftovers if there are any. It is well worth looking into “Spring Houses” and “How the Amish keep lake ice all summer long.” My grandfather dug a hole into the side of a hill. He called it a cold room or root cellar. It was a pleasure to run to the cold room on a hot summer afternoon to retrieve a quart of grape juice grandmother had made. The juice was cold by default. Yummy!

Ice harvesting video

On the farm 'spring house' video

*Washing clothes is another story. Do you take them down to the creek and beat them on a rock? You have an old scrub board right? Check out Lehman's Country store for more clothes washing ideas.

This is ridiculously hard work washing a families weeks worth of clothes by hand. In the warmer months the washed clothes can be hung outside to dry, but what about the winter months? Where do you dry them?

If you are lucky enough to have two very large pans, you can put them on metal legs and build a fire under the pans to heat the water. This makes for an easier wash day since you have the clothes line handy. You have a clothes line, right?

*Oh, and another thing, when they quit making waxed paper or even plastic bags, or at least when the price is too high. What changes will you need to make? Great grandma used waxed 12”x 12” cotton squares to cover her food. Good luck finding beeswax. That reminds me, bees wax will be valuable barter item. Honey too!

*What happens if toilet paper makes a run for it? Or feminine products? Do you know what to do when the toilet no longer flushes? Remember, you will most likely have to haul water. My mother recounts a story of her outhouse days of her youth. Everyone was assigned a cotton rag. There were nails strategically placed in the outhouse with your name on it and a rag hung there for your use. You were responsible for that rag and cleaning it after use. There was be a bucket of water under the rags to clean your rag after use. The bucket was changed daily as part of the kids chores. No fair using someone elses rag if you didn’t clean yours.

*Do you know how to make baby diapers, diaper rash cream, and baby formula? Do you know how to NOT get pregnant when the world is in Mad Max? Can you give birth without the doctor?

*What are the first diseases seen after a crisis? Is that water safe? Can you disinfect it? We have forgotten many of the common water borne illnesses that 3rd. world countries deal with everyday. Diseases like Cholera, Dysentery, Leptospirosis to name a few. Then there are things like Typhus, Pellagra, Hantavirus, food poisoning, Bubonic and Pneumonic plagues, heart attacks from stress, and overexertion from eating junk food and sitting every day. Are you familiar with these and can you safety treat them without professional medical people?

There is so much more to consider on the dark side of the superstore going away and what that means to all of us. I need not go any further with explanations on that subject, I think you can figure out the rest.

I’m sure this article has given you enough to digest at the moment. Should you feel inclined to ask questions, I will be here to answer them best I can. Your future depends on what you know and the skills you can learn quickly. Books will be your best insurance. Having a well stocked how-to hard copy library is something you can pass around, too. And don’t forget to check in with your grandparents, just have a notebook handy and plenty of time.

LikeCommentCommentShareShare