"The two most important days in your life were the day you were born and the day you find out why."
Mark Twain
May 17, 2020 - Day 64 of the great American lock-down
It's still pretty chilly where I live, about 100 miles north of the 45th parallel. The night temperatures crawl down into the mid 20's, while the day time temps settle in at about 45 degrees with dark clouds and icy winds. Not very agreeable for the middle of May. Weatherman says we are headed to a warm up, yea!!
I was waiting for the coffee maker to finish it's cycle the other morning just about dawn, when my attention drifted over to the patio door. There on the other side of the glass was a shivering red squirrel. The icy wind driving exposed skin patches in his thick fur. Mr. Red Squirrel was begging the cat to let him in. It was cold!
I felt a moment of sympathy for the little fellow, filled my cup with the bitter brew and headed back to my office where my computer awaited. Not wanting to jump right into the daily routine, I surfed over to you tube and clicked on a video to watch.
Turned out to be one of the better things I had watched in a while. A daily diet of virus this and virus that can get old real fast. The video that caught my attention was of a guy "Green Gregs " interviewing a gal, Stacy of Sustainable Stewards " (A click on the links will take you to their youtube channel.)
Excellent interview by the way. This young lady and her family live as close to an Amish lifestyle as you can get without being Amish. "It will be the way of the future for the U.S. with what's coming at us." according to Stacy. She expects the power to go out for this country sometime in December of this year. "Yeah right," I thought. "That's damn depressing."
I clicked on another video from a guy named Dave Hodges - The Common Sense Show " . In his video Russian president Putin warns Americans of an impending nuke he may be forced to send our way. "For Pete's sake!" WTH!
Putin won't want to kill our infrastructure, so if this is true, seems to me he may be planning some sort of take out the electricity EMP type nuke?
Is there a pattern forming here? Ok, no more youtube for today, that's it! Time to get to work. But I can't unsee those videos. They weight heavy on my heart. Do you have days like that? You know, that just scare the freak out of ya because you just know?
Years ago I had the pleasure of reading a book *One Second After* by William Forestchen. Actually, he put out a series of books on the subject of an EMP attack and what happens immediately after and then years after. Excellent reading, his books were cited on the floor of Congress as something all Americans should read. The last one of the series, *The Final Day*, Forestchen expertly captures the best and worst of human nature as families and communities crawl out of the darkness. In this apocalyptic thriller, he describes the lights finally being restored but the world was never going back to what it was before the EMP. People had been forced to do unthinkable things during the survival years, just to keep themselves and their family alive. You can not undo those memories, he writes. They will haunt you forever and the remorse will eat you alive!
You can't tell me you have never thought about it. You know, the lights going out long term, or maybe having to stand in a food line or go to a FEMA camp somewhere. Maybe separated from your family because you were away from home when it hit? Stuff you might be forced to do. So, be honest, you've thought about it. Do you ask yourself; do I have a plan? Do I have the skills it would take to survive a long duration crisis? Could I fend off a looter or a really bad intruder?
Crap, that was dark. Where are you going with this?
Do you own a cookbook, to change the subject? Would you know what to do with a bag of rice and a can of green beans, if that was all that you had to feed the kids? No? Psst, me neither if it was the middle of winter when the lights go out. But if it was spring or summer, then I could forage for all kinds of goodies to add to the rice and green bean dish. But. . .
Many years ago I worked for a not-for-profit womens shelter. A womans shelter is a place for women to escape domestic abuse and violence. These shelters have saved many womens lives. Many of our clients showed up in the middle of the night, battered and bruised, with their children in tow. Some came directly from the hospital. These women and children come from all backgrounds, colors, and economic class. It was quite surprising to know where some of them came from and who their perpatrators were.
I was facilities manager at the shelter in 1999. It was a time when everyone was gearing up for Y2K and the shelter was getting things in place for computers to down and the lights to go out, way back then. Our security would have been affected.
Donations are at the very least 50% of what keeps not-for-profits open and doing their good deeds. Thanks to the generosity of many local people and companies, we got plenty that year. During the fall local gardeners donated their extra fresh vegetables and hunters gave venison to the shelter. If I remember correctly, we had about 10 or 12 women and their children living with us. The shelter had a very nice kitchen with all the things a modern kitchen should have. Each client was expected to use our stocked pantry to feed her family. Simple, yes? All this wonderful fresh food just waiting to be eaten.
Nope! The sad truth is most people don't know how to cook with fresh veggies and wild meat. And if it didn't come from a box, can or McDonalds the kids didn't want to eat it. During my years working at the shelter I did a lot of cooking for the women and their children using the donated fresh produce and venison. I love feeding a crowd and it took some of the added stress off these poor women, so I pampered them a little. Even today I am amazed at the amount of Americans' whose priority have left the kitchen!
That was almost 20 years ago, a generation has been raised with no knowledge of the workings of a fresh food kitchen. Busy families equals fast convenient meals, I get it. Everywhere on the youtube channel are videos telling people to grow a garden for future security. But if they don't know what a fresh zucchini looks like or how to use it, what good is growing a garden? I recall a young mother, most likely a PETA member, telling a farmer that killing a chicken for a meal should be illegal when you can just go to the grocery store and get one. No animals are harmed there. She was from a big, shiny city on the hill, no doubt. Well, lady you got your wish, lab grown meat is now what's for dinner. Maybe that's the animal that wasn't harmed, you think?
Still, learning to cook a fresh pumpkin, a cabbage or a freshly hunted rabbit after the power has gone out is a piss poor time to learn to cook, lady in the shiny city on the hill will go hungry for sure. Could she use a Dutch oven in an open campfire? Think she even knows what a Dutch oven is? How about her friends? That poor, dear woman, the one that lives in the shiny city on the hill most likely doesn't even own a box of matches or a lighter to make a campfire with.
Ok, let's play with this a bit.
You know it, you can feel it, our world is pretty squirrely right now and even if things come back on line, it's not going to be anything that we could recognize as normal. Then throw into the goofiness, the stress of China, Russia, little Kim, November 3rd, self important Governors, and secrets revealed. You can feel it, the brewing chaos. Long lines for food have already begun.
Can we survive a long power outage too? Do I have the skills it would take to completely rearrange my life and that of my family? What do I do and where do I start? What other chaos could possibly take out the power?
Oh, so glad you asked!
Hey, lady in the shiny city on the hill, take this serious. Please, give it some thought. Even if the lights don't go out you can never go wrong with a little forethought under your belt. Remember your history lessons from high school. Governments create the most suffering and genocide of those they are governing. They are responsible for more deaths than people killed in all the wars since the beginning of recorded history, combined. Here in this country we vote the bastards in and then pay them to do this to us. Don't believe me, look it up yourself.
Lady that lives in the shiny city on the hill call grandma for a lesson in her history. Or great Aunt Beulah. Grams and dear Auntie have a world of old stuff they probably would just love give you along with a loquacious treasure chest of knowledge. My dear grandmother-in-law had a bunch of real cast iron skillets and pots. And I mean a bunch. After she was gone, they were divided among all the family households. That was an awesome treasure!
Oh wait! I feel another story coming on. Yeah, here it comes. This one is from my book;
My mother was born in Nova Scotia in 1932. Nova Scotia is a peninsula surrounded by ocean hanging off the mainland of Canada, a beautiful place. They didn't have electricity in her town until around 1960, if memory serves me correctly. One story mother recounted of life in Canada was of how her family kept their food cold in the summer with what was referred to as a spring house.
A spring house is a little shed type building built over a flowing creek or small river. Most of this small building has no floor. The constant flow of the cool water kept the spring house cool enough to store eggs, milk, cooked meat and other perishables.
For those who were not lucky enough to have a spring or creek with constant flowing water another method of keeping food cold was to dig a hole on the shaded, north side of an existing structure, about 3 or 4 feet deep and as big around as needed.
The bottom of the hole was insulated with a thick layer of straw, grass or leaves. Ice chunks cut from a lake during winter was put on top of the layer of straw or leaves down in the hole. The sides were shored up with bricks, stones or boards and a cover was made of heavy wood slightly larger than the hole. Another layer of straw, leaves or heavy wool blanket was placed over the heavy wood cover. This outdoor refrigerator could possibly keep food cold most of the summer before the ice would finally melt. Clever, eh?
Could you/ would you consider, becoming a mentor to a person like the lady in the shiny city? If you have know-how, would you share it. We'er so going to need you. ❤
Until next time then-- please like, share and comment. Thanks.
I clicked on another video from a guy named Dave Hodges - The Common Sense Show " . In his video Russian president Putin warns Americans of an impending nuke he may be forced to send our way. "For Pete's sake!" WTH!
Putin won't want to kill our infrastructure, so if this is true, seems to me he may be planning some sort of take out the electricity EMP type nuke?
Is there a pattern forming here? Ok, no more youtube for today, that's it! Time to get to work. But I can't unsee those videos. They weight heavy on my heart. Do you have days like that? You know, that just scare the freak out of ya because you just know?
Years ago I had the pleasure of reading a book *One Second After* by William Forestchen. Actually, he put out a series of books on the subject of an EMP attack and what happens immediately after and then years after. Excellent reading, his books were cited on the floor of Congress as something all Americans should read. The last one of the series, *The Final Day*, Forestchen expertly captures the best and worst of human nature as families and communities crawl out of the darkness. In this apocalyptic thriller, he describes the lights finally being restored but the world was never going back to what it was before the EMP. People had been forced to do unthinkable things during the survival years, just to keep themselves and their family alive. You can not undo those memories, he writes. They will haunt you forever and the remorse will eat you alive!
You can't tell me you have never thought about it. You know, the lights going out long term, or maybe having to stand in a food line or go to a FEMA camp somewhere. Maybe separated from your family because you were away from home when it hit? Stuff you might be forced to do. So, be honest, you've thought about it. Do you ask yourself; do I have a plan? Do I have the skills it would take to survive a long duration crisis? Could I fend off a looter or a really bad intruder?
Crap, that was dark. Where are you going with this?
Do you own a cookbook, to change the subject? Would you know what to do with a bag of rice and a can of green beans, if that was all that you had to feed the kids? No? Psst, me neither if it was the middle of winter when the lights go out. But if it was spring or summer, then I could forage for all kinds of goodies to add to the rice and green bean dish. But. . .
Many years ago I worked for a not-for-profit womens shelter. A womans shelter is a place for women to escape domestic abuse and violence. These shelters have saved many womens lives. Many of our clients showed up in the middle of the night, battered and bruised, with their children in tow. Some came directly from the hospital. These women and children come from all backgrounds, colors, and economic class. It was quite surprising to know where some of them came from and who their perpatrators were.
I was facilities manager at the shelter in 1999. It was a time when everyone was gearing up for Y2K and the shelter was getting things in place for computers to down and the lights to go out, way back then. Our security would have been affected.
Donations are at the very least 50% of what keeps not-for-profits open and doing their good deeds. Thanks to the generosity of many local people and companies, we got plenty that year. During the fall local gardeners donated their extra fresh vegetables and hunters gave venison to the shelter. If I remember correctly, we had about 10 or 12 women and their children living with us. The shelter had a very nice kitchen with all the things a modern kitchen should have. Each client was expected to use our stocked pantry to feed her family. Simple, yes? All this wonderful fresh food just waiting to be eaten.
Nope! The sad truth is most people don't know how to cook with fresh veggies and wild meat. And if it didn't come from a box, can or McDonalds the kids didn't want to eat it. During my years working at the shelter I did a lot of cooking for the women and their children using the donated fresh produce and venison. I love feeding a crowd and it took some of the added stress off these poor women, so I pampered them a little. Even today I am amazed at the amount of Americans' whose priority have left the kitchen!
That was almost 20 years ago, a generation has been raised with no knowledge of the workings of a fresh food kitchen. Busy families equals fast convenient meals, I get it. Everywhere on the youtube channel are videos telling people to grow a garden for future security. But if they don't know what a fresh zucchini looks like or how to use it, what good is growing a garden? I recall a young mother, most likely a PETA member, telling a farmer that killing a chicken for a meal should be illegal when you can just go to the grocery store and get one. No animals are harmed there. She was from a big, shiny city on the hill, no doubt. Well, lady you got your wish, lab grown meat is now what's for dinner. Maybe that's the animal that wasn't harmed, you think?
Still, learning to cook a fresh pumpkin, a cabbage or a freshly hunted rabbit after the power has gone out is a piss poor time to learn to cook, lady in the shiny city on the hill will go hungry for sure. Could she use a Dutch oven in an open campfire? Think she even knows what a Dutch oven is? How about her friends? That poor, dear woman, the one that lives in the shiny city on the hill most likely doesn't even own a box of matches or a lighter to make a campfire with.
Ok, let's play with this a bit.
You know it, you can feel it, our world is pretty squirrely right now and even if things come back on line, it's not going to be anything that we could recognize as normal. Then throw into the goofiness, the stress of China, Russia, little Kim, November 3rd, self important Governors, and secrets revealed. You can feel it, the brewing chaos. Long lines for food have already begun.
Can we survive a long power outage too? Do I have the skills it would take to completely rearrange my life and that of my family? What do I do and where do I start? What other chaos could possibly take out the power?
Oh, so glad you asked!
Lady that lives in the shiny city on the hill call grandma for a lesson in her history. Or great Aunt Beulah. Grams and dear Auntie have a world of old stuff they probably would just love give you along with a loquacious treasure chest of knowledge. My dear grandmother-in-law had a bunch of real cast iron skillets and pots. And I mean a bunch. After she was gone, they were divided among all the family households. That was an awesome treasure!
Oh wait! I feel another story coming on. Yeah, here it comes. This one is from my book;
My mother was born in Nova Scotia in 1932. Nova Scotia is a peninsula surrounded by ocean hanging off the mainland of Canada, a beautiful place. They didn't have electricity in her town until around 1960, if memory serves me correctly. One story mother recounted of life in Canada was of how her family kept their food cold in the summer with what was referred to as a spring house.
A spring house is a little shed type building built over a flowing creek or small river. Most of this small building has no floor. The constant flow of the cool water kept the spring house cool enough to store eggs, milk, cooked meat and other perishables.
For those who were not lucky enough to have a spring or creek with constant flowing water another method of keeping food cold was to dig a hole on the shaded, north side of an existing structure, about 3 or 4 feet deep and as big around as needed.
The bottom of the hole was insulated with a thick layer of straw, grass or leaves. Ice chunks cut from a lake during winter was put on top of the layer of straw or leaves down in the hole. The sides were shored up with bricks, stones or boards and a cover was made of heavy wood slightly larger than the hole. Another layer of straw, leaves or heavy wool blanket was placed over the heavy wood cover. This outdoor refrigerator could possibly keep food cold most of the summer before the ice would finally melt. Clever, eh?
Could you/ would you consider, becoming a mentor to a person like the lady in the shiny city? If you have know-how, would you share it. We'er so going to need you. ❤
Until next time then-- please like, share and comment. Thanks.
