We've been busy today with barn cleaning and monitoring One Stripe to see if we'll be having baby goats tonight. For now she is tucked into a birthing pen munching hay and looking very fat and content. I'll be going up to check on her before bed time and probably once in the night. Until we have the babies on the ground, the goats will be taking up much of our time. It's a busy and rewarding time on a homestead, and we wouldn't trade it for the world.
This post was written a year ago. When I went looking for something to re-post, it struck me just how appropriate and applicable it still is today. There are many that continue to poke fun and laugh in disbelief that their way of life could ever be changed. They will always be able to run down to the local quick stop for chips, pop, gasoline and gummy bears. Nothing could ever change that. There will always be restaurants with other people to cook for you and clean up the mess. There will always be a never ending supply of entertainment goodies to woo and amuse the masses while they are being lead into an ever darkening and foreboding place. One day, drifting off to sleep while dreaming of sugar plum fairies and the winning touch down, will be the impossible dream. I truly fear that those who refuse to open their eyes to the reality of what is happening in our world, will not be able to awake from the nightmare that surrounds them because it will have become a reality that they can no longer escape. The problem is they won't be ready and they won't be able to cope. Continuing to believe that life as we know it is Too Big To Fall will only lead to a total lack of ability to deal with it when it does fall. For fall it will, the results of which we are unable to fathom. But at least if we spent some time trying to prepare, we will have a better chance of surviving the fall. I hope you enjoy the re-post. I did.
Until next time - Fern
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Originally published February 3, 2014
I was reading over the news and ran across a link from the Drudge Report that went to Alex Jones.
The gist of the article was the small scale rioting after the Super
Bowl, none of which was of much interest to me. At the very bottom of
the article was this quote.
"While
their entire country is being bankrupted, hollowed out, and flooded
with illegal immigrants as Obama announces that he will ignore Congress
and pursue his agenda via dictatorial executive fiat, Americans remain
unmoved.
The only things
that get them in the least bit animated are Black Friday sales and NFL
football games. When a civilization reaches this point of decadence, a
Roman Empire-style collapse is soon to follow."
As the day went on the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell over 300 points, today alone (February 3, 2014). This was after the "worst monthly loss since May 2012 on Friday."
I don't pretend to know much of anything about the stock market, but I
do know that is not the norm. Frank follows the markets very closely. I
have also read enough to know that the stock market is being propped up
in our fragile, artificial economy, somewhat like a house of cards.
When, not if, will a strong enough wind come along and blow this house
down? Remember the story of the Three Little Pigs? Is 'your house' built in such a way that the Big Bad Wolf will not be able to 'huff and puff and blow your house down'?
The events in the world comprise a complexity that is impossible to comprehend in it's entirety. "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. Edmund Burke"
Is this where we are today? Is that why many people don't take notice
of the more significant events going on around them? Or is it an escape
of sorts? Or are people afraid to say or do anything due to retaliation
from our government? When things are too big to accept and
conceptualize, is it better to distract yourself with the fantasy world
presented on television or at the ballgame?
We
have read many people that talk about those they know who think
everything is fine. Prices may be higher, health insurance may be
changing or disappearing, but everything is fine. We've had these types
of things happen before and everything turned out fine, you'll see.
Really? I don't think so. But I only mention some things in passing to
some people because, otherwise, I will draw too much attention to
myself, which I do not want to do. I would rather be somewhat
un-memorable. Plain, simple. Do not talk, act, dress or live in a way
that draws attention. I definitely do not want to be part of the 'look
at me' crowd. I would rather be somewhat invisible.
There is a growing stress in the world. People on the
phone at a variety of businesses are becoming rude and condescending.
Why? Don't they need the business? Most businesses I frequent in person
are hurting. Does management want to say something to these rude employees, but feel
their
hands are tied? Are they afraid of being charged with some kind of a
hate crime in court? Or, does the person answering the phone think this
is normal behavior since that is the way it is on television? You know,
that big make believe screen that for the last 50 to 60 years has been
teaching Madison Avenue values and morality. For the life of me, I
cannot understand why anybody would want to watch television. I can find
no value in that big make believe screen. But everybody I listen to,
asks the same question, "Did you see ______ on television?" Just
unbelievable to me. Not to mention how hypnotizing it is. Just look at a
room with a television and see how everyone is drawn into staring at
it. You can't hardly keep from it. It's creepy.
The Roman Empire didn't collapse overnight. I'm sure
there were many, many people then that couldn't conceive the fall of
that mighty Empire. It was just TOO BIG TO FALL. Hmm...doesn't that
sound familiar? Too big to fail. What does that mean for us? It worries
me when I read that many of our government agencies have stocked up
on
millions of rounds of ammunition and weapons. It worries me when banks
start questioning why people want their money. It worries me when
executive orders become the standard way of running the government. It
worries me when lying and cheating and spying become the norms of our
day. It worries me that many police forces appear to be more concerned
with controlling and intimidating people instead of serving and
protecting them. It worries me when there are millions of people running
around singing 'All is well' when I know there is no chance of our
nation recovering and resuming our previous 'eat, drink and be merry'
way of life. It is impossible. It will never happen. We are in for a
major correction in the way we live. It is inevitable.
The almost instant availability of everything from donuts
to pedicures to brain surgery will soon be a thing of the past. We now live with a new
generation
of people that have never even considered living without cell phones,
computers and big screen TVs, not to mention refrigeration and air
conditioning. We live with a generation of people that have been taught
it's okay not to work, but don't worry, we'll feed you and house you and
make sure your standard of living is better than many who still choose
to work hard every day for the clothes on their backs and the food on
their tables. I cannot even begin to imagine what this generation will
think when there is no longer anyone there to 'take care of them'. This
worries me, too.
"When a civilization reaches this point of decadence, a Roman Empire-style collapse is soon to follow." How
soon? I don't know. I only know that God has given us the task to warn
our neighbors. Please heed this warning. Hold your family close. Try to
get them ready.
Until next time - Fern
How even more appropriate this post is a year later...Stack 'em high and pray...
ReplyDeleteThanks, GP. Stay prepared and ready.
DeleteFern
Fern, I read your quote: "They will always be able to run down to the local quick stop for chips, pop, gasoline and gummy bears. Nothing could ever change that."
ReplyDeleteWell, I read some very obscure articles about a month ago and then again this past week about work slow-downs at the West Coast ports and a possible -no, probable - strike at as many as 29 or 30 ports as early as five days from now. I found the International Longshoremen and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association's websites and got the news straight from the "horses' " mouths.
Apparently retailers have already had to resort to an increase in air shipping to get their products to their stores which may be the reason I have noticed that my Amazon.com packages have arrived more slowly than ever. The big shippers are increasing air freight and that is resulting in the onesy and twosy retailers having to use the USPS more.
Anyway, with every mainstream news outlet in the country NOT MENTIONING such a newsy item as possible economic catastrophe, the hubster and I decided to go out and stock up on toilet paper and the other things we thought we might need should a strike occur. You see, we live in Alaska, and so a reduction in retail stock, particularly food items and hygiene items, would really affect us.
The PMA has asked for a federal mediator in its dispute with the ILWU, but the White House has declined and has said they felt sure both sides could work it out in the time honored tradition of collective bargaining, or something to that effect. Uh-oh...Marxist words indeed.
So today as we shopped, I wanted so much to alert my fellow shoppers, "Buy now! Do you know you may have shortages -and higher prices - beginning in a couple of weeks?" But of course, I couldn't. I got enough negative looks from fellow shoppers walking by and noticing the eight cans of Augason Farms dehydrated foods, beans, large bags of dog food, and toilet paper in my cart (s).
So, your preface to your older article certainly hit home. I pray the strike and the port closures will not happen, both for the general population and because of how devastating it would be to our overall economy, but I don't see the union budging, and I don't foresee this president going against the unions which support him. I'm pretty sure we are "in for it", and it is so disheartening to know that others are not being warned and that those of us who are aware of what is happening cannot alert them without people thinking we are absolute NUTS. Sigh...
Besides visiting the websites listed above, you can see an article about this at www.marketwatch.com.
Your comment brings back memories of Alaska and the reason we left there in 2008. We were on the upward track of educational administration, with great jobs and future prospects then. But Frank took note of the coming economic collapse, prayed hard, and determined it was time to return to the lower 48. That's why we're here. Because he listened. We determined then that if the economy truly collapsed we wouldn't want to be in bush Alaska, dependent on summer barges and daily flights to provide us with heating fuel and food. We wanted to be somewhere that we would have a better chance of providing for ourselves if it ever came down to a survival situation.
DeleteWe pray that you are prepared and able to manage if we really are "in for it". Thank you for sharing.
Fern
That's why it was handy for us that we came across the British series Wartime Farm (2012) on You tube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFaosNYAOYsbxd3XmiNFlCqTLees7glTY
ReplyDeleteThanks for your prayers that we are prepared. We are.
Thank you for sharing the link. Take care.
DeleteFern
Thanks to a link to a great video series! I just finished the first one, can't wait to see the rest. Am also already thinking about how much of it might easily apply to 21st century America, if a truly SHTF situation does occur.
ReplyDelete