Here is another older post that was written about a year ago. Frank and I have been re-posting some of these older pieces that were originally published when our readership was much smaller. It's odd sometimes to go back and read what you have written. There are times it seems like the words were written by someone else, someone familiar, but not quite me. This is one of those pieces. I am grateful for the inspiration we are given, to guide us what we are to share. I hope this article will give you something to think about.
Until next time - Fern
Originally published January 1, 2014
So You're Prepared.....Really??
It's one thing to buy a couple of extra cans or cases
of green beans or bullets. It's another thing to prepare for a crisis or
disaster. It's another thing to know that something bad this way comes
and try to get a mind set to deal with it. It's another thing to have a
garden and learn how to grow and preserve your own food. It's a whole
different situation to live in a manner that will allow you to survive
and hopefully thrive regardless of the machinations of the world about
you.
So,
you're a prepper. You have your bandaids, green beans and bullets. You
have your ramming vehicle. You have the camo paint to put on your face
so you can be invisible to incoming bad guys. You read all the right
things, know the lingo and can comment with the best of them. You can
talk the talk.
My question is: Do you walk the walk?
If you truly believe that major changes are coming into the lives of
each and everyone of us, what are you doing on an every day basis to be
able to live with that change? Happy New Year! Time is wasting and the
changes that are coming may be here sooner than you think.
We
recently had an ice storm. We didn't leave the house for five days.
When I went back to work the vast majority of the people I work with talked
about
how hard it was to be 'trapped' at home. They couldn't stand it. They
just HAD TO GO SOMEWHERE! Anywhere. And see somebody, anybody, even if
it was a stranger. Some of them went to the big box store just to have
somewhere to go. We don't understand. Why does everyone have to go just
to be going even if there is really no where to go to or nothing to do
when you get there? What are all of these people going to do when they
cannot ever go again? Will they go crazy? Are you one of these people?
If
you think you have read enough and stocked up enough to be fine when
the SHTF that's great. But do you have enough experience and hands on
knowledge to put it to effective use when the time comes? Because the
time is coming, and if you aren't truly prepared with proven skills you
will need, then it will be too late.
There
is no way we can learn, master and do everything. It is humanly
impossible. That is why man was not intended to live alone. But, guess
what? If you are not able to survive, and you don't have any necessary
skills
and/or knowledge, you will be of no use to anyone. In fact, you will be
a burden to be discarded or run off, because you will be just another
useless mouth to feed. Sound harsh? How will you feel if there are
people that expect you to take care of them? Not only provide for their
necessities, but for their wants as well in a collapse scenario? How
would it feel to listen to them whine about being hungry, dirty, tired
or bored when it is all you can do to hold it together mentally and
physically? How long would you allow that person to remain in your
presence eating up precious food that could be used to feed someone that
was productive, instead of destructive, in a life and death situation?
Not long, I think. Are you ready for that?
So. Are you really prepared? Do some serious soul
searching. It's one thing to join a 'fad' that sounds really cool and
gets attention from your
friends.
It's a whole different life style to really live in such a manner that
you are as self-reliant as possible. For example. We have yet to have
our cheddar cheese turn out the same way twice. Most of them still have a
little of that strong after taste. Edible, but not totally delicious.
We have made about 25 wheels over two years. Experience makes the
difference and we are still working at it.
Another
example. Gardening. Some years things make and some years they don't.
This year we had a lot of aphids. Last year we didn't. There is always
something to deal with that takes knowledge and experience. This past
summer as we evaluated our garden, there seemed to be a lot of food out
there. But as we really looked at it and tried to picture surviving on
it alone, we knew we would be starving. That is a real reality check.
It's one thing to think we know and can do what is necessary, but do we
really know enough? I seriously doubt it. This evaluation comes after 25
years of the same survival mindset. There are so many things that take
time and trial and error to really learn and understand.
One more example. One of our top producing does just had her kids early
and they all died. I never would have thought she would have any
difficulty. She has been here since she was five months old, and has had
five sets of strong healthy kids. Why? We only have a few theories,
nothing conclusive. What if that was the meat we were depending on for
the coming year? Would we be able to make it? Would we be able to find
an alternate source of meat? Maybe. Maybe not.
There are always going to be things thrown in your path
that you did not expect and may not have the knowledge or skills to deal
with effectively.
Waiting to really learn and do many of the things that
will be necessary in a survival situation, when the time comes, will be
way too late. It is not enough to 'play' at being a prepper. It is not
enough to say, "I have my food storage." Do you eat it? Do you rotate
it? Is it food that your body is accustomed to, or when the time comes
that you have to eat it because it is all you have, will it make you
sick because you're not used to it? And if it does, do you know how to
treat and counter that sickness without outside medical attention or
running down to the store for some anti-diarrhea medicine?
In our day and age of movies, television, video games and
a plethora of electronic fictional media, we come to accept and expect
the outlandish, fantasy games, stories, and situational excerpts as
'normal'. This is where the good guy always wins, or the 20 people you shoot and kill in the
game
get up and show up in the next game. All that blood wasn't real. The
problem of the day in the 30 minute sitcom gets solved in under 15
minutes, subtracting time for all of those realistic morphed
commercials. Then you can always go to the store to get out of the house
and be with all of those strangers you love and buy more chemicalized
dead food to eat that is killing you and yours. How in the world will
people that live these lives be able to deal with, let alone survive in a
collapse situation? I fear for them. Greatly. Man has become too
distracted by the world. People fill their lives with meaningless
activities; going here, going there, always busy doing something. The
person that is always busy is the modern way to be. Staying home is
something to be loathed and looked down upon. You mean you didn't
go....see....do.....get.....show off......???? How could you? The
distractions of the world are there for a reason, to hypnotize and trap
you into doing things that don't and will never matter. We all have
them; those distractions we waste our time on.
The self-reliant life is not a thing you do, it is who
you are. It is your life. That doesn't mean the comforts and amazing
luxuries of the world are not utilized and appreciated. I love air conditioning in the summer here when
it
is 100 degrees and the humidity is 90%. I have long prayed if we were
to lose electricity forever that it would happen in the winter so our
bodies will have a chance to adjust to the heat gradually instead of
suddenly. But I doubt I will get to choose when that moment arrives. And
arrive it will, either from a continued long, slow decline or with a
bang. One way or another, we all know there are major, life-altering
changes headed our way. Even if you only know it on a gut level, if you
are here, reading this, you know it's coming. So, what are you doing
about it?
We have entered a New Year, 2014. There are many times
that we didn't think we would still be sitting here, fat and happy,
enjoying the internet and talking with you by now. We are truly grateful
we are. I challenge you to sit down and pray about your situation. Seek
the guidance of the Lord on what your real priorities should be. Then
listen. Really take the time to listen and ponder. We have no doubt the
only reason we have started and continue this blog is because, for some
strange reason, God wants us to. There is someone, somewhere, that He
wants to read or see something that will help them be more prepared in
some form or fashion. So here we are. God is calling you and giving you
this precious time. We pray you take full advantage of it. The time is
short.
Until next time - Fern
I have known many people over the years that wrap their green tomatoes in newspaper at the end of the growing season. Some folks enjoy ripe red tomatoes as late as Christmas time. This year I finally got around to trying this for the first time, and it works! Sometimes I think people will think I'm silly for getting excited over a tried and true practice. But when I try something for the first time, and it works, I think it's exciting. It's even better when it involves something that tastes good, like ripe tomatoes.
These are the last of our tomatoes for the season, picked
right before the first frost on November 2nd. I wrapped each one in newspaper and put
them on a shelf in a dark corner with the canned goods.
I didn't know how long it would take for them to ripen, and I figured it was time to check them out. So I did, 11 days later on November 13th. Ta-da! Two beautiful, ripe tomatoes.
I did find one that was rotten and leaking through the newspaper, but it is the only one I found. I was glad for that.
There were two more that are ripening nicely. I'm guessing they will be ready sometime next week.
If we can get two nice ripe tomatoes each week for a while, that will be a welcome treat. For those of you that haven't tried this yet, like me, try it. It works! For those of you that have used this technique before, please share any words of wisdom that will help the rest of us. Learning and experimenting with things that increase the food on our table is invaluable at this time. It puts just a few more nuggets of knowledge in our pockets and on our table.
Until next time - Fern
I found a pretty good way to use some of the yellow squash I canned back in the spring. There are many people that make zucchini bread, and this is probably very similar. You see, we don't like zucchini, so we don't grow it. This is the first time I had run across a recipe for bread using yellow squash....and it's good.
This recipe is very simple. The ingredients listed will make one loaf.
1 1/3 c. squash, mashed (I use a pastry blender to mash up 1 pint jar of squash, drained.)
2 eggs
1/2 c. oil (I use olive oil.)
3/4 c. sugar
1 1/2 c. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
2 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. vanilla
As I stared this bread, I decided to double the recipe and make two loaves. This mix is very thick, so only put in about 1 1/2 inches in each pan, so it will bake evenly throughout. Bake in a greased loaf pan at 350 degrees for 50 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
It's a nice tasty bread to have on a cold day like today. Too, bad we didn't have any. These pictures were taken the last time I made some. But, now that I have written this post about it, I may just have to make some tomorrow! Enjoy!
Until next time - Fern
At church last Sunday, all the Veteran's were asked to stand or raise their hands to be recognized before we sang God Bless America. I was the youngest Veteran in the room, and I am 64 years old. Now, to be fair, there weren't a lot of young men in the room. We obviously have a church going problem with younger men. We have a Veteran's problem, those who serve their country, among younger men. Take a look at the divorce rate. So, let's see, religion is collapsing, that's called serving God. Being a Veteran is collapsing, that's called serving Country. The family is collapsing. God, Country, and Family, not only are collapsing, but have collapsed. Remember that. We'll come back to it.
Fern's father, step-father, and all of her uncles are Veterans. None of her cousins or brothers are Veterans. Frank's father and all of his uncles were Veterans. None of Frank's brothers or cousins are Veterans. Notice a pattern here?
I'm speaking primarily here of men. If a man will not defend his God, his Country or his Family.... If a man has no respect for God, Country or Family, do you really think that we're going to have a rebirth of our society? I've said this before, and I will probably say it again. I don't think our once Great Nation, and our once great society will ever return. We use terms like the American resolve, and that pioneer spirit. Well, those are catchy little terms, and they might help sell pickup trucks during a football game commercial, but that's all it's good for. Because, look around, the men are sissy cowards that won't defend anything.
I would like to apologize to those that I have offended. If you have a negative comment, just keep it to yourself. I know everybody can't serve and everybody shouldn't serve, but we have more parents trying to get social security disability for their children in grade school than we have men standing in line to serve our former great country. We have more people that would rather sit at home and not work, and collect welfare, than they would to serve their country. See a few more trends here?
I understand what the III%ers are, and if you don't know what the III%ers are, you should. Look at our Veteran's Administration scandal. 34 years ago, when I first met Fern, I told her that if I am hurt, to NEVER take me to a Veteran's hospital. That was 34 years ago. Then last year, we find that the Veteran's Administration was spending more on new windows and desks, than they are on saving Veteran's lives. Shame! Shame! on the Veteran's Administration!!
For those of you that did not serve, and lap up the luxury of liberty, please scoot over today and let those that earned it, have a drink from the well of freedom. To those of you who served, and the families of those who served, Happy Veteran's Day. And for those of you that chose not to serve, please continue to stand with the women and children and holler, "Look at me! Look at me!" because that freedom was given to you by a Veteran, past and present. The ladies in the group that serve, my hat is off, my compliments. It must be very difficult being a female veteran.
Again, for those of you I have offended, I am sorry. For those of you that serve, Thank You. Happy Veterans' Day, all.
Frank
A few days ago, on Friday, we drove into our little town to go to the post office, take the trash to the dumpsters and buy some livestock feed. As we made our rounds, we drove down a road out on the edge of town and found a passel of kittens in the road. We slowed way down and honked the
horn to get them to move out of the way so we wouldn't run over them. The owner came out and thanked us for slowing down. As we went on down the road a short way, Frank looked at me and said, "Do you want some kittens?" We had been talking about the need for more cats. We have noticed more mice and rats lately. One ran out of the hay in the barn when I was picking up an armload a few days ago. We pondered for a few short seconds, and I said, "Yes." So Frank slowly backed down the road and asked the owner if he was looking for new homes for the kittens. He quickly offered all we wanted. We completed our rounds, had some lunch, loaded up our small pet carrier and headed back into town.
One thing we had noticed about some of the kittens, was some goo in their eyes. The owner indicated he thought it was allergies and he had been putting allergy eye drops for people in their eyes. I thought it was more on the lines of pink eye. We initially didn't plan on getting any with gooey eyes, but ended up with two of them. The kittens are also thinner than they should be at this age. We have some eye ointment made for pinkeye which I started using the day we brought them home. Within a day and a half their eyes cleared up.
Since we have three adult cats, we keep new kittens in a large dog sized pet carrier on the porch until they have a chance to become familiar with their new surroundings and we feel they will be safe. We let them out for longer and longer periods of time during the day until they have adjusted. We will continue to pen them up at night for a while to keep them safe from other critters that wouldn't mind having kitty bits for a midnight snack. We keep a clean layer of hay inside and a large rubber mat over the top and down across the north end to block off most of the wind. It will be a big help when the gusty north winds come blowing in tonight.
We took the kittens to the vet today, Monday afternoon, for an overall checkup, their first shots and worming. When they're about six months old, we will have them neutered and spayed. I think right now they're about six to eight weeks old. The previous owner wasn't sure of their age.
One of them has a viral infection in a lymph node, but everyone else is okay. I'm glad we were able to get them wormed today. A couple of them have rough coats, instead of a nice slick coat, so they were in need of a good worming and good nutrition. Tonight we started adding a scrambled egg to their diet. In the morning they we will introduce milk. This will give them a little extra protein and added nutrition to get them off on a good start.
So, without further ado, let me introduce you to our new critters.
 |
| Pretty |
 |
| Tiger |
 |
| Little Bit |
 |
| Scruffy |
We hope they turn out to be good mousers since all of our animals have a job to do and have to earn their keep. An added bonus to getting more than one kitten is watching them play. I expect to have many a good laugh watching these little guys grow up. We have high expectations for our new kitties. They will be loved, well fed, well taken care of, medicated when necessary, and provided a warm safe place to sleep and dream kitty dreams.
It's interesting how things in life work out. We had been talking about getting more cats for a number of months, but things just didn't work out. Then, Friday, when the time was right, we just happened to drive down a little side road full of kittens. And here we are, November, cold weather is coming, and a cat house (dog house) full of kittens. Life is good.
Until next time - Fern
