Musings About Things on Frank's Birthday

Happy Birthday to Frank! Happy Birthday to Frank!

I have the honor of being married to a man that has a 30 year old mind encased in a 65 year old body. His mind is sharp and more active than ever, his learning curve continues to go through the ceiling, his dreams and aspirations are never ending, there are just

days he wishes his body would keep up. In our discussions recently we have pondered how others meet up with an aging body. We really don't 'see' ourselves as aging or even getting older. There are still so many things we want to do and learn, the list only grows longer instead of shorter. But time marches on and our bodies are aging. Some things we didn't used to give much thought to, now present more of a challenge, some of them much more of a challenge. We still set goals of what we want to get accomplished in a day, but the amounts we are able to complete just aren't as much as they used to be. Sometimes that's frustrating, sometimes is surprising, and sometimes it's just downright disgusting. The aches and pains tend to interrupt things when we keep pushing and pushing to get something finished, even when we know it is past time to stop for the day. Such is this thing we call life. We've heard about it for many years now, and it would seem it is now our turn to experience it for ourselves.

We got an interesting envelop in the mail today. We have been waiting for the inevitable W4's and 1099's to arrive so that we can see how much we have to pay the piper this year. In years past we had our withholding set up at the highest rate so that we would get a tax refund. For the past five or six years we have changed our withholding to the lowest rate. We would rather owe at the end of the year instead of face the possibility of the feds deciding it would be a good year to start keeping, instead of disbursing, 

the refunds to help feed their ever insatiable appetite for spending The People's money. Well, the envelope we received today was from the Oklahoma Tax Commission which informed us we will have to pay federal taxes on last year's state refund. What?? Enough is enough, folks. When are they going to start taxing how much we pay in taxes, how many breaths we take, and how often we go to the bathroom? After all, we are using up oxygen when we breathe, not to mention how much each exhalation we complete is adding to the devastating, Earth killing global warming! We probably shouldn't even talk about how much water is used each time we go to the bathroom. But they have already regulated that by limiting the amount of water you are able to use with each and every flush.

It saddens us to see the state of families now days. So many people are caught up in the world. The shiny, dazzling, fast paced world has so much to offer in the way of activities and distractions. Over Christmas, a family we know had scheduled a vacation to Cancun, a once in a lifetime trip.

But they left their two year old daughter with grandma, for a week, at Christmas. I guess she would just be too much in the way. What will this girl think when she is older and the family is sitting around looking at the pictures from this 'once in a lifetime vacation' and reliving what a good time they had, and she realizes that she wasn't there? That she wasn't wanted there? That she would have been in the way? What does that say to a child? When I asked the grandmother how the girl was managing, being away from her parents and brothers, the answer astounded me again. The only person this girl ever cries for is her grandmother, not her parents. This grandmother takes care of the girl most weekdays while her mother attends nursing school, which is very admirable on both their parts. And it's great this little girl is very comfortable and happy with her grandmother. But to think she has bonded more with her grandmother than with her parents bothers me. What does that say for this family? And so many other families in our society?

We saw a young man yesterday that Frank has known for a number of years. He has read some of this blog, and has shown an interest in radio communications, using GMRS and MURS. The last time Frank saw him they talked about the possibility of getting a ham license. But yesterday

when Frank saw him and asked about using radios, the young man just smiled and said he hadn't been doing anything with them. When Frank reminded him that time may be short to get things set up, the young man laughed at him. Laughed at him like he was humoring someone that either wasn't quite right in the head, or didn't know what he was talking about. Laughed at the possibility that something devastating may come to pass in our country and world. There are many people out there that have this very same attitude. These same people that rush to the store in a panic right before the big storm comes through, only to find the shelves bare and people fighting over the last case of bottled water. The experience Frank had with this young man bothered him. It bothered him to think that this young man, his wife and young daughter may not make it when the time comes. He may think back and remember the warnings he received and did not heed, and because of that, unspeakable tragedy may be visited upon his family. 

It's not like it's the first time we have been laughed at and ridiculed for the way we live and the warnings we share with others. We had people thinking we were nuts way back before Y2K when we wanted to grow

our own food, live off the beaten path and be much more self-reliant. Then Y2K came along and we did the best we could to be ready for the long term. Our location wasn't the best survival location, but we prepared the best we could. Most folks just couldn't fathom the depth of our preparedness and why we would even consider going to such lengths. They laughed then, and we knew, should a devastating collapse come upon the world that we were much better prepared than they. Not only had we tried to gather 'stuff', we began very serious preparations of our minds, which is by far the most important aspect of preparation that you can undertake. 

Since Y2K, the experiences we have had and the learning we have pursued have changed our lives. Literally. It is with heavy hearts that we continue to see the vast majority of people ignoring the warning signs all about us, from the economy to the fascist government that is quickly

suffocating every form of freedom, independence and self-reliance that it can possibly rape, pillage and steal from The People. There have been so many instances of people going along with the actions of the government only to find out they are being lead like lambs to the slaughter. They stare around in wide eyed wonder, and their life is snuffed out in an instant. Is that what awaits the Sheeple? I really can't say for sure, but it sure does appear that way. If we live to see the day, the great and dreadful day, of the collapse of our society, country and world, my heart will cry with anguish for those that are not ready. For those that will continue to refuse to look reality in the eye without blinking and turning away. For those that simply will not make it. I mourn for them already.

There are many things in this life that we give thanks for every single day. We give thanks for another day. We give thanks for our warm home and

a roof over our heads. We give thanks for the food on our table. We give thanks for God watching out for us and guiding us every day of our lives. We give thanks that we have been brought to this place at this time in the history of our world. And on this day, I give thanks to God for bringing me into the life of the man you know as Frank. He has blessed me for these many years with his knowledge, skill, generosity, integrity, honesty, willingness to serve others through his military service, law enforcement work, volunteer EMT and Firefighter work, dedication to family, his love for God, and his love for me.

Happy Birthday Frank!
Love,
Fern

Fern's Fast Food

It was time for dinner and I wanted to cook something easy and quick. So we had toast and scrambled eggs. It took me about ten minutes from start to finish.

I started by making the toast. No, well, I guess I started by making the bread last week. And to do that, I started by grinding the wheat. I did buy the wheat, though. We did not grow it.

Then I got out the rest of the roast that was left over in the frig. This was a part of a quart bag of frozen roast I had cooked a few months ago.

But this roast started out as a young buck kid two years ago, which means we bred his mom five months before he was born. And she was born here a year before she was bred. But before that could happen, we had a barn built and Frank built the birthing pens into the barn. And even before that, we had to locate a herd of Nubian goats about 150 miles from here because we couldn't find any in the area. We butchered some of our wethers (castrated male goats) last winter, thus, the roast for our scrambled eggs.

Next, I got out some cheese - cheddar cheese that was made, waxed and set to age in July 2012.


This was made possible by breeding the nanny, that had the kids, that gave the milk, to make the cheese.


Doesn't this remind you of that old nursery rhyme about the house that Jack built?  







The last ingredient in the meal was eggs. These we gather every day from our laying flock which was incubated and hatched in April 2012. The eggs that were incubated came from the flock that we hatched in the spring of 2011.

New chicks have to be around six months old before they start laying eggs. And, of course, they need a house with a roost and somewhere to lay the eggs.

There is an old saying Frank has: Postpone gratification for long term gains. It is very suitable in this instance. Even though, to me, this meal was homemade 'fast food', it has actually been years in the making.

Something to think about. In a world of instant gratification, be it food, the technology with which we blog, clothes, houses, cars, you name it - do we ever really slow down to see, really see, where it all comes from? We have all grown so accustomed to going to the 'store' where someone else provides everything for us. Are we even aware of the process it takes to produce a simple, easy, quick meal that is good, wholesome and nutritious? What would happen if the only 'store' you could ever go to again was your own? Writing this blog has given us much to think about. It has focused our thoughts more than ever before. We hope that it will give you pause, and 'food' for thought.

Until next time - Fern