A Pandemic of Preparedness

The leaves are changing and falling, the grasses and weeds are turning brown and scattering their seeds. The earth, in our corner of the world, is slowly dying and preparing for the deep sleep of winter. The animals have eaten heartily to store up a layer of fat for the lean times that are coming. The spiders quickly spin and repair their webs each day in hopes of another tasty meal before they lay eggs and die. The nights are cooler, even though the days remain warm, with a hint of the passing summer, it's not quite over yet, but it will be soon.

There are many things that will soon pass away from our world. Civility. Culture. Massive food production. Easy mobility. Just in time everything. Driving. Processed fossil fuels. Banking. Credit. Electricity. Cell phones. Internet. Information at the touch of a button. Our world has had it's day in the sun with massive growth in population, food production, manufacturing and technology. Just like the waning of the seasons, the stability and control of many countries is also waning. 

Some folks like autumn, the crispness in the air, a time when the rhythm of life gradually slows down. As winter approaches, many people and animals prepare to 'hibernate' from the activities of the summer. As life continues to become less safe, more expensive, and less free, there are many that are planning where they will relocate and hibernate. Just like the ant filling it's colony and tunnels with food for the winter, many people are doing the same, and that is good, very good.

The pace of our work here is sometimes so fast that we can't keep up with ourselves. As we complete projects, one right after the next, it changes the way we live, and that is good. We now hang out the clothes to dry and have started growing food in the greenhouse. We now have three radio antenna towers in the ground waiting for the concrete to cure, so we can increase our ability to communicate. They will soon be powered by solar panels and a battery bank, which is another project on the list. The Survival Radio Relay Net is growing each time it is conducted. We are amazed at the distance between participants, and what that could mean for the safety of everyone involved. We have begun talking to a few folks about starting some sort of community trading post, and have had very positive responses so far. These are just a few of the activities that have occupied our time in the last few weeks.

We want to encourage you again to prepare every needful thing for you and your family, now, while there aren't many restrictions on doing so. If there is a financial collapse or major downturn, what will that do to your ability to prepare? If war breaks out somewhere in the world, how might that affect your ability to prepare? If there is a major natural disaster where you live, how might that affect your ability to prepare? If there is a terrorist attack, how might that affect your ability to prepare? If the government restricts your mobility, ability to buy, your money supply, or ability to relocate, how will that affect your ability to survive? 

Let's face it, regardless of what this 'thing' is that we all know is coming, survival will be the bottom line. It is literally impossible for us, meaning all of us, to be ready for every possible contingency, impossible. What we can do is evaluate our lives, our survival needs and possible wants, to determine what areas are lacking in our preparations. THEN DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. We have had people comment about friends and neighbors that say they know they need to buy some extra food or something, but they don't. We all know people that just laugh and tell us we're crazy. We all know people that think we should be turned into the authorities for hoarding or something. The time for warning our neighbors will soon be past. The time to be very, very serious about completing those tasks that will help increase the survival rate of our families is here. I pray, truly pray, that we are all wrong, very wrong, but unfortunately, I don't think so. 

Every single day is filled with a drive to work and complete our survival projects. We have never worked harder in our lives. Literally. We've talked about it several times recently. Why would two retired people entering the 'golden years' work their tails off everyday? I hope that sharing our preparations will infect people with with an uncontrollable desire to do the same. I pray that this infection will be so contagious that it will become a pandemic. An uncontrollable pandemic of preparedness. That wouldn't be such a bad illness to suffer from, would it? Unfortunately, there are more people that have been vaccinated against this illness, than suffer from it. They are immune to preparing anything for themselves and their families, and when the time comes, their immunity will kill them. If you're not suffering from a full blown infection of preparedness-itis, work on it. Your example may be the one thing that infects another person, and you may never know it. Be a carrier. We pray that our example can somehow be infectious.

Until next time - Fern

Neighbors & Friends

As some of you know, I recently had major back surgery. Even with the best laid plans, there is always a gap, and sometimes a large gap. A couple of examples. 

We never thought about a bedside toilet. We didn't realize there are some made for smaller people, bigger people, taller and shorter folks. Not trying to sound crude here, but it would be nice if the people that designed these bedside toilets would actually take the time to sit on one of them. Sometimes it is apparent that these are not designed for use by a man. 

Next example. Bedpans. While in the hospital, I was advised to just use a bedpan. Okay. A short review here. I have 16 staples in my lower back, am in unbelievable pain and am told, just put it underneath and let it go. That just doesn't work. I can see where a metal bedpan would be a tremendous benefit during a hail storm, or if you want to play pirate with your kids, but otherwise, I saw no practical use, with my accompanying condition and the use of a bedpan.

We did some modifications to the couch before my surgery. Instead of spending a lot of time on my back in the bedroom laying down, this gives me another option closer to where most of the living and doing occurs in our house. 

I had a good plan of building 'legs' to go on the legs of our couch. And in our opinion, that was one of those great plans, but the couch was just not meant for long-term sleeping right after surgery, as I quickly discovered. But in just a few days, when I could move around a little better, the raised couch became a very good resting place.
 

We discovered these small sliders on the bottom of the legs.

I got out my forstner bit and fixed that problem.

 

The real reason for this post is the utilization of your neighbors and friends. I am, by all serious nature, a hermit, recluse, loner, pick any term you like. And I'm also one of those types that seldom ever asks for help. But there are times that we adult males need to get over some of these things. When I arrived home from the hospital, there were more cars parked in front of my house than I have ever seen. One of my male neighbors and friends, was there to help me up my steps, which if you can't hardly walk, steps are tough to negotiate. It seems that everybody and their cousin has extra medical supplies that were gently used once and are now available for loan.

But, let me back up a little bit. I have a neighbor, who is also a relative, and we share a common fence line. She was nice enough to come over and open up our chicken house every morning, then come back and close it every evening. Since the hospital is an hour and a half away, for Fern to make two trips a day, would be a minimum of six hours driving time, not to mention the time on site doing chores. So, opening and closing the chickens saved us about four hours a day.

The animals need feed and water. Other neighbors from down the road, helped feed and water our animals several times, which was an unbelievable help. This helped Fern cut down her trips to do chores to once a day. That puts us down to three hours drive time and 30 minutes chore time. 

As most of you are aware, if you let yellow squash get too big, the plant will quit producing and gradually die. So, what does that mean to us? We are not going to be using any of these crops right now, but after my back issue settles down some, we would still like to have harvestable crops. Some more neighbors of ours helped us by harvesting the mature crops in the garden. You think, well, that's free food for them, and that is true. But the bigger issue to me is keeping our garden producing. It's also good for the neighbors, because some of those crops did not do well for them this year.

Other relatives picked up our mail at the post office for us and drove to our closest pharmacy, 25 miles away, and had our prescriptions filled. It's nice to be able to call the pharmacy and talk to the folks there on a first name basis. 

Our local preacher and spiritual adviser has called to check on me everyday. He also came to see me in the hospital. We have not always attended his church, but I have known this man for over 30 years and appreciate the time he takes to contact me everyday.

I know I'm going to leave some events out here, but it humbles me to know that there are people, good decent people, that will step up to the plate when someone is in need. Some of these are friends, some are neighbors, some are relatives, and some are combinations of the above. So, when I get over this, I will still be a hermit, but I want to genuinely thank everybody that helped and are still helping. I also want to thank everyone for their prayers, because I do believe in God and the power of prayer.

Well, it's about nap time. Be appreciative of what you have, and for those around you. Now if I could just get someone to wash my car....

We'll talk more later. Frank