Get Ready

In a way I hope  the protestors get cold and tired and
quit. I don't think so, not this time. The outrage runs deep. It's taken
a while as we have been incredibly patient trusting our leaders to lead
and to make things right. Hoping all the while that status quo - where
we are most comfortable - will be maintained. But they haven't and it
hasn't. Greed has reached a crescendo in our financial/political system.
They seem to be blinded by it - unable to see the worldwide suffering
they created or indifferent to it.

In Rome it got out of hand. In cities around the world police line up
and create barriers emphasizing the gulf between the growing majority of
have-nots and the increasingly small minority who have it all. The
governments all over the world are reacting in the most predictable
ways. Tear gas, riot gear, bully sticks, barricades and shields are all
symbols of their fear and their determination to hold on at any cost.

We can expect, I think, more sophisticated attacks as the movement
grows. Once the placard-waving phase is complete there could be
interruptions of essential services, attacks on banking locations could
result in shut-downs. Transportation and utilities could also be
targeted. Anything is possible. These are young, sophisticated people
who know how to use the internet. I expect there could be interruptions
in internet traffic some created by the protestors and some created by
governments as they try to cut them off from communications.

So, what do we who are passive observers do? Think of preparing for a
big storm. Food, water, fuel, cash, essential medicines and extra
batteries maybe some candles are a good idea, I think. If you don't need
them immediately, they will be available for next time.

Stock your shelves with food to last a month or two. I bought a little
extra flour, sugar, yeast, and salt so I can bake my bread. I have
emergency butane canisters for my portable one-burner stove and a coffee
maker that doesn't require electricity. I have an extra can of coffee. I
have beans, potatoes, and all my home canned fruits and veggies from my
garden. I'll buy my animal feeds in larger quantities both to save money
and to be ready to ride out a stoppage. I have some cans of fuel for the
generator so I can keep my freezers going. They will soon be full of
chickens and turkeys from our fall harvest. There will be eggs and
chicken at almost all times enough for me and many of my neighbors. I
think a stockpile of cash is a good idea. Credit cards could get
vandalized as protestors hack banks and banks have to shut down
temporarily to protect themselves. Have some books and maybe some games
to play. The internet might go down and what would we do for
entertainment? Make sure you have your prescriptions filled and extras
on the shelf.

My biggest vulnerability is that my income is electronically banked and
I still have accounts with Chase. That could become a problem. I have
been switching to using cash instead of my bank card over the last year
or so. It's not really a problem. Many merchants prefer it due to the
high fees they pay to credit card and bank card providers.

Who knows where this will all lead? These are indeed interesting times.

Glee

NaNoWriMo Looms

I signed up for National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). I'm hoping to finish the second leg on my CodeWord Haven trilogy. I'm half way through it. Big George is stuck on a mountain, Mrs. O'Callahan is dealing with an uprising in New City and . . . hmm can't think of a third thing. I usually write three things in my series type sentences. That's a bummer.

Today I want to pencil out a plot outline for each of the 30 days so I have a writing "assignment"

when my fingers hit the keyboard. I have a vague idea about plot line, but my characters are fond of making left turns across traffic and against the red lights, so you never know where it all will lead. That's the fun for me of writing. When I am writing about Big George, Mrs. O'Callahan sneaks into my thoughts and vice versa- when I'm writing about Mrs. O'Callahan, Big George sneaks in. They are trying to catch a peek to find out when will they get together and when/how will Tommy the grandson claim his birthright and join the New City crowd? Maybe never. Maybe Big George will meet an untimely end. Maybe an insurrection will bring New City down. Maybe the government
will swoop in and demolish everything the O'Callahans and their friends have built. Life is a scary place. Just to unsettle everything, DragonSpell comes to life and is begging me to write another "chapter" in the saga about GlaeWitch and Princess Penelope. That simply cannot happen, sorry. Although the Dragon of Darkness and Chaos is coming back to life. That would be a great Halloween story. Hmmmm. I wonder if I could get that written by midnight on Holloween? It would be good
practice for NaNo, but what if I tire out the muse and my fingers get sore? It would make a marathon dash more difficult. One doesn't want to pull a muscle just when the big game is on.

Now I know how those big league managers feel. What about those Cardinals? That was one super series. Some of the best baseball I ever saw not counting the Detroit Tigers winning the Central Division and then losing to the Rangers. I would need CPR if the Tigers were in the World Series. Maybe next year.

I hope you all don't get bored with my ramblings about all this. Please
understand I might seem a little distracted for a while. I'll be back,
though.

Time for breakfast. I'll fry up the left-over mashed potatoes with a
little butter, and also scramble a couple of fresh eggs. I have a busy
day ahead.

Frost is Late This Year

This morning for the first time this year, the trees and grass are white with frost. It's pretty but it's a harbinger that winter will soon be here. The horses are getting fuzzy with their winter coats, and I hear the honking of ducks and geese flying overhead. Their "V" formations pointing south. I wish I was going with them. Winter could hold off for a few months and then go right into spring as far as I am concerned. Winters are brutal here on the farm. It's not just the ice and snow and freezing water buckets and so on, it's the lack of sunshine that gets me. I always feel down during the winter. It's the SADD syndrome, and it sucks. Here in SE Michigan the official frost dates are Sept 15 for early frost and Sept 30 for the late date. Last night, October 27, was our first frost. It's a month late. I hope that means spring will be a month early as well.

I've been getting ready. At the local produce stand, I bought 50 pounds of potatoes for only 30 cents a pound. I also bought a large sack of onions, and a beautiful purple cabbage that were half the regular price at the supermarket. We had sweet and sour cabbage with Murphy's smoked ribs and smashed potatoes (skins on of course) with a tiny bit of onion in them . The market closes on Holloween. I hope to get some of their un-sold pumpkins and squash for our chickens. I canned the last of the tomatoes - almost the last. I still have a five gallon pail of green ones. I hope to make them into picallilly if I get time before they all ripen. Either way they will get used. Murphy pulled the pole bean plants with some very big beans still attached and fed them to the chickens roots and all . They had a field day with them. I'm also cleaning out the freezers to make room for the 50 meat chickens we will process in a few weeks, and turkeys, too. It's amazing how many containers of mystery stuff there is in there. What makes me think I will remember every morsel? I need to be pro-active here and mark everything. There are some old chunks of mystery meat, too. They have been in the bottom of the freezer so long that I no longer trust their viability as food. Out they go. The summer glider is taken down and ready for storage as soon as I clear a spot in the green building. Luckily I brought the  pots from the deck inside last week - geraniums, spikes, chives, parsley, tarragon, and rosemary. I also planted my garlic. It needs to be mulched before the ground freezes. I'll use the soiled hay that lines the chicken nests. They need to be re-bedded. I cleaned the coop and put down fresh bedding last week. The cleanings are in one of the boxes that yeilded two crops of green beans and some potatoes last summer. It needs replenishing. I need to cover the lavender, too . . . and so on.
Well, I'm off to deliver some eggs and then come back to make bread - sourdough this time - and clean up the kitchen. Never a dull moment around here - though I think most people would find my life rather dull.

Keep warm.
glee