Preparedness Items You Might Need

What would we need if we were involved in a disaster? Obviously the situation would vary but assuming you had the opportunity to take along several items these might come in handy.

The Boy Scout Fieldbook (get the old one 1973)
A preparedness guide. Using a compass, building fires, making shelters, cleaning fish, animal track identification, first aid, tying knots, etc.

US Army Survival Manual FM21-76
Reprint of the Dept of the Army Field Manual

The American Red Cross First Aid and Safety Handbook

The Forager's Harvest- A Guide to Identifying, Harvesting and Preparing Edible Wild Plants by Samuel Thayer
Large color plates

Medicinal Plants and Herbs by Steven Foster and James A Duke
A field guide with color plates

Bible

Gun(s)

Sawyer Water Filter
Cleans up to 500 gallons of bacteria free water (Wal-Mart)

emergency water tablets (not needed to use the above)

First Aid Kit

Medications- see if you can get an extra prescription- like when you are going on an extended vacation and they prescribe a bit more

Can opener

Bag of rice

Whistle

Compass

Crank radio

Crank flashlight

socks

sewing kit

Magnesium fire starter (like flint)

camping shovel

pocket saw (it's a sharp band)

Knife Sharpening Kit
Knives:
pocket knife , Leatherman (multi tool), K-bar (fighting and survival)
lock blade that flips open (for one hand use)

Cards and Card games

Game rule book

Musical instrument if available and you play.

Remember, these are all great to have, and I think you should be prepared, but you also need to have faith. Some bloggers will say faith alone is enough but it reminds me of that joke:

There was a flood and the water rose clear up to rootop level. A man climbed onto his roof to save himself from drowning. A rescue worker in a boat made his way to the house and offered to take the man to safety. No, the man said, he was waiting for God to save him. So he waited. Again, another boat pulls up and offers to take the man to safety. Once again, the man declines.

Soon the man is overcome and dies from exposure. When he approaches the Pearly Gates he asks St Peter why God would have forgotten him. "Forgot you?" St Peter replied, "he sent two boats!"

Teach Me Some Art, Fiona

I am a complete failure at art, really, without a doubt. I can manage the quilting because it is more, well, structured, engineered. I can be creative in a literary sense such as writing stories, poems, lyrics or jingles. I can market and I can sell. I'm pretty good at the rummage sale, grouping various and sundry objects to make a theme or pulling together outfits to display in the clothing area. I can't; however, be artsy. This is why I purchased . . . . . The Usborne Complete Book of Art Ideas . . . . . at the book fair today at work.

It's Perfect! Check it out here

It shows me how to, step by step, make a thumbprint horse, or poppies from a bunch of splotches, or snails by rolling up a small, thin sponge sideways and dipping it in paint. Press it to the paper and you have a snail shell design. Paint or draw your snail on this. Perfect!

There's making stained glass windows with something like tissue paper behind building cutouts, little hat designs embellished with pen and ink to create fancy lady hats, paper weaving, etc. It's GREAT.

It will be in the Easter basket for Taylor, but will remain at our place since we have her every other weekend. That way T and I will learn art together, one page at a time.

My high school painting teacher publically ridiculed me because my painting was fuzzy. The lines of my still life weren't crisp and perfect. Little did he know I painted it just as I saw it- I needed glasses- it was actually pretty perfect! (LOL) And wouldn't you know it, another art teacher, Mr. Vivrette, loved Tom. He was Oh Sooooo creative and full of designy ideas. I hated being in art class with him especially as his was the example of brilliant work and mine was the "what not to create" example.

Tomorrow I am supposed to return to The House of Fear and Trepidation. I spent two weeks painting the darned wooden blocks and screwed them up again. The ladies said they would think of something that I might be able to do. They are really very nice, talented and obviously exceptionally patient.

Garden Nursery

Our growing area is set up and starting to fill up with wonderful plants and seed trays. The table is set up between two sets of windows, L-shaped, that get a SSE exposure. The fan is a whole house fan that we dedicated one of the windows to. We couldn't put in an attic fan since our attic really is useful space with furniture and storage. This fan blows out, pulling in the air from the other windows so the plants will have nice circulation around them.

We have selected heirloom variety tomatoes: Cherokee Purple, Hot, Roma and Old German. Peppers are Garden Salsa, Super Chili, Hot and Sweet Green. We have Ozark Beauty strawberries , Tansey, Valerian and cilantro. I also started seeds of watermelon, giant pumpkin, small pumpkin, basil, cherry tomotoes, thyme and cucumbers. They are accompanied by a lilly that my sister-in-law gave me and the St Pat's plant from my daughter.

Tomorrow I'll plant the tobacco, a beautiful plant that grows as tall as I am with orchid like flowers spraying from the top. We will also be planting some seeds that have to be planted directly into the ground such as zucchini, beans and some flowers that will be in the retaining wall area such as zinnas, marigolds and bachelor buttons. These fill in the perinnial areas as they begin to fade.

There is a little patch of garden at our place but we share a larger one with the neighbors on our side yard (??). Actually, it's carved out of the woods and we just ran the water lines to it this last weekend. It will be so nice to have water on demand rather than cart water over on the fourwheeler. It's a good size, about a quarter acre and very primitive with raised beds made from cut or fallen trees. The neighbors are also starting some seeds, some will be planted in their own patch and some in the shared garden.

Our last frost date is supposed to be April 15, but they lie. Never plant before May 1 or you will be scrambling to cover everything at least one more time. The forecast is calling for a potential frost warning this weekend- April 16-18!

Hopefully we will have a bountiful harvest for lots of canning and drying!

I Have Been Tagged

I have been tagged so I will post my response. I may not be very good at this, I am Catholic but not a Catholic blogger, and I doubt that I have 5 followers that are not already in the loop on this. In fact, I have only 11 followers and three are my family. I may not post 5, I may post the most important which the five would always link back to anyway.

I am about moving onto the past- what we need to know in the event that situations throw us back a hundred years or so to a time where we don't have cell phones, air conditioning, grocery stores that import products from across the world or even electricity.

So this really does pertain to my blog, just in a different way. If we move onto the past we better be able to put our trust somewhere and I don't think our government is the best bet. How could a country a great as we once were allow something like Katrina to continue on and on and on. No reason at all so I don't trust them to come to my aid. It wouldn't suit their purposes. I think I'll put my trust elsewhere:

I've been tagged

Mary, over at The Beautiful Gate has been tagging people for a meme called Why I love Jesus. The rules for this meme are:

- Those tagged will share 5 things they "love" about Jesus
- Those tagged will tag 5 other bloggers
- Those tagged will provide a link in the comment section
here with their names so that others can read them

#1 First and foremost: Hope.
Before Jesus, there was no hope. If you were bad you might make amends but you may not get into Heaven, maybe not Hell either, but not Heaven. No matter what I do, I have hope through Jesus. Without hope, why bother, nothing would matter.

#2 He was willing to die for me. I doubt many others would, maybe one.

#3 I like his mother a lot.
I have someone who understands our life. Granted, she is and always was perfect, without original sin, so it makes being good a whole lot easier, but she is still someone I can ask to intercede for me, when through my human nature, things seem hopless.

Is three OK? There's not anything not to like that is His fault. More like my fault and then I have to fess up to being not so perfect. I have to make some time to do that, it's been awhile.

As I mentioned, I don't know who of my followers would do this that are not already in the Catholic blogosphere and probably will be tagged anyway. If anyone at all wants to add something, please comment.

Here is Shadowlands Top 5:
Shadowlands

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Closing Ranks

When the coyotes arrive for the hunt the cows surrounds their calves, facing down their enemy. The goats and sheep protect their young as well- perhaps assisted by the donkey. They all depend on each other, their own community, to survive. They didn't ask the conservation department to come in and sit guard, or the critter control companies to eridcate the coyotes and even the farmer can't be there all night long. The same is true for you and I.

I hear the coyotes at night. I attached a sample below, not my coyotes, but representative of the frenzied yelps and calls. It's a scary sound that we've become quite used to and tend to ignore. Just like we ignore the signs around us now, the coyote at the door, be it human or nature.

How will you close ranks? Have you spoken to your neighbors and discussed what skills each of you have in the event of an emergency? Who has medical skills, who has carpentry skills to make temporary shelter? I have been told that we can survive a long while without food, but could die of exposure in a matter of hours. First things first. Find shelter.

Who will make the critical decisions? How will you handle law enforcement during a disaster when no one can answer your 911 calls?

If you are separated from your family how will you know where to meet? My husband is going to place a waterproof pack containing a pencil and paper somewhere on the property but not in the house. We can leave word where we intend to go. How will your family find you? Cell towers may not function, phone lines may be down or disabled. CB, Ham Radio?

As evidenced by all the worldly disasters and civil unrest it isn't too hard to imagine it could happen here. Don't be caught off guard.

A person can survive for: Rule of Threes

•Three hours without shelter
•Three days without water
•Three weeks without food


Mother Earth News Bryan Welch

Coyote Sound Link Here
Coyote Sounds Link Here Too

Wildlife Rescue Center photo link

Saved by the Light

This is the best flashlight in the world- or so says my husband. Let me tell you that I work for Energizer, just to be up front, but this is not the reason for this post. He truly thinks it is the best flashlight in the world.

He asked me to pick up a flashlight at work that had multiple LEDs. We had two models, one smaller and less expensive, and this one that is a bit more. I purchased both of them with the agreement that I could return one of them. He actually wanted the smaller one; however, after checking out what this can do, he was hooked.

Tonight it helped us move a copperhead back to the woods. Thank goodness I didn't reach down to the retaining wall, all warmed by our 83 degree day. One of the cats was staring at it and I could see something was unusual. I grabbed the light and saw immediately the hourglass pattern on the snake, the snake that decided it wanted to follow me- oh oh.

Tom got the grain shovel (it's really wide and long), picked him up and took him over to the woods, all with me shining the 100 lumens of high intensity LED light on the path.

But back to the light:
100 lumens high intensity LED
Multiple LEDS: white, red for night vision, green for map reading, blue for illuminating blood trails and ultraviolet for seeing fishing line and lures. These can be used independently or in a combination. The head swivels and can be locked at a few different positions. There is a clip to attach it for hands free use, it can withstand a 10 ft drop, and is waterproof.

The battery requirement is unusual. It takes 2 AAs, or not. You can put in two AAs for the brightest light. You can use a single AA in either of the two chambers. You can put in two AAs, one forward and one reversed. It will use only the one. When it runs out, turn the other one around and you still have light.

Night Strike link

We do have some new awsome products if you haven't seen them in awhile. Tom even wore the headlight, again with multiple settings, as he tended the chickens after dark. The red setting allows you to see clearly yet not be blinded by the light.

Here is an Energizer Bunny game the kids may like- try it out. Bunny Beats game link

Have a good evening!

DESIGNED BY KIDS, BUILT BY VOLUNTEERS

"ST. LOUIS – By the time the sun sets on April 6, children served by The Salvation Army’s Temple Corps Community Center will have a great place to play."

This is what my company is doing tomorrow. I have meetings so I will be helping in the Credit department covering order release while everyone is downtown building a playground.

"The new playground will be fully assembled from scratch in less than eight hours with the help of more than 200 volunteers from Energizer, The Salvation Army, organizers from KaBOOM! and local community residents. . .This playground build is the kickoff of the Energizer Now That’s Positivenergy™ campaign and will be followed by other events and partnerships aimed at generating positivity in communities across the country.

Planning for the playground began at a Design Day event held in February when local children and community leaders met with organizers from Energizer and KaBOOM! to design their dream playground. The children's drawings were then used to create the final playground design."

Salvation Army

"Why do you waste your time in prayer? There is no proof that God exists."

My husband was recently asked to review a new book out on the market and I would like to share that review with you. He is a book snob which means if he likes it, it has merit; therefore, he has passed the book onto me so perhaps you'll join me for a good read.

Link to Catawissa Gazetteer Review of The Third Testament

Amazon Link

An excerpt from The Third Testament review:

In this book we come to see, along with Mr. Sankt, that the Church stands as a beacon, a reason for hope. We see that it’s very endurance, the fact that it still survives today, after 2,000 years of attacks and brutal betrayals, just as Jesus promised it would, is as sure a reason for faith in Christ as anything else. Only a miracle, or more rightly, one whole never ending series of miracles and heavenly protections could have kept our Holy Mother Church on this earth. The Roman Catholic Church is the oldest form of government on the earth today, outlasting everything before or since. That is a miracle, maybe the greatest of all since the beginning of the Church itself.

The following can be found on page 248 of "The Third Testament":


"One day a humble servant of the Lord lost a very dear friend to the scourge cancer. The humble servant felt great sorrow and prayed that he would someday see his friend again. After much time in prayer, the humble servant was confronted by a demon. The demon said to him, "Why do you waste your time in prayer? There is no proof that God exists."

The humble servant answered him, "I have faith and that is why I pray."

The demon then said to him with disdain, "Faith is no more than superstition. On what do you base this 'faith?'"

The humble servant answered, "I base this faith on trust."

"Trust in whom?" the demon retorted. "In whom do you have such trust that you would ignore the laws of probability and the laws of science?"

"I trust in Christ," the humble servant replied.

"In Christ!" the demon exclaimed. "In Christ! Name one thing Christ has done to earn your trust. Tell me please, what has He ever done to earn your prayers? I dare you to name one miracle He has ever performed that has been proven by science to be true. Name it! Name it!" he taunted with glee.

The humble servant stood with patience, and then answered with three simple words: "The Church exists."

"What?" the demon declared in confusion. "What!" he said again with vexation. "What do you mean 'the Church exists?' Please tell me how this relates to trust. Please tell me how this justifies your wasted time in prayer?"

The humble servant calmly explained his answer. "Jesus Christ made a promise--the simple promise 'Upon this rock I will build my Church, and the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against it.' And now after 2000 years the Church still endures. It endures despite a history of heresies and persecutions. It endures despite the tyranny of despots. It endures despite the laws of probability and the laws of science. What greater miracle is there than this—that the son of a simple carpenter, who lived a life of poverty, and dwelled with the lowly, who never ventured more than a hundred miles from the town of his birth, and who died a criminal's death on a cross, would establish a great and holy Church, and that the teachings of this Church would be spread throughout the world by twelve simple men--men who hid in fear after the crucifixion? Yet in a mere three days after this lowly criminal's death, these twelve sprang forth and proclaimed His word and gave up their lives so that His promise would ring true. And over the centuries thousands of others gave their lives also, so that the Church would go on. The most powerful kings and most menacing armies stood against her, but the Church did not falter. For 2000 years this Church has withstood the test of time, overcoming the greatest of odds again and again. It surmounted the insurmountable. It beat the unbeatable foe. It prevailed through the harshest of storms. I say to you, this Church has shattered the very laws that you exalt. It defied that laws of probability, and it humbled the laws of science."

The humble servant continued on, "The existence of this Church is not a myth. The existence of this Church is not a legend. That this Church exists is an undeniable fact. That Christ's promise was kept is an undeniable fact. And if He kept this promise, then how can there be any doubt that He will keep His greatest promise—the promise that was central to His ministry, the promise that said 'If you believe in me, and eat of this bread, and drink of this cup, you shall live forever.' So when you ask 'why do I have faith,' I tell you, it is because I have trust, and nothing that your fair science can offer can break that trust. This is why I pray, so that someday I will enjoy that most sacred covenant of all"--the humble servant paused briefly and then added with solemnity and conviction--"together with my friend!" He then looked the demon right in the eye. "What good can your science and probability offer that is greater than this?"

With those words, the demon turned away, never to bother the humble servant again."

Spot the Cat

This is Spot, or Spotty as I call him. He's top stray cat around here and I'm his favorite person. He adopted me when his brother, Magellan, dissappeared years ago. Until that time they were inseparatable.

He claims my lap. No, he demands my lap. Then he stretches out so I can scratch his head and neck plus pull burrs out of his coat. Then he rolls over to get the other side groomed. When the other male stray sneaks up Spotty's ears perk up and off he runs to protect his human. Poor Sugar Bear, the male stray. The only truce is when they are eating, in separate areas of course.

They are also the keepers of the mouse/mole/squirrel population, always a balance to things, unless parts and pieces are deposited on my porch as a offering. I was amazed to find only a squirrel tail one day. No bones, nothing. Just the tail. Just wondering-where's the rest?

Urban Manna

"I would often see hungry people lined up for free food at food banks. What they didn't know was that the yards, parks and vacant lots all around them were full of free fresh veggies"

This quote by Len McDougall continues to explain how plantain is as nutritionally sound as spinach, providing iron and both vitamins A and C. You don't have to cook it but it is typically consumed by boiling the leaves and treating it similar to spinach, with a little vinegar or butter for topping. This is especially true for full mature leaves which tend to be more stringy than the tender shoots. The seed pods may be eaten as you would green beans, according to McDougall.

Colorado Noxious Weeds link

The same issue contains a discussion on Nutsedge, often referred to as nut grass, an invasive garden weed which is also quite edible with roots of the yellow nutsedge tasting similar to coconut and can be eaten raw, boiled or roasted-according to Mother Earth editors. One on-line discussion forum claims they are sold as tiger nuts in sweet shops.

I don't claim to eat these; however, I am glad to know the possibility exists. I can imagine that somewhere in the world an exclusive restaurant is serving this under some fancy name and charging a pretty penny for it. Otherwise, how can you explain the existance of escargot?

** I have had escargot and it's not bad.


(Mother Earth News April/May 2011- Len McDougall)