Sorry for this but.....

I never intended to ever get into politics on this blog.  Always wanted it to be simply an accounting of what I was doing for emergency preps, and to get input and correct guidance from folks who are a heck of a lot more knowledgeable than myself.  

But sometimes I come across items that are just too good to not share.  This is one of those moments.  View this video and enjoy the ride.  There is more of this from this production company at Youtube. The main character says so much that most of us would never in our wildest dreams say aloud...but Alonzo names it exactly as it is.  

Found it on one of my secret sites that I frequent.  No, not porn.  I am (was) a closet celebrity news junkie.  The video is from a place called Dirty Harry's Place.   Maybe you have already seen it, but if not, then enjoy it.  Might give you a break from the real world of doom and gloom.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxhYampIl7A&eurl=http://dirtyharrysplace.com/?p=4913

I am still learning my way around google chrome.  I hope the video link works out ok.  If the world of software had been left up to me, we would still be working in DOS and menu-driven programs wouldn't even have been a glimmer in someone's eye.

I tried my hand at dehydrating mushrooms yesterday.  They came out looking better than the crap you can buy in the grocery store.  It started as one of my famous experiments, and it just happened to work out well.  Got a great deal on mushrooms, one of those BOGO things.  A pound of "wet" mushrooms dries down to filling less than a baggie.  The 'shrooms taste great too.

The adventure in growing lettuce, spinach and broccoli continues.  The spare bedroom is now a indoors grow room.  In 15 days or so, there will be salads grown in our own house.  We have an on-going experiment where there are 10 cloned tomato plants taken from a single outdoors tomato plant.  Not sure if the  original plant was a hybrid or an heirloom.  Essentially, it won't matter because we will have tomato plants growing from the original one.  At least one of the cloned plants already has healthy tomato blossoms sprouting.  At the top of this page is a picture of the cloned plant with blossoms.    I am not smart enough to figure out how to place images in the correct place.  Yet.  Crap, just one more thing I have to learn.   

I am not going to take any credit for this indoors plant growing.  A much smarter person than I has started this hydroponic project.  Funny thing, I saw this being accomplished when I was visiting Arizona and happened to go that Eco/Bio-dome place in Tucsan.  A bunch of people in the 1980s (?) had to live secluded and survive on only what was grown within that compound.  Who knew???  

Personally, I think this whole economic mess/diaster/emergency is going to have a profound impact on how we tackle the future.  I read about how people are growing their own corn for bio-fuels.  Apartment dwellers are getting into the mode of container gardening on balconies.  People are worried about rising vegetable prices and weeks old veggies that are passed off as fresh, not to mention a justifiable fear of e.Coli and other bacteria.  

Maybe people won't be raising chickens in apartments, but why not growing your own vegetables?    Why can't you grow your own salad makings?  Why can't a homeowner grow his own potatoes in tires, terra cotta pots or whatever?  Anyway, I think we all are going to have to start thinking out of the box to survive the mess that has been foisted on all of us taxpayers.

Thanks to a great site called "Safely Gathered In," I now have a cardboard box oven.  Even tho I have gas and electric kitchen appliances, ya just never know.  You can visit them here.  http://safelygatheredin.blogspot.com/search/label/How%20To

This site has terrific how to information and step by step photos for all of their projects in the preparation arena.  Really impressive bloggers. 

My last thoughts.  I am seriously interested in raising some of our own proteins, in addition to the garden stuff and already stored food items.  I have always wanted to grow some chickens.  No not in a massive way, more like a couple of hens for their eggs.  I have the design plans for a small coop and enclosed area and can get advice galore.  Just not sure what the dreaded Home Owner's Association (HOA) will think.  The company hired by the HOA had a tizzy when they thought my sodded back yard was a tad too long.  

I am thinking that HOA members could be convinced to my way of thinking with a few eggs here and there.  I have doves living under the Florida Cypres trees, so what harm would it be if I had a few more birds.  I wouldn't have any roosters, so that noise problem would not cause undue concern.  Hmm, maybe while I am at it I could have a tiny little Talapia pond too.

Ok, I went off the deep end there.  Blame it on the economy, my crazy work life, or just my normal Sunday afternoon musings.

Feeling better about my prepping, but why do new problems keep cropping up?

Me thinks time is running short

I know that I have not had much in the way of blogging.  Forgive me, but I have been hard at work with my prepping. 

Have dehydrated celery, red and green peppers.  I also canned a bunch of hamburger meat.  The meat will provide variety to my food storage.  

I feel like I came to the prepping point a day late and several dollars short.  I have managed to get way past the six month mark.  That was a feat in itself.  

I have willingly taken some hits in my personal here and now life too.  I down graded my cell phone plan from top of the line with all the dazzling options and nearly a $100 month fees.  Sold that fancy dancy LG Voyager for $207.96!!!!  That is amazing, since identical phones went for around $120.  Don’t know what I was thinking when I bought the darn thing, it’s not like I needed the internet, texting and TV reception.  Oh, well, I look at it like this; I had the opportunity to get smart, sold it, and have something a lot more reasonable. 

More water has been stored too.  Will be getting the Waterbob thing for the guest bedroom next week.  The “bob” will plus up my water storage with an additional 100 gallons. 

I sense a lot of tension in the writings of fellow bloggers  - most feel that next week will be a turning point and perhaps validate what prepping has been all about.  There does seem to be changes in the way people are shopping too.  Although there haven’t been any food shortages in the stores I frequent, I have noticed a lot more purchases of staples.  Not sure if its people realizing that frozen fast food meals are expensive or if there is a teeny bit of prepping going on. 

I am still not happy with security plans for the house.  Too many angles, too many windows.  For personal reasons, there is no way that we will be bugging out to a different location.  For us, it will be shelter in place.   I fully expect problems from those who have always have had things handed to them to come looking for handouts and the ones who will be happy to take by force.  

We now have spinach, broccoli and lettuce growing in the unused bedroom.   Wow, the stuff grows fast.  I need some operations security on that…..don’t need the deputy sheriffs thinking there is some illegal stuff growing.

Have taking the advice and guidance everyone has been posting.  Thank you for your support.

Any thoughts on water filtration?  I am interested both in-house on the faucet kind and the emergency kind if on the run.  I know how to build one with sand and charcoal, but I am looking to quick fixes to my preparations.