Elaine and I have a delightful day planned.
She’s sleeping in a bit; as much as Zeus-the-Cat will permit. I’ve been out in my shop-office, doing a couple of hours of research. And arguing whether I should write a column for this morning, or not. (Writing seems to be winning.)
This is an odd Thanksgiving because there is a vision of Future that wonders if this is the Last One.
Last ‘Thanksgiving?’
If there’s a first, mathematics offers there may also be a last. Proof? Name 3-surviving Chacoan cultural holidays? We’re on that freeway, Bubba.
Two large-scale conflicts are on the radar. From these few headlines, you may be able to connect the dots:
- China’s Top Movie Ever is War Epic About U.S. Defeat (bloombergquint.com). Just the kind of thing you’d expect a savvy national government to do…if there were plans to re-unify and maybe drive territorial expansion further.
- Russia’s population, too, is being similarly groomed. Will Putin Invade Ukraine? Russians Are Being Told to Get Used to the Idea. And Ukraine is acting more aggressively now with additional U.S. support and the backing of the EU-NATO: Ukraine launches ‘special operation’ on Belarus border.
While these indicators alone don’t spell a difficult Thanksgiving next year, they are useful to consider. Since holidays, at least for Elaine and me, offer a chance for us to kick-back and see how well-prepared we are to meet an uncertain future.
On Futuring and Turkey
There’s a fair bit of historical revisionism in play around the holiday. Pick up the Wiki read from here.
For us, Holidays are like break-points. Like when you’re on a trip and you arrive at a destination, like back in our sailing days.
You secure the boat, find the nearest HBR (hot buttered rum) dispensary, and then start planning the next leg of your adventure.
Holidays are a kind of “temporal arrival” – and just like sailing, the planning is already underway for the next leg of this voyage of Life. Short hop, next one. We’ll be pulling into Christmas. And there’s barely enough room between Christmas and New Year to do much other than take out the garbage, reload the fridge, do a wine store drive-by, and decide which part of the arsenal will greet 2022. (Choices have, over 70+ years, included everything from sparklers to half-sticks.)
The research I’ve been working on this morning relates not just to “How will 2022 be different?” Frankly, don’t much give a damn.
What does matter, is how WE will have to be different in order to successfully navigate this one. Since each year is a different run of the Darby Queen.
The Big Pieces are slowing being stitched into a view. From there, rational planning benchmarks become useful, then procurement, and so forth.
“Which Relates to T-Day, How?”
Aha! Food. Water.
We’re thinking 2022 may be when critical infrastructure related not just to the supply chain in general, but food in particular, may be about to go drifty on us.
Buddy next door dropped by for a “Howdy” Wednesday. And interestingly, he’s talking about raising some food up at his place, too. Plus, since we both sold off some timber this year, we’re looking at pasturing and maybe running a few head.
Come to find out, the wild pigs have really been running hard on land east of us, and the neighbor’s seen some scat on his cleared area, so we know protein will be available, almost no matter what.
While he’s planning a 300-400 meter range (ours is barely long enough for battle sighting) we’re both getting serious about gardens. Which is tantamount to the “War on Critters.” Humans aren’t the only ones that get hungry.
We’ve kicked around some fencing ideas, and a few head of cattle each, well, that doesn’t sound like a bad idea.
Next feller up the road from us does cutting and wrapping for deer, so we’ll need to talk to him about whether he’ll cut and wrap pig or cow – when time comes.
A review of Mike Oehler’s book The Earth Sheltered Solar Greenhouse Book was done this week. Need to have a “plum wine consult” with Oilman2 about design. Texas is hot as hell for 120-days a year, but much better the rest of the time. The design hip shot will put digging down far enough to lay in 8″ PVC pipe and 12 or 24 volt fans to use earth as heatsink while limiting greenhouse temps to the 90-F range.
Design jury is still out on whether we’ll be able to do that with single glazing, or double, but time will tell.
Same with the “Lettuce room” which will be a bolt-on to the side of the studio. That’ll be our first exposure to using ground screws for a foundation. Won’t be a terribly heavy-built structure…but our thinking is advancing nicely.
Food Security a Reality in 2022?
Seems almost laughable. Elaine and I will be throwing our small bird in the oven around 11 AM today. Here I am doing plans to produce (if necessary) all of our own food from mid 2022 on, if need be. We have lots of solar resources, but when you start thinking this way, where does the prepping end?
It’s one thing – prepping for an uncertain future – to store a few extra rolls of toilet paper, cases of beans and sacks of rice. But, how far is reasonable to press Food Security in the year ahead?
Seeds are cheap. It doesn’t take but a few books to install the farmer plugin between Ure ears. MiracleGro has a pretty good one: Guide to Growing Delicious Vegetables Fruits & Herbs.
Point I was getting to? Holidays like this (and sure, una copa de vino, maybe) are great for playing that mental chess game 5 and 6 moves ahead.
For example, if prepping, do you load up on 20-20-20 fertilizer or roll with 3-3-3? (Correct answer: 20-20-20 or 30-30-30 if only on a two-season use horizon, otherwise less mineral buildup with 3-3-3 although it’s not as “strong.”)
So rolls the day.
Markets and Ahead
Yeah, so in a world without an internet and sketchy power, what do you buy if you have money, but the world is cracking up around you? Food and water security, surveillance drones, and touch up the iron sights?
Had a good talk with my buddy the Major this week. Told of friends of theirs who hadn’t been to Seattle in like 10-years. They came to the city for a medical specialist. They were appalled and disgusted. The homeless, the filth, the entitled bullshit… All serving to wreck Seattle as a decent place to live in 10-years of Marxist Socialist drug and free lunch peddlers. Pretty disgusting.
He made it sound so bad I had to ask one of Elaine’s boys about it, last night.
“You just have to get used to it. Going to a soccer game, you’re going to park near the tents of homeless, needles are everywhere, people will be panhandling you nonstop. But we just go to the game and enjoy it…and get out of the filth as quickly as we can…”
Areas south of Seattle are becoming notorious for their street crimes and car-jackings, too. Really disgusting.
There’s a full-court press on from Soros stooges, the Kremlin, and leader for life Xi on down, throughout the international apparatchik to take down the U.S.
So, while we nurse our mimosas with steak and eggs for breakfast today, I’ll remind you again:
Whether this is America’s last Thanksgiving remains to be seen.
Write when you get rich,
George@Ure.net
And a Happy Thanksgiving to you, Mr. Sunshine.
You couldn’t mention anything to be thankful for? Well, here’s one:
OSU is ranked second only to Georgia, and is FINALLY ranked higher than UC. Go Bucks!
Um… also the condom didn’t break and the doctor says it’s only a cold sore.
Cheers!
That ain’t thanks – that’s MIRACLES
Happy thanksgiving You two.. I hope it is filled with family,friends,laughter and lots of love.. don’t eat to much..
All everyone needs is to be “@ peace with themselves.” That seems to be lacking, inho?!
Yes indeedy, George – there’s China, Russia and ongoing supply chain issues to fret about. I’d add more covid disruption to the mix. The linked article below discusses a new, worrisome variant emerging in S. Africa. Hard as it may be to believe, but this all might just be more media fear mongering, as the piece fails to state whether the current vaccines prevent or limit the new variant’s effects. Plus Bloomberg is all about business, and covid vaccine production is a billion dollar industry now, not to mention associated masks, santizers and medical equipment. And elected officials are rock solid certain to use this bit of news to herd the sheeple into deeper states of compliance. Me? I’m just in a continuous state of confusion. Happy Thanksgiving to you and Ures!
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-11-25/who-meets-on-new-covid-19-variant-circulating-in-south-africa
My consigliere and I consulted on this already today.
I’m not sure if this is a variant or a fresh release of another bio weapon entirely… fingers crossed…
“My consigliere and I consulted on this already today.”
And did it really matter? We’re screwed, IMHO, because of US the real people. We seem to be incapable of making decisions that benefit society at large. ;-((
Speaking of China, I ran across this article this morning: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/china-s-disappearing-ships-the-latest-headache-for-the-global-supply-chain/ar-AAR4l7o?ocid=msedgntp
This made me wonder if China is gearing up for something sooner, rather than later — practicing blocking info on their ships perhaps?
Would be interested in your thoughts.
“I’m not sure if this is a variant or a fresh release of another bio weapon entirely… fingers crossed…”
I wish I could find what I was looking for.. but when I was reading the patents a year or so ago.. the way I understood it was the virus was designed to be the scariest scary around.. with a fast mutation rate to make it harder to fight than another virus..
Its funny yet it isn’t… when I was at the doctors the other day.. there is a big sign on the door..Which isn’t unusual.. the pharmaceutical companies dump tons of that crap off to be displayed.. you know the ones.. got crap between the teeth.. brush them.. this one was on Covid.. whats the difference between a bacterial , viral ,or covid.. aches pains and symptoms that could say.. you have covid.. https://youtu.be/jYKXIrZ6w3A
anyway this sign had been remanufactured as a joke LOL LOL I am betting that the joker made one for every exam room..
if you have bloating it could be covid,, if you have excessive flatuence.. It might be covid…. if you have hickups… it might be covid.. if you develop hemeroids.. It might be covid.. LOL LOL
I thought it was hillarious.. I think I know which one is playful enough to do it.. but I won’t know till I corner the sneak LOL LOL what drew my attention to it.. was the sign was on there six months ago.. but it was smaller and in the center of the door.. I thought dam a new one.. then about died laughing when I was reading it…. I didn’t have my phone otherwise I would have taken a photo of it.. and truthfully don’t want to spend fifty bucks to go back just to take a photo of it..
It was something I would do LOL LOL LOL LOL you might have covid if you …. LOL LOL LOL
It is like when I put face prints on the windows LOL LOL LOL back in 1994 and they are still there LOL LOL LOL its a time capsule LOL LOL LOL LOL… they cut maintenance and housekeeping staff so that it would appear as if everything was going ok.. and then put in carpet.. ( bad choice but heck you can’t fix stupid ) I drop in every few years to see if they are still there..they got some.. but not all of them.. LOL LOL
Thank you for taking time to write a column on your special day. This Canadian appreciates it and wishes you, Elaine and all my American family and friends, Happy Thanksgiving.
You remain one of my few links to sanity each morning.
“Happy Thanksgiving.
You remain one of my few links to sanity each morning.”
Yes, so true, but also “just pissing against the wind,” because Bolsheviks have other ideas. You know who they are and everyone fighting against those were finally maligned — there are just too many of those that “want everything w/o payment ; -).
Happy Thanksgiving George and Elaine.
Thank you!
‘Russia’s population, too, is being similarly groomed….’
Sorry George, but the ‘aggression’ is not on the Russian side. The US working through so called NATO is agitating the situation and trying to instigate war. In fact, the last 75 years since the close of WWII has shown that the US has always been the instigator for wars and conflicts.
The Russians have a genuine concern about the expansion of NATO on their border….a real concern as NATO is just the US hiding behind the guise of mutli-nationalism. The last thing most people want in Europe is a war with the US against Russia (who just happen to supply a lot of their energy needs).
Blame the evil and incompetent in the DC for this situation.
Why would we need NATO if we have the UN?????
Get rid of one or the other, IMHO!
Consider containers for your kitchen greens and herbs. Something 8 or 10 inches deep with some draining holes using standard potting mix, not soil. Something you can pick up and move when necessary. Wallyworld always has something on hand. The wife came home with a few dozen a couple of years ago. Apparently, they were intended for ice trays holding drinks and suck but they work perfectly. Some are oblong and some are round, about 8 inches deep. The only issue we have had is keeping the damn squirrels out of them. The only solution there is .22.
If your soil biology is in good shape you should not need much more than 5-5-5 fertilizer anytime. In containers, you will need to go with plant food that is made for such. Master Blend is a good choice.
Be thankful for everyday. we only get so many of them.
73, Peace.
“Be thankful for everyday. we only get so many of them. 73, Peace.”
I should know ;-) may not be here to-morrow.
“I should know ;-) may not be here to-morrow”
I hear ya….I know exactly how you feel… when you get to the age that you fear buying green banana’s that you may not be around long enough for them to ripen..
Or buy a dozen eggs.. dam.. what if you only get one eaten then you have eleven that go to waste..
Happy thanksgiving Choices.. and don’t buy any green banana’s
Few of us have time to spend constantly seeking squirrels to shoot. If you can’t or won’t set traps(collateral damage issues), then the best solution is a hardware cloth cage around the containers, including the bottom.
Happy Belated Thanksgiving to all!
Happy Thanksgiving. When turning your gaze back to world affairs keep an eye on the Solomon Islands. Today our Australian PM committed to sending 23 Australian Federal Police and 43 armed forces personnel to help quell unrest and bolster security in the Solomon Islands, at the request of their Prime Minister. The decision by the SI government to formally cease diplomatic recognition of Taiwan and switch to China is one of many factors being blamed for riots in the capital, Honiara.
The Solomon Islands are on our doorstep and China will no doubt be enraged by this intervention. Can’t shake the feeling that the butterfly’s wings are flapping and we could see a cascade of consequences far beyond this speck in the Pacific.
“running a few head”
Good idea. If I had the space I’d let some beef or pork roam around. You’ll be eating good while we others riot or defend ourselves from marauding hordes. In the end I get burned out. You’ll be eating Kabobs.
With the wild bacon running around out there have you ever eaten a wild hog? It might be easier to feed the wild animals Vs caring for domesticated animals. Wild animals are resilient and generally maintenance free. I’ve already got another batch of wild stew cats building up.
Domesticated animals need security and regular watering and feedings.
THAT is why I’ve done without the ag rate for taxes. Too much paperwork and field maintenance with even a single cow.
Holidays will only vanish when those who remember them choose to let them go. I personally am thankful for each and every day above ground, regardless of what chaos may be around me.
My preference is 10-10-10 or 13-13-13. Also spread the ash from our woodburning stove over the garden to help reduce the acidity of our soil.
Goats are our choice for milk/meat production. They’re less expensive to buy, they require less food than cows, and they produce similar quality milk and meat, just not as much of it. Goat gestation is 150 days, cows go 283, and goats normally have twins/triplets. For folks who can’t do long term storage of meat, goats make more sense.
I wish everyone a great Thanksgiving and hope you remember to actually give thanks for the bounty in our lives. An attitude of gratitude improves the quality of life.
IIRC George had goats, of which Elaine made pets, which is part of the reason they no longer have goats.
With food critters, Rule Number One is: DON’T NAME THE ANIMALS!!
If you do, you establish an emotional connection with them, essentially turning them into pets — then good luck, looking in Bessie’s big browns while you slit her throat…
I would have a serious problem butchering a horse or dog, no problem with a pig or any bird, and not much of an issue eating sheep, goats, and cow critters…
“IIRC George had goats, of which Elaine made pets, which is part of the reason they no longer have goats.”
the same thing happened to me raising tilapia and with chickens.. that is why I have a farmer raise my yearly cow.so I won’t become attached to it.. I figured fish farming out and had really good luck with it. what drew me to it was one of the top dogs that I worked for in day labor that was in govt.. we made sea anchors for the coast guard and drop down hides for transporting etc etc.. hot air balloons ran into him and he had retired from govt work and had moved to canada to farm fish..for restaurants.. but when it came time to harvest the fish.. I couldn’t do it.. I had shrimp, redclaw fresh water giant crawdads.. ( just like lobster) crawdads ..
https://www.miami-aquaculture.com/red-claw-crayfish
http://www.aquacultureoftexas.com/tanks.htm
https://tilapiadepot.com/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI796Ah6O29AIVVm1vBB2GVQn7EAAYASAAEgLTBPD_BwE
I had the Blue and the Black.. I wasn’t sure if the White would tolerate it..
https://azgardens.com/product-category/freshwater-aquarium/freshwater-tropical-fish/algae-eating-fish/
https://www.liveaquaria.com/product/1642/?pcatid=1642
I raised fish for what almost six years. I had clams but for some reason they didn’t do very good.. not what I expected anyway so I stopped with them.. the thought was the clams eat the droppings etc….
the big thing if you want to try it is to build the sunken nursery right away and the sunken Jr. section.. the older larger ones will eat the shrimp and the babies until they get to a certain size then will not touch them.. and by having both a nursery section where the tiny ones can hide and the jr. section will keep your production up.. I didn’t have a nursery the first year.. and I basically fed the tilapia shrimp dinners LOL..
the thought was they replicate as fast as bunnies.. put a nursery at the bottom.. a jr. containment hide and the water.. a few totes.. four by four by four connected or half tanks.. .. and then use the water in the garden.. It was really really easy to do.. I had a timed feeder so all I had to do was fill it and make sure the temperature was good.. in a place like texas you wouldn’t have the issues with temp like I did..
when I gave them away to an old friend that could harvest them that raises them.. . I had some tilapia two foot or better long..
the secret is the filtration and aeration… Don’t use Duckweed.. dam I tossed a half cup of it in one of the containers.. and had to
Feral hogs will destroy an unfenced or weakly fenced garden in a single evening. They are absolutely silent. One individual I know had his beautiful flower beds repeatedly and completely destroyed in the middle of the night without ever hearing anything. He resorted to steel fencing around his yard.
Feral hogs run in large groups. The estimates of the herd that invaded my neighborhood several years back were 500+.
I have never tried electrics for hogs, but with the right charger, electrics will discourage just about anything. Barbed wire can be effective, but you need at least six wires, with one wire about 4 inches above the dirt. Hogs will crawl under barbed wire, but avoid crawling over it.
Hogs will get their snouts under hog wire, push it up, and break it. Putting hog wire over a six or seven wire barbed wire fence in heavily trafficked areas works OK. The hogs remember where they have gotten in before, and hit spots where they have been successful in the past over and over. I have used short auger anchors and 20′ long rebar to tie down sections of fence which were being brutalized nightly in mass assaults.
It is difficult to get fence installers to put in the barbed wire properly. That bottom wire 4″ off the turf takes about as much effort as the rest of fence. I ended up crawling through about a half mile of briars to snake another wire in under a five-wire fence. It worked quite well. Still have scars on my legs. Get a pair of leg and arm protectors before you try something like that. The protectors that look like an umpire’s leg protectors work best. Do that kind of work in December through February, to avoid having to pry copperheads off your face.
There was one pig that kept getting past my defenses. He figured out he could climb through the upper rungs on a side gate. After a rain, I was able to track him around the property. He knew where all the weak spots in my defenses were, and wandered around the perimeter checking out each good invasion spot. I nicknamed him Caesar the Pig. I then reinforced all the spots I found his tracks near, fixed the side gate so he couldn’t get in there, and the invasion stopped. You will need to think like your adversary , G_____.
I think I would’ve fixed all but one, installed a one-way flap-door on it so “Caesar” could come in but not leave, set up a $20 Harbor Fright driveway alert so I knew when he was around, then polished my crossbow…
Happy Thanksgiving George and Elaine,
I got a smile on my face when you mentioned wild pigs. Here we have Javelina which I found out are related to deer not pigs as I thought. Anyway here is my recent experience which I shared on my local Nextdoor Poets Square community board here in Tucson.
“I am Roger Sxxxxxx and live at ……………………… The reason I am writing this morning is this. I got up early this morning, just before 2 am. I turned on the back porch light and checked the cement on the back porch and noticed it was wet. Ahh a little moisture.
I noticed two mangy looking dogs were in the yard rummaging through the remainder of a bag of potatoes that I had set outside just before going to bed last night. One of the potatoes had gone bad. I intended to wash the good ones this morning. Wonder if any are left?
I got a flashlight to have a better look at the dogs because they looked pretty mangy. I could see their skin through the sparse hair they had. My vision of their head and shoulders was blocked by furniture. So I opened the back door quietly so I could get a better look. They ran out the back gate without a growl or even a woof.
Turns out they were a pair of javelina!
I have lived here since 1955 and never had this experience where I live. Yes I will be keeping my back gate closed from now on. LOL!”
Since writing this I have received delightful responses from over folks spread around Tucson. Its amazing how common they are here in town. So maybe if things get tight we’ll have roast Javelina for a few meals. LOL.
Hub and I camping in a pop up about 14 years ago in Ft. Davis State Park, Texas. No a/c, so flaps open. He wakes me up to tell me he thinks there’s a bear with her cub outside our camper. Well that got my attention, but I am blind without my glasses, so after finding them, I peer out into the darkness and sure enough, there are 2 humped blobs within touching distance, one quite larger than the other. They weren’t moving, we didn’t move. Finally, they cautiously moved, and I heard clip, clop, and I knew what they were, Javalinas!!! They appeared as shadows and had outlines like bears on all fours.
The next morning, we walked 20 feet to what appeared to be low spot, and there were 30 of them in there, and they all stopped and looked at us looking at them. Their faces, and shape of head and body are very unusual, it’s a shock to the nervous system seeing them up close like that. Turned out, our campsite was right in their nightly route.
Once we saw a herd of wild mountain goats cross in front of us when we were driving in the mountains of Colorado. After crossing, one looked back, that face and those eyes were shocking. So riveting.
Eat hearty and have fun everybody! We’re off to the Oriental stir fry place today since the family Thanksgiving meals have been moved to this weekend.
Just remember the neighbor’s chickens aren’t free-range turkeys when they wander into your yard!
“We have lots of solar resources, but when you start thinking this way, where does the prepping end?”
Hmm.. Now..When do you start.. how do you start.. I have had hundreds of kids come around and ask how to start.. members of the church that seen it as overwhelming..
When I started has to go way back.. some see times like I had as bad times I seen them as learning events.. I had a really good job and quit because of my moral standards.. I didn’t approve of what was going on and decided I would work with a company with some ethics..
I took a job making radiators.. yup.. and we were doing a bang up business.. then the farmers had a lot of issues.. and quit spending money.. they started to cut hours and my wife at the time was really sick.. she had gotten one of those experimental Dalkon shield IUD’s.. and it really messed up her body.. and was sick all the time. https://embryo.asu.edu/pages/dalkon-shield
Anyway on the way home from the hospital one night my car’s valve stems came off and blew up the motor..
I was on foot and had to walk to work twelve miles in winter.. a very cold fall froze my feet and ears.. I could usually catch a ride home but couldn’t get a ride to work..so every morning about one am I would get up.. no winter coat all I had was a peacoat and I would put two pair of pants on.. then in between the pants I would crumple up newspaper to stuff them full.. go out and start the journey to work.. I usually made it just a couple of minutes before I would have to work.. until you have done it you don’t know.. trust me on that.. well the hours kept getting shorter and shorter.. making two dollars and change an hour.. the rent was behind they shut off the heat.. no electricity.. then the fateful thing happened.. they shut to plant down for the winter.. I did get a temp job scraping the fat off of road kill hides.. ( that is not a fun job but not as bad as steam cleaning blood tanks) but that only lasted a couple of weeks.. we had gotten our eviction notice .. the hallway door would stay open so that the heat from the unheated hallway would filter in the room.. the other tenants would open and close their doors and that is what heated the hall.. no food.. I would go behind the farmers wiggle wagons and scrap up what they dropped and pound it into a crude gruel .. to cook it we had an old coleman camp stove..( still got it to) and we would cook up that ground grain to eat.. I went from what I am today down to about seventy five pounds.. two kids.. It was frustrating as hell.. luckily from the days when I was caving all the time and mountain climbing.. I had down sleeping bag that would hold the wife and the baby.. and the toddler.. There were no jobs and we were starving.. there wasn’t food stamps at the time.. it was commodities.. and if you were a man.. the odds of getting any was silch.. we were starving slowly.. my coffee was cracked corn and oats roasted in that cast iron pan in a camp oven along with the tossed out coffee grounds from the restaurant.. between the two I made this god awful drink that at the time I was thankful to have.. . ( still got it) we were to be booted out.. I didn’t know what to do.. didn’t have anyone to lean on for help.. No jobs even the day labor jobs were hard to get.. to walk to the place where they would come and grab someone was a long walk.Our xmas tree was a branch off of a pine tree in an old coffee can..
then a farmer came by and asked me if I would help him catch the small male chickens in his hen house.. it was a buck an hour and I was thankful to get the opportunity.. it took five hours.. at the end he had the five dollar bill and said.. now I can give you the five dollars .. or you can have the chickens you caught and some eggs.. by god I leapt at the chickens and eggs.. honey we are going to eat tonight I thought.. big dreams of eating till I burst.. fried chicken etc..
When I got home I was so happy I went to tell the wife of our good fortune only to find the door to the hallway closed.. wild thoughts of how while I was away the sheriff came by and tossed us out.. where was the wife and kids.. what do I do now..
the door was locked.. oh my god did they change the locks.. I slid the key in.. scared to try and unlock it.. but it turned.. the door unlocked.. cautiously I opened the door to be hit by a blast of warm air.. the lights were on.. heat on.. the fridge was full of food.. everything you could want.. the cupboards filled to the brim.. and boxes of food stacked in the corner.. the pine branch decorated and under it a present wrapped for each of the kids and new winter coat and snow suit for the kids.. I fell to my knees and cried.. prayed and gave thanks.. who it was.. was it that farmer.. I have no clue.. on the counter was a slip saying the rent and the utilities were all paid up to date and extra… it was the best gift I could ever get.. I swore then that I would never go hungry like that again.. and I would never forget where I had been.. my gift to me is to find someone that has fallen through the cracks and do what I can to make their xmas memorable..I have had four events similar to the one above.. through my life.. each one has taught me something a little different.. and each one was unavoidable..
so when I get someone that asks me.. how do I do it.. my answer is one can.. if you use five cans a week then by six.. when the five are gone then by six more.. before you know it.. you have your food stock..you cannot prepare for everything.. and it is what you haven’t considered necessary .. the amounts.. how much do you stock.. I can comfortably go a few days.. or longer.. where I lack is cash.. the last time I had a bank account and it was what was needed to pay for the absolute necessities.. this time around I won’t have it.. and when the president of our church said you should have a years supply of money.. he should have been saying two years supply.. this time around.. we have the weimer affect.. and if we do go to war and the grid is shut down we all will be going through surviving on nothing..
to prepare for the unknown is truly hard.. what do you get.. I decided forty years ago to learn how to make the comfort items we use.. I can make just about anything I need and value knoweledge more than anything.. each time I have had an event that makes you stunned.. there has been someone that I haven’t known or seen in a long time.. that has helped me.. for me the ones that I help are in the same situation.. and I have no problems helping someone by giving a hand up.. When it happens.. it is usually those you assume will be there to back you up that leave.. and those that you don’t expect to be there the ones to be there the most..
that is my xmas story.. what inspired me to stock up and learn .. I hope and pray none of you ever have to be in the position where I have been in.. it is the worst and the best experience in ones life..
Looking Outside the Box,
Thank you for sharing your amazing history. While I did not read that you ever learned the identity of your benefactor(s), I wonder whether one or more of your neighbors acted after noticing you were faithfully doing everything you could to remedy the situation for your family. In any case, your circumspect account of learning and applying such “lessons” over 40 years is truly inspiring. It reminds me of this folksy proverb: “Experience is a very stern and demanding teacher. For she gives you the test(s) first, and the lesson(s) afterward.” Thank you again.
I have no idea who it was.. it was and is the best christmas I had ever had.. I do the same thing for one family every year now.. a few times they had to know who it was..
One guy I had to take by the hand and even fill out the forms so he could get food stamps.. he was scared of the self image he would have.. his story was he has three kids.. he delivered his three kids on the kitchen table himself.. their furnace was broke down.. the car broke down.. heated a mobile home with the stove.. they ate what the cat dragged in from the field.. ( kept the skins to remind them of the times they went through) I seen him riding a bicycle in a snow storm trying to get to work.. so I would take him to work and drop him off at night every day..
one family had four kids.. they were professionals.. the youngest got brain cancer and had to have treatments.. hundreds of miles away.. the parents were fired because of the sick child and they were to be evicted etc.. no heat or lights on.. the story I knew so well.. its funny because they are all around us all the time.. many don’t ask for help don’t even know where to go get it..
I give great tips.. to waitresses.. when I washed dishes I would see waitresses cry because they didn’t make enough money to buy milk or diapers.. so when I go in to one of my favorite restaurants.. my coffee will be hot my water cold and a bowl of lemons will be at my table every time..I have the waitress give the dishwasher a small tip to..
That is one of the things that I really liked about trump.. he was not afraid to let his staff know he appreciated them.. but also made sure they are fed.. among some of his good deeds..he is the boss will brag up his successes but the acts of kindness that are not discussed are what made him a great boss and man..
George,
Happy Thanksgiving!
You are perhaps correct about this being the last Thanksgiving for the United States. I am possibly more gloomy than you in my vision for the future.
Have been talking with local suppliers of ag fertilizer, and the picture ain’t pretty. Nitrogen fertilizer that this past spring had an input cost of $200 to $350 per acre depending upon amount applied; is expected to be $1,000 to $1,200 per acre next spring (if you can get it). I guess Slow Joe and his handlers are going full blown Stalin on the U.S. population, just like Stalin did to the Ukraine. Thanks to all the restrictions on natural gas production and transport via pipeline, nitrogen fertilizer is outrageous; since most is made from natural gas.
Many farm chemicals (which I try to use sparingly) are either not available or in very short supply. Seems that the least harmful chemicals are the hardest to get.
Diesel fuel for tractors is up dramatically and at least one local supplier is having problems getting restocked, even though we have a refinery less than 150 miles away.
Repair parts are almost impossible to get and prices are again going to the moon.
The weather did cooperate this year, which was a blessing. Next year, who knows. Weather is always a crap shoot.
I really expect that given the way society is going that we will see the break up of the United States into no less than 5 lesser countries, based upon ideology and geographic factors. Far as I am concerned, coastal California can fall into the Pacific, just let the inland farming area survive. Just hope Madam Speaker is home when it happens.
I am thankful that so far the wife and I have dodged the Covid bug/bioweapon, and we both remain very active.
Sometimes the supreme being/great spirit works in strange ways. In early July, we had a nearly starved to death German Shepherd show up at our house. Extremely gentle and well behaved dog. She is adult, but only weighed 49 pounds when she arrived. She now weighs 64 pounds, which according to the vet is about right for her frame size. Since we have more than our fair share of coyotes, she stays inside my wife’s quilting studio at night and we go out during the day. I guess the higher power led her to our house, where she would get care and be loved. Even though she is more works than the 15 cats that have found us, she is a joy to be around (food, water, warm dry place to sleep and cats are self maintaining). Keeps us young with her daily walks.
I am to the point, that to hell with the government; I just plan to survive. I do think that the PTB are really afraid the silent majority is going to rise up and throw them out on their ear. That’s why the push to install as many draconian rules as quickly as they can. I just plan to go “Amish”, so to speak; and be as invisible to them as possible.
I will count the blessings that I have and enjoy while I can. Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we may die.
Lloyd – thanks for a wonderful update and useful info!
Things is, I think a lot of us who see what’s coming realize that we won’t need to rise up.
They will collapse on their own and then want help.
We are not inclined to help those who didn’t help us…
“Nitrogen fertilizer? Going Amish?”
This is mostly for others — I shouldn’t really be telling you anything you don’t already know.
‘Ever been to a puppy park? If you go to one in the early spring, you will see a lot of short dead/dormant grass. Then you will see clumps of high, happy grass which is growing like crazy, despite the cold. Those are the spots where visiting Fidos empty their bladders.
I’m told that dog, cat, and human urine are not a good idea because they can transmit bugs to plants which can then be transmitted back to us, but wild critters, livestock, & poultry piss is THE source for natural nitrogen, and has been for millenia. The trick is to harness enough to “water the farm.” There’s 12 billion gallons of non-human urine dumped in CONUS + Canada, every day. Urea is the best source for nitrogen and has half-again the amount of usable nitrogen as ammonium hydroxide and twice that of bulk fertilizer.
Need potassium? Burn something. Sew the ash. Phosphorous? Well, crap…
Manure is high in phosphorous but also contains a respectable amount of nitrogen and it is possible to use manure + urea and overdose crops on nitrogen. This makes them grow like crazy, until the structure of the plant becomes insufficient to support its leaf system, and the plant collapses on itself and dies.
Many insecticides can be made in quantity, in the garage or barn.
You won’t get the yield, growing organic that you get with a Roundup regimen. You’ll lose about 20%, but your seed will only cost about 10% as much as “Roundup-ready” seed, so…
I suggest a book on organic gardening. Brett Markham’s “Mini Farming: Self-Sufficiency on 1/4 Acre”
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1602399840
because he explains where to source and how to make nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium, and how to build fertilizers & insecticides.
‘Just seems to me like good things to know…
Lloyd.. you should try tilapia farming.. it really doesn’t take much to get it going.. and you can harvest the pond water for fertilizer….. think about it.. there are thousands of pages on how it is done and I can tell you for a fact that depending on how big your farm is.. you would have enough to spray on the ground..
another one is bio gas.. when I was raising chickens.. I went to the hatchery and the guy had a huge egg operation to.. how he heated his buildings and ran them compressed it in tanks for his tractors etc..all of it was through biogas production.. the chickens droppings landed on a gently slopped area that led to a trough.. when he cleaned the droppings he sprayed water it went down into the digester.. the gas came off some was compressed in tanks for his tractors some went to the house heaters and some to the farm buildings… and he would scoop out the digested material to be dried and spread on his farm..
this is a home unit.. the one he had was big he had several digesters that the slurry would go into..
https://www.homebiogas.com/product/homebiogas-2/
a professor in Nebraska had a class where the kids set one up.. it was to big I think.. I would go with smaller units and then have more of them for the same output. one needs maintenance you repair and don’t loose production. but is working nicely to.. the bi products of both of these are useful for fertilizer and soil management..
another thing is the nitrites.. straw and animal waste..
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/05/100524072908.htm
https://youtu.be/VOgDdGLdZ_k
https://youtu.be/6w2cwJmVNbU
Niter-beds were prepared by mixing manure with either mortar or wood ashes, common earth and organic materials such as straw to give porosity to a compost pile typically 4 feet (1.2 m) high, 6 feet (1.8 m) wide, and 15 feet (4.6 m) long.[15] The heap was usually under a cover from the rain, kept moist with urine, turned often to accelerate the decomposition, then finally leached with water after approximately one year, to remove the soluble calcium nitrate which was then converted to potassium nitrate by filtering through potash. once it is leached out of the soil compost.. you can grow it..
All of it is quite easy to do .. that is how ammonia was discovered and coveted back in ancient Rome.. the Chinese were harvesting and growing nitrites for thousands of years..
if you look you could make your own if necessary.. when I show the kids how to do it.. we use five gallon buckets.. I won’t show them how to make gun powder or nitric mix…. they can learn that on their own it is to dangerous to teach children that stuff.. I learned that teaching them how to melt stone with the sun for a solar foundry was to horrific for me.. i was sure they were going to burn the house down..LOL LOL bad mistake….
“Humans aren’t the only ones that get hungry.
We’ve kicked around some fencing ideas, and a few head of cattle each, well, that doesn’t sound like a bad idea.”
Plant a separate garden away from where yours is.. with all the yummy things that critters love.. around here I plant carrots sugar beats sorghum millet etc.. the critters would rather go to their garden than yours..
My father and his rabbits.. he bitched and moaned about the rabbits all my life.. yet he had a separate garden for them.. went and got the vegitable trimmings at the grocery store etc.. and the rabbits never ever went after his garden.. they had their own and you could tell that they loved their garden…. a salt lick.. I have two deer that go in and eat deer tongue and sugar beet greens in our back yard.. the rabbits are happy to.. birds love the sorghum and millet.. I plant pearl millet and oats..wheat etc.. the animals love it I plant it in an obscure section of the yard.. and great big radishes.. I don’t remember the name of them but they get like two feet long..
Happy Thanksgiving! I’m thankful you’re still putting out great content every day for only $40/year. :)
“Whether this is America’s last Thanksgiving remains to be seen.”
I shouldn’t be surprised. “Thanksgiving” is both not PC, and in the sights of the revisionist and Black supremacist movements.
It is also, although not recognized until centuries after the fact, the first Christian holiday of the New World (which is another reason to cancel it.) Christianity and Judaism are the only religions of which contemporary society condones persecution, so I expect turkey day to get persecuted…
I think when it turns it will be fast.. right now the tree is teetering about to fall..
https://youtu.be/McZW0iDsZns
just in case.. maybe learn chinese or russian..
the Death spiral is a killer.. and it happens in what seems an overnight time frame.. I had left a post dated check at the power company.. the clerk went on vacation and the boss cashed all the post dated checks.. before I knew what had happened.. it was a couple of thousand dollars..and growing.. the check charges were killing me..it is like credit card charges.. at first it looks manageable.. then wham.. overnight.. I personally think we are beyond the recovery point.. the only thing keeping it all afloat is the money being distributed to families with children..I believe the fact that they are human trafficking in illegal refugees by the thousands a day is expediting the time of total collapse.. none of it is good.. the only way to sway out of a financial death spiral is a lot of cash and right away.. we outsource and send what cash use to be used to keep the local economic situation stable…
George
I listened to the posted video with Cliff High. Cliff states that there us so much metal garbage whizzing in space that the space station and all of telecommunications satellites will eventually be destroyed, creating a inpentratable wall around the earth that no ships will be able to get through. There will be no tv or phone service. Only ground communication.
Sounds like my cloud. Aliens(?) Will communicate with trained humans by telepathic means and send information and orders.
Um, no.
What goes up, must come down.
All that space junk is slowly, but inexorably falling back into Earth’s atmosphere and returning to the soil. There are bands of geosynchronous junk where COMMS sats have died & been replaced, but everything in our orbit which lacks the power to periodically accelerate itself is destined to become a meteorite. The last estimate I saw said there were 100,000 bits of Man-made junk in orbit. If every one of those was the size of a car, they could be roped together into a solid mass and they’d make up a spot in our sky which would look about the same size, to us, as a “period” on a sheet of printed paper.
Most of those pieces of space junk are the size of a basketball, or smaller.
Were I you, I wouldn’t worry too much…
George and Lady E.
Happy Thanksgiving and thank you.
AG you kinda sorta got it started, so pls let me add what I’m thankful for today. And besides continued good health with me and the mrs, I’m truly thankful for the 5 dems standing up against the nomination of this commie!
https://www.breitbart.com/economy/2021/11/25/omarova-nomination-opposed-by-5-dems/
On this day of thanksgiving, I’m thankful for George and Elaine giving us a place to meet and talk over the back fence, and for those who share the tales of their hardships and accomplishments.
Y’all keep up the good work!
Yo Mr. Ure, BRAVO ZULU to you sir. Being Thanksgiving, I would like to thank you and all the contributers to this site. Appears like-minded souls tend to flock together (birds of feather, LOL). Special shout out to Mr. West Texas horse sense, your posts are worth their weight in gold. Also special mention and thanks to “just” Andy who’s posts always expand the brain pan, consider you a shipmate. I am also thankful for the human spirit that inhibits all of us, and based on this, I am optimistic for the future. So Mr. Ure, keep fighting the good fight and keep those vitamin D levels in the sweet spot.
Well said Mark in the OLS.
Many years ago, after reading an article I can’t exactly remember, I stated to take deliberate “mental snapshots” of family gatherings, special days and events, Moments Of Perfect Beauty, and so forth. I took the time and trouble to actually look hard, and actually see (and feel) the moments deeply. I took the conscious effort to work at storing the memories with the knowledge that when an event occurs for the last time — you usually don’t know it AT the time it’s happening. Our last Thanksgiving as an extended family, our last big Christmas gathering, and others. For this I am now glad, because I have better, warmer, more detailed, more satisfying memories of these events — and many of them turned out to BE “lasts.” I didn’t know then that they would be.
We face (to my mind) four major civilization-destroying or at least severely damaging prospects:
1) China lights up war beginning with Taiwan.
2) Russia lights up war beginning with Ukraine.
3) Islamist terror in an extremely wide coordinated, multi-multi-point attack creates general havoc, which spreads.
4) A Black Swan Event. Asteroid strike, Solar EMP, The Big One Earthquake in California, La Palma super-eruption, or something else currently unimagined.
Any of these events would excite and tempt the others by providing a window of opportunity where literally everyone is distracted and confused and fearful and paralyzed into inaction.
Whether any of us survives or not is unknowable. The more dire and widespread the chain, the worse it will be for all.
Just very recently, I came to the realization that my mother and father in 1942 till 1944 had no firm idea of who would win the war, They were both deeply personally involved — by father was a submariner and was a radio and sonarman first class in the Pacific, and my mother drove rivets into airplanes at a plant that would later become Sikorski and Pratt & Whitney. But as they were working flat out, they didn’t — couldn’t — know what the future held.
So it is with us. We all seem to think Something’s Coming. Just not what or how soon.
Take time and Really, really, SEE your life and it’s events and Moments.
You never Know.
Methinks I cannot follow it any longer.
May the FORCE be with you all!!
Well a mate answered it perfectly yesterday. Old broker . I said and nobody has answered the significance of thanksgiving to markets ? He replied well they give praise and thanks to the money they have stolen and robbed from shorts. I advised him to short QAN the flying kangaroo. It’s gone got it !!!also advised short our largest investment bank MQG . On Wednesday we cracked the guts of them at 204 hidden pivot . Never give up when short . Ride irrationality and evil to death for them . MQG objective 64 bucks QAN administration. Told you QAN hit it some time ago . Love the smell of burning longs in the morning
Thanks George. Ure work is greatly appreciated.
Many thanks to George and all who make this an exceptional gathering of those who grok.
If/when fertilizers become scarce, you can make your own. Here are just a few examples as a start:
-Grow Azolla in a kiddie pool. Azolla is an aquatic fern that is one of the fastest growing organisms on the planet. It”fixes” nitrogen from the atmosphere (therefore, it is “free”). You can harvest the azolla during the growing season weekly and put it directly into the soil as a fertilizer or compost it first. Azolla is an aquatic “weed” in many parts of the world but is an amazing ally if controlled. If you know what it is, harvest some from your local pond. Don’t use “duck weed” though, which is somewhat similar looking but doesn’t produce the nitrogen. If you don’t know where to get some you can buy a little starter quantity on line. http://theazollafoundation.org/azollas-uses/as-a-biofertilizer/
– Find a local source for stinging nettle (Urtica dioica). The tall (2-6 feet tall) perennial species is best but the short annual can work too. Better yet, grow some yourself in a partly shaded area of the garden with regular water. Harvest stalks and leaves and pack into a five gallon bucket (obviously wear gloves). Add water to the top and let it sit, loosely covered for 10 days. Take one part of the resultant liquid (which will stink if it is done properly) and mix with 10 parts water and sprinkle onto your garden plants. Nettle is rich in iron, calcium, and many other macro and micro nutrients needed by crops.
The young leaves are also delicious for humans. Lighly steam and season.
– Similar to nettle, Comfrey (Symphytum) is also a wonder plant for gardens and humans. Rich in nutrients as well, make a fertilizer “tea”, the same as nettle. Comfrey is also one of the best medicines around; usually used topically.
– Lastly for multiple reasons, you can raise rabbits. The “Rex” breed is a good dual purpose breed but there are others as well. For meat, pelts, and their ready made “fertilizer” (manure), rabbits are hard to beat for ease of care and low input cost. Plus, “they breed like rabbits”.
Yes indeed – Seattle has gotten VERY bad. We now live in a small town in the foothills of the Cascades. And so glad we do. Downtown Seattle and the surrounding areas – Cap Hill, Ballard, etc – seem to be nothing but crime, homeless, violence, garbage, dirty streets/sidewalks. We used to head to Jazz Alley in downtown – then, the few years prior to Covid, we started using a towncar service to bring us there and home- too risky to park your car (either broken into or stolen while you would be at the show), and far to dangerous to be out walking on the streets of Seattle to get to the parking garage. Now, with all that is going on in downtown Seattle, we no longer feel safe any time of day or night and no longer go or make plans to go. We don’t go anywhere near it for any reason (and thank goodness don’t have to). The City of Seattle “leaders” aka caretakers have let us all down and have slowly destroyed a once beautiful city. It will probably take another 10 years of dedicated hard work and enacting strict laws to possibly bring it back to where it ‘should/could’ be.
It’s not over ’til it’s over:
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/futures-global-stocks-tumble-amid-sudden-fears-over-dramatically-new-covid-strain
The new strain seems to be arriving on schedule.
UFO video
Real Or Fake? Woman Records UFO While Flying Near The Plane!
https://worldstar.com/video.php?v=wshh38Ij5gh9CW8W3x2H
Last thanksgiving ? You’ll have gold live forever rich. Fing manic in the breed
moved 4 times out of Kirkland Washington where I enjoyed yorur blog 10 plus years ago but lost your url. Just today found you. Miss the sailboat and Horizon Air stories.