TEOTWAWKI Reality Check Test

[Mother]

The scene is this:

 

!!!The world has gone crazy or at least your part of the world. For some time the rising oil prices have caused all transportation and heating costs to be almost unattainable for most people. (Does this sound familiar?) The stock market had been climbing by leaps and bounds but suddenly has cashed due to rumors of economic unrest and war around the globe.( Does this resemble what we've been hearing lately?) Even if you don't have interests in the stock market, you suddenly find your bank closed and your funds are unattainable. Businesses are folding daily and people out of work, perhaps even yourself or a loved one. The prices of gas, food, supplies, medicine and almost all goods have gone out of sight and what you can afford is now in scarce supply. On top of that, now the threat of avian Influenza has become a reality. People are falling ill by huge numbers, hospitals are overflowing, schools are closed, hungry rioters are starting to amass in the streets and now the electricity has gone off and you have just heard that it will not be on for many months to come, if at all. The National Guard has been called out but there are not enough of them to handle the chaos; Society, as we know it, has totally broken down!!!

 

 

 

Please take a few minutes to reflect on what you might have to face daily in this situation. Write a few entries that would reflect what might be happening to you during this worst case scenario. What specifically might you be doing from morning to night.

 

 

 

[brightblessings5]

Chores, chores, chores. Alot of the same stuff I do now, only it will all take longer. Cooking, cleaning, yard work. Making sure that we had ENOUGH. In any free time I would probably crochet, read, visit/check with neighbors (if possible). I live in a small town and work a mile away at a small restaurant. So I would not be working. Everything would revolve around home and family.

[logcabinmama]

Wow, that is something to really think about isn't it.

 

For one thing, all of our family would be away from us by then, as DS and the boys are leaving here the end of May. So, it would be Old Pine and myself, and of course the neighbors here.

 

We would have to work together to make sure things are done. We do need to make sure we have heat and water as well as food. So, with that said, we need to get our veggies seeds in soon, but have to wait another week to make sure it won't freeze again.

 

There would be a lot for everyone to do if they are able to do the chores. Old Pine works about 6 miles from here so without fuel, he would not be able to get there unless he had a bike, which he is thinking about fixing up for this.

 

Anyway, yes, there would be a lot of work to be done all around.

 

[Guest Guest]

I think that necie and snowmom have touched on the fact that our lives would drastically change from as we know of today.

 

It would require alot more time, alot more physical energy, alot more mental planning and organization, and alot more emotional stability to face those major daily changes.

 

Things like keeping a house clean, cooking meals, doing laundry, bathing, etc would be accomplished in a way that would require much more time. It definitely would be alot of work, but as I said, I think sitting down with a pen and paper, organizing our days would help to lessen any wasted time.

 

The days when wasted time appeared to be *no biggie* will cease. Every minute will become precious and at times critical. This is one of the reasons that we have MrsS now, to make all the different types of preparations to just make it through one day.

[arklatex]

I feel that I have a big head start on a lot of you here. We've spent the last two years without running water to our house and after we moved last year, we did without electricity for six weeks in addition to having no running water. It sure makes life interesting. All of the chores take longer. You develop muscles that you didn't know you had. (From lifting water jugs)

 

I didn't have a lot of extra time and I was tired a lot but I did do some reading and crocheting when I had some free time. One thing I would stress is try your lighting now. Some of the lamps that we used were not good for reading or much of anything else when it concerned my eyes.

[Cathyv]

about the lamps?

we use 'rayo' lamps - they have a round wick and give off a lot of light and also some heat , good in winter time. One lamp will light up a room and I can even sew by it as well as read. They are pricy and the wicks may be hard to find (we get ours from the Amish) but used ones are OK as they are made to last! check them out if you can.

[PlanoPa]

My day would definately be longer...having to heat water instead of just turning on the faucet for example...you have to get the wood started, pump up the water from the well, haul it to the pot on the fire, heat it, haul it into the house or at least to the room you want to use it in.

 

Having to hoe the garden by hand instead of just pulling out the old Mantis would take a lot more time. But there are a lot of things I already do without electric just by being raised that way. To me it would be like being a young girl again and I don't think it would take me too long to go back to a very very old routine. Now DH on the other hand would be totally at a loss. But thats okay, I can teach him

 

Q

 

[gardnmom]

We have an 30 year old Alladin lamp, bright as an elec light, wouldn't trade it for anything, burns on kerosene and lasts forever. Also 2 propane lamps as well as the 3 or 4 oil lamps we have found over the years.

[Judy Moist]

I believe the worst chore in this situation would be doing the laundry.. I have cut and gathered fire wood, I have toted water from a distance, I have milked and fed the cows, and other farm animals etc. gathered the eggs, plowed the garden , working 8 straight hours in the broiling sun, to make sure my garden was a success, spent days on end canning, freezing and drying, now I make my own soap,and need to practice on my bread baking.... but the absolute worst is the dreaded laundry.. I can even handle washing dishes out of a bucket,, but doing laundry with a scrub board....NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO,, SUCH TORTURE!!!

[gardnmom]

We have an old wringer washer that could be converted to manual, by attaching a crank to the agitater or my preference is to attach a belt to our stationary bike.

Getting it done may be the hard part.....LOL

[logcabinmama]

Lois, you are so lucky, I wish at times I had one of those washers.

 

[Mother]

(my version of how life might be when TEOTWAWKI comes)

 

May 28

 

I woke early thinking that it was a normal day but reality didn’t take long to set in. It has been ten days since the electricity finally went off for good and I knew that we could not put off doing laundry any longer as rain is supposed to be moving in again. We spent the first two days getting all our mechanical preps in order (hand water pump, rain barrels, fire pit revamped to include a steel plate for cooking and etc) The next five days we spent canning and dehydrating the foods in the freezers (four including my DD’s two) using the small LP stove I have always used for canning and a fire built outside. I was grateful that I had the foresight to stock dozens of canning flats and that I had thoroughly cleaned and meticulously stored the jars and lids. I am also grateful for having DD and her family, DS, and DH to help. I gave out long before the frozen foods did.

 

I have been washing all the small clothes and hand towels out by hand daily, using the left over water from doing dishes or the water we wash up in at night. I hang them up to dry. But work clothes and sheets and larger items have been piling up and my DD will be here soon with her laundry from her family of five, four of whom are adults. She lives up the hill from us. They have been coming daily to get water from our well and spring as they haven’t been able to rig up some way to obtain it from their own yet. We have a small hand pump setting over our well casing and with a lot of work we’ve managed to supply drinking water for all. The wash and cleaning water comes from the spring though it is further to carry it; so far we’ve been able to drive the tractor or one of the vehicles to get it. Soon, I hope, we will have something rigged up with hoses to bring the spring water closer to the house. The guys, DH, DS who is staying with us, and almost-SIL are going to be working on that again today. Thankfully the animals have the pond for their water. We had to bring DD’s horses, sheep, calves and pig to our pasture so they could have water. I hope our small pastures holds out for so many. Daily we move them to save them from over grazing.

 

We managed to fill our old electric wringer washer and two rinse tubs with water yesterday and set them in the sun to warm. Today we will hook up our small generator to it to collectively wash the clothes. I dread when the gas for the generator is gone. Hopefully by then there will at least be periods of electricity. Thankfully the weather is beautiful today. It promises to be hot and that should dry the clothes nicely.

 

DH and I make quick work of a breakfast of bread, jelly, tea and coffee. I choose my own herbal blend to save on the green and black teas I have stored in case of illness, which so far we have all managed to escape. We listen to the radio for one hour each night and it seems that many in the small town near us have already died from the flu. Looting and violence has not started in our area but according to the news it is starting in the larger towns around us. I pray they will not find us here but the weapons are all ready and we have considered mounting guards. With two houses, a quarter mile apart as the crow flies, it will not be easy but we do not have room for DD and family here and they have no water there. We knew it would be a problem.

 

Before DD gets here with her laundry I prepare a meal for us for later today. We have decided that we will eat all together for at least one meal a day to conserve our supplies and fuel. I quickly prepare the ingredients from canned meat and vegetables and what little is starting to come on in the garden. It all goes into my fourteen-inch cast iron Dutch. I season it with fresh herbs and DH takes it out to the fire he has started in the outside fire pit. When it comes to a boil I, or rather he or one of the other guys, will place it in the hole we lovingly call our ‘oven’ dug near the fire pit just for that purpose. I will cover it with coals and it will slow cook. DH has already put a large tub of water near the fire in case we need warm water for anything. We will have to remember to add wood occasionally if we are to have coals to make biscuits to go with our meal. Four-year-old DGS is good at remembering as he loves to put wood in the fire so it will be his job today.

 

I stretch my back, already giving me pain. I am hot and tired and sore already and It is only seven thirty in the morning. I have decided that I miss ice most of all. It has been a long ten days.

 

Mid June (16th?)

9pm: Writing by candlelight. The curtains are drawn tight so as not to advertise we are here. I have taken first watch tonight, as I know I will not be able to sleep because of pain. The geese let us know if there is anything going on in the yard or in the drive but we have no way of knowing when someone comes through the timber behind us. The back of the house is secured tight to entrance but I still feel nervous after hearing the news tonight that people are leaving the city to find food. We have managed to hide ours well but that will not stop people from trying to find out if we have any. I am grateful for the practice I’ve had with the guns but am still unsure if I will be able to actually shoot someone. I have the small hand held battery operated radio that connects me with my DGS who has drawn first watch at their home and I know that they can be here in five or six minutes, even walking, but we still have fuel for the vehicles as we use it sparingly and that would put them here in less than two minutes. We have worked out signals but I’m always afraid I will forget them in my fear.

 

It is very hot in the house tonight. We have so far been able to utilize shade, playing window tag and the fact that heat rises to keep it cool inside but today was especially hot and promises a storm. I have hung the sheets and towels and the guy’s dirty pants on the line in hopes that the rain will be enough to clean them for me. We need rain; the garden needs water badly. The guys have managed to rig up a couple of extra barrels in tandem under the down spouts both here and at DD’s. We have managed to get a hose rigged up from the spring to the house but the pressure is very low and filling containers takes a long time. At least it works and the warm water in the hose affords one or two very stingy showers a day when the sun shines. The guys want to build a springhouse to keep foods cold but it’s so far from the house as to be almost not worth it. The mosquitoes have always been bad here but they seem worse than normal lately. We do not need to come down with West Nile just to cool what little leftovers we have. DH has managed to build an evaporative cooler that works well for most things. It doesn’t keep milk well but yogurt, butter, cottage cheese and sour cream do fairly well.

 

Milk is a blessing. It’s not easy to get it though as our old cow is NOT a milk cow. We have managed to build a stanchion for her and almost-DSIL has ‘convinced’ her that she can share her calf’s food with us. The first few times were a fight though. I’m glad he won as the fresh milk not only stretches our preps but, along with a few geese eggs, also adds a nice dimension to our diets. I had an old box of milk strainers but they will be gone soon. Why did I not think of this possibility ahead of time? Thankfully I have a lot of material for substitutes though I have faced the possibility that we may need it for clothing if this siege continues.

 

I am worried about my other two sons and their families. We have not heard from either of them. Oldest son is in Thailand and the news from there is no better than here in the states. The youngest son is just across the river but with the bridges closed for the quarantine we can only guess how he is doing. The last we heard, he and his family were headed out of the city to DIL’s parent’s home. I am so grateful that he was not at work, several hours’ drive away, when this hit. They have been preparing for only a few months so I pray they are safe and well there.

 

It is starting to rain. It is also time to wake DS to take over the watch and I am tired beyond compare. Tomorrow will bring more work than I can accomplish alone. Thank God for family near. I believe it's raining hard enough for me to go out and take a shower in the rain. Have I mentioned how much I miss ice?