If she's back I should be too!

I guess if a revival is in the works I should help. 😀

Life has been challenging but good. I'm working with behaviorally challenged foster kids as a caregiver. I'm very blessed that my health has improved enough for me to work. Things have been a bit challenging financially for a while. Husband never got the job we were expecting so things got very tight. Add the debt from all my medical bills when we lived in Nevada and we got stuck in a rock and a hard place. We actually had to file bankruptcy purely because of the medical bills. We so need health care reform that deals with the outrageous costs involved. Through all that I learned that more than half of the bankruptcy cases filed are due to medical bills. It's mind boggling.

One positive has been that all my food storage and other preps have come in very handy. We've not starved and we've been able to pay bills. I have been considering school for my BS but unfortunately aid goes off your 2014 taxes which was a much higher income. Together we make less than half of Husband's former income. Ick. Luckily cost of living is very low here. Since I can't get aid I'm looking at a bookkeeping course. I had to open a gofundme for it and wow is that humbling. I spent so long raising funds for other families that being on the other side is a huge eye opener.

On the prep front we are hoping to get a garden planted this year to help with food and food storage costs. We have plenty of space for it and with Husbad working locally we have more time to do it. Cross your fingers.

All in all life is good. Kids are fantastic. Monkey is now 7 and she is in 1st grade. She reads at a 5th grade level and does math at a 3rd grade level. Bug is 14 and ending her 8th grade year. I'm way to young for a highschooler. Ack! Our home is beautiful and we are together. Makes it a pretty good life.

We aren't alone!

Over the recent long weekend my handsome other half had a birthday and his older sister and her husband came to visit and play for the weekend. Brother-in-law J brought up the topic of TEOTWAWKI and preparations. I think he was a bit surprised to learn exactly how much we are trying to do and how much we continue to do. He also would like to join in those efforts. So our group has risen and I think their focus will be on food preps while we continue with the gun and ammo side for the moment though I am going to be broadening that. I am making lists of a lot of things as well as going to really look into areas of retreat and possibly grabbing that land we want. I think now more than ever expanding this to the rest of the siblings will be wise. The other sisters all will have need and can contribute to things so i think I am going to really formulate a plan here in the next bit to present to them as we are supposed to be together in October. Adding to the capable men is a good thing I think.

Canning chili rocks!

If you prep you should can or at least know how to. You probably can the usuals of veggies and jams. Peaches and green beans. Did you know some of your favorite things can be canned too? I can chili, spaghetti sauce, and even tortilla soup often. I make huge batches every time I cook these family favorites and jar the majority of it. It can take a little extra time but it is so worth it in the food storage and for nights when I don't want to fuss. You would be surprised at what you can put in a jar!

Boys will be boys

I was reading an blog today about how hard it is for a boy to be a true boy. http://smallhold-pioneerpreppy.blogspot.com/2011/05/casualties-in-war-on-boys.html

Hubby and I have already been talking about our plans for teaching the boys survive if something were to happen. This blog just reinforced my decision to let my boys be boys.....within reason. I DO want to know where they are going. And I don't let them cross a particular road because they don't look for traffic.

Anyway, on to my summer plans. We are going to be doing A LOT of hiking. Each trip we are going to go a little further and push the envelope a little more. We are going to teach them to build a fire without matches. We are going to teach them how to build a shelter with what is at hand. I am going to teach them what native plants are edible and on one trip we will not take any food.

My boys are all boy and I kind of like it that way.

In Case of Natural Disaster: Volcano Style

Lucky me, I have chosen to make my home in volcano country. And I don't mean "I live within the possible disaster zone", I mean I can see one from my house, and I could see another if there wasn't a small range of hills in the way. Volcanoes aren't a possible danger around here, they are a constant danger. Granted, thanks to Mt. St. Helen's erupting in 1980, area preparation for an eruption is fairly well planned out. However, there is still much about volcano eruptions that is a big unknown.

Ryan the 3L and I were discussing the republican retort to Obama's unofficial Budget Speech made by Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, in which he criticized democratic funding for "volcanic monitoring" as a frivolous expense, saying "Instead of monitoring volcanoes, what Congress should be monitoring is the eruption of spending in Washington". First off, that's pretty rich coming from the Governor of a state who received $1.5 billion in the year after Katrina and Rita alone. Secondly, as Ryan the 3L pointed out our area is called the Ring of Fire. Volcanic Eruption isn't an if, it's a when.

Preparing for something like an eruption is different then say, a snow storm or a hurricane. Not only are you worried about the eruption itself, but you have to worry about all it's little buddies; Mudflows (nasty stuff), flash floods, landslides, rockfalls, earthquakes (that's a whole 'nother post), tsunamis, ash fall and acid rain.

Obviously you need the usual survival suspects; Water, food, Flashlights and batteries, essential medicines, blankets, candles, emergency radio, etc, etc. With volcano's one of the biggest concerns (and people killers) is the fallout of ash and noxious gases. To combat this particular issue; you should add dust masks (or preferably some sort of air purifying respirator), and eye goggles for each member of your family.

Be sure to store large sheets of plastic (these can be bought cheaply at any paint or hardware store) and rolls of masking tape. Use this to cover all windows and doors, and place wet towels or cloth along the bottoms to prevent ash and gases from entering the home. Turn off all heating and cooling systems, and if you have a fireplace flue, make sure to close it and make as airtight as possible. Also, if possible clear any roofs of ash cover, as ash is rock and therefore very heavy, and the last thing you want is the roof falling in on your head.

If there is sort of emergency and you are forced to drive, the ash can quickly clog even the best of car air filters. And old DNR trick my dad used was to wrap the filter in women's pantie hose. The hose allowed in the air, but not the ash. You still have to clean off the hose frequently, but at least you can travel if you need to. You should listen to any news reports for air quality, danger area and water quality reports.

If there's an eruption there is no way of knowing how long things will be nasty. I figure that in case of a super eruption, we will need at least a month of basic supplies, possibly longer. This is including food, water, medicine and power. Well, that ended up sounding a bit like a science report, but I hope it made you think. Every area is in danger of some sort of natural disaster, are you prepared?

So during one of my many midnight mind wanderings.....

I had a thought about essentials we will need should the worst happen and all our self-reliance skills be put to the test. I realized I hear a lot about precious metals, foods, weapons, a home with the ability to power itself. We talk of ways to can, to prep meat, to provide for our families in needful times. One necessity I have yet to get much detail on is clothing! If stores have failed or become super expensive how will we get clothes? So I have decided part of my survival storage will be a good amount of durable, easily dyable material, basic clothing patterns, and oodles of needles and thread and buttons. I really don't want to have a huge supply of ammo but have to go hunting naked because I thought nothing about providing clothing for my family. I'll let you guys know what fabrics I found that seem to suit best and are easy to sew. Luckily I have an infant so my first forays into sew from scratch can be tiny clothes!