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Why there Won't be Forced Vaccinations

2009-08-18T07:18:00.000-07:00

On our forum, we have this discussion frequently about whether or not there will be forced vaccinations against the swine flu. It has been my contention that there won't be enough vaccine to go around and so vaccines won't be forced on the people. At least not in the beginning.
The governments are gearing up to protect vaccine and Tamiflu supplies, they are not gearing up to go door to door and vaccinate you at gun point.

follow this link.

Swine Flu Vaccine: Enough to Go Around?

from the article.

Government health officials said on Monday that the United States will have barely more than a third of the 120 million doses of swine flu they hoped would be available by mid-October,. That's far less than the 160 million doses they originally predicted in July.

This is far less than the amount needed. They are estimating now that there will be 45 million, enough for the primary target population which includes pregnant women, children under 4 and health care providers.

p.s. Lisa, saw your comment and will get a basic list up for you hopefully this afternoon.
I'm assuming you are prepping for 2 people right?
anyway, that's what we'll shoot for.

Interview with Dr. Henry Niman, Ph.D. on the Swine Flu

2009-08-15T12:32:00.000-07:00

here is a great radio interview with Dr. Henry Niman about the swine flu.
excellent information.

KBoo Radio FM

click the link above and then click on the media bar to play.

Practical Care for person suffering from Swine Flu

2009-08-12T10:21:00.000-07:00

This was posted in our forum by and emergency health care person and I think it is good practical information. I'm posting it here and you can copy and print it out. I'll be adding to it later.
Mush much thanks to Fishsurfer!

Btw, id just throw this out real quick. Since Respiratory failure is the most common cause of death, if you find yourself isolated and caring for someone because all hell has broken loose, you need to make sure and remember a few things.

-Dont let the person your caring for lie in bed, it will only help fluids build up on the lungs.
-Do make them cough and/or use spirometer devices (the little thing with the ball you try and hold in the air inside a clear tube at the hospital), get the fluids out of the lungs..its feeding the bacteria.
-Make them get up and walk around, even if they hate you for it.
-Make them sit up in bed to sleep or rest as much as possible (everyone used to do that in the old days every night)
-Provide supportive care for their fevers, dont let it get out of control but dont let it go away imho (the higher temps can help fight the lung infection somewhat), its probably better to have a rough few days followed by shedding than weeks of continuous pounding that may seem minor but bites you in the ass.
-Provide "chest pt" by pounding on the back and front of chest for at least a few minutes a couple of times a day, followed by purposeful coughing. The pounding loosens up the crap, you cough it out. Hard enough to make them bounce a bit, but dont leave massive bruises or break ribs for christs sake.
-Fluids, give them enough to make their urine at least yellow if not clear.

I would also add to this, if the weather permits and it's still warm enouugh, put a window fan in the sick room window blowing out. This will pull virus outside away from other rooms in the house and help cut down on chances of others catching the flu.

Also, go ahead and wash in hot water with bleach, some bed sheets. Line dry them in the sun and fold and wrap them in plastic. A new fresh trashbag works good for this. Store these bed linens to use during illness.

More from Fishsurfer.

Famous quote describing Pneumonia by Hippocrates:

"Peripneumonia, and pleuritic affections, are to be thus observed: If the fever be acute, and if there be pains on either side, or in both, and if expiration be if cough be present, and the sputa expectorated be of a blond or livid color, or likewise thin, frothy, and florid, or having any other character different from the common... When pneumonia is at its height, the case is beyond remedy if he is not purged, and it is bad if he has dyspnoea, and urine that is thin and acrid, and if sweats come out about the neck and head, for such sweats are bad, as proceeding from the suffocation, rales, and the violence of the disease which is obtaining the upper hand"

Actually a pretty damn accurate account, very astute observations. And thats exactly what your going to need to make in a world without access to medical care or drugs, good observations. Prevention...of illness in itself or worsening of the condition...is the name of the game. The body can do an awful lot of things to fight illness, and it will keep at it for as long as your fed, hydrated, and motivated enough to keep on living.

Pneumonia in a non-medical environment is a very exhaustive and lengthy fight. It could easily go on for months. Some weeks may be difficult, others may be easier. Regardless, if H1N1 hits hard this fall or even this summer (unlikely), be prepared for a battle. Hospitals will be overrun, the economy will be in the process of collapse, social unrest is likely, you will rely on family or they may rely on you. There will be no ambulance coming to get you, the EMT's and Medics will be at home themselves.

In Pneumonia, the normal exchange of gases in the alveoli (air sacs) are interupted by the presence of fluid, mucous, etc... There are many types of it, and underlying conditions greatly affect the outcomes.

Three types: Bacterial, Viral, and Atypical Bacteria (walking pneumonia).

There are many other underlying types as well, although a bit more uncommon, fungi etc...

Risk Factors:

Age: 65 or older
Flu or other respiratory illness
Chronic illness, such as heart or lung disease
Stroke (aspiration pneumonia due to difficult swallowing)
Weakened immune system caused by AIDS or chemotherapy treatment
Chronic bronchitis
Malnutrition
Pregnancy
Infants and very young children
Alcohol or drug abuse
Smoking
Chronic exposure to certain chemicals (eg, work in construction or agriculture)

Fever
Shakes and Chills
Green Yellow Mucous or Rust colored
Profuse sweating (diaphoresis)
Bluish nail color, lips, due to lack of oxygen...(hypoxia)
Altered mental status (related to massive infection including sepsis, oxygen levels, organ failure, or all of the above.

You see how it starts out? Fever, then shakes and chills, etc... Dont let it get passed shakes and chills and your fine. If you start letting fluids and secretions accumulate in the lungs, you could be in real trouble.

The biggest problem with this condition is accumulating fluid and mucous in the lungs, which can even get into pleural spaces surrounding the lungs, called effusions; then a spiraling inffective respiratory exchange and potentially sepsis sum total.

One of my favorite methods besides deep breathing to get fluid and mucous out of the lungs is to do some Chest Physical Therapy. It has some contraindications however, if the person is so ill they are at the point of bronchospams, sudden constriction of the muscles in the walls of the airways bronchioles (the two little branches leading to your lungs); then its a bad idea to start doing this (you should have been doing it well before this stage) doing so now may cause spasms and increase their severity. Let them rest and fight it off a bit more, continue doing deep breathing though, you can always do that.

The important thing to note though is that if you do this as mentioned in the begining of the thread, make sure you cough afterwards. There is a right way to cough, sit up on a chair. Take a deep breathe for about two seconds and exhale for about two seconds. Then make two sharp coughs, rinse and repeat.

How do you know its happening, beyond the fever, H1N1 condition, etc...?

If you have a stethoscope, you can listen for diminished lung sounds in the lower bases of the lungs. Listen every few hours, and over time you'll notice the trend quickly. Of course, if you own a stethoscope, you probably already know this. So what if you dont? Well, you should get a cheap one even, for under 20 bucks you can easily get a model suitable for basic listening needs of the lungs (and heart somewhat). But if you still dont buy one, then you can use percussion techniques, although its highly not as reliable as actually listening with a scope.

To do that, you basically take two fingers placed together, and tap on the spaces around the lungs, basically at the base of the rib cage (although your lungs go all the way up to your clavicle region and then some. Tap on it, listen for the tones it makes. If your a musician, you may be able to recognize what a hollow sound is, and what a more solid (fluid filled) sound is. Tap on a wall, where there is no stud its a hollow sound, where there is a stud, is somewhat muted and diminished. Same with the lungs. Remember what the person your helping sounds like, write it down, track it for a few hours to days and even weeks or months. It could be your first indication something is happening, beyond the obvious fever and malaise that occurs with the Flu.

The kind of lung sounds you'll find in Pneumonia are loud low pitched bubbly gurgles, or high pitched low intensity sound that last beyond exhalation. You may also just hear diminished sounds in the begining. You can listen to them here:

http://mtsu32.mtsu.edu:11259/abnormal_breath_sounds.htm

Think of your lungs like a sponge. It has air exchange sacs all over it, trading away CO2 for Oxygen, grabbing Oxygen from air while discarding Nitrogen, CO2, etc... sending it to your Heart to be distributed through your bodies circulatory system before it comes back to the lungs. F'ng awesome interaction imho.

But, when liquids,mucous, and fluids settle on the base of the lungs, sides of the lungs, etc... it can create a cascade of interactions that eventually cause your condition to worsen, your fluids to increase, and your temperature to rise among many other things.

So, its important to move around, shift those fluids around a bit, shake the mucous around, let the unaffected portions of your lungs absorb some of the crap that has saturated the other part of your lungs because you were lying in bed for days. If you move around, sit up in bed often, and generally avoid a flat position thats unchanged, you can do a great deal to relieve your lungs and give yourself a fighting chance.

Equally important, if someone is so out of it, nearly delusional or non-compliant with your demands; at least rotate them in their bed. Much like they do at a nursing home for bed sores and other things, they also do it for patients with lung issues in an ICU or Pallative care facility. You can also do it when death is not imminent, and i would highly suggest it even when your healthy trying to recover without meds. Its always good to change positions, move around, change rooms your in (mental aid), or even take them outside for fresh air. Switch it up, keep them moving if possible. But recognize when someone just needs to rest. You dont want to over exert someone

The other thing to mention here is that with this strain of flu, the onset of symptoms and the time you have to use "Treatments" may be extremely extremely short.

You need a mercury thermometer. Old school bulb style. With a Flu strain, your fever will show up slowly over a day or two, if you take your temp twice a day at the very least during a Pandemic, you may catch the onset of illness before you actually would have noticed it. Get a thermometer!

Seriously though, treating Pneumonia is a bitch, you've got bacteria stuck inside your lungs, edema potentially occurring as a side effect, and no anti-biotics to treat the underlying causes of inflammation and fluid build up, the bacterial infection itself.

If you've got Pneumonia to the point your lungs are full of fluid, your in a world of hurt.

If you know of some good immune boosting treatments that are readily available outside of the hospital, then do it. If you have left over anti-biotics, give it a shot. Even if its meant for a dog, or an aquarium, whatever. Worst case scenario, humility and quality doesnt matter anymore. Something is probably going to be better than nothing. If its from the Amoxil family of drugs definately do take it.

I hope that this information is helpful. I'd like to thank Fishsurfer for the time he put into putting this information together for people to use.

Swine Flu, what to stock and what to do

2009-08-12T09:12:00.000-07:00

Ok, so you have swine flu in your area, here are a few things to think about.
One, you may decide to self quarantine or for some reason you could be placed under quarantine.
You will want to have food, water, medicines, (expecially prescription drugs) stocked up and on hand.
You'll want to have feminine hygine items and other toiletries.
Most often when it comes to those things, you will probably have enough on hand to last a while anyway. So, if you are strapped for cash and need to make your money count, take stock of what is already on hand before going to the store.
You'll want some bottled water.
Here's a tip about that. Save your soft drink bottles, rinse them out and fill them with water.
Soft drink bottles are excellent for water storage. You will need to figure a gal. a day per person in you home or group.

The reason water should be included in swine flu prepping is in the event that the grid goes down from absenteeism, you won't be caught without water.

As for stocking up food for this type of prepping you'll want to buy and stock things that you like to eat!
If you don't like beans, don't buy 50 lbs. of pinto beans!
For flu prepping, you'll want easy to prepare foods that require little or no cooking. This is in case you get sick and are too ill to cook.
Soups are a great item to stock for flu.
Buy also some Gatorade or other electrolyte type drinks or drink mixes. You'll need to stay hydrated if you become ill.
Put some Popsicles in the freezer. They can help you stay hydrated if you are sick.
Try and avoid dairy products while running a fever.

As for how many months to prep for, there are all kinds of estimates from 3-18 months.
I'd go with 3 months at this time and if you can get together 3 months of supplies you can add to it later if things go well.

Here's a sample list for you to use and add to or change depending on your needs.

for 2 people, if you are eating 3 meals a day that is 6 meals a day for 90 days, that comes to 540 meals.
add to that snacks and drinks and you get an idea of how much food you will want to have on hand.
Most importantly is to not get overwhelmed with the amount of food, just start right away and but some extra food and begin building your pantry.

You'll want to pay special attention to canned foods that can stay good without refrigeration.

canned soups or stews
crackers
oatmeal
Bottled water
Gatorade mix
Instant tea or coffee
sweetener
favorite comfort foods
(think about easy to eat food you'd give to someone if they were sick)
scrambled eggs are good too so you might want to make sure you have some eggs in the fridge
they will keep for quite a while under refrigeration.

If you are quarantined without illness in your home you food choices can be expanded but make sure you have sick-time foods.
Easy to eat, easy to get to, easy to prepare.

These are just a few main things to shoot for immediately.
Use your head, don't waste your money on things you hate to eat but also buy with an eye to ease of storage and shelf life. You want to get the most bang for your buck too.

There are some other things you'll want to get to make life easier if you are stuck in you house for awhile.

you'll need cash or funds for bills.
light bulbs
batteries for radio and flashlight
Lysol
Listerine
bleach
vinyl or latex gloves
N95 dust masks
paper towels
toilet tissue
soap
feminine items
toothpaste
vitamins
Tylenol
(don't take or give aspirin to a person running a fever, especially children, it can cause Rhys syndrome)

I'm going to add more to this this afternoon when I get all my ducks in a row.
I'll have something about caring for someone if they should get the flu and you are looking after them.

hope this helps get you started.

love,
mom a.k.a. Nanna

Hello Lisa!

2009-07-30T06:47:00.000-07:00

Good morning Lisa, thanks for the comment!
about the soup mixes, here are some to start you off, they are from a post from last year.

Soup in a Jar

There are a lot of bean based mixes, which I like.
In any of these recipes can you substitute you own dehydrated vegetables for veggies called for in the recipe.
What I do sometimes is mix the beans together, then put my vegetables in another separate baggie. I wash the beans, put on stove with just water and bring to a boil, turn off the heat and cover and let sit for about an hour. You can pour off the water and add fresh water if you want to cut down on the gas from eating beans, it really seems to help.
then add your dried vegetables and cook according to the recipe.
Now last year, I made some soup mix that was mostly dried vegetables.
I'd put tomatoes, celery, onion, garlic, corn, okra, green beans and sometimes some dried tomatillos or other odds and ends. These could go in a big baggie or jar, then I mixed together powdered bullion, either chicken or beef, whichever you prever. I add crumbled dried herbs to it. I like basil but you can add other tasty herbs like parsley or oregano, rosemary, thyme. You get the idea.
I put these in their own little baggie as they would be added after the soup ingredients are tender.
You can also add a little bag of pasta too and add it when the boullion powder goes in.
It's really flexible. You can add left over chicken or beef to the soup too.
I have a jar of mixed dried beans that I add to the mixed vegetable sometimes. small beans like little peas or lentils. You don't have to precook and soak them like bigger beans.
I reallllllly like dehydrating.
You get more than twice or three times the food in the same space.
It' lightweight and easy to take on trips or to grab and run in an emergency.
here is a great website run by a very nice lady named Tammy.

dehydrate2store

she really knows about dehydrating and I highly recommend her videos.
She also is so sweet about answering emails.
thanks again Lisa for commenting. Hope that this was helpful and please don't hesitate to ask questions. I'm happy to help!
good luck.

pamela

Stock up on Seeds NOW

2009-07-23T07:58:00.000-07:00

Good morning girls, I'm just in from the garden. Planted a second crop of green beans.
I was thinking about seeds this morning and wanted to impress on you girls the potential importance of going ahead now and getting your seed supplies laid up.
I'm going to the feed store after while and will go ahead and buy peas, beans and corn, and probably some spinach and other greens as well.
Here's my reasoning behind it.

If this fall, the flu comes through in a big bad way, I worry that the added load will collapse the economy.
I'm sure it is possible that it will all blow over and be ok but, just in case, it really wouldn't hurt anything to go ahead now while things are available and get yourselves some seeds.
If you have the money, I'd get whatever soil amendments you usually use too.
If the dollar collapses and we have hyperinflation, it is very possible that you wouldn't be able to afford seed next season even if you could find it somewhere.
so, go get some seeds!
store them in their paper envelopes in big jars or boxes or one of those plastic totes with snap on lids.
keep them cool and dry and in the dark, above all else, dry.
Don't store them on top of the fridge or close to a water heater or any electrical activity as far as that's concerned.
If you have a problem with insects or rodents, take those things into consideration when packing your seeds away.
If you use mason jars, try and pick a good dry day to pack them so as not to seal away moisture inside the jar with your seeds.
Just had this on my mind today and wanted to talk to you about it.
love,
mom

Pay Attention to this Flu

2009-07-19T05:52:00.000-07:00

Good morning girls. Sorry I haven't posted in a while but I've been busy as you know with the garden and putting up vegetables for this winter.
The garden has done very well and we've had an abundance of food!

I wanted to talk to you about the swine flu.
I don't know how much you have been reading about it or what you have seen or are seeing on the news where you live. Most likely you have heard that it is mostly a mild flu and been advised to not panic.
Well, that's somewhat right and somewhat wrong. It has been mild for the people it's been mild for and lethal to the ones that have died from it.
Don't be fooled into thinking that this is an illness that kills fat or unhealthy people only. It isn't. It is showing every indication of being much like the Spanish flu epidemic of 1918. It is attacking people in your age group statistically more than people who are usually effected by the flu. i.e. babies and old people.
I have read and read and researched for weeks now, following this thing since it started and still, don't know how best to advise you.
Here's what I fear may be the real threat from this flu.
Economic collapse.
If this flu had come along back in the late 90's or even early 2000-01, I believe that our economy could have weathered the storm. However, this economy is hanging on by the finest of threads and severely increased absenteeism or quarantines and closures of businesses and schools could very well push us over the edge.
I want you girls to consider the food you have on hand in your homes.
Make certain you have 8-12 weeks supply of food and essentials. Include things like bleach and lysol, some Listerine and basic meds, vinyl or latex gloves and some dust masks like you can get at Lowe's or any hardware store. they'll say N95 on the package. Those are the recommended masks and aren't terribly expensive.
Have some extra things like light bulbs and toilet paper, batteries for flashlights, soap, paper towels and laundry detergent.
You want to think along the lines of, "If I want to stay here and not have to go out for a couple months, what would I need to have on hand."
You don't have to go crazy, (unless you just want to) but I think it sure wouldn't hurt to have what you'd need to just hang out in your house for a while if things get bad.
I'm trying to not ramble but I've so much I wanted to talk to you about!!!

At some point in the not too distant future, they are going to present us with a vaccine.
I doubt at this time that it will be mandatory as there will not be enough to go around.
60 to 100 million doses is what I'm seeing in the reports.
Front line health care workers, cops, firemen, critical infrastructure people will all be at the top of the list. Children and pregnant women also.

At this time it appears that they will have to triage the vaccine.
I want you girls to do some research while we have the luxury of time, into this vaccine and decide for yourselves if it were offered, would you take it.
Right now, personally I may not take it. I don't have much contact with the public as you know and wouldn't be at as great a risk. And if the flu gets really bad, and the vaccine provides some measure of protection, younger people should get it first. they are more likely to get the flu and be most harmed by it.
There are a many doctors comparing this flu to the 1918 pandemic. I found this documentary on the Spanish flu and you might like to watch it and get some background information of just how bad things can get.

watch the videos, and then read the piece below.
It was published in August of 2008. Before this flu had started.
It's about the 2005 exhumation of victims of the 1918 pandemic and how the anti bodies were isolated from them.

I sure hope these guys wear gloves!

In 2005, researchers from Mount Sinai and the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology in Washington, D.C., resurrected the 1918 virus from the bodies of people killed in the outbreak. The bodies, and the virus, had been preserved in the permanently frozen soil of Alaska.

When the investigators approached Crowe, whose lab had developed methods of making antibodies, to try to make antibodies to the 1918 flu, he was skeptical, but agreed to try.

The researchers collected blood samples from 32 survivors age 91-101 years and found that all reacted to the 1918 virus, suggesting that they still possessed antibodies to the virus.

Crowe’s team was then able to isolate exceedingly rare B cells – the immune cells that produce antibodies – from eight of those samples and grow them in culture. Seven of those samples produced antibodies to a 1918 virus protein, suggesting that their immune systems were waiting on standby for a long-awaited second outbreak.

“The B cells have been waiting for at least 60 years – if not 90 years – for that flu to come around again,” Crowe said. “That’s amazing…because it’s the longest memory anyone’s ever demonstrated.”

Don't make the mistake of thinking this flu is "No big thing."
It doesn't have to be as bad and 1918 to finish wrecking what is left of this economy, and believe me, that's all they are really worried about.

Peak Oil Doomers in the News!

2009-04-17T07:18:00.000-07:00

Hey, check it out! It's our forum! I believe that the lady is one of our forum members.

here's our site! Click the discuss tab at the top to go to our forum. Over 7000 members strong!
The discussion of fast crash vs slow crash is an ongoing debate among us.
I fear a fast crash, and hope for a slow one.

Texas and Georgia talk about Seceding

2009-04-16T20:41:00.000-07:00

Texas Wants to Secede

Georgia Wants to Secede

Well, what about that, I wonder who put the bee in their bonnet about secession?
Are they so freaked out about a black Pres. that they want to leave America?
Or is it like they say, they are pissed about the bailouts?
Who the hell isn't?
I don't take much of this too seriously as it seems staged to me.
Like a publicity stunt.
But if they did do something that stupid, how would they pay their bills without the US government sending them money for their budgets?
They wouldn't.
First thing they'd do of course is cut out all help for the poor. They hate giving money to poor people and what is funny as hell is that most poor people in the south that receive food stamps or welfare vote for Republicans! LOL
They hate Mexicans, and still don't like black people, they actually believe that if you work hard enough at your job you'll someday be rich!
Even poor people believe that people are poor because they're lazy or dumb. Or both.
They never seem to ask themselves, "Hey, how would it feel to be on the receiving end of my own hateful beliefs and attitudes?"
Well, tell you what, go ahead and declare yourselves independent and see what your states, run by boneheads just like you, do to you.

I'm figuring that as soon as they cut out all help for the poor and you'll have pictures on the news of hillbillies sneaking across the border into the northern states looking for help. How funny would that be!
The same people that holler and carry on about how the Mexicans are taking their jobs would be trying to cross the borders into Ohio or some other Yankee state, in the dead of night, then going house to house asking people if they need their lawns mowed. LOL
Of course we live in Tennessee and there would be loads of poor Tennesseans fleeing as well, myself included.

Yep, my guess is that within a week of seceding, or maybe less, the entire south would look a lot like Zimbabwe, or Nigeria, or Guinea, pick one.
They'll do away with those irksome civil rights laws and then Billy Joe Bob could concern himself with the monstrous race riots as they try to go back to the "Old South" way of doing things.
These people are crazier than a sackful of doorknobs! I know, I live here.
I love the south, and actually I love the people here but they can be swayed easier than just about any people I've seen anywhere if you can quote some Scripture to back up your idea.

It all sounds funny at first but think about this, Homeland Security has added extremist conservatives to the list of people to keep an eye on.
You have that, and then the behind the scenes puppet masters, prodding those folks, stoking the fires so to speak, trying to get them to DO something. And why? Why would that be?
What would happen if say, at some rally or bailout protest, violence broke out?
Why martial law, what else!

DHS is Watching Right wing Extremists

Oh well, if nothing else, the next few months will sure be interesting.

p.s. Listen to today's Survival Podcast, Jack went to one of the tea-bagging rallies and had some pretty interesting things to say about it.

Texas Wants Out!

2009-04-15T09:18:00.000-07:00

I just had to pop back in and post this!
What a Hoot!

Free Texas! And If They Won’t Go, Give ‘Em A Kick… -- Mark Ames from Team eXiled on Vimeo.

There’s word out today on drudge that the governor of Texas, Rick Perry, has thrown his support behind a bill that would declare sovereignty for the state of Texas.

I got it from Exiled Online!
check it out.

Starting Asparagus from Seed

2009-04-15T06:00:00.000-07:00

There is a kick ass gardening blog, I've got it linked in the blog list but wanted to comment on it here too.
here's the blog, the part about starting asparagus from seed.

Garden of Eaden

It is one of the best gardening blogs I've seen.
Simple instructions and Simon answers questions and seems like a cool guy.

I have been thinking a lot lately of things that I could plant for food that are perennial and would come back every year. Fruit trees, berry bushes, artichokes, asparagus...etc.
I love asparagus and wanted very much to start some from seed as it is way cheaper and you get a lot more plants that way.
I decided also to use hybrid seed for this project as it is not an annual that I'll be harvesting seed from year after year and I wanted the biggest bang for my asparagus buck so to speak.
I've planted the Mary Washington, and have some now, but the production from it is quite low and I wouldn't want to have to count on it in the event of an emergency situation.
So, I found some Atlas F1 hybrid asparagus seed on ebay that a professional grower was selling from his planting this year and had left over. Another cool guy, he sent me extra seeds to make sure I had 100 plants.
I'm going to end up with way more plants than I'll have room for so I will most likely sell the extras.
Asparagus, if you can grow it in you area, is a wonderful early spring vegetable that should be in your garden.
These will produce for 15-30 years so someone will be enjoying these years after I'm gone!
Simon talks in his post about direct sowing but I'll have to plant in pots as I don't have a free bed for them yet and will have to come up with more room somewhere. LOL
talk about putting the cart before the horse!
I'll plant the seeds, then when the little plants get up high enough, set them out in their permanent bed.
Since asparagus has a shallow root system, I'll use some of neighbor Dave's weed cloth and put it down on the ground and build a frame for the bed and fill the bed with good weed free dirt to give the plants the best possible start.
This is my plan.
I'll take some pics to post as the project progresses and let you see how it's going.
Anyway, hope you girls are thinking about gardening.
It builds character!

love,
mom

Frankenstein Art Project

2009-04-13T22:30:00.000-07:00

A Patchwork of Flesh
is doing the coolest art project. Coop, the blogger, is collecting ACEO cards of original portraits of Frankenstein to put together a collection and possibly get a gallery showing of them. I got my little Frankenstein done this evening and he's in an envelope ready to go to England!
Across the big pond!
Thank you Coop for asking me, I'm honored to participate in such a cool project!
Good luck to you!

Any artists, professional or hobbyists that might be interested, check out the link above and get busy!
The cards have to be 2.5x3.5 inches, that's the only requirement.
I love this idea, it's like planting seeds. LOL

Open Letter to Bank of America

2009-04-13T10:44:00.000-07:00

this got posted in our forum today and is such a good letter I wanted you guys to read it.

letter link

Oh I got my new color pencils I won on ebay. I got 66 pencils! only paid less than 20.00 for them too.
If you use prismacolor pencils, you'll know what a good deal that was!

also, here's the new Survival Podcast show.

also, CBC did a show about PO doomers and mentioned our site! woo hoo!
here's a link to the show.

CBC Show.

Bird Flu Caller on Power Hour

2009-04-12T16:40:00.000-07:00

hey girls, thought I'd post this right away as I want you to listen to what this lady is saying.
roccman at the LATOC forum posted it today and I thought it was one of the most chilling call ins I've ever heard on a radio show.

Happy Easter, Seed Bombs!

2009-04-12T08:02:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter girls!
hope you have a great day.
there's a blog that someone on our forum named mos6507 has, and it is just great!
here's a link to it.

doomstead diary

watch the videos about seed bombing. The general idea is you get some seeds, mix with potting soil, flatten out a wad of clay and embed the seeds and soil mixture into it, roll up the clay, cut into pieces and roll into balls. Take these balls and throw them into unsightly vacant lots or whatever and hopefully they will find places to grow and over time, change the look of an entire area. You could use all kinds of seeds too.
flowers, vegetables like greens or bush beans, tomatoes, maybe even tree seeds.

Both of you girls live in cities where there are lots of vacant lots and stuff and you could easily do this.
I'll go by Dollar Store and get some seeds.

anyway, it's beautiful here today, sun is out and it's going to be warm so I'll be outside most of the day playing in the dirt!
love you girls,
keep preppping, and check out those videos on mos6507's blog, they are very inspirational.
Here's another link to an interview with the man who started "The Farm" in Tennessee.
thanks Tropicalgirl for the link. Great article.

Albert Bates Interview

p.s. check this out! Mr. Nelson at the gallery wrote about me in his blog!!
how cool is that!

Nelson's Gallery Blog

Day Before Easter

2009-04-11T14:37:00.000-07:00

Hey girls, hope you are having a good weekend, we are.
Went to the art gallery and took several pieces, all new!
The little girl and bunny picture is also on Redbubble where people can
buy prints if they want.
The garden is coming along great! cabbages, collards, chinese cabbage, green onions, lettuces! woo hoo!
Neighbor Dave is putting up a little hot house for use to use to put potted up tomato and pepper plants in. I'm flat out of room in the greenhouse and need space to put the plants. We hope to sell lots of them to help pay for this springs expansion.
Dave put in I think, 7 4x8 ft. beds all a foot deep plus we had another big area plowed for our home gardening activities. hehehe
here's a picture of the greenhouse with it's rain hex.
May have to take that off if it keeps raining!
remember to keep prepping, it's just makes good sense.

Path to Freedom Urban Farm

2009-03-31T08:49:00.000-07:00

Girls, or anyone else that stumbles across this blog, check out these folks here.
The Dervaes family in California, and what they have done on their 1/10th of an acre propterty.
They say they harvest 3 tons of food off that 1/10th acre!
that is amazing.

Path to Freedom

Forum member Wishful posted this link today in a thread where we're talking about how much land does it take to feed a person for 1 year.

How Much Land Does It Take to Feed One Person for One Year?

You'd think that would be an easy question to answer but it's not.
I've been out among the interwebs this morning looking for some (not terrible technical) data about it and have found about as many suggestions and ideas and people answering the question.
It would depend on where you live, what you want to eat, the quality of the land, growing techniques used etc...
There are a lot of claims but not a lot of research that I could find yet.
But I'm still looking.
I found this on a site and it looks interesting. here's the link. http://ask.metafilter.com/77287/How-much-land-does-a-person-need

Quote
These are from speech notes from a guy named Jason Bradford, to a Rotary group in northern California. I don't know where he got them. The presentation used to be online here, but the link is broken, so I don't know where it is now.

Each person needs --
vegan food -- 3000 sq. ft.
a few eggs/week -- 3,500 sq. ft.
one chicken/week -- 24,300 sq. ft.
one cow/year -- 67,300 sq. ft.
posted by salvia at 9:51 AM on November 28, 2007

if you take the above and average it out, it comes to 24,525 sq. ft. per person per year.
according to and online conversion doo-hicky, that comes to 0.563016 acre. Or a little over 1/2 acre per person.
If I figured right, that would give a person a well rounded diet for a year from half an acre.
Of course, you can't raise a cow on half an acre and have room to grow everything else, including food for the cow.
So, let's remove the Cow.
out cow out!
now, we're looking at 10266 sq. ft. per person per year or 0.235674 acre, about 1/4 acre per person per year.
Wow.

I wanted to start a discussion about this hoping that for people looking to buy property, it would give them a better idea of how much land to buy.
so far, we've been talking about just land for food.
We'd want to add to that room for a modest home, and area for energy production which actually could be the roof of the house, or windmills that have very small footprints, area for water tanks for rainwater harvesting, and of course housing for your chickens or goats perhaps or rabbits.
If you plan on using wood for cooking and heating you would also have to add land big enough to renew itself as you harvest firewood over time.
so if you want to go beef free, a family of 4 would have to find a place with 1 acre of land for food, plus, land for the home and other buildings, plus woodlot.

If someone could find better numbers please post it.
I'd like to get some discussion going on this so that people have a more realistic idea about requirements when they go land shopping.
or, help people figure out how much they could do with the property they already live on.

So think girls what you could do with your yards!
Anyway, I'll be back later or tomorrow sometime, have to go to the gallery and get some new pencils!

love you girls,
keep prepping.

Hey Girls!!

2009-03-30T15:52:00.001-07:00

Girls, check out the little doo-dad I put up. You can see my new pictures I'm working on.
I've been a busy old nanna lately. The greenhouse is growing like crazy and I've got lots of plants to pot up. Neighbor Dave has most of them already sold for us at his working place so I hope that the plants do extra good.
Hope you girls are working on your preps in whatever way you can.
I still hope to be able to get and Excalibur 3000, 9 drawer dehydrator!!
I have time though, won't be harvest time for months yet.

Hey, did you hear about the meteor that hit in the ocean off the Virginia coast? One of our forum members was out in his truck and saw it.

Link to article

here's an article about it.

Mysterious light in sky, loud explosion rattles nerves in Hampton Roads

05:21 PM EDT on Monday, March 30, 2009

13NEWS

(VIRGINIA BEACH) - Emergency crews fanned out across the city looking for whatever caused a loud explosion Sunday night.

By Monday afternoon, there were many theories about what happened.

Dr. Robert Hitt, director of the Chesapeake Planetarium, believes a basketball-sized meteor, traveling approx 100,000 mph, was responsible for the disturbance.

He says most meteors are about the size of a golf ball and burn up on entry, so it had to be larger than that to produce the sonic boom.

A report on Space.com says a falling Russian rocket was to blame. The Website cites Geoff Chester of the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C. He says he checked the listing for debris expected to enter the lower atmosphere from their decaying orbits around this time period. He found that second stage of the Soyuz rocket that launched last Thursday was to hit during a window that started at 8 p.m.

At around 9:45 911 dispatchers started receiving calls from people reporting a light in the sky followed by a loud boom.
Video: Unknown light and loud boom over Hampton Roads
Larger screen E-mail this clip

Some reported that the explosion caused their homes to shake. Several callers to WVEC reported their doors and windows rattled from the explosion.

Emergency crews could find no evidence of any kind of explosion, however. No injuries, fires or damage were reported.

Hitt said he has spoken with two amateur astronomers who were out observing the sky Sunday night and saw the object. He said the object moved so fast, neither of them had time to pick up a camera.

The National Weather Service had few answers.

Meteorologist Jennifer McNatt said the service had been in touch with the Navy, Air Force and NASA, but none of those organizations had any unusual activity to report.

Officials at Norfolk International Airport had received reports of the light and explosion but said nothing was out of the ordinary at the airport.

The National Weather Service did tell officials in Virginia Beach that the reports of the light and the bang were coming in from Maryland to North Carolina.

The National Weather Service released this statement at 11:17pm Sunday:
Share Your Experience

If you saw or heard the object, tell us about it.

If you took a picture of the object in the sky, please send it to pics@wvec.com

Read Craig's blog

"Numerous reports have been called in to this office and into local law enforcement concerning what appeared to be flashes of light in the sky over the Suffolk/Virginia Beach area. We are confident in saying that this was not lightning...and have been in contact with military and other government agencies to determine the cause. So far...we have not seen or heard of any damage from this and will continue to inquire as to the cause."

anyway, interwebs are getting spotty so I'll post this right quick.
be good. Call me!

Earth Hour Tonight

2009-03-28T17:18:00.001-07:00

hey, turn off your lights tonight for one hour.
It won't kill you! LOL
I think I'll do that this evening. Turn off the lights. I think I'll turn these off from 9 to 10.
I invite you all to join me in the dark!

It's 8:30 now, in half an hour I think I'll pull the main switch and see how dark and quite it gets here. LOL
I'll have the battery on this laptop so I can tell you what it's like here in the dark.
muhahahaha

ok it's about a quarter till 9 now.
I finally found the camera so maybe I can take some pictures of the dark.
pictures of the dark.
that's odd isn't it?
LOL

I've gone around and turned off some things already so it won't freak out the fuse box when I plug it back in.

Wow, it is so dark in here with everything turned off!
it's 9:04 now and I just went out and took some pictures of the building.
Hope they turn out nice.
You know, people used to have been able to see really well in the dark! I about fell over the lawnmower going out to take pictures!
well, I think I'll turn this laptop off now.
see you all in an hour.
Happy Earth Hour day!

Ok, it's after 11:30, I did extra. I fell asleep!
It was so dark and quiet and I had laid down to rest a bit and dozed off.
LOL
I guess that was as good a way as any to spend my earth hour. I took some pics and will post them here soon as I get them off the camera later.
I may lay back down and finish up my nap!
Happy Earth Hour!

Ok, hot off the camera, our place in the dark! LOL
Check out the orb activity in the second one too!

and here is one more. Look! Orbs!

Ok that's about it for me tonight, I learned a few things from Earth Hour.
It's nice in the dark and I wish my neighbor's outdoor light would go out.
Also, I have got to get rid of some clutter before I turn out all the lights in this place again, and....the best way to spend earth hour? Napping. LOL

Rainy Spring Day

2009-03-28T06:29:00.000-07:00

It's been rainy for a couple days now, going to turn off cold tonight so I'll have to protect some cabbages and collards that are set out in the garden.
We have had some stunningly beautiful days this spring. Warm and bright.
I've recently been working on some art pieces and just watching and waiting.
President Obama seems to be a sincere honest man trying to do what seems best but he's likely to fail. This mess just seems too big to be fixed.
This system needs to die.

It's like watching some poor brain dead soul being kept alive with machines because some family members can't let go, can't turn lose and let the relative or loved one die with some dignity.
Here, we've worked on gardens, got the neighbors onboard and growing food. I suspect that one thing will be what really ends up putting food on all our tables in the days, weeks and months ahead.
Good luck to you girls.
try hard.

the credit crisis explained

2009-02-21T14:27:00.000-08:00

A forum member posted this today and it does a great job of explaining what has happened to credit and the banks.

The Crisis of Credit Visualized from Jonathan Jarvis on Vimeo.

food dehydration videos

2009-02-11T23:14:00.001-08:00

this was posted the other day over at the forum and I really want you guys to watch them. Again, I can't impress on you enough how important the subject of food is going to become this year.

Save your MONEY!!!

2009-01-06T09:39:00.000-08:00

PacificDreamer at LATOC forum posted this Wall Street Journal article this morning and it really got my dander up!!!

Here's the LINK.

Here's a little piece of it.

Usually, frugality is good for individuals and for the economy. Savings serve as a reservoir of capital that can be used to finance investment, which helps raise a nation's standard of living. But in a recession, increased saving -- or its flip side, decreased spending -- can exacerbate the economy's woes. It's what economists call the "paradox of thrift."

there's also an article in Yahoo News HERE.

Here's a bit of that one.

If shock over the housing and stock market's losses sends the savings rate all the way back to the 11.2 percent notched in 1982, after the United States had endured two painful back-to-back recessions, it will prolong the current downturn.

That would also illustrate what the influential British economist John Maynard Keynes called the 'paradox of thrift'.

This described how the personal virtue of saving for the future becomes a collective ill if everyone does it at the same time, causing domestic demand to collapse and hurting everyone's savings because this slows the entire economy.

Do you see and understand what's happening here?
The little guy is finally figuring out what's important.
They are finally becoming aware of their own financial power when as a group, the herd decides to go a way different form the shepherd!
The Powers That Be are terrified of us acting in unison like this.
Save your money girls, watch where you spend, shop locally, buy used from second hand shops or yard sales. And especially important, DO NOT charge on a card or borrow from a bank!
Save every penny ( I mean that literally too, coins, oddly enough actually have more physical value than paper money as they are worth the value of the metal that went into making them. Paper money has practically no value at all. )

One easy way to save, besides change, is to save all one dollar bills.
every time you buy something, if you use a five and get two ones and change back, or whatever, put the ones up somewhere.
You'd be pleasantly surprised at how fast those one pile up and it has the psychological advantage of looking like a lot of money too.
If you have some things you could sell now to raise cash get on it. Hurry.
Get as much physical money on hand as you can.
If you must use a bank, check into a local bank or credit union.
Don't do any business with any branch of Citi, or JP Morgan, any of those big money sucking bandit tax robbing monsters!
We the people are finally making a difference. Vote with your dollar.
Vote for yourself and save the damned thing.
Keep stocking food and basic supplies as always, try to buy from local places, stay out of WalMart and the big multi national places.
Ok, that's my rant for now, I love you girls and hope you will listen to me.

love,
mom

Why Israel is Really invading Gaza

2009-01-05T09:27:00.000-08:00

Link to Article

What's really going on in Gaza is a resource war.
Israel wants control of the Palestinian's Natural Gas Fields as the above article points out.
They will dismantle the government in Gaza making all contracts null and void and take control of those fields.
All this crap about fighting terrorists is just that, crap, just like 911 was an excuse to steal Iraq's oil.
I wish there would be more concerning this on the news here. Not going to happen though.

Here's the article for you but you can check out the link above.

Hamas holding Natural gas discoveriss off coast of Gaza hostage in
Written by www.daily.pk
Sunday, 04 January 2009 02:08
Why It Rains: Hamas holding Israeli gas reserves hostage

British Gas, the company that signed an agreement to sell Gazan gas to the international market.
An unexpected energy windfall on Israel's doorstep promises to resolve Israel's energy security concerns for years to come. Unfortunately for Israel, it is the Palestinian Authority that controls the licensing of these reserves. So, as Operation Summer Rains washes away the administrative and political structures in the occupied territories, has Israel decided to use Hamas as an excuse to dismantle the PA and seize its energy assets
After the Iranian Revolution cut-off energy supplies in 1979, and the loss of Sinai's oil in 1982, Israel became dependent on expensive, long-distance energy imports. Towards the end of the 1990s, in an attempt to alleviate concerns over its energy security and reduce its dependency on imported oil, Israel decided to place a greater emphasis on natural gas. The architect of Israel's energy strategy at the time was Netanyahu's Minister of National Infrastructure, Ariel Sharon.

After Netanyahu's election defeat in 1999, Ehud Barak sought to take advantage of improved relations with Egypt to import some of Israel's gas from the Nile Delta 1. There was, however, political resistance to the deal from within both countries and, when relations with Egypt began to deteriorate with the start of the 2nd Intifada and Sharon's subsequent rise to power, the $3 billion deal was put on the back-burner. However, the possibility of avoiding dependence on such a politically contentious source arose in 2000 when several energy companies, including British Gas (BG), announced the discovery of significant deposits of natural gas off the Israeli coast 2.

Estimated at 100 billion cubic meters of proven reserves, these discoveries potentially offer enough gas to meet Israel's goal of supplying 25% of its energy needs for more than 20 years - even without further imports 3. The discovery has also raised realistic expectations of locating oil deposits beneath the gas fields.

Unfortunately for Israel, 60% of these reserves are in waters controlled by the Palestinian Authority, which has signed a 25-year contract with British Gas for further exploration in the area. Since this discovery, Israel has proceeded with the development of its reserves with the US-Israeli company Yam Tethys, but has been faced with an obvious dilemma over the Palestinian deposits 4. Keen to secure the gas for its domestic market but unwilling to submit its sensitive energy supplies (and their profits) into the hands of the Palestinians, Israel has for the past 6 years pursued a policy of non-commitment, stalling and obstruction.

Despite early endorsement of the British Gas plan to develop the PA reserves for the Israeli market, the intensification of tensions during the Intifada allowed Sharon to veto the Gaza deal on security grounds. With the exploitation of the Palestinian reserves halted and the Egyptian deal put on hold, Israel has used the Yam Tethys supply as a stopgap. However, as its hungry economy quickly bought up these reserves and prices began to rise Israel needed to act to guarantee its future supplies. After years of on-off negotiations between the two reluctant trade partners, in July 2005, Israel signed a 15-year contract for Egyptian gas 5.

However, following the signing of the deal it was revealed that - impatient with Israeli intransigence - Egypt, British Gas and the Palestinian Authority had also been secretly negotiating a deal to sidestep the problematic Israeli market. Within a month, the three parties announced their plan to extract Gazan gas, transport it to Egypt in an Egyptian controlled pipeline, and then ship it on in liquefied form to the international market 6.

The possibility that Israel could be permanently excluded from such a tempting energy windfall on their doorstep, and that the main beneficiaries would be Egypt and the Palestinians, has since prompted Olmert to reverse Sharon's veto and reopen negotiations with BG over the supply of Gazan gas to Israel. Despite the ongoing international isolation of Hamas, the BG deal was high on the agenda during Olmert's recent meeting with British Chancellor Gordon Brown 6.

Despite BG's commitments to Egypt and the PA, the company has announced that it is willing to enter into a deal with Israel. Within Israel, political legitimacy for the reversal has come from increasing criticisms of high prices caused by Egypt's effective monopoly of Israeli gas supply. Also, according to Haaretz, Israel is confident that it has enough influence to persuade Egypt to back out of the Gazan deal, with senior government sources asserting that: The gas off Gaza will come to Israel in the end. 6.

Until last week, Israel's confidence did not make any sense. The security situation that provoked Sharon's original veto of Gazan gas had not improved and it seems inconceivable that Israel would allow the PA, let alone Hamas, to reap the benefits of the Gazan gas fields. BG has made it clear that its Gazan gas will be developed soon, whether Israel likes it or not, but if Hamas is not to be the partner, then who is

The arrival of Summer Rains gives us a sour answer. If the ongoing attacks on Gaza succeed in destroying the Palestinian Authority as a viable political entity, all commercial contracts with the Authority, such as that with British Gas, will become worthless and will have to be renegotiated with the Israeli government. Perhaps the most valuable hostage that Hamas has in the current crisis then is not the 19-year old Israeli soldier, but the Palestinian gas reserves that Israel claims as its own, and may go to extreme lengths to rescue.

here is another article that talks about how Israel doesn't want Hamas to have the money from the reserves fearing that they would fund further military attacks against Israel. There are more links at the bottom of the article.
This is like trying to untangle a nest of snakes!

Article Link.

Ya'alon: British Gas natural gas deal in Gaza will finance terror
By Avi Bar-Eli

The public disagreements between former Israel Defense Forces chief of staff Moshe Ya'alon and the politicians running the country have reached a new level, and have put the spotlight on one of the most sensitive affairs in the Israeli economy: the negotiations with BG (British Gas) over the purchase of natural gas from the undersea field off the Gaza coast.

In an article written by Ya'alon that appeared Friday on the Web site of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs (JCPA), he accuses the Security Cabinet of not ordering military action in Gaza so that it would not damage the chances of reaching a deal with BG.

T
Advertisement
he Prime Minister's Office declined to respond to Ya'alon's comments.

The rights to the offshore gas field belong to BG (60 percent); the Lebanese construction and infrastructure company CCC (30 percent); and the investment fund of the Palestinian Authority (10 percent).

The Gaza Marine field was discovered in 2000 after years of gas and oil prospecting in the area, and the 1.4 trillion cubic feet of gas is worth an estimated $4 billion.

In a highly controversial move, then-prime minister Ehud Barak gave up Israel's rights to the natural gas field and gave them to the Palestinian Authority for free.

According to Ya'alon, the British government and Tony Blair pressured former prime ministers Barak and Ariel Sharon to agree to a deal, but Mossad head Meir Dagan objected to such an agreement, fearing the proceeds from selling the natural gas to Israel would not benefit the Palestinian public, but instead would finance more terror attacks against Israel.

The negotiations continued for years, due to both the problems of devising payment methods to prevent the transfer of the proceeds to terror organizations, as well as disagreements over the price of the gas.

More recently, the negotiations have been further delayed by a petition to the High Court of Justice by rival natural gas supplier Tethys Sea. Tethys Sea is asking the court to forbid an agreement between the state and BG without the publication of a tender.

Despite Sharon's refusal to agree to such a deal, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert resurrected the negotiations with BG, and invested quite a lot of energy in trying to reach a deal over the purchase of the gas. This comes despite the increased terror threat from Gaza after the Hamas takeover, said Ya'alon.

"The prospect of an Israeli gas purchase may have played a role in influencing the Olmert cabinet to avoid ordering a major IDF ground operation in Gaza, even though there have been at least 1,000 rocket and mortar attacks against southern Israel since the Hamas takeover of Gaza in June 2007," he wrote.

He further warned that organizations associated with the international Islamist fundamentalist terror network would be highly motivated to attack British Gas' production facilities off the Gaza shore, and said he expected Hamas would increase its attempts to damage the Ashkelon power plant as the negotiations with BG advanced.

Ya'alon further claimed that since 2002, Israel has not held a serious, thorough discussion of the security implications of a natural gas deal with BG.

With his controversial statements, Ya'alon is continuing to make headlines.

"The British government seems to have pinned much of its Middle East policy on the successful outcome of British Gas negotiations with Israel. A September 18, 2007, report in the Arabic al-Quds newspaper noted that the British government views Gaza's natural gas reserves as central to 10 Downing Street's 'economic road map' for the Middle East. Tony Blair's position, first as prime minister and now as the very active Quartet envoy for Palestinian Economic Development, has been that the Palestinian Authority's share of the gas sale proceeds, which could reach well more than $1 billion, could serve as the economic fuel to jump-start the Palestinian economy and advance the peace process," wrote Ya'alon.

He further emphasizes that all the plans to bypass Hamas in Gaza are futile: "British officials have expressed confidence that the gas proceeds can bypass Hamas and benefit the Palestinian public by being deposited and monitored in international bank accounts. Israel also has proposed paying for the gas in goods and services. However, these assessments are mistaken. A gas transaction with the Palestinian Authority will, by definition, involve Hamas. Hamas will either benefit from the royalties, or it will sabotage the project and launch attacks against Fatah, the gas installations, Israel - or all three."

The Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, an independent policy institution, was founded in 1976 by the late Prof. Daniel J. Elazar, and currently is headed by Israel's former UN ambassador, Dr. Dore Gold.

The JCPA states "it approaches its work without preconceptions to generate new ideas, which may prove vital in Israel's fight for survival."

"Israel must consider whether it can afford to be dependant on the Palestinians for such a critical energy asset as natural gas. If Israel becomes the Palestinians' main gas customer in a multi-year agreement, the PA or Palestinian terror groups could use the continued supply of gas as a lever to pressure Israel to make additional concessions and "gestures" as part of political negotiations. More significantly, the Palestinians could threaten to cut off the natural gas supply to Israel to prevent the IDF from responding to terror attacks and other threats emanating from Gaza or the West Bank," wrote Yaalon in his essay.

He concludes that while Israel needs additional energy resources, including natural gas reserves, "funneling $1 billion into local or international bank accounts on behalf of the Palestinian Authority would be tantamount to Israel bankrolling terror against itself."

Happy New Year !!!

2008-12-31T23:34:00.001-08:00

Well girls, here we are at a new year. It's 2:30 a.m. here now, I fell asleep earlier and missed the magic moment but it seems to be 2009 none-the-less.
It was good to see my youngest daughter and grandson over Christmas, especially the doom shopping!
We went to the Save-A-Lot and bought a car load of storable food for her pantry so I would shut up about it. LOL
Sometimes it is good to nag.
She bought pasta and canned food, beans, rice, all kinds of dried side dishes like chicken and spanish rice and pasta sides. She got raisins and oatmeal and sugar and cooking oil! The amount was impressive and I feel a lot better about her being so far away knowing she at least has a start on her food stocks.
I gave her some vegetables I had dehydrated from the garden too.

Now, if I can just get my eldest daughter stocked up, I'll finally be a little happier.
I sure wish they both lived closer to us here so I could keep an eye on them and help them more.

Something interesting happened this afternoon, neighbor came to the door and I looked out and there were all these guys in black leather with hair wandering around in the front of the building. It was a band that wanted to know could they take pics in front of the mill and garden for their cd cover. I asked what kind of music, they said rock, I said cool.
Here's a youtube video of theirs I found. Music could be darker, but that's ok, dude has good hair. LOL

Surviving Salem

Happy New Year girls!!