There is a lot of discussion here about how to prepare for the pandemic, but I’m curious - what are some of you planning to actually DO while you wait it out? I fear two days into quarantine looking at family members and going “Okay, now what?”
Most likely go to work (I’m a nurse), unless family is ill; have as many of my family as possible nearby. Probably have to self-quarantine myself away from the family if I’m working.
I live alone and work at home, so I don’t see much changing. Keeping Flu Wiki up and running will be a major part of my job.
Melanie; stay well. We need you, and the others.
I have a house full of books that I don’t have time to read, gym equipment that I haven’t had time to use, neglected garden, hobbies like water-colour and calligraphy that I have bought stuff for, kids that could do with a lot more ‘real’ conversation, a boatload of IT stuff that I have to fix or want to learn, etc….
Plus keeping up with Fluwikie.
No I definitely won’t be bored.
I will be trying to write software to examine the secrets of the pandemic-virus-code
Reading here. Photography…just got a new camera!! YAY! Garden…tons of stuff.
We’ve purchased at yard sales paper back books and as many games as looked interesting. There is also the veggie garden which we can do 12 months of the year, as well as other aspects of the yard. We also purchased a wind-up radio if power goes out, and hopefully there will be something to listen to, besides each other, LOL. And then there will be cooking chores, perhaps more difficult than normal. We also have limited indoor exercise equipment. The biggest job will be going thru all the closets and drawers, and in general doing a major house clean-up. Hopefully refuse pick-up wont be interupted.
isn’t gardening dangerous ? hope you won’t use bird-dung-fertilizer…
If the power goes out, I’m planning on teaching myself how to read music with the help of a textbook and my MIL’s old piano, and learning how to play chess with the assistance of my chess-shark wife, from whom I expect to receive several dozen thorough thrashings while I figure things out. If we get lucky and we’ve got juice, I’ll keep working here at home, on my eentsy software business. Regardless, I’ll get a lot of practice baking…
gs - your software project sounds interesting. Will your examinations be at the level of viral surface glycoproteins, or amino acids, or nucleotides, or what? I fiddle with life simulations quite a bit, and you’ve just got me thinking about a sort of Sim City tweak…
As long as my internet connec stays up and the lights stay on, I’m good. I never go anywhere anyway.
kw, correspondence chess is good to get in contact with people all over the world. This could be useful in a pandemic racter,probably nucleotides, but I have no plans yet. I hope there will be lots of discussion about this in internet then.
Internet classes; earn college credits from home. No power- I have always wanted to learn how to play bridge and pinocle.(?spelling)
gs - There is already quite a bit going on in this area. Have you seen this?:
http://www.curevents.com/vb/showthread.php?t=32621
Some pretty detailed discussion about receptor specificities in that thread and the linked articles. I’m also looking for a good place to dig in and apply my modest programming skills toward finding answers to the host of unanswered questions, and it seems like a sensible way to spend the time — that is, for those of us with the courage to look the monster right in the eye (which includes me so far; how I will feel when the movie gets really real remains to be seen).
gs asks “isn’t gardening dangerous ? hope you won’t use bird-dung-fertilizer…”
Is it going to be safe going out of doors? That question cant be answered until we know what and how deadly the strain of bf that goes pandemic (if it does) will be. It also depends where that outdoor garden is in relation to masses of people. If we gardened in a small plot in a large city, there might be greater concern. But our garden is mildly rural. There are a few houses around us, but directly upwind of our garden is a mountain range with very few houses. Its a matter of personal choice and risk assessment after getting informed as much as possible. I would have greater fear encountering people at a distance than working in our yard in the back. But then right now we dont have all the facts. And no, we dont use bird doo on the veggies, but horse, yes, but that’s because its free.
What if you like Self Imposed Quarantine and when is over you do not want to end it?
Learning to play chess, music, reading books, gardening, staying with family and friends, writing programs, home schooling, working online…
This looks like idyllic postindustrial society…
I don,t think anyone here has any problems amusing themselves.
The big challenge will be to keep the kids amused. Pray that TV and the Internet keep going.
…and getting exercise, especially cooped up in a small space.
…and not getting on each others’ nerves!
I think I agree with informatic….minus the part about possibly getting sick wouldn’t it be nice to spend ALL your time with your family. To me, never having to go grocery shopping again would be wonderful, and if we didn’t have to work or the kids go to school wouldn’t the world be a better place. Just back to the basics, being with family and remembering what is most important. And intelligent people can ALWAYS find something to do…
I intend to spend my time staying current on the status of local/national/world conditions. I don’t view going into a period of protective isolation as withdrawing from the situation around me. Rather, I am staying physically separated while some dangerous conditions pass. If I am not tracking the situation worldwide, then I feel I will miss the signs and signals that may be critical for me to catch.
Isn’t that the same reason most of us frequent this Wikie multiple times per day? In the event a pandemic starts running, you will need even more information, not less. I suspect that between keeping things running in an isolation/survival mode and monitoring external conditions, my hands will be just about full.
if I or my family have need of alternative forms of entertainment, I own them all from crank-up 78 RPM grammophones to DVD and beyond. We’ll manage.
What typically happens about 9 months after a massive blackout?
Something to consider while assembling your supplies…::wink
will you manage to keep your family inside ? There will be disputes, whether it’s still too dangerous or not…
With all this togetherness, alot of family members will be spending far more time together than they might be used to - or want. And conflicts might arise even in the best homes. Have any of you thought about what you will do to mediate arguments in this very close environment? Perhaps weekly meetings?
lulubelle:wasn’t horse-doo the reason for 1918 pandemic ? What about birds flying over your garden letting some doo fall ? Cats or dogs digging in dead birds in your garden, infected mice or mole, exposed infected pets from town leaving feces in your garden etc. (30% or such of carriers can be asymptomatic)
Racter: no, I wasn’t following all that yet. That takes a lot of time to get familiar with. But I did some (statistical) examining of genetic-code some time back, downloaded the human chromosome 21 and some other data. For now I’d just like to have that 1918 virus in my computer. Where is it ?
>But I did some (statistical) examining of genetic-code some time back, downloaded the human chromosome 21 and some other data. For now I’d just like to have that 1918 virus in my computer. Where is it ?
Not going to be easy. Big stink recently about access making things to easy for bioterrorists. Might start here:
thanks Racter. I downloaded 3MB from: ftp://ftp.tigr.org/private/infl_a_virus/publication/nucleotides.fasta that should keep me busy for a while…
as for bioterrorists, they need a lab, not a computer, right ? I read, that the code had already been published. Well, I don’t know how difficult it is to create a virus which you have in your computer in a lab.
But these H1N2 from New York are also good to get us started.
Keeping a journal would be good…
“What typically happens about 9 months after a massive blackout?”
Condoms might be a very good item to stock. ;)
I also need a good pair of snowshoes. We can finish our remodel project, teach our selves to tango, learn to play the piano or guitar, use up all of my art supplies, write down the one really scary story you heard as a child and share it on the internet….
If you have several children, let them watch the adults play “twister”.
Organize family photos and about 40 years worth of recipes. Read, quilt, write.
Good idea. When you are done, I will send you mine:)
It will be like cleaning out an attic. Lots of memories from one small item, one picture can be enough to start a whole train of thought and the years flash past.
Wow, Anne, that was beautiful - really left a strong image…
Make sure you have a tape recorder!
Anne at 18:40 - cleaning out the attic is a really good idea, but I’m not sure where I’d put all the “to be pitched” junk if I’m isolating. I’m probably better off leaving our attic untouched until I can make trips to the local dump again.
If we have the internet, I’ll be spending a decent amount of time keeping abreast of how the flu is progressing. With or without the ‘net, I think it would be a good time to learn a new language and get caught up on my piano playing.
Hmmm, Melanie, there might be a problem with the wiki. This thread was listed high up in the discussion list as a current thread, but after I posted my reply I noticed that the previous reply was from back around Christmas.
Gather some art supplies for the kids and get lots of paint to keep husband occupied. I am going to create sacks to open weekly for the kids with cheap prizes (jacks,jump ropes,puzzles,coloring books,candy,etc.)
I think for most of us here, finding something to do during a quarantine period would be the least of our problems. Think many here are packrats and, if supplies last and the outside world does not intrude in a bad way, would find many things to do to keep busy. How about writing a biography of what you know of your anscestors and yourself and how you are surviving the bad times? IF, this were to go apocalyptic on us, and I always stress the IF, we will be living in perilous times, reminiscent of the Black Death or Fall of Rome. Future generations would marvel at our stubbornness to survive and how we did it might be very useful to them.
There was a problem with the site a few weeks ago. Many of the better older threads are getting recycled back into the new forum. If you check out the forum guide there are several threads on getting through isolation. There are some important things to think about that are well discussed by people of very different opinions - that’s what is great about the site.
If the power goes out there will be plenty to do. You’ll want to wake and retire with the sun to save on batteries, candles and lamp fuel. Not to mention how much longer it takes to prepare meals with no power. Getting the fire right for cooking and the cooking it’s self takes a lot more time than cooking on the stove. Even cooking on a coleman stove is time consuming. Washing dishes with no running water is a pain too, and no picnic in the minimal light of a kerosene lamp either. Chores will take up most of the daylight hours.
With the power on, I still think there will be plenty to do. All those chores around the house that we just never seem to have time to do. If your kids normally go to school you will need to set up time to teach them. (we homeschool anyway so thats not something I have to worry about too much) They can be kept busy with chores too, I don’t know about other kids, but if my kids watch too much TV or play too long on the computer they get extreamly whiny and bad tempered. Thats about the last thing you need in an already stressfull situation. Kids sleep so much better when they are REALLY tired at night! LOL
Maybe I’ll finally get caught up on getting all the pics from boxes into albums! ;o) We homeschool, too, so are used to having the kids around all day and have a ton of books, crafts, games, etc already stashed.
Since I’ll have my family corraled during quarantine,I plan on small household repair projects,teaching my granddaughter to quilt, read.If the power stays on organise my computer files burn cd’s etc.I have tons of thing planned for them!
Getting a Hoyle card games book might come in handy. You can learn tons of new games…
On second thought routine is very important,so I think we will devote a few hours a day for granddaughter schooling or at least keep her current skills up to date.A few hours to projects and so on.
Here again, I believe our ideas of what this will be like are dependent on where we live. While I will definitely be practicing social distancing, I am not going to be inside all of the time. If it is warm I will be gardening and doing my regular stuff outdoors, just not shopping or standing close to neighbors. If it is winter I still will be shoveling off the walks, bringing in firewood, etc. As Eccles said, once we add in the extra time it takes to do normal everyday things the “old-fashioned” way, we won’t have that much extra time left. Besides, I have several years of projects I can work on while still staying at home or on our farm.
Wont have time for tv anyway [oh darn] wonder how much time we all waste on tv and the internet a week
Will we relearn the art of conversation? What about letter writing? Working together as families? Hmmmm
I plan on working on the unified field theory Got the books and blackboard ready to go- I am ALMOST looking forward to it.
I bought Brittanica’s “Great Books of the Western WOrld” series a number of years ago… granted it’s just the Western World, but you have to start somewhere! ;)
Otherwise I’ll be outside working alone on restoring my 66 Mustang. I figure better to stay relaxed than tense and holed up & peeking out a window. As a plus it’ll keep my mind off the reduced calorie diet I’ll prolly be on. :)
Jersey Girl: I plan on small household repair projects
When you finish yours will you come help with my million & one projects? I’ll give you a mask!
I started thinking about this several months ago and one thing I plan to do (assuming I have power) is to transfer all of my home movies of my kids onto DVD. The VHS tapes are still in pretty good condition but the oldest are over 20 years old. I bought a DVD/VHS recorder combo unit last December and tried to burn one DVD from the oldest VHS tape. It worked fine. So I went to the local electronics big box store and purchased enough writable DVDs to make two copies of every tape. I figure besides being a useful thing to do it is also entertaining and uplifting. Could be a real fun thing to do while at home for a long period. Being reminded of better times seems like a good way to keep one’s mind off depressing news. Since I also love to read I have made sure I have several extra pairs of reading glasses around.
I guess we can always do the bird flu dance, just for exercise.
Ivorians catch bird flu dance fever By James Copnall BBC News, Abidjan
DJ Lewis dancing DJ Lewis says the dance will stop people being scared to eat chicken
In a nightclub in Ivory Coast’s main city, Abidjan, DJ Lewis stretches his arms out either side of his body, bends his arms at the wrists, and begins trembling like a man possessed.
A man possessed? Three seconds later, the DJ and musician sets that impression straight, by clucking loudly in his best imitation of a dying chicken.
“It’s like a chicken with Parkinson’s disease trying to dance to hip-hop,” said one onlooker.
Welcome to the latest craze in Ivory Coast’s ever-inventive night life: the bird flu dance.
Full article: http://tinyurl.com/mpmrq
As a bit of stress relief I want the family to each do a bit of journaling during the day. I “hide” it as a bit of school work but in truth I think that being able to put your feelings on paper without worrying how they sound coming out of your mouth is a great way to relieve stress. If the kids feel like sharing I’ll read their’s but I figure this will be one “corner of the house” where they can safely blow off steam.
Now if someone in the house gets sick all of our time will be restructured. I’ll be the primary caretaker … assuming I’m not the one sick … hubby will have to shift to a different set of duties, the oldest daughter will shift to more of a “mother figure” set of duties, 13 year old son will have to shift to take up the slack where dad and daughter have had to change their responsibilities and the care of the younger three (10, 7, and 2) will be spread amongst fewer people.
I have activities on hand should we need to isolate, but I’ve also had to leave things flexible in case illness enters our home … which would change the whole shebang.
Its the only way I would clean my house. I used to do it for parties. But since I’m not really a party animal,(entertained to please husband only) I’ve sadly allowed things to slide. Yesterday bought a hugh pink ostrich feather duster, for those cobwebs I never look at. On sale for 5 at the Well Sweep farm. A long handle. Or it could serve instead of a broom for my witch costume on Halloween. Otherwise I think I’ll nap a lot, end up talking to myself, writing, quilting, and in general doing things that recently the reading of Flu Wiki has cut short.
Oh I might buy a small trampoline to keep the lympth moving.
The other thing to consider is that water and food issues will probably take up more time than they currently do. Even if you’ve prepped, with convenience foods bowing out to more scratch-type recipes, cooking will be an art relearned.
Add cleaning time into that … <try hand washing for a family of 7> … plus more laundry duty. Really, will we have spare time?
Cooking, stacks of books to read, We have a extensive DVD collection, Hunting for food(I don’t hunt for sport) There are a thosand things to do on the ranch. won’t be bored here
Might I recommend Hatha yoga . . . or Tai Chi. It keeps you in shape, calms the mind. . . and frankly lifts the spirits. Planning on reading Yogananda,Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, the Vedanta and Rumi. Anything by the Dali Lama. Trying to save my soul not only the body. Might I recommend some of the great Christian Mystics. St Francis of Assisi, The Little Flower—St Thresa of Liseux, Theresa of Avila, Catherine Emmerich.
My husband plans to run. We live in the country; so I know I will not stop him from doing what he loves. He will just have a N95 mask along for the ride, just in case. He has a death wish. He stood out and watched a tornado strike our spruce tree 25 feet away from the house. Fearless Fosdick, I must say.
Well, Ive allready cleaned out the attic-had to put all that tp and peanutbutter someplace! We live in a really rural area so we’ll have a lot of outdoor space-we building an extreame croquet course. Home schooling will take up a lot of time as will chores especially if theres no power. I’ve been stocking up on crates of books. We allready play chess and we love puzzles and games-Ive bought several books of crosswords and suduku. We have a lot of needlework and carpentry projects that we want to do. We’ve been laying in the supplies for that. And I do a lot of gardening-minus the chicken fertilizer!
I also have more than plenty to do here - no lack of projects. We have animals on the property, so plenty of work. I will say that when we had hurricanes here 2 yrs ago we were without power for 2 wks, and therefore many chores took longer, such as hand-washing a few clothes, etc. We adjusted our sleep schedules to go to bed at sundown, rise at sun-up; and truthfully I felt better than I had in years because I was getting more sleep :-))
Read, work from home, blacksmithing, online bridge, restore autos.
While I think self and home improvement projects are great, and I’m sure if we have time left over from coping with the challenges of self-sufficient living we may actually do some.
But one thing seems to be overlooked, which is the context of these enforced vacations.
With millions dying in this and other countries, many in horrible conditions, it’s going to make 9/11, Katrina and the tsunami look like a cakewalk. Remember your sense of astonishment, hopelessness and grief? Are you then going to open up that old crafts book and do a project?
Sorry, they are good ideas, but I just don’t see how you can keep the reality out, especially when everyone here is likely to be monitoring all media closely for news…
DemFromCT – at 08:00 Posted in News reports May 18, 2006 Dr. Martin Williams’ blog is written up in Nature, with an intriguing bit of news.
This is the puzzle piece that I was looking for. How neatly it slips into place. The picture becomes illuminated, a kaleidoscope of events, individuals, families, dynasties, states and continents. Hopes, dreams, fears, ambitions, the minute fibers in the fabric of humankind intermingling with nature, a rip, and tear, the unraveling, a slip of the tongue across the Atlantic, rivals locked, whirlwind of power and a woman wipes the tears from her sons face as they lower the box into the soil. They are the lucky ones.
If I live - I will tell the story.
Will shut the fence gate and lock it, and maintain here what I call the compound. Have a large veg garden, enough supplies and water for at least a year, solar and wind energy, and will just lay back and get on the internet if it is up and running and find out about what is happening worldwide. Have told friends and relatives they are able to come in when the word is out, but when I lock the gate no one will be allowed in after that. Luckily most of my friends out here, have also been stocking up and also plan to maintain themselves on their property.
ANON - WA. Ditto! I think our self-imposed quarantine will be one of being glued to the TV (that is if we have power). I don’t think any of us will be in a state of mind to treat this as a long, protracted snow day.
The problem is that none of us have the ability to let our minds “go there”. We have no experience with this outside of Katrina and 9/11. I do know for those events, I was plastered to the couch and could not get enough news - trying to let it seep in.
How do we emotionally and mentally prepare for this?
Definitely catch up on the reading. Like many others, I have a bookcase full of books I have never had the time to really dive into. It is strange to think that if the full pandemic occured, with electricity shortages or total blackouts, quarantines, etc, that you could have whole cities full of people sitting around at home reading, playing games with their kids, sleeping for twelve hours at a time (imagine) or just having the kind of long convos our busy lives deny us right now.
For all that we would lose, it seems terrible, but important, to mention all that we might gain as well.
An Australian newspaper carried a story the other day about how 40% of the workforce could be off at any one time and was pushing for businesses to prepare for such an eventuality. There was virtually no reaction to this news.
Australia seems very much behind the US and Canada in corporate preparedness, public discussion of pandemic survival and so forth. Which is quite remarkable considering how close we are to Indonesia, and how easily pandemic BF could reach this country.
How do we emotionally and mentally prepare for this?
That is a difficult question to answer for anyone that never have been thru a terrifying experience such as a fire, earthquake, accidents etc. Having been in the fire service for a quarter of a century, I have seen many types of reactions to trauma situations and every reaction can be different. Some people just stand there with a blank look, some yell and scream, and some remain calm and helping others to cope. I know for myself seeing death and destruction so many times, one does have a tendency to become outside the situation, but even when I was on accidents, with young ones, it still gets to you. One thing I did learn though, that no matter what, life goes on, and eventually settles back down, and people adjust and get going and dig in and begin to rebuild. Look at New Orleans as an example.
Me. I’m gonna learn guitar.
Well this is what i see happening in my house of 5 girls 2 of them teens.I will have to say. 3,000 time please don’t do that to your sister.10,000 times don’t talk to her like that,5,000,000 times no you can’t go out,10,000.000 times NO nobodies aload over,25,000 times we don’t have any ice cream.Then I’m going to say this just once.All of you get the hell out.Welcome to my world
Oh I forgot one 5,000.000 times please don’t paint your nails in here that stuff stinks……OK I’m done……Did I mention that I’m a dead man
I think it is important to discuss the psychological consequenses of quarantine. First, locking yourselves in your house and watching News 24 hours a day is not healthy, but this is exactly what happened after 9/11. You need to make sure you balance keeping informed with connecting with family. Also, there are lots of documentation on not getting enough sunlight. Either go outside or sit by the window every day. If your house/apt/condo has no access to light, get a light box. Children will be looking to parents for queues on how to act. Kids will ask: Why can’t I go out? Why don’t I have school? Why is daddy so upset? The best way to combat all this for yourself, spouse and children it is to have a structure/schedule. For example, wake up, have breakfast, teach children their lessons in morning. Lunch. Arts project for children in afternoon. Dad does home improvement projects. Dinner. After dinner, board games with children. After children go to bed, parents watch the news. I think you need a plan before the panic.
The light box is a great idea.We all need vitamin D.along with board games.How about letting them play some of there favorite vedio games.i fell another trip to walmart coming on
One can fill their day with many activities, some of which could include;
Productive:
Educational:
Safety:
Entertainment:
what about having children keep a diary, so that they have an outlet for their emotions? I seem to remember a little girl and her family in a self-imposed quarantine (from the Nazi’s) keeping a diary during WWII. Just a thought.
I think daily life will be a lot of hard work almost none of us are accustomed to. I really don’t think there will be much leisure time for most of us if we want to stay healthy, warm, and fed. And I’d think a body would want to stay busy- For most of us- life these days is a whirlwind of commuting, working, taking care of homes, for some it also includes the childrens activities- I think the slower pace - so the speak, will take a lot of getting used to. Ever wish for a day, or even a week off to do all the stuff you’d like to be doing. and then when you get it you can’t decide what to do? While I don’t think that life style is healthy- I live it and it’s where most of us are in this day and age and we have acclimated to it. If we have to lock down and fend for ourselves- stay in our own yards and not go out in the world, prtty much with little warning (cept for us on the wiki) it’ll be like throwing a transmission into reverse at 90mph. Then we’ll have to pick up the pieces and rebuild it. But then we’ll know where all the pieces go and what they are for.
If I have time and I’m not dropping from exhaustion I’ll try to teach myself to spin on a drop spindle. I have plenty of handcrafts to do and I can teach daughter to weave and if there’s power, to sew. though I guess I could sew by hand - ughhh! My plan is to have plenty of materials on hand for whatever crafts we all do or want to learn. Husband loves to build models so I have stashed a bunch of them. At any rate- I think if we do have a pandemic and we do have to quarentine and fend for ourselves, the people who make it will be much more ‘healthy’ than we were before.
Rather than a vacation, perhaps a 5 week hurricane, of the human sort, (with maybe 2 more coming). And expect profound sadness and feelings of helplessness. Right now is mostly denial, suppression and distraction by preparation.
The Wiki has info on emotional consequences.
I will be hand quilting if the power is out. I would love to get a treadle sewing machine, but I don’t know if it is in the budget.
I used to do boatloads of tapestry embroidery. Haven’t had time in years and I miss it.
bluerose,
My mom has two of them she doesn’t use. Do I need to put the two of you together?
Bluerose-if you have time…. scrounge around second hand shops and yard sales for one. Often, an old electric model can be converted to a treadle. I found an old machine for about seven bucks at a thrift store, my husband made a foot pedal ffom a piece of wood and I bought the pulleys from Lehmans catalog. Lehmans caters to the Amish.
I heard something on the radio a few weeks ago where an English lady who lived through the London Blitz said the most important thing in thier situation was trying to keep some sense of normality. They would try very hard to keep in a routine.
Our school is out this week, and we are looking at homeschooling in the fall. I think I’m going to give my kids a couple of days “off” and then Monday start with some self-reliant projects-we’ve been doing some on weekends, but I want to get them in a gardening, housekeeping, cooking/baking routine pretty quick before they fall prey to the couch-slouchies.
If the power is out, I will be hauling water a lot! Then pre-filtering it, hauling it again, and final filtering, then boiling. That will take a bunch of time. Add to that the extra work in baking bread, working in the garden to make sure every single morsel makes it to the dinner table, watching or listening to developments, keeping animals healthy, handwashing the clothes….I will get a lot less sleep than I do now. I will be worried a great deal of the time about how riots and shortages are affecting the country and the world…wondering if my folks have died…wondering if we’ve done enough to self quarantine.
I don’t think enough of the wiki participants here are really examining the consequences of this pandemic and the subsequent self-quaranting in a realistic manner. It shouldn’t be a morbid past time, but a good hard look at reality is probably in order.
We’ll do the same thing we do right now. Farm. Homestead. Homeschool. etc.
It won’t be much different than it is for us now. The biggest thing is the daily mail would stop. Some days they don’t deliver and my wife jokes that maybe the pandemic (or some other disaster) hit and we just don’t know yet. I think we’ll know because there will be reports on the web (we don’t have TV or radio because of the mountains). This isn’t something that is going to happen suddenly but rather a gradual break down that will be spread out. When the power goes out there is the electric battery charger. I figure the net and phones will go down if it gets bad enough.
We have animals to tend - They are all pastured and get their own food nine months of the year. Winter is harder - we put up hay and I’ll have stocks in early for that. We may cut back our herds but they are a valuable trade item. We have gardens to care for, plant, harvest, etc. Wood to be gotten in for winter (2 years ahead). Fortunately we are not into much heavy iron on our farm so diesel isn’t a big issue. We do most of the work by hand. Logging will stop for the most part because we won’t have buyers. The trees will keep growing and be there to harvest in the future. The to-do list is always long on a homestead. There is sewing to do, house projects and such. Kids to educate. Chores to be done. We are a long ways out and don’t go in town much so we don’t use much gasoline either - I can stock up a year’s worth readily with stabilizer. We only go shopping about once every three or four months.
green Mom – at 22:21 “the most important thing in their situation was trying to keep some sense of normality”
I believe this is true. For our family, (DW and granddaughter), it will be like a long string of Saturdays, only DW and I won’t be so frantic to pack everything into a weekend. I’m working on an alternative power supply and we have a large collection of movies and 4 seasons of a favorite TV series to watch. Granddaughter loves board games and basketball, we will have plenty of time for both.
GREEN MOM - AT 22:21 I’m heading into town today so I will stop at the thrift store. Thank you for the suggestion. Yes, we will be busy and tired, but quilting and tatting is a very comforting pass time. Like comfort food without the calories.
Old thread - Closed to increase Forum speed.