The Journal: Cracked Earth (5 page)

I asked John to go with me but he had to work
like usual. This is the second time that he’s turned me down. Guess
he doesn’t like me as much as I thought. I can always hope though.
Well, maybe not. Perhaps it is not good to mix business with
pleasure.

* * *

There’s been a lot of internet traffic about
looting and crime in the cities that have been hit hard by the
hurricane. Eighty million households are without power. Without
electricity, no surveillance cameras, and with the police busy
elsewhere, it is a looter’s dream come true. I’m sure whatever we
are hearing is just the tip of the iceberg.

* * *

JOURNAL ENTRY: October 31

I was right. Dawn put on a spectacular party.
Costumes were optional and only Guy and Dawn wore them. I love
dressing up, but I just didn’t feel like it this year. Dawn made an
artichoke dip that she put into the body of a bread “spider”. It
looked great and tasted even better. There were lots of appetizers
from ham roll ups, raw veggies with plastic spiders nestled in
between, chicken wings, a fruit tray, and the usual cheese and
crackers, to the smoked oysters and our local whitefish caviar. It
was good food and there was lots of it.

We all played cards after satisfying our
appetites.

* * *

On November 1, the gals restarted our weekly
Ladies Lunch, one of those events to help stave off the boredom
when winter sets in, our own Cabin Fever Reliever. It has always
been on a Thursday because Mary’s husband Alan plays poker on that
day, which is the only day that he lets Mary do something by
herself. Geesh, they’ve been married for forty-five years, you’d
think they’d want some space, on the other hand, he is a control
freak. Now Bob and Kathy, they have such respect for each other
that it’s a joy to be around them. Dawn and Guy I don’t know well,
not yet anyway. Dawn seems to do what she wants and Guy goes along
with it. I’m the only single person in the group and the longer I’m
alone, the more I like it. Usually. I do get lonely but I try not
to let it show.

About two months ago, Dawn approached me
about prepping. Their daughter turned them on to it. I’ve given
Dawn and Guy what advice or suggestions that I can, and they’ve run
with it. Then again, they’ve got the money to do it.

Sitting on their deck having cocktails, I
asked them if they had any weapons and Dawn quickly said yes. I
asked Guy how much ammo he had. Before he could answer, I said it
wasn’t enough. Dawn admitted that she didn’t like guns; I told her
to get over it. How else was she going to protect those four
grandchildren if she was the only one there during a break-in? That
really made her pause.

She also has extensive medical knowledge. I
think her mother was a surgical nurse, so she could be a real
asset, and lives within two miles of my place, an easy walk. I wish
that she didn’t smoke.

Beginning with the bird-flu scare some years
ago, I’ve added to my own medical stores. Though masks and gloves
can be used for many different situations, I really went heavy on
them. At first I wasn’t sure about what kind of masks, so I got a
variety: regular surgical masks, respirators, N-95, N-99 and a gas
mask. The gloves range from surgical, some latex free, some not, to
several packs of “food handlers”. Those are
really
handy for
cleaning the wood stove, enough to keep hands clean and free of the
gunk. They also work for peeling beets. Once I went a whole day
with pink palms.

Two years ago I added two stethoscopes (plus
repair parts), a blood pressure machine, sealed goggles, scalpels
and a variety of sutures to my kit. I even split an order of cast
compound with Rick from the Michigan prepper group. I don’t have
everything that might be needed in an emergency, however, it’s way
more than most people have. I set much of this up in a grab-n-go
bag. A doctor with nothing would be impressed with my medical
kit.

Some preppers stock up only on food, some
only on guns and ammo—
not
a prepper to me. I prefer to be
the kind of prepper that covers all the basics: food, medical
supplies and yes, ammo. No one ever really knows what we may be
faced with, yet I’m trying to cover all the bases I can.

* * *

JOURNAL ENTRY: November 2

I doubt that it’s even worth mentioning here,
but I do like to keep records. Late yesterday evening, Yellowstone
National Park had a serious tremor of a 4.5 on the Richter scale.
Then the New Madrid Fault had a couple too, a 4.0 and a 4.4.
There’s no damage in Yellowstone, nor was there any in the New
Madrid, since they were pretty deep. Still, it’s something to pay
attention to. With the hurricane damage on the East Coast, and now
this, it feels like some higher force is shaking us up good.

* * *

It snowed this morning! It started out as
sleet, switched over to snow and there is a light dusting on the
ground. Sure glad I got everything done in time. Tufts doesn’t like
the snow pelting him in the face, and I can’t blame him. I don’t
like it either, though I still need to face it to bring in wood.
The temperature started out at thirty-three degrees and only got up
to thirty-five.

There is looting and mayhem going on in the
big city and all the other large cities that are still without
power from the Frankenstorm. Society seems to have broken down
completely. There were pictures on the news last night of the long
lines just to get gas, and they had to start limiting it to ten
gallons per person. Fights were breaking out, it’s crazy in the
cities. And to think that it will all be fixed in another week.

One news article said,
“If people will
behave like this during a temporary emergency that lasts only a few
days, what would they do during a total economic collapse? That is
a frightening thing to think about.”

Very frightening indeed.

I’ve been a bit dizzy the past few days. I
think it’s my eyes. I have to remember to stop and pick up my new
glasses. Maybe I should run into town tomorrow and do that.

* * *

I picked up my new glasses and feel silly
that I had forgotten about them. While in town, I picked up four
more cases of quart canning jars. Funny though, it’s the end of
canning season, the jars were not even on sale, much-less on
clearance.

Jason said his dad was coming up to hunt. He
promised me that we would get venison for the freezer. Since I keep
little of the freezer meat, and only some of the sausage, I usually
make my share into soup and stew meat, all canned. After they get
the deer, then I’ll get a couple of pork roasts to grind and add to
the sausage. I don’t have the freezer room. I have to remember to
check the spices out in the small barn to see if the supply might
be getting low, and I’m pretty sure I have enough casings for
making the sausage.

* * *

JOURNAL ENTRY: November 4

Amanda is back from her visit to see her mom
and stopped over last night with Jacob. She wanted to discuss
Thanksgiving plans. This year it’s at their house, so they get to
do the turkey and most of the trimmings. My brother lives right
across the road from me and his wife, Nancy, is making a couple of
pies and I’m bringing my seven-layer salad, fresh bread and the
wine. Amanda asked if I would make the gravy since she doesn’t know
how, plus the thought of handling/cooking the neck and gizzards
makes her queasy. How did she ever make it into her thirties
without learning to make gravy?

It is cold here, only thirty-three degrees
this morning. I wonder how the people in the big city are managing
the cold nights without power. I doubt this storm will wake any of
them up.

There is another storm brewing out in the
Atlantic. This one is a winter storm, a Nor’easter, which means
even more snow for the coast. What little snow that fell here
yesterday is now gone.

I’m not sleeping well again. It seems that
every other night I don’t sleep at all, and the other nights, it’s
a toss-up between really well and fitful. It’s wearing me down. I’m
not getting enough rest.

Spring Forward – Fall Back. We are now in
Daylight Savings Time, gained an hour of daylight, I think. I can
never keep that straight.

I think this is going to be a very boring
journal, there is nothing happening in my life. I get up, check
email, straighten up the house, do some laundry, plan the day’s
menu, let Tufts out, then in, then out. Nothing exciting.

I went for a walk today on my road. I like
walking in the fall better because my little ten acres here are a
blaze of color. I love the sharp, pungent scent of the pine trees
and the smell of damp, decaying leaves when I kick the carpet up.
The woods behind me are so grown that the breezes rarely filter
down yet I can hear the upper branches swaying and creaking when
the wind passes through, even with all the leaves down. These
sensory things are just not there when walking on a blacktop road.
It still may be exercise, though it is not nearly as enjoyable.

* * *

The news is too depressing to watch with more
riots, more crime, and now some areas out east are turning away
power crews from other states for the only reason that they’re not
part of their union! How stupid can they be?

I called Dawn to see how her prepping was
coming along and if she needed any more suggestions, but they
weren’t home. So I called Kathy. I sure wish that I could talk her
into stocking even a week’s worth of food. She’s got lots of tomato
sauce from her Earthboxes and beans from her garden that now are in
the freezer. Cheese, crackers and smoked oysters are staples there,
to go with their rather extensive wine cellar. I worry about them
if they couldn’t get out due to a blizzard or if something worse
happened.

I can only suggest.

Watching the news coverage of the storm, my
anxiety level has gone up in some ways, and lowered in others.
Things went south very quickly. Criminals are opportunists and they
sure had the opportunity for looting and other crimes. Those who
evacuated the cities late and are now waiting in lines are of the
mentality that they cannot blame themselves for not having what it
is they need or desire. They, like everyone else, had both the
chance and the choice to prepare, and they chose not to.

When the scenario turned into reality, and
they see they should have prepared, they must blame someone else.
To blame themselves is tantamount to admitting that they are
failures, and our current society has programmed us by telling us
that there are no failures because everyone is a winner. That
failure only gets reinforced when you've failed those you are
supposed to protect or those who depend on you, like children, the
elderly, or the disabled.

I looked over my food preps and know I'm in
good shape for the winter, much longer if I stretch out my canning.
I could fill out some spots in my supplies, but toilet paper won't
keep me alive, so I'm not overly concerned with it since that's a
convenience thing. For what I have and what I need to survive until
next summer, I'm good.

When I see on the news and in real life what
'civilized' people are capable of, even
knowing
that help is
on the way, that the power will be back on eventually, and that
this will all become a bad dream, what will they be like when they
find out that the power
won’t
be back on, or that help
isn’t
coming? That's when my anxiety spikes and I check my
ammo supplies.

It was a wonderfully casual morning with gray skies
and a threat of snow showers that never materialized. Though it was
only thirty-six degrees out, it felt strangely pleasant. I checked
my internet groups, sent some emails and had a late breakfast. Then
around 11:00 A.M., I went to the Moose Creek township hall to vote.
There was no line. There are seven hundred people in the township,
though only four hundred fifty-seven registered voters, so I think
that if we all showed up at the same time it would still only take
an hour. I made my choices and went home after checking the post
office for mail.

I’m feeling good about the day, but guilty
about not meeting my November 1 deadline, and decided to go into
the city, thirty miles away.

First stop was at a big-box store for laundry
soap, toilet paper, paper towels, and cat food. Tufts is an
important member of the household. He’s the
only
other
member of the household, so his food supply is a high priority to
me. While there, I decided on a couple six packs of seltzer water
(to go with my spiced rum), and grabbed a couple of bottles of
wine. It was a lucrative work season, so I opted for the good
stuff.

Then I headed over to Mack’s, my favorite
grocery store. I picked up romaine lettuce and celery, a head of
cauliflower, some oatmeal, then checked the bargain bin for
anything good. There was nothing this time. I was getting some
sliced cheese at the deli when my phone rang.

I recognized the number, so I answered
immediately.

“Hey, Rick, what’s up?”

“Allex, I have to make this fast, so just
listen.” I sighed, thinking that this must be serious since he
knows how much I hate being called ‘Allex’. “A 7.8 earthquake hit
the New Madrid Fault a few minutes ago. That will likely mean loss
of trucking, loss of power, loss of phones. The shit has hit,
Allex! Whatever you’re doing, get back home and hunker down.”

He abruptly hung up. I stood there for a
moment, stunned. Rick wouldn’t kid around about something like
this. If shipping shut down, food supplies will disappear in a
hurry since they keep little inventory, only what’s on the shelves.
That won’t last once word gets out and then there will be panic
buying.