I Decide To Blog About Saving My *ss (Survival)

About a year from now, a large number of people from past and present think that the world will experience an enormous catastrophe that may end life on the earth. There are some real heavyweights lined up on this idea and it is pretty scary that there are so many of them. This could make a person wonder about their survival, which I do not like.


The Mayan and Egyptian calendars agree within about a year. Nostrodamus and more recent prognosticators agree about it. Youtube has enough about the subject to let you watch depressing videos for hours, maybe days. I didn't watch them all, but it was enough to worry me a lot.


These gloomy ideas are about the physical part of the world. The prevailing engine of all of this destruction is largely agreed to be a polar shift. This is when the magnetic poles of the earth shift so that compasses point to a new north. The process involves the rather sudden shift of tectonic plates and that means a big mess for anything sitting on those tectonic plates, including humans. Part of that mess is earthquakes that would probably make a 9.0 look puny, and tsunamis to match. Another part would be volcanoes erupting en masse.


As if all the above was not bad enough, financial whizzes are talking bad stuff in their area. We seem to be on the verge of a global financial collapse. I think I am on the email list for every one of these bozos and they are all offering me free videos to rain on my parade. I watched one that showed me graphs that absolutely prove that if all the income of every single person in the USA were used, paying off the national debt would be impossible. Math is not one of my gifts, but we owe trillions and we keep adding more trillions yearly. My math is adequate to tell me a trillion is an awful big number and we are in deep doo doo.


It does not require rocket science to guess that my reaction would be to want to hie myself to the country and hole up for the cataclysm. I had already independently concluded that we are in for a polar shift in the near future, before I was made aware that a lot of other people think it will come next December 21.


I have been blogging away on various and sundry subjects that strike my fancy. I read that you should blog about what you know and what you are passionate about. I know a lot of different things since I have been in training for becoming self sufficient for most of my life. I am passionate about quite a few things too, but what could I be more passionate about than my personal survival?


I feel pretty strongly about making sure I die a natural death at the end of my allotted span. I believe I will just blog about this. Lots of things are involved in this prospect for me, so it will get a lot of variety in there so I don't get bored blogging about the same thing all the time. In some ways I have a short attention span. I gather that the attention span of the average internet surfer can be compared to that of a gnat, so that might work out well.

Sifting Predictions For Next December's CataclysmicDisaster

I am a female prepper. I believe that we are to be differentiated from survivalists because we are more focused on our survival itself than on making it into a competitive activity. I had already been working on disaster preparedness before I found out what the excitement was about for 2012.


Youtube is the first place I discovered predictions about the disasters expected next December 21 of 2011. A lot of impressive types agree about it. The Mayan and Egyptian calendars are in agreement within about a year. A year sounds like a lot to us, but these folks made these predictions thousands of years ago. On the time scale of thousands of years, one year is pretty close, especially when you consider they were not using the same year lengths.


The majority of people who expect the world to end next December think it will come in the form of a polar shift. A polar shift is a sudden rearrangement of the tectonic plates that we humans live on. The continents shift in movements big enough and fast enough to cause massive earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions.


I do not think the world will end next December, but I do think it could be a rough year to live through. I am not ready for such a big disaster as is expected, but I can handle smaller ones ok. I am making an effort to be prepared for next year's disaster the best I am able to do. I figure it is better to be ready and not have the disaster and not have it happen than the reverse.


I have given several people a quick tour of youtube videos on the subject of next year's cataclysmic disaaster. They were all pretty upset by what they saw, but all thanked me for it and said they would rather know than not. It occurred to me that more people might also appreciate it, so this blog post is going to do the same for my gentle readers.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-l0SC3bRLn8&feature=related


This one explains what a polar shift is and that scientists have found they have happened before


This one is maps of what will be under water after 2012


There are lots more of these and whole sites with nothing but this stuff. It is enough to scare stuff right out of you. I do not think you should let it make you panic. I am going to do more posts about suggestions on what to do if you think this might or will happen.

Holiday Cream Puffs Recipe

Now that I have done several posts about how to keep your weight down during the holidays, I have to give you my recipe for cream puffs. I make these almost every year. The few years that I have not made them, I have felt deprived all year. I believe feeling deprived is fattening, so I mostly make them.


This is not a low fat recipe, but I have tweaked it a little to minimize the damage done by eating them. This recipe for cream puffs and also for the blanc mange filling comes from allrecipes.com. I particularly like their recipes and the variations given in their comments and the tips that others who have made the recipe give.


Cream Puffs - Shellie Wendell Modified by Yvonne


Prep Time: 30 min. Cook Time: 25  Ready in 55 min.  Servings: 20 (I usually make them bite sized, which makes a lot more of them) (The prep time is really off with my version because the blanc mange has to set at least 6 hours in a fridge.)


Ingredients:
1 recipe of blanc mange to be used for filling (Make this the night or day before the shells.)
1 package of low fat whipped cream substitute
1 bottle of maraschino cherries


1/2 cup butter
1 cup water
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
4 eggs


Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
In a large pot, bring water and butter to a rolling boil. Stir in flour and salt until the mixture form a ball.


Transfer the dough to a large mixing bowl. Using a wooden spoon or stand mixer, beat in the eggs one at a
time, mixing well after each. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto an ungreased baking sheet.


Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, until golden brown. Centers should be dry.
When the shells are cool, either split them and fill them with the blanc mange mixture, or use a pastry bag to pipe the blanc mange into the shells. I just cut the tops off of the shells and hollow them out a little more with a grapefruit spoon.


I fill them using a spoon to put the blanc mange in the shells. I follow this with fake whipped cream and maraschino cherries. Last, I drizzle a little bit of cherry juice on the cherries to make it run down the whipped cream a little. I find this recipe handy for family members who live far away and can't get to celebrations on time, because I put extra shells in the freezer in a plastic container and bring then out when the late ones show up. You have to be careful and not rattle them around in the container when they are frozen, because they will break easily.


If I don't have the time to make the blanc mange, some purchased sorbet or pudding will work for filling. This looks so festive with the maraschino cherries, that you can get away with a fairly ordinary meal with this for dessert. This can be important if you already spent your holiday budget when late relatives show up for the holiday dinner and all the other good stuff is gone.


Blanc Mange - Chef Dunask Modified by Yvonne


Prep Time: 8 minutes  Cook Time: 15 minutes  Ready in: 6 hrs. and 23 minutes  Servings: 5 ( more if bite size)


Ingredients: 3 cups milk, divided  ( use low fat milk)
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 cup white sugar (I replace part of the sugar with stevia, no more than half)
1 tsp. vanilla extract (I also add mint flavoring) optional
2 cinnamon sticks (I omit this)
1 lemon peel, cut into strips (I also omit this)
1 pinch ground cinnamon (I also omit this)
3 ounces shaved chocolate, for garnish ( I also omit this)


Place 1 cup of the milk into a saucepan.  Add lemon peel and cinnamon sticks. Bring milk to a simmer over medium heat.


Meanwhile, in a small bowl, whisk together the cornstarch and sugar.  Whisk remaining milk into the cornstarch mixture. When the milk in the pan begins to simmer, pour the cornstarch mixture into the saucepan in a thin steady stream. Whisk vigorously and increase heat just a bit to bring the mixture to a gentle boil. Allow the mixture to boil for about 20 seconds while continuing to whisk, then remove from heat. Remove the lemon peel and cinnamon sticks. Stir in the pinch of cinnamon and, if using, the vanilla (and mint).


Pour into a dish or mold, and refrigerate for at least 6 hours, or overnight. Garnish with shaved chocolate just before serving.

The USA Is Already Getting Left Behind In the Dust On The Way To Solar Power

I went to a recent lecture by Alaskans who went on a tour of Norway to see what they are doing with their PFD eqivalent. They have a 600 million fund they use to make more money and fund universal health care and free education from preschool through Doctorates.  They are doing lots of other good stuff too. They hooked up a volcano to a power plant, for example.


This is another renewable energy project Europe is working on with Morocco, Egypt, and other countries:


http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/dec/11/sahara-solar-panels-green-electricity


I went to another lecture about alternative energy and found out that Europe is working on Tidal power plants. They are actually building them now.


Some Alaskan politicians went to Norway and were impressed. It would be nice if they did something useful with the information. We can't do exactly what they do in Norway, but we can use some of their ideas and do it our way.


The Guardian article talks about Desertec, a solar power project based in Morocco, so far, with plans to include other desert countries to generate a giant solar power plant. It is intended supply the needs of desert locals and 15% of Europe's power needs. They had been aiming at 2050, but are moving the schedule up to 2020 in the advent of Fukushima nuclear disaster.


Germany is the engine pushing this project and they have decided to completely eliminate nuclear power from their grid as soon as possible. Desertec is part of their way of achieving this goal. CSP , Concentrated Solar Power is the favored technology. It has been in use in other areas already including the USA.  "Flagsol is the German company that specialises in building concentrated solar power (CSP) plants in the deserts of the US, Spain and now Egypt.," according to the Guardian. Technology from two other German companies is being used for Desertec. "And only two companies in the world make the glass tube receivers, which is where the main intellectual property of this technology lays – Schott Solar and Siemens," according to Bodo Becker, the operations manager at Flagsol. He was interviewed by the Guardian writer, Leo Hickman, in the article linked above.


The United States is getting ready to sign on to an international agreement to have legal penalties for countries that do not meet limits to pollution. Renewable power sources are necessary for the human race to survive. This country will be at a severe disadvantage if it does not have adequate domestic resources for renewable energy. We are not tending to business very well when we let those US producers, of the equipment we will need, go to other countries like China. Continued decisions like these can add up to a position for our country as a third world nation in the not-so-distant future, instead of the world leader status we enjoy now. Let's not get left behind in the dust cloud of other nations passing us by.

Thoughts On Gender Role Perceptions

What younger age cohorts say about male/female roles is interesting. I have read that women can develop the physiques that we regard as typical for men. Maybe humans will soon stop having sex-linked characteristics. I am not sure whether that is good or not.  Maybe there will be a reversal in size and strength characteristics between men and women. There are other species where that is the norm.


Being too stereotyped for gender roles is not effective for homesteading, it seems to me. If you homestead you need to be more versatile than city folk on the grid.


I am a jill of all trades, but I can't do everything. I have more tools than most men, but some I am not so adept with. I am kind of wary of power tools so I don't use/understand them well. I do pretty well with hand tools though. I can do some basic car repairs and read the manual whenever I buy a vehicle and note suggested regular maintenance, etc.


I can do three plumbing things, change washers and filters in faucets, fix float valves, and wield a mean plunger. A plumber said he'd hire me for an apprentice because those items are what they do most of the time. lol.


I do basic carpentry and can do some home repairs and design and build simple furniture, using mostly hand tools. I also carve well, but consider that art, not carpentry.


I don't feel motivated to learn much more about mechanics, carpentry, or plumbing than I already know, because I prefer to stick to what I am pretty good at. I am able to outfit a person from headgear to footgear and everything in between. I am able to make it artistic and aesthetically pleasing if I have time as well. I can make most basic furnishings from the wood part to the soft parts and can cover the windows practically and aesthetically.


I can come up with something edible out of most ingredients. I can use herbs and food to help with healing and have a rapport with and can train most animals.


I'm pretty girly/feminine and prefer to wear dresses most of the time, even for gardening. I'm more comfortable with a somewhat male/female division of labor than a complete free-for-all about it. Some of this may have to do with my baby boomer generation.


Maybe this difference in younger people and their perception of gender roles is part of a change in the human race. lol. I am not sure whether this is good or not. It certainly is interesting and gives me a lot to think about.

You Can Choose To Survive

The Arctic and Antarctic areas have been referred to as the "weatPeople who refuse to believe in climate change at this point, in spite of all evidence to the contrary, are choosing to select themselves out of survival. This is a natural process and pointless to attempt to interfere with. 


Ozone depletion in the areas where we want it to protect the planet from excess warming and other effects, is a chain reaction. Once started it tends to keep going.


We have already managed to destabilize critical weather making systems worldwide. One of these is the jet stream. This is an area of rapidly moving winds that normally stays up so far above the surface of the planet that it does not have an easily discernible effect on people living on the surface. Our changes in the ozone layer have caused the jet stream to drop down almost to land at times in some areas. The jet stream moves weather around the world so much that meteorologists have referred to it as a "conveyor belt for weather".


When the jet stream drops so low it causes extreme weather events. and since this is a trend instead of an event, we can expect this to worsen.


her factories for the world". These areas have been destabilized. Big surprise: destabilizing the weather factories of the world is causing weather extremes all over the world.


This has been information for the use of people who choose to select themselves for survival. Fasten your seat belts, it's gonna be a bumpy ride!

22-Year-Old Cat Playing And Doing Tricks

Grass (oat grass)
Brother.

This is my 22-year-old cat playing in a box.

He is getting ready to attack his brother.

He is getting ready to shake hands with me.

He is shaking hands here.

He is sitting up begging for a treat.

He does a lot of tricks and talks too. I am going to video tape and record him so people can see him doing these things. Some people don't know cats can do tricks or talk. His brother does tricks and talks also, but he is only about three and does not do very many yet.


Some of the things he says:


Goodies.
More.
Ow!
I love you.
Out.
Eat.
Breakfast.
Dinner.
Food.
Wawa or warer (water)
Play.
Bird.

Hand.
Ear.
Nose.
Eye.
Face.
Kissy. (Kiss)
Fur. He uses more of a V sound than an F.
Purr. He says it like "Rurr." He usually purrs when I ask him to. If he is not in the mood he will do a short purr and stop. If I ask again he says, "Rurr!" in an aggrieved tone and won't do it any more.
Uh uh!  He says this to me when I am getting ready to do something he doesn't like. One of these is putting him in his carrier to go to the vet or picking him up when he doesn't want me to.
Ah ah ah!  He says this when I am already doing something he doesn't like. He has said this to vets giving him a shot.
A a a a a!  He uses this for both the above.
Bad boy!  He says bad boy to his brother sometimes.


He uses all of those appropriately and seems to understand them. He also appears to understand more words that he does not say.
Some of these are commands for doing tricks and behavior:
Shake hands.
Give me a kiss.
Talk.
Back.
Out.
Cover your poop.
Up.
No, bad.
Down.
Eat.
Around. (for turn around)
Do your kitten laundry. ( I tell him this when I want him to lick medicine off his paw.)
Good boy.
Come on up. (Jump up in my lap.)
Be a baby.. I tell him this when I want him to knead his afghan and pretend to be nursing. (It calms him when he is upset.)
He used to roll over when I told him to, but it seems to bother him to do it and I don't want him to hurt himself because of his age, so we stopped that trick.


He started talking when he was a kitten and heard my older cat talking then. She had a much larger vocabulary than he does, but I had to teach her a lot of what she said. I have not had to teach him much of what he says. He still learns new things to say. "Bad boy", is a new one. It freaks out his brother when he says it to him. He seems to like that.


His brother sounds like a siamese and has a bigger repoirtoire of sounds that he can make. This means he can speak more clearly because he can get sounds that are closer to English. He may talk better and have a bigger vocabulary eventually. He only says a few words so far. He is just starting to realize that talking gets him what he wants, so he is interested now. His favorite word is, "Play". He uses it a lot, but not if he can wait for his brother to say it first.


I believe all cats are capable of talking because neighbors cats have often started doing it when they heard mine talking. A friend called my first talking cat the "hundredth monkey." I am not sure if that is true, but all my talking cats so far, started because they heard another cat talking. I have seen cats on the internet, especially youtube talking, so maybe they don't need to hear another cat talking first.


I think all cats can do tricks, although some won't do more than one or two. I have been able to teach friends cats to do tricks and have taught a few people to teach their cats to do tricks. Training the people is a lot harder.


The first time I taught a cat to do a trick was a race between my sister and I. My sister had a dog and I had a cat and we were going to see whose pet learned to roll over first. My cat won by about a week.