Opus 2025-159: Mountaintop Experiences

You often hear people talk about having a mountaintop experience.  As a general rule, this is considered a positive thing.  It’s a moment in life where everything comes together, and you are filled with optimism and positive thoughts.  It may mark a time where God is very close to you, or it could be a time of great family togetherness.  Overall, though it’s considered a good thing.

I was a bit taken aback as I was reading and Deuteronomy and came across the following,

Deuteronomy 32:48-50 (KJV) 48 And the LORD spake unto Moses that selfsame day, saying, 49 Get thee up into this mountain Abarim, [unto] mount Nebo, which [is] in the land of Moab, that [is] over against Jericho; and behold the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel for a possession: 50 And die in the mount whither thou goest up, and be gathered unto thy people; as Aaron thy brother died in mount Hor, and was gathered unto his people:

God told Moses to go up on top of the mountain and have a rather unique mountain top experience.  He said go up “...and die in the mount”.  This is not a message designed to make your day.  Moses was expecting it, but I’m not sure he was expecting it quite that bluntly.  At least God gave him a sneak peak into the Promised Land.  His next appearance will be on the Mount of Transfiguration when he appears with Elijah.

Be ready.  You never know when the other shoe will fall.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-111: Cold Logic

My son-in-law comes from Minnesota.  He grew up in cold weather and knows how it works.  He is also of a mechanical, fix anything frame of mind.  So I asked him about how cold it needed to be before you started letting the water drip to keep the pipes from freezing.  His answer?  They never did it.  His reason?  Because when they built their houses and put in their plumbing they did so with an awareness of the potential cold.  They prepared.  They planned ahead.  Because they did that they did not need to constantly monitor the temperature.  I didn’t ask him about heating the engines and batteries of their cars.

This principle can be applied to many areas of our lives.  

Financially you can plan ahead, expecting emergencies and mistakes.  Think of the ease of mind if you kept $500 dollars in your checking account that you did not count for spending.  No more bounced checks and a slush fund for a real emergency.  In my worst days I might not have had that much to keep in reserve but I had enough to make the principle work.

Us gluttons can learn a lesson by never bringing certain foods into the house.  If you ain’t got it then you can’t eat it.

Spiritually we can lay the groundwork of integrity in such a way that what might temp someone else does not even show up on your radar.

Remember that old saying, “This, too, shall pass.”  Remember that it applies to the good times as well as the bad.  Call it planning ahead.  Call it being a prepper.  Call it silly.  Understand that is is really wisdom.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-049: Daily Prepping

I did some prepping yesterday morning.  I would not have recognized it as such.  It involved boiling some eggs.  Why was this prepping?  Because my wife had been watching the Weather Wiz again and, on the fringe of panic, was worried that we would starve it the power went out because of the end-of-the-world storm coming our way.  Okay.  Boiled eggs are good.  They are even better if the world does not come to an end.  They keep well and can be used many ways.

So I have been prepping.  Catastrophe is coming.  I hope to see you on the other side.

homo unius libri

Opus 2025-024: Arbitrary Anchors

At New Year’s we often make much of the fact that this is an arbitrary date.  Actually we do that more with Christmas than New Year’s, but both of them are arbitrary.  They are chosen for historic, cultural, personal reasons.

So we have the idea of New Year’s resolutions.

Stop and think.  We have more than just New Year’s as an arbitrary anchor.  We have each month.  The first day of each month is a good time to start over and look at things again.  Then we have the weeks whether you consider Sunday the first day of your week or according to your pocket calendar, Monday.  It’s a good time to stop and think and plan.

You can also do the same thing on daily basis.

So just because something is arbitrary doesn’t mean it’s not important.  We need to spend more time reflecting, readjusting and planning as much as we can.  Of course we don’t know what the Progressives* will throw at us next but we can prepare to be surprised.  

*(Liberals, educators, cultural Marxists, the media, socialists, communists, crony capitalists, fascists (I repeat myself), elites, Rinos, Democrats, leftists, Never Trumpers, Antifa, BLM, MSM, Deep State, etc.  Synonym for swamp dwellers)

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-329: A Lot of Questions

 Opus 2024-329:  A Lot of Questions

As I contemplate what we are learning about the destruction in Asheville, North Carolina, a lot of questions come to mind.  As I wander down this path I don’t want to take away from the tragedy of the wild rampage of the natural world.  People died.  Property was destroyed.  Those who survived have had the direction of their lives changed.  None of that should be mocked or belittled.

My mind always goes to “Why?”  Could the tragedy have been averted?  You can’t blame the hurricane.  It just did what hurricanes have to do.  It isn’t like Helene got up one morning and said, “This looks like an ideal day to reap carnage.”  There is a long list of natural events that have played out over time whether people were around or not.  Think of the question, “If a tree falls in the forest and there is no one around to hear it, does it make a noise?”  Unless you are a frog sleeping under a bush that does not matter.  The fact is the tree fell.  Hurricanes happen.  So do earthquakes, tsunamis, eruptions, droughts, floods and mosquitoes.  Think of Pompeii being buried by a volcano.  Think of the tidal waves and soot in the air cause when Krakatoa exploded.   None of them depend on the approval or preparation of humanity.

That part of “why” is a question for science.  It involves temperature, air pressure, solar flares and probably nature phenomenon that we don’t notice.  I has no moral component.  It is possible that something might be learned to reduce future danger but not enough to prevent it.

The human side of the equation is different.  Think of the Gulf coast or parts of California.  Natural disasters wipe out homes and business on a regular basis.  People rebuild in the same location.  Should I have sympathy for them?  In Southern California there is a large development in the foothills filled with very expensive real estate.  Such a thing is normal.  What does not seem to be considered is the location in a river bed that has been flooded repeatedly before.  Will the flood control work this time?  Or how about the people who build in the hills that are regularly swept by fires?

They say this was a hundred year or thousand year hurricane.  Does that justify the many homes that seem to have been located where water rages?  I find it hard to believe that everyone who had their home destroyed carefully thought out the location.  It was cute.  It was picturesque.  It was cheap

And what about the decisions to not be prepared?  I understand that you could have all the food and water stored that you might need and a flood could wash it down stream for someone else to use but I don’t think that is the problem for most of those in need.  Every once in awhile you read an article that talks about how little food and water people keep on hand.  If we were cut off we would have no concern about starving or dying of thirst.  Our diet might get boring but it would keep us alive.  Why?  Because we have planned ahead.

I read about people they were calling “disaster tourists” who were coming around to take selfies in the destruction.  If they can get in to take selfies, why can’t supplies be delivered?  There are a lot of unanswered questions.  I remember one that my students kept asking when we studied earthquakes, “How will you get home if the bridges are knocked down?”  The answer never seemed to occur to them:  I would walk.  While we wait for it to sort itself out pray for the genuine victims and if you know a reliable way to send help, do so.

And be thankful.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-317: A New Kind of Rodeo?

You have all heard people point out that they don’t need your advice because this is not their first rodeo.  I’m sure you can substitute other words for rodeo, but you get the idea.

Relocate to Asheville North Carolina a few weeks ago.  The news media was telling you to make preparations.  They were telling you that a big hurricane was coming.  It was everywhere.  It’s all people talked about.

I would venture to guess that most of those people living in the low areas of Asheville just kind of shook their head and said, “This ain’t my first rodeo”.  How many times have they been warned in the past by the same news media that this was the big one.  How many times have they been warned to prepare?  How many times have they opened another beer, put another log on the fire, and switched to another channel?  In the past that has been enough.  This time, not so much.

I wonder how much of the blame for the disasters should be placed upon the head of hyped up, fake news people, fake weather people, fake FEMA people.  You may have your own personal source of worry.  I think of all the times my wife has been frantic that we were going to die because a hurricane was headed our way.  We live a couple of hours from the coast.  I think we are closer to the coast than Asheville is.  I have almost sprained my wrist patting her on the head and saying, “Now, now”.  Keep in mind this is the news media telling you this.  I’ve been in places where people have called us asking if we were still alive and we just wondered what they were talking about.  It’s kind of like the story of the little boy who cried wolf.  How many times have the news media use their search for ratings as an excuse to get us excited?

I don’t want to place the blame for the destruction on them.  I’m not one of those conspiracy people that thinks that the contrails in the atmosphere are changing our weather, and that the mean and evil Nazi scientists are trying to take over the world from their bases in Antarctica.  The hurricane was real.  The flooding was real.  The crushed houses and fallen trees are real.  I’m not sure anybody could have anticipated it being this bad.  I am sure we will hear someone on the screen saying, “I told you so.”  So I’m not blaming the fake news people for the destruction.  What I would be blaming them for, would be making people callus to their warnings.

While we pray for the victims, look for honest charities to donate to in order to help, and in some cases, load up our cars and drive in to be of aid, we should take to the heart the lesson that can be applied to our lives.  Do you have any groceries in the pantry?  Are they the kind of things that might survive this type of catastrophe?  A month supply of hostess dingdongs is not what I have in mind.  I’m talking about cans of vegetables, tuna, anything that would survive rough handling.  It’s possible that you could have a pantry full of food, and a flood could smash your house and wash it all away.  That is true.  But it’s kind of like having a firearm.  It’s better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.  It’s also better to have it so that it can be confiscated by the government, than just stand there like a deer in the headlights waiting to be run over.

Pray hard.  Put feet to your prayers.  And prepare as much as you can.

Blessings.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-102: Storm Clouds and Probability

I just read an essay by Sarah Hoyt about preparing for the long rains.  As usual she has an interesting way of saying things.  What almost kept me from reading it was that it was a reprint from twelve years ago, but, since I was not reading her twelve years ago, I continued.

The once consistent point she makes here and other places is that we really can’t know what will happen, when it will happen and how much it will touch us.  That is not a weasel position.  It is a statement of fact.

So what do we do?  Do we panic?  She is very adamant that we hang in there and that we will make it through.  I think that is wise.  It goes along with something Jack Spirko of The Survival Podcast use to always point out, the likelihood of a disaster is in inverse proportion to how serious it will be.  An example is that a planet destroying asteroid hitting the earth is very unlikely but a flat tire on a rainy night is fairly common.

I believe we need to be prepared.  That will look different for each of us.  There will be different levels of crisis to bring panic and that will be the biggest killer.  I plan on beginning my preparation with a solid confidence that God is in charge and nothing will happen to me that does not fit into His providential plan.  That does not mean I won’t suffer.  It means I can trust Him to be in control.  So when I look at food supplies, I could buy plastic sheds and pile up 30 year food packs or I could have a sensible but generous supply of canned goods under the bed.

Above all, I plan to not panic.  If the government goons come and herd us into camps then I will find a way to rejoice and look to the future.  If all of the bloggers are wrong and things return to normal, I can live with that too.

Remember to take your umbrella if you hate getting wet.  It looks like rain.

homo unius libri

Opus 2023-248: Foiling Jackals

I am reading more and more articles urging people to make sure that they are prepared for the possible violence coming our way a la Gaza.  I think that is good advice.  It isn’t a matter of thinking you are Rambo and will take on an entire wing of the Biden Invasion Force.  It is a matter of security and one of the first rules of security is not being the weakest target.  Remember the joke about being chased by the bear?  You don’t have to be faster than the bear, just faster than at least one other person in your group.  In parking lots at night remember that any thug looking for some action is looking for the weak and the lame, not the alert and ready.  The human animals like Hamas are like the jackals surrounding a herd of zebra.  They won’t even look at the strong but will harass the weak until they fall.

Don’t be the weak link.

There are times when citizens need to pull a gun and shoot in order to defend themselves and what is dear to them.  Many more times all it takes is the visible presence of a firearm and the criminal will decide that there will be easier meat down the road.

The best way to avoid the barbarians of the world is to be armed and ready.  It may not be good news for your neighbor but it will keep your name out of the news.  If worse comes to worst, sell you life at the highest cost you can.  It may save someone else who is totally unprepared.

Blessings and stay out of dark alleys.  

homo unius libri

Opus 2023-045: Stay out of Paris

I am wondering what it was like living in France during the French Revolution if you did not live in Paris.  Was blood flowing in the streets everywhere or just where the French Socialists were at a certain flash point or critical mass.  I have heard that the modern French seem to hold their collective noses when they talk about Paris.  It would seem that even the French have some issues with the French.

Back to the revolution.  If you lived in a village on the Swiss border did life go on as usual.  Our modern excuse for media loves to hype things up and push us into panic mode.  I don’t know how many times my wife has been ready to rewrite her will just because the weather man told us we were all going to die.  I remember reading about the violence in Portland and other Antifa vacation destinations and wondering why anyone would be driving through areas like that.  I wonder how much violence could be avoided with a little bit of common sense.

Modern communication puts everything right in our face.  We can sometimes be right on the scene as the ambulances are arriving.  It gives us the illusion that we are in danger.  Riots in Atlanta?  Go look out the window.  Are you in Atlanta?  Get out a map and calculate how far Atlanta is from your house.  Do you have a field of fire and something to do the firing with?  Maybe it isn’t something that will effect you.

How does that apply if the United States goes critical?  If things start to fall apart, will it come to your front door?  If there is some kind of event, an EMP or a massive earthquake that takes out the infrastructure of Los Angeles, will it cause any ripples in Wichita?  If a nuke went off over D.C. when Congress was in session, would it mean your electricity would go off?  Would we even notice?

Probably not.  That may mean I don’t vacation in San Francisco or hit the beach in Hawaii.  That may crater their economy but it won’t do much to fly over country.

Prepare.  Pray.  Use common sense.  Help your neighbors.  Most of us will come through whatever is down the road.

homo unius libri

Opus 2022-363: Thanks Thoughts: Live Like There Is a Tomorrow

I was reveling in the blessings of 21st century America.  I thought about all the benefits of cheap, abundant electricity.  I marveled at the dependable transportation and all the doors it opened for a rich life.  I had not gotten around to the miracle of books and reading when I got side-tracked by the thought of abundant food with all of the variety available to me.

That got me on the squirrel trail of having an adequate pantry.  Some would call it disaster preparedness.  Some would call it common sense.  I have seen the shelves in people’s homes on which there was little thought for the future.  I am not talking about people who could not afford to stock up when there was a sale.  I am talking about people who would rather order a pizza delivered or go out to a local fast food place than spend any time in front of a stove or behind a grocery cart.

I would have thought that by this time people would realize that even if the world as they know it continues to exist there are events that might shut down the app they use to order food or cut off the power to their local hamburger chain.  I have lived through several.  I have read about others.  Life went on a few miles away but for them the water was gone and the microwave would not even ripple.

I do not prepare for hard times out of desperation but out of obedience and an awareness that there are bumps in the road.  I might be a good motive for you if you are one of those with only a can of soup and some hardened peanut butter on the shelf.  Another motive might be that you don’t want to be a drain on someone else.

Start being part of the solution rather than the basis for the problem.

homo unius libri

Opus 2022-174: JIT

Supermarkets are finding that it no longer works to keep no inventory on hand.  What is that called?  Just in Time delivery (JIT).  The supply chain had become so efficient that stores did not need to keep warehouses full of merchandise that would eventually sell.  All they had to do was put in their order for the next day and it would arrive before the shoppers.  That is not working anymore, thus we have shortages.  

Consumers are also going to need to stop living that way.  You need to have enough of what you use on hand so that you will be able to get over the empty shelf moment.  What you want will probably show up sometime.  You need to buy it when you can, not when you need it.  You might keep your feelers out and buy what you know a friend needs.

I recently ran out of ground cinnamon.  I know my wife has it stocked up somewhere but I could not find it.  Rather than ask and be told it was where it always is, I figured I would stop by the dollar store and pick some up on my next shopping trip.  The spice shelf was not empty but it seemed that there was a poor balance of choices.  There was row after row of dill but I could not find any cinnamon.  I was out of luck.  I found it an another dollar store a few days later and if I had wanted to pay a premium I could have found it that day, but you get the point.

One of the strategies we will use is the same one that people used before modern transportation, canning and refrigeration.  We will plan our menu based on what is available instead of what we want.  Fresh corn is only priced for common people a few weeks a year.  Plums are a summer fruit.  I am sure there are many more cycles I am not aware of.  It is why my mother went to the grocery store almost every day.  She wanted to check out what was on the mark down shelves.

A lack of cinnamon is not the end of the world but notice what has been happening with baby formula.

Don’t get down to the point of running out.  Learn to plan ahead.

homo unius libri

Opus 2022-100: Cycles

Too many people today are living on the equity of their ancestors.  I would think this is mainly those from working age to mid-life crisis.  Before they go to work, children are in the growth bubble.  They are nurtured and spoon fed to a certain degree.  How this nurturing is done will determine their ability to face the real world when they leave the nest.  The mid-life crisis forces the older group to take a more serious look at the time they have left.

I am reflecting mainly on the children of friends and acquaintances.  My own children are of course Lake Wobegon children, above average.  They look at the world without rose colored glasses.  It is the other “children” I worry about.  The ones I am thinking about have jobs that pay well.  They are not suffering.  They are definitely not going without.  At the same time they seem to think that the party will go on forever.  

When you think about it, my generation is much the same.  I grew up in the Leave It to Beaver years.  I am not criticizing the show.  That was the way my world was.  My family was blue collar but worked hard and kept their head above water.  My three brothers and I never went hungry and always had patches to put on the knees of our non-Levi’s.  I don’t think any of my brothers ever saved a dime.  It was a time of plenty, why would you need to have a nest-egg?

The lock-downs and government tyranny of the Covid manipulation have made some people wake up but the handouts and free money kept the party going for many.  My fear is, as the man said, “You ain’t seen nothing yet.”  Gas is getting close to double what it was a year ago.  The groceries I buy and thus know the price of are creeping up every time I go to the store.  I am not hearing about a parallel track on my income sources.  I don’t know what people are going to do who have their credit cards to the hilt and are still renting.

The economy goes in cycles.  We are in a down time.  Let us hope that our children make it through and the only scars they have are the ones that taught them to watch their pennies.

homo unius libri

Opus 2019-075: Can You Dig It?

Maybe it is time to start building a 21st Century version of the fallout shelter. 

I am not fixating on nuclear holocaust.  I don’t expect Rocket Man to be able to reach Los Angeles with a nuke.  Even if he does, I live in Texas now.  I am worried about a social nuclear arms race that is taking place.  It is expressing itself now in a growing hatred of Jews by the liberals in this country.  The same hatred is simmering toward people whom are serious about their Christian faith.  It is time to prepare for the hunts. 

Historically we have a lot of precedent for building secret closets to hide people.  Those of us who went to school before it was taken over by the socialists remember that many people in Europe walled off rooms and attics to hide Jews being hunted by the Nazis.  “The Diary of a Young Girl” by Anne Frank is still being read but I don’t know what kind of editing has gone into it.  Someone hid her.  A generation ago we had the book/movie “The Hiding Place” about the ten Boom family that were arrested and killed for hiding Jews.  It is what we can expect from the growing power of Antifa and the other goons on the left.

You may have found it romantic to consider the secret passages in castles and old homes.  They were real and they had a purpose.  Many in England were built during the Catholic/Protestant religious wars.  Catholics would hide a traveling priest so that he could hold mass and then move on to another secret closet.  If he was caught he would be killed so this was a serious thing.

Escape tunnels were sometimes dug out of cabins on the frontier in America.  If the Indians trapped you and burned the house, you had a way to get out.

Or consider the stations on the Underground Railroad.  People would dig out rooms off of their cellars or false walls in the house to hide slaves that were running for freedom.

It can happen here.  I don’t know if it will start with Jews or Christians but the day will come when they come for people who live by a higher authority than the state.

Start digging.

homo unius libri

Opus 2017-293: On the Street: Hide or Ignore?

I have been keeping track of Hurricane Harvey.  Since I am in the area being effected I have a little more concern than much of the country but I am far enough from the center to be safe.  We are now to the point where we get into the heart-warming stories of rescue and the sad stories of death and destruction.  Recently I was reading in Proverbs and came across this verse.

(Proverbs 27:12 KJV)  A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself; but the simple pass on, and are punished.

One of the things that comes clear in times like this is that a lot of people are suffering more than they need to.  All many of them needed to do was pay attention.

There isn’t much you can do when you home is right in the path of a level 4 hurricane.  You can batten down the hatches but you can’t fold up your house and put it in the trunk while you drive to Kansas.  I accept that.  Just as I can’t do a lot when someone is driving toward me on the wrong side of the road.  You do the best you can.  But if the person trying to drive me off the road is doing so at 1:00 A.M. on New Years morning and I am in my car because I wanted to get some more ice cream from the local all-night market, I am the one who put the ante in the kitty.  The home owner, who has known that the hurricane is coming for days, could have made a trip to the local home improvement store and bought some plywood, nails and even a hammer.  Then if things develop you are ready to board up your windows.  It is a little late to do it when the first branch gets blown through your window.

One of the biggest defenses against tragedy is to think and plan ahead.  We bought some property in Texas a few years ago.  We are from California where it never rains but we know places in that desert where floods have raged and destroyed.  So when we bought we investigated.  There are maps available that will tell you where the flood plains are and where the 100 year floods can expect to hit.  We also checked for local drainage systems.  A constant question was, “What if it floods”.  A few years ago there was another flood in the San Antonio area.  Houses were wiped out and people rescued.  It was like Harvey on a smaller scale.  This type of event is common in Texas.  Guess where our home is?  On top of a hill. 

When you see someone being pulled out of the windows of a submerged car, ask yourself, “How did they get there?”  The car did not drive itself.  Usually the water doesn’t rise 5 feet in 10 seconds.  The places where it does are clearly labeled in Texas with warning signs and depth gauges.  The radio and internet have been getting boring with their warnings about flash flooding.  I have only lived here a few months and I know that of the three roads from my house to a hospital there is only one that is safe in times of rain.

So let’s pull the people off the roofs and out of their cars.  Let’s give them a warm blanket, cot and a hot meal.  While we are doing that let’s engage our brains and look to the decisions we have been making as individuals and as a country.

Blessings to you and pray as much for the rescuers as you do the ones being rescued.

homo unius libri

Opus 2015-383: Never Forget?

After the Jewish Holocaust people swore they would never forget.  Now you have growing numbers of pseudo-intellectuals and an entire Muslim nation claiming that there was no Holocaust.  It was just a Jewish PR stunt, so there is nothing to forget.

Millions are not even aware of the Armenian Holocaust so there is nothing to forget.

The millions killed by Stalin and Mao are simply footnotes on conservative blogs.

Cambodia, what Cambodia?

911?  Isn’t that what you dial when someone is breaking into the house?  If people can conveniently forget the slaughter of unknown millions how can we expect them to remember 3,000?

September 11, 2001 was the date that the war Islam is waging against the United States came to local TV.  For a brief period Americans woke up to the fact that there is danger in the world.  Now we are giving the bankrollers of that attack $150 Billion (with a B) to finance their next project for American neighborhoods.

Never forget?  It is more like “Never learn.”

homo unius libri

Opus 2015-179: Should-a-Beens: The Snake and the Frog

First, lets admit that recent church shooting was a case of violent, ugly murder.  It was not a hate crime, it was murder, pure and simple.  The fact that hate was involved is like saying that car keys cause DUI.  If they have arrested the right man, and I have no reason to believe they have not, he should face the death penalty even if the professionals claim he was insane.  Of course he was insane.  If he is treated and pronounced “cured” he will go out and do it again.

Now lets look at the hard part:  Where do we go from here and how do we keep this from happening again.  The fools in society are going to call for more gun control.  Wake up and smell the roses friends.  It is already illegal to walk into a church and murder nine people.  Keep in mind that the Columbine murderers used guns as a back up when their bombs didn’t work.  Killers will find a way to kill.

How do we protect ourselves from the garbage around us?  The recent shooting reinforces the two things we have seen before.  First, my guess is that this church was a “gun free zone”.  They might have even had a sign up pronouncing that solemn decision.  The truth also needs to be declared that if any one of the people in that church had been carrying a firearm this would have worked out entirely different.  Guns in the hands of the saints can stop the gun totting sinners.

Second, and this is the hardest to wrap our arms around, why do large groups of people sit and let someone shoot at them?  I have not read how many were in the prayer meeting.  I know he shot nine people.  All it would have taken to stop this fool would be for the eight still untouched when he shot the first victim, to stop being victims and attack the man with the gun.  He is going to shoot you anyway.  Jump him.  Beat him to death with hymnals and Bibles. 

Most people who are horrified at my suggestion have never fired a hand gun.  They don’t realize how often the shooter misses.  Only in the movies do crazy 21 year olds whip out a piece and pick off nine people one after another.  This morning I read he reloaded several times in his shooting spree.  What did these people do while he was reloading?

In high school I took biology in summer school to get it out of the way.  The teacher had a snake in the room that needed to eat.  I rode my bike across town to a place that had lots of frogs, collected a bunch and brought them back for dinner, the snakes, not mine.  It was fascinating to watch the process of consumption.  The snake stared at the frog.  The frog froze.  The snake slowly approached and casually put its mouth around the frog.  The frog sat there and let itself be swallowed whole. 

The only reason the frog died was because it wouldn’t move.  Are killers snakes?  With apologies to the snakes, yes.  Are we frogs?  I would hope not.  God forbid that this should ever happen to any of us but if it does, remember those frogs.  Remember the lesson airline passengers learned on 9/11.  Don’t let the bad guys win.  If you are going to die at least take a few with you.

I know it is easy to be a Monday morning quarterback, backseat driver and livingroom warrior.  If I am ever faced with this horror I hope I rise to the occasion.  I hope if you are there you will back my play.

homo unius libri

Opus 2014-277: Grid Lock-out

We are living off grid.

It wasn’t planned that way, at least not by us.  The guys in the power company trucks say we were warned by mail.  The electricity went off around 9:00 A.M. and will not come back on until 5:00.  This is one of those low level events that are good preparation for a real disaster.

It makes me think of another reason for being prepared:  Monopoly created crisis.  Here it is the power company.  Tomorrow it might be the water company.  The government could strike at any time. 

It is interesting to me that they are doing this in a residential neighborhood on a weekend.  It would seem more considerate to do residential on week days and business on weekends.  I guess monopolies don’t need to worry about their public image.

What is really irritating is that this takes out my internet and I left my smart phone with its hot spot at work.

I know, I know:  First World Problems.

I guess in this crisis I might go shopping.

homo unius libri

Opus 2014-187: Bug out or bug in?

On my other blog, Perpetual Proverbs, I try to avoid politics and cultural issues.  So when I come across something in the Bible that stirs my mind in those directions I bring it over to Medley of Worship.  As I was reading in Proverbs I came across this verse that made me think of those who are concerned with being prepared for potential disasters. 

(Proverbs 27:10 NAS77)  Do not forsake your own friend or your father's friend, And do not go to your brother's house in the day of your calamity; Better is a neighbor who is near than a brother far away.

Whether it is a minor issue like loss of power or a major issue like the breakdown of all civil order, one of the big questions people ask is, “Should I stay put and try to make it through or should I run to seek safety?”  In psychology it might be called, “fight or flight”.   This verse seems to give advice for those times.  Proverbs calls them “days of calamity.”

The advice here seems to be stay close to home and work with your neighbors.  Don’t try to make a long, dangerous trip to a distant relative.  That is obviously open to interpretation.  It would also depend on how far away relatives are.

“Days of calamity” are not a modern phenomena.  Barbarians, drought, famine, pestilence, locusts and economic collapse have been around a long time.

Get ready.

homo unius libri

Opus 2014-96: The Elephant in the Preparation Room

Many people are preparing for disaster but they overlook one of the biggest problems they may face.

We can expect all kinds of problems in life from a backed up toilet to TEOTWAWKI (The end of the world as we know it.)  The chances of each type of event happening are in inverse proportion to the disruption.  Thus it is more likely that you will have a plumbing problem than a rouge planet strikes the earth and destroys all life.  You will need to deal with the toilet but not the cosmos.

You should prepare for the most likely events first and work you way up to the one that might happen in the next ten billion years.  Thus you need the number of a good plumber but no star ship.

But there is a big problem that is even harder to plan around:  The coercive power of the government.  When TSHTF what is to keep the government from passing laws against hoarders and coming to get the food that we have set aside?  There have been numerous cases in history where the elites have passed laws against hoarding.  Although there are probably cases of extreme hoarding, most of the time it is aimed at people who have sacrificed to be prepared.   You.  You will be expected to share with those who partied through the night.  The elites already get excited if you have too many guns and too much ammunition.  When will they want you to register your cans of tuna?

Currently they want to redistribute cash.  What happens when they want to redistribute calories.  Already the federal government is passing regulations about school lunches that keep parents from sending meals prepared at home.  If you don’t believe it, Google it.

I don’t have an answer.  If a swat team busts into my house at 2:00 A.M. to take the contents of my larder I have to ask myself, “Is it worth it to die for a few bags of rice?” 

Liberty is precious.  The government is pernicious.  Freedom is fleeting, bondage is forever.

homo unius libri

Opus 2012-217, Prepare for the Probable

On August 12 we had a power outage.  It didn’t make any sense.  It was in the cool of a Sunday morning.  I think it was the government messing with us somehow.  I took it as an opportunity to learn a little bit about the first level of preparedness.  These are the simple inconveniences that happen too often but do happen.  They are not life threatening unless you are on something like a respirator.  They are mainly irritating.

What helps in the little things?  For your computers there are battery backups.  A laptop is great because it comes with automatic kick in.  I found that even in the middle of the day flashlights were helpful.  There are many corners that are normally lit by a bulb and go dark without electricity.  An unexpected point I realized was to be prepared, doing the work the night before, instead of waiting until the last minute.  Keep your freezer full even if it is things that don’t need to be frozen like crackers and cereal.  It resists the heat for a longer period of time.  Many small appliances like clock radios also have a place for a battery so that you don’t need to reset them.  A few battery operated clocks so you don’t lose track of deadlines also help.

No big deal.  Common sense.  You probably already had them in place without thinking.  We can’t do much to prepare for the giant meteor that is going to strike any day now or the earthquake that will destroy life as we know it.  We can be ready for life to go smoothly in the little disruptions.



Yes, I do like to preach to the choir.

homo unius libri