Lost on Dragonfly Farm

Man oh man does 2010 suck. I’m not one to bitch and moan but when nothing goes good month after month you can feel the curse upon you. We’ve had our share of the good but the bad is at a higher percent now.

This past months crap is enough to scare most people. I don’t like to dwell on the bad so we move on in our lives knowing that tomorrow the sun is going to rise, you know the saying you breathe in, you breathe out, you go on.

Bruce has been busy on many new projects and I’m happy to say that  fencing in 2 acres has him in great shape. Everyday I get to hear, oh man are my arms sore. The new fence involves not only putting it in but he has to cut the tree, strip the bark, dig the hole, place the post…repeat 50 times then he can rest. I’ll take more pictures later.

The Thanksgiving break was nice we headed to Myrtle beach to eat turkey with the folks and to play on their new boat. The boat scares me, I know we’ll all see on the news that 2 old people were lost at sea. My mother can’t swim and my father seems to get lost real easy. GPS or no GPS they best stick to the river.

The dogs got to go play in the ocean and ride the boat so for them it was a great time to.

Now that Justin has his nice camera most of the photography gets left to him, but he never gives me copies. I have to steal them off facebook.

Facebook is a time thief, it’s hard to stay off. I think it sucks up  to much time but that’s how the kids keep me updated. Without it I wouldn’t get to see Erin getting tackled on her rugby team. I would have missed Justin’s Clemson football pictures and I would never have seen Erin with red hair. Both the kids are loving the college life so even though the Chinese classes are hard, Erin is doing great. The military side of things has her involved in all kinds of cool things so the Army career is still what she plans on. I love listening to her speak in Chinese it sounds so funny. She will be living in China for 2 summers so she will be fluent by the time she graduates college. The army is paying her an extra hundred dollars a month if she passes the classes. Her plan at this point is to serve in Army intelligence, but Erin is fickle so who knows what will happen. I’m happy she’ll graduate and have an instant job that pays well.

Erin is the one looking at the camera.

Erin is on the Rugby team. After the game she put on a dress and went to a semi formal, where does she get the energy?

It was pointed out to me that the ringmaster was missing. I never tok pictures so I had to steal these from Justin. Here in all his glory is …..Bruce the Ringmaster!

I need to hire a photographer next year.

The party was a great success! I bet you want to see it. There’s a ton of pictures on facebook from other party goers but I have a short video. You can see a little of the decorations and then there’s the dancing fools. We cooked hamburgers and hot dogs people brought pulled pork barbecue, potato salad , chicken and dumplings, baked beans. There was lots of candy and desserts and need I mention the alcohol.

We again had the scavenger hunt trail in the woods, if the 8 items were found then you had a chance to spin the wheel of fate. The fates could be kind to you or evil. Evil fates included having to get on all fours and howl like a werewolf or drinking evil potions made up of moonshine. We had fun, good fates included winning lottery tickets and dvds. Bruce was the ringmaster I was and evil clown. We had clear weather and a full moon what more could you want. There was a 9 foot tall bonfire along with fireworks I wish I could have video taped lots of the happenings but it’s hard to have fun carrying a camera. I’m grateful for what little pictures I did get.

This is as evil as we could make our clowns. My sisters kid, me and my mom.

Our midway

My sister the bearded lady, she was called Candy.

The trapeze girls and another clown standing in front of the wheel of fate.

Our fortune teller. I think shes seen better days.

The twins in their cage for our safety

Of course there’s lots more I can show you but it’s to hard with only pictures. Your all invited to see the madness in 2011 ‘

Enjoy the video for an extra peek at the decor

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I read a good book the other day, it got me thinking, and at the same time it scared the crap out of me.

” One Second After” by William Forstchen, it’s the tale of a town in NC. near Asheville post EMP attack. I’m not sure how many of you know what an EMP does, it’s an electromagnetic pulse it can happen by natural causes such as a large sun flare or by man made causes such as a nuclear bomb detonated in the atmosphere.EMP the scariest attack ever devised. Forget bombs, forget getting killed then think about being alive and suddenly your cell phone stops working, your car stops running and anything that uses electronics stops working. No more electricity for a long time.  The book chronicles such an attack and what a family and a town does to survive the event. I found it an easy read that made me take stock of our family.

What happens if a catastrophic event were to strike our family, either thru an EMP or a hurricane or any other means that would stop outside help from reaching us for an extended period of time? Yes at first I laughed and said chances are unlikely but then I took stock. Do I have the means to get clean water, one adult uses one gallon a day so two adults needing to survive for one week would need 14 gallons. Then I looked at food, yes I have food to last a week but what if we had to leave this area due to fire or some other catastrophe, do I have food I can easily transport? The book not only makes you think but it opens your mind to taking stock of your own personal preparedness. Hopefully the EMP scenario never plays out, but a little preparedness goes a long way. We started to put together a 72 hour bag. This is a backpack loaded with the necessary items needed to survive for 3 days on our own. I think there’s  a lot of differences in what I would pack compared to a family with small children.

I found a site that sells the kit all ready to go. I’m putting one together on my own.

http://www.thereadystore.com/

Preparedness in this economy, in this political climate, might not be a bad idea.

Ok, so now I hope I got you thinking. My family, we got a plan, we also have  the means to protect our plan. I just want more of you to stop and think, cause when the shit hits the fan our plan doesn’t include more than 4 people . So far, I have in my backpack a water filter, 7 days worth of dehydrated food, a few glow sticks, a knife, a medical kit. I’ll eventually take some pictures of our pack when it’s finished.

I’m never one to dwell on the bad. Even though I’ll be prepared, I’m thinking that on the famous mayan calender end of the world date, I’m going to throw a party. The idea is that we eat only survival food, and we use no electricity, of course there will be plenty of beer. 12/21/12 sounds like a plan to me!