Monday Message

"Preparedness, when properly pursued, is a way of life, not a sudden, spectacular program. We could refer to all the components of personal and family preparedness, not in relation to holocaust or disaster, but in cultivating a life-style that is on a day-to-day basis its own reward." (President Spencer W. Kimball)

I am going to say things happen in our life all the time.

We just had a terrible thunderstorm this morning that half way through the weather radio went off saying flash flood warning, it happened so very fast.

We had water running like a waterfall in a window in the living room that drenched three big bath towels before my husband could seal it up. The window is higher than the couch to give you a sense of this window height. It was just the rain was so hard and fast. Meanwhile, the two sump pumps in the basement were being over taken. We have an alarm to alert us if water goes on the floor and it was going off. We ended up with four inches of water in the basement and had to get yet another sump pump. So it took three hours to get the water out.  

It will be a bit of work. Most of everything is up off the floor but we just got a new furnace and I had to move cases of storage so they could work on the furnace and while I set them on the wood off the floor, water was higher so I will have to unload those cases. The biggest worry was the furnace. We just had to replace the water heater but it was up on cinder blocks which was a good call there. So now we just have a wet floor. My husband took out the furnace filter, it was wet but when he took off the panel to put a fan on the inside the great news was everything inside was eight inches up, thank goodness.

This all to say we never know what is around the corner. Though we did all we could, no one wins with water. We had two sump pumps in the basement. We have a water alarm. We have things up off the floor. Sometimes no matter how prepared you are things still happen.

Though we cannot be prepared for everything, what we do prepare for helps us through things that can happen.

Weather seems more extreme so putting in preps is something to be seriously considering.

If you have a place to plant a garden, try to do that and if you can, plant things that will give you food for years to come.

How can you do this when times are hard? Plan good but very frugal meals from the grocery budget leftovers, you can do a little at a time.

While you wait for your fruit to mature, learn to make jam.

Learn how to dehydrate.

How to make fruit leather.

How to can it.

How to make fruit butter.

Learn to cook from scratch. This cookbook is great. See if you can get it interlibrary loan, it is a fantastic book. You make one mix and the whole book is recipes using that one mix.

Learn to make good biscuits for the jam you will make. Learn to make bread to spread that jam on. While you eat, you can sing the song Francis sang from a children's book we read our kids - "Jam on biscuits, jam on toast, jam is the thing I like most."

Learn to make things you need or can give as gifts.

Here in this picture I wove some dishcloths.

In this picture are dishcloths that I knit. Did you know you can crochet them too?

Gus and Missy say to be kind to everyone, share your toys, be safe, stay away from water in your basement if you don't like wet feet, and build up your storage aka gibble. Plant a garden - they will help you dig :p