I think it was toilet paper

Last December when I first thought about trying to inspire a few people into being more prepared for emergencies,  my first question was about toilet paper.

Not about quality so much as quantity - actually more like "do you know how much you have and how long it might last?" quantity.  Far be it for me to pry into how much you actually use but I'm sure you realize using pages from a magazine or a catalog or, heaven forbid, actual tree leaves doesn't begin to compare to the real thing, right?  I don't care how many cute bears they use to advertise it either! I'm guessing that even a bear (if they had to use TP at all) would prefer the real thing.

However, I begin to wander more than usual!

Now it's almost a year later and I wonder if I joggled anyone into thinking about being prepared for that time when they might not be able to just run out to Walmart or Market Basket or the vendor of their choice to buy all those essentials that we are all so used to, well, using.

Not much chance in the next few weeks of some major snow storm - so does that mean you should wait until you are looking at one before you consider being ready for it?  I notice that even the Weather Channel is already beating the "be prepared to take care of yourself" drum.  Also during that Matthew thing there were several state governors who came right out and said, if you're not ready (or evacuated) when we tell you, you are on your own!  I think it is finally dawning on the powers that be that putting emergency personnel in jeopardy because the general public is too lazy or too stupid to do their part is just wrong.  Not doing your part to prepare for the unexpected?

Worst

Idea

Ever

I did open up my blog to accept comments (thus exposing my tender ego to bumps and bruises)  but either no one has anything to add or, like a couple of people, they prefer to privately e mail me.  I've always said that this isn't War and Peace - just one person's take on a mix of topics.  I think I'm probably supposed to have a theme so I try to return to the "are you ready" area at least occasionally.

How about take a look around at your basic supplies - easy to prepare foods and maybe even some water?  And don't forget the pets - unless you want to share your beans and rice with Fido or Kitty Cat you'd best lay in some food for them too!

On that note I will go out and attack the leaves in my yard - but I hope that this "reminder" (I hate the word "nagging") will help you at least consider making a few preps for the upcoming winter!

I will keep it short

  I'm sure there isn't a living soul in the US who didn't know about Matthew the Storm coming towards out southeast coast.  It was hyped for days ahead and followed more closely than a celebrity stalker to a Kardashian.   The news was everywhere for days in advance.

As it should have been - it was a dangerous storm that did a huge amount of damage.

That being said, while we were watching that right hand, the left one was sneaking up on the Carolinas - especially North Carolina.

There are people in North Carolina in a flood situation that is unprecedented - places that have never flooded and that are continuing to flood even now - days after the skies cleared and the sun came out. I heard this morning that there are people still in shelters and, more to my point, sheltering in their homes, unable to get out and without any services in many cases.

So here comes my point:  winter is coming and if you were told tomorrow that you have to stay in your house for the next two weeks using only the provisions that you have now....how would that strike you?  As a great way to diet?  As a cosmic joke played on you the day BEFORE you were planning on grocery shopping?  How about as what may very well happen sometime this winter?

Some one of the talking heads over the past couple of weeks stated the obvious (they are good at that) - it is much better to prepare before the emergency than to be the proverbial chicken with no head running around when it's here and happening.

Take a look at your supplies - food, water, medicines (even over the counter ones), sanitation supplies - all that stuff!  Do you have at least the recommended three day supplies - which is ridiculous in my opinion - when can you plan on a three day emergency - like a curtain goes up on the fourth day and it's all better?

Check it out, guys - and be ready for whatever little surprises the winter may gift us with.  And, by the way, North Carolina's problems had nothing to do with Matthew - so keep your eyes on all the balls, not just the one bouncing in front of you!

 And even if you could get out?  This might very well be what you find....just sayin!

Garlic's Promise

How strange it seems to be planting something while looking fall and winter dead in the face.  Years ago I tried to grow garlic - obviously before the great god Internet because I planted it in the spring and then stood over it wondering why the heck it never amounted to anything!  Today, of course, I would just "google it" and become instantly wiser.

My initial failure would be because I was planting it the wrong time of the year...who knew?

I'm sure that there would have been planting instruction if I had bought from a garden supply house.  But I suspect at that point in my "gardening" it was more of a point and shoot kind of thing:  buy garlic in the grocery store, put it in the ground in the spring and go from there.

Now that I am at least somewhat wiser (and definitely older) I not only buy from accredited sources but actually read the instruction/informational sheets that come with a product!  Amazing information to be found there.

It was a total polar shift when I found out I was supposed to plant the garlic mid to late October and that miraculously by the following July or August I would have lots and lots of....drum roll:  GARLIC!

So, as it is currently the middle of October it's garlic time.  I ordered the smallest quantity I could (a pound) and today was planting day.

A pound of garlic is actually quite a lot - ended up with 6 "heads" of garlic - each of which has to be broken up into all it's little cloves for planting.  Fortunately I have a friend who will take some so my garden next year won't be exclusively garlic.

I even followed the instructions that said to add aged compost to the bed prior to planting - my compost bins are finally starting to produce some wonderful compost.  For a while I thought everything I threw in there was going to retain it's original form and composition forever.  But time does indeed rot all things so I added several shovels of the compost to each of the two beds I planted today.

Put compost all along the middle of the beds and then spaded it in, smoothed it out and set the little garlic babies in place.

And, yes, I put in markers just because I can see myself planting something on top of them come spring and then wondering what those garlic looking things are.  Memory lapses are common at my age but I take it to new levels occasionally.  Anyhow, I marked the rows just in case, put the cloves in their assigned spots and then pushed them into the dirt.

Next step was adding a layer of mulch to protect them through the winter.  I will probably add more but this is a start.

It's eminently satisfying on a blustery fall day to tuck something into the still warm ground, cover it with soil and mulch and walk away secure in the knowledge that in the spring the cycle will continue and there will be garlic.

This has been a hectic summer for me in many ways.  Health-wise it was brought home to me in some not so subtle ways that an apple a day doesn't always keep the doctor away.  And it is quite possible for that same doctor to come up with some potential diagnoses that you never even heard of, never mind considered actually adopting as your very own.

So doing something like planting garlic which has the implicit promise that in the spring no matter what else is going on, the garlic will arise like a green phoenix out of the dirt is comforting.

Not to mention setting the stage for some kick-ass stir fries!