Story MJOTZY: Mom's Journal of the Zombie Years

[Kathy in FL]

As promised, I am moving a copy of this story here, so it doesn't get lost.

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Mom’s Journal of the Zombie Years
August: It Begins



Sissy's Journal

I feel a little guilty for taking the time to do this when there are so many more urgent things I could be doing but I really need a place to vent. Scott is all wound up with trying to keep our income coming in and the security stuff. The kids are alternately glued to the TV when we let them have it on or grudgingly trying to keep up with schoolwork and their chores. Me … it seems I’m stuck trying to keep everything else together and trying to inject some normalcy here and there in our suddenly far from normal lives. I’m not even sure where to start but I suppose in case anyone besides me reads this I better start somewhere near the beginning.

Scott and I have always been into survivalism. At first it was just a hobby brought on by watching too many really bad disaster movies. You know the genre with one-word titles like Inferno, Earthquake, Volcano, Pandemic, or Tsunami. In those early days, most of our plans were as unrealistic as the cinema features were. How about bugging out to Walmart or a local Mall and living the good life while the world crumbled? Or, how about planning to pile into the family car and camp out in the woods until things returned to normal? Never mind that we didn’t have a place in the woods that was secure, the equipment to camp out with, or the skills that kind of life required. We were so naive. Life isn’t a thing like the movies.

It was once the kids started coming that we had to really grow up. First Rose, then James and after a little while Sarah and Bekah. Johnnie is our youngest, and though a surprise, not an unwelcome one. As our family grew, our plans for survival matured. Surviving was no longer just a good conversation starter or a hobby. Surviving was now something we had to do because there were little, defenseless people counting on us.

Over the years we’ve actually had a chance to put some of our equipment and skills to use and to test them for flaws. One autumn vacation we were caught in an unexpectedly bad storm that kept our family out on a backcountry trail off the Blue Ridge Parkway two days longer than we had planned. Then there was that time the car broke down on Interstate 15 between Las Vegas, NV and San Diego, CA on the hottest day of a record-breaking heat wave. The hurricanes and other weather events we’ve faced here at home are certainly worth a mention or two as well.

The last few years we have also started prepping for things like war, economic collapse, or general civil unrest. Of course, with the way things were going any one of those three could have caused the other two at the same time. Then there were those pesky germs that seem to be getting more and more virulent – extra drug resistant tuberculosis, avian influenza, hemorrhagic fevers, manmade covid viruses, and lots of other little nasty viruses and bacteria. But of all the things we were prepared to face, I can tell you we never even had a clue that we’d be facing what we are facing these days.

No matter how much Scott and I have talked about it we still can’t figure out how this nightmare started. There are so many conflicting reports. Stories run the gamut from the disease being a bizarre mutation of a naturally occurring necrotizing bacterium to a biological terrorism event that got out of hand. Then there are the fringe groups that believe that it is a disease from a meteor that made it through the atmosphere and some that don’t believe it is a disease at all but a Judgment by the Creator for the sins of this world.

Zombies.

There. I typed it. I still can hardly believe it but there you have it. Zombies.

The thing is it isn’t like any of the movies portray it. At least not where we are at. At least not yet.

The few facts that have been confirmed that are being given to the public is that whatever is causing this disease – and I still insist on thinking of it as a disease despite the crazies and their wailing and gnashing of teeth – is that it started over in Indonesia. It quickly spread through most of the islands of that nation and then into places like Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, and other areas of Micronesia. It was once it reached Malaysia and Cambodia that it was finally noticed by the Western media and we began to hear about some strange new illness of unknown origin. The problem is that many countries in Micronesia and Southeast Asia tend to be very secretive. Once the disease made inroads into countries like China and Australia though, all bets were off. I have to admit, at that point Scott and I thought it was going to be some kind of Flu Pandemic though with unusual symptoms.

Here it is months later and there isn’t a nation in the world that has escaped having to deal with this disease. Luckily, whether viral or bacterial, it only seems to be transmitted by body fluids. The transmission has to be done in very close proximity to the infected individual because whatever the disease is it doesn’t “survive” outside of a host body. They’ve tried getting samples to study but the rate of decay of the fluids makes it impossible, it even decays in subzero temps. They’ve also been unsuccessful at duplicating whatever it is in the lab, which might be a good thing. That leaves observing and experimenting on victims that have been captured just after infection.

Unlike in the movies this stuff is spreading slowly. The only reason it made it into the US was because some whacked out Mexican gangs were using zombies as weapons against each other. Stupid idiots. The Border Patrol do all they can, but it’s nearly impossible to completely control border crime and find all of the underground tunnels that have been built over the years.

The disease is now endemic in most of the western US and in places that have a high immigrant population. Even though it is now a federal offense to not report Necrotizing and Reanimation Syndrome (NRS) the people in those populations are too scared. They are afraid of being forcibly deported back to countries that have fewer resources. In some countries, it’s an automatic death sentence to even be within a mile of an infected victim. A shot to the head that destroys the brain or complete decapitation and the government can say they’ve done all they can to prevent the disease from spreading any further. All that fear hasn't helped obtain public cooperation, it’s just driven people underground. That’s why I’ve started restricting even the Rose and James' access to the television. There are too many stories like that these days. So far only condoned in other countries by foreign governments, but the vigilante movement here in the US may not be far behind.

Well, no more time for journaling. Scott just drove up and I need to get dinner on the table. Tonight is the night we have to decide what we are going to do next. Do we try and keep operating like normal or do we pull the kids out of all their activities and sequester them here at the house? Now that we have our first case of NRS here in Tampa, we can’t put this decision off any longer.

 

[Kathy in FL]

Day One

Sounds kind of melodramatic but that is what this is. Day one of a new way of doing things.

This is the first time all day that I’ve had the time to sit down and add to this journal. I may have to stick to doing this at the end of the day unless I can write things down in bits and pieces as the day goes on. Today hasn’t been pleasant at all. After what Scott saw last night and what came out over the radio after he got home the “discussion” we were going to have about sequestering the kids was kind of moot.

The first case of NRS turned out to merely be the first case of several. They caught the first one early yesterday morning before Scott had gone to work at the rental properties. I hadn’t wanted Scott to even go to work after we heard the news, but what choice was there? We still have a mortgage and sundry other bills that must be paid. They’ve caught NRS zombies in other cities and it didn’t stop the world from turning or the bills from coming due.

Last night martial law was declared in our little corner of the world. Apparently the first NRS victim was one of a nest of NRS-positive homeless people that were found hiding in and under an old crack house in central Tampa just outside the area of town that caters to the Ybor City nightclub scene. Mixed in with the group was a prostitute that had been reported to her parole officer for skipping on her landlady, a teenage girl who had been listed as a runaway in another state, and a young man who had been listed as AWOL from MacDill AFB. The kid was fresh out of basic training and his parents had said he was freaking out after his first Zombie Detail Training Session (ZDTS).

The nest was 12 people in size, possibly more that were yet unaccounted for. The NRS Response Committee is basically shutting Tampa down for at least a week to assure that no more NRS-positives remain in the area. All schools are closed for the week. No group gatherings are being allowed for at least as long. The interstate system and the bay area bridges are all closed down. There is a dusk to dawn curfew for adults and no one under the age of 18 is allowed to be out unless accompanied by a parent or legal guardian. No one is being allowed to pass without at least two pieces of up-to-date identification, one of which must be a current picture ID. Scott said he was stopped three times as he tried to make his way home from downtown. They were screening everyone at the interstate off ramps.

The kids freaked out a little last night during our family conference, at least Rose did. Nothing like trying to explain to a high school kid why you are turning her life upside down and depriving her of all her hard-earned pleasures of senior year. James wasn’t very happy either but, being two years younger and not as social as his sister, he isn’t coming unglued quite as badly. Sarah, Bekah, and Johnnie refused to sleep in their own rooms last night; absolutely refused. They’ve moved into the master bedroom for the time being and I must admit I’m not totally against it. It was just as comforting for me as it was for them to have them so close.

After listening to the radio all day long, as well as the all-news channels, all I can think of at this time is I’m glad that Scott and I have our crap together already. I’ve heard that the gas stations and grocery stores are a nightmare despite the fact that no one is supposed to be doing any unnecessary traveling. There have been several near riots. Shelves and bins have been emptied as if a swarm of locusts took over the stores devouring anything and everything that could be considered edible. All of the convenience foods and freezer foods of every grocery store and mini-mart in the city have simply vanished. There was even a rash of fast-food restaurant robberies; not for the money in the registers but for the foods in their stock rooms and freezers.

Before everyone went to bed last night Scott and James closed and locked all our storm shutters and we’ve closed and locked the roll down doors that can only be activated from the inside of the house. It makes the house incredibly dark and cave-like, but I do feel safer having our entry ways secured. We’ve made sure our fire exit plan works, but otherwise our house is now like a vault.

Scott and James were doing other things as well like bringing in the lawn furniture, securing our vehicles, and a few other things before it got dark. Today they will finish all that stuff off and will further secure our fuel storage, both for the vehicles and for our propane grill.

For my part I went through and re-inventoried all our food. Between all our preps and the stuff I’ve been home canning and preserving over the last couple of seasons, we have nearly a year’s worth of food for seven people at 2000 calories/day/person. That’s nothing to sneeze at, but it’s only going to last if I’m as careful as I can be with what we have.

The other thing I did was inventory what I had in the refrigerator and freezer to see what I needed to use up first.

My inventory of the refrigerator reveals the following:
• An almost full gallon of milk (15 of the 16 cups that make up a gallon)
• One quart of orange juice
• A variety pack of sandwich meats
• Half of a 2-liter bottle of 7Up soda pop
• A half bottle of Bloody Mary Mix left over from a party at your neighbor’s house
• Some flank steak that you hadn’t put into the freezer yet
• Two loaves of sandwich bread
• 1 package of hamburger buns
• The tail end of a small can of pineapple juice
• Large tub of margarine or butter-flavored spread
• Lots of miscellaneous opened condiments.
• Several blocks of cheese as well as a couple bags of shredded cheddar cheese
• Most of a pie brought home from work that is left over from an office luncheon.
• Two and a half packages of sliced bacon
• Half a container of sour cream
• Some fresh salad fixings
• Two green bell peppers
• Small bag of onions
• A small bunch of celery

The inventory of the freezer reveals the following:
• frozen bread dough
• several pounds of butter
• a quart of vanilla ice cream
• a 4 lb pork roast
• a 2 lbs. Boneless chuck roast
• Several pounds of chicken pieces
• Two frozen pizzas
• About two pounds of shrimp already peeled and de-veined, but not cooked.
• A medium sized beef brisket (fresh, not corned)
• Bag of corn on the cob
• A couple of pounds of ground beef
• A pound of ground pork sausage
• Large bag of frozen hashbrowns
• A bag of frozen chicken nuggets

I also have:
• A small bunch of bananas on the counter top
• A bag of mixed apples (golden delicious and red primarily, but there area also a couple of green Granny Smith apples)
• A large box of Twinkies that was a panic buy at SAMs because I thought they would last forever and are individually packaged as well
• A partial back of snack food such as Cheez-its
• An unopened can of Coca-cola that I found where it had rolled under the passenger car seat of my van.
• Several bags of potatoes that are kept properly stored

If I work this out right I should be able to make all of that last a week with some odds and ends left over. I’m so glad that I got that order of stuff in from Honeyville last week. Nearly two thousand dollars knicked our savings pretty good, but in exchange we now have 130 #10 cans of basic long term food storage items including a couple cases of powdered whole eggs.

I know food and cooking isn’t nearly as glamorous as guns and shiny gold and silver coins, but it’ll bring a whole lot more comfort in the long run. You can’t eat bullets and who knows when or if we’ll be able to spend those rolls of coins. Besides food and cooking is what I know. And it’s the only way I have right now to comfort my family as we face this huge challenge together.

For breakfast this morning I mashed enough of the bananas to make breakfast. I hid the rest of them so that they aren’t a temptation for snacking. Johnnie is especially bad at grazing through the day on anything that he can find in the kitchen or pantry. I don’t care what they say, a four-year-old can eat just as much as a teenager when he puts his mind to it. I’ll use the rest of the bananas up to full advantage over the next couple of days. I also had to tape the 7 Up closed and let everyone know it is for cooking and not drinking. I took the flank steak out of the refrigerator and set it to marinating for dinner in a gallon ziploc bag. I also took the pork roast out of the freezer and put it in the refrigerator so it will thaw and be ready to set to marinating in the morning.

Breakfast: 7 Up Banana Bread; everyone prepared their own beverage of choice - such as coffee or tea. I wouldn’t let anyone drink the gallon of fresh milk; it will be needed for other things. I gave everyone a small glass of OJ for breakfast and that finished off the quart of orange juice. I rinsed out the plastic jug and left it to dry in the drainer. There are a number of things you can do with a plastic jug and who knows when I’ll be able to get any more.

Lunch: I made sandwiches from one loaf of bread and the variety pack of sandwich meat. I also used up most of the chips that were leftover. I gave the kids a small glass of milk with breakfast (that used up 3 of my 15 cups).

Dinner: Fresh salad topped with whatever dressing(s) was opened in the refrigerator. I made Lemon-Lime Flank Steak, white rice, and black-eyed peas. For dessert we had the remainder of the leftover pie. As for beverages, I have started to keep a pitcher of Kool Aide, or some other drink mix made and handy. Scott, Rose, and James prefer water.

After dinner I sanitized the gallon ziploc bag I used for marinating the meat. I want to re-use it tomorrow to marinate the pork roast in. The little bit of empty room I made in the freezer was easily filled with a 2-liter bottle of water so that they can freeze. I’m worried that officials won’t be able to contain all this civil unrest and we’ll see some power outages as rioters damage infrastructure.

After another family conference, we now have a more formal chore chart hanging on the refrigerator so that no one can make excuses about not knowing what their responsibilities are. So far, the civil unrest hasn’t reached our end of town but if it does Scott and I are going to have to take turns taking a night watch. Rose and James can help during the day, but I’m just not comfortable using them as guards at night while their dad or I sleep. I don’t know if I could sleep under those circumstances anyway.

Speaking of sleep, that is what I am off to do now. Scott and I could stay up all night talking about “what if” but that won’t help us in the morning. And tomorrow is going to be a full day. We are building a disinfection station at the side of the house. With no new NRS-positive victims it looks more and more like they are going to try and get things back to normal by the end of the week which means Scott will have to go back to work. I can’t even think that far ahead I’m so tired.

 

[IVYINFLA]

Thank you very much.

 

[Kathy in FL]

Day Two

Another day of no new information. Well, no news is good news I guess. We kept the radio on all day no matter where we were or what we were doing. We managed to get the disinfection station up before lunch time and then Scott sent the kids into the house so he and I could hash some things out.

I knew I wasn’t going to like what he had to say. I don’t take being dictated to very well at all and it looked like I was about to hear my husband lay down the law. He had the “man of the house” look on and that usually doesn’t bode too well. And after we finished our “discussion” it took everything I had not to throw something at him.

It’s not that I don’t understand where he is coming from. I’m trying to be realistic. What I didn’t like was the dictatorial way that he laid it all out. I know he only did it because he thought he was doing what was best for all of us. It still made me want to chew horseshoes and spit nails. The worst of it was that I couldn’t even really disagree with him. Oh, I guess I could have, but it would have just been for the sake of disagreeing and not because I really felt he was wrong.

It’s not just the kids who will be sequestered, it’s going to be me as well. That means no leaving the house for any reason. Scott doesn’t even want any of us to leave the yard as that might put us too far from our security measures or put us too close to potential harm. I figured that was what was going to happen, but I hated that he made the decision for me. It would have been nice to have at least had some semblance of say in what happened, even if it was an illusion.

What really burnt my biscuits though is that with his next breath he said he was going to start going back to work tomorrow. Argh!!!! Yeah, yeah … I know it’s necessary but that is another one of those command decision maneuvers that made me really unhappy. He is not expendable. It’s no less risky for him to be out and about than it is for me. We need him here as much as the blasted tenants do. I resent that someone else is taking his time and protection away from us.

Bottom line is that I’m going to be at home with five very cranky and scared kids while he is going to be out and about trying to operate as normal. This is so going to be a challenge of gigantic proportions. And I’ll never be able to be easy in my head or heart until Scott comes home each night.

As far as the rest of the day went, it was par for the course. I started marinating the pork roast first thing in the morning. Tonight I used up all but the last quarter cup of the 7 Up, as well as the tail end of the can of pineapple juice and the ice cream. While everyone else was at breakfast I took a pound to a pound and a half of chicken pieces out of the freezer and put them in the refrigerator to thaw for tomorrow.

Breakfast: Use one of the Golden Delicious apples and some of the shredded cheddar cheese to make Apple Cheddar Scones; the kids have a small glass of milk each with their breakfast (15 cups minus the three cups used at lunch yesterday minus the three cups used at breakfast today leaves 9 cups of fresh milk.)

Right after breakfast, I set a jug of solar tea outside to brew. So long as the weather cooperates, this will be is likely to be the main beverage of choice for our meals in the afternoons and evenings from here on out. Only when solar tea is not an option will I use the cold brew tea bags from Lipton.

Lunch: I used the two frozen pizzas. Everyone is getting pretty stressed out as reality begins to set in. Pizza is definitely at the top of the list of comfort and fun foods when you have kids of any age.

The local media is playing the zombie angle for all its worth and everyone is getting glued to the television. If the stories aren’t about NRS they are about the grocery stores and how nearly all the shelves around town have been completely cleaned out. There are also two stories, one local and one from Atlanta, where food bank warehouses have been broken into by angry mobs.

After lunch I started thinking about dinner. I had stored nearly 50 pounds of lentils, so I thought that it was time for us to try them out. My family likes baked beans so I figured to try a baked version of lentils to get Scott and the kids used to a bean they aren’t accustomed to eating. I had to start this dish right after lunch because it takes some time to cook.

Another thing to be glad of: the utilities are still on and long cooking times aren’t a worry yet. In some of the foreign countries where NRS has become endemic, quarantines are making it difficult for the authorities to keep the public utilities up and running. It’s not like economic problems and commodity shortages weren’t already causing problems, but trade embargoes of countries where NRS is out of control has exaggerated everything.

Dinner: Pork Roast with 7 Up Gravy; Baked Lentils with Bacon; canned veggies; Too Cool Twinkie dessert; beverage is tea

I guess I’m going to have to start collecting my recipes and sticking them in this book too. It doesn’t do me a whole lot of good to mention something if I don’t have a reference for it.

After dinner, I made sure to rinse out the 2-liter bottle left over from the 7 Up and then re-fill it with water and stick it in the freezer. A full freezer is more economical to run than a half-empty one. And I have a feeling the ice will come in handy sooner or later. The little bit of 7 Up that remained was put it into a small container and saved for tomorrow morning. I also took some of the ground beef out of the freezer to make hamburger patties for lunch tomorrow.
Sounds almost normal but I guess that is the point. I’m trying to give my family “normal” for as long as I can. I have a nasty feeling we are going to be living abnormal in the not-too-distant future and for who knows how long after that.

 

[Kathy in FL]

Day Three

Today Scott went back to his regular work schedule. I was on pins and needles all day. I fixed him a basket of lunch and snacks and added another case of water bottles to his van. When he asked me why all I could say was “just in case.” At least it made me feel better to know that he’d have something besides those nasty tasting energy bars to fall back on if he got stuck somewhere.

I had an awful scare today. The phones all went dead; the landlines and the cell phones. I couldn’t get facetime or any of the other social media websites to work either which led me to find out that the FiOS connection was down. There is no reason that all of those should have gone down simultaneously. Everything was down two hours and I felt completely cut off. Scott wasn’t too happy either. Aside from interfering with his ability to complete work orders, he said he nearly came home because he worried if there was an emergency, we wouldn’t be able to reach each other. So far, there has been no explanation from our service provider or in the media as to what caused the outage. Now is not the time for authorities to go all mysterious. There had to be a purpose or reason to it, but I can’t fathom it at the moment.

The menu today was pretty good. Its gonna be awful when all the fresh and frozen meats are gone. First thing this morning I took the thawed chicken pieces out of the refrigerator and put the ingredients for “Garlic Brown Sugar Chicken” to cook in the crockpot. This recipe used the remainder of the 7 Up from the 2-liter bottle. I’ve got several cases of soda hidden around the house but I’ll save them for a surprise on down the road if things get bad. I’m definitely feeling the caffeine withdrawal though from not having my daily can of cola. The tea I’ve been drinking instead only helps with this a little. I'm trying to not let the withdrawal make me cranky, but it isn't easy.

Breakfast: I used another one of the apples and some commercially packaged pancake mix and made Apple Cinnamon Pancakes. The milk needed for the pancakes left me with roughly 8 cups of fresh milk and it is getting close to its expiration date.

Lunch: I Pan-fried some hamburger patties. That used up the package of hamburger buns that was in the refrigerator as well as a few of the potatoes when I made home fries.

The store-bought bread is going quick. I started a batch of Amish Friendship bread starter. It’s not fancy but at least this way I won’t have to break into my yeast bottles until I absolutely need to in case things go back to normal sooner rather than later. I needed three cups of milk to get the batch of starter going so that left me with about five cups of fresh milk. I hate to see the end of the fresh milk, but I don’t see any choice at this point. It will be ten days until the first batch of starter is ready, so that means I’ll need to plan on cornbread and homemade tortillas to slack our family’s craving for bread. If the Amish starter works I might try my hand at a traditional sourdough starter. Right now I already have too many other projects going.

Dinner: I made Garlic Brown Sugar Chicken and served it over rice since I have so much of it. I must have 600 pounds of rice in various containers. I had considered noodles but given I’m not that great at making homemade pastas, I’ll save my store-bought noodles as long as I can. I also made baby carrots the way we like them using the recipe I got from the Cracker Barrel restaurant chain. Since the fresh milk is already on the cusp of expiring I went ahead and let the kids share three cups of milk between them. James and Sarah were so sweet and let their three younger siblings have their portions. That leaves me with 2 cups of fresh milk out of the gallon I started with.

While we were eating dinner, I baked Pumpkin Apple Bread for tomorrow’s breakfast. It takes an hour to bake and I didn’t want to have to get up too early in the morning after all the work that I did today. Besides the dirty dishes I make and clean tonight will be dirty dishes that I don’t have to clean tomorrow. Saving time and water is a good habit to get into.

The kids finished up their chores and went to bed nearly two hours ago. Scott is asleep as well as he put in a full day at the apartments. We had another AC unit vandalized to get at the copper. They cut the chain link fence with bolt cutters to get at it. The renters say they didn’t see or hear a thing despite being home all day and night. Scott isn’t buying it and is really frustrated at yet one more major expense being unnecessarily dumped on us. Of course the tenants are shrieking with anger because it isn’t going to happen immediately because the shops that have the parts he needs aren’t open by government mandate.

I haven’t been able to wind down just yet. I don’t know why as I spent most of the day outside working on our edible landscaping and getting my container garden going. James helped me reinforce some of the fence sections and we also put a lock on all three gates into the backyard. I should be very tired, but I can’t seem to stop going over my plans again and again looking for ways to make them better. It doesn’t help me go off to sleep that they’ve found another NRS-positive in the same area of town where they found the original nest. Nor does it help that the evening news reported that NRS has been found in nearly a dozen new locations across the country. How on earth is this stuff spreading like it is?

 

[wilecoyote]

Thank you I love this work of art!

 

[Kathy in FL]

Day Four

I’ve been paying for my nearly sleepless night all day. I’ve been dragging around and practically falling asleep at every opportunity. It was a stupid choice to just sit up no matter how nervous I was. In the future I’m going to have to force myself into getting more rest even if that means a toddie or a little pill. One of these days I may not have any choice but to be up for days on end, but when I don’t I need to, I need to use some commonsense and keep myself healthy and alert.

This morning I took the beef brisket out of the freezer and put it in the refrigerator so that it could thaw and be put in the crockpot first thing in the morning tomorrow. In place of the brisket, I added a water bottle to fill up the extra freezer space. I also boiled a couple of eggs to go into the tuna salad I fixed for lunch so that they would have time to cool.

I keep wondering if we are going to have any utility interruptions that will cause me to have to break into our alternative cooking equipment. Other cities are dealing with them sporadically. Interruptions are being caused either as a direct result of damage to infrastructure – usually ‘cause an NRS-positive blunders into some main power lines or equipment – or because contamination, quarantine or city embargoes create fuel shortages. I can easily see that happening around here. Scott has already mentioned that he is going to have to start carrying one of our spare cans of fuel with him. He nearly ran out of gas before he found a gas station open that actually had fuel to pump. This is worse than after a hurricane or during those BLM and Antifa riots when Scott and I were in college.

Today is day two of the Amish Friendship Bread Starter. All I needed to do was stir the mixture. The starter already smells like a science experiment run amok. I’ve put it in a gallon ziploc bag to try and keep the yeasty odor from permeating the whole house. The central air conditioning helps keep the house from getting too rank but if we lose power, I may need to prop open some of the shutters, at least during the day.

Breakfast: The Pumpkin Apple Bread I made last night was perfect for breakfast. Some of us ate the slices plain and some used preserves or butter. Johnnie enjoyed having a little drizzle of honey on his slice. It was nice not having a major clean up right after eating.

Lunch: For lunch I fixed tuna salad sandwiches and let the kids eat the crumbs out of the bottom of the bag of chips. That finished off the jar of opened sweet pickle relish in the refrigerator. It also put a dent in the opened container of Miracle Whip that is in the frig, but I have several more unopened bottles where that came from in our prep stockpile.

Everyone has their own handy-dandy version of tuna salad, but I make it the same way my mom did when I was growing up. But something really struck me after Bekah asked me how to make tuna fish sandwiches; I better start gathering all our traditional, but rarely written down, recipes someplace the kids can find them. If something happens to Scott or me the kids aren’t just going to lose a parent, they could lose their heritage and that would be very sad. I also need to have the kids take turns helping to make meals from here on out to make sure they have all the skills they need. It’s depressing to think about not being there for my kids; but I guess as a good parent that is the kind of training that I need to give them to make sure they can be self-sufficient

I tried to divide the remainder of the fresh milk between the kids at lunch, but it had soured. At first I was angry about wasting what could have been used earlier, but then I decided to make a double batch of sour milk biscuits to go with dinner which made better use of the milk anyway. It was awful to see the last of the fresh milk gone, but it was inevitable. I have a lot of cans of evaporated milk and what seems like more powdered milk than we could ever use. I put several cans of evaporated milk into the refrigerator to keep it chilled. From here on out I need to make sure that there is always a pitcher of cold water handy to make up some powdered milk for drinking. I want to wait a few days before I actually start using the evap milk or powdered milk which will give everyone a chance to have cravings. They will likely be more accepting of the difference between fresh milk and powdered by that point. Or at least I hope.

Dinner: For dinner I fixed Cajun Shrimp Stir fry. We also had the Sour Milk Biscuits and a Bacon and Rice Creole casserole. For dessert everyone had a biscuit with butter, jam, molasses or honey.

The kids had kitchen duty tonight so I was at loose ends for a minute until I remembered that I wanted to do something special with that frozen bread dough. I took it out of the freezer and set up a pan for Cinnamon Buns which is now sitting in the refrigerator and ready to go into the oven first thing in the morning. After I finished that I shut down the kitchen and locked the pantry. Like I told Scott before I did it, I hate having to lock up the food. It makes things seem worse somehow. It may be worry, or my imagination, but I swear it looks like someone has been doing some midnight snacking. The last two bananas have disappeared and no one is admitting to doing the eating. I can't even find the peals. This kind of action definitely has to be nipped in the bud.

The one humorous thing that did happen was when Rose asked me why I was calling my journal something as over the top as “Mom’s Journal of the Zombie Years.” I explained that it was a play on the text written by Daniel Defoe in 1665 called “Journal of the Plague Years” that dealt with events surrounding an outbreak of plague in London, England. Afterwards, she just rolled her eyes as only a 17-year-old can and all I could do was remember myself at her age. I must have driven my parents nuts. She’s a good kid and is even quite mature compared to a lot of kids her age, but this situation would make anyone cop an attitude. She is being forced to give up quite a lot right when her world should be expanding. All the kids are giving up their freedom. Scott and I hope we can make it up to them some day but right now we are more concerned for their safety than their freedom. They’ll have to learn to be content with whatever good times we can find each day. We all will.

Speaking of my parents, I finally reached them. My brother and his family have decided to move onto their acreage with them a month earlier than planned. They live in the sticks on five acres of woods, and are at least 45 miles from the next city of any size with a hospital. Their health has been declining and I have to say it was a relief to know that my brother was going to be moving closer to them even if it was because my brother has lost his third job in two years. They’ll be together and dad will have some help with the heavy labor of keeping up with their big garden and keep the road back to their acreage clear which has started to get blocked too often by fallen limbs and pine trees that have decayed due to a pine beetle infestation that took off in the planted pines in front of their parcel. My nephews are apparently loving it up there, but my sister-in-law who has never lived in the country is having a hard time adjusting. She is already talking about taking a vacation to see her parents "to get away from all the quiet."

I wish we had some land. We don’t live in a subdivision, so our neighbors don’t live right next to us, but we only have a half-acre lot – and most of that taken up by the house, pool, and shed. That doesn’t leave me a lot of options for growing food. And the stupid Code Enforcement Nazis make sure that we don’t have any kind of livestock, including chickens. Basically, if the economy keeps deteriorating and/or the NRS situation gets worse we are going to be stuck with whatever I can make of what we already have. Lucky for us I’ve been going that direction for a few years now and I have very few strictly ornamental items in the yard anymore. Now if we can just have the weather we need to keep everything growing. We need some rain.

 

[AlaskaSue]

If you see an Alaska license plate with MJOTZY, it’s me. Long-time fan of this one.

 

[Kathy in FL]

Day Five

After reading last night’s entry I could just kick myself for saying we needed rain. It’s done nothing but rain all flaming day today. The kids have all been cooped up inside which was not fun. I’ve been cooped up inside which was even less fun. And Scott came home from work soaking wet and now has the chills which was the least fun of all.

He barely picked at his dinner and went straight to bed right afterwards. If he gets really sick, I don’t know what we’ll do. I’ve got ye ol’ standard OTC meds here at the house. I even have a few fish antibiotics hidden in my medical supply tub way back in my closet, but I sure don’t want for him to get that sick. I was just barely comfortable with the whole fish antibiotic thing to begin with. Bought a Physician’s Desk Reference and printed off all the information and dosing charts I could for the different meds I bought, but still, I’m not a doctor and hadn’t ever really planned on having to use them except in the most extreme cases. We DO NOT need an “extreme case." Hopefully he'll just cough and hack a couple of days and then be back to normal. Nothing worse, please God, things are funky enough as they are.

Where to start? They closed the bridges and tunnels in and out of NYC. I mean, you can line up and get screened before leaving the city but it’s taking a really long time. Even with sporatic rioting, lines literally snake for miles from the heavily guarded exit points. You must prove you don’t have any open or recent flesh wounds before you are allowed out of the quarantine zone. People are crossing the river to get out illegally, but you have to be careful. They are patrolling with armed Coast Guard boats now and they ain't messing around. During one of the news segments, they interviewed a guy who was having a screaming hissy fit because they wouldn’t let him through even though he just had a cut on his chin from where he had shaved that morning. Another woman, the mother of a couple of toddlers who were crying in the background, her whole family is stuck because one of her kids had a scraped knee. More than a time or two I’ve heard NYC described as the “City of the Doomed” on various survival sites, but it was more of a joke than anything else. The joke is not so funny these days.

The story goes that instead of properly disposing of the NRS victims where they were found, NYPD had been ordered by city officials to remove them to the local morgue for disposal so as to avoid any kind of public incidences. Yeah, that worked. Not. According to reports coming over CNN two morgue locations and their staffs have been “sanitized.” Yeah, they actually used the word sanitized. I wonder if that is anything like culling livestock within a certain proximity of an outbreak whether they register infected or not. A small apartment complex was also declared contaminated with 28 NRS-positives and they’ve quarantined several blocks in all directions and are making a building-by-building inspection.

I’m spending yet another sleepless night trying to figure out what to do next. I'm doing OK though because I’m flying on caffeine that Scott brought home in the form of a couple of cases of cola that had been left behind by a tenant who skipped on us. Yeah, more good news like that I can do without. The tenant skipping, I mean. The finding of desperately needed caffeine was bodaciously good.

I think I was able to convince Scott to stay home from work tomorrow and I also confiscated his cell phone. He needs uninterrupted sleep and I have a feeling that the news out of NYC is going to make some of our tenants a little crazy (or crazier I should say) for a while. Scott and Carlo cleaned all the junk out of the apartment already. Most of the stuff they put down at the road but he brought some home in the van. I hate when he does that, it always causes us grief. Technically if we don’t put it down at the road, we are supposed to put it in storage until they show up to claim it, but in this case I think we can claim it as abandoned property because we asked the tenant’s family to come claim it for over a week and they never did. From the look of things, it appears the chick’s live-in sugar daddy was a dealer or a wannabe. And since the craphead is now in jail – and the chick has moved on to the next gent who was willing to pay to keep her – if he finds out that his stuff went missing, hopefully he’ll connect it to her and not to us.

The drugs that were left behind Scott just flushed. He would have turned them over to the cops like he normally does but he didn’t want them to confiscate some of the other items left in the unit. I’m no expert and neither is Scott, but we aren’t complete idiots either. The short, small ones are handguns and the ones with the long barrels are rifles. The bores on the rifles are smallish so I feel pretty safe saying they aren’t shotguns. Yes, I’m being a little snarky. This is my journal so, oh well. I’m tired of having to clean up other people’s messes and on top of that now I’m going to worry if any of the guns were used in the commission of a crime. Sigh. And on top of that there was what looked like plenty of bullets for all of the calibers as well. The question is what ammo goes with which gun? OK, so maybe I’m dumber about guns that I’d like to admit, but Carlo – who has done a little time for things best left unmentioned – helped Scott label the ammo containers for which went with which.

Scott has a license to carry a concealed weapon here in FL. It was a relatively blow off easy thing to get out at the Fairgrounds last year. I was gonna go to the next gun show and get one for myself, but we never actually got around to getting a gun. We aren’t scared of guns or anything, but the expense and lack of experience didn’t do much for our confidence in actually picking the right gun to own. Scott's parents were barely literate and the children of Depression era immigrants. They've been gone 15 years now and as much as I loved them, I'm not sure that they could have handled what is going on these days. I grew up around guns, just never really absorbed the culture although I can shoot a rifle without being knocked on my fanny. Daddy is retired USAF, and my grandfather and uncles won all sorts of hunting trophies. That was a million years ago though and none of them are around to help us with this now. So we’ve locked the guns and ammo in a footlocker in Scott’s closet. I know they aren’t doing much good sitting there but at least I don’t have to worry about Johnnie getting into them. We haven’t told the kids about them yet. I guess we’ll talk about that tomorrow at some point.

In addition to the guns there was a vest that Scott said was bullet proof. Humph! The thing looks like it would fit Santa Claus and his brother at the same time so I’m not sure how much good its going to do us. I’m not real fond of the idea of ever being in a situation where we’re being shot at anyway. That’s not the kind of fashion statement I want to make. Then there were two billy-club looking sticks – the ones like the old Keystone Cops used to carry around on their belts – and what Carlo told Scott were basic home invasion and car theft tools. OK, after nearly 13 years of being a landlord we’ve seen some wild stuff left behind and this really isn't too bad compared to some stuff we've run across. I think the real human skull and femur bone in the cauldron still outranks Sugar Daddy's stash, but Geez, you know? It would be nice to run across normal stuff every once in a while.

The rest of what Scott brought home was really tame in comparison to the armament. Looks like the sugar daddy may have also been dealing in stolen goods. There was a crap load of jewelry, most of it pretty cheap but some of it definitely not. There was enough electronic equipment to choke a horse. James will probably get most of that. He’s not a geek, but he has developed a talent for building new electronic pieces from old. He’s already built three computers and repaired a couple of Xbox’s from scrap pieces Scott has brought home. There was a lot of DVDs and CDs too … Carlo requested and got all the smutty ones. He’s between girlfriends again. He's always between girlfriends.

There was a nice selection of silver serving pieces and some pretty bodacious hunting knives, but I’ll guarantee those are going to be cleaned with bleach, a toothbrush, and elbow grease first thing in the morning. A couple of those knives looked like they had been used for something other than kitchen duty. When Scott went to change the air condition filter he also found a big bag of old coins and a wad of cash that he still hasn’t taken the time to count. The money looks skuzzy to me so I’ll be laundering it – literally – and after it dries I’ll run the counterfeit felt marker over the bills just to make sure it’s not funny money. The only other thing he brought home was a lot of copper tubing and wiring. Looks like we can add metal thief to the sugar daddy’s resume as well. Enterprising dude. Not.

We’ll deal with all of that stuff tomorrow, I need to finish recording what I did today and toddle off to the sofa to try and grab a couple hours of sleep. I'll leave the bed to Scott and his germs, although with the kids in there I’ll probably be looking at taking care of at least three more sickies before a week is gone by unless I keep the room fumigated with Lysol disinfectant.

This morning I took the bread dough from the refrigerator to use to make Cinnamon Buns. While that was baking, I put the brisket and other ingredients into the crockpot. I then took the boneless beef chuck roast out of the freezer and put it into the refrigerator to thaw. This left enough space in the freezer to put another 2 liter bottle of water in there. The freezer is starting to look very bare of food.

Today was day three of the Amish Friendship Bread Starter which just meant another stir to the mixture by squishing it around in the ziploc bag.

Breakfast: The Cinnamon Buns recipe made quite a bit and totally filled my biggest bundt pan. I saved the leftovers – which I subsequently had to hide from James, he's turning into a bottomless pit – and used them for dessert after supper.

Lunch: I unintentionally thawed more shrimp than expected yesterday and since you can’t re-freeze them, I used them to make Bloody Mary Shrimp and Pasta. There was enough that I didn’t have to make any side dishes to go with the meal which I hope saves us food.

Dinner: For dinner we had BBQ Beef Brisket straight out of the crockpot (saved me from washing a serving dish) with egg noodles and corn on the cob. The cinnamon buns were just as good for dessert as they were for breakfast.

After dinner I took the ground pork sausage out of the freezer and put it into the refrigerator to thaw. I’ll need it in the morning.

Oh glory, I can hear Scott snoring from here. I’m definitely sleeping on the sofa tonight. I hope he is feeling better tomorrow. We’ve got a lot to discuss. Being stuck here at home for nearly a week is driving me nuts. It should be safe for me to try and hit the grocery store tomorrow. I may not be able to pick up any extra food, but I’d like to try and get some laundry detergent and see if there is anything else worth grabbing. Surely I can get out for just a little while and honestly I can't see it hurting anything.

 

[Kathy in FL]

Day Six

I wasn’t up as early as I had hoped to be this morning. Blasted snooze button, I guess I need to move the alarm further away from the bed. Having the shutters up keeps the light and noise out that would normally wake me but after the last couple of nights I was probably needing the rest anyway.

I got up (I moved back to the bed after Scott threatened to switch places with me if I didn’t get in there), washed up, got the kids up and while they were taking care of their morning routine I took the last of the ground beef out of the freezer and stuck it in the frig to thaw for tomorrow. I’ve got plenty of home canned ground beef, but it is really scary to be using the last of so many fresh and frozen foods. I had planned on trying to get away to the stores today but that sure didn’t happen.

I also squished up the Amish Friendship bread starter. That’s all I needed to do since this was only day four of the directions. It takes ten days to make the starter and I hope it’s worth it. I’ve done it off and on for years, but never because I really needed to. Everything seems to take on new meanings and urgencies lately.

Breakfast: For breakfast I made a Southern Grits Casserole, which used up quite a bit of the grated cheddar cheese and the package of ground pork sausage that I had thawed. It was a very hearty dish, so I didn’t fix lunch and just fixed dinner an hour earlier than normal. I’m going to start gradually seeing if I can take out a meal (or two or three) each week to save on our food stores. Of course the kids got hungry anyway so I wound up giving them a cup of broth that I made from bouillon cubes. I’ll admit that I’m also getting a little sick of cooking without a break. All of the convenience foods are disappearing fast so I’m left having to cook everything from scratch which is more time consuming.

Scott has been fairly rancid company all day today; at least when he isn’t sleeping off the medication I keep giving him for his congestion. He woke up about 10:00 AM and started acting like a bear with a sore head because I hadn’t woken him up sooner. “I’ve got a ton of work to do.” Or at least that’s what he tried to say between snotty sneezes and wet coughs. Yeah right. As soon as he ran out of steam and stopped storming about, I dosed him with the OTC meds. He was out like a light in pretty short order.

The Cinnamon Buns from yesterday were such a morale booster that I decided to finish off the last few pieces of frozen bread dough by making Elephant Ears for dessert tonight. Even Scott stopped grumping long enough to eat a few pieces so I take that as a good sign.

Dinner: I made Coca-cola BBQ Beef Roast cooked in the crockpot. I love my crockpot. It doesn’t use as much electric as the oven and stove, it doesn’t heat the house up near as bad, and most of all it leaves me more time to do other stuff. To go with the roast I made rice pilaf from a box of Rice-a-Roni mix, English peas made from canned peas, and of course, the Elephant Ears made with the last of the frozen bread dough

I really wanted to get out today but between one thing and another it’s a good thing I didn’t. A real good thing. Scott was sick and irritable for one thing. But for another, about an hour before I had planned to slip out of the house, they closed US41. The NRS Response Committee had sent teams in to investigate a report of at least one infected in a field behind the Sunset Plaza which is where I would have been shopping.

It was a false alarm; just a local drunk who had gotten ahold of some bad homemade hooch. But the consequences if it had been true …. Scott would have been sick with no adult to care for him and worrying about where I was. The kids would have been alone and who knows if I would have been quarantined. Or maybe I would have been “sanitized” like those people in NYC. They might never have even known what had happened to me. They might have thought I just ran off and left them. I worried about something like this happening to Scott, but I never saw myself walking in those shoes. This has brought it all home to me. This is for real. This isn’t a movie or a practice drill. Make the wrong choice and you die. You die because you made the wrong choice, and you could take your family with you.

Of course that put me in a blue funk for the rest of the day; a cross between feeling sorry for myself and being angry at myself. The situation didn’t do much for anyone else either. Rose retreated to her room and her books. James started obsessing about whether or not there were any other security measure he could take care of and refused to let the younger three out of his sight. The younger three of course refused to let me out of their sight so it was like being trailed by ducklings all afternoon.

Scott started feeling moderately better late in the day, just in time to eat some dinner, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t grumpy. We tried to talk about the guns and other stuff but stopped when Scott admitted that he just wasn’t up to it. He was also upset with me about the grocery store thing. I hope he gets over it. At the same time though a part of me is glad he got a taste of what I felt watching him go off to work. I know it’s kinda petty, maybe I shouldn’t feel that way, but I do.

After our early dinner I pulled Rose and James aside. I had Rose mind the younger three while they watched a movie and had some microwave popcorn to keep them occupied. I took James with me and went to the canal edge just on the other side of the empty lot behind us. Scott wasn’t happy when I told him after we got back and he woke up again, but he said he understood me wanting to take advantage of any resources close to home. What we did was harvest the elderberries that had finally ripened. No one else in the neighborhood has paid the least attention to these bushes in all the years we’ve lived here except to say, “look at the pretty flowers.” I’ve considered them part of “my” resources for several years now. No one has said anything, and I refuse to feel guilty about it.

I got a whole bushel of berries before I called it quits for the evening. The gnats and mosquitoes were just about as bad as I have ever seen them this time of year. There looks to be enough yet ripening so that I can get another two or three bushels before we’re through … assuming no one else picks up on what I’m doing. I’ll turn most of whatever I can get into elderberry extract and the rest into syrup since I still have elderberry jelly and cordial leftover from last season.

I wonder how much longer it will be before people get obviously hungry. We keep pretty much to ourselves so I’m not likely to know for sure until I see people doing something overt like coming by to ask if they can “borrow” something. I’m hoping having the house all closed down will discourage that as much as possible.

Well, I’ve had enough for today and tomorrow I’ll use the last of about 90% of what I had in the frig and freezer. It’ll mean more work to cook, but at least I don’t have to worry about just eating MREs and other freeze dried food by the #10 can. I stocked what I knew my family would eat. Here’s hoping the power stays on long enough to let me get the rest of my preps situated.

 

[moldy]

So glad you're moving this over here. Truly love this story, even if some parts freak me out!

 

[Kathy in FL]

Day Seven

Gack, what a day. I’m exhausted. Scott insisted on going into work this morning and of course he is sick again tonight. Not as sick as he was yesterday, but sick enough. And foul, definitely foul. Seems people all over are going a little nuts. In particular, several of our tenants are going a little nuts. They were already edgy because of the economic tensions as so many have already had their hours cut at work and no longer have the discretionary funds to spend like they used to – no more parties to blow off steam. They are angry that the city is under lock down – in particular the curfew seems to be crimping their style. Too many new rules imposed on people who preferred to live a rule-less lifestyle. Scott says even Carlo was not acting like himself. I think maybe Carlo is acting like himself; the self that he doesn’t normally show around Scott. I think it might be time for Scott to get more back up, someone we can trust; who that would be I don’t know though. That’s a nice sunny thought. Not.

I did have something good happen today. My brother drove by with his last trucking load before he permanently moves up to Mom and Dad’s place. While he was here, he dropped off a bunch of canned goods from a run he made south of here. He also brought some stuff from Mom and Dad, like those home canned pears mom had made a couple of cases of for my birthday and some material and patterns from where she had been cleaning out her sewing room. She also sent me an old ceramic crock and some half-gallon and gallon-sized Ball jars. She also sent me some other stuff but I’m not going to list it out here. Too many odds and ends. Her letter said that she was “downsizing” since my brother and his family were moving up there. I think she was just doing some Autumn cleaning sending her stuff down to me. Not that I’m not grateful and all, but now I have a ton of Autumn cleaning and reorganizing to do. There is stuff spread everywhere in the house.

I will mention some of the stuff my brother dropped off. He told me not to ask where it came from so I’m not. But I can wonder and I figure he gave a haircut to the company that broke his trucking contract. Less said about that the better I suppose. It may come back to haunt him later, but I guess he’ll have to deal with that down the road. He’s gonna be working at the local feed store for the time being. Speaking of which one of the things Daddy sent was a barrel of dried corn, a barrel of wheat, and a barrel of soybeans. When I asked where on Earth they got the money to do this I found out that a lot of the farmers up that way can’t get their crops to market and are letting it go for a song. They just don’t have any place to store it and they worry about rodent infestation if they just leave it sit in the dump silos or in the fields. I’m not gonna look a gift horse in the mouth, but that tells me that things are a lot worse off than what we see on television. Anyway, the stuff Brother brought was apparently meant for one of those "fresh market" type places that cater to the pseudo-healthy and gourmet-wannabes and included canned conch (I'll use that at some point to make some seafood sausage), canned lychees, a boat load of different flavored Clif bars (Scott's favorite breakfast food - yuck), dried fruit and fruit leathers, canned gooseberries, some crazy bottled fruit juices like dragonfruit and acai, and a few other things like organic this and that and funky flavored waters. I haven't even opened all the boxes. I am grateful but where on earth am I going to put everything?

Speaking of food I better just go ahead and put in today’s menu before I forget. Today was day five of the Amish Friendship Bread Starter. Today I added 1 cup sugar, 1 cup flour and 1 cup milk made from NIDO powdered milk and squished it up really well. That stuff doesn’t smell any better, but that is a good thing. If making this starter works out, I’ll likely start using one of those gallon jars that Mom sent. No sense in wasting ziploc bags after all.

Breakfast: I only had a little bit of this and that left of the fresh and frozen foods so for breakfast I made a Breakfast Lasagna. Scott and James enjoyed it and I was able to get people to lunch time without hearing the moaning refrain of “I’m hungry” about eleventy dozen times.

Lunch: For lunch I made Chicken Nugget Casserole. Chicken nuggets aren’t my favorite, but the kids love them and they are about the only thing besides ice left in the freezer. They have to be used up sooner or later and anyway, it made the younger kids happy.

Dinner: I made Bloody Mary Meatloaf which finished off the Bloody Mary mix from the frig; mashed potatoes made from some of the potatoes in the bags and with evaporated milk instead of fresh milk; peas and carrots which takes two cans. I splurged and opened a jar of gravy for the mashed potatoes. I guess I could have made homemade, but I’m beat.

I spent quite a bit of the day processing the elderberries and going through my gardening journals to remind myself when I should expect to harvest stuff out of my edible landscaping. When I wasn’t doing that or trying to deal with the stuff my brother had dropped off, I was harassing the kids to keep up with their schoolwork and chores. I have good kids … but kids is the operative description. And they are pretty strung out by everything that is going on too.

After dinner I double checked everything to make sure that all the fresh and frozen stuff was used up. At this point the utilities are still on but we did have a brown out earlier in the day when an ambulance took out a power pole near here. Apparently, or at least according to the news, a supposed suicide turned out to be an NRS victim. The driver managed to jump out and locked down the vehicle by sliding a piece of street sign post through the rear door handles. His partner wasn't as lucky and the film of the accident scene showed where an awful lot of blood had run out of the back and under the doors. I don’t think the younger kids caught what this was. I’m not even sure it dawned on Rose, but James was as white as a sheet, and I’m really worried about him. He's someone that as long as he is taking action he is OK, but don't ask him to sit around and do nothing. He's like Scott in that respect. Sometimes the male species is just totally beyond my understanding but right now I can understand how James must be feeling. I hate feeling like I've lost control of a situation myself.

At the time of the accident, local circuits automatically rolled to new ones but I hear that it will take a while to complete repairs and if the partial repairs don’t hold and the pole pulls free and falls down all the way, our street could lose power for who knows how long. Now I don’t know whether to wish I had risked the extra run to the grocery store or not. But hindsight is 20/20 and I can’t change the past so it’s better to count a bird in the hand than two that only might be in the bush. Either way, starting tomorrow everything we eat around here is going to be made from canned and dried ingredients until my garden starts coming in. Oh boy, time to get creative.


It’s weird how your mind works when stressed out. I was considering unplugging the refrigerator since we didn’t have anything to put in it just to save on the electric bill. Then I realized I can at least still make ice and keep water cold for beverages. I don’t know where my head was. Just to make some room in my pantry I did move some of the packages of flour and cornmeal into the refrigerator for storing and fill up the remaining space in the freezer with more bottles of water.

Now on to more bad news, someone must have been watching James and I pick the elderberries last night. I went to sneak out and get the rest of them this afternoon and they were all gone. I don't like the idea that we were being spied on. What really upset me though was that someone had strung barbed wire off the canal edge I’ve been using freely for over twelve years and put up several “No Trespassing” signs. I hope I don’t have to fight with the neighbors, but if I need water out of the canal no measly string of barbed wire is going to stop me. I’ll let it go for now, but whoever took the berries better know not to try and eat them raw or unripe or they are going to find themselves incredibly ill in short order.

Speaking of water, I decided to play it safe rather than sorry and have filled up all my water storage containers. The two fifty-gallon water barrels took a while to fill and so did the three Water Bobs that I set up in my big storage tubs. That’s 400 gallons right there. But I’ve got another 200 gallons in collapsible containers, canteens, empty soda pop bottles, pitchers and every other container I could come up with. That’s 600+ gallons of potable water and about 20,000 gallons of non-potable water in our swimming pool. I may be overreacting but I don’t think so. No power = no water in our home.

I thought about hooking up our water catchment system but that is too much for me to handle right now. The other outdoor work was enough on top of everything else. I’m getting my garden beds all prepped for planting and I’ve been looking over everything that I have already planted that is coming in. I should have a couple of avocados to pull in the next week or so. Three of my papayas are also just about ripe. My little dwarf passion fruit bush has nearly a dozen little fruit on it but it will be a while before they are ripe and I’m sure at least a couple of those will fall off. I’ve got seedlings to get into the ground, but it is still a little warm. I hate to do it, but I think I’m going to make a final list and have Scott stop at Home Depot or Lowe’s and get the rest of the mulch, fertilizer, bug spray, and dirt that I wanted to get. He’s not going to be happy about it, but if the grocery store is out then our preps and whatever I can grow are the only two things that we are going to be able to count on.

Scott and I finally talked it over and pulled James and Rose aside to show them the guns. Rose was very tentative about handling them, but James took to them readily. I think it even comforted him to know they were there. He has taken some training classes, mostly to earn his Boy Scout Rifle merit badge. He also practiced some with my dad, and of course he has his BB and pellet gun that he is a really good shot with, though what good they'll do in the event of civil unrest is debatable. The one thing that James mentioned was how dirty the guns were; I hadn’t really taken the time to notice. Scott called Dad and we have an appointment to get together tomorrow on our teleconference system. We gave it to them as a present this last Christmas 'cause the internet is cheaper than long distance phone bills when our provider changed their rules due to some FCC rulings. Who knew we would be using it like this? Dad’s going to walk us through cleaning the guns and making sure they are in good working order. Like I’ve mentioned before, I don’t know much about guns but even I know that a dirty gun can be bad for your own health. Hopefully we’ll be able to cobble together everything that dad said we would need to do the cleaning.

I better head off to bed. I’m so physically and mentally drained I might actually be able to fall right to sleep tonight. But, after the ambulance crash, we have two more occupants added to our bedroom. Yep, James and Rose decided to camp out as well. I finally just had the kids pull all their twin mattresses into the room. If they are going to sleep in there, and I’m not complaining about that, at least they should be comfortable so I don’t have to listen to them moaning and groaning in the mornings. But I guess it would be asking too much for Scott and Sarah not to snore.

 

[Kathy in FL]

Day Eight

A solid week of this self-imposed quarantine has passed and I’m going slightly bonkers. It seemed so easy to say that sequestering our family was the right thing to do and frankly I still believe it is the right thing to do for the kids. But right now I’m wondering if it is the right thing to do for me. Who knew it would be this hard for me to be compliant in this way? I’m so used to going my own way – well, within reason of course – and doing things my way as I take the kids here and there and do my chores, yada, yada, yada. I even miss helping Scott clean the apartments for pity sake.

It’s not like I don’t have enough to do around the house. Seven people in a house, even one that is the size of ours, twenty-four hours a day seven days a week makes for a lot of cleaning. A chore chart is becoming really necessary. I just can’t do everything myself. After discussing several options with Scott, we had a family conference and outlined everyone’s new responsibilities. We also had a serious discussion about why it is necessary that everyone share the labor. Some of these chores include: filling water containers, doing the dishes, helping cook the meals, making the solar tea, making the pitcher of powdered milk up every morning, and several other cleaning tasks. Laundry is also a big problem in this house. Laundry is always a problem and since I didn’t get a chance to stock up on as much laundry detergent as I wanted we need to do the best we can to make it go further.

The kids were pretty good about the whole thing, they’ve been doing chores for years anyway. But all these new daily tasks had to be spread out and around as well. James, bless him, wanted to know if there was anything and I quote, “in the area of home security” that he could help with. Scott has given him the chore of checking all the window and shutter locks as well as check the fence and gates a couple of times per day. He spent a couple of hours going over all the privacy fencing and adding nails here and there. I’m not sure how much good it does, but it makes James feel better.

James also helped Scott to clean the guns with my Dad’s online instruction. The paper towels and the old table they were doing this on beside the computer was filthy by the time they were through. Ewwww. I have no idea what they did, but I wish they could have done it with a little less mess. Dad said the guns are now OK. They’ll never be show room pieces, but they are serviceable. Dad was pretty emphatic that from here on out that we wipe the guns down and run one of those cleaning rods down them frequently because of Florida’s high humidity. OK, whatever you say Dad. The actual full, take it down to the basic parts types of gun cleaning depends on how often it gets used. I’ll leave that stuff up to Scott and James. When I have more time, I’ll stop being so “girly-girly” and learn how to do it. I probably need to make Rose and at least Sarah learn to shoot as well. Just not right now. I’ve got enough on my plate. I’ll get to that in a bit, right now I want to do something normal like log in our daily menu.

Today was day six of the Amish Friendship Bread Starter and all I had to do was squish it around.

My family really is used to having bread around. I mean we don’t go crazy but you know, we never exactly denied ourselves either with a no-carb diet. With the store-bought light bread gone and the starter for making Amish Bread still days away, I needed to come up with some other options. Biscuits are always good and while the big oven is still working, large enough batches can be made so that there are some left over for other meals. But I’ve been thinking that traditional bread ingredients like flour are going to get hard to come by at some point. We don’t exactly grow a lot of wheat here in Florida. Cornmeal is more common in the south, but even that may be hard to come by after a while. And if they aren’t scarce, they might become expensive. I figure it’s better to use recipes that I can extend the flour or cornmeal out by using other items.

Breakfast: Tex-Mex Biscuits. These are traditional style biscuits that extend the flour used by adding a half cup of grits. Grits I have in plenty. Try sack upon sack of grits. I don’t know why I bought that many grits, it just sort of snuck up on me. I think it may be because they go on sale a lot around here. The recipe also calls for a small amount of shredded cheese, sour cream, and milk. There is still a little shredded cheese in the frig but it won’t last forever. In fact I found a small spot of mold in the bag already. The rest of the family doesn’t know, I just kind of picked it out and they never knew the difference. “Waste not want not” as the old saying goes. The sour milk was an easy fix since it can be made from evaporated milk and a little vinegar or lemon juice which is what I did. The straight milk I made by diluting the remaining evaporated milk from the can that I opened to make the sour milk. I dumped what little bit was still in the can into the pitcher of powdered milk that I made this morning for drinking or cooking. The recipe makes 12 good-sized biscuits but that wouldn’t take everyone very far, so I also opened and fried up a canned ham. As a treat I scrambled up five of the remaining fresh eggs. That wasn’t a lot of eggs to split between the all the people sitting down to breakfast, but combined with the fried ham and biscuits it was a good start to the day. I gave my share to Scott and Bekah, and Sarah who looks like she has caught Scott’s cold, gave her share to James. It’s amazing how things just sort of work out like that.

Lunch: After all the work at breakfast, I decided lunch was going to be lighter in the labor department. Scout Tetrazzini is an easy recipe that uses simple ingredients and ramen noodles. I’ve been making this stuff since I was a girl scout a million years ago. The recipe is easy to double in case of bigger appetites, but given everything that was on the breakfast table, and the fact that Scott was off working during lunch time, a single recipe was all I needed.

Scott came home early so he could work on the guns. It was nice to have him home well before dark. I cannot repeat often enough how unsettling it is to have him barely making it home before curfew. The closer it gets to curfew, the more I wonder if he is going to be stuck away from home.

Dinner: For dinner I made Salmon Burgers from canned salmon, Rice with garbanzo Beans, and canned green beans that I cooked ‘til they didn’t squeak any more. I hate squeaky beans, they just freeze my insides when I try to eat them. Since I’ve been trying to keep the sugary and artificially colored drinks at a minimum close to bedtime to keep from having to peel Johnnie off the ceiling, we stuck with drinking solar tea or plain water for our beverage. I thought about pulling out one of those weird bottles of juice that Brother brought by but decided to leave it for another time. No sense in having to crack any of those until we have to.

So far no one has said anything about missing fast food or soda though I know James must have been dreaming about pizza. He was talking in his sleep like he was calling Pizza Hut and asking if there were any specials for home delivery. Having the kids sleeping in our room certainly is proving interesting.

It might be that the seriousness of everything is really starting to sink in for all of us. I’m not sure. There has been plenty on the television and radio to reinforce how bad things are getting in some places. But it’s nice that no one is out and out complaining. We’ve all had a few caffeine headaches now and again, especially Scott who misses his high-octane energy drinks. I actually have several cases of those drinks hidden away, but it’s better to get weaned off of them now when there is something like sweet tea to take its place than trying to do it later when there might be a lot of things missing from the diet. The high-octane drinks might be needed later if a lot of physical labor must start being done. Either way, they aren’t needed now so they stay out of sight and out of mind.

Tonight’s treat was a couple of bags of microwave popcorn to split between everyone. It didn’t go far, but it went far enough. We all kinda lost our appetite after watching the news.

NYC has basically exploded, figuratively and literally. There is rioting everywhere. I suppose it wasn’t unexpected, but it sure did happen faster than I thought it would. At any given time there is only about three days’ worth of food in the city and under the circumstances they couldn’t restock fast enough. Even with the military air dropping supplies in. The scariest part was the government’s reaction. They blew up all the bridges and tunnels. That, more than anything, tells us just how serious this contagion is. That’s billions of dollars in repairs … or maybe they aren’t looking at repairs. Maybe they don’t think NYC is worth salvaging. I don’t know, but it was heartbreaking. I had some internet buddies in NYC that got caught flat-footed by the closing of all their planned exits. The government has also threatened to turn off all power to the city if the remaining residents don’t stop rioting. Yeah, like people are going to hear that kind of threat and think good thoughts.



A surprising move was that they turned off phone and internet to the area at large. And you can guess the media is shrieking about that one. The government said it was an unavoidable consequence of the riots. It doesn’t ring true but they aren’t giving out other information either.

There were some people that managed to escape before they brought down the bridges and tunnels. The outbound NYC refugees poured into places like Ft. Lee, Jersey City, Trenton, Stamford, Bridgeport, Weehawken, Teaneck, Hackensack, Maywood, and Paramus. Many, who had expected to be taken in by family and friends, found themselves forcibly turned away – sometimes at gunpoint. Finding no refuge there, they continued north, south, and west like locusts, staying only long enough to run through an area’s resources or to succumb to NRS infection or violence.

It seems a few of the refugees were infected, or at least reports are suggesting as much. Or maybe that’s just propaganda to justify the actions that were taken. I don’t know. But there is a whole mess of trouble up that way, that’s for sure. The chatter on the survival forums is pretty wild. Some of the more radical forums have fallen silent and are offline. I don’t know if this is because the forum owners have closed up shop and bugged out or if they have been taken offline by “someone else,” or if violence of some kind has silenced the participants. Either way Scott wants us to be very careful about any posting online from here on out. I thought that might be a bit paranoid at first but better safe than sorry. Besides, Scott isn’t asking much. He’s only asking me to use some commonsense and be circumspect. That’s no different than survival forum moderators have been asking of participants for as long as I’ve been online. Letting people know all your business or too much of your personal information can prove dangerous in several different ways. Yeah, maybe Scott doesn’t have it so wrong after all. I’ll read but posting anything about this area and our circumstances particularly is now at an end.

What I do know is that it’s getting harder and harder to watch Scott drive off in the mornings. We are trying to keep up the appearance of normalcy for the kids, but even they know that every time Scott leaves the house he might not be coming home.

 

[Griz3752]

Normally I give Zombie tales a pass but this is more about family dynamics, planning for anything bad coming down the pike and hopefully, surviving. The Zombie theme is ancillary to the whole story, not central, which for me makes for a much better story.

Of course with our Ms Kathy, there's always the additional benefit of recipes, a treat in and of themselves. .....

 

[Kathy in FL]

Day Nine

I almost didn’t journal tonight. Everything has been a struggle, and no one has had much fun except for maybe Johnnie who seems to thrive on chaos. Somewhere around mid-afternoon I heard Scott mumble, “PMS or Zombies; not a hell of a lot of difference if you ask me.” I almost laughed. Almost. Poor guy.

I was seriously dragging when I got up this morning, but I still remembered to give the bread starter a good squish. Not too many more days and I’ll be able to bake us a nice, sweet loaf of bread.

Breakfast: These high labor breakfasts are really time-consuming. I voted that on some days mom just needs a break. I figure that high labor meals can be alternated with easier meals even if I’m cooking from scratch. This is one of those mornings that it was just too hard for me to face a skillet or baking dish. Instead, I broke out the instant oatmeal. I was able to have just about every flavor known to man fully stocked because Winn Dixie used to have these really great BOGO sales and I would load up every chance I got. I also have several tubs of plain oatmeal as well as dried fruit and the direction to make my own “instant” oatmeal when the store-bought stuff runs low. Let’s hear it for ingenuity. The problem with letting everyone pick their favorite flavor though was that I had several different boxes open at once. I emptied those packages into a storage box with see-through sides.

I wound up breaking down the packaging and sticking it in the garbage can of things that will burn. Last week the municipal garbage was still running and the first pick up for this week has already run, but it ran a lot later than it normally does and there has been some noise on the radio about how some pick up routes were missed. By separating the garbage into burnable, compostable, and non-compostable but potentially useful, and non-compostable and non-reusable it’s made for less to be picked up and better organization in case garbage collection becomes haphazard or non-existent. With the way things are going, I wouldn’t be surprised to see municipal services begin to break down within the next couple of weeks.

Lunch: After the oatmeal for breakfast everyone was ready for a “real” lunch. I wasn’t ready for any real cooking though. I made Caesar Chicken Tetrazzini. This used up the last little bit of Caesar salad dressing from the frig. I tossed that together with a can of chicken, a small can of mushrooms, and a couple other odds and ends and then mixed it with cooked spaghetti noodles. The only critique was that there wasn’t any garlic breadsticks to go with the meal. With a little more forethought I could have pulled that off, but the forethought was still in bed where the cook wished to be.

Bread, bread, bread. Man oh man, getting all the bread that my family is used to having is getting pretty labor – not to mention ingredient – intensive. Good thing I took the time to gather recipes for bread items that aren’t completely dependent on straight flour before the situation got critical. A recipe for this stuff called Silly Dilly Bread that is made from cake mix but that is still savory, rather than sweet was just the ticket to go with tonight’s dinner. It called for Swiss cheese, but the closest thing I had was a bunch of those little, shelf-stable Swiss cheese-like triangles left over from a holiday gift package. All the triangles together only made about a cup of shredded cheese, but that was all I needed.

The bread batter didn’t take long to make and then I put it into the pans and left it to rise. Since the recipe made enough for two pans of bread, there was bread with dinner and another loaf for tomorrow.

Dinner: I made an old family favorite called Five Can Tuna Casserole to go with the Silly Dilly Bread. Not very exciting, but another pan of popcorn sprinkled with some Parmesan served while we family played a round of board games made everyone feel more satisfied.

As for how other things are going, I suppose it goes without saying that all New England is now in an uproar. It’s not so much NRS from what we can tell from all the news reports, although there is some of that too, it’s generalized civil unrest. A lot of people are in a panic. Food is running low and it’s taking military personnel and national guard troops to safeguard deliveries of groceries and other essential goods. There’s only so many delivery caravans that can be guarded at any given time. And since it is August a lot of gardens up north are starting to wind down and people are going to have to make do with whatever they already have put away. There are still some apple and pear harvests to come but nothing in the urban centers. The cost of winter heating had already taken a lot of people’s savings so there’s not much left to pay the inflated prices of items that do make it into the stores. People are already complaining of price gouging.

Here in Tampa I’m just now starting to get my main garden planted. I mostly plant things in containers but I do have a few beds that I need to finish prepping.

There weren't any new cases of NRS reported in Tampa today. That is a relief as a lot of people had expected the numbers to increase exponentially. They did mention that they had to commit the wife of the dead EMT. Apparently they didn’t have a chance to notify her before she saw it all on television in bright freaking Technicolor. She is supposedly six months into a high-risk pregnancy on top of everything else. I just can’t imagine. Don’t want to imagine.

Which brings me to the only real bright spot of the day. Scott didn’t go into work today. It wasn’t just the hormones that had me weeping when I heard his decision.

The reason why he chose to stay home was that he had found another stash of stuff at the old “sugar daddy” place. Scott tried to haul away an old, enclosed trailer that was behind the duplex. The code enforcement Nazis strike again. But he couldn’t budge it even with his big V8. He busted the padlock on the trailer and found who knows how many thousands of dollars in hurricane panels. And not those flimsy aluminum ones either, these suckers are steel. Mercy me, I can just imagine that a couple of homeowners somewhere are regretting the loss of those right about now. Probably popped into a bunch of garages or storage rooms and found these. They must have been recent and hot for them not to have made it to the scrap yard yet.

For most of the day Scott and James have been digging post holes to sink some thick metal posts in the ground. Tomorrow they are going to attach cross beams to the posts and then attach the panels to the cross beams. The pre-drilled holes in the hurricane panels will make this fairly easy. Not all the panels are the same length and width but Scott’s going to try and keep it decent looking. They will also leave the wooden privacy fence around the perimeter to camouflage it somewhat.

It’s going to be great to have Scott home for another day. I know I sound wimpy, always moaning about Scott leaving us. I do understand … really. We have bills to pay. I do have a backbone and saints preserve the fool that messes with my family. It’s just when Scott is away I feel like a chunk of myself is missing. I’m concerned about the potential situations and dangers he could find himself in. And though he has never directly given me reason, I no longer trust Carlo. I just can’t get beyond some of his past and I’m worried that if things become critical, he’ll turn on Scott.

I don’t know if I’ll ever be at peace with Scott leaving the house while this whole NRS situation is ongoing.

 

[Kathy in FL]

Normally I give Zombie tales a pass but this is more about family dynamics, planning for anything bad coming down the pike and hopefully, surviving. The Zombie theme is ancillary to the whole story, not central, which for me makes for a much better story.

Of course with our Ms Kathy, there's always the additional benefit of recipes, a treat in and of themselves. .....

Zombies are like a metaphor. If you are prepared for the zombiepocalypse you are prepared for almost anything.

I started writing this on Zombie Squad. Unfortunately the forum appears to have become defunct and even their Facebook page isn't being updated. For all the claims of being prepared, it seems the forum leadership wasn't prepared for the social and financial disruption of covid.

I hope that the authors that posted there were able to save their work. There was some really good stuff there.

 

[Kathy in FL]

Day Ten

I’m grateful beyond measure that Scott was not out working today. College Hill came unglued. Once that area began to riot, it’s like everyone else had permission to start to unravel. The gangs out in Town n’ Country, the University Area, and Ybor City started several fires. Clair mel was pretty bad too. The area around the Port of Tampa was like a war zone. Ruskin, Riverview, and Plant City had some serious problems on top of the rest. I even heard gunfire from our own lanai.

Scott wore one of the guns in a makeshift holster the entire time he and James were working on the fence. The fence actually looks pretty good but it’s kinda bright, especially when the sun hits it. And they got hot in the middle of the day. I'm not sure what that means for the garden containers I normally line up against the fence.

Because of the different sizes of the panels, they were able to leave key holes about every six or seven feet at different heights. Scott drilled matching holes in the wooden fence so that we could see out without having to look over the fence. I was worried about how obvious they would look to the neighbors but the confederate jasmine vines growing on the outside of the fence pretty well hide them unless you are intentionally looking for them. On the inside of the metal fence we covered the holes with a little flap of wood so that even if someone does find the holes in the exterior wooden fence they can’t see through into our yard. And James came up with the idea of using Liquid Nails to glue old carpet strips that we were going to take to the scrap yard around the inside of the wooden fence. If someone tries to hold onto the top of the wooden fence to try and jump up and see into our yard they are going to get a nasty surprise.

Scott didn’t allow the younger three outside at all today. This caused Rose and I quite a bit of work to keep them occupied. Sarah was also a help, but she is used to going outside for her “nature projects” and also felt confined and cranky. Part of how we kept them occupied was to let them help with the day’s food preparation.

I let each of them take a turn squishing the starter, reminding them it would only be a couple of more days before we could bake the bread. Everyone is looking forward to that.

Breakfast: We made Apricot Scones for breakfast. The original recipe called for heavy cream but since that was out the question we substituted with milk & butter mixed together (3/4 cup of milk – in this case made from powdered – and 1/3 cup of melted, cooled butter). The scones came out just as rich as if real heavy cream had been used.

Lunch: The last of the shredded cheese really went fast. There was a lot of mold in a corner of the bag so I had to finish it off. Bacon-Tomato Bake is another easy Bisquick recipe that the family enjoys. Its kind of like an open-faced sandwich. The original recipe called for sliced tomatoes and bacon to be cooked and crumbled up. Problem is there are no fresh tomatoes and the last of the fresh bacon was cooked several days ago. Substitutes were easy though. For the fresh sliced tomato we substituted a well-drained can of petite diced tomatoes. For the bacon, real bacon bits were substituted. Rehydrated diced dried onions substitute for the fresh sliced onion rings. The rest was easy and the result were good and filling and relatively easy to clean up since I used non-stick spray to coat the baking pan.

Dinner: After all the bread-like things that we baked today it seemed a shame to use up the second loaf of Silly Dilly Bread but I thought it better to just use it up rather than taking the chance that it will go to waste. To go with the Silly Dilly Bread we made Creamy Rice and Ham. A small can of English peas, instant rice, and a small canned ham that is diced plus a few other ingredients is all it took.

I guess by the end of the day a lot of the rioters had run out of steam. There were still spots of violence here and there but the worst of it seems to have died down. What was scary was how the areas of violence seemed to get cut off from the outside. Police and National Guard troops would just put up blockades and let them go at each other, kind of like cauterizing the rioters' ability to spread into any more areas. The military also got pulled into things when there was a situation over near MacDill USAF Base. The fires were allowed to burn, but they weren't allowed to spread out of the rioting areas. What people are going to make of this in the coming days is anyone's guess. It made a wasteland of the areas of violence but minimized it for everyone else.

Another odd thing that I've been hearing is that people that were shot and/or injured were tossed into trucks and hauled away but where they were taken is not being released. It certainly wasn’t to local hospitals or trauma units. The local media are reporting that hospitals were preparing to be inundated but no wounded ever arrived except for a few first responders and National Guard troops.

There was some chatter on the forums and blogs that large quarantine areas have been created where anyone “behaving abnormally” can be held until they have been determined to be infection free. If true, that means the rule of habeas corpus has been suspended and that’s more frightening than blowing the NYC exists was.

What on earth is going on?

 

[Kathy in FL]

Day Eleven

I’ve found one of the best ways to combat fear and depression is to count my blessings and what I have to be thankful for. I am thankful to have had Scott home for as long as we did. I’m thankful that he decided to take one of the guns with him when he left to check on the properties this morning. I’m thankful that he took the time to call this afternoon to check on us and let me know that he was OK up to that point.

I’m praying that he is OK. I’m sure he just wasn’t able to make it home before curfew. I’m sure that has to be it. Please God let that be all it is.

The phones are out and the cable is out. I’ve got the rabbit ears and converter hooked up to the portable TV but the only thing I’m getting is the emergency broadcast transmission and if I hear “beep … beep … beep” one more time I’m going to scream!

I wish I had sent Scott off with a better breakfast. At least he has the Clif Bars and water I stashed in his van. The lunch I sent kinda sucked as well but he was supposed to be home early. I’ll never make that mistake again. Never. The man will never leave this house without a fully packed bug out bag of food again. He better come home so that I can make sure he knows that.

Breakfast: I fixed Cherry Chocolate Chip Scones. Scones and biscuits are turning into the easiest breakfast meals. They go just far enough to get the day started and everyone is good and hungry by lunch so there are no picky eaters or leftovers to worry about. I just wish Scott had had more to eat. The fresh eggs will be all used up soon, but I stocked up on dried eggs, dried egg whites, and some other egg substitution ingredients to piece out the dried eggs. For instance, I learned you can grind flaxseed, or buy commercially ground flaxseed, and make an egg substitute for baking purposes.

Lunch: For lunch I fixed BBQ Pork Sandwiches. The original recipe called for a tub of commercially prepared BBQ pork, but I substituted a couple of cans of BBQ pork instead and it worked just fine. The other ingredients were pretty standard and I just made Bisquick biscuits to use for the bread portion. Giving everyone a serving of fruit cocktail and a pudding cup to eat rounded out the meal. This kept everyone filled until dinnertime arrived. There are stories on the television and radio that some communities are already suffering from utility shortages and that there are a lot of bare pantries. The emergency powers have already instituted rationing programs pretty much everywhere, including here in Tampa. That is what caused some of the rioting yesterday.

I made another cake mix bread recipe is Cake Mix Yeast Rolls. This made more than the Silly Dilly Bread recipe plus these are rolls rather than loaf bread. But the recipe used more flour in addition to a cake mix, but no specialty ingredients except yeast. The trade off was good and by saving the rolls after dinner there will be enough rolls for tomorrow. Plus, starting tomorrow, there will be the Amish Bread starter to use. I nearly forgot to squish it up because I was so out of sorts.

Dinner: I waited dinner as long as I could after it got dark but gave up and fed the kids who were starving. The main dish was Black Beans and Ham served over yellow rice. It goes just as well over white rice, but yellow rice has more seasoning and is what the family enjoys. The only other addition to the meal is the Cake Mix Yeast Rolls. For dessert I made a simple no-bake cheesecake mix topped with blueberry filling. We saved some of everything for Scott.

Tomorrow is the last day for the Amish Bread starter to make. There are going to be roughly four cups of the starter. They’ll last a couple of days and I figure I’ll give it a couple of days before I start another round of starter. Technically, I should be able to start a new batch from scratch each time, but I hope to have a couple of tablespoons of starter left over from the first batch and I’ll just add it to the first ingredients of the next batch. This way if the powdered milk isn’t quite rich enough to get the starter going on its own, there will be some starter in there already to get the action going.

I sent the kids to bed early. Even Rose, as old as she is, went meekly with no questions. I think the kids are just too scared to ask where Scott is, but I can tell they were uneasy. I tried to act normally but I spied the kids whispering to one another. Rose and Sarah have baseball bats hidden beside by their mattresses. I didn’t stop them, I just didn’t have the heart. James was only faking going to bed. I went in an hour later to find everyone asleep but him. He was sitting up with the rifle. I just told him to go ahead and come in here with me. My brave boy lasted as long as he could and is now dozing on the sofa after asking me to wake him to take “his turn on watch.” I think of all the kids, James has felt the changes these times have brought the most.

I can’t sleep. The phones still don’t work even though the electricity is still on. Its three o’clock in the morning. I don’t know where Scott is. I don’t know how my parents are doing. I don’t know if my brother made it home before all hell broke loose.

Maybe Scott will be back after first light.

 

[Kathy in FL]

Day Twelve

That scummy, no account bastard. That worthless walking sack of skin. Wherever Carlo is now, I hope he is rotting from his little boy parts outward in a very slow and painful way! I know my parents would be shocked to hear me talking – thinking – those types of words but they’d be even more shocked at what I’m not putting into words. I could kill Carlo right now. And with no regret whatsoever.

The phones came back on around 6 AM. We know why everything was turned off, but I’ll have to explain it later when I understand it better. Basically Homeland Security kicked in because some predetermined breaker points were reached. The TV signal came back at nearly the same moment as the phones. Less than 30 seconds later the phone was ringing and it was Scott!!!!!!

He’s OK. Beat up, but OK. It took him until the afternoon to get home and he was in pretty rough shape by that time. Carlo better never show his traitorous face around here or God help him when I’m done with him. James feels the same way and to blow off steam we’ve devised a few nasty bits of revenge should the scum have the temerity to come near us.

After hearing Scott’s voice all my fear and fatigue vanished. I woke the kids up thinking that he was on his way home at that moment. I flew into action and added the last day’s ingredients to the Amish bread starter and used one of the resulting four cups of starter to make muffins.

Breakfast: For the muffins I used powdered eggs instead of fresh and raisins instead of nuts. I also added a little vanilla powder to the pitcher of milk to make it richer tasting and put it in the freezer to get ice cold.

After I put the muffins in the oven I finally got an open line and reached my parents. They’re OK and didn’t experience the communication blackout like we did. They were the ones that told me about the terrorist attack at the Atlanta airport and about the mobs that tried to overrun DC. They told me about the cruise ship that had been spotted adrift off Miami that had been discovered to have hundreds of NRS-infected people aboard. They also told me of the institution of the Emergency Powers Act and of the Health Care Worker Draft; also, how cities housing sensitive military and civilian strategic points were being occupied by the military and how Tampa was on this list because of MacDill AFB and the Port of Tampa. Things got complicated quickly yesterday. The Feds apparently didn’t feel like there was any other choice. But whatever problems these new protocols solve, they are sure to create others to have to deal with.

Just as I got off of the phone with my dad and the muffins came out of the oven, Scott called again. He had been asked to stay and help fortify what they are calling the Keel Outpost. It’s actually the Jimmie B. Keel Library on Bearss Avenue. I guess I better back up and explain or nothing is going to make sense.

Scott said Carlo had arranged an ambush for him. It looked like they planned on taking the van and everything in it and probably holding Scott for ransom. Carlo knew I’d pay whatever they asked to get Scott back safely. Need I say that Carlo learned that trick in his childhood home of Colombia?

Things obviously didn’t work out as planned however. First it took longer than expected for Scott and Carlo to reach the ambush point. Scott kept changing the day's work schedule without consulting Carlo which turned out to be a good thing. This may have caused some of Carlo’s buddies to not show up or to get cold feet. Either way, there were only two or three people in addition to Carlo trying to pull this off. Second, Scott didn’t tell Carlo he had brought a gun with him. My distrust of Carlo had begun to rub off on him. Third, and worst for Carlo’s plan, was that they underestimated Scott.

As they neared the intersection where they started to jump Scott, Carlo suddenly attacked using a mallet he had used to lay some pavers at the previous stop. Because of how tight everything is in the cab of the van Carlo only hit a few glancing blows with the mallet before switching to his fists. He did manage to knock Scott’s glasses off and break them. Not knowing what was going down, but knowing Carlo was aiming at his head, and in fear for his life, Scott grabbed the gun from the door pocket and aimed and fired in Carlo’s general direction. Scott is very near-sighted and losing his glasses was very bad.

All this time Carlo’s buddies had been beating on the van trying to get in. Thankfully Carlo was apparently too occupied to remember to open the door locks. They did spider a rear door window but the grill kept them from coming in through the back.

As soon as Scott pulled the trigger he floored the gas and started heading away from the intersection. He thinks he may have run over one of the guys but couldn’t see for sure.

Scott still had Carlo covered with the gun and was driving erratically with one hand. About two blocks later, after Scott took out a couple of mailboxes along the way, Carlo opened the passenger door and fell out. Scott swung so suddenly that the door slammed back shut on its own. At that point Scott put both hands back on the stirring wheel and got out of there as quickly as he could.

The problem was it was already late in the day and a lack of glasses result in Scott missing some turns and he wound up farther away from home rather than closer. By the time he got turned back in the right direction it was dark. His erratic driving caught the attention of some National Guard troops and he was pulled over by a police car travelling with them. Luckily one of the cops recognized Scott from the Neighborhood Watch program and that, combined with Scott’s ID and story, got him out of trouble.

But being it was full dark they “invited” Scott to come with them to a command outpost which turned out to be in the library. It is a good location because it is a newer building and already has a room set up from computers and wi-fi, not to mention it has a satellite feed.

The medic stationed at the outpost patched Scott up and gave him a tetanus shot just to be one the safe side. He has a black eye, a busted lip, and some pretty bad bruising on his right thigh, chest, and stomach. I didn’t know how bad though until he got home and I checked him over myself. After he was patched up he was able to find his spare glasses that he keeps in one of his tool boxes.

Scott is a rather private person but he can make friends quickly in the right circumstances. I guess he scored some points by not complaining and remaining calm despite the situation. He scored more when he volunteered to help set the outpost up, even providing some basic supplies without asking for compensation.

As soon as the outpost got word that communication was going to be restored, they cleared a line for Scott to call home. They also asked him if he would stay and help finish harden the outpost position. They couldn’t pay him, but they did trade him several cases of MREs for the work and some additional supplies he carried around as general inventory. Technically they probably could have just commandeered it. This way the mutual aid benefitted everyone and there were no hard feelings.

They also let Scott “check out” a bunch of books and movies for us and the kids. About ten banana crates full to be more precise. The troops were going to just shove everything outside that got in their way. He brought home cookbooks, gardening books, all sorts of DVDs like from the History Channel and kids shows. He dumped all the "new releases" into the crates as well when he recognized a couple of books that I had been wanting when we had the extra money. He even managed to find a couple of manuals on gun care and hunting in Florida; and pulled every "survival" book they had on the shelves. The crates are sitting in the dining room where the kids have started to go through them.

Back when I knew that Scott wasn’t likely to be home for lunch, but might make it home right afterwards, I decided to make something a little different to celebrate. I was also anxiously waiting to hear the whole story of what had gone down and needed something to occupy myself with.

Lunch: Many of my fresh potatoes are starting to sprout some eyes. I bought several bags of potatoes when they were on sale last month but now I know why they were on sale. They weren’t the freshest. I cleaned enough to feed the family and baked them. I could have just made more sour cream from evaporated milk, used some of the butter or margarine that still remained in the freezer, but I wanted something a little more substantial and special so I made Crab-Stuffed Bake Potatoes. The recipe called for whipping cream but I just substituted milk and some extra butter added in. For the fresh green onions I substituted a few dried chopped chives. And instead of grated cheddar cheese I substituted some of the grated processed cheese I opened yesterday. OK, so maybe it wasn’t exactly like in the restaurants, but no one complained about the difference in canned crab and fresh crabmeat. I also saved one for Scott and a good thing too.

When my man finally drove up and came inside I didn’t know whether to jump for joy or cry. I’ve never seen him injured like this, it just hurts my heart to see it. The girls and Johnnie were crying really hard. James was shaking like a leaf in what I thought was shock. I quickly realized however that it was rage. Scott and James butt heads often … testosterone and teenage hormones mostly … but right then I knew that no matter what, they were still very close. God help Carlo or anyone else that tries to hurt his dad. I have one very angry teenage boy to deal with now.

We all spent the rest of the day fawning over Scott. He was starving and ate what we had saved him from lunch and the leftovers from dinner last night too. After that he explained what had happened in more detail though he glossed over shooting Carlo until the younger kids had left the room. Rose was horrified but James seemed more secure knowing his dad would do what he had to do to survive and return to us.

In many ways Rose is an idealist. She wants to believe the best of people and I’m very afraid that while she is of practical help around the house and with her younger siblings, she has a ways to go yet before I can trust her to be strong enough in any physical altercations we may experience. That worries me but there isn’t anything I can do about it right now. Unfortunately, time is likely to take care of her idealism before I can bring her around more gently.

Dinner: Scott wasn’t very hungry after eating all of the leftovers so I just made a Bisquick Chicken Pot Pie casserole for dinner. Canned chicken and canned mixed veggies were easy substitutes for the fresher ingredients called for in the original recipe. And it only called for one egg so I tried out the flaxseed egg substitute and it worked like a charm. Since there were still some Cake Mix Yeast Rolls for anyone who wanted rolls, there was no need to use any more of the three remaining cups of Amish Bread starter. The starter did get covered up and placed in the refrigerator so that the fermentation process slowed down. To use up the remaining powdered milk in the refrigerator I made Anise Milk as a before bedtime treat to go along with the remainder of the cheesecake that had been leftover from last night. The warm milk helped to calm everyone down for the evening.

I’m all used up and need to get some rest. Scott is already asleep due to the Vicodin I gave him. I had a couple left over from my last bit of dental work. The kids, except for James, are also asleep. He and I stayed up talking about some additional security ideas he has. He wants to camouflage the vehicles when they aren’t being used and he also wants to try and hide our two barrels of auto fuel. The biggest project though is he want to enclose the carport somehow. I’m not sure how we are going to do all of this, but I told him to wait a day or two and then talk to Scott about it. James doesn’t like how the neighbors seem to be watching us and I can’t say I blame him, but I don’t want to overreact either and cost us time and money we are already short on.

For certain it’s going to be a couple of days before Scott can do any kind or work or go out again. He is pretty banged up. We have a long list of chores to do already, and we need to see what the military occupation of Tampa is going to mean to us personally. Without a doubt there are strange and strained days ahead and we are going to need all our wits about us to make it through them.

 

[Siskiyoumom]

Zombies are like a metaphor. If you are prepared for the zombiepocalypse you are prepared for almost anything.

I started writing this on Zombie Squad. Unfortunately the forum appears to have become defunct and even their Facebook page isn't being updated. For all the claims of being prepared, it seems the forum leadership wasn't prepared for the social and financial disruption of covid.

I hope that the authors that posted there were able to save their work. There was some really good stuff there.

Thank for the update on ZS. I learned a lot of great tips there. I joined there so long ago. My membership card photo has my long hair brown. Now the hair is grey.

 

[Kathy in FL]

Day Thirteen

What a day. Scott was so sore he could barely get around, but he wouldn’t take a Vicodin until he was ready for bed because they make him loopy. Stubborn as a mule and twice as irritating! Lordy I love that man.

The kids have been anxious and edgy one moment and ecstatic the next because Scott is home. I know this is a natural reaction to the high emotions of the last few days, but it hasn’t made it any easier to take. It was nearly impossible to keep any of them on task for more than a few minutes at a time. I was ready to turn time outs into knock outs. But at least I was able to constructively use that nervous energy most of the time.

Breakfast: I started the day very early by having the girls help me bake two loaves of bread from the Amish bread starter. One loaf was for today’s breakfast and to that one I added drained, crushed pineapple. The bread tasted divine when it was toasted. The other loaf is for tomorrow’s breakfast and I added raisins to that one. While the bread was baking, I made a small pitcher of Tang. To the Tang I added the juice from the crushed pineapple. I then added lots of crushed ice to make it into a kind of breakfast slushie. I swear, the kids dug into it so fast you’d think I never fed them.

After breakfast we started moving around everything outside that wasn’t nailed down. We pulled up the decorative fencing I had bordering my flower beds. We stored most of the outdoor furniture in the shed except for a few lawn chairs we left on the lanai. We moved our gas grill onto the lanai and removed the propane tank and chained it in with our other tanks that I have in my “fuel bunker” out beside the shed. The bird feeder and bird bath that had been out front were moved to the backyard. All of my flowerpots and the mulch that Scott brought home what feels like a year ago was moved into the shed as well until I can use it. James made me edgy last night when he mentioned that it felt like the neighbors are always watching us. Paranoia maybe, but there are stories on the news how people are starting to have things stolen out of their yards.

After we finished that I had the kids get started on the laundry that has piled up the last couple of days while I got started on lunch.

Lunch: I made Easy Chili Skillet Bake. This was a very simple meal that only used a couple of cans of the family’s favorite chili and a crust made from Bisquick. The single egg needed for the recipe was replaced by the flaxseed substitute and instead of cheddar cheese; I used more of the processed cheese that I opened previously.

After lunch, and since it was the hottest part of the day, I had the kids stay inside in the air conditioning and do their schoolwork while I finished off my plant beds. After laying out the mulch paper I planted sweet corn (yellow, white, and bi-color), cucumbers, okra, peanuts, black eyed peas, peppers (green and hot), pumpkins, summer and winter squash, and watermelon. I hope the power stays on or its going to be hard to water my plants and I have a feeling we are going to need everything we can grow.

I have always fantasized about having a hand pump put on our well, but it never worked out. It’s too deep for a hand pump, nor would a well bucket work from what we’ve been told. Scott was going to drill me a shallow well, but we could never get the permit and the one time we tried to do it ourselves without a permit we had a neighbor rat us out to Code Enforcement. Grrr. Wonder how those people are enjoying the loss of their rights these days? Wonder if they are recognizing any irony in the situation?

It didn’t take long for the afternoon to be all used up and then it was time for me to fix dinner.

Dinner: I fixed Ziti Chicken Casserole. Ziti pasta, canned chicken, condensed cream of chicken soup, Parmesan cheese, and some processed cheese and you are good to go. Its kind of a one-dish meal so clean up was easy since I didn’t let the cheeses congeal on the plates or baking pan. A package of commercially baked bread sticks completed the meal and everyone was able to eat their fill, even Scott and James who have both turned into garbage disposals.

You’d think from what I’ve journaled thus far for today that our lives have returned to the mundane. Not so. Totally not so.

Scott, unable to do much more than hobble around and give orders, stood watch with a gun clearly visible to our neighbors. While some may have been curious about what we were doing, seeing him armed they kept their distance. That suited me fine as I didn’t feel inclined to play twenty questions.

Our neighbors may have kept their distance but that didn’t mean we didn’t have visitors. We had two cop cars show up. The first was in response to a complaint of a man with a gun in the neighborhood. Oy! Scott just showed him his license and the cop shook his hand and left. I pretty much know who made the call as they were looking awful hard through a pair of binoculars before the cops arrived and flagged them down as they were leaving. They looked none too happy with whatever the cops told them. Serves that interfering meddler right. Stay out of our business and we’ll stay out of yours. That situation is going to have to come to a head if this keeps up.

The second cop car came to follow up on the report the guys at the Keel Outpost filed concerning Carlo’s attack on Scott. They wanted to know if the guy Scott thinks he ran over got up and walked away or how badly Scott thought he had injured Carlo. Scott explained about his eyesight and how it made it impossible for him to know for sure what he had seen, plus how quickly it happened.

The investigators admitted that blood and window glass at the scene, as well as the line of destroyed mailboxes heading away from the area, supported Scott’s story but that they had been unable to find any witnesses. Naturally. There was a significant amount of blood found in Carlo’s apartment, but no Carlo and the place had been torn apart. We were warned to immediately report if we saw anyone suspicious in the neighborhood on the off-chance Carlo sought revenge.

We also received a visit by a hazmat team that took samples and then cleaned the little bit of blood I had missed in Scott’s van. I had cleaned that up yesterday, but I used rubber gloves and plenty of bleach because Carlo has Hep C. There wasn’t much blood to begin with, but better safe than sorry. Looking back I now wonder if the “investigation” was actually about NRS and not the injuries Scott sustained. Maybe I’m being too suspicious.

The last visitors we had were when one of the green military-style hummers that had been patrolling periodically throughout the day pulled into our drive way. I was able to personally thank the medic that had taken care of Scott’s injuries. While Scott stood talking, I had the girls help me fix some glasses of sweet tea. I had Rose stay inside. No need to have those poor boys distracted by our pretty daughter. I remember young men like that from when my dad was a First Sergeant. No sense tempting fate. I had James help me take everything out and he slowly edged his way over to stand by his dad and listen to the news the men were exchanging. One of those boys from the hummer didn’t look much older than James to be honest. That gave me a moment’s pause and I wondered if his mother was wondering how he was doing.

After the hummer left – with its occupants I hope comforted with a little old-fashioned Southern hospitality – Scott seemed to run out of energy. James took over guard duty while Scott went to sit down, do bills, and listen to the news. I knew, judging by the look on his face when I finished and came in, that things were pretty grim.

We are still OK financially, or at least we are getting by. Even though it seems like this whole fiasco has been going on for a long time, in reality it hasn’t even been two weeks yet. The fact that we already have plenty of food stored will offset what we normally spend at the grocery each month. We haven’t had to stop for gas yet either because we’ve been pulling from our reserves. That won’t last forever, and we’ll need to get a ration book so that Scott can try and keep his work van topped off. Because it is a commercial vehicle, he might get a business ration book in addition to our private ration. At least we hope so. That wad of cash that Scott found was mostly hundreds and fifties unfortunately. Scott plans on depositing a couple of thousand in the bank every so often to avoid notice. We’ll use that to pay down bills. He’ll also try and break the larger bills while paying for things like fuel and apartment supplies. If he only uses one or two at a time, we may be able to finally have a turn of our luck. Any twenties and smaller bills are getting tucked away in our floor safe for a rainy day or retirement, whichever comes first.

There are some new rules around town that are going to make things a little more challenging for folks. One, all banks are going to drive-up tellers only, similar to how it was during the covid pandemic. If you can, you are encouraged to do all your banking online to avoid wasting gas waiting in line. Two, mail delivery and pick up is being reduced from six days a week to three. Tell me that isn’t going to upset folks. Refueling at gas stations will no longer be self-service. Apparently people won’t be allowed out of their vehicles at the gas pumps and some "official" will be there to inspect and stamp each customers' ration card. That’s not going over too well with the Stop-and-Shop type places that make their profit on whatever they can co-sale with their fuel sales. Also, there will be ration cards for nearly all commodities starting next week - sugar, salt, flour, meats, dairy, etc. That’ll certainly make going to the grocery store interesting; glad I can avoid it for a while. There are also checkpoints all over town at many major intersections and at Interstate on and off ramps, at least on those that aren’t being closed all together to redirect traffic. That’s definitely going to create problems.

In other news we’ve learned that an area equal to a 100-mile circle around NYC has officially been quarantined. No one will be allowed to leave. Period. Whether they are NRS-positive is immaterial at this time. Boats entering waters within this circle will be consider hostile and treated accordingly. I'm not sure how they have this cordoned off, but it doesn't seem possible to completely stop movement in or out of such a large area.

Los Angeles is under the same type of sentence but is no easier to triage. Fires, some deliberately set, are burning out of control, and have escaped into the surrounding hills. Communication nodes for both cities have been taken off line and blogs and emails from those incarcerated there have fallen silent except for the odd satellite hookup here and there. Being rich or a celebrity now nets nothing and many of the homes of the rich and famous have been the first to be looted.

The number of confirmed NRS infections continues to rise though authorities say the current levels are still manageable as long as the public continues to cooperate and report sightings of any infected individuals rather than resort to vigilantism. In other words “rat out thy neighbor and let the authorities do their job” is a new commandment. Not that I don’t agree to a certain extent. If NRS cases are allowed to increase unchecked the pandemic could overwhelm any possibility of controlling it. And seeing as there is no cure for NRS – no one is even really sure if NRS victims in the final stage are technically even alive anymore – it would be better for the health and safety of the public to see that the infected are contained humanely. If they are alive, give them palliative care until death occurs. If the NRS infected aren’t really alive then destruction of the brain stem seems to be the only way to end the resultant … “creature.” There have been arguments on both sides of the case for months now and no one is any closer to a definitive answer.

Families of NRS victims have been filing docket-clogging numbers of court cases. That is they were until federal, state, and local authorities began to bill them for capturing and “sanitizing” their NRS-infected family members. The families have tried to have their insurance companies pay for the costs, but the insurance companies are falling on the side of the argument that says the NRS victims “no longer constitute human life so are therefore no longer covered by a policy.” And it looks like the Supreme Court has decided to quickly hear a suit from one of the higher appellate courts. The current thinking is that the SC will designate NRS an “act of God” similar to a tsunami or earthquake and that those infected with NRS are no longer human after the infection reaches its final stage. That will answer the question that has arisen regarding the euthinization question. You can’t euthanize a dead body, nor do you give a dead body palliative care. This will supposedly make “disposal” of the infected legally easier to handle. It should also remove some of the moral hazard from those agencies and individuals trying to protect themselves or the public.

I’m glad the SC is hearing this quickly. I’ve had nightmares of seeing Zombies v. The State of Florida where John Smith, Esq. brings a class action suit on behalf of zombies everywhere because they are having their civil liberties violated. Some people are just too stupid to be allowed to procreate.

Locally we are being warned that we may experience some utility interruptions. Oh goody. Thinking it is one thing, hearing it confirmed just sucks. People on municipal water have also been warned to boil their water until further notice due to some water mains running through areas that saw rioting being damaged. Just to be on the safe side I’m keeping all our water containers topped off. I am also pulling all our solar powered gear out tomorrow and getting everything checked over and charged up.

My “to do” list keeps getting longer and longer no matter how many things I scratch off. And my patience is becoming shorter and shorter. I’ll have James walk with me around the house one more time and then we’ll call it a night. Tomorrow will get here bright and early. Ugh.

 

[Kathy in FL]

Day Fourteen

A good night’s rest did wonders for my disposition. Scott on the other hand was suffering even worse. The bruises look just awful, and he says he feels as stiff as a board. The medic said he didn’t think he had any cracked ribs but I’m gonna keep an eye on him just the same. We’ve got insurance but things are so crazy right now that I’m not sure that I trust that route. I heard on the news this morning how they are “pre-screening” people and taking blood samples for some government studies. You don’t get to opt out apparently. You see a doc or go to the emergency room and you get “sampled.” Ugh! Scott says he’s not so bad that he needs a doc, just some rest and to be left alone for a bit. Hopefully from this point forward he’ll start feeling better although he did run a fever off and on today. I think it was mainly caused by him pushing himself too hard too soon.

Breakfast: I was in such an improved mood that I made Cinnamon Batter Dipped French Toast. I didn’t even have to wake the kids. The smell drew them out of bed. I used the loaf of raisin bread I had made yesterday by slicing it into uniform pieces. I made the batter out of Bisquick, milk (from powdered), cinnamon, vanilla, and eggs (from powdered). It was good and filling but very rich.

As two of the kids cleaned up from breakfast, I had two other chopping ingredients for lunch and let Johnnie play with legos in the middle of the floor rather than in his bedroom. After that James took his turn entertaining Johnnie and keeping him out of trouble while the girls aired out all the linens in the master bedroom.

I decided it was time that I got brave and asked Scott how he was really feeling. Not physically, but about having to use the gun. After we had a good talk, I’m fairly certain that he’s OK with having to use the gun to defend himself. He’s not happy about it actually coming down to that, but he knew that by carrying the gun he was admitting that he had to be willing to use it. What’s bothering him is Carlo’s betrayal.

Scott and I employed Carlo off and on for nearly ten years. We gave him steady work for decent pay even when he wasn’t at his best. Even after spending six months in jail for contempt and violation of probation (DUI and failure to pay child support) we looked after his stuff while he was serving his time and took him back when he got out. We even advanced him the money (some of which we still haven’t been repaid) when his mother died so he could pay for a plot and a funeral service. We did other stuff that went beyond your typical employer/employee relationship. Heck, I even had him over to the house for dinner a few times.

I guess I began to lose my trust in Carlo when I realized what a womanizer he was. It didn’t help his case with me that he wouldn’t pay his court-ordered child support except to stay out of jail. That really bothered me. I don’t know, maybe it’s a female thing, but a guy who won’t take care of his own kids is untrustworthy on such a primal level that I couldn’t bring myself to fully trust him in any other way either.

I know this will cause us some unexpected problems but I’m glad Carlo is gone. After having time to cool off, my need for instantaneous revenge is over. I don’t necessarily wish him dead, but I won’t mourn him if he is. It could have been Scott; and if that makes me appear cold-hearted I can live that.

Scott is going to stay home another day or two so that he can heal and make some calls to see if he can find someone to ride with him. This isn't a good time to try and go out in certain areas of town with no back up. I told him to make sure it isn’t anyone that Carlo hung around with 'cause he didn’t get a good look at whoever it was that was helping with the ambush. I guess I’ll worry more about it when the time comes but at that point in our conversation I had to get up and start lunch.

Lunch: The Ham and Corn Casserole I fixed calls for Bisquick, canned ham, a can of creamed corn, and a can of Mexicorn that has the red and green peppers in it. I opted to use shredded processed cheese instead of cheddar, powdered eggs instead of fresh, and dried chopped onions. My family never knew the difference. It filled their bellies and that’s about all anyone cared about after such a rich breakfast.

After lunch I dragged some of my garden containers onto the lanai and started to refresh the dirt in them. I need to get my tomato seedlings planted. After I plant all my heirloom seedlings it’ll be another two or three weeks before I can plant anything else. In September I have a lot of to get in the ground and then in October I have another round of planting to do as well. The more I think about it, the more I know my garden is going to be important. Momma feels the same way. I talked to her again this morning and she told me she had Daddy and Brother till their whole garden area rather than just the kitchen garden like she has the last couple of years. August and September is going to be even busier for her ‘cause they need to feed two families – assuming my sister in law doesn’t pack up and leave for her parents’ place. She really isn’t adjusting well to rural life. At least her parents are telling her she needs to stay where she is at because they don’t have enough food to feed themselves, let alone adding her and the kids into it. I have a feeling that the stress of moving and now the NRS situation added on top of the financial stress they’ve been under is going to really try their relationship.

Everything going on makes me want to be careful of taking my own marriage for granted. Gender role is one of those questions that arises from time-to-time in history. Scott and I worked most of that out between us when we were dating and in the first year or two of our marriage. But we are both hardheaded and not above having to learn a lesson more than once. I have a feeling that if things get worse and/or persist for a protracted amount of time, we’re going to see a shake up in many so-called “modern” relationships. You've gotta be flexible if you expect your relationship to work, but at the same time you have to share a list of absolutes so that you can build trust in the other person. If you become too flexible or too fixated on too many absolutes then there is going to be trouble.

Speaking of trouble, thus far we are still being left along by the neighbors but we’ve started doing our own spying since they seem so intent about being into our business. People are getting cranky and there looks to have been a few fights. None appeared bad enough to call the cops over – or maybe they called the cops and it was way down the priority list so no one ever came out. Either way, illusion or not, while there is some outright antagonism apparent here and there, a certain amount of normalcy is being maintained.

Some parents aren’t using good sense and are going off to work, leaving their kid(s) unsupervised. With the school still closed I guess some don't feel like that they have any other option. The strict curfew controls most of the problems that could result, at least in our neighborhood. Of course, the threat of being hauled off to a quarantine center for “anti-social behavior” has caused both kids and adults to think twice about how they act in public. Come to think of it, maybe that is why we didn't see any cops at the neighborhood fights. It won’t last, of course. Civil unrest is bound to return. The next time may get very bloody as modern social order breaks down.

Dinner: After breakfast and lunch, no one was really in the mood for a big dinner. I thought it was just about time to use up one of the Chorizo sausages I had stored away. Chorizo is a shelf-stable Hispanic sausage that comes in an airtight plastic package in our area. If you watch the “best used by” dates on the packaging you can find them so that they will have nearly a year of storage possibility. Chorizo is what is popular in our family’s area because of all of the Hispanic heritage; however, other areas have their own varieties. Summer sausage, jerkies, Trail sausage, pepperonis, and salamis are just a couple of other examples of shelf-stable sausages. There is also canned sausages and sausage-flavored TVP to pick from, but I decided to use Chorizo to make a Sausage Pie. After baking it was quickly sliced and consumed. Anyone who wanted some had plain popcorn during our board game time. After that the kids were off to bed, except for Johnnie who was already there. James had had to carry him to bed when he fell asleep in his dinner plate. Scott was too tender to lift Johnnie’s weight and I had strained my back lifting a bag of dirt.

After everyone was out, I gathered the ingredients to make Horchata which is a kind of Mexican rice milk. I also baked the last of the bread from the Amish Bread starter. After it cooled, I wrapped it and stored it in the freezer just in case one of this coming week’s meals are a flop.

Another thought I’m having is that I’m thankful we can continue to homeschool the kids. It makes it so much easier on us these days. Our kids are already used to the idea of doing school at home. It means that Scott and I already have time in our schedules set aside for facilitating the kids’ education. The loss of freedom to go to all their other curricular and extracurricular activities still impact us, but at least we have an established pattern of behavior rather than having to create something totally new during an already stressful time. However, because the majority of families are struggling with this issue the government is mandating that the public schools reopen within the week. They are also calling it an economic move so that parents can stay in the workplace. Schools that were damaged during the rioting will have classes in alternative locations. Lots of other details will be announced in the next couple of days by the NRS Committee, or so claims the mainstream media who I fear is becoming nothing more than a mouthpiece for the NRSC. At least that is one thing we don’t have to worry about, thank goodness.

I can understand how the kids are feeling to some extent. I’m too busy to be bored but I am to a certain extent. I’m still running on the high of Scott coming home safely but at the same time the anxiety isn’t totally gone. I’m too focused on survival to have lost hope, yet there is a certain amount of depression to deal with. I guess I’m feeling a little edgy and kinda claustrophobic from being stuck at home on top of everything else. I’ve got to find a way to spice things up a little. I mean we can’t go crazy but to fight the food fatigue gremlins that have been coming on and to keep everyone’s morale up I need to come up with something. I think I have an idea but I need to think about it some and confirm a few things with Scott before I’m sure.

As far as everything else goes I guess it is going OK, or at least there hasn’t been much change. They haven’t had to widen the New England quarantine zone though they have created a secondary quarantine boundary approximately 50 miles outside of the original. They’ve turned Alcatraz Island into a Safe Zone and they are moving infection-free children out of San Francisco as quickly as possible as SF will likely be quarantined like Los Angeles if they can’t bring the NRS under control. Its spreading quickly through transient populations like tourists, the homeless, and students. To be honest I couldn’t believe there were still tourists at this stage.

All communications have been lost in Haiti and stories are coming out of the Dominican Republic that their military is holding off hordes of infected people trying to cross the mountains. Guantanamo had to be evacuated, at least temporarily, after the Cuban government failed to contain an outbreak of NRS as well as issues with resupply ships being hijacked by hungry and desperate Cuban nationals looking for a way off the island.

To address an unusually large outbreak, authorities in Quebec set fire to a large apartment complex and continued to pour flammable liquids onto the conflagration until there wasn’t anything left to burn. Millions of dollars in personal property was destroyed in the blaze and the number of dead is not being publicly released at this time; supposedly until all next of kin can be notified.

Here in Tampa they picked up five NRS-positives but there is no word what they did with them. All of them were members of the same gang from Clair Mel so there are APBs for all members of that gang, who are of course now hiding from authorities. Members of this gang were arrested last month for the beating death of a homeless man. Tampa’s original outbreak was in the homeless population. I wonder if that’s just a coincidence. It would seem, just like in San Francisco, that transient populations of any type would be the most vulnerable because they lack the ability to completely secure their surroundings for any length of time.

They have opened Raymond James Stadium as a homeless “shelter.” Part of me is suspicious about this move. If nothing else, it has the makings of another “Superdome” incidence or the same type of problem that Houston had with some hurricane evacuees. A stadium is a poor shelter for long term purposes. Maybe it’ll hold up just long enough for the authorities to do whatever it is they are doing with their “sampling” routine. If I had to guess, the authorities may be underestimating the homeless population and many may refuse their questionable hospitality.

Whatever is going on, it looks like we better prepare for worse to come.

 

[Kathy in FL]

Day Fifteen

While we’ve had some tribulations the last two weeks, we’ve handled the things that were actually within our control fairly well. Granted I’ve come close to panic a couple of times, but I never actually crossed the line. I feel like I did when I passed a particularly grueling exam in college. I studied hard and even though the questions were more difficult than I had anticipated, my preparation still went a long way.

I’ve watched the kids trying to … well … not be too much like kids. On the one hand it has helped get us through some difficult spots, on the other hand I’m not sure that it is very good for their overall health and psyche. They are turning too far inward and not reaching out to each other or us enough. Seeing all this crap going on around the world was already bad enough, but now to have it in their own state and even city. Combine that with what happened to their dad and I’m awful worried that they may forget how to actually be kids after a while.

Time for me to put on my Mom Helmet and do some family reconstruction. I need to pull them out of their rooms and pull them out of themselves. After talking to Scott, he agrees we need to give them some one-on-one but I’ve also decided to do some creative stuff with the menu and add some fun to the day when possible. Heck, no one is going to provide that for us, we need to do it for ourselves.

This week we are going to have a different geographic theme each day. Kind of like an international food faire. I’ve thrown in a couple of games and crafts in there as well. I’m willing to try anything to get the kids to focus on something other than what they are seeing and hearing on the news even if it does make me look corny or "mom-ish." The older two gave me a little bit of eye rolling at first but at least acted like good sports and participated. It gives me hope that I haven’t let this go on too long. Today’s theme was Mexico.

Breakfast: For starters – Mmmmm – homemade tortillas are so easy to make once you remember to cover the tortilla press with some plastic wrap to keep the dough from sticking every time you make one. I couldn’t hold onto the remainder of the fresh eggs forever. They are nearly a month old now and who knows how much longer there will be before our area begins to be affected by utility interruptions. If they have to be used, I decided to use the last of them in a true celebration by making Huevos Rancheros. I also used the Horchata I started last night. After breakfast I also started another round of Amish Bread starter.

Lunch: I made more tortillas for lunch (and a few extra for dinner) and used them for Chicken Quesadillas. This was so simple it would’ve been silly if the having and cooking of food wasn’t becoming such serious business. First layer was a tortilla, then canned refried beans was slathered on top of it. Some canned chicken that I had shredded went on top of the refried beans. Then some canned nacho cheese went on top of the chicken. The final layer was another tortilla, then the whole thing was heated through using my iron skillet, sliced into wedges and there you have it. Yummy!

When I say food is getting to be a serious business I’m not kidding. We finally had a couple of neighbors drop by trying to drum up support for a group that is advocating that food and supplies get confiscated from “hoarders” and redistributed more appropriately. I think they were also trying to trick me into sharing how much food we have in our house. I didn’t fall for it and turned all their questions back around to them. I also tried to get them to define “hoarder” and “appropriate redistribution.” Seems like this group doesn’t have any absolutes and that they will adjust their parameters as needed. Definitely not the type we want to get hooked into. They may start out with the best of intentions but it’s very doubtful that is where it will end.

When they finally tired of being polite and came right out and asked how much food we had I used subterfuge and acted embarrassed and excused myself after saying I needed to go inside and “scrape something together” for the kids for supper. The inference being that Scott and I were foregoing food so our kids could eat what little there was. They left disappointed and certainly no wiser.

I coulda thumped Scott for not helping me out if he hadn’t already been so bruised. When I asked him why on Earth he hadn’t sent the idiots packing he said that one, it would have just made them more determined and two, he was having too much fun watching me talk them in circles. Honestly that man has the oddest sense of humor sometimes.

Dinner: I took the leftover tortillas from lunch and made two things with them. The first was homemade chips to go with a jar of store-bought salsa. The second was dessert – fruit fajitas. I paired these two items with canned tamales and Chorizo Pumpkin Soup. The dinner was a little on the thrown together side but it was a good use of prep items and suited our personal tastes. And since I had made Horchata for breakfast, I decided to make Atole for a warm, before-bed beverage. It worked as well as warm milk to help put everyone in a relaxed mood.

While we ate dinner Scott and I explained to the kids why it is becoming even more important that we keep our preps under wraps. I’m sure we haven’t seen the last of the efforts to “redistribute” material resources from the prepared to the unprepared. I think I’m beginning to see Rose slowly start to gain a healthier suspicion of people, even if they are acting with the best of intentions. Now she is beginning to see that not all ideals are well meaning for everyone. People could literally enter our home without our permission and take our food and supplies on the slim excuse that other people who didn’t prepare needed them.

On the off chance that such a group does manage to make it passed our security somehow, we’ve decided to try and hide our preps around the house. Scott is going to reinforce the beds and box springs and they will hold a lot of canned goods. We are also going to build a chase in my closet beside the air handler. It will be at the top and at an awkward angle and will look like insulated duct work. The last big place we have is we are going to open up the wall behind our bookcases. It is an interior wall with no insulation or plumbing so we’ll have quite a bit of space between the studs. We may also build a false wall in the pantry to hide all of our home canned goods but we don’t have the supplies for that yet.

I wonder if all of this means that we need to start thinking about more security for my garden? I would be highly hacked off to get up one morning to find we’ve been raided by garden pirates. That thought though is going to have to wait. Scott and I made a date for a little privacy and seeing how the kids are now in bed and asleep we’ll slip off to Scott’s office for a little one-on-one time of our own.

 

[Kathy in FL]

Day Sixteen

How ironic that I had chosen today’s menu theme to be Middle Eastern. That area of the world has been in the news quite a bit today.

Fear, superstition, and extreme fundamentalism has caused NRS infected individuals to be labeled demons in several countries. I never thought though about how it would be viewed in the Middle East, but at first glance it is the same. Apparently even in Islam there is a method for exorcism. There is an additional problem though associated with extreme fundamentalism. There are these religious laws called sharia and because there are different “schools” of sharia there is some conflict concerning how an NRS infected body is to be treated and how the families of an infected person can be treated. There is a lot of conflicting information coming out and I don’t have enough knowledge to interpret it. All I know is that things are getting truly messed up over there. You’ve got one group saying that NRS can be exorcised out of a person and we all know by now how dangerous this type of thinking can be and the messes it can lead to. Then we have the groups that say that its OK to use infecteds as a bio-weapon and how their descendants will be rewarded for the sacrifice. Another group reads the sharia as an excuse to go in and exterminate entire families based on the infection of one member; it has to do with shame or heresy or cleanliness or something like that. Then you have the group, though admittedly small, that consider an NRS infected person as a “jinn” which heads off into the totally bizarre direction of mythology, family law, and a bunch of other stuff that I just don’t get. Like I said, it’s a mess.

And of course, now countries – particularly China and Russia – are offering their “help” to secure the oil fields and refineries in that part of the world. The US is already giving aid to some countries in the area via the UN. Tell me that isn’t a wreck in the making. It wasn’t too unexpected when Russia lost Venezuela to NRS-related infrastructure failure but still, a little less potential for disaster would be appreciated.

All of this is hitting the US economy pretty hard as well. The economic slowdown of the last couple of years has helped lower demand for oil thereby keeping prices somewhat under control but when Venezuelan oil exports began to slow, prices started spiking again. Now fuel is being rationed. Electric bills are pretty high, and Scott and I have compensated the best we can by keeping the lights off and by turning the thermostat up, but the last couple of months have been extremely humid. If it was just hot that’d be OK … it’s the humidity that is a killer. We keep it at 80 to 82 during the day and the AC still kicks on. At bedtime we drop it down to 78 so we can at least get some sleep without souring the sheets every night.

This morning was another warm one. I’m really thankful I didn’t pull a doofus and unplug the frig just because there wasn’t food to put it in. Having cold water is a blessing when I come in from working on the garden. It was also really good because the food we had today was really different from what we are used to eating and some of us needed more to drink that we normally do. Scott and I have been to a few of the Middle Eastern restaurants around town so the cuisine isn’t totally unfamiliar to us, but it was to the kids.

Breakfast: After squishing the bread starter (day 2) I got down to business. “Fooll Mudammes” or Egyptian Fava Bean Breakfast is a popular Middle Eastern breakfast dish served around here. It is certainly different from your traditional North American breakfast dishes but that’s part of the beauty to this whole exercise – experimentation and getting out of the rut of repetition. Normally the dish would be eaten with pita bread, but I just used up the last few of the tortillas from yesterday. For a breakfast drink I made Apple Sharbat. While the sharbat would normally be made from a fresh apple, I substituted unsweetened applesauce since all the ingredients got whirled together in a blender anyway. The meal wasn't bad, but Johnnie balked a little bit at eating it until I told him it was this or nothing. I could tell he was considering choosing “nothing” but I think hunger won out due to his missing most of dinner last night. Note to self: hunger is not necessarily a bad thing under some conditions.

After breakfast, I taught the girls how to make pita bread. It’s pretty simple but can take some patience. Personally I like pita bread, but any flatbread would have worked for the remainder of the day's meals.

After that was done I went outside to check on my plants and water them as necessary. My shriek brought Scott running. 'Course I got chewed out for scaring him but I was furious at the time and still am. Squirrels gnawed through a place in the lanai screen and they had made a mess with my planting stuff. I swear I am so tired of those tree rats. Scott is going out tomorrow and I’ve asked him to see it he can come up with some animal traps. I’ve had it. I’ll poison the stupid things if I have to. First they get through our soffit and into our insulation in the spring and now they are chewing through our screens. I’m just not putting up with it anymore. If we had an outside dog or cat we probably wouldn’t have near this problem but we just didn't have the heart to get another animal after our old cat died last year at 19 years young. I had her longer than the kids and I thought it would be too hard to replace her. And now with feed and upkeep of an animal getting so expensive it just isn’t a good time. James offered to try and pick some squirrels off with his pellet gun, but I don’t want to do that until Scott can pick him up some more pellets. We put off getting them thinking they would make a good birthday present and now I don’t know how easy they will be to find. Hindsight is 20/20. We'd probably also have to deal with a couple of tree-hugger neighbors we have for "killing innocent and defenseless animals." Blech! I like animals as much as anyone else, and Sarah cries over Bambi and shows like Animal Cops, but I still consider human beings at the top of the food chain and get irritated at people who can't see that.

By the time I cleaned up the mess, salvaged a tray of tomato seedlings, and patched the hole in the screen it was time to fix lunch. I didn’t get to half the stuff I wanted to this morning and that is really irritating. Time is something I can't afford to waste anymore.

Lunch: Middle Eastern Macaroni and Garbanzos. I haven’t found too many recipes that are easier and it used all shelf stable ingredients and seasonings as well. For the onion, I just rehydrated some chopped onion and then sautéed that. Pita bread on the side. It filled everyone’s belly and gave me time to get back outside and finish what I had tried to start this morning before the storm clouds started rolling through.

I got the sunflowers in the ground and got a box of arugula and mesclun greens going as well. It’s still a little warm for the greens but I figure I can filter the sun using the pool cage screen and hopefully that’ll keep things from wilting or frying. I’m definitely going to have problems with that metal fence. The heat radiating from it at mid-day was pretty intense. I accidentally touched it with the back of my arm and yowzer! My arm still has a red patch on the skin. I’ve got a little bit of that stuff you wrap the root balls of trees with but not enough to cover the entire fence. I wonder if it will radiate the cold in the winter as much as it radiates the heat right now. I’ve also got several rolls of landscape sheeting – that stuff you put down before you put mulch down – but I had wanted to save it for my plant beds. Add another thing to put on my “to research” list.

My guava and fig trees in the big pots are almost ready to pick. Not many, but Scott will get the guava in his lunch box and I’ll preserve the figs by drying them. The jujube tree is also approaching harvest time. I’m still worried about having to find a way to protect our edible landscaping. I can move the trees that are in pots a little bit, but where to put them and how often to move them is going to be the question.

My daylilies are still blooming and I’m glad I planted those in both the front and back yard. Not that I really want to experiment right now, but you can actually eat daylily pods. I took that foraging class a few years ago and it’s amazing what you can eat. The thing is we are so used to the hybridized varieties of foods that eating a more “natural” food is foreign to our pallet because they are often blander, less sweet, or more bitter than we are used to. I really hope it doesn’t come down to eating things like cattails and daylilies, but it’ll be nice to know it’s there if we need it. I sure don’t want to have to fight the neighbors over stuff like edible weeds and seed pods. That would have to be a worst-case scenario if ever there was one.

Dinner: Moroccan Chili with 10,000 Grains of Sand was a recipe that I gleaned from a show by TV cook Rachel Ray what seems like a million years ago. The “grains of sand” are couscous. Couscous requires a willingness to try out a different texture and Bekah has problems with that, she can’t eat Jell-O without gagging either. I got lucky and she’s the only kid I have with texture issues. Having picky eaters would suck in a PAW situation. One of the good things about couscous is that it requires very little cooking time and is great to use if you are conserving cooking fuel or cooking time and in this heat, the less time I have to stand over a stove the better. The original chili recipe called for fresh ground lamb, but I substituted canned ground beef that I had put up several months ago. Hurray for home canning! I substituted the correct proportion of dried herbs that the fresh the recipe called for. We used Pita bread to scoop up the chili and couscous. It was fun having everyone sitting around a big pan and scooping out their dinner a bite at a time. No double dipping though. Not even with family. Ick. For dessert I made Middle Eastern Carrot Cake which is kind of like a cross between gingerbread and a more traditional carrot cake. I used powdered eggs and the cooked carrots came out of a can although baby food carrots could also be used in a pinch I suppose. Either way it turned out delicious.

Clean up was actually pretty easy which left us more time to catch up with the news. There’s a double-edged sword for you. Like I mentioned, the Middle East isn’t doing so well at the moment. It’s got some of the military higher ups a little jumpy I think. Certainly has the NRSC wearing long faces for the cameras. Wonder if they are doing a happy dance when the cameras are off and the doors are closed. I know some probably think it is payback time since several of the governments over in that area refused to cooperate with containment efforts by the West and the UN when the NRS pandemic first began.

The Middle East isn’t the only place having problems by any stretch. They are still talking about what is going on down in the Caribbean Island nations. And Mexico is in shambles. About the only country between the US and Brazil that is stable is Costa Rica. I don’t know what the effect from that has been on boarder crossings, legal or illegal. Apparently the NRSC has suggested to the Feds that there needs to be more US military on the ground along all our borders. Hah! After so many years of taking a deliberately hands-off approach on our southern border, now they suddenly want to seal it closed tight. That doesn’t bode well for Florida. We have the longest coastline of the US, second only to Alaska that has over 5000 coastal miles.

Speaking of Alaska, so far they are NRS free in the interior of the state and only in Anchorage have they had one outbreak of NRS that they were able to contain on the ship that it came in on. If only all the other states had been so lucky. Poor old San Francisco looks like it is getting even closer to being the next total city quarantine zone. Alcatraz Island isn’t even full yet and they say they can’t find any more kids. My head doesn’t even want to go there. What’s freaky is that Miami might not be far behind SF. Strangely enough the gangs are actually helping down there … or maybe it’s not gang related so much as vigilante action. Either way the media reports make it sound like a war zone with regular gun fire and “hunting parties” roaming at will to protect their neighborhoods. Talk about surreal. Little Havana is looking more like its name sake every day.

For our relaxing bed time drink tonight I fixed milk with saffron. The saffron threads gave the milk a distinctive flavor and a golden color that the kids really liked. I had the saffron from some that I had bought for making yellow rice, but they are too expensive to get silly with.

And since I brought up of expenses, Scott is heading out tomorrow to try and bring in some money to pay bills with and to change out some of the cash we found. I'm not feeling exactly comfortable with this, but he found a kid to help with the runs. OK, not a kid but a young man that we've rented to for a couple of years. I guess he is all of 22 or 23 now, not much older. He works a semester and then goes to school a semester. He’s done some work with Scott before and seems to have a pretty good head on his shoulders. Won’t have anything to do with drugs or druggies, pays his own way, and in general keeps his place up and stays out of other people’s business. Scott told me David’s dad died when he was 10 and his mom fell apart which left him to raise himself. Got into a little trouble early on but managed to straighten up quickly enough that he didn’t completely ruin his life. I’ve met him and I know he didn’t get along with Carlo. That’s a point in his favor.

My main beef is that David doesn’t have his own car; he bikes everywhere. This means that Scott is going to have to pick him up and drop him off every workday. That’s extra gas and extra time that it will take Scott to get home to us. I guess we’ll just have to see how things work out.

I’m hoping that while he is out Scott can find the time to find some stuff on our “need” list and maybe even a couple on our “want list.” We’ve got food covered but I never imagined needing so much of some of the stuff I keep coming up with ideas for. That false wall in the pantry and finding some way to cover the metal fence are just two of the projects I would like to get to as soon as possible. And now that I'm thinking about it I wish we had a couple more solar battery chargers and the batteries as well. I'd love to be able to do a little early birthday and Christmas shopping as well. Who knows what things are going to be like in a couple of weeks, much less a couple of months from now.

Oh well, the warm milk is doing its job and I’m beat. I’d like to say tomorrow will be a better day, but I’m not sure I really hold out much hope for that. Isn't that a nice, cheery thought to take to bed?

 

[Gardener]

Kathy,
I like how you are updating this story with Covid references.
It's been at least a few years since I read this story, and I had forgotten the "normal" beginning in contrast to how much it eventually spirals to a completely different place.
Thanks for your hard work!

 

[moldy]

The thing I love about this story is how focused it is on 'home'. Yes, Sissy knows that the zombies are there, but what is she going to fix for dinner? How can she do laundry? The little so-called mundane things are the things that make life easier, safer, happier - and most novels (and this is what this is) pass by that just like the movies with unlimited ammunition for the cowboys.

 

[Kathy in FL]

Day Seventeen (Part 1)

I don’t know where to start. So much has happened today; some good, some bad, some horrific.

The day started off ordinarily enough. We got up. Scott did a little paperwork in preparation of going out while I got the kids up, squished the bread starter (day 3), and started breakfast.

Breakfast: I had chosen China as our geographic theme of the day and the only Chinese breakfast recipe I could find was for “Twisted Devils.” Traditional Chinese breakfasts are quite different from what the Western World views as breakfast. The dishes are usually savory rather than sweet and are often eaten quickly rather than enjoyed with a morning paper and coffee. The twists are like crullers in that the sweetness doesn’t come from the dough but from whatever the cruller is dipped in or whatever is sprinkled on top of it. It’s deep-fried dough that is easy to mix up quickly but they don’t come out pretty and uniform without a great deal of practice. Mine looked pretty disgusting to be honest and I had a mess of splattered oil to clean up afterwards.

Scott said I earned a “A” for effort but asked that I not make them again. It was pretty embarrassing but hey, you live you learn. That was pretty much the last chuckle I had for a while. My stomach was already in a knot about Scott going out. His bruises are still pretty spectacular to look at; real sunrise on a stormy day kind of colors. At least he was moving around a lot easier, and it only took Tylenol to knock down the twinges.

Scott hadn’t been gone five minutes when there was a loud knocking on the front door. I looked outside to see who it was and it was the neighbors from yesterday plus a man and woman I didn’t recognize. What troubled me – besides the fact we were being watched since it was too coincidental that they waited for Scott to leave before showing up – was that the man and woman had made the effort to dress up in uniform-ish looking suits. First thing that popped into my head was “uh oh.”

When I tried to fob them off with the “little woman not allowing strangers in the house without her husband home” routine they said that was OK to call him to come home, that they would wait. I was tempted to ignore them and let them roast in the day’s heat until they figured out I wasn’t biting whatever they were selling but I knew I needed more info about what was going on. I bundled the kids back into my bedroom and told them they had to be very, very quiet. I told James and Rose that they were not to let anyone but their dad or I into the house under any circumstances. No matter what and handed James one of the rifles. It got real quiet after I did that. I grabbed my little voice activated recorder and clipped it into my shirt pocket and attached my earplugs to it to make it look like an mp3 player. I think Rose thought I was overreacting at first but she didn’t say anything or try to stop me. I positioned James at the front door and Rose at the back. As soon as I had left by the back door I had them roll down the security doors as quickly as possible and not to stop no matter what they heard.

As soon as I was out the back door and the roll-downs started coming down I could hear all four of my “visitors” start to make a huge fuss. So much for the professional act they were putting on. If I had any doubts they vanished as soon as I turned the corner and saw them trying to prevent the doors from coming down.

I startled the heck out of them when I shouted for them to get their hands off of my personal property and demanded to know why I shouldn’t call the cops right then and there. They quickly “apologized” and tried to regain control of the situation but I already had their number. They may have tried to pull this crap with other people who rolled for them, but they hadn’t run up against any real resistance. I was about to give them a little training on who NOT to try and push around. I can’t stand bullies and I intended to rattle their cage a bit if I could.

After giving the two neighborhood guys a contemptuous look I focused all my attention on the goon and goonette. Their feeble attempt to look “official” in their dark suits, white shirts, and red ties was even more irritating in person. The chick even wore a masculine red tie and that really spiked my irritation. Women are already powerful; there is no reason to go around pretending like we must dress like a man to show it. My respect for goonette fell a couple of more notches.

Wondering just how much respect I was going to lose, I asked them for some identification. They gave me a couple of business cards and some blah-blah-blah letter in legalease on some of the worst looking letterhead I’ve ever seen. I could have made up better looking letterhead with an MSWord template and my laser printer. Theirs was probably done on an inkjet ‘cause it was in color and looked like it would run if it got wet. The business cards had those stupid fold-and-tear edges you get on cheap stationary. Dumb and dumber. They were a little shocked when I folded the letter and shoved it and the business cards in my back pocket. When I asked them for a copy of their business license and their federal tax ID number they started struggling to breathe. Honestly, I began to wonder what kind of amateurs I was dealing with?

That’s when the goon started gobbling at me to the effect that I obviously had no idea who they were and that they had approached me in the spirit of cooperation but since I didn’t seem inclined to “cooperate” they would have to report me to their superiors. OK, I’ll admit that I went from irritated to PO’d at that point. Giving the goon the smile that usually has most people who know me taking two giant steps backwards to avoid the blast zone, I proceeded to “explain” to him that I was trying to check the veracity of his claims, that thus far I had not seen any legal documentary proof that they were who they said they were, that I would immediately be reporting this incident with their names (along with the names of my darling neighbors who brought them to my property) to the State of Florida’s board of professional regulations, the local police, the Keel National Guard Outpost, and anyone else who sprang to mind. I would also be reporting them to the NRSC hotline just in case they happened to be falsifying claims of affiliation with the Feds. That last one turned the goon’s face pale, but I had made an error in judgment in ignoring the two neighborhood men.

One of ‘em grabbed me by my upper arm and started with this idiotically menacing voice of, “You are making a mistake …” right before I turned around and kneed him in the groin. Goonette musta been saving it up because she came at me with nails bared and got an elbow somewhere between her nose and mouth for her troubles. I don’t like to fight, certainly not physically. And I avoid confrontations probably way more than I should by making excuses to myself that it’s better to avoid trouble. But after everything that had been happening recently, including Scott getting injured, I was just in a foul mood and was ready to let my inner country girl come out and play a while. No one threatens my family and I had just plain had all I was taking.

Fortunately, or unfortunately depending how you look at it, just like with most bullies they quickly lost their group cohesiveness when they found out they might actually have to pay some consequences for poking at the wrong person. I told goon and goonette that I would definitely be remembering them and that they’d best not come around this street any more at all. Goon helped the bloody goonette who still had her hands clapped to her face back to their car. I suggested that she should go see a doctor for that and that I'm sure they would be happy to take her samples at the same time. Of course they would have to make an explanation of what had happened but that I just knew that they could prove their official capacity to the local NRSC representative. They just ignored me, but I hope they felt the digs I was trying to get in. They weren't big digs, but they were all I could come up with at the time.

The two neighbor guys tried to bluff their way out by way of saying that this had gotten out of hand and that I had overreacted to their overtures of friendliness. I told them once upon a time I might have believed that but given that I knew that at least one of them had been in on the trouble that code enforcement had tried to give us on some of the work we had done to our home I now take everything they say with a grain of salt. Not only that, I suggested that they had better look to their own families' business before they started messing in other people’s. If they didn’t get their kids under control they were going to have to start visiting them in a quarantine facility as I know for a fact that one of them had a juvie criminal record and that all of them had participated in some of the nastier pranks that been going on in the neighborhood over the last couple of years.

I certainly didn’t make things better when I told them that I had recorded the incident that just took place and that I would be turning a copy of it over to several local authorities; and that if anything started happening at our place like theft or vandalism or anything else we would know exactly who to send them to. If these guys weren’t enemies before, they certainly felt like enemies now.

It only took a matter of minutes for this all to go down. It certainly didn't happen like I had expected. Certainly not the physical confrontation. That I hadn't really expected. I'm more mouth than fists.

In hindsight I know I could have handled it different. I could have waited for Scott to come home. I could have ignored them. I could have handled it in any number of different ways. But I didn’t. After what has happened tonight I’m glad I didn’t … but sad at the same time. I hate feeling that I’ve somehow let myself down and sunk below a certain expectation of how I should act. And to have the kids witness it made it worse.

 

[Kathy in FL]

Day 17 (Part 2)

After I got back in, calmed the kids down – especially James who borders on hating the son of one of the neighborhood guys and who I probably shouldn't have handed a gun – and got myself calmed down I only had the energy to think about what I was going to say to Scott and what, if anything, I could do to make things better. I knew Scott was going to roast my tail feathers for putting myself in such a potentially bad situation. And he did, nice and crispy too. But I also now needed to think about revenge. Not me, they aren't worth it and I wasn't really hurt, just shook up. But what could they do to us? First thing I thought about was my garden. I had James help me to move all my outdoor containers into the pool cage. That wouldn’t be any protection so I’ve been thinking of how we can bring the plants in at night and take them out during the day.

I began adding to my “to do” list while making lunch.

Lunch: I made Basic Fried Rice to which I added canned bean sprouts and a can of mixed Chinese vegetables. Nothing fancy but not bad. I wasn’t particularly hungry, but the kids all ate with gusto. Seems that seeing their mom willing to kick some backside and come out the winner somehow made them feel safer. I want them to feel safe but I’m sure there is supposed to be a lesson on the consequences of un-necessary violence in there someplace. I just didn’t know how to verbalize it without sticking my foot in my mouth. Scott yelling at me tonight might have made them think twice, but with James and even Rose coming to my defense several times I’m not totally sure.

After lunch I had Sarah start on a Coconut pudding for tonight’s dessert that was made from canned evaporated milk, coconut extract, and powdered egg whites.

I was still on tenterhooks about what Scott was going to say. I decided to turn on the news to calm my nerves. I’m glad I did, but it did everything but calm my nerves. Los Angeles blew up. I mean it literally blew up. As in bang, bang, kablam, kablooey. No one is sure what happened but between the fires and who knows what all, some serious explosions rocked the entire LA basin from one side to the other. Some people said it was an earthquake, some are saying that with the fires out of control they reached main power stations that caused a backfeed felt across the city and thus had a domino effect of some type. That sounded like spin to me. There were a few whispers that it may have been government intervention to try and take care of an escalating out of control NRS-infected population. All I know is that the military isn’t letting anyone in or out of the area and that they’ve widened the quarantine zone around the city.

Alcatraz Island has become … I don’t even know how to write this. Apparently either an infected worker or child slipped through the checkpoints. All the children … They are saying that it was a blood bath. I’m not thinking about that anymore. James is the one who heard it first on his laptop. He has some kind of news agrigator scrolling on his screen at all times these days. I sent the younger three to play at the other end of the house so I could turn the TV on and try and catch what happened. Rose saw the pictures and had to run to the bathroom to puke. I heard James telling her later that “that’s not going to happen to us, Mom and Dad won’t let it, I won’t let it, but you have to pitch in and help … “ I know they send young men off to war, but I never thought about my son that way. I always thought he was too young. But I guess maybe he isn’t. But that still doesn’t change the fact that I’m determined to give them as much of a childhood as I can. And I'm just not thinking any more about that right now.

They added San Francisco and Oakland to the full quarantine zones as well. There has been a huge migration of people trying to head out of the state of California in general but they are running into roadblocks all along the state border. Unless you have relatives in another state that have signed an affidavit that they are willing to take you in and be legally responsible for you forget it. College students are caught on both sides trying to get home to their parents. Air traffic into and out of California is now confined to military only. All other aircraft will be considered dangerous and they will either force them to set down inside the California borders or they will be shot down inside the California borders. The New England quarantine zone also now has this rule.

I expected to see Miami on the list of quarantine zones but apparently not yet. I guess that is a blessing. It also means that maybe vigilante groups are going to be the way to go. James said, “don’t call them vigilantes mom, call them militia men.” I told him until they could prove themselves to not be self-serving thugs I’d call them whatever came to mind. But I did it with a wink so I didn’t hurt his feelings. I don’t want him to start thinking that being a vigilante is anything to be proud of. My little example this morning didn’t help and I’ll probably be paying the price for that little show for some time to come.
Dinner: I was totally out of it mentally when it came time to start dinner and all I could think to make was Chinese Jambalaya. While not truly traditional Chinese cuisine, it certainly mimiced some of the spicier rice dishes in Chinese cooking. I used canned Asian vegetables to replace the fresh ones called for in the original recipe and for the tomatoes I used well-drained canned petite diced tomatoes. This got mixed in with a commercially packaged box of Jambalaya mix, cooked per directions, and “bam” it was finished. And just in time for Scott to get home.

Oh yeah. Did I ever get nailed. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Scott this mad. Not only that but both James and I jumped on him, and he still managed to drag us down to the neighbor’s house intent on beating the living crap out of the guy for touching me. What we found though was totally unexpected. The guy was in tears. I mean big tears, heaving cries, and a snotty nose ... the whole nine yards. Seems I’d been a little prophetic when I said that his kid was going to find himself locked up if he didn’t change his ways fast. The guy kept shouting until I could finally get him to understand that I hadn’t actually called anyone, that I had just said that to make them leave us alone. Or, at least I hadn’t actually gotten around to calling anyone yet because I wanted to talk it over with Scott first, but I kept that bit to myself. Of course by that time we had a neighborhood full of witnesses. I didn’t know whether to be scared or mortified.

About that time a woman I vaguely recognized from living around the corner stepped out of the crowd and said that a couple of them had called the cops because they saw four “guys” try and attack me. The cops never showed up because the fight broke up and we all walked away, but they did make a report by phone. I didn’t know if that made me feel any better or not. People watching what was happening but not willing to take a stand; but I guess they had called the cops so that was something. I said that couldn’t have resulted in the kid being picked up because he had nothing to do with it. The guy asked me if I was willing to make a statement to that effect. I don’t like the kid, but I didn’t want him to be falsely imprisoned. My son could be next. What a mess. Scott was still blistering, told the guy that if he ever came near us again there would be hell to pay … and when Scott said hell they guy must have been impressed because he stumbled backwards after getting a good look at Scott’s face.

Dinner was very tense but gradually Scott calmed down. I had to promise not to do something like that ever again and yada, yada, yada expose myself to unnecessary danger and blah, blah, blah because he would be very angry and hurt etc., etc., etc. I know I shouldn’t be so flippant about this. If I want Scott to take my feelings seriously I have to take his feelings seriously. But I … argh! … He loves me sooo much, easily as much as I love him. I just can’t stand being wrapped in cotton while he takes all the chances. So, OK, maybe this isn’t a “chance” that I should have taken and I’m beating myself up a little bit over it already. But having Scott upset about it makes it worse. The house already feels like a gilded cage, I don’t need any more imagery in that direction.

I was digging around for a way to broach the subject of garden security when Scott himself brought up. We’re going to clear out his office and start bringing in all my containers every night. It will be a tight squeeze and a load of work twice a day, but Scott says some of the tenants have already complained about having stuff stolen. It looks like this will have been something coming with or without the ruckus this morning. That only makes me feel slightly less stupid.

He also brought home a bunch of stuff that we need to unload from the van first thing in the morning. Some of it was from my list and some of it was just stuff he picked up because he could. Guess Sugar Daddy's cash is coming in handy. We had another tenant skip on us, but the neighbors had family from Miami show up unexpectedly that are eager to rent the place. The place was empty, if not clean, and the new renters said they would take care of the cleaning for a discount on their security deposit. One less problem.

When I asked him how David worked out today, he said that while he doesn’t have as much experience as Carlo did, and doesn’t know how to do as much, he gets what he can do done faster and without a bad attitude. He’ll keep employing him as long as things continue to work as well as they did today. What worried me though was that Scott said David looked like he wasn’t eating regular. Scott split his lunch with him. That isn’t going to cut it. I guess I’ll need to pack more tomorrow, I’m not having Scott go hungry and I know he won't let the kid go hungry no matter if it means sacrificing his own lunch. When I stocked up on food, I hadn't expected to have to feed another full-grown male.

I really didn’t want to talk about what had been on the news but for once Scott was in a mood to talk. My mind keeps shying away from thinking about Alcatraz. I just … I’m not going there even in this journal. There are some things that are just too dark.

I made some Chinese Milk Tea to settle my nerves and everyone wanted a bit. Scott’s was more tea than milk and Johnnie’s was all milk with just a splash of tea. Everyone else had theirs somewhere in between. The kids piled around the sofa and read or did something else while Scott and I talked. After Scott was talked out, we got down to some snuggling and making up. The kids gave us the “ewwww” look and said they were going to bed.

Scott just finished the last of his account entries and his notes so I’ll stop here so we can double check the locks one more time. I hope tomorrow is a little less “adventuresome.” I’m still a bit jittery.

 

[Catshooter]

Kathy,

Is this a copy or a copy/update/tweakage?

 

[Kathy in FL]

Kathy,

Is this a copy or a copy/update/tweakage?

copy/update/tweakage

I'm finding a lot of needed editing as I post and I'm also updating things. I don't think all of it will be noticeable but some of it might. It is why it is taking so long to add each post. I am not changing the plot or characters - if they are dead, they stay dead sort of thing - but definitely tweaking some of the tech and science as I go along, maybe a few additions, and clarifying some of the fuzzy scenes. A few other things here and there as well.

 

[moldy]

Love this story. I love how Sissy adapts to use what works best for her. I love how she points out that it's not just guns and ammo, it's shoe laces and lice treatment and underwear that are important and needed. Have read thru it multiple times (and I can so relate to Sissy, especially when it comes to relationship issues) and really appreciate the time and effort you have put into it.

 

[Catshooter]

Thought that you might be doing some such thing.

- if they are dead, they stay dead sort of thing -

I see what you did there . . .

 

[Kathy in FL]

Thought that you might be doing some such thing.




I see what you did there . . .

ROFL. I'm not nearly as clever as you are giving me credit for being. I was thinking more along the lines of "Who Shot JR?" but the other works too. LOLOLOL

 

[libertylover]

I really enjoyed this. Thank you.

 

[Kathy in FL]

I really enjoyed this. Thank you.

I am still editing it. Wow, I had no idea what a mess it was. Homophones, homonyms, reversed words, lost commas ... OMG, every time I think I've found the last one, two more show up. I'll try and get a couple of more edited chapters up tomorrow.

 

[Catshooter]

I think the typos are much more significant to you than us, kiddo. Don't snap a rib, at least not on our account.

 

[Griz3752]

I think the typos are much more significant to you than us, kiddo. Don't snap a rib, at least not on our account.

Oh so heartily concur Ms Kathy

Most of the 'typos' are courtesy MS-Spell/Grammar check anyway

 

[Kathy in FL]

Day Eighteen

While I’ve been tense all day, there was no retribution for yesterday. You wouldn’t think I would have had time to really worry as much as I’ve done today, but it’s always at the back of my mind, even now that we have everything locked up safe and sound for the night.

Scott was up earlier than usual. We needed to get the van unloaded so he could get going. I got the kids up and they started to help unload while I started breakfast.

Breakfast: Today’s theme was Italian. OK, so I picked one that was going to be easy on me. I needed “easy” and tomorrow’s theme promises to be more challenging anyway. The most traditional breakfast in Italy is apparently a cup of coffee and a pastry. Yesterday proved that just wouldn’t fill our family up and hold them until lunch. Especially if we were going to be doing a lot of manual labor. I opted to make what my Aunt Nina always called an Italian Breakfast Casserole. I’m not sure how authentic the recipe should be considered, but it worked for us. While everyone ate breakfast, I squished the bread starter (Day 4) and went outside to water my garden.

Scott headed out right after breakfast leaving me to eat my own breakfast and to get started on the list I had started yesterday. Today would mostly be an indoor day which didn't hurt my feelings any at all. I didn't want to have to worry about being watched on top of everything else. First, I had to deal with all the stuff Scott had brought home last night. He brought me cases of the cleaning supplies I had asked for, taking the last two cases of bleach off the shelves at SAMs. He said the prices were insane but that is what everyone has been reduced to paying. It isn’t gouging it is demand and availability. It makes me wish I had prepped so much more and harder when things were better but hindsight is always 20/20.



Scott also picked up a bunch of batteries – regular and rechargeable, as well as three marine batteries that we could use to hook up to our solar panels. I got a case of light bulbs instead of the package that I asked for which I thought must have been Scott in a hurry and not thinking. But what the heck, we’ll eventually use them and better to have them and not need them than to need them and not have them. There were a bunch of other odds and ends as well. He even remembered to pick up some socks and underwear for Johnnie and James which were badly needed.

When I asked Scott why he hadn’t gotten the more important lumber for the false wall in the pantry, not complaining but worried there might be a problem, he explained he’d ordered it but he couldn’t pick it up until tomorrow when he picks up the rest of his order at Home Depot. They are rationing everything these days and only the fact that he paid cash up front kept it from taking over a week to take possession of the order.

After I figured out where I was going to store everything temporarily, I had Sarah and Bekah start bringing me all the #10 cans from our food storage. I quickly filled our queen-size box spring with roughly 125 #10-sized cans of dehydrated and freeze-dried foods. Rose’s twin mattress was filled with about half that many

James’ bed is a captain’s bed so there isn’t a box spring. Instead, there is a platform that holds three drawers side-by-side. I had James take the drawers out and stuff as many rolls of toilet paper in there as he could while still being able to fit the drawers back in. He got over 36 rolls in there which I thought was pretty good.

The girls normally sleep in a bunk bed as does Johnnie; no box springs there either. However the girls, Rose, and Johnnie have walk-in closets that have 10 foot ceilings in them. On one shelf in the very top of the closets I put as many additional paper products as I could. At least if the paper stuff falls no one is going to get a concussion. Been there done that when that can of freeze-dried strawberries came down on my head in the utility room. I’m lucky it was just a mild concussion and a couple of stitches. If it had been dried eggs or dried milk, I coulda lost my head all together.

I spent the rest of the morning stuffing toilet paper, napkins, paper towels, feminine hygiene products, and all sorts of other paper products in all the out-of-the-way places around the house as I could find.

Lunch: Lunch was pizza. Ok, ok the pizza that most North Americans eat isn’t necessarily the same type of pizzas that you would find in Italy or Europe, but the kids had been begging to make pizza for lunch for over a week. If they were willing to do the prep and clean up then I was willing to say “go for it.” The pizza crusts came from packages of mix. The pizza sauce was out of a jar but got doctored with more garlic and some Italian seasoning. The cheese was a combination of processed cheese, grated Parmesan, and grated Romano. The kids also got their pick of pepperoni and a little sausage-flavored TVP for the meat, or canned mushrooms and onions for the veggies. Just for the heck of it and to give the kids something different to do, they cooked their pizzas in a box oven they made from a heavy-duty cardboard box that was covered in aluminum foil. The fuel was coals leftover from a fire from some oak branches that Scott had cut down when they were building the fence the other day. Rose made a very strong, sweet lemonade that she stuck in the freezer until it was ice cold. It didn’t quite turn into Italian Lemon Ice, but it was close. The whole thing I put down in their school portfolio as science, home ec, and shop projects. I have no idea whether the school district is even pulling portfolios this year but better safe than sorry.

I left the kids to clean up while I continued trying to figure out where I was going to put everything that was still all over the house in miscellaneous little piles. Those little piles have been mocking me for months and I was just flat out tired of constantly having to walk around them. By hiding stuff, I made quite a bit of floor space; we needed it. After Scott got home it took over an hour just to move everything out of his office and another hour to cover the floor – thankfully ceramic tile – with a tarp and to move the most vulnerable plant containers in. Glory this is going to be some work. I figure that we just added two hours of work to our schedule every day for the foreseeable future. Fun, fun, fun. But better than the alternative which is losing my garden.

Scott reported that people are getting really worried about where their next paycheck is going to come from. The decreased work hours available due to the dusk to dawn curfew has caused a lot of layoffs and salary decreases. Scott has already been getting signals from a couple of our tenants that they won’t have their rent come the first of the month, or they'll maybe only have part of it. The noise from the Federal government as well as our State, is that by emergency order they are going to put a moratorium on evictions, at least for residential properties. Since a couple of our rental complexes are not considered “residential” so much as “commercial” because of the type of mortgage they have we aren’t sure how this is going to affect us yet. No news on whether they are going to put moratoriums on utility payments … or insurance or any of the other type of expenses we have. We still have to keep up with repairs and maintenance regardless of whether a resident is paying their rent. That’s already State Law but at least they are acknowledging that if the maintenance is tenant-caused it doesn’t have to be done immediately, even if it is to a major appliance. There are also issues with curfew and supply availability.



We are lucky at least in one respect; all the mortgages, utilities, and insurance are covered by the rent income from our subsidized units. So long as government agencies continue to deposit that money, we should be OK for that part of it, but we still have to pay property taxes come November. That doesn’t count repairs and maintenance on the rental units that we absolutely cannot forgo, legal expenses, our own personal expenses, or any kind of savings like for the kids’ college funds. Things just keep getting tighter and tighter. And most folks tend to put the landlord at the bottom of the bill pile. This is going to be particularly true once the moratorium goes into effect at the beginning of next month. We have a couple of

The thoughts of one discomfort led to another. I’m not really all that sure about Scott’s plan for tomorrow. He’s going right after daybreak to pick David up, stop by Home Depot for his supply order, and then he’s bringing him back here to work. In addition to the false wall lumber and drywall, Scott bought all the supplies to enclose our freestanding carport and to build an enclosed walkway from the carport into the utility room. We’d talked about doing this for security purposes, but I didn’t think we had actually made the decision to do it yet. Scott felt we had. Not a huge miscommunication but I’m not asking how much the materials cost; I figure that the Sugar Daddy money has to be going really fast. I suppose the work will go faster if all three of them - Scott, James, and David - are working on things but it just feels hinky having a stranger in the house after the recent turmoil we’ve been through.

Dinner: For dinner I fixed spaghetti. I could have used some of my home canned sauce that I made a few months ago but I had one commercial sized can of Ragu brand that I hadn’t found a place for yet. I doctored it up with lots of garlic and onion, some canned mushrooms, and some dried veggies that I had like bell peppers, carrots, and zucchini. I would normally add ground beef and sausage to my sauce but it was already meat-flavored so I gave it a pass and tried to play it economical. Instead of bread sticks I made Grits Cakes which is kind of like a southern-style polenta. Everything was very good, and all of my little piggies got to eat until they were thoroughly stuffed which they hadn’t done in quite some time. I baked some Rusks while we ate dinner because I will need them for tomorrow's breakfast.

We all had mugs of Amaretto Cocoa while listening to the nightly news as it fed out more of the same old same old. The quarantine zones are holding so don’t worry. Food deliveries are due soon so don’t hoard. Fuel prices will stabilize soon so please be patient and conserve. Infection rates are reportedly the same except for spikes in quarantine zones so follow the NRSC mandates without question. It’s almost become normal.

Except we have active-duty military troops and National Guards patrolling the streets of our city. Except we are hiding most of our food stockpile on the off chance some government agency wants to “equitably redistribute” supplies around. Except the terms “NRS,” “infected,” and “zombie” all get used in the same sentence several times a day by the news media. Except I have to worry about Scott maybe not coming home at the end of the day because a zombie got him. Except I am stuck in this gilded cage we built and slowly going nuts.

OK, so I’m being more than a little melodramatic about the gilded cage part, but it has been over two weeks since I left our little point four-acre yard. And everything else is true.

I better sign off here. Scott’s going to open the wall behind the bookcases, and I’m going to try and hide as many cans in those areas as will fit before bed. I want as little as possible visible to David while he is here tomorrow.

 

[RememberGoliad]

I am still editing it. Wow, I had no idea what a mess it was. Homophones, homonyms, reversed words, lost commas ... OMG, every time I think I've found the last one, two more show up. I'll try and get a couple of more edited chapters up tomorrow.

What is a homophone, anyway? Androids with rainbow cases? I guess I should know, being what month it is and all... but anyway...

There their they're. It's okay. You deserve a medal made of precious metal for your mettle in sticking to your editing and not letting the squirrels meddle in your efforts!



Thank you for posting this here! I've never read it, so I've eaten a whole bowl of shrimp so I can wait with properly baited breath for each installment!

 

[Kathy in FL]

What is a homophone, anyway? Androids with rainbow cases? I guess I should know, being what month it is and all... but anyway...

There their they're. It's okay. You deserve a medal made of precious metal for your mettle in sticking to your editing and not letting the squirrels meddle in your efforts!



Thank you for posting this here! I've never read it, so I've eaten a whole bowl of shrimp so I can wait with properly baited breath for each installment!