The Day After Tomorrow Week 14

Part One Here

Part Two Here

Its been a while, I know.  Things have changed a lot for us.

The weather broke, finally, spring is in the air.  Its funny, the plants don’t seem to care or notice how much has changed. We hold on, hoping my husband will come back from that store 11 weeks ago.  It’s less than a mile away. I haven’t given up on him, and hope he was conscripted by the right side. Jake’s fever broke when I boiled some willow bark for him.  Thank God for my library and having all those “nature” and “medicinal plant” books I bought years ago. One woman’s husband just made it here today, after being gone even longer. He claims that both sides are just kind of giving up, letting people go, more worried about survival now. I can only hope, wait, pray in the way I do.

I have kind of a commune going here. Much of the neighborhood has been abandoned, people traveling south, or going to the “centers” whatever that means.  We’ve gone “collecting” in as many houses as we could, getting abandoned canned goods and dry goods.  Toilet paper and kleenex is at a real premium these days too. We are going to have to figure out how to make that.

Some of my friends from Detroit, Redford and Plymouth have made there way here.  Marty and Sandy made it, both are nurses, so they are our medical team.  Dave and Marie made it with their two 20-ish daughters too.  Both are excellent cooks.  There are more, most are old friends, and some who just wandered up, drawn by our fires, the smell of food and the sound of guitars.  There are a lot of children. We take turns with “classroom”.

Its really funny, I saved seeds all these years because I’m cheap, but it is really going to pay off in the long run. We even picked through my compost bin and got viable seeds from cucumbers, tomatoes and zucchinis that froze before they started to decay. We scabbed some glass that made it through the fire  behind us, and boards from other peoples garages.  My husband, like most men, has jars and jars of nails stashed, so we already have a bunch of plants started in the makeshift greenhouse we built.  I never had to hand-saw before, what a pain in my ass with no power tools.

The guys have been doing some ice fishing, but that’s getting too thin. Its going to be a tight few weeks before the ice is gone enough to get the row-boat in. More fucking venison, and right now they are having their fawns.  I hate to take too many.

I am too busy working at keeping us alive to think much anymore.  I miss my husband so very badly, and cry late nights alone.  I can’t let my son see, you know?  Some here have had their spouses killed outright, or their kids. We’ve all lost someone.

There are no more “Bush conferences”… TV’s been out for weeks, and the power just quit coming back on once in a while too.  We have one generator and a little gas, but we are going to save that for summer.  Try & run a small freezer. We need to find a way to get more fuel, but every vehicle left has been siphoned dry by someone.

A couple guys “found” a well head hand pump to put on our well, so we don’t have to boil lake water anymore. Its a good deep well.  The latrine thing is getting to be a problem… where to dig when the ground warms enough, that sort of thing.  We had been peeing in the woods, but using lake water to flush solids, but there are too many people for that now, and if you remember, I fear my septic tank is “full” and really don’t want to explain that should it overflow.

Anyhow, Marie’s girls have a laptop we are using sparingly, and I’m not afraid so much to write now. No Blackwater guys around for ages.

I’m sitting under my gazebo, listening to the kids playing, people talking, laughing, making music and it almost seems like we are having a party.  I remember my August Parties. We have some good ganja seeds too and a sizeable stash of that, and Dave knows how to make beer.  But I have no idea where we can find Hops.  Heh, that would be kick-ass if we did. Strange, some moments you almost forget how bad it is, because it seems good.  Slower, simpler. Its like its better without technology and a government.

God I wish my husband was here. Then it could be actually good.

Another Freedom Fighter