For the past year Bok and I have been prepping. We have purchased about 4 - 6 months of food, blankets, candles, water purifiers and barrels, propane, propane heater, cleaning supplies, and medical supplies.

I also got in all the medical appointments, paid off all the bills, cleaned and organized and made needed repairs to the cars and house.

I've also learned how to be more self sufficient and I've taught myself some new skills. I'm in better shape now in all respects than I was this time last year.

This coming year we are continuing to "prep", we want to add solar to the house, see about getting a well dug, take shooting lessons and I might even look into chickens (if I can talk Bok into it).

I'm not sure if it's safe to say that "Y2K is OK" ...but it doesn't make any difference. I'll continue doing most of the things I've been doing over the past year. It makes sense to me to be as independent as possible as you never know what's around the corner.

The more independent I get, the more I understand the words from the old Billie Holliday song...."God bless the child that's got his own"

I'm getting mine while the getting is good.

-- Mabel Dodge (cynical@me.now), January 01, 2000

Answers

Mabel, this has truly been an experience that I will never forget nor ever regret. I'd rather have it today than to be left out in the cold tomorrow. If anyone thinks their preps are worthless, they are a branch blowing in the wind. I had a good laugh tonight. I asked my husband what he wanted for dinner and he said tuna fish sandwiches and soup. I went to the store house and got what I needed, yeh, it's a store alright, anything I want or need I know where to go get it and I don't have to drive miles to do it. I feel very independent now and I am ready for that big earthquake all the "experts" have been talking about...let's rock and roll!

-- bardou (bardou@baloney.com), January 01, 2000.

Mabel, Love that song! Truer words were never spoken.

-- cmd0903 (cmd0903@aol.com), January 02, 2000.

Full speed ahead, Mable!

I agree completely. We are at about the same level as you are; eliminated most of the debt, spruced up the place, stores are topped, got the well dug, got a little solar in and love it and want more.

We'll continue to build and strengthen our place and our skills.

We were braced for impact, and thankfully, the worst case scenario has not come to pass. Anything less, we feel fairly comfortably prepared for. Next! (what the barber said)

Say, Mable, weren't you were married to Tony Luhan?

Cheers! to you too, Bardou!

Godspeed,

-- Pinkrock (aphotonboy@aol.com), January 02, 2000.

I'm impressed pinkrock...hardly anyone knows about poor old Mabel. ;>

-- Mabel Dodge (cynical@me.noq), January 02, 2000.

I knew of her as Ella Young's friend, from Young's magnificent 1945 memoir _Flowering Dusk_. She stayed with Mabel and Tony for a while, and wrote some vivid descriptions of life in that household.

-- Firemouse (firemouse@fcmail.com), January 02, 2000.

Wow another writer from that group...I've haven't read Ella Young but you can bet I'll track her down.

I love reading about the artists, writers and the odd balls, that made up that social circle starting around the 1920's. They were fascinating people with fascinating ideas.

Thanks for clueing me in on yet another one from that time period.

-- Mabel Dodge (cynical@me.now), January 02, 2000.

Thanks, Mabes,...My thoughts exactly. Since when is knowledge of self-sufficiency ever wasted. It would be foolish of me to lament the skills I have acquired over the last 19 months. Here in California it is critical to be prepared for loss of essential goods and services due to earthquakes.

Then, whenever possible, when time permits, I've always preferred "making" over "buying", growing my own food, etc.

"Momma may have,...papa may have,...but god bless the child that's got his own,...that's got his own."

-- Donna (moment@pacbell.net), January 02, 2000.

Ella Young was an Irish poet and folklorist, good friend of Maud Gonne (who illustrated her book _Celtic Wonder Tales_), A.E., and other figures of the Irish Renaissance. She emigrated to the US in the Twenties, and was a friend of Ansel Adams, Robinson Jeffers, and other creative luminaries. I'm friends with the people who bought her last home in California, "Cluan Ard." It is still a magical place.

"Why have we, all of us, foregathered? Why did Mabel suddenly decide that she must see the West Coast, and begin with Carmel? We have slid together like beads on a string! Perhaps it is not wholly by chance. Perhaps there is a design somewhere, a pattern could we disentangle it! Who knows? We know, for the moment, that we are speeding south along the Big Sur road, sunshine is all about us, and Una Jeffers is driving Tony's Cadillac." -- from _Flowering Dusk_

Enjoy this new bead on your string. Along with the preps there have been many intangible gifts here, enrichment of our lives, new avenues to explore. I don't regret the time I've spent here, and the resources I have now that I didn't have before.

-- Firemouse (firemouse@fcmail.com), January 02, 2000.

Firemouse:

Ansel Adams lived in Carmel. That's why they went there first.

Godspeed,

z

-- Pinkrock (aphotonboy@aol.com), January 02, 2000.

It was Ansel and Virginia who brought Ella to Taos. There is a portrait of Ella Young done by Ansel in _Flowering Dusk_, such a beautiful woman. I got to meet Ansel and Virginia while doing some Ella Young research years ago, but at that point they said they were not being very good about remembering stories about the old days.

-- Firemouse (firemouse@fcmail.com), January 02, 2000.