Havamal, Part 6

Blessings Darlings!

Welcome to this week's installment of  my free-associating to the words of the Havamal.  For those new here - the Havamal is from the Prose Edda of the Norse, and is attributed to Odin.  I'm not using either the best translation or the best ordered version ... but I was sure this one was public domain.  I've found other translations online since then, better, but I'm going to use this one thru' since I started it.  The better versions are mentioned in a great comment in, I believe, the first part of the series.

On to the text!

Little a sand-grain, little a dew drop,
Little the minds of men:
A11 men are not equal in wisdom,
The half-wise are everywhere 

Well, YEAH.  I'm giving up on reading the 'calls to the editor' part of my local paper. 

It is best for man to be middle-wise,
Not over cunning and clever:
The fairest life is led by those
Who are deft at all they do.
It is best for man to be middle-wise,
Not over cunning and clever:
No man is able to know his future,
So let him sleep in peace. 

It is best for man to be middle-wise,
Not over cunning and clever:
The learned man whose lore is deep
Is seldom happy at heart. 

Is my confusion over the difference between 'half-wise' and 'middle wise' a translation problem?

I have to admit my personal prejudice is in favor of being of greater not lesser wisdom.  And that I see 'cunning and clever' as being different than wisdom.  Maybe more like being smart-asses, or con artists.  But the "The learned man whose lore is deep Is seldom happy at heart" line makes it clear that even my educational elitism is what's being addressed here.  

 

Then again, I see happiness as a choice, not something conferred or chased away by eduction, brains, wealth, etc.

Brand kindles brand till they burn out,
Flame is quickened by flame:
One man from another is known by his speech
The simpleton by his silence.
Early shall he rise who has designs
On anothers land or life:
His prey escapes the prone wolf,
The sleeper is seldom victorious. 

Early shall he rise who rules few servants,
And set to work at once:
Much is lost by the late sleeper,
Wealth is won by the swift, 

Ah, Procrastination, my old friend!  Friend?  No, more like a foe I've made strong over the years, fool that I tend to be.  

A man should know how many logs
And strips of bark from the birch
To stock in autumn, that he may have enough
Wood for his winter fires. 

Preparedness.  Yes, I'm there.  If anyone reading wants links to the web sites that help you figure out how much of what food you need to stock to have a year supply... let me know.  Logs, food, water source - know how to supply and DO supply your own basic needs.  Then...

Washed and fed,
one may fare to the Thing:
Though one's clothes be the worse for Wear,
None need be ashamed of his shoes or hose,
Nor of the horse he owns,
Although no thoroughbred. 

As the eagle who comes to the ocean shore,
Sniffs and hangs her head,
Dumfounded is he who finds at the Thing
No supporters to plead his case. 

Once you've met your own needs yourself, you can go to the AlThing proudly.  Still, if you are there asking for something .... you need to also check with others to see if they agree with your view.  Never assume the support of others.  

It is safe to tell a secret to one,
Risky to tell it to two,
To tell it to three is thoughtless folly,
Everyone else will know. 

Often words uttered to another
Have reaped an ill harvest:
Two beat one, the tongue is head's bane,
Pockets of fur hide fists. 

You have the right to remain silent.  Do you have the ability?  Freedom of speech lets you say what you want.  It does NOT mean that what you say has no repurcussions.


And, for your preppers --- OPSEC! (operational security, for the rest of you).

Moderate at council should a man be,
Not brutal and over bearing:
Among the bold the bully will find
Others as bold as he. 

Again ... don't be a douche.

These things are thought the best:
Fire, the sight of the sun,
Good health with the gift to keep it,
And a life that avoids vice. 

Not all sick men are utterly wretched:
Some are blessed with sons,
Some with friends,
some with riches,
Some with worthy works. 

The halt can manage a horse,
the handless a flock,
The deaf be a doughty fighter,
To be blind is better than to burn on a pyre:
There is nothing the dead can do. 

It is always better to be alive,
The living can keep a cow.
Fire, I saw, warming a wealthy man,
With a cold corpse at his door. 

A person can be old. A person can be ill.  A person can have physical/mental/emotional disabilities.  But being helpless and worthless is not one of them.  As I told my mother, a decade ago when she started losing her sight and felt she couldn't help a cousin care for the cousin's grandson .... "You put the bottle in one end and change the other .... and the baby lets you know if you got it wrong!"  [and thanks to Melilot for the line, BTW] 

A son is a blessing, though born late
To a father no longer alive:
Stones would seldom stand by the highway
If sons did not set them there. 

He welcomes the night who has enough provisions
Short are the sails of a ship,
Dangerous the dark in autumn,
The wind may veer within five days,
And many times in a month. 

Okay, I don't get why these lines have been put here in the version I'm using.  Do they flow better in more normative versions?  At any rate - you descendants are likely the only ones who will honor your .... but do all descendant have to be biological? Nah, says I.

And it finishes with prepping.  Okay. Fine. Short sails, maybe, allow you to tack, to move where you want to go despite where the wind alone would have you go?  Is that it?  I dunno.

And so ends Part 6.  Tune in next Wotansday for Part 7!

Frondly, Fern

Pantry Stuff

Blessings, Darlings!

My son just finished making a sheet cake, and I've just started a sponge for a loaf of bread.  All this yummy use of on-hand ingredients leads to a question - do you know how much of what you use in a typical month?  At least of staples like flour, sugar, coffee?

I've been thinking about that, and compiling next-month's shopping list.  So I'm going to bore treat you to some of my figures.  Most are a bit more than I use in a typical month, but buying this month allows a LITTLE natural accumulation of supplies.

Minimum purchases from Aldi's (staples, no name brands, store profit goes to Germany, but GREAT prices):

Flour -           5 5-pound bags
Sugar -          2 5-pound bags
lunchmeat       3 pounds
croutons         1 bag ( really should make them myself)
soup - cream of  mushroom      5 cans
peas             2 cans
canned mushrooms 9 cans
canned tuna    5 cans
canned ham     1 can
onions              6 pounds
potatoes          10 pounds
canned tomatoes     6 cans (pints)
cooking spray        1 can
oil                  2 bottles 48 oz
napkins            2 packages
hash browns        1 package, frzn
frozen veggies       9 bags
Milk                10 gallons
eggs                 9 dozen
half & half          4 quarts
OJ                   4 half gallons
cereal                4 boxes
mac & cheese mix       3
scalloped 'tater mix      1
canned nuts        2 cans
bar cheese          1 1/2 pounds
sliced cheese        2 pounds
butter                  4 pounds
Coffee                4 pounds
salt                    1 round
Brown sugar        2 lb
saltine crackers     1 lb
apples                   15 lb
oranges                 8 lb
bananas                 11 lb
hamburger buns       2 packages
hoagie rolls              1 or 2 packages
yogurt                1 qt
lettuce                 5 heads
carrots                 8 lb
cabbage                2 of 'em
celery                   1
green peppers       1 package
garlic                    lots
paper towels         2 rolls

And those are just the 'normal' purchases I make each month.  The meat, meds, cat stuff, etc are all at other stores (and on sales if possible). I didn't even include chocolate of ANY type!

What are you 'every month' purchases?  How much money do you need to allot to those, before you can even think of buying other stuff? 

Frondly, Fern

Can It.

Blessings, Darlings!

It's canning season again!  I've been doing fruit so far, but tomatoes (okay, technically a berry) and corn and beans are going to be canned soon.

It's hot and time consuming work, but not exactly intellectually demanding.  Which means I have time to do magic and to ponder things.  I'll talk about the magic in this post.

Back in the day, when I was a kid, one of the stories we were told about Benjamin Franklin was that he and his father were putting up barrels of pork (no doubt layered with salt).  Ben, who was NOT impressed by the long time spent at each meal saying grace, reported said something along the lines of "Dude, why don't we do the grace thing now, over the whole barrel, and get it over with?  We'd get our eat on faster at dinner..."

Well, I'm not taking quite that approach to the canning, but I AM invoking the blessings of the Gods on each batch I can.  Working for health. For wholeness.  For it to feed us body and soul. 

I layer flavors in my cooking (even the peaches I just canned had added cinnamon), it's time I started layering blessings in all I do.

Frondly, Fern

Snowpocalypse

Blessings, Darlings!

Back in February I said I'd eventually blog on Snowpocalypse. This is eventually, isn't it?

But really, what's to say? Washington, DC and environs got record snow, repeatedly, back in February.  But no ice.  The city closed down for a week, then more.  Our street got plowed once. Everyone got great exercise digging stuff out.  Gutters that had made it thru' the snow back in March of the year before came down all over town.  Store weren't restocked, and no one could get to them due to unplowed streets.  Electricity went down for a while.  OTOH, not too many water mains burst, since it wasn't that cold during it and snow is a great insulator.

We taught the neighbors to park cars towards the end of their driveways, so there is less area to dig out to get to the street.  And to dig out every few inches of snow, not the full 22 inches at once, because it's just easier both physically and mentally.  I dug out the fireplug on our street, which is right on the property line of our house and the unoccupied house next door.  Not everyone with a fire plug did this, which lead to problems in another part of town.  House on fire, and fire department couldn't find the fire plug to hook up hoses to.  Homeowner of the house where the fire plug is (not the house that burned) to this DAY says that it should not be HIS responsibility, he's an old man of 60, the city should pay folks to do that.  I consider him to be a flaming red diarrheal anus, personally, and he chooses ignores the LAW that says that it IS his responsibility.

Now, the Chubby Hubby and I had some FAIL during Snowmeggedon, too.  The worst was our failure in getting the generator going when power was out.  There we were, 18 inches of snow on the ground, more falling, wind howling.  Uh, where do we PUT the generator? No covered porch. No covered anything outside.  No cleared ground by the house.  We worked on clearing some of the patio, tried to rig up a tarp over an area to keep the snow off the genny.  FAIL. It wasn't deadly (obviously) or anything - power came on as we were fussing with it.  We'll have to figure out how to handle that in the house we're moving to - while the power/fuse box area is set up for a generator, there's no outdoor place to PUT it, especially in the snow.

People all over DC complained mightily that DC wasn't able to handle the snow and it should have been able to.  How silly.  If DC had enough equipment to handle this - a snow the like of which it has seen only one or two times before in 200 years - they'd have been screaming at the waste of having that much stuff on hand when it's rarely used.  It would be the equivalent of requiring anyone with a car to have 5 cars, in case 4 of them broke down at once. Or the equivalent of requiring every resident to own their own snow plow. Foolishness.  Wastefulness.

People can be such fools.

Frondly, Fern





    

Packing

Blessings, Darlings!

Even before we agreed to a date we'd be out of the house by, I had started packing.  As I previously noted, we have 24 bookshelves alone, and then there's the in-house 3 month supply of food, clothes, the BUSINESS, the KITCHEN (my condiments alone are daunting to pack and move), etc.

The food, of course, is a bit of a dilemma.  It's a lot of stuff to move.  We can't eat ALL of it in the next 4 or so weeks, but we CAN reduce it.  And I could 'rotate' commercially canned food by donating it to the food bank. 

But if we greatly reduce our stored food, that greatly reduces how prepared we are after our move.  And the town we're moving to doesn't have the vast array of supermarkets that I use here, or a BJ's/Sam's Club/Costco, or an Aldi's, and CERTAINLY no H-Mart!  So stocking up again, at the low prices that I could get by hitting the vast array of store loss-leaders I'm used to is going to be right out.

So, a compromise.  We're eating our way through about 4 cans a week, sometimes up to 8, and I'm not replacing most of them.  I'm doing just-in-time purchasing of things we use up, like cream of mushroom soup, only buying what I need for planned meals. 

Some food will certainly be donated rather than moved.  Commercially canned tomatoes, mostly, along with scattered other items. 

It's been great to have the food when our income was so low, but, boy, I dread moving it all.

Frondly, Fern

Preps This Week

Blessings, Darlings!

We're having a heat wave, and moderate drought, here. So I've been only working on the yard and garden in 15 minute spurts, then coming in and trying to cool off. As a result, I'm behind in the garden, and most of my carrots died.

But the beans are well up, the tomatoes are doing great, the peppers have some issues, the garlic and onions are ready to harvest. I need to sprinkle urine around the beans every other day to keep the rodents (?bunnies?, ?squirrels?, ?chipmunks?) at bay.

Started cabbage seeds, celery seeds, and rutabagas.

Missing are the honey bees. Granted, last year we had more than I've ever seen, but this year I saw ONE early on, and that was it. We have bumble bees (not lots), and tons of wasps of all sizes pollinating their little wings off. Of course, the oregano and peppermint aren't blooming as impressively this year, either. Still, zero is not a good sign.

I've starting the spring stored water rotation a bit late, but at least I've started it. I'm beginning to fill the freezer with ice (bottles and cubes) to prep for inevitable summer power outages due to storms. I will probably defrost the dang freezer, as I have been threatening to do, next week when the temperature and humidity drop.

Physical Therapy on my knee continues. It is finally improving! Not that I've started aerobic anything again yet, but now most of the time that I have to stoop to do something the knee doesn't hurt at all.

I need to rebuild food stores, but without money that's hard to do. Yeah, duh. I did buy one can of interesting veggies, one package of crackers, 4 cans of mushrooms, a bag of sugar, and a jar of salsa this week. I need to restock tomato sauce (Bob's been making a lot of BBQ sauce), paprika, catsup, mustard, etc.

Cherries are on sale, I'm probably going to start to dry them tomorrow. Bob wants some canned, too - he LOVED the previous batch. But these don't seem to have a nice a flavor, so I'm thinking that drying them will concentrate what flavor they have. And I want to get a lot of dried fruit in place by the middle of July, in case the astrological shit DOES hit the fan.

What have you done to prepare this week?

Frondly, Fern

Danger! Danger, My Darlings!

Blessings, Darlings!

And, apparently, we're all going to really really NEED all the blessings we can get.

A friend of mine who speaks fluent astrology says that the astrological forecast for the mid July to mid August time is 'as bad as he's seen in his life'. Like wars or attacks, like lack of food and power, etc. Spiritual attacks as well.

So, work on getting that 3 week supply of food/water/energy in place, put wards around your home/work/vehicles/family, get at least a baseball bat or two for self-defense, clear the spiritual garbage that is attracting flies, etc.

Oatmeal, dry milk, dry fruit will cover breakfasts. Peanut butter and crackers (jelly or honey optional) will cover lunch. Rice, stir-fried cabbage, soy sauce can cover dinners (and take little wood to prepare). Or tomatoes and cucs from your garden, with a can of chickpeas added, makes a WONDERFUL salad dinner, especially served in a pita. Yes, you can make pita over wood on a 'charcoal' grill if you practice now. Oh, make your rocket stove (google it) and store some wood now.

You can do more elaborate meals if you have the money.

On any meds? Get refills before the middle of July.

Frondly, Fern

Disaster Dishwashing

Blessings, Darlings!

I've not done a Prepper Post in a while, but the Mercury Retrograde having thrown me some lemons, it's time for blog lemonade.

You see, along with the other things that have screwed up, my dishwasher decided to start leaking. Not a small leak, either - it rather resembles the tide coming in. So until the ordered gaskets come in and we install them, we're doing dishes the traditional way. By hand. By MY hand(s), to be precise. For the record - I HATE doing dishes. When the husband and I first started housekeeping together, it was supposed to be his job. I got bathrooms and laundry. Which meant that within a month husband had gotten a dishwasher. But none of that actually pertains to this post..... Sorry for that digression....

In fact, sanitation issues around dishes are going to be pretty critical in times of crisis. The paper plates we'll all use at first will run out, and we're going to have to actually start using and washing real dishes. Which means we have to do it WELL to prevent illness and we have to to it EFFICIENTLY because we might be hauling the water and heating it in pots over fires.

History Time #1

Disease and dishes: I hope it's already clear to everyone that re-using dirty dishes can easily cause food-borne illnesses, so I don't have to go into that. I read somewhere - without attribution even then - that automatic dishwashers have lead to a huge reduction in food born illness. Certainly one of my instructors in college (my degree in is public health) felt that the hot water used in the final rinse of a dishwasher was important and hotter than folks use when hand washing.

Practical Application of History: Heat the water - especially the rinse water

Washing dishes in hot water makes soap more effective, more quickly softens dried on foods, and melts fats so they are more easily washable. So, absolutely, washing in hot water is good.

But if you have limited hot water .... concentrate on rinsing the dishes in as hot water as you can get, to sanitize them as much as possible.

History Time #2

Back in the day, when I was in middle school Home Economics class, the teacher carefully taught us to wash things in the Proper Order. That order was: first - things that touch your mouth like flatware and glasses; second - things that cooked food sit on, such as plates and serving items; finally - everything else.

But those were the days before common use of plastics. Plastics are picky - they are both harder to dry and grease/oils really stick to them. If you wash them after you've washed knives with butter on them, or plates with meat fats, you're not going to easily be able to clean them. Remember those Dawn dish detergent commercials, where after the greasy pans are clean the last glass is found and washed? Notice that it was glass, not plastic? There's a reason for that!

A Modern Dilemma

So tonight as I face the mountain of dishes should I first wash the pesky plastics or the things that touch my mouth?

Practical Application of History: Gravity Always Works

I've let gravity make the decision for me.

Look, if I do the dang plastics first, they will fill the drainer AND be hard to dry. If I try to do the glasses after them ... the glasses aren't going to fit well in the drainer. They are likely to obey the Law of Gravity. They will shift. They will fall. They will find a way to fall onto the floor and break.

Therefore, it's glasses and china plates/bowls/etc first, followed by flatware. They are then topped by the washed plastics, and finally the pots and pans.

History Time #3

Hauling water is hard work. Heating water takes rather a lot of energy, and a not inconsiderable amount of time.

Practical application of History: Minimize the water needed

Amazingly enough, the best way to conserve water is by having 3 water tubs.

First water tub, with as little as a half gallon of water, is for first rinse after eating. Get off what you can, fast! If you're not doing the dishes at that time (maybe you're washing dishes once a day, to conserve the number of times you haul and heat water, eh?) save that water for pre-wash moistening of dishes to prep anything dried on.

Second tub, the washing tub. This is warm or hot, and has dish detergent in it. I use about 6 cups for this (family of 3, washing after dinner). The water CAN get stone cold by the time I'm done washing, but I don't really care if the cat dishes are washed in cold water!

Third tub, rinse tub. Six to 8 cups of the hottest water available and safe to use. I wear plastic gloves at this point of time, so it's probably 160 degrees F.

One trick - the rinse water does NOT get dumped after I'm done with dishes. This is saved and used for the 'first tub' the next time I wash dishes. It is also used to wash out the sink before I do dishes, and wash the other tub before filling it with soap and water. Obviously it gets washed between being used as prep water and rinse water!

There you have it. This is how I do dishes, conserving water and energy for heating water, while doing my best to make sure that we prevent dish/etc related food born illnesses.


Frondly, Fern

Oh, BEANS!

My husband and spawn do not like beans. How can I be even a prepper, let alone my goal of being a survivalist, if my family fails one part of the beans/bullets/band-aids trinity?

There are a few ways they will condescend to down some beans. The husband will eat beans if there are some in his beef-based chili. The spawn will choke down refried beans. And green beans, rather than high-protein dried beans, are loved.

This is getting to be more and more of a problem for me as I focus more on prepping and as we struggle to pay down debt on a low income. Beans are cheap and healthy eats!

So this year I'm cooking one bean-based dish a week. Like warm potatoes and lentils in Italian dressing, or lentil vegetable soup with dumplings. Trying to get them used to eating a bean dish or two regularly.

They may never choose felafel over gyros in a Middle Eastern restaurant ... but at least when presented with red beans and rice at home, they will eventually eat it civilly. I hope.

And the Prep Goes On.....

Word from a friend who speaks fluent astrology is that the end of July/beginning of August has the worst astrological line up he has ever seen. Not for natural disasters, but for humans doing things to other humans. He advises having food and water for a month on hand.

Well, that I've got, but it kicked me into overdrive on adding more and such.

I'd already started rotating stored water, a bit late mind you, before I heard this from him. And, my stored water supply being scant for a month, I'm enlarging it. I also figure I'll flush and fill the 55 gallon barrel mid-July.

I'm buying the heck out of all produce loss leader specials in the stores and storing them. Apples have been on sale, I've now got two half gallon jars filled with dried apples and 5 quarts of apple sauce canned. I'm drying potatoes and pineapple now. I should go drive over to the churches that had pumpkin patches for Halloween and see if they have leftover pumpkins I can take and dry.

I've been lax about exercising again, doing very little. But at least my tendonitis is clearing up!

Mom wants me to visit ASAP, but I can't do it till after Thanksgiving, and will have to figure out how to afford a plane ticket.

It's all a bit overwhelming, but I'm taking it one day and one task at a time. And I'm getting LOTS done in the mornings, thanks to the time change - I now get up an extra hour before everyone else, since I don't rise with the exterior clock I rise with my interior clock.

Oy, just remembered I have to build two more cold frames AND winterize the house. Well, back to work!

Frondly, Fern