Am I crazy?

Sometimes, I think it's a crazy idea.  Other times, I think it's a great idea and I feel an intense need to start, myself.  What am I talking about?  Prepping.  Like, stocking up on food, water and medicinal needs and learning to live off the land, kind of prepping.

Ok, hear me out before you roll your eyes at me and call me crazy.

I don't get involved in politics.  Heck, I don't even watch the news all that often.  I'm totally out of the loop.  I hate to admit it, but I am a deny-er.  If you just ignore it, it will go away and life will continue, with me stuck in my little bubble of happy ignorance.  I shrug off anything I hear from conspiracy-theory type people.  I do believe that some people can see something that the rest of us could easily explain, and see another thing that the rest of us could easily explain, and even though they appear to have nothing to do with each other, they put them together anyway, come up with some suspicious sounding story relating the two and BAM! A conspiracy theory is born, and spreads, and has the possibility of creating panic where there is no need for panic.

But,on the other end of the spectrum, being blissfully ignorant will be a BIG downfall should anything major actually happen during my lifetime.  Sometimes (like right now LOL) we don't have enough food to get us through the end of the week, let alone a month or a year.  We totally depend on modern comforts like grocery stores and restaurants, where food is available whenever we need it.  Need some meat? No need to hunt it yourself, just go and buy some.  Vegetables?  Who needs a garden when you can get a huge variety at the local grocer?  Got a chocolate craving?  Head to the nearest......well head to the nearest store of any kind, and you'll find chocolate somewhere. And like electricity to help cook our food, keep it fresh and to pump our well water to our faucet.  If anything were to happen , if SHTF (in prepper's terms) tomorrow, we would be S.O.L (I'm sure you know that one).

Do you ever get the feeling that something is going to happen?  That feeling of dread, deep in your stomach, that something bad is coming - you have no idea what, but you know you're not ready to deal with it?  And maybe nothing ever happens, and the feeling passes, and you brush it off.  Maybe.  Or maybe something DOES happen.  And you think "I knew it!  I knew something was going to happen, and it wasn't going to be good!" So maybe I've seen Hunger Games a few too many times, and watched too many episodes of NBC's Revolution - LOL - but I have that feeling sometimes. It comes and goes. Sometimes, I just stay in my bubble of ignorance and go through my days as if life as we know it will continue forever and for always, and we'll all live happily ever after.  But sometimes, like the last couple days, I feel like I need to get ready JUST IN CASE.  Just in case what? you ask.   I HAVE NO IDEA.  But the feeling is there, and the need is intense.

I don't want to go overboard.  I don't want to build a bunker underground and stock it with 5 years worth of freeze dried food, medical supplies and an entire artillery.  But maybe start stashing a little here and there to help us get by if we should ever need to hunker down and stay put for a couple days or weeks.  I've never started stashing stuff.  Partly because that blissfully ignorant bubble comes back, and I tell myself I really don't need to. Ok, that's probably the main reason.  But it's also partly because I wouldn't know where to put it all.

So, tell me what your opinion is on this subject.  Are you a hard-core prepper? Are you a blissfully ignorant bubble resident?  Maybe something in between?  What kinds of things do you stash?  Where do you put it?  I've read that some hard-core preppers are a little paranoid about telling others where their stash is, and what's in it - for fear of being attacked when the time comes that those supplies will be in high demand.  So if it makes you uncomfortable, you do have the option of commenting anonymously.

A Mystery Unfolds

Today's writing prompt was a "first line" meaning the random sentence had to be the first line of my story (I know, not hard to figure that out, right?).  I didn't time myself this time.  I started at work, but I was interrupted. I'm not sure how much time I actually spent writing this.  Some spots were written several times, since my Word program kept crashing and, of course, didn't save my work. Grrr.  Oh well. Here's the result of today's writing exercise.  My story starter was "Someone must have seen him because the police were at his door:"  Enjoy!

Someone must have seen him because the police were at his door. He thought he had been careful,  and timed it right. There must have been someone lurking in a dark shadow while he has visited the freshly dug grave last night.  They pounded at the door again.  Better answer it, before they break down the door.  His bike was parked out front, giving it away that he was home. He never went anywhere without that bike. It had been his brother's and he had inherited it when his brother was killed overseas five years ago.  He threw on a shirt and padded down the stairs, the 3rd one from the bottom creaking like it had done since he was in third grade.
"What can I help you with, officers?" he said as he opened the door. 
"We have a couple questions for you, son. Wanna invite us in?"
"Uh yeah, sure, ok," he replied, running a hand through his hair, which was already standing on end. It looked like he had been doing that a lot lately. Stress does that to a person. And when your girlfriend dies mysteriously, and the whole town starts pointing their fingers at you, it causes a fair share of stress.
He moved the laundry basket off the couch, and cleared the magazines off the chair.  "Have a seat gentlemen. Um, can I get you something to drink? I've got....um, I've got water. And a couple of clean glasses." He shrugged aplogetically. "Keeping up with the house chores hasn't been high on my priority list, what with burying Jess and all"
"We're fine, thank you. Let's cut to the chase, Cody. Where were you last night?"
"Last night.....when last night?" He could hear the tremble in his voice, and hoped they couldn't.
"Around 3am. We have a witness report of someone in the cemetery around that time. Going back to the crime scene?  I hear some criminals do that. Some sick need to relive the crime or something."
Cody was relieved and confused at the same time.  It wasn't him they were looking for. He had been back from the cemetery and curled up on his bed, drunk and passed out, by 3am.  But who was in the cemetery after him? And why?
"Officers, I may be a night owl, but I don't go lurking about the town in the middle of the night.  Last night, I drowned my sorrows in more beers than I'd like to admit.  Last time I saw the clock it showed quarter to one. Next thing I know, you're waking me up pounding on my front door.  As for returning to the scene of the crime, you'd have to find the actual criminal and ask him.  I didn't kill Jessi."  The two cops glanced at each other briefly before the older one pulled something out of his pocket.
"There was a crudely made stick cross on Jessi's grave.  This was hanging on it.  What can you tell us about it?"
He held up a long piece of red ribbon, tied in a knot like it had been worn as a necklace.  Hanging on the ribbon was a ring. Cody's heart stopped for a moment, then tried to jump right out of his chest.
"That's.....that's not.....possible!" Cody choked out.  It was the ring he had quietly purchased over a month ago.  The ring he had been carrying around in his pocket everyday, waiting for the right moment. The ring he was going to give Jessi when he asked her to be his wife.  The right moment never came, and now it never would.  The ring had been in his jeans pocket last night, as he stood over her grave and wept in the privacy of darkness.
"What's not possible, son?"
"That ring. I.....I bought that ring, last month. I was going to ask Jess to marry me. I never got the nerve to pop the question before..." He swallowed the lump forming in his throat. "Before she died. I've been carrying it around in my pocket. Yesterday....it was in my pocket yesterday. I put it....." He stopped. The blood drained from his face.
"Where, Cody? Where did you put it?"
"On the pillow, her pillow, beside me when I went to bed last night."
He looked at the cops, his eyes round with fright and shock.  Someone had been in his house, in his bedroom. As he snored, sleeping off his drunken stupor, someone had come in and stolen the ring, off the pillow next to his head.

A New Fun Project

I've been kind of letting any and all writing fall to the wayside. I like writing - and they say, to get better, you should write every day - but sometimes, I just don't know what to write about.  Sometimes, the ideas just don't come and whatever story or blog I've been working on just ends up stagnant.  So, I found this new app.  I simply open the app, it gives me a randomly generated subject, I set a timer for 10 minutes and just go. I've decided to share the results of these sessions with you.  I'm not sure how long I'll keep this up.  You know me, short attention span LOL Today's random subject:

"How do you feel about cooking?"

My first thought was "Um......ugh....how do I write for 10 minutes about COOKING?"  I almost hit the button again for a new subject, before I decided that was kind of cheating. So I started my timer and started typing.  Here's the result:

"How do you feel about cooking"
I guess you could say I like cooking.  Not the day-to-day kind of cooking where you're just making something quick and easy to feed the family, before getting the kids showered and in bed because they have school in the morning.  I like cooking for large family gatherings. The turkey's in the oven, the potatoes are boiling on the stove.  Pies and dinner rolls are prepared and sitting on pans, waiting their turn to cook. There's a glass wine or a bottle of your favorite beer (mine is Smirnoff Ice) nearby while you chop lettuce and your best friend cuts up tomatoes for the salad. Your sister is chasing the kids around in the other room.  I like the kind of cooking that brings people together, not just for a meal, but for celebration or companionship.  The kind of cooking that involves conversation and jokes and laughter. It involves cooperation and multi-tasking. You have to get the turkey out before it's too dry, and carve it up. And you have to mash the potatoes and make the gravy, but not too soon, or they'll be cold before the turkey is carved and ready. And don't forget the rolls! Putting them in OR getting them out!!! I forgot about garlic bread once. It wasn't pretty. It was a tad bit burnt. Well, really burnt. Okay, okay! It was actually ON FIRE! So don't forget about the rolls! But with the perfect timing, and a lot of help, it's like magic when the entire meal - steaming hot - is ready to serve and placed on the table. Everyone ooohs and ahhhs over the perfectly golden turkey.  There's happy chatter as everyone grabs a plate and digs in, buffet style.  Then, for just a minute or two.......we're all quiet, even the kids.  Because we all have our mouths full of taste bud heaven, and it deserves a moment of silence.