If I have to be in one place

for TEOTWAWKI, it's here!

The screamers and I spent the day at the folks' place gathering walnuts, plantain, goldenrod and dandelion roots. They loved it, as usual, and the day got me to thinking on where else we would go in times of crisis. The only other place would be back to KY, but why when we love it here so much? Sure, we've got family there but we have it here too.

We're not out of the way, you don't have to look hard to find the rental, but we're surrounded by woods and wildlife. The lake is chock full of fish, deer are abundant, rabbits have a nice little burrow behind the rental and the plant life is overflowing our cups.

I ruminated on these things as I watched the youngest screamer squeal with glee over the pile of walnuts he had gathered. Times are changing, rapidly. It makes me grateful that the spouse and I chose to "force" our boys into a simple life. A natural life of imaginative play that doesn't rely on the boob tube or video games for entertainment value. There won't be much for them to miss when the final whimpering cry of the economy comes to a halt. The death rattle doesn't bother them, not just because they are 2 and 4 and not interested, but because we have secured ourselves enough that the initial fall will not do too much damage. So it doesn't eat at us that way that we see it eating at others. We are not in denial, we know that it doesn't matter how much "money" gets pumped in, the economy as we know it is failing...miserably. We watch acquaintances at church, old and young, struggle to understand what is really happening. We shake our heads to ourselves when the incredibly naive and outspoken chick at church proclaims all is good because talk radio said it was (yes, she said it with total seriousness and belief).

The spouse and I are not so comfortable as to be smug, don't get me wrong, but we have just enough slapped back to make the transition to even poorer than usual not so devastating to the screamers. That is what we decided was most important, the screamers and their ease of transition. We feel like we could handle a lot ourselves though we realize that this may just be a year long denial session for us, lol. We are both prepped to do whatever may need to be done in order to survive or even just get by...well, there are a few things that just don't seem as appealing, I'll let you make your own list there.

Oh and we've cancelled the camping trip in favor of saving money on gas and goods by staying home and celebrating the oldest screamer's birthday with family and friends instead. He's happy, we're happy.