I went to breakfast this morning at the Saddle. Thats the Golden Saddle on Admiral. I love it when Loren takes me out so I dont have to do the dishes, but I started going to a place around the corner on Pine that isnt there any more, so we moved to the Saddle a couple years ago. The we Im talking about isnt my husband. It is in fact, several guys. I know what youre thinkin and you have a dirty mind. These guys started out with Doyle Young, Sunny, his brother JC, Ratchit and Terry. I thought Terry was Ratchit for a long time cause Doyle Young pulled a practical joke he took to the grave, he died laughing at me and for that, God bless him. He told me Terry was Ratchit and he got the biggest laugh out of it and I only found out a couple of weeks ago. If you go through an area called Dawson in North Tulsa, you may pass a bridge with a sign honoring Doyle Young as the honorary mayer of Dawson. He was a sweetheart even if he was a democrat. Now the guys have sifted and sorted and I dont get to go as often as I like, but I tell them Im coming to school when I go to eat breakfast. Sunny is the youngest of 23 kids. His brother JC is somewhere near first. Today we were talking about OJAM and off the grid living and JC has a Pearson bow and a Bear hes going to let us re string for him. Pretty cool stuff right there. Go google a 55 pound Pearson and look at the price on them bows. Said he killed his first elk with that bow! We got to talking about shtf scenarios, about what life was like with no electricity. JC said his mother never had electric in the house. His daddy bought a briggs and stratton motorized washing machine for her and some real nice lamps to use inside the house and how she thought she was in heaven. Something else he said that has stuck with me this morning. He said, Mama never give us kids orders, shed just tell dad, Have one of the boys take the rifle out this morning, we need something for dinner. So, really, who was the real boss? Her because she told her husband what she needed and he went and told them boys, or him because if them boys didnt do what he told them to, they got a trip to the woodpile? Just thought it was an interesting way of handling a large brood of kids. We also got to talking about hay management before balers. You know in a shtf with no electric or gas, everything we do changes, right? He said you have to pile up the hay and build a palasaid around it. I dont know how to spell that word at the moment and I dont want to take the time to go look it up, you can sound it out and thats all that matters. I asked him, what did he mean by this and he said theyd gone into town and bought planks to stand upright around the perimeter of the hay because if they didnt the deer and antelope would come and mess in the hay and the cattle wouldnt eat it. Just stuff to think about. Them guys chatted with me for about an hour and the gist of their message was before industrial equipment and electricity came along, you worked. Seven days a week, feeding animals, growing food, with a very rare day off. Sun up to sun down. Period. They said it was a hard life and not one of them would go back to those living conditions. Then the one I cant ever remember his name said There are so many ways to make electricity now, wind, solar and so on, if people invest in it now, so we dont have to rely on gas to power lights and washing machines, it would be a lot better, but as it stands, if we lose our infrastructure, alot of people are just going to work themselves to death. They talked about how even today in the military, guys are taught to use wash boards for doing laundry and not one of them enjoyed it. Oh, yeah. . one last story to come out of this mornings educational opportunity, this is aimed at all the townies that may be considering going all boondock in the event of shtf. He talked about how he rode fences for a guy in Wyoming as a young man and how he got caught in a blizzard and how his horse didnt want to go home because he had to face the wind. He realized he was on this mans land, 22 miles from the bunk house. 22 miles from home. JC said, I asked that man how many acres he owned and he said he didnt count in acres, but in sections. Then he said, I came up here and my family came with me and I guess I own pretty much this whole county. Folks, that man wasnt the only one and other that federally owned or state owned property, I dont think there is a piece of dirt on this continent that isnt owned by somebody. Im not sure what to take away from all this conversation. Ill let you decide what it means to you. For me and my family, God put us where He wants us and unless something changes, were going to stay right here.
Posted on: Wed, 26 Mar 2014 15:08:48 +0000