First Freeze? Hardly.

They weather jokers are predicting our first frost of the season tonight (Wednesday) with even chillier weather predicted for Thursday.  We have a few plants we need to cover so they survive the winter.  Survive is the key word, they generally always suffer some damage from freezing temps over the course of the winter.  I have one tomato plant left standing.  Has a handful of tomatoes still trying.  I don't think any precautions will keep this one productive.  They were pretty spotty even in the summer as far as production was concerned.  It may just get yanked after this freeze.  (I know this is late, due to the TBT post, it didn't get as cold as they thought, barely 32*)

They wife has become more interested in 'prepping' or becoming more self sustaining.  One of the reasons I am trying to get more active with gardening.  We both have had a passing interest in being self sufficient over the past couple years.  With everything we see and hear I think it just makes sense to make a few preparations.  Nothing extravagant just enough for the 2 of us to last a bit and have an actual plan.  Of late she has been more in the mode and has been making lists of things she thinks we should have on hand.  I think the renewed interest is due to a program we watched on PBS about the power grid getting hacked and going down nationwide for an extended period.  I think it may have been pretty accurate portrayal of how things may go down inside the big cities.  It at least gave another insight as to how others might react.  Some of it was pretty extreme but I have no doubt that over an extended period (longer than what they showed) that most if not all of the things they portrayed would actually happen. 

My interest in all this comes from what I see happening in our country.  Every generation it seems has a time period when they talk about how bad things are and seem to have a doom and gloom attitude.  But we have always managed to come out of it just fine.  I have lived long enough to have seen several of these times.  This period of time is much different from anything I have ever seen before and I am not as optimistic as I usually am about these things.

I grew up learning how to 'duck and cover' in school to try to avoid the Reds from turning us into charcoal.  What does that do to an elementary age kid?  Then came the Johnson and Carter years.  Most of that time we had confrontations that looked very ominous.

When the Georgia boy took office we had just been married a very short time and only one of us worked and jobs were scarce.  The economy was in the tank and I remember having  $00.86 (that's cents) and still two weeks to payday.  Not long after Kim wanted to start a family.  I was in doubt as most fathers are due to the way the world was going.  Why bring a child into this crap for him to deal with it?  It just didn't seem fair to the child.  That was my rationalization at the time.  A very wise person helped me with that. 

My son dealt with the same thing when his wife wanted to start a family.  He used the same exact rationalization that I did way back when.  I used the same words that were wisely imparted to me when I talked to him about it.  Not sure it had the same effect or if he even remembers that conversation but we now have Grandkids.  The point is, his generation was and is feeling the same as we were so many years ago.  With different threats of course.

Now I can honestly say, I don't know that it has been any worse for our country than it is right now.  Not only due to the outside threats to our country and lack of ability/leadership to deal with them, but the inside threats.  That is what concerns me even more than ever before.  I believe we are more divided as a country than at anytime since the War Between the States.  There is no desire to work together to settle our difference, is usually just degenerates into name calling and stupidity.  I pray for us as a nation.

 

It could always be worse.

 

Happy Trails.