Water- is taken for granted.

 I saw on the news this morning that there is a whole town without water. A 50' water main broke, and the only way to fix it was to shut off the main supply to thousands of people. They went around interviewing the people that will be affected. They will be without water for a few days up to a week.

People that work in restaurants will have no work, and go a week without pay... businesses are losing a ton of money. People were filling up their bathtubs and pots.... bottles of water are sold out.

Now how does this all work? How will people use toilets? How will babies get water for their formula. If they had livestock, what will the animals drink? A Civil Engineer came on to say that people should think about the pipes underground, they wont last forever and will all need to be replaced, and soon we should all be ready for this to happen at one point or another. It is considered to be as bad as a natural disaster.

I think it's really pathetic that we have set ourselves up to rely so heavily on water supply presented to us in this way. I thought about what we would do if this happened to us here on the homestead. I think we would be fine, seeing as we live with a large creek the size of a lake in our backyard. I would just need to figure out how to filter it for drinking and transporting it without the use of electricity.

My brother owns a cabin up in the Adirondacks that has no running water or electricity. It takes some time to get used to not turning the taps for the sink, or flicking the light switch. It takes about two days to acclimate to the loss of luxuries. We have a large plastic 10 gallon tank that we fill up with water, and then we get a few gallons of drinking water bottles that we put over the sink. When it rains we put pots of water outside to collect water and use it to wash dishes. There is also a natural stream that forms at the bottom of the hill after it rains that I personally go and bath in, with all natural soap. It soon becomes second nature. We use too much water, and once it's taken from you it's amazing how you can make one gallon last a whole day for bathing, cooking, drinking, and washing.

Anyway, when it comes to this stuff, it almost brings me some sort of sick solace that I will be just fine when this happens. I have done it with ease.... I can live without water supply and electricity. I can even build a fire with wet wood, I can climb a mountain with a good 50 pounds on my back, I can build a waterproof and windproof hut out of sticks and rocks, I can even rock climb, even though I hate it with a passion. These skills were all learned in the Adirondacks over the summers. I think it's important to live like this for a week so it isn't a shock to the system, when say all of a sudden a water main breaks.

I really hope my boys grow up to be rugged mountain men that can tough it out and fight a bull if they need to. I love camping, I'm sure it's not fun when it becomes permanent, but I'm ready for the challenge.

Natural Devastation and some simple pleasures

Here are places not to live. Notice that New Jersey and Pennsylvania are in the clear? That's because I don't want to die today! 

Oklahoma was hit hard by a tornado. It touched down for 40 minutes and mowed down 20 miles of homes, two schools, and a few hospitals.

The biggest tornado in the world hit around the same place in 1999.

As always it is horrible.... but.... if you know that this place is hit hard by reoccurring tornado's... wouldn't you invest in a better shelter? or better yet... move someplace that doesn't suck?

California.... known to have earthquakes because it is sitting on a fault line is a good example of a place to kiss your stuff goodbye. When you live near the water, it is going to flood at some point. If you live below sea level, same thing. You don't have to be smart to know what the weather is going to be like.  Why would you risk your children's lives living there, or risk losing your entire life's belongings?

It's really dumb. Your setting yourself up for major stress, and heartache.

Anyway, I'm truly bummed out by the news as usual. Watching my species work hard to clean up a mess that could have been avoided.... (just don't live there!)

So here is something positive.

Ron is currently outside guarding little Mango. He refuses to leave his post and when the adult hens come over to peck at her he chases them away. He is a compassionate cat. That's an oxymoron. Felines are horrible killing machines. Not Ron though... he is like a sheep dog.

Some more good news?

Giselle my project Thoroughbred horse had her first adjustment from a chiropractor and got some acupuncture. The vet noticed that she had a tattoo from her racing days. I looked up the tattoo and found out that Giselle's name was Miss Bobbie Socks. She was born in Oklahoma on St Patty's Day. She won two races, and had 16 starts. We even found a You Tube video of a lady riding her in their backyard.

I rode her last night for the first time since the adjustment. She stood on the cross ties, she was much more calm. But... she still hates me on her back, and bucks at the canter. So, she basically just hates people on her back. I think she was hurt by humans... and does not want us monkeying around on her.

So it was a happy moment to see her finally relax on the cross ties... but very disappointing to see that she still sucks to ride.
However! Raven also sucked the big one, and one day she just turned a corner and is now a saint. I can only hope for Giselle's sake that once she builds more muscle and trust we can dance.

AND one more thing to celebrate while my TV exhausts terrible news our way....
Watts is almost completely potty trained! He poops and pees on the potty!

The news sucks. I'm thinking of getting rid of the Internet and TV. I don't know how I would write to this blog though....

And with that I have to go because Wattsies little world has come to a skidding halt because he can not... I say CAN NOT get his socks on by himself.

I wish I could throw a tantrum over socks... oh to be two.

Ron watches over Mango because he's a sheep dog.