Lately my personal universe has been expanding after several months of contracting.

The recent past has been better than which came before. I still cannot wait for retirem

ent and discovered that many other boomers have the same retirement recreactional plans as I have.

Just call me Froley.

http://www.slate.com/id/2227962

I do seem to have lost the desperation I felt over havng to keep working for the next few years?

I remain deeply troubled about our society.... how fragmented we are...how the overall general public bases it's monster's opinion from a position that begins as an idiot and quickly goes downhill from there. A perfect example is the conservative supported, tea baggers. These people who showed up at the capitol on 9-12. This group simply does not want to think. This collective consciousness is identical to the pre-Nazi-era Germans--they do not know what they want--but they want it. The simple fact that they are claiming that too much is changing is enough evidence of dangerous level mass stupidity in action.

NONE OF US IS AS DUMB AS ALL OF US... should be on their T-shirt. They will follow anyone who waves a flag in front of them and tells them how great they are..... I am truly afraid of what will come if they or their know-nothing movement is actually successful in some way, shape or form.

A few more months of work and preparation however and we will require nothing from anyone, any group, any power structure. We are, (as far as I know) the members of a very small new group, the Obama liberal survivalist urban homesteader.

The garden is still producing--we have even stopped canning veggies out of it but we are still eating daily from it. Since we are new to gardening in this area we really have no idea of how long into autumn our garden may produce but we'll find out. Some of the produce has turned a little bitter, especially the skins on our cucumbers. Still good to eat what you have sown.

This week's MPG on our Prius was a high point for the year so far at 54.3 miles per gallon a true average for a standard week of commuting into work and then driving about for work meetings and errands. The cool mornings has help increase my daily mpg as long a the wind stays away--Gasoline here in my area of New Mexico is running about $2.49 per gallon. The price actually means nothing to me since the highs or lows of it do not affect my personal goal of using the least amount of oil i can and still have a viable lifestyle.

It's been raining here on and off since Friday evening. We are always happy for rain in the high desert---No yard work this am due to wet conditions. So we decided to take the dogs to the local park by our zero gasoline vehicles and ride around town alittle just for fun and practice. JoJo was all ready to go with her recumbent, but I had to organize, air up the tires and spruce up my segway since i have lately been too busy to ride at all.

Off we went and quite the sight we were I'm sure. JoJo's recumbent with the dog trailer attached is about 8 foot long-and then me following on the segway! We were like the annual Nerd parade passing by----The puppies obviously loved the trailer--I watched them while rolling along and they were relaxed, sniffing and looking out the back and side windows...very active involved in checking out the scenery, but really, really calm and cool. They must think it is a rolling little doggie house or something. These little trips are a test for how we can ride together with the two very different systems Segway and Recumbent--but there has been no problems coordinating how we ride together so far. We all had a great morning, traveled pretty far and it was completely oil free! The Middle East can bite me!

So I have the new air rifle ( tremendously cool and accurate by the way ) sighted it in yesterday...320 gold plated .177 caliber pellets on hand, mini-binoculars----and no DEMON SQUIRREL....

Once again the wife's arch-enemy, the demon squirrel has apparently disappeared into our urban back lot Himalaya's like the Yeti without a trace----I will spend the upcoming weekend attempting to get a glance at this mythical demon squirrel who, it is claimed, (by some), upside down taunts my wife, chattering from the pecan tree trunk and hurls nuts down upon her in some grotesque form of backyard warfare....but so far....this demon squirrel may be one of her Woodstock kool aide flashbacks or something----i have still yet to see this demon squirrel. 10 days and counting. The hunt continues through last evening and this morning......no sightings......

It is good to be reminded of the small, closed minds, like "you lie" Joe Wilson's---It is good to be reminded that South Carolina produces assholes like Wilson and their Republican governor Sanford--Remember him? The family values defender South Carolina Governor with the Argentine mistress? It is good to be reminded of Republicans for what they are.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/09/09/joe.wilson/index.html#cnnSTCVideo

I just obtained "LAST LIGHT" by Alex Scarrow. An SF novel on a total embargo of oil exports and the subsequent destructive results in Great Britain. Published by Orion Books, UK. I haven't started it yet so I cannot advise thumbs up or down. I am in one of those I wanted something which requires, no brain involved to read. I get like that sometimes---reading without the desire to think--just to read...do you think Stephen Hawking ever feels that way?

"When my species conquers this planet, you will be on the protected list,

no harm will come to you."

Beldar Conehead

The Labor day holiday is about done for. I just wish the back to work element wasn't part of every holiday. Quiet and restful for me was the holiday...slept some, accomplished a few things around the house, not as much as I would have liked to but isn't that always the case? We did acquire a big new piece of equipment, over the holiday for the homestead described below which will be a major step forward to our goal of homestead independence and righteous living. We just don't do the things regular Americans do over a weekend holiday...we are too strange...

It has now been four days without a demon squirrel sighting. This demon squirrel may be my wife's own Herman Melville, Captain Ahab style White Whale weirdness kinda thing...while JoJo was visiting her sister over Labor Day in Denver I sat in the back yard and attempted to gain intelligence on the demon squirrel prior to the beginning of the hunt...absolutely no success. I never saw him at all..In fact I never have actually seen him, depending instead on the very angry wife's reports of demon style squirrel behavior from the pecan tree....No demon threw nuts or taunted me while I sat in the back yard intently watching the pecan tree as if I was Val Kilmer in the Ghost and the Darkness....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_and_the_darkness

UPS will deliver my new air rifle tomorrow, the battle between good and evil was set to begin and the enemy has fled the field?

I will have steeled myself with my own Internet Holy Air Rifle of Antioch against the Demon Squirrel and then like the Loch Ness Monster, Hogzilla, Big Foot or Yeti, my enemy disappears into the mists of popular culture? I don't even have a shaky Video of the Demon Squirrel to show on a discovery channel special....what a bitch. But I've got a really cool air rifle to show for it.

This Labor Day weekend my JoJo purchased a recumbent bike with dog trailer. She has wanted a recumbent bicycle for a long, long, time and Loves it. She takes the dogs everyday to the park and now she can do it by recumbent towing them in their own little trailer...oil free. Besides the obvious techno coolness of this device we now have some incredible advantages for the future. JoJo's new recumbent bike combined with my Segway means we both have viable, non-oil dependent, vehicles for local transportation.

Our two oil free vehicles are capable of transporting supplies as well as the rider. Although we specifically chose our little homestead location in a smaller town's older neighborhood, which is close to a viable downtown with services and supplies...( for the future as we age, and for the possibility of peak oil ) The ability to access any location within the city limits without a car is an advantage and a security blanket against Peak Oil. If you believe that the current low prices on gasoline and other oil based products will be forever then you are too stupid to live anyway. If you are a "drill baby drill" believer there is nothing I can do for you...With the acquisition of the recumbent bike there is the possibility that we may, in the future reduce down to one automobile, our Prius. If we can, and of course we do not know for sure, but if we commit to only the Prius as our car, then our gasoline consumption will be approximately $21.00 per week---which includes a 5 day a week, 68 mile r/t working commute for me with additional, varying, daily work required mileage. At the current price level of gasoline this would mean $84.00 per month. Our goal is to make the Bush's and the Saudis sleep under an overpass in L.A. and push a shopping cart down the street collecting cans. If you click on the following reuters news link you'll understand the way the Saudis see us.

http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSTRE5832AV20090904?feedType=RSS&feedName=politicsNews

Try to be nice to everyone on the phone. Go to a park.

Our society has become so strange I cannot even comment on it any longer. I am now in the ignore mode. I've been centering on my own little world and there is quite enough to do there. My little shed, laboratory, workshop or whatever you may call it is in constant need of cleaning and organizing. I need to check the tires on my segway, cut and trim the backyard...and all this is enough for me right now.

My JoJo is at war with what she calls the "Demon Squirrel". We have a large Pecan tree right off the back porch and the Demon Squirrel eats well. Now it's not that my wife begrudges the demon squirrel a square meal...apparently he lies in wait to throw whole pecans at her when she is working in the yard, and hangs upside down staring and chattering squirrel curses at her.

So the pronouncement was made that the demon squirrel must go...even to the point that JoJo advised that she would accept the Karmic consequences...I was hired as the hit man free of karmic death responsibility. I was without proper equipment for this assignment so to the Internet shopping I went and purchased an air rifle. There are good deals available on these things, plastic stock, heavy barrel, scope, and ammo all included in a reasonable base price. I also thought an air rifle might not be without use in the survival supplies or for future pest removal for the garden. I ordered a Gamo air rifle that is pictured above. Of course as soon as we ordered the rifle----the Demon Squirrel has apparently disappeared! Good for him. If he felt the vibes of the upcoming future and split my job is accomplished....and I have a cool air rifle with zero bad karma.

We are about done for the year with the garden...we could of course plant some "winterish" stuff but we have decided to work the beds over during the fall and the winter instead of planting. I feel bad about the end of it. I have gotten so used to seeing things growing and flourishing out in the back yard that watching it end is tough.

JoJo is still canning. So far she has made and put up salsa, tomatoes, English style pickles, green beans, plum "stuff" (i don't really know what it is so...) applesauce, apple pie filling and there is probably more canning to come. The best thing is that everything actually tastes good...so far I've eaten the salsa and pickles and they taste great and look like what they are supposed to be. Amazing. The Kitchen has been like a chemistry lab for the past couple of weeks tho.

I have a thing about organization and preparation. I sort of fell in love with the photo displayed above for those very reasons. I have completed my 3 day walk-out bag for the Prius and am very happy with the result. Being organized and prepared makes me feel as if I can adequately handle any situation which arises and i simply feel better when I address these needs.

The homestead has 3 months worth of long term food supplies in stock and 160 gallons of rainwater collected. I am planning on expanding to 6 months food supply over time but right now i feel satisfied that 3 months will cover us for any upcoming emergency.

I did recently order an additional case of 12 MRE's this month. I am still concerned in regards to the coming influenza season. I have previously alternated between buying mre's and freeze dried food for long term storage. Mre's contain a complete response with snacks, spoon, toilet paper, spices etc. With mre's there are no additional elements requiring storage. From this point on I believe that I will focus on laying in mre's only for simplification.

Photography can be the window to our soul as a nation.

Brian Ulrich, has been photographing the results of our current depression on abandoned housing developments. He has now completed an exhibition of abandoned commerical real estate across the country titled "DARK STORES".

It is disturbing to clinically see what we have done to ourselves and our wasteful stupidity as a people. You owe it to yourself to look at these photographs and view our future wasteland.

http://notifbutwhen.com/projects/copia/dark-stores/#i31

"And Saint Attila raised the hand grenade up on high, saying, "O Lord, bless this thy hand grenade, that with it thou mayst blow thine enemies to tiny bits, in thy mercy." And the Lord did grin. And the people did feast upon the lambs and sloths, and carp and anchovies, and orangutans and breakfast cereals, and fruit-bats and large chu..."

As I sit here I am pretty pleased.

The yards front and back are completely Gran Torino'd...we have excellent blooming flowers in the front beds...both cars are washed and clean..I'm still averaging over 50mpg with the Prius..and work was not too bad this week. I got some reading in and organizing. Tomorrow I may actually get a chance to tune up the Segway and go for a ride. The kitchen counters are covered with vegetables we grew ourselves...Life seems pretty good today...and I am going to appreciate it.

We are done with the farmers market for the year. We have sold and given away our excess production, which was the plan. Now the produce we have left and what will be created from this point on will be stored. Home canning is the next project.

This is the first time we are going to try to can food we produced ourselves...It should be somewhat interesting. I am undecided about this. The stuff I remember as home canned was brown and you were really unable to determine what was in the jar....Now my mother was a lousy cook and it's probably pretty hard to can stuff with Vodka as her "little helper" so that may explain why anything home canned appeared to be some type of medical school teaching prop to me as a child ....I'm going to give home canned food a non-judgemental shot as best I can. If what we can appears close to the photo's of normal people's canned foods on the net then I'll go along with it. If this process turns out to be just like mama used to make, then it's outa here.

We are pulling out the used up portions of the gardens and it's tough seeing our plants go. I do not believe we will plant a fall garden-----rather we will use the time to work on building up the garden beds again. All our soil we created...so the more we work on composting and resting our created soil all the better for our produce next year.

I remembered reading about these houses as a child in the 1960's--the Futuro House. Portable by truck or by helicopter and designed by Finnish Architect Matti Suuronen this structure was usually featured right after the articles on how personal jet packs were the coming mode of transportation. I've never seen one although constructed complete by prefabrication there were 100 sold. The Futuro House is not just an artifact of an Architect's fantasy it is an artifact of a future we believed in---a future that never occurred.

I understand that the Futuro House was actually very well insulated and easy to heat ( da-Finnish architect eh?) and actually was useful in areas as a vacation home or a small family house. Capable of being hooked to services much like an RV site set up was remarkably easy. The Futuro House stands as the future we all at one time, thought was coming, but never showed up--the free energy car---unlimited nuclear power---personal submarines---the future believed in completely, it was coming, we were told by those my generation's parents believed in. It would happen any moment. Like the Jetsons we would step out of our Futuro Home, strap on our Jet pack, zoom to work, where we would supervise automated machinery and then zoom home again to a happy family. It was just a little bit away---any time now.

This belief structure of the wondrous future just suddenly stopped. It did not slowly die, it passed away overnight. It became obvious that we, as a society, had either, wasted our future's opportunity or missed the correct path to this future. Magazines stopped showing us the future. It was as if our culture woke up one morning realizing that this dream of the technological good life for all would never, never happen. Sad eh?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Futuro

The atomic clock (pictured above) that your wristwatch connects to for time set (if you have that feature) had always been one of those mystery's to me. Not any longer thanks to the link below. I had imagined a complex piece of equipment deep below the surface of a mountain, serviced by a squad of geeks. I was almost on target----

http://atlasobscura.com/places/nist-f1-cesium-fountain-atomic-clock

If you haven't you need to:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_Dog:_The_Way_of_the_Samurai

I've been reading several articles on the web and I believe there is also a book on the subject of why, cheap is bad for our society. I thought on this subject quite awhile after reading this material and decided this was a true concept..Cheap is bad...I began to realize that there is no middle ground in the products we use, need or want any longer. Everything is cheap or tremendously expensive. There is no middle in terms of cost or quality. We face the fact that when we buy a $5.00 belt at walmart we understand that it is a cheap piece of Chinese shit and will without a doubt, if we are lucky, last 6 months---but we accept this situation due to what fact? It is cheap.

We also silently accept the fact that there is now nowhere else to go...unless you wish to order a $30 or $60 dollar belt off the Internet that is of course a better quality, with a subsequent longer use life---but with the drop in our true, real individual income over the past 8 years--- $60.00 or $30.00 for a good quality belt may be out of the question for immediate purchase. The middle ground for the American consumer of the $15.00, good quality belt is, like the typewriter, simply gone.

The truth is we are paying so much more than we realize for cheap---we have been forced into this situation by the redistribution of wealth in this country from the middle class to the rich during the Bush Administration...we as a society accepted this via our elections and actually encouraged this transfer of wealth to occur. The next time you vote look at your belt.

Sometimes you must chew off your foot, to get out of life's little traps.........