Friday, April 29, 2011

Break In The Weather

Well, the weather for the past couple of days has been beautiful; funny how that happens with the worst storms. It's been cool enough in the mornings to make me throw on some long sleeves.
I finally heard from Daddy Rabbit and the other guys. They are safe and unharmed although in the midst of about total destruction. Daddy Rabbit's field clerk is a young lady who attends the University. Her roommate was killed. Last I heard the deathtoll in Alabama was around 210. Ol' Hippie (whom ya'll may remember) had a large tree fall through his house. Other than that, I don't think any of my guys suffered any worse damage. Talked to Head and some others and they are all okay. Thank you all for your concern and well wishes. Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy! Seriously. I'm sorry I did not or have not been able to answer everybody's comments one by one. Even though I have power, my phone and internet connections have been on and off. Sometimes I have them, sometimes I don't. Mostly lately I don't. It seems to be doing okay tonight, so maybe things are straightened out.
So, the rest of us just count our blessings and continue on. Above are some seedlings I must get planted this weekend. Tomatoes, eggplant  peppers and watermelon. Yes, I am going to grow some more watermelon but this is a different variety; Black Diamond this time.

Here is the current state of the garden: zucchini and squash are the most recent additions and going strong. They were blooming today. Well, I also planted two rows of Red Pontiac potatoes recently. They have not come up yet. Onions and garlic are doing very well.
The blueberries are doing very well this year as are the strawberries and raspberries. All the fruit got a good dose of compost and an organic fertilizer for fruit early this spring.

The broccoli is still chugging along. I get enough to make a side dish about once a week from 8 plants. They have all long since produced their main center head and these are just the side shoots now.

Even my grapes look like they may produce this year, now that I have relocated them inside the fenced garden.
This recent horrible storm has also had the effect of confirming in my mind the advantage of being somewhat self-sufficient. Or at least, not so dependent on the stores. Now, make no mistake, there is no way to prepare for a dead-on hit from that size tornado, short of a underground concrete bunker, but for the ones not hit there are still potential problems. A lot of people scoff at preppers or doomers and say it's stupid to worry about such. Well, I'm not a doomer by any stretch but this is a prime example of why you should be prepped. For example, most of the surrounding counties have been without power. No power in the stores mean no gas and no food. So, guess where they all came. You got it, our town has been overran. Couldn't even get in the parking lot of most gas stations and lots of food items were sold out. Fortunately, since I have prepared somewhat, it hasn't affected us. I have plenty of food and we have gas. And due to the ever increasingly erratic patterns of weather, you never know when some crap is going to happen. It's not just about some end of the world scenario that is probably never going to happen anyway, it's just regular world stuff that screws up most people today. For instance, I read about another blogger who hurt his back pretty bad and was down flat for 3 weeks. His wife didn't and couldn't drive. Had they not done some prepping and been self-sufficient they would have really been in a bind. Turns out they did fine. Makes me all the more anxious to get more of my stuff going.

12 comments:

ErinFromIowa said...

Your gardens look green and lush. Black Diamond watermelon is so very, very good. Yum.

newcracker52 said...

It is good to hear your guys are ok. Your plants are doing well too. I am thinking of growing some watermelons, the small individual ones. I couldn't believe the stuff you found in your yard. Crazy

Caddie said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Caddie said...

Everything looks luscious. Your season is so far ahead of ours. Frosty this morning. That flowerbed is gorgeous too. It all makes me yearn to dig but can't this year, darn it.

The rash of storms is a wake-up call to be prepared if possible. I just got a little 'nasty' yet some damage in counties south and north of here. Glad it skipped you.

How about posting us a wide angle picture of your house and "busyness" all about?

Keep on growin'and enjoyin'!

Sat Apr 30, 06:54:00 AM

Ed said...

"there is no way to prepare for a dead-on hit from that size tornado, short of a underground concrete bunker"

...or build your house as a monolithic dome which can withstand 5 times the force a measly 300mph F5 tornado can produce and it looks much better than an underground bunker!

myamuhnative said...

Glad to hear you all are ok.

As much as I hate hurricanes, at least we get some warning.
Tornados are a whole 'nother kind of scary!

MamaHen said...

Hey Erin! thanks! yeah, the droughts haven't hit yet! ;)

Hey New! thanks! yeah, crazy it was.

Hey Sissy! I will certainly try to get a picture up like that.

Hey Ed! yeah, I've seen those domes! I dunno....after last week I'm skeptical of anything above ground.

Hey Mya! yes, they are. We rarely get to see them coming out here in the foothills and only hear of them minutes before.

Ed said...

I was too but I've read of one down in Texas that has survived three direct hits with hurricanes including one Category 5. Although it doesn't say the size, this dome survived a direct hit with a tornado. I've also seen a video of one on youtube that survived a wildfire out in California unscathed and with a handful of firefighters inside who used it as emergency shelter. FEMA is also building them as tornado storm shelters for towns now. For me, the best part is that you can build one and it will stand long past the time of our grandchildren's children.

R.Powers said...

You don't like bell peppers?
This changes everything.

LOL!

Your garden looks great! I was glad to see your blueberries doing so well. I just made my first picking today.

You are right on about being as self-reliant as possible.

MamaHen said...

Hey Ed! yeah, I've read a bit about those domes and they are impressive. And of course, the shape makes sense; they are extremely stable. I hate to admit, I think they are ugly as hell, but, to each his own! :D

Hey FC! oh noooo!! but I like all kinds of other peppers! lol!

thanks!

Ed said...

I was in complete agreement until I saw the Eye of the Storm dome. It is the second to last image at the bottom of the page.

Here is a webpage with more details on it including interior pictures but the exterior picture just doesn't do it justice like the link above.

By the way, Eye of the Storm has been through three hurricanes.

MamaHen said...

Hey Ed! interesting links! that one is not too bad looking..heehee! but the price tag!! dang! $600,000!
I know you can build a cheaper version but still! whew!
You make a good point though; there needs to be a serious reconsideration of ALL types of housing (buildings) these days. It's stupid not to design our dwellings for the particular climate in which they exist. It's done more often out in the Soutwest with the adobe buildings but only because they are generally considered attractive. We have to get over these cookie cutter houses and build stuff that makes sense.