when everything goes
Mar. 4th, 2021 07:56 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ljgeoffReading this post from siderea has given me an urge to write some of what I've been thinking but not talking about, except to Mike. And when I talk to Mike, it's in a code-phrase kind of short hand. But I feel the need to noodle this.
We say "when everything goes". We don't mean the trees or the air or our grandchildren. We mean food in markets, public schools, health insurance, and working infrastructure.
Mike and I figure that everything will go right around the time that we'll be checking out, too, depending on various health factors; Mike's kidney is underperforming and my heart is throwing out stress PVCs. *shrug* This causes me some distress as my children might Do Things Wrong, as in, not the way I would do it. Good on them.
Okay, I say everything but I don't think that it'll be everything at once, *poof* gone, except in situations like a natural disaster that folks won't be able to come back from. I think it'll be a slow degradation of infrastructure and a slow decrease in access to things like public education and healthcare. I think that choices of food will decrease and costs will increase. More and more people will become unemployed and homeless. At some point, gods I hope, we'll hit a new functional balance. I have no idea what that place will look like and I have no idea of how much fire we as a species will have to walk through to get there.
One of the things I'm thinking a lot about now is making the little house in Crystal Falls comfortable for us when the grid fails. So, heat, potable water, food storage, waste management, and power generation. We're planning for both short term, weeks to months, and long term. The Plan is for us to have our big property within a few years of moving north, and start serious food production a few years after that. But seeing how long it's taking for us to just get this house ready for sale makes me question whether I'll live to see significant food production at the big property.
For the little Crystal Falls house, we're looking at solar cell systems and wood gasifier generators, a couple of cisterns in the back yard and a grey water system, a backup wood stove, and vegetable gardens with chickens.
I'm seriously thinking of building a small hidey hole, what used to be called a bomb shelter, as a hidden extension off the basement. Mike says that's taking it too far, but I dunno. I think it's gonna get real crazy for a while, during the Dying Time. And if I'm alive when that time comes, I'd rather not die by violence. But then, if it gets that violent in Crystal Falls, current population 1700, having a shelter isn't going to help in the long term if the garden and chickens are all raided. Who knows, maybe everything will hold together until the '50s or '60s. By then, some of my grandchildren might be grandparents.
Tick, tick, tick. Our pace is maddening. I figure it'll take two years to get this Lansing house in good enough shape to sell for a decent profit. That's why I obsess about the home repair stuff. I need this stuff done!
What I really need to do is focus on today. Today I will pay my bills and go see the doctor about this knee. And maybe buy a toilet and sink for that downstairs bathroom. La!
siderea has given me an urge to write some of what I've been thinking but not talking about, except to Mike. And when I talk to Mike, it's in a code-phrase kind of short hand. But I feel the need to noodle this. We say "when everything goes". We don't mean the trees or the air or our grandchildren. We mean food in markets, public schools, health insurance, and working infrastructure.
Mike and I figure that everything will go right around the time that we'll be checking out, too, depending on various health factors; Mike's kidney is underperforming and my heart is throwing out stress PVCs. *shrug* This causes me some distress as my children might Do Things Wrong, as in, not the way I would do it. Good on them.
Okay, I say everything but I don't think that it'll be everything at once, *poof* gone, except in situations like a natural disaster that folks won't be able to come back from. I think it'll be a slow degradation of infrastructure and a slow decrease in access to things like public education and healthcare. I think that choices of food will decrease and costs will increase. More and more people will become unemployed and homeless. At some point, gods I hope, we'll hit a new functional balance. I have no idea what that place will look like and I have no idea of how much fire we as a species will have to walk through to get there.
One of the things I'm thinking a lot about now is making the little house in Crystal Falls comfortable for us when the grid fails. So, heat, potable water, food storage, waste management, and power generation. We're planning for both short term, weeks to months, and long term. The Plan is for us to have our big property within a few years of moving north, and start serious food production a few years after that. But seeing how long it's taking for us to just get this house ready for sale makes me question whether I'll live to see significant food production at the big property.
For the little Crystal Falls house, we're looking at solar cell systems and wood gasifier generators, a couple of cisterns in the back yard and a grey water system, a backup wood stove, and vegetable gardens with chickens.
I'm seriously thinking of building a small hidey hole, what used to be called a bomb shelter, as a hidden extension off the basement. Mike says that's taking it too far, but I dunno. I think it's gonna get real crazy for a while, during the Dying Time. And if I'm alive when that time comes, I'd rather not die by violence. But then, if it gets that violent in Crystal Falls, current population 1700, having a shelter isn't going to help in the long term if the garden and chickens are all raided. Who knows, maybe everything will hold together until the '50s or '60s. By then, some of my grandchildren might be grandparents.
Tick, tick, tick. Our pace is maddening. I figure it'll take two years to get this Lansing house in good enough shape to sell for a decent profit. That's why I obsess about the home repair stuff. I need this stuff done!
What I really need to do is focus on today. Today I will pay my bills and go see the doctor about this knee. And maybe buy a toilet and sink for that downstairs bathroom. La!
(no subject)
Date: 2021-03-06 02:33 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2021-03-06 01:58 pm (UTC)Climate Action Tracker gives us this (click to enlarge):
(no subject)
Date: 2021-03-16 11:32 pm (UTC)*HUGS*