PP #28: Quake, Eclipse, Survive
Project: Pioneer #28, April 7, 2024 Sunday 12pm
Turbulence, anyone? You don’t need to get on a plane to experience it these days! Settle in, it’s going to be that way (and get worse) throughout the year. That’s OK, there’s not much you can do about a lot of it, except be prepared, be happy (see post #26!) and go on with your life. I’ve been providing tips and techniques to do so, with more below. And yes, we can do something about some of it, so let’s get busy up in here!
Project: Pioneer is the live weekly reality journal of a couple and their small dog as they leave their ‘normal’ life in a luxury apartment for a new semi-off grid life in a small recreational vehicle, just at the start of winter. We cover prepping, politics, spirituality, afterlife, RV life, and personal finance. Most posts are free, more personal posts are to reward our loyal paid subscribers. Audio podcast at Substack, Apple, and Spotify)
In this journal post:
Our Current Status and Updates
Prepping Update: Quake Mania
Eclipse Mania
Trouble on the Rise
What’s Next?
Current Status/Updates
Big Project: Pioneer news! I’ve been reading and supporting other authors here on Substack, and really enjoy being able to interact with other readers. It made me realize I’ve been doing this wrong! So, commenting is now turned on for everyone. I’d really love to hear your thoughts and advice on our adventures. Hello? Bueller? Bueller?
It’s a beautiful Sunday, finally! We went to dinner and the show last night, stayed up late, slept in, went to a delicious late breakfast, scoped out our new site in the woods, got some summer duds from the storage unit, and took Pia for a long walk. It felt like the long, horrible winter was finally over. It felt like what every day should be.
We cleaned up the new site, which was covered with inches of brush and old wet leaves from last fall. Giavana says it smells “earthy” down there. We were trying to decide whether to put White House on the concrete pad, or just next to it, so we can use the pad for outdoor stuff. In the end, we chose the latter, since we need the extra side space to finally put out our large awning. We’ll decorate with festive lights and make it our permanent vacation home. Only another week and a half to go!
We’re getting back on track in scoping out land around here, in case our democracy survives this last fascist push by the Trumpkins. I’d love a nice log cabin with a big porch. More importantly, space for Giavana to get all her beautiful clothing out of storage and be able to take her out to dressy events once in a while. She’s been a pioneer woman hero through all this, but at heart she’s an 80s glamor girl, with the looks and shoes to prove it.
Prepping Update: Quake Mania
The folks in the northeast got a big shock this past week—apparently earthquakes don’t just happen out west or in the far east. It was a big wakeup call, based on all the hysteria! It’s something I haven’t addressed in my various prepper posts, but it’s important to think about.
I saw the governor of NY tell people to get under some furniture if it happens. Um, hello, most adults I know wouldn’t fit under any furniture they own. My elderly mom and Giavana’s elderly mom would take until the next millennia to even try. What if that furniture jumps up and then back down on you? What if it flips over in the quake? Lots of people ran outside in panic. Not a good idea after the massive amount of rainfall we’ve had—the shaking can easily drop huge trees that are basically sitting in mud, or electrical/telephone poles.
I think the safest place is under a strong support structure. For example, my mom has a small bathroom that’s under the stairs on her ground floor. That seems like a safe place to me. Careful about heading to the basement—are there any windows for air or to call for help if you’re trapped? Any way to get out? A ladder to reach those windows? Any food or water? A bucket to take care of business? Have a look around your house. Do you sleep under a ceiling fan that could come dislodged and fall on you? Next to a tall bookcase that could come down on you? Take a prepping tour of your home and property with all this in mind.
There’s no evidence that the quake was caused by climate change. But, dude, when we all live on this sphere and we’re constantly sucking the juice (oil) out of it, blowing it up with massive underground explosions (fracking) to get the gas out of it, poisoning the soil, water, and air, what do you expect? Picture a wrinkled, dried up prune that used to be a nice round juicy plum. The temperature in the Antarctic recently jumped almost 39C in one day, a catastrophic world record. We are sitting out on the edge of a tree limb, and sawing away close to the trunk.
Another change we’re making is to switch from our regular cell service provider to a primary carrier. We use an MVNO (think Mint, Consumer Cellular, Xfinity, Cricket, etc). These providers lease network bandwidth from the real players who own the towers and networks (AT&T, Verizon, TMobile). That makes us second class citizens when it comes to performance and bandwidth. With all the recent (and sure to come) chaos, I think that’s a very unsafe thing.
Eclipse Mania
People are also trippin’ on the eclipse to happen Monday. It’s a cool thing, scientifically speaking. It’s also triggered all the doomsday prophets, with talk about the Second Coming, Rapture, and so on. Who knows. As I’ve discussed in several of my afterlife/spirituality posts, we’re ready.
It could cause other types of chaos, though. The sun and moon have a gravitational effect on our planet, controlling our tides and more. The way things have been lately, who knows that tomorrow will bring. We’ll be safe at home, no eclipse tourism for us. We got tix for the quake instead. I feel bad for all the folks who spent big bucks and won’t see much due to cloud cover or bad weather.
Trouble on the Rise
In political news, there’s this dude running to be leader of the free world and actually in the lead (supposedly) despite killing hundreds of thousands of Americans on our home soil last time by lying about and mismanaging a deadly pandemic because it was bad for his “ratings.” One of the first things he did when he came into office was to dismantle our world-wide pandemic early warning system. Think about that. Please.
We’re still trying to figure out how a third or more of the country, working people, are behind a guy who has clearly, on the record, ripped off countless working people throughout his life. Stiffing family businesses, fake university, fake charities (to rip off kids with cancer), fake hair, fake spray tan, craps in a gold toilet (literally!), never mowed a lawn, never did a chore, trust fund baby, never goes to church, chauffeured everywhere since childhood, five kids from three different women (four of the kids have that ‘poisoned’ immigrant blood he speaks of), cheated on his pregnant former escort wife with a porn star and then cheated on them both with another porn star.
Oh wait, he’s a smart businessman. The guy who’s had six bankruptcies (actually somehow bankrupted casinos!), on the verge of another (Truth Social stock in the toilet), squandered the massive fortune his father left him, in debt up to his ears, charged with multiple felonies, and whose one big accomplishment as President was a massive tax break for the ultra-wealthy that added trillions of dollars to our debt. Lied about having a health care plan, liked about having an infrastructure plan, liked about Mexico building the wall, never stopped people from coming over the border, despite the inhumane cruelty. Cut a one-sided deal for the Taliban and invited them to the White House on 9/11.
So, some of y’all are ready to throw away the 250 years of democracy that so many brave men and women died for (the ones he called suckers and losers), for this guy? Not vote for the dude who goes to church every week, never cheated on his wife, squeaky clean over fifty years in public service?
It’s going to be a battle. The dirty tricks are starting already. They are making their plan clear to dismantle our government. Read up on their Project 2025. That means no more public schools (you will pay for all education K-12), no “entitlements” like Social Security, Medicare, veteran’s disability payments, unemployment, or stimulus payments (after they torch the economy, again). Read up on the Seven Mountains Mandate—and get ready to live the Handmaid’s Tale for real, because that’s their warped wet dream. Is that what you want for your kids? I keep saying it—if you aren’t an uber-wealthy white straight evangelical Christian male, you ain’t in the club, and they will eventually come for you too.
Voting for a fascist authoritarian is the last choice people get to make for themselves. The anti-Christ finally shows up and people start buying Bibles from him, WTF?
I'm an old hippie but it's up to the younger generations to forge what life will be like going forward. Be active! My group tried like hell, some of us are still at it. But, I have to say, I'm always shocked at going to concerts and tribute shows that feature that old music, those words, and seeing people singing along and knowing their present beliefs are completely antithetical to those lyrics. Sometimes I ask, "Do you still know what those words mean?"
What’s Next?
Monday is eclipse day, so that will be exciting. We’re breaking down our stuff to prepare for the move to the wooded site, and that work will continue. Spring is here, we’re semi-healthy again, and excited for what comes next!
Morality is doing what’s right regardless of what you’re told
Obedience is doing what you’re told regardless of what’s right
—H. L. Mencken
Got questions? We’re happy to answer them, just post away below or DM us! Just use the handy buttons below.
You can support us by buying my novels at wildlakepress.com, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, or other fine book outlets in paperback, ebook, or audio. Or, by signing up to be a paid subscriber!
When you buy something using the retail links in our stories we may get a teeny tiny commission, but it never affects your price or our judgement in linking to products we use and believe in. It helps pay for the costs in providing this (hopefully) entertaining content.