IN but not OF

I read the sermon texts in church this morning. I enjoy doing this because there's something so majestic about reading Scripture out loud.

The second reading was from Acts 2. As I read, this line leaped out at me: "With many other words he [Peter] warned them; and he pleaded with them, 'Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.'"

I'm a history buff, so I'm fully aware that virtually every generation throughout the ages has been called corrupt by someone (usually the elders). And the elders are generally right: every generation has its degree of corruption. We are certainly no exception.

It got me thinking: How can we save ourselves from this corrupt generation? Or more specifically, how can we save our children?

Some groups have taken these words to their literal end and created an entire subculture divorced from "the world." The Amish are a classic example. But we are not Amish and are unlikely to find such a group anytime soon. But that doesn't mean we're helpless against the tide of cultural depravity we see around us.

Don and I have a responsibility to make sure our daughters are saved from this corrupt generation until they're old enough to make their own decisions. To this end, we try to make sure our girls are raised IN but not OF this world.

What does that mean, IN but not OF? The way I see it, it means we're involved in our culture and community, but we do not necessarily adopt its values.

Up to this point, this has been a totally unconscious decision on our part. In fact, I never gave it much thought before. But in retrospect I realize we've been IN but not OF for, oh, about eighteen years now. That's when Don and I decided to give up our easy and well-paying jobs in the city and move rural. That was the first step.

Over the years as our daughters have grown, we've deliberately chosen to keep them out of government schools. Possibly more than any other decision, that has been influential in keeping their characters decent and moral. The rest has been fairly easy. Honestly, it has. We're fortunate that the kids are not "difficult" (and I use that term in the clinical sense; some children are born more "difficult" than others), but for the most part raising decent kids is remarkably easy. All you have to do is withdraw from being OF the world.

Being rural is large contributing factor. Living without television reception is yet another contributing factor.

By no means am I saying that urban public school kids all turn out bad or that rural homeschooled kids are perfect. Please don't misunderstand. What I'm saying is that -- for us -- being rural and homeschooling has made it remarkably easy for our children to adopt the values we hold dear.

This isn't to say the girls will leave the nest and thereafter live perfect lives. Far from it. In their adult years they will have numerous head-on collisions with the real world which will be in direct conflict with their values. Things will not seem as black and white as they do now. They will experience all the gray areas that make up our culture.

What I'm saying is, they'll have in their possession the toolbox we've tried to create for them. The tools in that toolbox built the foundation of their world, and include the morals, faith, values, and choices we've made since their birth. As they become adults, they will have those tools at their disposal to build their own foundation.

As adults, our girls will be living IN this world. They have no choice, of course; we must all live in this world. And for the most part it's a beautiful world and I hope they enjoy it as much as Don and I do.

We can only hope they will choose to stay OUT of this world in other respects.

Welcome to our newest advertiser!

I'd like to extend a warm welcome to our newest advertiser, Emergency Essentials!

It's always cool to be able to offer readers a new source for products that can help with their preparedness efforts. We try to affiliate only with reputable companies that offer products or services that we believe embrace our values and a commitment to honest and friendly service.

That's why Emergency Essentials is such a spiffy addition to our advertisers. They've been around for a long time and have a terrific reputation in the self-sufficiency/preparedness community.

This company has good prices and great merchandise ranging from radios to pre-packaged food supplies. As their name implies, they're a one-stop stop of... well, essentials.

But what appeals to the frugal mom in me is they have lots of special deals, including closeouts and group buyer's clubs that will save a ton of moolah.

Even more neat (and I think this demonstrates their commitment to Preparedness) is the amount of freebies on their website. Have you seen their list of stored-food recipes? To someone like me who isn't the world's greatest cook, this resource is fabulous. They also have something called Insight Articles I'm happily perusing, which is jam packed with great prepping and self-sufficiency information. And signing up for their newsletter will get you all kinds of special offers.

I'm delighted to welcome Emergency Essentials to Rural Revolution and I urge you to visit their web store. Even if you're not in the market for something right now, just the freebies will make the trip worth the visit. And you never know, you just might find something "essential" for your prepping. For example we just ordered some of the BurnFree Personal Burn Kits located in the closeout section. We've been looking for a good buy on this kind of product and we've found it at Emergency Essentials.

Take a peek and see if you're not as impressed with this company as we are!

Next Contest Entry

Husband of the Boss communique'

Here is our next entry in the "Safecastle LLC Freedom Awards Self-sufficiency Essay and/or Video Contest" and as such in our "Rural Revolution Essay Contest"

Just a reminder:

While the prizes are certainly better over at SafeCastle LLC., we're only allowed to pass on one finalist in the essay and video catagories at the end of the year for judging.

But...

In the Rural Revolution sub-contest, we have 10 prizes to give out to those of you who submit your original essay or video on self-suffieceny, survivalism, and prepping, specifically the coveted Rural Revolutionary Tankard.

So here's our next entry from Jake MacGregor:

Is it time to do nothing else but prepare?

All of us who prepare face a dilemma: how do we allocate our work, our money and our time in the face of impending economic collapse.

Is it time to do nothing else but prepare?

Most of us who are survivalists, 'preppers,' (whatever acronym you choose for yourself) have invested in a deep pantry, self-defense, a good how-to library, etc. None of us feels we have done enough, has enough, but we each are doing what we can.

Now that gold, silver, food and oil appear to be 'going vertical' in price, European countries fall in clusters, and the tremendous catastrophe in Japan and consequent economic ripples, all of who have prepared for TSHTF have to ask, at what point do you put all of your work, money and time into preparations?

Is it time to do nothing else but prepare?

Before I give you my answer I will give you my background: In 2003 I began to tell my wife, Honey, I am seeing things in the world, financially, that do not make sense to me, either I am crazy or the world is going crazy, and I pray it is me. What I saw was crazy mortgage lending practices, the general belief that the business cycle had been cured, and a financial world where risk no longer seemed to matter. I had a pretty good seat to observe that world as I was one of the country's leading financial advisers. I managed hundreds of millions of dollars and met with affluent clients every business day. I, quite literally, wrote the book on being a financial adviser.

The more I looked into macro-economic issues the worse I felt inside. I was so bothered by my 'gut' that I sold my business in the summer of 2004 and moved my family from the affluent exurbs of Washington, D.C. to the Rocky Mountain West.

That was seven years ago. Even though we made a dramatic move geographically and in lifestyle I still harbored notions that things would and could work out. I have five children who I dreamed for. I wanted them to attend a good college, struggle as I did in my twenties and learn from their own mistakes how to build a career and family. I wanted my children to experience the same opportunity for prosperity that I had struggled for and eventually obtained.

I scan multiple websites every day looking for any glimmer of positive news. I have not found any fact-based good news for some time. Glenn Beck has been shouting "prepare, prepare, prepare!" for years.

Jim Rawles recently urged folks to move to the Inland Northwest Redoubt.

Pastor Chuck Baldwin echoed that.

Chris Martenesen asks (paraphrase) "Are there any white swans?" (i.e., is there any good news out there?)

And just yesterday, a well known preparedness website touted "Collapse by July, Even a Cave Man Can See It!"

Is it time to do nothing else but prepare?

Yet, despite this flood of bad news and pessimism you, me, we all have concrete decisions to make, things to do, and as with most of us we have limited time and money to do them with.

For my family, a personal example of an upcoming decision looms: should my wife take a job at the hospital or start her own business. The hospital is a 90-minute drive each way but offers a certain income. The business could be very profitable but will take time to build with no guaranty of income at all. And that is the rub, do we have time? Should we even start a business in the worst economy since 1931? And for the first time in our life we have an option we have never contemplated - should we bag both of those notions and place all our efforts in preparing for collapse?

Is it time to do nothing else but prepare?

When I look closely at how she would make her money here is what I find. Her job at the hospital is to ensure that all the hoops are jumped through so the Hospital that employs her gets paid by Medicare and Medicaid. I do not see how either of those Government programs can continue as they have already bankrupted our country. Her job security would be great until the Federal Government can no longer pay those bills.

The business my wife could start would be consulting as a legal-nurse. She has studied for some time to earn this certification and could help malpractice law firms with cases that need medical clarification and organization. However, I do not relish the thought of trying to collect from law firms in this economy.

Ultimately, she would be paid by the Federal Government or by ambulance chasers. Both sound like buzzards of the worst kind to me!

Is it time to do nothing else but prepare?

Is it time? Is it time do nothing else but prepare? In our case should my wife take this job? Should she start this business? Or should we do nothing else but prepare?

I don't know. I don't know if it is time to do nothing else but prepare. It is not knowable except in hindsight, and then it will be too late.

That, in part, is why I am writing this essay. I want your thoughts dear reader. Do YOU think: Is it time to do nothing else but prepare?

What I do know is that asking the question "Is it time to do nothing else but prepare?" begs a level of attention and alert here-to-now unknown to me. Never in my life have I even begun to think that our way of life is near collapse as I do today. That I even ask this tells me to take this very seriously, pray for guidance and become hyper vigilant.

What will we do? Will we drop the job offers, drop starting the business and do nothing else but prepare?

Yes and No. We will do an 'all-of-the-above' approach.

I will advise my wife to take the job AND start the business. I'll do all I can to help her in the business while she is working at the hospital. We'll enlist our home-schooled children into helping with the business to leverage our efforts. They can learn while working on mailing proposals, creating brochures, and keeping the filing current.

What of all the preparations we could, and probably should be doing instead? Somehow, someway, we will have to find a way to do those too. It helps that we have been actively preparing for 12 years. I still feel that we have more work than we have days. I suspect we are going to sleep less and hurt more with the severe work we need to do.

I could be wrong. Maybe we need to use every single minute between now and TSHTF for final preparations. I can't know.

But I can pray, ask for guidance, and submit this question to you faithful readers of Patrice's wonderful blog.

May God watch over us and keep our families during these trying times.

Jake MacGregor
__________________________

Thanks to Jake for this entry. Now folks, please consider sending us an essay on your plans, thoughts and experiences in self-sufficiency and prepping. I know a lot of you have skills and training on these important topics. You have a real shot at some great prizes (ours and especially theirs) by simply putting on e-paper or video, things you've already considered and practiced that might be of great help to others just starting out. I've always been into helping others. (And a chance to get "paid" to do it doesn't hurt either.)

Prayer request for Bill

Let me tell you a little story.

About 2 ½ years ago, a few months after I started writing for WorldNetDaily, I wrote a column called Rednecks Vote which was more or less a rant about the snobbery against rural and small-town Americans by the mainstream media and the liberal elites. I found it objectionable when people assume rural folks are too stupid to participate in politics or have intelligent opinions.

I received an email from a gentleman named Bill who related the most extraordinary background. He was raised with wealth and privilege. Private schools, chartered trains (with private train stops), various huge estates… the world of luxury and affluence he described is light-years away from what any of us will ever witness or experience.

But the world of the wealthy elites didn’t appeal to him. When he was a young man, he left most of that behind and instead learned every practical skill he could. He far preferred to work with his hands.

He’s mentored a number of troubled teens over the years, both in person and via the internet. Some he’s watched go astray and then return to the fold. He had a strong Christian conversation a couple decades ago. He obviously has a heart as big as the state in which he lives.

Anyway, Bill and I became cyber friends. Over the years we’ve emailed back and forth, recounting various parts of our histories, cheering each other on, and generally being pals.

He’s inspired a column or two, and I’ve come to admire his rugged independence and fierce admiration for the blue-collar backbone workers of this country. I’ve become very fond of him. Is it possible to love a person you’ve never met? If so, that’s Bill.

Then a couple months ago, quite by accident, he let drop that he has cancer.

Cancer! Alarmed, I requested details so I could be specific in my prayers. He was embarrassed that he let slip his condition and in fact hadn’t realized he had mentioned anything at all – drugs will do that to a person – but then gave a verbal sigh and said maybe God wanted me to know.

So here’s the skinny: Bill has Stage 4 prostate cancer. It has metastasized to both his shoulders and several vertebrae, and he’s receiving radiation in those areas. He writes, “I'm not having a ‘brush’ with death. I'm definitely going to die in about a year. But I look fine, and -- for the most part -- feel fine except for drowsiness, and this damned shoulder.”

Since writing that, his condition has deteriorated.  He most certainly doesn't feel "fine" anymore.  I don't think he has a year left.

It’s always distressing to face the imminent loss of a friend. But Bill’s condition caught me broadside and I’ve found myself saddened in a way I never thought I’d be – considering I’ve never met him.

But he’s a stalwart soldier, Bill is. Presumably he’s come to terms with whatever God has in store for him, for he continues to be bright and cheerful in his emails.

I asked permission to post a prayer request on my blog. I figure my puny efforts may not be worth much, but multiplied by thousands of readers sending petitions to the Almighty, who knows what might happen? It’s probably too late to pray for recovery, but it’s never too late to pray for a lessening of pain and peace of mind.

But he refused.  Gently, but he refused.  Strong individualist that he is, he felt awkward accepting such a gesture.

And he fights on. He writes, “I’ve experienced a most amazing increase in my closeness to God such that I’m not afraid. It is precisely the same experience that your friend Cheryl describes in that half hour video you put up in your piece about her – which totally blew me away – that someone else could so clearly, and accurately describe what I had experienced without even knowing me.”

Typical of his generous nature, Bill is asking people to pray for Cheryl rather than him. “She has two kids and a husband who adores her, and need her,” he writes.

Bill admits it’s hard to ask for help. The rugged independence that has marked his life since he was old enough to leave home means sometimes holding out a hand can be difficult.

So I’m asking for him.

Bill needs some help right now. He’s sad and lonely. He's in pain and low in spirits.  Being so far away, all I can do is reach out a cyber hand toward him. It seems such a frustratingly small thing to do, but it’s all I have.

It’s taken me months to convince him to let me post this prayer request. Now that he’s reached a stage where he’s letting me, I want to swamp him with love. Hear that? Swamp him.

So post. Everyone, please post something. I’d love to see a thousand comments for him to read. Be upbeat. Be cheerful. Be funny. Bill has a terrific sense of humor, so the odd and quirky and funny would raise his spirits and appeal to his humor.

Please. Pray for Bill.

The tanking dollar

This morning's headline on The Drudge Report:

Last year I read a book called The Ultimate Depression Survival Guide by Martin Weiss, founder of Weiss Research. Based on that book, I joined the email list for Weiss Research, an independent investment firm that recommends investments and doesn’t sugarcoat the economic climate. As a result, I often get emails to watch various videos on their website. I never do because I just don't have time to watch everything they send.

But yesterday I received an email to watch yet another recommended video called The American Apocalypse, and for some reason decided to watch this one.

Be aware, the video is largely an infomercial to join Weiss Research. But I believe their warnings about the economy are valid and worth listening to. The video frequently urges you to refer to their "free" copy of their publication “The Great American Apocalypse of 2011-2012.” Disregard the sometimes annoying repetition and just listen to the warnings. You can skip the last ten minutes or so since it’s nothing but reasons why you should join Weiss Research.  Don't bother with that part.

The reason I think this infomercial is worth listening to is because it outlines the causes of our current economic crisis.

In other words, it’s very educational. Here are some of the highlights.

Understand the purpose of Weiss Research is to help investors. They talk a lot about your “investment portfolio.” They’re used to dealing with clients who have lots and lots of money. I’m going to go out on a limb here and assume this description doesn’t fit the majority of my readers. (Meaning, very few of us are rich.) In our household, we don’t ‘invest” because we don’t have the money to invest. (We prefer to “invest” in our farm.)

The reason I suggest you watch the video is not to join Weiss Research but to listen to the cogent economic warnings they give. They have their ear to the ground far more than I do.

Tangible investments? 'Nuff said.

More canning info

On my Canning Mustard post, a reader named Dannie asked a very good question. She wrote:

I just purchased my first water bath canner and my daughter and I plan to do canning together this summer. Being new at this I just wondered if you could tell me why you had to heat the mustard before you put it in the glass jars. It seems like double cooking to me but I know there is a logical reason.

I realized I had no suitable answer to this question. I have raw-packed foods before (notably bacon) but most of the time I hot pack foods. But why hot pack? I never gave it much thought. My favorite canning reference book, Putting Food By, mentions hot food packs better and requires less processing time. Somehow this didn't seem like the whole story.

So I turned to an expert named David Blackburn at a wonderful website called CanningUSA.com and posed the question. Here is his response:

In the case of mustard (and all canned products,) temperature control has to do with viscosity and kinetic energy. Basically, the thickness of a liquid, solid or gas, determines the combination of time and energy it takes to change its temperature. In canning, we are most concerned with the lowest core temperature.

The easiest example of this is canning whole tomatoes, which are not viscous. If you cold pack them, they need to be processed in pint jars for 85 minutes in a water bath canner. If you hot pack them, it's 40 minutes. The former cooks at the temperature of the waterbath canner, or the boiling point of water - 212 degrees at sea level, after it's brought both the water in the canner and glass jars up to temperature. The latter process heats the tomatoes using a wood, electric or gas heat source before canning. Depending on the energy source, this temperature is nine to fifteen times higher than the boiling point of water. So, it's a lot faster and more energy efficient to heat the product up to its boiling point first, can it and then process in the canner. When there is an option between the two processes, I only publish the least in overall time and energy consumption.

Let's go back to your mustard question. Imagine heating a pint of water and a pint of mustard on a stove top. For the water, you can put it in a pan on any heat source and at any temperature and it pretty much takes care of itself. You don't have to worry about it burning or heating unevenly because it has a low viscosity. For mustard, which is much more viscous, so you have to heat it more slowly and stir it constantly to make it heat evenly and to ensure it doesn't stick or burn. I haven't calculated it, but you could sumise it takes more energy and time to heat mustard than water. If you placed the mustard in a jar inside a waterbath canner, it would take an eternity for its lowest core temperature to reach the appropriate canning processing temperature. As far as your bacon is concerned, it isn't viscous and the paper doesn't impede the processing.

I also noted a question on your post about electric tops and pressure canners. Electric heat sources do not heat evenly, so you can't control the temperature. The glass tops are not flat, which makes it worse. We recommend buying a small gas burner and external tank, such as propane, which burns a lot hotter than natural gas.

Wow, I think you'll agree that Mr. Blackburn's reply is a lot more intelligent than anything I could ever dream up! I'm grateful he took the time to explain the process.

Thanks, Dannie, for asking such an excellent question.

Is it an either/or situation?

There was a long comment left on my Spend It Like You Stole It post by a reader named Jeff. It deserves a long reply which is why I’m posting this separately. He writes:

I was hoping you could spend some time expanding on these issues for all our sakes. I don't care if you consider yourself an expert; I know your perspective is rock solid and your motivations above reproach. That's good enough for me!

The small group of friends and relatives I have that I would consider "preppers" are completely absorbed, at times even overwhelmed, by this aspect of our activities. It is the most difficult subject we know of, and questions are far easier to come by than answers.

Our concerns are two-fold:

One, when anyone says convert your cash to tangible goods, we understand and appreciate the concept, but at the same time realize this doesn't mean ALL of your cash. Unfortunately, in our urban environment, cash makes the world go 'round. Even in a rural setting, in this day and age you would be lucky to be able to pay the mechanic, the emergency room or the well-driller with chickens or goat cheese. We wonder how people decide just how much "standard currency" you have to hang onto (even as you watch it lose value) because you WILL need some. Maybe even a considerable amount.

And the other issue is how to try to prepare for two divergent futures simultaneously. I'm a news junkie and probably have above-average powers of discernment. I know which way the wind seems to be blowing. But at the same time, nothing comes with any guarantee. I tell people I know precisely the best preparations to make for some of these different scenarios, but unfortunately my crystal ball is still on back-order and so I have no idea which future we will actually live out.

Of course not, you say. Well, if you're flush, if you sleep on piles of hundred dollar bills every night, then this all becomes some theoretical exercise anyway. You can afford to prepare to ridiculous degrees, and not miss a round of golf. (And doesn't it just frost your muffins when someone has endless resources and does...nothing!)

But most of the people I know are in a far more difficult position, resource-wise. Which makes the decisions several orders of magnitude more difficult.

They feel they can manage to be prepared for a dismal future, or they can be prepared for a more normal, everything's going to work out the way it always has future. But they just don't have the time or money...to do both. They feel like they are being forced to make an all-or-nothing bet. They believe that if they hedge their bets and split their meager resources, they will be poorly prepared for both. And yet if they pick one and they are wrong, they have mortgaged their family's future in a manner not easy, or even possible, to recover from.

In other - very bittersweet - words, what if the world doesn't end?

Sorry this is so long, but I'm sure there are others with similar worries. We'd appreciate your thoughts.

Here are my thoughts on Jeff’s concerns.

Jeff’s first question is how much cash to keep on hand? In our household, we seldom have much money in excess of what we need to pay bills. As income comes in, we apply it toward whatever bills are outstanding. But we also have a wish list of items we want to purchase and/or projects we want to complete. Some of these are big ticket items (such as purchasing Polly, our Jersey heifer) while others are modest (some sewing notions or tubes of toothpaste to add to our stash). When we have surplus cash, we apply it to an item or two on the wish list. Simple as that.

Remember, it's spare cash that we convert into tangibles.  Sometimes we have spare cash, sometimes we don't.  When we do, we buy tangibles.  When we don't, we pay bills.

But unquestionably a wiser course of action would be to have a cushion of money. And sometimes we do have that cushion, depending on how the tankard sales go. Remember we’re self-employed, and the bulk of our income is through our seasonal tankard sales. In terms of income, we lead a farmer's life: Poor in the spring and early summer, flush in the fall. We’ve learned to put some money aside during flush times to tide us (barely) through lean times.

But it's also important to remember, especially in rural parts of the country, that cash isn't the only currency. By this I mean that trade works wonders too. As an example, Don recently got a 250 gallon poly-tank in exchange for some musical instrument repair. The owner of the instruments was delighted to get some repair work on her instruments, and we gained an excellent auxiliary water tank. We've swapped labor for trailers, tools and garden produce just by using our always available "sweat currency."

Jeff’s second question is how to prepare for two divergent futures simultaneously. This is an excellent question since we’re starting to think in terms of preparing our Older Daughter to leave the nest. We cannot behave as if our daughters have no future. We have to work on the assumption that things will roll along pretty much like always.

So yes, we prepare for both futures simultaneously. We’re fortunate that in our case, Prepping and our normal lives are pretty much one and the same. Long before Prepping was on our radar, we strove for increased self-sufficiency. It’s just the way we are.

But for those not in similar circumstances (i.e. living on a farm), how do they “split their meager resources,” as Jeff put it? This isn’t an easy answer since everyone’s situation is different.

People can only do so much. It's not easy to accomplish the impossible.  If I had to put things in an order of priority, it would be this:

• Get the seven core areas (food, water, heat, light, medical, sanitation, and protection) covered for about a month. In other words, squirrel away enough food for a month; enough water for a month (or the means to sterilize water for a month); enough toilet paper for a month, etc.

• Get out of debt. This could take anywhere from months to years; but after you’re out of debt, you have more freedom to prepare for “divergent futures” simultaneously.

• If it will take you too long to get out of debt, you’ll have to put aside the fancy Prepping dreams (i.e. buying a remote homestead and living off the land) and instead stay where you are and Prep in place. This is the easiest way to do both things simultaneously.

I think the whole idea of this post is to look harshly but realistically at your prospects. Face it, if you’re unemployed and bankrupt – as, sadly, many in this nation now are – then your future options are limited. All you can do is make the best of your current situation, do the small things that can pay off big dividends survival-wise, and stop trying to fight what cannot be changed. There was an excellent post on SurvivalBlog tonight which addresses that very issue.

But remember, it doesn’t have to be an either/or situation. Prepping doesn't have to preclude living a “regular” life. I suppose it all depends on your definition of “normal.” Having food on hand means you've got food insurance. Owning firearms is (literally) an investment, as real as owning stocks and bonds (and often more lucrative). Living a simpler life doesn't mean missing out, it is simply replacing one activity for another.

And in my humble opinion, the results are not a trade out, it's a trade up.

For additional reading, here's Ten Practical Steps to consider, and here are some thoughts on the economics of Prepping.

Looking for a reader

If reader Jeanne Hutchinson is out there, would you please drop me a response to this blog post with your email address? I can't seem to find it.

Thanks!

A little clean humor

A reader sent this.
_____________________________

Jesus and Satan were having an on-going argument about who was better on the computer. They had been going at it for days, and frankly God was tired of hearing all the bickering.

Finally fed up, God said, "THAT'S IT! I have had enough. I am going to set up a test that will run for two hours, and from those results, I will judge who does the better job."

So Satan and Jesus sat down at the keyboards and typed away.

They moused.

They faxed.

They e-mailed.

They e-mailed with attachments.

They downloaded.

They did spreadsheets.

They wrote reports.

They created labels and cards.

They created charts and graphs.

They did some genealogy reports.

They did every job known to man.

Jesus worked with heavenly efficiency and Satan was faster than hell.

Then, ten minutes before their time was up, lightning suddenly flashed across the sky, thunder rolled, rain poured, and of course the power went off.

Satan stared at his blank screen and screamed every curse word known in the underworld.

Jesus just sighed.

Finally the electricity came back on, and each of them restarted their computers. Satan started searching frantically, screaming: "It's gone! It's all GONE! I lost everything when the power went out!"

Meanwhile, Jesus quietly started printing out all of his files from the past two hours of work.

Satan observed this and became irate. "Wait!" he screamed. "That's not fair! He cheated! How come he has all his work and I don't have any?"

God just shrugged and said,

"JESUS SAVES."

A remarkable artist

I wanted to note a particular artist at the Moscow Renaissance Faire. His name is Andy Sewell and I first saw his artwork (specializing in paintings of the Palouse region) shortly after we moved to Idaho nearly eight years ago.

This fellow and his wife work hard to market his artwork. We see his booth set up at many regional events, and he's one of those noteworthy artists who isn't a parasite on society by taking government money to pursue his muse.

I know this for a fact because I spoke to him in a brief phone interview last year as the basis for a WorldNetDaily column on the subject.

Here's the small print I bought last year.


He has so many beautiful landscapes that it's hard to choose only one. This is understandably one of his best-known paintings.

It staggers the mind how much talent people can possess.

You might visit his website and see what other glories are on canvas.

A birthday excursion

On Saturday we took our annual excursion to the Moscow Renaissance Faire. I use the term "Renaissance" loosely since this event is most assuredly NOT a Ren Faire. Rather it's a hippie fest held in the college town of Moscow, Idaho. It's a lot of fun and since it falls close to Younger Daughter's birthday, it's become our annual excursion.

(By the way -- Younger Daughter is turning THIRTEEN!! Yikes, where has the time gone?)

The day started out sunny. This was such a rare novelty that I took a picture.

Here's Younger Daughter and her friend Miss Calamity, in costume (with warm clothes underneath -- the day was chilly). Older Daughter was with us and had a friend along as well, but they weren't in costume and declined to be photographed.

The assurance that merchandise is made from recycled materials is typical at this fair.

Stage and seating.

A booth selling Tie Dye Everything. Trust me, this would NEVER happen at a Ren Faire. Neat booth, though. Very colorful.

A really cool Chinese dragon, set up on hoops so children can go through it. At the end of the day the dragon goes on a parade around the fair with whatever children want to take part.

A young woman in a most extraordinary costume. Apparently she's part of a phenomenon called cosplay, where people dress up as characters from books. Not my cup of tea, but she seemed delighted to pose.

The obligatory Renaissance royalty, bundled up against the chilly temperatures.

Getting ready to dance a Maypole dance. Miss Calamity is on the right.

This fellow was watching the Maypole dance. Not a bad costume...

...until we noticed the four lip piercings, which sort of ruined the effect.

Someone had set up a Hulo hoop station. Older Daughter is quite good at Hula hooping -- during this photo, she hooped for ten minutes straight!

After that she didn't do too bad with three hoops at once.

This tyke wasn't going to let a little thing like size deter her.

I dubbed this dog the Legless Wonder.

Toward the late afternoon, the Chinese dragon went on its excursion around the fair.

Younger Daughter and Miss Calamity got to join the ranks. Since they were bigger kids, they each held an umbrella which helped support the body of the dragon.

Altogether a delightful time was had by all, and to our surprise the weather held. (We had a gullywasher rainstorm in the evening.) But we were chided about our earthly mortality by a barn billboard we passed en route on the way home.

Spend it like you stole it

Here is an astounding article over at The Daily Reckoning concerning money:

"But today...we have advice for everyone – central planners, politicians, and householders, too: if you have money, pretend you robbed a bank."

The article details some of the "hot money" scams in vogue at the moment. Their conclusions? "If you don’t have your own little stimulus scam going, you may want to listen up. Your dollars, pounds, euros and pesos are going to lose value. Don’t trust the government’s inflation figures."

To me, the message is clear: the dollar is losing value so fast that our (and by "our" I mean ordinary citizens of this country) only recourse is to buy tangibles.

Of course you could purchase "tangibles" in the form of big-screen TV's and diamond earrings, but I think you'd be a damned fool to do so. You can't eat electronics or jewelry. Far better to yank your money out of the bank and put it into something useful like stored foods, guns and ammo, a pressure canner and a bunch of canning jars, etc. Even gold or silver if you can afford it.

Naturally I'll insert the cover-my-butt codicil here that I'm not an investment advisor and don't even play one on TV. But when we have money to spare, we don't keep it in the bank. We buy a Jersey heifer or a roll of field fencing or more rice or other things that will serve a useful purpose in the future.

My two cents. (Which is about all I'm willing to keep in the bank these days.)