The Journal: Cracked Earth (11 page)

Jason and Amanda were the first ones to
arrive. Jacob was excited to come to Nahna’s house. It seems like
ages since he’s been here. I have a collection pack of Muppet
Movies and he’s one happy camper right now, with microwave popcorn
and clear Kool-Aid. Bob, Kathy, Guy and Dawn came together to save
gas, and both couples each brought a few bottles of wine. Don and
Nancy walked over, bringing another pie.

Our conversation centered on the earthquakes,
the lack of food and the loss of power. They all wanted to know
what I knew about all of it, which wasn’t much. I told them that
the power was gone indefinitely now, and why. It was received with
stunned silence. Everyone has lost weight, trying to ration what
they have left.

Guy and Dawn started prepping a couple of
months ago, so they’re in halfway decent shape. They’ve got a
generator but limited gas and a hand pump for the well that isn’t
installed yet. They live on one of the local inland lakes, so at
least they will have plenty of water for flushing and washing.
They’ve got a woodstove for heat and Guy has cut and stacked an
impressive amount of wood. Dawn’s been working hard at stocking up,
and she’s expecting their daughter to show up any minute with four
kids and a husband in tow. What food they have might not go very
far once the kids arrive.

Bob and Kathy have a natural fireplace,
although with the open floor plan and pitched high ceilings, the
fireplace won’t be able to keep up when it gets really cold. There
is a gas fireplace in the basement, and it’s a much smaller area to
heat. They will eventually move down there. I know Bob recently had
their one thousand gallon propane tank refilled. The basement is
also a walk-out, with an enclosed area where the gas grill is,
making it a perfect shelter for cooking and it’s hidden from view.
Their food supply is very limited, and what they have left is in
the freezer. Rarely have they ever had more than a week or two of
food in the house. Bob’s been running their small generator enough
every day to keep the freezers going. He was the one most shocked
one when I said that the power was gone, period. He was sure that
everything would be okay by next week. I don’t know what to do
about them, if anything.

Don and Nancy I don’t worry about, they’ll be
fine. On the other hand, with them both in their seventies, hard
work is getting harder to do.

That leaves Jason and Mandy. I’m his mother,
I will always worry about him, but he’s smart and young and
healthy. So I will
try
not to worry.

I can’t think about Eric right now. He’s
still in Florida as far as I know, and safe. We talked briefly a
few days ago and they are all doing fine. He went out hunting and
got another hog to refill the freezer. Fortunately, their power is
still on. They weren’t affected as much by the quakes like some of
us. I know he wanted to come up, and I’m disappointed. Considering
the circumstances, him staying home is understandable.

We ate very well: turkey with stuffing and
gravy, thick slices of ham, the green and wax bean salad with fresh
hot rolls and lots of butter. Everyone loved the salad and it was
surprisingly easy; two jars of beans, drained and tossed with some
bottled Italian dressing, plus a finely sliced onion that Kathy
carefully picked out. Maybe it was the freshness of the garden
beans that was a hit. Then someone suggested we play some cards,
like we did when everything was normal. I sent extra food home with
everyone except Don and Nancy, who don’t need it, and I kept two
slices of ham for my lunch tomorrow.

I checked the internet after everyone left to
find there is a cold front moving in tonight, and snow predicted
for tomorrow, a LOT of snow. I knew I smelled it in the air!

This was the first night in a long time that
I slept well. I had a full stomach, some fun with my family and
friends, and forgot, if only briefly, about the trouble we’re
in.

The winds are howling outside, and there’s already
five inches of snow, at least that’s how much that hasn’t blown
away yet. The morning started out at 29 degrees, then dropped to 27
degrees and stayed there.

I’m trying hard to stay on top of email while
I can. Only a few more days left on the batteries for the cell
tower. I’m guessing on that because I really don’t know and there’s
no way to find out. After that I’ll have to go into town with the
tablet, which will
not
be convenient.

I finally heard from Suzy in the Willamette
Valley of Oregon. With her hubby driving trucks to Texas and
Louisiana, she’s often alone at home with their four kids, Koty,
Katie, Joey and Charlotte. They’re doing okay. The goats, cats and
horse sensed the quake and aftershocks in Yellowstone, but the
chickens were oblivious for the most part. Typical, I suppose.
She’s trying to keep the kids busy with tending the animals so they
don’t worry about their dad. Phil had just left on a trip to
Louisiana when the quakes hit. With so much disruption everywhere,
Suzy has decided to home school rather than risk the young ones
being away from home if anything else happens. I certainly can’t
blame her. I worry about my boys all the time and they’re
grown.

* * *

JOURNAL ENTRY: November 24

It’s a day for good news. I got an unexpected
phone call from Eric! They are doing fine, and with Beth busy in
her higher level of emergency management, she’s asked him to move
back in, temporarily of course, to take care of Emi and the
livestock. He said no. I’ve got to hand it to him to stick to the
rules that she laid out. He set up a bedroom for Emi at his new
place and told me that he would pick Emi up from school and then go
to Beth’s. While Emilee picks up a few things and feeds the cat,
Eric will feed and tend the horse and chickens, collect eggs, and
then they will go to
his
house, where Beth can pick up their
daughter when she gets off work. If she works too late, Eric will
take Emi to school from his house. He works from home ninety
percent of the time anyway, so it makes sense. Why should he sleep
on an air mattress on the floor, when he could/should be sleeping
in his own bed? Beth is learning that she can’t always get her
way.

I finally turned on the TV for some news.
It’s been seventeen days since the first quake and rescue efforts
have turned into body recovery. The toll now stands at 78,523
confirmed dead, some not identified or even identifiable, with at
least that many more missing. They’ve lost count of the injured.
Unbelievable. It was said that the only way to deal with the sheer
number of bodies is with mass graves.

One thing everyone will have to be cautious
of now is all the inmates on the loose. It seems that they offered
some maximum security prisoners a reduced sentence if they helped
with recovery and clean up. The prisoners just walked away. Now the
population will have to contend with some real nasties wandering
around. I suppose the officials felt that it was worth the risk,
but then
they
likely won’t have to deal with it. I’m forever
thankful to be way up here in this small corner of the world. Even
so, I wear my shoulder holster constantly now.

Oddly, there wasn’t even a mention of the
continuing relief efforts on the East Coast for the victims of the
hurricane.

* * *

It is past the time to do something about the
storage shed and I could kick myself for not taking care of this
earlier when the weather was nice. Wallowing in self-pity
distracted me from those details. Now I have to shovel the deck of
the seven inches of snow before I can start bringing in some of
those buckets of long term storage. The only good part is that
instead of carrying one or two at a time, I can put four on the
sled to get them from the shed to the deck. I would have to bring
them in one at a time anyway, and it’s going to be slippery,
thankfully there won’t be too many to move right now.

I moved the futon away from the wall and made
sure that the carpet was rolled back too. I’m really not sure how
much is going to fit back there, yet I don’t have any alternatives,
I have to have this food easily available.

I overestimated the battery backup for the
cell tower. I lost internet and cell phone at 4:15 P.M. Before it
went out, I got an email from Kris in Minnesota. I hope she
realizes how lucky she is that her town has a power plant! Those
towns continue to use their own power, though any excess must be
routed to someone else’s emergency services, likely the Twin Cities
for her town. Her hospital, schools, library, water treatment plant
and local TV and radio stations will continue to function. Even
though they have a bank, it won’t open because most of the offices
are shut down to transactions. The gas stations aren’t getting any
deliveries, so once the gas is gone, those close down too. Even the
stores and bars will close once the supplies run out. I’m thinking
that the library and movie theater are going to be very busy. I
wonder if she has a bike to get around town on?

My bike is in the barn; I can’t use it in the
snow. Maybe I had better lock that up anyway. That one is easy,
it’s a metal barn and I can padlock the doors. Anyone with
bolt-cutters could get in, but why make it easy? I suppose I could
put some of the buckets in the barn, and rig an alarm to let me
know if anyone opens the doors. More to think about.

I’m intentionally staying out of town. The
township offices are closed today, and I will also avoid the church
tomorrow too. I’m in a weird mood and not really fit company, even
for Tufts, who hates this snow. I need some physical activity and
I’ve got to shovel the deck because that’s where the grill and
gennie are.

I can still smell snow in the air and the
clouds are getting darker and lower. I might be in for a real
blast. I better bring in a bit more wood. My first burn pile is
almost gone and that’s good. I’d hate digging a path to it.

* * *

JOURNAL ENTRY: November 25

It was snowing
hard
when I got up this
morning. There must be a fresh six inches already with no signs of
stopping. I wonder if I should use the snow-blower later. I wonder
if they are going to plow the roads? I wonder if anyone cares.

With no phone, I feel totally cut off.

I had set the turkey carcass to cook for soup
right after everyone left on Thursday. It was cool enough this
morning to strip off the remaining meat, so now I will can it. That
means going out to the other shed in this blizzard for the pressure
canner and jars.

* * *

I got twenty pints of turkey soup out of the
carcass. That’s twenty more days of lunch, of surviving. It’s funny
how the perspective changes when the food supply is limited.

Dinner tonight will be a pork chop from the
freezer, a half can of black-eyed peas and maybe some cornbread. I
can have the rest of the cornbread for breakfast tomorrow and then
add the other half of peas to my lunch soup.

* * *

The snow finally stopped around noon. I will
measure it when I dig my way to a flat space. It looks like around
fifteen inches fell. I bundled up and got the snow-blower going
when the wind stopped, around 3P.M. At least I got paths cut, then
it began to get dark and the wind started up again. I heard the
plows out on the main road though they haven’t come down the side
roads yet. Even if I had someplace to go, I doubt that I could get
past my driveway. If this side road isn’t plowed, I won’t be able
to get into town for those on-going meetings, which might not be a
bad thing. No, I can’t say that. Though Anna may have the best
interest of the town in mind, she really doesn’t know how to go
about it, since she really doesn’t know how dark the human mind can
get during times of desperation. I’ve seen that dark side with Sam,
and it isn’t pretty.

* * *

Twenty inches of snow fell in the past
twenty-four hours. This really is early in the season for this much
snow. I wonder if the quakes shook up anything else, like the
weather patterns.

I spent most of the day sitting by the stove,
reading. It was nice but it got boring after a while. If the wind
is down tomorrow I will clear the driveway and cut a path behind
the house to the bucket shed.

I keep thinking about my woman’s group. Now
that I don’t have internet anymore, I wonder how they are doing. I
wonder if I failed them by not giving them enough survival
information. I wonder if I failed them by not insisting they stay
more on topic. I wonder if I failed them by not making them
think
more. I wonder if I should have closed the group when
I had a chance. I really do feel like I have let them down.

I heard the plow truck this morning! Then they
stopped and cleared out the snow they piled in my driveway. They
never did that before. Since they did, and I had already cleared
the drive myself with the snow blower, I went to the township
offices to see what was going on.

Apparently Anna ordered the plow truck to
clear the road just for me, so I could get into town. I’m glad she
did. She sure needed the help and obviously couldn’t call me since
the cellphones aren’t working. There was another town meeting
scheduled for noon and I made it there by 11:00, with plenty of
time to get brought up to speed on the weekend events.

It seems that a lot of people are upset over
the limited gas situation, and the lack of food at Fram’s store. I
was not happy to see Lenny pacing at the back of the seating area
but I was relieved to see Carolyn in the front. Lenny is the type
that paces, working up his steam to lash out. He was effectively
dodging the chairs in his way better than he was dodging the people
that were milling about.