Calamity in America by Pete Thorsen Page A

our cell phones or should I say our ‘smart’ phones.  And to now when there was no news of any kind it was very disconcerting to say the least.
    With the beggars now almost never seen we often left the house empty again while we traveled here and there together.  We visited all our neighbors using our bicycles just to make the trip faster without using any of our very precious fuel.
    Without any other contact with the outside world these visits with our neighbors were a treat.  Neighbors would stop by our house off and on also just to pass the time.  We also did do some trading between us.  I had no chickens or cows and we traded for eggs and milk.  In the spring Beth and I decided to get a few chickens from one neighbor so we would have our own supply of eggs.  He was not just a neighbor but also a friend and agreed to the trade.
    I traded odds and ends of items I had gathered before the economy had fallen apart.  I also traded my labor sometimes.
    I knew we could survive here on our little homestead but few people in America had the benefits of living on a small farm like ours.  Most people would be suffering and I felt it would only get worse.  I knew that already many had very likely died and more would follow.  This winter would be devastating for everyone living in the colder climates.  They would die from exposure, starvation, lack of medications, and some from violence.  I really doubted that any of the roads would be plowed clear of snow for the whole winter.
    All of our technology would not be much help to most of our nation’s population.  Beth and I had started using everything up that was in our freezer because I thought our electric power could stop at any time.  If the nation’s power grid went down it would spell doom for a very large chunk of our population.  It would mean the end of fresh water for just about everyone.  That windmill we had here on the farm would then be a very precious item indeed.
    I knew the gas I had on hand even with fuel stabilizer added to it would not last all that long so I did not hesitate to use my gas powered chain saw to add more firewood to the stacks and stacks that we already had here on our farm.  I would not let Beth run the chain saw but she did carry and stack a lot of the firewood we made.
    Most of the bigger pieces requiring it I split by hand but some I threw aside and when I had a pile I brought over my old gas-powered log splitter and used that on the hard to split pieces.  I had many pieces of equipment here on the farm that while well used were still functional like my old log splitter.
    I had no idea how long it would be before our nation got back up and running again but I thought it might very well be a year or even more.  The one thing I would surely miss if it was that long was when we ran out would be the propane.  That gas cook stove would be quite a loss.  Though I thought we might have enough propane on hand so if we were careful and rationed it some we could have enough for at least couple years anyway maybe even three years.  And after that it would be open fires or the wood stove for all our cooking needs.  While it could certainly be done, like I said I would miss the ease and convenience of just using the propane stove.
    Maybe things would get better long before then.  I sure hoped so.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

 
     
     
     
    Chapter 13
     
     
     
     
     
    The weather warmed more than usual for this time of year and Beth and I were relaxing on the porch when she turned to me.
    “It does not seem right that we are just sitting out here on the porch while the whole nation burns down.”
    “I don’t really see anything we can do about it.  We do help our neighbors when our help is needed but for right now most of the work is done.  Gardens are all done.  Some are doing some butchering now but they don’t need our help for that.  We could gather more firewood and we likely will but it sure is not critical