my son had his first opportunity to ride a horse un assisted. he did fine till he and his father got about 40 feet from the edge of camp. the horse my son was riding stepped in a hole and lost its balance. the horse stumbled and scott jr slippped off and then the horse fell too. right on scott jr. the whole camp watched it in horror as it seemed to be happening in slow motion. we all ran as fast as we could to get the horse up off the ground and off of scott jr. of course scott jr was crying and scared and we were all worried he had a broken leg. over to the side, my daughter, fia, was crying and scared for her brother, tender soul that she is. we got the horse up. she was led to the pin where the other horses are kept and is being looked over to see if her leg is ok. in the mean time, we are looking at scott jr to see if his leg is, in fact, broken. it doesn't appear to be, but only time will tell. we have made a pallet for him to lay on by the fire.the pallet has long handles on it so, with a little rope, it can be pulled behind a horse if we need to move suddenly. my father smells smoke on the wind and is calling for a posse to ride to the ridge to check it out. they return with panicked expressions and report that the forrest is on fire. and that it is headed our way and should reach our location in about a day. that means, not only do we have to pack up camp quicker than we've had to in a long time, but that we also have to travel at night in the cold. thankfully the furs ready to be used and we can all bundle up in one. scott jr will use two woven blankets and a fur underneath him. fia will lay on the pull cot with him to sleep and to comfort him. she has been given beef jerky, bread, and a bottle of water for them to use if they need it. the horse's leg is not broken and she seems to be fine. its a pitty we cant let her rest longer. we are looking at the trail map to see the best route to take to go into canada. we dont have a choice. there will be different wildlife to contend with in canada. my son is sleeping peacefully thanks to the headache powders and the whisky with honey we gave him. we are attaching the pull cot to a horse and loading up camp. now we have to fill in our dugout and cover our tracks here. another hour and we should be good to go. we decide not to fill in everything just yet. we all talk it over and decide to leave at first light. we will sleep for six hours. or we will try to.

problems i ran into while riding....

well, first, i got on the horse and started off...someone called out my name and when i turned around, the horse stumbled inot a hole, lost her balance and fell. with me on top. so now my leg is bruised. ok, fine. i hobble the horse back to camp and we all check her to see how badly she is injured. we detect no broken bones, but she will rest for a few days anyway. then, my husband got stung on his ass by a bee.....(trying not to giggle and failing)he sat on a flower that had a pissed off bee inside.though we were all sympathetic to his pain, we all also laughed our asses off when it was all said and done. not to worry, his rear is on the mend. its funny. i'm sorry. he kinda stands when he rides now. our dogs have been killing things and bringing them to camp recently. we received a squirrel, a bird, and three rats. of course we threw them away when the boys took the dogs to play with them, but even the dogs contribute to the food pile....sorta. i am currently watching my son and daughter walk into camp with the catch they made. my son caught three 12 in. crappy, my daughter caught 4 keeper trout and my husband caught a boot. it doesnt belong to any of us and looks old and grody. i offered to cook him fillet of sole for dinner. he threw the boot at me. sheesh...no sense of humor anymore.....the whole rest of the camp found it quite hilarious. well, gotta go. i have to hobble my self to the little girl's bush.

where to begin?

so many things have happened since i last wrote. our family grew, the dog chased a bear, we saw the northern lights at a time and place they shouldn't have been seen. then we finally made it to wyoming. i am still sore at scott for convincing me to try that horrid medicinal whisky.....the thing is, he did this to me when i was learning to shoot a gun....."no, it wont hurt that bad...you've shot several already....this one wont be any worse than those...." NOT!!! that damn gun about knocked me on my ass!!! AND HE LAUGHED AT ME! he said "sorry honey, but you needed to know how it felt to shoot this rifle..." thankfully, i am not that bad at shooting anymore. the kickback doesnt bother me as much as it used to. i can control my horse and shoot at the same time. im a real calamity jane...the last outpost we came to, we traded them some jerky and a thick blanket for some cream and some honey. the cream we kept in a two litre bottle attached to the wheel of the cart we made. that night when we stopped, it had churned into butter. we had bread and butter with our chilli and rice. we used some cinnamon and some sugar in the bread. it was sooooo goood. it was warm, buttery and sweet. i gotta go, im helping ride securty tonight. dont worry, i am not going too far away.

extending our circle.....

We came across some family of our father's a while back. They were living in an abandoned barn that was clearly on its last legs. They said they lost their home about six months prior and fled for the hills. We found them with only the clothes on their backs. All the emergency supplies they carefully planned and gathered were stolen about 3 days before we found them. They had been living on fish. We loaded their things with ours and left that old barn. We found nothing of use except the wood the barn was made from. We started pulling the planks off and sawing them into smaller pieces. Each horse was loaded with a few planks. We will use it to fortify our next home. The next day we made it to camp and prepared the beans to cook. The men, now four instead of three, rode off to secure the area. We women talked and the kids played. They have been ecstatic to have new people to talk to and play with. My aunt's boys have grown so much...it makes me miss my family. They wouldn't listen when we tried to tell them what was on the horizon. The day we left as California broke out into riot, they were still convinced it wouldn't happen in Texas. I still wonder how they're doing. Someday we may go back to Texas, but not anytime soon. We traded some animal pelts and some ground meat to a couple who, in return, traded us a large sack of yarn. My father fashioned knitting needles and a crochet hook out of wood for my mom and she has been spending every spare moment knitting hats, scarves, mittens and sweaters for the children. She is also knitting dolls and things for our daughter. The men are carving toys and things for the boys as Christmas is coming up again. Remind me one day to tell you about our first Christmas after we left Texas....its quite a story!

Today we made the decision to pick up camp and move to a new location. we decided a change of scenery was in order. after my father's boot hill incident there was mounting tension. we started bickering amongst ourselves and the kids have been having nightmares of people breaking into our home. after examinging our map, we decided to hike through the rockies into black hills forest in colorado. after we packed everything up, we filled our home in with the dirt we saved so we can come back if we want to. we only filled the entrance tunnel so it looks like no one has been here. in time the grass and things will grow back and any trace of us will be gone. we all walked but we put the kids on the horses, and started our journey. we walk everyday for about two hours at a time. the journey is nice and we havent gotten lost yet thanks to our navigational skills and good map planning. from time to time we come across other people. we have gotten funny looks but so far we have come across no violence. the dogs have become a close knit hunting/security unit. they play together, hunt together, and patrol our area together. we no longer need to leash them as they always stay near now. we do, however, keep the leashes because we may need to use them. we take turns riding the horses and walking so we dont get too worn out. after traveling for three days, we came to a meadow glen and have decided to spend a couple of days here. the men and dogs rode out a ways and scouted the area. the nearest sign of civilization has been estimated as about five miles away. we will keep camp tight. we used the tents for the first time in three months. if your wondering what happened to our cars, we sold them to that rancher for three cattle, some various electronic battery powered items, and a supply of batteries in various sizes. we gave a cd player to the kids. it had disney cds with it. the rancher said it belonged to his seven year old grandson. the grandson was taken away from him by the departement of children's services for failure to vaccinate him with a "vaccine" that came with a twist: one out of five people who took it are now paralized. after they took his grandson, the rancher fled from his home in phoenix, arizona out to this sprawling twenty acre spread he said he inherited from his father. we forged a trade relationship with rancher but we remain on guard. there isnt a water source near by in the meadow so we are relying on our bottled water reserve. we build a fire and cook out under the stars in our secluded little meadow surrounded by forest.the meadow is about 30 feet across and is just big enough for our camp. tonight we had home made chilli. we ground meat using a hand crank meat grinder. i must say it was the best chilli we have had in a while. its different to sleep above ground and i feel sort of exposed. the kids have passed out about an hour ago and we are all talking and entertaining eachother with stories and songs. if you told me a year ago i would be here without t.v., central heat and air and a ton of conveniences at my finger tips AND i would be happier for it, i would have called you crazy. but now, i dont miss my old life anymore. the kids have adjusted and are as skilled in some ares as we are. they will never get lost, they know which foliage is dangerous and are learning to track animals and identify them. we are closer than ever before and life is good.

wildlife...

today a bear wandered into our camp. thankfuly our home is now below ground or it could have been bad. as it was it was just scary. we knew it was a bear because we made tripwires connected to jingle bells to alert us when someone or, in this case, something enters our camp.when we emerged from the tunnel, we looked around and found a bear some twenty yards away heading deeper into the Forrest. likely it was just passing through. our neighbors are different here than they were before EOW. there is a whole Forrest culture we sometimes tap into here and every one of us does their part to maintain "good fences". likely, the bear smelled the human scent and came to investigate and when it found no people present, moved on. one benefit of living in our new neighborhood is that we all seem to be losing weight and gaining muscle. no sodas, candy, or constant availability of junk food to make us gain weight. we are all used to our new diet.we ration out food, only eating at mealtimes. water comes from the stream and none of us has had soda in months. coffee and tea we still drink, though only from time to time as these things are a luxury now. we supplement our fish with rice, and sometimes beans. we also track deer for venison. one good size deer can feed us for several days. plus, the hides make excellent blankets or rugs. we use everything on the deer we can, the rest we take far into the woods for other animals to enjoy. the kids have gotten very handy with tools. they are learning knots and have become quite proficient. yesterday, they tied my husband up and he couldnt get the knots undone! my father had to undo them....we are still chuckling at that. they are also learning to identify different wildlife tracks and know safe berries and foliage from dangerous ones. all in all, i would say we are getting accustomed to our new home rather nicely.

First month in our new home.....

Hello. my name is not important. All you need to know is this: my tale is true, and these are the stories of our time spent in our eow compound.

when we recieved word from my father that we needed to come up for a family meeting, i was worried. i knew this was it. they told us to gather the bags and supplies we packed, get the dog and come up to their house. after much frustration and confusion we arrived late in the evening. it was a time getting to their house because traffic on the highway was backed up due to the panick caused by all the food shortages. when we arrived, my sister and her husband were already there(they lived closer than we did). after a short gab session and exchanges of greeting, we got down to business. the meeting was about the survival plan the family spent the past 2 months making. all those road trips the guys went on, the research we all did, the supplies we all packed. this was it. we had it all loaded and our faithful canine companion was meeting her new pack mates for the first time. naturally, my father's small dog was the first to assert her dominance. our dog didn't really care. as long as she had us, kibbles and water she was fine. after the meeting was over, we all went to bed so we could get a fresh start. the next morning, we loaded up the cars. our two children chose to ride in the car with nana, so my sister, nana and i piled in one car and my father, my husband and my brother in law rode in the other car. after fueling up both cars and providing snacks for everyone, we were on our way. hondo valley was gorgeous. the view from the spot we chose was resplendant. we set up tents to start out and while the guys scouted the area and caught fish, we girls and the children started getting things out that we would need. it was only a five minute walk to the stream so we could wash clothes, bathe, and fish. once tents were set up and a decent fire was made, we gathered extra firewood and an assortment of berries recognized as edible thanks to the outdoor survival guide my father thought to bring along. 3 hours later, the guys arrived with an impressive string of fish they had cleaned and prepared to cook. we took one of the pots we brought along and gathered some water from the stream. we then boiled it over the fire to make it safe to drink. to that we added tea bags and sugar. (not much, though. we dont know how long this sugar has to last). the kids werent impressed with tea, but they drank it and ate the fish. to take some of the stress out, we got out a bag of marshmellows, some hershey bars and some graham crackers and made smores over the fire. the kids were loving that. after singing campfire songs, talking and sharing funny stories, we put the kids to bed(they naturally wanted to sleep with nana in her tent so we let them. this was hardest on them in the beginning because they didnt understand what was going on or the fact that we probably werent going back home.) while they slept, the adults made plans for a more permanent shelter and we decided a dug out would be best. less to notice for anyone who may stumble through our area. the "door" was made out of a sheet of wood painted brown and green to match the colors on the ground. we topped this with a green army net laced with greenery and dirt. the next day we began digging. a few weeks later, we had our home in the ground. sure it was dark, but the candles made it nice and we took the kids out to look for flowers and pretty things to put in the walls. by the time we were done, it was a flower filled home. the knitted quilts kept us all warm when it was cool and we even gathered fallen trees and made furniture to sit on around the fire pit. this was the first month in our new home away from home.