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.