Kwitcherbellyachin’!

Don’t you hate it when you click on someone’s blog, and all they do is whine about how hard their life is, how hurt their feelings are, and they want to tell you every single nauseating detail?

Yup. It disgusts me too. Makes me wanna reach through my monitor and slap a good mood back on them. “Kwitcher-belly-aching, woman!”

I’ve often wondered why any psychologically balanced person would want to post their everyday mental bric brac up for public display.

Who cares how bad your morning went? Do any of us really need to know that you were slighted by your neighbor, or cut off in traffic? How can such trivia possibly advance me as a human?

There are as many stray, pitiful blog postings as there are abandoned animals. I was always amazed when the local newstations would post pictures of way side waifs, and the multitudes would call them offering a home. “What” I asked myself “is so big about one more recovered mutt? It’s like all the rest of them.”

But, then it happened. Yes, even to me, the lady who looks at life through rose colored glasses.

I, Mama Sue, had a horrible, down in the dumps, will I ever feel better type day.

Maybe your like me…maybe you look at blogs as something sinisterly sentimental–dangerous–a source of over-indulglence for self-absorbed people.

I always have. Just like I used to think pets were for strange people who couldn’t connect with real people.

Till I got one. You see, pets are like blogs. Until you really interact with one, they all seem like so much useless drivel, a pathetic waste of time.

Then, it happens; you find a match. It swoons at you through the glass of the pet shop, whimpering pathetically in it’s 4′ x 2′ space.

How can you resist?

And there you find yourself, numbered among the ranks of soppy, emotional pet owners. You cradle it in your arms, whispering silly names to it as you load it in the mini-van like a blithering fool. Your day has come.

And so, dear reader, it is with this introduction that I offer you my soppy, piteous, “feel for me” rendition of my thanksgiving.

This is also my last post . (In regards to my personal life, that is).

Being surrounded on this site my a plethoria of interpersonal dialogue, and being human myself, I, tough Sue, am biting the bullet and finally beginning a (gasp!) touchy feely like blog.

The rose blog will remain intact, sanctified of all personal musings and mental meandering (I hope). I will continue to give rose advice in a personal tone, but for the sake of being a serious rosarian, I must move my private mind space elsewhere.

Please check back for my first post (coming soon on new blog).

NOTE: Have now completed 2 blogs. My news one is really hopping. Check it out at breakingchristianews.com  and my personal blog at feelmyzeal.blogspot.com

What is a survivalist.

A survivalist is someone who has their ear to the ground, their eye on the times, and their heart connected to the Spirit.
In short, a survivalist is someone who has enough discerment to hear the thunder of the end-time gallop of the four horsemen, evidenced in the fallen morals of a nation which has forgotten God.
She has a keen eye of discerment that can read past the rhetoric of the headlines, and between the lines;ferreting out what they want us to think, from what “they” already know…perilous times are coming.

You Can’t Eat a Rose

All right, technically, you can; plenty of gourmet bakers doll their delicacies up with tiny little candied rose petals. But for all practical purposes, roses are not a staple food.
Why am I writing this? After all, this is rose blog, not a site about food-storage.
Well, the other day, as I was feeding my roses, I looked over at one of my cucumber plants that was whithering from the heat. I had a thought–the same thought which prompted the title of this post: What if someday my family found themselves in need of groceries; would I wish I’d been just as focused on the garden food as I am with the roses garden?

I think most of us can guess what started me thinking on that possibility.

We’ve all been hearing about the coming famine. Grain prices have been going through the barn roof. If you are at all preparedness minded, then you know how important it is to have a good supply of storable food. But how many of us do? Or can even afford to?

If you are feeling overwhelmed with the prospect of funding even a year’s worth of pantry supplies for your family, then there’s a secret I would like to share with you—it’s called:

The Family Garden
Yes, I know, it sounds like an unrealistic, quick fix. And even if you thought you should have one, how would you do it? Besides, wouldn’t it just be easier to buy a bunch of food, rather than grow your own?

These are questions that most beginning “survivalists” ponder; i.e. is the time and effort involved even going to pay off?

Well, yes and no. No, the time and effort involved won’t be worth it if you go about it without a plan. But with a little research, and some advance planning, you can absolutely make a go of it.

Okay. But why would I want to? I mean, really, what are the chances that the food supply is going to dry up tomorrow?

To bottom-line this entire debate, I submit two words for you:

“The times”…as in, the times we live in.

Maybe a better choice of words would be “The Headlines”.

Consider this:

1. Customers are turned away from Costco after trying to buy more than the one bag limit of rice
2. Wheat triples in price
3. Bank customers, trying to withdraw funds, line TWO CITY BLOCKS in Los Angeles, after hearing that their bank has folded.

If you have one eye and an ear, then you know the world is spiraling out of control. With rising gas prices and escalating grain prices, you can’t guarantee that the food will arrive, even if it stays affordable. You need a family garden. So what’s the first step? How should one proceed in this venture?

Ask God

Yes, the One who made it all is the only One who can give you the perfect game plan.

I and my family have decided to plant all of the corn we can. Globs, buckets, handfuls. Everywhere.

I do mean everywhere. By the roses, among the roses, around the trees, throughout the yard, in spare tires. Seriously. And I mean very seriously. A famine is coming, and you need to be ready.

But Where Do I start?

Ask the Father.And start with what you have. Your needs and abilites, your situation, your future, and more might make your plan different from mine. Only He knows exactly what will befall you and your family. He impressed on my heart to grow corn. If you fear you “just can’t grow anything”, a bag of dry beans costs under a dollar, and you can grow them just about anywhere. That should build your confidence. Garden seeds, at the dollar store, cost practically nothing, and can be started with minimal effort. If all you have time for is scattering some seeds on your lawn, then at least start there. That may be all you need to blast the lie of “gardening’s for farmers”. Phooey.

JUST DO IT.

Find seeds inside your food at hand. We grew a substantial pepper garden from the ripe seeds of a store bought bell pepper. Just pick one up at the market (big, ripe and red) and cut off the stem and topmost portion. There in the bell cap, you’ll find enough seeds to grow several hundred bell peppers).

It tastes better.

It’s a very satisfying feeling to have handfuls of homegrown peppers for cooking, salads, and hand eating. It’s a culninary and horticultural satisfaction matched only by plucking your own bowl of fresh garden greens right before supper—knowing you grew them.. And in case you haven’t yet tried one, let me tell you how good homegrown tomatoes are—the first time I tried one, I was shocked. It tasted so, well…fresh.

Once you grow your own produce, you’ll never go back to store-bought.

WHY YOU MUST HAVE A FAMILY GARDEN

Two years ago, my little child was crying for something to drink. It had been a long, hot car ride, and everyone was tired. And scuffling around to put up our purchases. Little Scrump (my youngest) was suddenly wailing, and pulling on my shirt. She screamed, in anguished tones, “I tirsty, mama!” In a flash, I saw pathetically what it will be like for those who are not prepared. Nothing will be worse than seeing your family suffer in a famine.