BLUF: Words have meaning, and while that meaning can change over time, we need to take the time to understand. This means looking at words in context, at the time they were written, while still using a modern eye to examine them.

A number of years ago, I was attending a local church service, and the pastor alluded to the idea that shepherds were dirty social outcasts who everyone thought poorly of. His proof for this was that, when Samuel called David in from the sheepfold, he was filthy when he arrived, that David was, “just a shepherd.” I was a bit taken aback by this, because that’s not what history (or Biblical literature, btw) teaches us. I first learned about this from a Jewish scholar named Joel Hoffman, author of And God Said: How Translations Conceal the Bible’s Original Meaning. I went to a talk he was having at a local synagogue, and the history of shepherds was the first thing he talked about.

Shepherds were tasked with protecting their flocks of sheep, out in the wilderness at the edge of the farmland surrounding their cities and towns. So you had a social center, a city or town, and outside that was farmland, and outside that was grazing for the sheep. Out there, shepherds had to contend with wolves, panthers, hyenas, feral pigs, foxes, jackals, and lions. Today, when we face up to those kinds of odds, we go armed with an AR-15 or other firearm. They had, and I kid you not, a stick (shepherd’s staff) and a sling with whatever rocks they could find (and the shepherd’s staff became the king’s scepter, and the rocks became the orb, later in history). That was it. Shepherds were, to say the least, bad ass.

In Biblical times, shepherds were seen as a form of superhero. They were the combat veterans, the first line of defense in case of an attack (by animal or human enemy). They had to defend their sheep with their lives, because those sheep were literally their livelihood. They were, indeed, dirty fellows because they lived out in the fields with greasy and filthy sheep. They slept in the open. They didn’t bathe often. So yes, when Samuel called David in to proclaim him the new leader of Israel, he was probably stinky and dirty. When the High Priest of your people summons you, you don’t stop long enough to grab a shower and a change of clothes; you hightail it to his presence, at all speed. No one thought David was stupid or idiotic. He was just young, the youngest of all his brothers, with a lot less life experience.

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https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTLDDUjwq/

I understand if you can’t watch the whole video. I had problems doing so. However… I just sat like I was watching a train wreck.

In the video (which is from October 2022, btw), below the cut:

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This made me laugh! The last time we got a deer, I spent three days taking the large bits and trimming and cleaning and packaging them up. We have a bit less than the above (well, much less now, as we’ve eaten quite a bit of it), but we got a good size one. We had to discard the liver, though… it had been pulverized by the shot. No tongue, though. I don’t like eating food that tastes me back…

It’s true, it’s really spring. I can tell, because the Freedom Seeds are blooming! 😉

Found this out in the wild while hiking. I thought it was amusing.

Now, I realize not everyone is able to have a house in the boonies with a wood stove. I am smug enough to think that anyone who considers the government to be in decline, and the cities to be largely unlivable, OUGHT to live in the boonies, regardless of their other foibles. What do I mean by that? Well, let me explain.

Years ago, I lived in the big suburbs of a big city. I was okay with it, though I wouldn’t go so far as to say I liked it. Then I was given a nudge by the gods… I lost my job and my home in one fell swoop, and was forced to make a jump. In doing so, I miraculously landed not only on my feet, but in a much better situation overall. I wish I’d made that jump years earlier. Regardless, I found myself in a wonderful situation, living a life I had previously only dreamed of.

These days, I live in a sprawling home on the suburban/rural edge of a very small town. We only have an acre or so of land, but we back onto a multi-acre piece that is private and beautiful, and more importantly is not posted. This means we can hunt there, we can camp, we can play, and our kids can run amok. It’s been wonderful. I have gardens, sometimes more fruitful than other times. I have firewood galore, just from fallen trees out back (which we have permission to harvest). There’s potable water close by, and I have the means to cart it and filter it to make it safe (if it was unsafe). In some years, there’s a stream out back, if you know where to look, which isn’t huge but is big enough and is ground water and therefore pretty likely to be clean.

Our power went out for a day. Previously we’ve lost power for longer than that, but this time it was just a day. We knew it was likely to happen, though it hit us much earlier than I’d thought. Apparently a local transformer blew up and started a two alarm fire. Whee… exciting times. That’s aside from the usual branches taking down lines. When we get icy rain like we did, it’s just one of those things that happens. It’s the price of living in a place that has shade and privacy and lush, green beauty all around.

I’ve heard people say that the trees ought to be taken down. Why? To protect the power lines, apparently. While I sympathize with power lines being downed, that’s not a reason to be defacing my property. Your (the faceless mass of “your” here) desire to force me to address things that may happen will not cause me to do so. As an example, neighbors noted that one of our trees is dead. It’s standing firewood right now. Unfortunately, it’s not in a place that’s easy to bring it down, so we’ve left it alone. It’s not rotting at present, and it’s not causing any issues. It doesn’t sway nearly as much as the other trees. And unlike our neighbor’s trees, it hasn’t fallen and caused damage to a house. Regardless, we have insurance to cover just such emergencies. It’s our tree, and our choice. Our neighbors can “want” us to take it down all they like, just like the “want” us to not have firearms, or enjoy our firepit, or raise chickens, or any of the other fun things we do. They can “want” as much as they like. What they can’t do is compel.

When we get to the point of compelling people to do things, I have a problem. “Public safety” is the first thing that gun grabbers usually mention. It would be so much SAFER if the guns were just not in public possession. Leaving aside the fact that I disagree with that to the extreme, the thing is, I don’t care. My concern is for MY family. My firearms protect MY people. Going a bit further, my woodstove heats MY family, my food feeds us. Public safety only goes so far.

When I hear that I ought to have all my beautiful privacy trees cut down for “public safety,” I start squinting my eyes and looking sideways at people. No thank you. I said NO THANK YOU sir. Giving up my trees is one step toward giving up my other freedoms.

All that leads me to what I asked in the title: Whose job is it, anyhow?

Whose job is it to protect my family? Ours. Whose job is it to feed my family? Ours. Whose job is it to keep my family sheltered and warm? Ours. It is not the government’s job. The moment you give ground in that direction, you may as well slide all the way down the leftist hill.

When the power went out, I wasn’t actually at home. When I did get home, the kids had the wood stove going, and had pulled out some oil lanterns and solar lights to see. Our battery back up packs had been located and put on the dining room table for anyone who needed them. We didn’t bother firing up the generator, because it’s cold outside. The food in our freezers was going to stay frozen without any issues (our freezers are actually outside), and the food in the fridge just got packed up and put into raccoon safe boxes on the porch, where it was cold enough to keep it as well as the fridge. People were reading books. I came in and sat and sewed for a while while we listened to a book on tape that I have downloaded for just such emergencies. Dinner was switched from an oven meal to a stove top meal, one that could be easily made with the gas stove (which runs without electricity). If I’d been home, I’d still have made the oven item; I have dutch ovens, and I know how to use them. Honestly, the kids do too, but they were being lazy, and that was fine.

That night, I cuddled up under warm blankets, in my bed. If it had been colder (it was really only a little below freezing), I might have gotten out the military sleep system, but I didn’t see the need. I also could have slept in the living room, where the wood stove was banked for the night, but again, it wasn’t that cold. I wore my night cap, and so even my head was warm.

Water was still running in one of our bathrooms, so we continued to use that. If it had stopped, we had bucket potties we could have pulled out to use. We had the means to heat water, both on the gas stove and on the wood stove, so we were able to wash. Camp showers are wonderful things.

So yeah… If you are in a city, there are lots of things you can do, even if you can’t have a fireplace or wood stove. If you need help learning how to prepare for such things, I’m more than happy to teach. In fact, I offered to do so for a local lady who spent 24 hours straight complaining about how horrid it was she had no electricity. I was a bit shocked, because it’s a friend who is normally fairly balanced and thoughtful… but she just lost it. She was whining about “losing all the food in her fridge,” when I privately contacted her and suggested that the gods had provided a giant outdoor fridge, just for her. I offered to help her learn how to deal with this stuff. Why? Because everyone should know how to go a few days or weeks without power. We get snow here, and other areas get hurricanes or tornadoes or tsunamis or earthquakes, or whatever it is that endangers your area. Learning to be self sufficient for the common emergencies of your place of living is not just important, it is your duty.

IMO of course.

Hagar,
who recently spent the night in an 18th century fort on an 11*F night, by choice

Some of you may have heard that the House voted to ban TikTok. It now goes to the Senate, and if it passes there, to the President.

I will admit, I don’t understand some of the finer points involved in this fracas. As someone who stepped into the World Wide Web as an adult, I knew that this particular form of media would save everything. If I put it onto the web, into an email, on a video, then it would be saved forever. I instilled this knowledge in my children, though I have been somewhat less successful in making them understand it. For them, there has ALWAYS been an World Wide Web. Regardless, I know that if it’s online, then people have access to it. That’s why I don’t store credit card info or personal information online. So how is TikTok any different than other social media?

After talking with people who are more “in the know” than myself, I believe that the only real difference is that it’s China holding onto the information. It was pointed out to me that if anyone with a security clearance has TikTok, then it’s possible for the Chinese to put two and two together to make classified documents. That seems like a fairly reasonable reason to keep TikTok out of government and military offices… but then again, I can’t think of a reason why a General or a military scientist would be indulging in TikTok on base anyhow. Still, that doesn’t mean the general public should have their toy taken away.

The information that TikTok contains in its gizzards is available from many places. While it may not be as easy to pull the pieces together, it’s still all there. If it’s online at all, then everyone has at least potential access to it. This is why I don’t have a problem using Temu. I know that the information being gathered by Temu is much the same as the information being gathered by Amazon and other places. If China really wants to sift through 170 million users’ worth of information, mining for a gold nugget, then let them. Maybe it’ll keep them too busy to do other obnoxious things.

More important than all of the above, though, is the knowledge that if TikTok is axed, then other social media platforms won’t be long in joining them. Whether it’s Truth Social, or X, or Facebook, someone will get their panties in a knot and court will happen, and the TikTok ban will be used as precedent. This is 100% a case of those unintended consequences we often talk about. Republicans need to NOT shoot themselves (and the rest of the country, thank-you-very-much) in the foot by passing this along. The American people, in droves, have decided they like TikTok. I happen to like it myself, though that’s not germane to this discussion. If our government “takes it away,” there very well might be hell to pay, and there absolutely will be unintended consequences galore.

TL;DR – I spent the weekend at an 18th century fort, and learned a bit about what I don’t know.

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to present at one of our local 18th century forts. I had a blast, and I got wonderful feedback from the people who came to visit. I was there to do a cooking demonstration, as well as to give people a bit of an idea about what it was like to live in a fort during the French and Indian War. I was set up in the “big house,” or rather the commander’s quarters, along with my partner. We arrived early on Friday afternoon, knowing we’d need to get a good fire going before the sun went down. I wouldn’t say I went into it ignorant, but I really had no idea what I was in for. I had prepared myself mentally for being cold, as the fort is not only without electricity, heat, or running water, it’s also drafty and has a standard 18th century chimney with the flue that yanks all the hot air out. Intellectually, I knew what it was going to be like, and I was more than aware that the night was going to be down to 11F. Intellect does not prepare you for reality, let me just say.

What did I bring with me? Well, I didn’t skimp when it came to modern underpinnings. I had on modern, good quality waffle weave long underwear, and merino wool socks. I had felt slippers that I wore while inside the house, and my modern hiking boots when outside (I don’t yet have appropriate period-accurate footwear for winter use). For at night, I enjoyed snuggling into my military sleep system. I use a British style military folding cot (like this one) which I cover with sheepskins. Over those, I lay a doubled woolen blanket, then my sleep system, and then a nice, thick woolen US Army blanket, regulation green. The temperature inside the house hovered around freezing overnight, possibly a bit below, but not enough to freeze our water jugs through. Outside, it was well below the freezing point, something I was keenly aware of when I had to take the long, brisk walk to the outhouse. I had a cloak to toss over myself, though by mid-day Saturday, I had acclimated to the temperature and didn’t need it.

I was wearing several layers of period correct kit during the day. Over my modern long underwear, I had on a wool chemise with long sleeves, a long sleeve linen dress, a very large kerchief that covered most of my upper body (it’s the black and white check thing you can see at my neck in the picture), and then my bedgown (the red “blouse” I have on). I also had on a thick woolen petticoat and a warm cotton one over top, and then my red checked apron. I enjoyed wearing my fingerless gloves to keep my hands from getting overly cold (though I did a poor job of that). On my head, I wore either my cap (see picture), or a woolen hat, depending on whether I was inside or out. We very carefully closed the kitchen off and stayed there the entire weekend. We set up our cots at night, and stashed them away in a staff-only area during the day. It’s easier to heat a single room. That house would have been impossible to keep warm. As it was, with the fire blazing all day (a totally “white man’s fire” as my partner says), we managed to keep the kitchen in the 40s. Livable, but chilly. Luckily, the fort provides the firewood for us. We went through about a half cord of wood, I’m guessing, just in the three days we were there. We didn’t skimp. Unlike our 18th century ancestors, we do not have brown fat to keep us warm on cold winter nights. My partner has almost no fat at all, and I just have the regular kind. LOL!

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