Walnut Grove, Texas

Today is a special occasion on my blog. To try something a little different, I have done a "blog swap" with the writer of one of my favorite blogs, The Family Ringmaster (who also happens to be my mom). This post was written by her, on my blog, and I have written a post on hers. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

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If the world as we know it should indeed cease to be, at the end of this year, and if I should have to grab my family and our survival supplies, and bug out of Raleigh, and if it's still there ... I'm going to Texas. Aaaah, Texas - the land of wide open spaces, home of the Cowboys (on the horses, and on the field), and more importantly, that's where my daughter and her family live, on acres of ranch land. They own horses, chickens, pigs, cows, farm equipment, and guns. It's Survivor Central.

Between the nine of us, we could rival anything they've done on The Colony, or The Walking Dead. We'd be Little House on the Prairie! Let's take a look at the compelling characters:

•The Ringmaster is a long time mother, from a family of medical professionals, who is an avid and creative crafter, and studies natural health care through diet, herbs, and essential oils.
•Hubsy is a general handyman, with working knowledge of electrical, plumbing, and carpentry. He's a courageous protector, with some skill in the garden.
•My children are the IT guru, and two strong, able bodied girls (let's call them Mary and Carrie) who can assist in the household chores. You know what, I think one of those girls is more of a Nellie Olson than a Mary Ingalls.
•My Gal in TX, the crafter who can spin llama hair into yarn, and then crochet us blankets, and new clothes, is also a gardener, a taxidermist, and a chicken rancher.
•My Son in Law, the hunter, also studied architectural engineering, and is an adept builder and mechanic. As a Texan, born and raised, he is a true outdoors man.
•My two young grandsons will be raised with the knowledge handed down by the men, so when they're older, they'll be just as helpful in the future operations of our little compound.

In the lake, we'll fish, and gather water to boil for laundry and bathing. In the forest, we'll gather firewood, and the men can hunt those pesky wild boar, that will finally serve their purpose. We'll split logs to build cabins and sheds, and fences, as they come necessary, when we run out of lumber. We'll plant as much land as we can spare, with whatever seeds we can gather from the property. Even if all we grow are dandelions and spring onions, we can eat. Gal already has several fruit trees going, so we'll be sure to cultivate more of them. The womenfolk will tend to the household chores, using our craftiness to create clothing, blankets, candles, and soap. The men will, guard, hunt and build. With their combined knowledge, I'm sure they'll have us some form of naturally generated power for the tools, and the charging of an MP3 player. At night, we'll sit around the porch, listening to those songs that were once our favorites, and reminisce about the good old days, when we had microwaves, and laptop computers. My grandchildren won't even believe the stories I tell of times when women sought professionals to pluck hairs from their eyebrows, or men wore their waistbands around their knees.

Gal, Punkin and I will teach school in the barn, and we'll teach the history of countries that no longer exist. teach them to watch the sun, to know the time; and the animals, to know what type of weather to expect. We'll look to the sky, and try to map a calendar out of the stars and planets, so we'll know when to celebrate the holidays, that will seem unimportant, given the state of things, but will give us a reason to rejoice in life. Because Life will carry on.

Okay, so it's a beautiful fantasy, to want to recreate the best of Walnut Grove, in turbulent times. Don't we all wish that the downfall of modern society could result in the opportunity to create Utopia? Will Texas be the place to do it? Maybe I'll just keep hoping that my Gal will want to live a more suburban fantasy, here, with me. Being close to shopping centers, and thousands of nearby dwellings... there'll be much better looting. I mean scavenging.