Allyson

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTNu7YoQ5/

This made me laugh out loud and scare our bunny!

Bread is often called the “staff of life,” and that’s because a man can survive on bread and water. We think of this, in today’s world of Wonderbread and fake food, as a cruel punishment. In medieval times, bread and water was fairly standard fare for a person. In the 1750s, bread was 60% of the average colonist’s daily food intake. Today, that would be considered outrageous and possibly dangerous. Then, the wheat was whole, and even when finely ground (very doable along the many rivers in water-powered mills), it contained all of the natural protein and fat of the kernel.

This recipe is one that I’ve developed on my own. It’s a blend of several recipes that I’ve worked on over the years. It combines a pain de mie recipe, a no-knead recipe that I love, and the “beginner’s loaf”  from a book of Chris’s, Bread Alone. It’s the culmination of about 20 years of practice, learning, failures, successes, and surprises as I learned enough about bread baking to casually consider teaching myself to use a wood fired beehive oven at the Fort.

This is not an easy recipe. It is a simple recipe, however. The beginner bread recipe I mention above is the best place to go for instructions on how to bake bread. If you do what the authors tell you, you will eventually make amazing loaves of bread, every time. It will take a few years of practice, though, and you will probably make up new swear words as you go along. This recipe here, is not as difficult as the beginner loaf, but will not teach you as much about baking as you make it. I heartily encourage you to make it entirely by hand at least a half dozen to a dozen times before indulging in the use of a MixMaster or other bread making machine. Getting your hands onto fresh dough is good for you mentally, and the resulting bread will feed you physically and spiritually. There’s definitely something “more than human” about creating a loaf of bread.

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I posted about prepping a bit back on GFZ. I think it’s a topic that needs to be covered on a regular basis, and even if you have been doing it for a dog’s age, the reminders help get you in the right head space. Now, I don’t do the whole “deep state bunker prep” thing. First, I don’t believe the world will go into that much chaos, that quickly. It’s going to be a slow decline (and in my very strong opinion, the pandemic proved that). Second, and more importantly, bunker prep isn’t sustainable.

I don’t know if any of you have watched Love, Death, and Robots (it’s on Netflix if you haven’t, and it’s well worth the watch), but there’s a couple of fairly amazing shorts that cover prepping topics. The one I’m personally thinking of is in season 2, when the three robot friends are touring America after the death of all the humans. They walk around an area where a bunch of people lived in bunkers. They’re all dead, too. Another show, can’t remember the name of it, shows a couple who stays two years in their bunker, and when they open the door they find out that the entire Earth has been destroyed and they’re just floating around on a chunk of ground. These both illustrate the problem with bunker prep.

If you set up a bunker for short term emergencies, that’s fine. It is not, however, a solution for surviving TEOTWAWKI. Eventually, you run out of food, water, or air. And then you die. Bunkers, pre-pack food (like MREs or emergency buckets), and hoarding ammo and firearms are basically just a way to die painfully and slowly.

Real prepping (yes, I said what I said) is learning enough skills to survive after TEOTWAWKI. Real preppers don’t waste time figuring out ways to try and survive a planet buster bomb or other doomsday scenarios, because there’s no point. If the planet is destroyed, you’re just going to die. If a plague comes through and you catch it, you’re possibly going to die. If someone bombs your city, you may die. These are not things to prep FOR.

Prepping is what you do after you survive. Yes, have a bunch of food stores set up, because that’s important. There might not be a grocery store to go visit, or it might be empty, or being run by a despot (who isn’t the current government). You may need to shelter to avoid a firestorm or waves of nuclear fallout or insurgents or invaders. That’s short term stuff.

After the firestorm or fallout or aliens move on, you’ll come out of your hidey hole, and then the real work begins. Surviving is easy. Living is a lot more complex and difficult.

I’ve talked about it before, saving seeds, learning skills, putting food up that’s shelf stable, making short, medium, and long term plans for emergencies. But how to you go about it all? There’s no one answer for how to prep for surviving and thriving. You have to come up with your own plan, that fits your family and your part of the world. The emergencies that I plan for likely aren’t the ones that should be planned for in a big city like Boston or NYC, for instance. I live in the boonies, and there are other issues I’ll have to deal with. City people will have to deal with zombies (the name for those who wander about robbing and pillaging during emergencies) and rationing and figuring out how and when to escape. People near the equator will have to plan for hot weather, and people farther north will have to plan for cold winters, possibly without electricity or dinosaur squeezings.

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Allyson walks to the podium at the head of the crowded room and looks at everyone. She straightens her tank top unnecessarily, shuffles her feet a bit, and then leans against the podium and adjusts the microphone. 

Hi. My name is Allyson, and I’m a new Conservative.

Hi, Allyson!

The past few days have really changed my mind on a number of subjects. I’m still not a huge Trump fan, but after watching what happened on Saturday, many of my previous concerns have waned. I’ve been reading and educating myself, listening to others, and generally trying to get a better grip on the whole political situation going on. I’ve taken another step to the Right, and while I still consider myself a “small L libertarian,” I think that by society’s standards, I’m now a Conservative.

This is going to be a real ramble of a blog entry, so bear with me. Please.

That puts me in a weird place. I feel like I can’t tell my friends. I haven’t been able to talk politics with them in ages, but it’s been a relatively comfortable silence on both parts. But this? I can’t tell them I’m “on the Trump train.” I’d be ostracized. And yes, I know how that sounds, and yes, that’s part of why I took the step to the Right.

I’m going to say this now, because I have to. I have watched the videos of the assassination attempt a good 40 or 50 times. I’ve looked at different angles, read experts’ opinions, and done my best to do due diligence. The timing and way this played out FEELS too convenient and too well done, and I am absolutely terrified that this was a fake out by Trump and/or his team. My thinking brain tells me that no one, not even the most brash person ever, would have a live bullet come that close to their head on purpose. But my lizard brain is still concerned that somehow, this was just a fake out.

A lot of people have changed their mind about Trump because of Saturday’s attempt on his life. I desperately hope that everything I saw was real (not that I wanted an attempt on his life, but just that the situation as presented is real). If it turns out to be some kind of fake out, I suspect I’ll just walk away entirely and stop dealing with politics. I don’t think I’ll be able to handle it.

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I’m not sure I can really report “from behind enemy lines” anymore. I will continue to give a more Left perspective on things (because many of my friends are Left), but personally I’ve made another step to the Right.

I want to talk about what I’m hearing from my friends online today, after the attempt to kill Trump. They seem to fall into two rather neat categories, quite honestly, with very little middle ground. My friends, the people I personally know, have met and hung out with face to face, and who I would invite over for dinner, are appalled that anyone would try to kill Trump. They are distraught, apologetic, sending thoughts and prayers (in a very not sarcastic way). They are honest. Some of them are feeling a bit raw right now, because they seem to firmly believe that someone from “their side” did this, and it’s making them look at themselves.

The ones who are merely acquaintances, the people who met me once at an author gig, or who know me from reenacting and friended me on FB because of it, those people who are highly unlikely to get dinner invitations, are making the most vile commentary. “Too bad he missed,” seems to be the general theme. I’ve also heard, “Oh, it was faked,” and “This was planned by Trump,” and “It’s payback from the Project 2025 people!” I didn’t bother to try and reason with the people who said these things; I deleted them as friends, removed their name and number from my phone. Those people are not people I will interact with, other than as required at work.

I’m rather horrified at the number of people making the horrid comments. I knew they’d come on public spaces like TikTok, but among those I’d admitted (however little) into my own personal space? I did not expect that. What I also didn’t expect was the civil, polite, and at least seemingly heartfelt words from Left leaders around the country. I’m confused over those few who seemed to think that someone sniping at Trump would equal the Right demanding gun laws be enacted. Oy.

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Back in May, I decided to attempt a new recipe while out in the field, cooking over a fire at a Renaissance Faire. I do this a couple of times a year, when I know I have time to play with new things. Not all fairs allow me the time to pay attention to details, and so quite a lot of the time I stick with a standard rotation of recipes. But this was a new fair, and one which I had no other responsibilities at. I was just there to cook and talk about history, and maybe sell a few cookbooks. So I picked a new one, and ran with it.

The result was incredibly delicious. I had people trying to steal pieces off of each other’s plates. They scraped the bottom of my dutch oven with bits of bread, to be certain they’d eaten every last drop. It was an impressive sight, to say the least. It seems to me, this makes a wonderful first recipe for my weekly recipe post.

To make Alloes of beef

Take lene beef and cut hym in thyn pecys and lay hit on A borde then take sewet of motton or of beef and herbys and onyons hackyd small to gether then straw thy leshes of beef with powder of pepur and a lytell salt and strew on thy sewet and the herbys. And rolle them up ther yn put them on a broche and roste them and serue them up hote. — Transcription of original receipt (Source: MS Pepys 1047)

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I’ve been thinking about this one a LOT. I’m very against staff, admin, and above putting anything religious in schools. It too quickly becomes problematic, and it takes away from learning. I have yet to see something like this recent Louisiana’s Ten Commandments law turn out well, short OR long term. Do you want Satanists and Wiccans and Muslims to have stuff in schools? If not, then keep Christianity out as well.

There’s been commentary made by the people involved that posting the Ten Commandments isn’t religious, it’s there to show the original laws.

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Louisiana has become the first state to require that the Ten Commandments be displayed in every public school classroom, the latest move from a GOP-dominated Legislature pushing a conservative agenda under a new governor.

The legislation that Republican Gov. Jeff Landry signed into law on Wednesday requires a poster-sized display of the Ten Commandments in “large, easily readable font” in all public classrooms, from kindergarten to state-funded universities.

“If you want to respect the rule of law, you’ve got to start from the original lawgiver, which was Moses” who got the commandments from God, Landry said. 

— AP

There are so many things wrong with this, that I had a hard time finding a place to begin.

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A long time ago, I said that if I could find a politician who managed to have a positive campaign rather than a smear one, I would support him. That’s part of why I supported Gary Johnson when he was running (though it was a lot more in depth than that). But yesterday I saw something that made me really stop and listen. I saw this:

@byte.bulletin

A super shocking trump campaign promo!!!!#trump2024 #camping #election #political #american

♬ original sound – Byte bulletin

This is raw. It’s different than some of his past stuff. It’s … It feels more real.

I know, feels aren’t what the Right cares about. But this was a GOOD political ad. This one actually spoke to me. Yes, the world is shite. The Institution (the swamp, if you will) has protected itself at the cost of the citizens of the country. Don’t give up, keep doing what’s right, never quit. “They’re not coming after me. They’re coming after you. I’m just standing in their way.” Damn.

I still don’t like the guy. He makes my hackles rise. But I know he’s not the demon the Left paint him as. I can mourn the fact that better candidates didn’t get in, and still know that he’s better than Biden by far. I cannot deny that this video, the words he said, paint a much different picture than the stuff he posted the first time around. Maybe he has learned. Maybe he will be better this time.

Lots of maybes.

There are many things that are important to Conservatives and Republicans that are also important to me. First and Second Amendment issues are prime examples. Freedom to speak, to protest (not riot), to think your own thoughts, to live free, these are fundamentally American things. Other countries, if they have these things at all, have done so because we did it first. Firearms and arms in general, I might be more Right than some of you, because I firmly and 100% believe that “…shall not be infringed…” is the be-all and end-all. I am a “small government” kind of gal, and would love to see the swamp drained. I think that government has the anti-Midas touch – everything it touches turns to shit. Government should be interfering only when absolutely necessary, especially at the Federal level. It should not be possible for someone to be a “career politician.” EVER.

And then there are other issues, ones which are not Constitutional but are near and dear to my heart. I believe that a person’s body should be inviolate, and that includes during pregnancy. I believe birth control should be inexpensive (already possible) or maybe free at point of use, and easy to get ahold of. I think marriage, from the government’s perspective, should simply be a listing of who did what, when, for the purposes of census taking and whatever Federal and State level benefits people get for being married. I think if five people want to get together and form a family, that’s fine. I think gay people are “just people” and should have exactly the same rights and responsibilities as everyone else (and not more, btw). I think black people are “just people” and should have exactly the same rights and responsibilities as everyone else (and not more, btw). I believe that people should be able to get (very basic) healthcare that is free at point of service (largely because it saves money at the community and county level, overall). I believe that religion, and freedom of AND FROM it, are between a person and their gods, and there should be no government level (including schools) statements that are inherently religious.

There’s a lot going on here, and I labeled this article “fears” for a reason. Here are some of the concerns I have, and why I have them. Some echo the concerns that those on the Left have. Take what you will from it.

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I’m going to carefully report from the Left side of the line today. I don’t like it. I’ll officially say I like it a lot less than I like reporting Right stuff to Left friends. It feels a lot more dangerous. Still, here I am, the designated person reporting “from behind enemy lines.”

I didn’t watch the debate between Biden and Trump. I don’t like listening to either of them talk, for very different reasons. I caught the media backlash, of course, and I did watch bits and pieces that various pundits felt were important. I watched enough bits to know that saying “Trump won” was sort of like saying “guns fire bullets.” No shit, Sherlock.

The media even stepped up on this one. Mainstream media (CNN, CBS, ABC, etc.) all said basically the same thing: Biden is old, and now we can see it, and gee those Dems have been hiding it really well for the past few years. But let’s get real here… even MOTHER JONES said Trump won that one.

It wasn’t a fair contest. Trump, while I still dislike him on a personal level, is not feeble. He’s brash, energetic, and on point. I don’t have to like him to admit that he answered most of the questions in fairly plain, honest language. Biden, he had to be led off the stage like a toddler up past his bedtime. I hate that the Left is engaging in the level of elder abuse that they are. It’s disturbing, and wrong.

But all the above… is nothing compared to what I’ve seen on FB this week from people that I am “FB friends” with. You can check these out or not.

• Isaiah Martin says, paraphrased, we all knew Biden was old, but Trump is an existential threat.
• A meme: Just because you think Alfred is too old to take care of the BatCave, you don’t replace him with the Joker.
• Occupy Democrats says Biden should use his “newfound presidential immunity” to add four new seats to the Supreme Court and a bunch of other things.
• An acquaintance said this (and I’m withholding their name): “Let me spell this out for those in the back: Trump v Hillary was choosing vomiting or Diarrhea. Trump v Biden is choosing stage 4 cancer or mild heartburn. Do not get it twisted.”

I can’t even. I keep hearing things along the line of, “Yeah, okay so Biden is senile and half dead, but at least he isn’t Trump!” And that, well, this isn’t about the presidency, it’s about the country as a whole and that if Trump gets in again, the gays will all be in concentration camps and women will become walking incubators.

Y’all… I need you to understand, no matter how hard it is for you… the Left who are saying this stuff, they really believe it. They actually believe that Biden will be okay, that his advisors will keep him propped up and animatronic no matter what. They would rather participate in the physical and mental abuse of a decrepit old man, than make another choice. And that really is what they’re saying. They want Biden, no matter what. They don’t want to think about anyone else in Biden’s place. They definitely don’t want Harris in there. Michele Obama is probably the closest to a “well, I guess” comment I’ve gotten from some of them. And that’s only because she doesn’t have a penis.

At this point, I believe Trump will win. I believe the Dems will burn their own homes to the ground over it. What I *hope* will happen after the year or two of civil unrest and tantrums (or riots… or both) is that we’ll actually get some decent candidates that can work toward what’s best for the whole country. I think that’s the best I can hope for right now. And boy, it sure feels lonely over here on this fence.