Day 26. 64 to go.

If you haven't already, read this first and then this.

Made a basket of muffins yesterday from scratch. No fresh ingredients- all dry ingredients from storage- brown sugar, flour, baking powder, salt, oats, cinnamon, honey etc. They were very moist and delicious. I had a bowl of pinto beans and a muffin and a slice of fried spam for breakfast. Water to drink.

For dinner tonight, I had some steamed rice and orange chicken with some sesame seeds sprinkled on it. Complimented it with a can of mandarin orange slices. Some green onions would have been perfect but alas, I don't have any. I ate a carrot with it. Two more carrots and two more potatoes left. Finished off the other half of the jar of peaches that I opened up a couple of days ago to put in the aforementioned bowl of peach jello. I finished that jello off yesterday.

I have a bird feeder on my back porch and a bird bath and a fountain in the back yard. A couple of days ago as I went to put some fresh water in the fountain, a hummingbird, unaware of my standing there, came right up to get a drink out of the dribble that pours out of the top of the fountain. I had the water on low and just was standing still there holding the hose and taking my time filling it up. Lots of birds drink from that fountain every day. Lots of birds also clean up in my bird bath and I wonder what goes on each day in the life of a bird that gets them so dirty. After I put fresh water in it, for about an hour each morning, there is a line of birds on the west wall waiting their turn, two or three birds in the bath at a time, and then they go to the south wall to dry off and re-fluff the feathers and go on their way.

I tell you all of that so that I can tell you this, I discovered another item of note that I'm lacking... I usually put about 2 cups of birdseed out in the feeder each morning. I'm out of seed. There was a row of tough guy birds sitting on the wall this morning giving me the stink-eye. They'll have to wait until Dec 11th or do a better job of keeping the bugs out of my garden! There was enough bugs on my pumpkin vines to have fed them for a month and they didn't eat them.

I have a Mormon Pioneer ancestor that was sent by Brigham Young from Salt Lake to colonize in southern Arizona. His company crossed the Colorado River at Lee's Ferry and his journal told a story that has always moved me. He was a lover of animals and always gave gratitude to God for the burden they bore on his behalf and it always broke his heart to hear of a mistreated animal. A few of his animals drown in the crossing and those that made it got to the other side and just got their front legs and front quarters up on the banks and collapsed with exhaustion. He depended on them so much- and they gave so much. Since they had been domesticated to a great degree, they were no longer able to fend for themselves without his assistance.

I don't have any pets but for those who do have pets, it's something to plan for in a crisis- to make sure that you have enough food and supplies for them as well. I may have created a bit of a micro eco system of sorts in my yard with so many birds depending on a bit of food each day at 730 and now they will have to fend for themselves.

Now that the heat has broken in Arizona, I'm planting a few rows of produce tomorrow morning. Cilantro, cabbage, peas, turnips and a couple of kinds of lettuce. I may have some lettuce in about 5 weeks, cilantro in 3 weeks or so. Peas and turnips by Thanksgiving.

A friend who saw this blog brought over a small brick of cheddar cheese and a small tub of cottage cheese. It is a most welcome gift and was given and received with love and gratitude but such an act will compromise the data of this experiment. It IS an experiment and there is not a real crisis. I'm having the best year I have ever had in my 30 years as an entertainer! There is plenty of money and a choice of 3 or 4 fully stocked grocery stores within walking distance in any direction. There may come a time when the stores aren't there or they aren't stocked because of a labor dispute or political unrest or there is a disease outbreak or a financial crisis or hyper inflation where our money isn't worth anything and can't be used to purchase these things that we take for granted. I just don't want those problems to be my problems. I want to be reasonably comfortable and safe in my own home.