A Non Powered Future

The Cucumber

GunTurk — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 14:06:31 +0000

Now this is going around on the Internet so some of this stuff might not be true. I checked snopes.com the status is undetermined. It also says the research is in progress of the origins. Whenever emails are passed around on the Internet snopes will try to figure out if its true or not. There was one that said Mars was going to be as big the moon. Not true. Take Internet stuff with a grain of salt. #4 sounds like it was made up. Anyway try all with the foreknowledge it may not work.

WOW!!! WHAT A LITTLE GEM THE CUCUMBER IS. I WILL LOOK AT IT DIFFERENTLY NOW.

1. Cucumbers contain most of the vitamins you need every day. Just one cucumber contains Vitamin B1, Vitamin B2, Vitamin B3, Vitamin B5, Vitamin B6, Folic Acid, Vitamin C, Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Potassium and Zinc.

2. Feeling tired in the afternoon, Put down the caffeinated soda and pick up a Cucumber. Cucumbers are a good source of B Vitamins and Carbohydrates that can provide that quick pick-me-up that can last for Hours.

3. Tired of your bathroom mirror fogging up after a shower? Try rubbing a Cucumber slice along the mirror, it will eliminate the fog and provide a soothing, Spa-like fragrance.

4. Are grubs and Slugs ruining your planting beds? Place a few slices in a small pie tin and your garden will be free of pests all season long. The chemicals in the cucumber react with the aluminum to give off a scent undetectable to humans but drive garden pests crazy and make them flee the area.

5. Looking for a fast and easy way to remove cellulite before going out or to the pool? Try rubbing a slice or two of cucumbers along your problem area for a few minutes, the phytochemicals in the cucumber cause the collagen in your skin to tighten, firming up the outer layer and reducing the visibility of cellulite. Works great on wrinkles too!!!

6. Want to avoid a hangover or terrible headache? Eat a few cucumber slices before going to bed and wake up refreshed and headache free. Cucumbers contain enough sugar, B Vitamins and electrolytes to replenish essential nutrients the body lost, keeping everything in equilibrium, avoiding both a hangover and headache!!

7. Looking to fight off that afternoon or evening snacking binge? Cucumbers have been used for centuries and often used by European trappers, traders and explorers for quick meals to thwart off starvation.

8. Have an important meeting or job interview and you realize that you don’t have enough time to polish your shoes? Rub a freshly cut cucumber over the shoe, its chemicals will provide a quick and durable shine that not only looks great but also repels water.

9. Out of WD 40 and need to fix a squeaky hinge? Take a cucumber slice and rub it along the problematic hinge, and voila, the squeak is gone!

10. Stressed out and don’t have time for massage, facial or visit to the spa? Cut up an entire cucumber and place it in a boiling pot of water. The chemicals and nutrients from the cucumber Will react with the boiling water and be released in the steam, creating a soothing, relaxing aroma that has been shown to reduce stress in new mothers and college students during final exams.

11. Just finish a business lunch and realize you don’t have gum or Mints? Take a slice of cucumber and press it to the roof of your mouth with your tongue for 30 seconds to eliminate bad breath, the Phytochemcials will kill the bacteria in your mouth responsible for causing bad breath.

12. Looking for a ‘green’ way to clean your faucets, sinks or stainless steel? Take a slice of cucumber and rub it on the surface you want to clean, not only will it remove years of tarnish and bring back the shine, but is won’t leave streaks and won’t harm your fingers or fingernails while you clean.

13. Using a Pen and made a mistake? Take the outside of the Cucumber and slowly use it to erase the pen writing, also works great on crayons and markers that the kids have used to decorate the walls!!

The Weather

GunTurk — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 16:30:54 +0000

In the NPF there will be no weather man to tell us the weather. No 5 day forecast. What you look out the window and see is what you get. I have been wanting a weather station, but I want one of the ones with the wind speed and wind direction spinners. They are are digital. Which is no good in the NPF. I’d like to get a weather vane.

At a thrift store I found a weather station like my grandfather used to have. It cost $5.00. It has three dials: temperature, pressure and humidity. The humidity is worthless in the summer because my house has a swamp cooler which uses water to cool the air. So it is not the real outside humidity. The pressure dial has a mark on the cover so you can set it and see if the pressure is going up or down. It would be cool if they all did. My oldest son likes to set the mark.

Weather Station

I think in the NPF we will be more attuned to the weather because we will be spending more time outside growing food and caring for food animals. I read an article about loggers in the wood feeling the change in temperature as a cold front came through.

GunTurk — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 17:30:55 +0000

I was reading The Diamond of Darkhold by Jeanne DuPrau. She writes about a non powered future and people struggling to survive. Little things like how candles (their only source of light) will blow out in the wind when traveling from house to house at night. They would not have that problem if they had a candle lantern like the one I found at a estate sale for $1. It’s kind of cheaply made from tin. It has a big gaping hole on top too but I like it.

It will be something good to have in the non powered future.

Candle Lantern

Civil War era

GunTurk — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 23:30:43 +0000

The U.S. Civil War era is the time that technology was beginning to advance but most people did not have access to it. Civil War reenactments are fine examples of the level of advancement in technology. Usually soldiers are on the cutting edge of technology. Here are some pictures of the simpleness of the non powered implements of war.

Meal set up

Inside a tent

Chair with gear, bucket with water

Gun cleaning gear

Lantern on a stand

The kerosene lantern is the only technology that the non powered non oil future will not have.

Bread Box

GunTurk — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 20:06:15 +0000

I have something to say about the venerable Bread Box. Years ago I used a bread box and realized its worth then, but for some reason did away with it. What’s good about a bread box? It seems that bread lasts 2 to 3 times longer if kept in one. It must create a micro environment of no light, low temperature and low humidity. Mold doesn’t have a chance in a no and low environment. The reason I am writing this is because a bread box came with the house I am renting and I have been using it since 1 November. The only problem I had with the bread box was that the sticker was still on the outside. I abhor those stickers that are especially on store bought plastic ware. People who do not remove them do not apprecaite the aesthetic of a clean plastic surface. Just to stay on this tangent those people are lazy. Take the damn stickers off. Back to bread boxes. They work. It’s nice to have a counter clear of accouterments but this one is on my essential list. It actually helps clear up unsightly clutter of loaves and buns. In the NPF home made loaves will last longer and it will keep the mice away.

Here’s a pic:

The Bread Box

Bring back bread boxes.

Handkerchiefs

GunTurk — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 19:04:23 +0000

I was blowing my nose with toilet paper yesterday and I thought to my self what would I do if there was no more. As an adolescent I kept a white cloth handkerchief in my back pocket and blew my nose on it regularly. I’m sure I did that because that is what my step grandfather did. It would be a good “green” “environmental saving” idea to promote the use of handkerchiefs again. I wonder what the difference in pollution is between the toilet paper that goes in the trash or down the toilet and the soap and water used to clean a handkerchief? Probably save a few trees. You have to wash whites any way. Handkerchiefs are small and thin. I think the balance of scales would go to the handkerchief. In the NPF to have handkerchief someone will have to spin fine thread and weave it into a small square. Probably end up just picking the boogers out of your nose or closing off one side and blowing them out onto the ground. Don’t have to be civilized do we?

Handkerchiefs will save the planet!

Water in the NPF

GunTurk — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 22:55:22 +0000

Water will be important in the NPF. Imagine what will happens when the pumps go off.

Here in the Southwest I was told by a Park Ranger giving a tour the Native Americans could dig down 12 feet and reach water. Now to have a well you would have to dig over 100 feet. How long will it take after the power goes off for the water table to rise back to its original levels? Decades probably.

Unless you have large cisterns this place will dry up when the pumps go off. People will have to fight to protect their cisterns. If you aren’t strong enough to take someone else’s water you will have to move to water. Either go back East or invade the forest and nature preserves around that have rivers and streams. I know where there is a spring up in the high mountains, but I’m sure other people do also. Have to go up there and sit on it with guns and fight for it.

Cisterns have to be big if you want it to last after the summer rains fills it up. I have looked into buying some plastic ones for my house. It’s part of my plan and it is a goal I have.

Below are some cistern pictures I have taken. The first three are on the same mountain within a few feet of each other.

Cistern half buried

Round Stone Cistern

Modern metal cistern

Brand New Metal Cistern

Plan for the non Powered Future and reach for your goals.

Land 2

GunTurk — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 17:39:29 +0000

My brother in law who lives in Arkansas has bought land. He bought land cheap. He bought it at the annual tax sale. He bought an acre for $200.00. What a deal. The land is a piece of land that is being farmed by a rice farmer right now. A woman bought it back in 1939. She hasn’t paid the taxes on it in years and her last known address was in Missouri. He paid the $200 and has to wait a year if no one challenges him in that year the land is his. If some of her relatives challenge him. They pay him $200 and he is out nothing. He is thinking about building on this property, because where he lives now is under a foot of water when it rains. He said he has checked the acre during heavy rains and it does not flood.
The other piece of land he bought is a half an acre. He bought it for $177.00. It has an old house that is not fit to live in but it has electric, water and a septic system. He paid the money and the property was his because it was on last years list and no one wanted it. He said it would be easy to put a mobile home on it because of the hook ups already.
The web site to check out cheap land in Arkansas is www.cosl.org. Look under the Publications menu and then Auction Catalog for lists of properties by county. It makes me salivate just looking at them.
One of these days.

In the NPF

GunTurk — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 20:59:39 +0000

In the non powered future you will be hot in the summer, unless you go swimming in a spring fed creek. You will be cold in the winter unless you stay active, wear sheep’s wool or sit by a warm fire. The saying is that fire wood heats you twice. Once when you cut it and again when you burn it.
Fruit and vegetables might be boring. You will have to grow them. They will only be available when it is harvested. So certain foods will only be available during certain time of the year. No more going to the grocery at midnight to pick up some ice cream. No more of the great tropical foods we enjoy like coffee, chocolate and black pepper. Chicory is a poor coffee substitute.
Medical will be back to herbs and poultices. Want an aspirin? You will peel willow tree bark, soak it and drink the water.

Supper – nothing fancy

GunTurk — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 18:10:14 +0000

Hey grandpa what’s for supper? Not a grandfather yet, but since I have been not living with the wife I started making combo meals in the oven. Don’t ask me why. Just got the urge to dirty only one pan. I think these might be hard to do in a wood stove in the NPF. Here are some pictures of my nothing fancy creations. I did most of the cooking before we split up anyway. I don’t know why I never tried this. Probably because I did mostly grill cooking and in my daughter’s apartment and the townhouse now I don’t have a grill. My meals have been very successful. Had some friends over this weekend and made a country style pork ribs, green beans and potatoes combo. After an hour and a half in the oven the meat came off the bone easily. My friend wanted to know what I put on it. My secret is Worcestershire sauce, salt and black pepper. I put those on most everything. Worcestershire and black pepper are two things we won’t have in the NPF. Black pepper is tropical. Worcestershire has some esoteric ingredients made by witches in a cauldron that impart some tongue tickling ambrosial flavors.

I cooked each at 350 to 375 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour. The pork ribs (like I said above) I cooked about an hour and a half.

Dinner - Chicken potatoes Green beans and onions (Before cooking)

Dinner - Steak squash and asparagus

Dinner - Steak roast potatoes squash and carrots (Before cooking)

Trust me I cooked the steak in the last picture before I ate it. The only problem I have with all of these meals is that I to cover the Pyrex pan with aluminum foil. I have read that aluminum can lead to or causes Alzheimer’s.

In the house I’m renting my landlord left some dishes. He knew I was getting divorced so was helping me out. He left some glass pans with glass lids that can go in the oven. I used them but did not take a picture. Made me feel better.