Zombie Apocalypse Team

 Zombie Apocalypse Team

When my youngest son was about 14 years old we began taking long walks at about 8 p.m. We lived out in the country. It was quiet and we discussed many things.

I remember J telling me the story of The Black-Eyed kids. Look that up. Pretty interesting and a good way to scare yourself. This night was extremely dark and the stars and moon weren’t visible. We were about two miles from home when J told me the story. I was properly spooked by the time we got home. I don’t think I slept that night.

We enjoyed zombie movies, books, and television shows. One night we started devising a plan on what we would have to do to survive “The Zombie Apocalypse”. We specifically talked about resources in our area. Over time we added more details to the plan. We tried to figure out how long we needed to hide at home. We discussed how we thought people in our area would react. I'm pretty sure we decided that two weeks was the right amount of time to let the dust settle. The initial panic would have calmed down and hopefully, people would have left the area. We talked about what resources to gather and what would increase the odds of long term survival. There was a military base nearby and we would need some military vehicles to roll over anything in our path. We tried to be strategic and make logical plans.

I don't believe a Zombie Apocalypse will ever happen. But, I used zombies as an example of civilization breaking down. I used these discussions as a thought exercise on how to save my loved ones in case of disaster. I may use the plans in a writing experiment one day. This was a fun way to pass the time on our walks.

When my future daughter-in-law joined the walks she didn’t know what to think about our Zombie Apocalypse plans. The amount of planning we had devoted to this shocked her. After listening to us she realized we weren’t batshit crazy.  We just loved to run our mouths to pass the time.

Occasionally I will still bring up my Zombie Apocalypse Team. These are the people I want to save and would be an asset in our quest for survival. I have excluded some people with skills and knowledge that would be useful. These people may have desirable skills or knowledge. But, they have shown themselves to be unreliable and unable to use good judgment. They have demonstrated behavior that is self-centered and disregards health and safety issues. I believe they would be a liability.

The main reason I have excluded people is I would rather get eaten by a zombie than survive the Apocalypse ( of any kind) in their company.

I haven’t excluded people because of physical limitations. If someone makes good decisions and I enjoy their company I want them on my team. Children and the elderly must be protected. I would fight through hordes of zombies to make sure the kiddos and my dad are safe.

The amount of time I have given to figuring out how to save the cats is ridiculous.If the team was on foot I think the cats would be fine. The cats would follow us and hopefully have enough sense to avoid the zombies and other dangers. One problem is the zombies would smell intriguing and this may interest the cats.

I'm not sure if we could save most of the dogs. They make entirely too much noise and some of the dogs are dumber than a box of hammers. But, I would have to try. My oldest son, T, would abandon the team if we didn’t try to save the dogs. He would wear a sling baby carrier carrying a half-blind, half-senile, mostly bald, and bad-tempered chihuahua. The rest of his motley crew of dogs would surround us and gallop through the Apocalypse, falling over their own feet. Imagine the Bumpus Hounds from The Christmas Story movie.

So, if you would like to be on my team, talk nonsense about outlandish scenarios, and love to run your mouth, hit me up. :)

 THE WEEK TEXAS FROZE OVER

Recently I lived in Texas for about four years. As a preschooler, I had lived in Texas for a couple of years and my brother was born there. I love Texas. It is a beautiful state with lots of places to ramble around and enjoy nature. 

Everyone should visit Dinosaur Valley State Park in Glen Rose. I have an official dinosaur hunting license issued in July 1971.  I hope that one day I can see the Marfa Lights.

Both times that we lived in Texas we were in the Fort Worth area. I loved Fort Worth, except for the never-ending construction projects. Any type of food that I desired was available. There were a variety of fun activities and wonderful parks. Most importantly, I loved the libraries in the area. 

Today I'm going to talk about the ten days that Texas froze. This was in February 2021. A large part of the country was affected by three winter storms that came one after another. I'm a huge weather junkie, and I have a crush on my favorite DFW weather person, Evan Andrews. I usually give my family a weather report every morning. My DIL told all her friends that she didn't watch the weather, she knew I'd tell her what was happening weatherwise. “ At about 10 am we are going to get rain. But, it will only last 22.5 minutes.”

 The weather people realized we were going to get a massive, damaging storm system come through and people needed to prepare. There were going to be multiple days of subzero temperatures and a large ice storm. People needed to winterize homes and vehicles and stock up on firewood, food, and medical supplies. I told my family. They thought the storm was overblown and there wouldn’t be any problems.

The first storm came through and caused a lot of ice on the roads. There was a 133-vehicle pile-up on I 35. At least six people died and dozens were injured. This was the route that most people used to travel from Fort Worth to the Dallas area. My DIL  used this route every workday.  Anytime Evan mentioned ice I made sure to tell my son and DIL so they could take extra time and precautions during their commutes. Of course, they think I’m Chicken Little. “Oh. Lola is just being paranoid again.” I have to admit that I get obsessed with severe weather possibilities. LOL.

A few days later the next storm system moved in. Glorious, beautiful snow fell. It looked like a scene from a movie about snow on Christmas. The kids had a blast playing outside in the snow. So, did the adults. I stayed by the bedroom window watching the snowfall for several hours.

The main power supplier for the state warned people that usage was exceeding the supply. Rolling blackouts were planned to ease the burden on the system.  The snow began to turn to ice. Sub-zero temperatures continued. Rolling blackouts started. But, the power grid failed. Texas experienced the worst energy failure in the state's history. 4.5 million homes and businesses had no power. Some of our neighbors were without power for about 10 days. Our home had no electricity for about 40 hours. After the power came back on we had to boil our water.

During the outage, we had a small amount of firewood. Most of it was too big for our fireplace. My son tried to cut it up with an ax and the ax broke. My son and DIL tried in vain to find firewood. But, there was none to be found. As the temperature inside our home continued to drop my DIL called hotels within 100 miles of us. She was trying to find a warm place for us, most importantly the kids, to stay. In desperation, she began calling RV dealerships trying to rent an RV. No luck. The dealerships couldn’t let anything leave the lot because the lot and all the roads were covered in thick ice.

I followed the advice of the weather experts. I shut the curtains and blinds to keep the heat in, had every faucet in the house dripping, put layers of clothes on the kids and myself, and tried to limit the amount exterior doors that were opened.

But, we had visitors. And they were actively going behind me and undoing my efforts. They reopened the blinds, turned off faucets, and ran around the house wearing thin pajamas. They actively sabotaged my efforts to keep the house warm and pipes safe. We had a small fire going. I was trying to conserve the wood for the night. The visitors tried to build a roaring fire instead of putting on warm clothing. I realized the power might be out for several days and I was taking sensible precautions. 

The visitors also wanted to go out to eat. “Sandwiches!! Who wants to eat a sandwich?! I want to go to that restaurant we  talked about last night.” Which was 30 minutes away. There were at least 6 inches of ice covering all the roads for hundreds of miles. News stations and Emergency Management authorities were advising EVERYONE to stay home, stay off the roads, and find a way to stay warm. Within a few hours of the power going out, I was ready to beat the visitors with a large stick, or maybe a shovel. The feeling was mutual. 

Every few hours we piled into our vehicles and turned on the heat. When we went to bed that night we made sure the kids and pets were sleeping with at least one adult. Every blanket in the house was piled on the beds.

I truly did not know if we would wake up in the morning. Before my cell phone died I sent messages to my loved ones that lived out of the area. If I died I wanted to make sure they knew how much I loved them. I didn't say anything to alarm them. But, I made sure to message my other kids, my dad, and my brother. I kissed the two grandkids sleeping with me and told them I loved them. I spent the night listening to them breathe. Later estimates of the death toll from these storms range from 250 to over 700 people. Children died sleeping in their own beds. Car crashes, carbon monoxide poisoning, and house fires all contributed to the death toll.

At lunch, we loaded into the van. We had to find someplace to get warm for at least a little while. My son and DIL called all over DFW trying to find a restaurant that was open. We found a place and it took about an hour to get there. I'm very glad my DIL was driving and the van had a snow-driving setting. I’d trust my DIL to drive through the Apocalypse and its aftermath. Yes, she may scare me half to death. But, she’s going to get us there. The restaurant had a smattering of people in it. Two employees were handling everything. The smile and cheerfulness of our waitress were dearly needed. We didn’t mind the wait. It was warm and everyone was glad to get a hot meal. I was counting the seconds until sundown, and dreading it more than words can describe.

Our power came back on three to four hours after we got back home. The relief I felt was all-encompassing. I had been in excruciating emotional turmoil and finally, I had some relief. We had sub-freezing temperatures for a few more days. Our wonderful neighbors banded together. Many of the neighbors whose power was back on made huge pots of food. They offered a warm meal, a place to charge cell phones, and a chance to sit in warmth for our neighbors in need. 

It took about three days to clean and wash everything that needed it. But, we were lucky. As the pipes thawed, frozen pipes burst. Several of our neighbors had their entire 2nd-floor crash onto the 1st floor. A soggy, half-frozen mishmash of flooring, insulation, and whatever had been on the 2nd floor. It took several months for repairs to be made. There was so much damage down throughout the whole region that plumbers, contractors, and other repair people were booked for several months.

In the time since the power grid failure, the government and state officials of Texas have done little to actually fix the problems with the power grid. They knew of the issues for several years before the storms of February 2021. But, they have more important things to do. Stripping away voting rights, targeting women’s reproductive rights, and the rights of the LGBTQ community. And of course, ignoring school shootings.

I love Texas. I miss many things about Texas and we made so many good memories while we lived there.  But, I despise the state officials and bureaucrats that are in charge. This storm and the Covid pandemic were major factors in the decision our family made to get out of Texas and move closer to the rest of our family. 

We just need to find some good restaurants in South Carolina.

Walking away from a life

WALKING AWAY FROM A LIFE

I was 16 when I met my ex-husband. He was 18 months older than me.
We fell in love. It worked well for a good while. There were signs from
the beginning of gaslighting and isolating me from my family and friends. But it was minimal, and I ignored early warning signs.
My ex-husband took care of us for a long time. He did love us and took care of us.  We did small vacations with the kids. Money was always tight. And he had a drug problem that exacerbated that. But we went camping and to the beach when we could squeeze out money. There were good times and I appreciate those times. My aunts and uncles adored my husband. My dad really had a good opinion of my ex-husband.
There were some problematic things my dad tried to point out.
But, my head was stuck firmly in the sand.
After several years things started to get worse. The drug problem 
worsened and my ex-husband began to drink...a lot. I thought if I did this or that things would get better. I always felt that anything that went wrong was my fault. I scraped the sides of our truck going through a fence. He never let me live that down. And made fun of me in front of people for a long time. He ignored the fact he had been in at least 3 car accidents and had his license suspended for multiple tickets. There were several troubling incidents, and I do not want to get into them right now. One thing that stands out is if the wife/girlfriend of one of his friends did something he did not approve of he yelled at me for hours. One woman cheated on his friend. My ex-husband told me that if I ever cheated on him, he would beat the other man half to death, put him in a corner, and force him to watch me get beaten. This was early in the marriage. He said this repeatedly through the years. I was by no means perfect. I made mistakes. Nothing I did was an excuse for the physical and mental abuse my children and I suffered.
My ex-husband began to mentally abuse me and the kids. Then he 
began intimidating us physically. This went on for years. I left my
husband 29 and a half years after I met him. I should have left 
about 10 years earlier. But I did not. I will forever live with that guilt. 
I have forgiven myself, mostly. But I take full responsibility for not leaving. But I realized I was not mentally capable of doing it. 
Think about leaving behind the life you have built for yourself. Most of the people you have known, 90% of your possessions, the town you lived in for 20 years, the friendships, the home you had, the routines that gave you comfort. But it was the only way we could escape. If I had left him and stayed in that area, he would have terrorized me and my family.
And I honestly believe he would have burnt down the house as we slept.  My ex-husband now terrorizes his brother because my ex knows where his brother is. He breaks into his brother's house, steals from him, has beaten him at least twice, and the last time tried to stab his brother. To this day I only stay connected with 2 people that live in our old town. Because I must minimize the number of people that know where I live. Most of my family does not know the town I live in. I will tell them about the region we live in. Not because I do not trust them. But, because they could innocently mention where I live to someone, and it gets back to my ex. Or my ex could get violent with them, and they tell him.
My ex lied to anyone who would listen that I stole the money he inherited from his mom. No, we used that money to try to keep our home. Because my ex refused to work anymore. He laid in bed all day, drank alcohol all night, and laid waste to our life.
I have a relative, let us call her Oblivious, who tries to guilt my daughter into coming back and taking care of her dad. This has happened several times. It is not our responsibility to take care of him. We tried for years before I left to get him help. We turned our lives upside down and sideways to help him.
Even after I left, and he threatened to kill me multiple times we tried to find programs to help him. We got a friend to take him in at one point. My ex kept getting thrown out of programs or refused to go to them. My 
brother-in-law will not do the challenging thing and call the police every time my ex shows up. He does not want people to think he is being mean to his poor sick brother. It is not my brother-in-law's responsibility to take care of my ex either. 
He tried several times to help him. But Oblivious minimizes the damage and trauma my kids and I went through. One of my kids and I opened up about some of the horrendous things we suffered because of my ex. A trauma/abuse victim should not have to detail the abuse to anyone to try to get them to understand their pain. We do not have to justify our decision to cut our abuser out of our lives. And Oblivious knew some of it. She was close to my kids. But she does not care about the trauma we suffered and blames us because my ex is mentally ill and homeless. She has told us that we should just forget about the years of torture. It is unfair that my poor brother-in-law must be embarrassed because of my ex. We should just come back and let my ex 
abuse us some more. In her opinion, the mental health issues that we still suffer from due to my ex aren’t important.  Having to leave our home and not having a secure place to live is not important. So, this person has shown who she really is.
And we are better off without her in our lives.
We tried to help my ex. But, to save ourselves we had to cut ties with our abuser. He is still in his hometown. He has numerous family members there. But they realize he is a danger to anyone that takes him in. Oblivious told us we had been mad long enough and we needed to get over it. I had been hoping that if my ex ever died my family would be able to reestablish relationships with the people, we had to minimize contact with. But I now realize that those relationships are not worth rekindling.
These people believed the worst of me and my kids. Even after they realized my husband was a monster. They believed the lies. 
There are a few people I deeply miss from our hometown. And I have a few friends from that time that stay connected, and I cherish these people. These people have stuck with me through the darkest periods in my life. There were times when I did not have the will to continue the struggle. But these friends kept encouraging me and believing in me. Thank goodness for these people.

And Oblivious can go fuck herself.

 

A giant fish fry, 1980's hair bands, and .........the intrigue

I have told my kids I don't want a funeral. Two weeks after I die I want them to throw a huge fish fry. Lots of fried fish, coleslaw with lots of pepper, homemade mac and cheese. And Dr Pepper. Maybe Sprite for the weaklings. Play all the 80's hair bands, some Metallica, and of course Prince. I have a playlist of some songs I want

• You are my Sunshine from the O Brother soundtrack
• Enter Sandman by Metallica
• the Blippi song
• Drop the World by Little Wayne
• Whiskey Lullaby by Allison Krause
• Eye of the Tiger by Survivor
• Lost by Gorilla Zoe
• Girls Just Wanna Have Fun by Cyndi Lauper
• Fat Bottomed Girls by Queen

I want everyone to eat and reminisce. Tell ridiculous stories about things I did or said. Tell my truth, not platitudes.

 And then I want 2 dapper and well-dressed men to enter the gathering. These men are each about 30 years younger than me. 

They mingle quietly while staring daggers at each other.

After a while, each one tells a different tale that seemingly has nothing to do with the person my family perceived me to be. The tales make me be a character out of an espionage novel. Tell everyone how together we saved the world, several times.  One of them stomps his foot and declares that we became lovers during THE PANAMA INCIDENT!  The other man is shocked by this announcement and drops his food.  I want them to argue loudly over who was the love of my life. Then the men depart after telling my family they should be very proud of me.

My aunt Ann would drop her potato salad. Everyone would try to figure out what just happened. And what in the hell happened in Panama? 

Murderous thought of a lunch lady

    I worked in a Middle school lunchroom for three years. This was my first real job. I had just turned thirty. My youngest child was now in school. It was time to get a job. This was the hardest, dirtiest, and most unsafe job I ever worked. My body ached until after midnight every night.

  But, working in the lunchroom was one of my favorite jobs. The ladies I worked with were amazing. 90% of them were at least 25 years older than me. But, we were a team and knew how to get things done. Miss Jewell, my partner in crime, recently died. This hurt my soul. She taught me how to make 700 yeast rolls that people WANTED to eat. She taught me a lot. She was a kind woman, even though she told everyone exactly what she thought. I will always remember her fondly.

   Our group of ladies ran one of the better-run lunch rooms in the county. We made suggestions on how to make things run more efficiently and easier on us. Of course, our suggestions were always ignored. 

   There was an online threat made against the school.  Every entrance was locked down, except the lunchroom. We routinely kept our doors unlocked so we could accept deliveries. Every staff member was notified about the threats. Except for the lunchroom staff. We only found out when a teacher popped in during her free class period. We were amazed at the ignorance. The spot in the school where it would be easiest for any intruder to enter hadn't even crossed the administration's mind.

  But, my fellow lunch ladies were, and still are, some of the best people in the world.. We worried about the teachers, other support staff, and of course the students. We saw these people five days a week and got to know them. It felt like a family.

   But, as I said this was back-breaking and dirty work. One rule of the lunchroom was people were to stack their trays when returning them. Most did, and some didn't. It was always the same people who just slung their trays onto the counter. Spilling leftover food everywhere, especially splattering the lunch lady. This slowed things down and made a huge mess. The tray return was one of the hardest spots to work in the lunchroom. You had to move very quickly and efficiently or the line would run out of trays, silverware, and glasses. 

   On the days that I worked in the tray return area, I soothed my aggravation by imagining I was writing a book. A beloved senior was murdered on school grounds. It was a mystery. Who would want to kill sweet Jimmy Johnson?  Jimmy was in all the clubs, mentored students who needed help, he stood up to bullies. Just a great person.

  It was Blanche!?!?! The sixty-year-old lunch lady. What!?!?! Blanche taught Sunday School. She delivered Meals on Wheels. She knit blankets for every new baby in town. What could possibly have caused Blanche to do this??? Blanche was just exasperated that every school day since Jimmy started as a Freshman he slung his tray willy-nilly onto the counter. She had told him over and over to stop. He didn't listen. Blanche was tired of having half-eaten Jello or mashed potatoes slung on her every day.

   So make sure to be kind to any lunch ladies you come across. They are wonderful people. But, they may harbor dark thoughts about people who exhibit bad lunchroom behavior. So.....smile, call them by name, and ALWAYS STACK YOUR TRAYS!

   

Neighborhood Grandparents

    When I was five years old and my brother was two my dad was stationed in Korea for a year. My Uncle got shipped to Vietnam, My mom's parents owned a couple of acres of land. Everyone decided a good solution to the issue of helping both families was to put two trailers behind my grandparent's house. My mom, brother, and I were in one. My aunt and two cousins were in the other.

  It was wonderful for us kids. My grandfather had retired early for health reasons. He watched over us kids and we had a great time. We ran around all day playing in the dirt and enjoying having playmates. My grandfather usually wore overalls and an old straw hat. He always traveled with his collie dog, Mighty (pronounced Mawghty). Grandpa took us to the old, country store for ice cream. Many days he loaded all of us, and our friends, into a wagon hooked onto his tractor. He gave us so many good memories. He'd gather up piles of leaves and let us jump in the pile over and over. Our friend's parents knew their kids were always safe at our place. We all considered each other family.

   I have many memories of crawling around under the house trying to catch frogs for my cousin. D was one of my bestfriends. He loved all sorts of critters. He talked his mom into getting him guinea pigs, even though she was terrified of them. If they got loose she would call my grandpa to come to find them and put them back in the cage. 

   My grandpa would take us to school, pick us up, watch my baby brother, and do everything he could to make us happy. Grandpa would take all four kids and Mighty to the barbershop when he needed a haircut. I remember several times he'd pick up a hitchhiker. Grandpa was a kind man and helped out anyone that needed it.

    Several times when I was in high school I would see my Grandpa's old Rambler parked outside. I'd wonder what in the world is he doing here. He would be there to pick up one of our friends because they were sick. Or he'd be bringing them a change of clothes or homework they forgot. The friends knew all they had to do was call and he would be there in a flash.

   One summer I had to attend summer school. My cousin and brother also had to attend summer school. It was at separate schools. My grandpas would pick us up, take us to school, pick us up and drop us at our homes. The entire ride we were terrified because his driving had become erratic. Many days he would take us for lunch at Krystal's or Nu-way. These are still two of my favorite places to eat. 

  Every Saturday the family would gather for lunch. Most of the time my grandmother cooked. But, every few weeks she would get Barbeque and Brunswick Stew from the best BBQ place in the world, White Diamond Grill in Bonaire, Georgia. Even though it has been at least fifteen years since I ate food from White Diamond I can still taste it.

  This has mostly been about my grandpa. There is just so much to say about my grandma that her story will have to wait for another time. The time I spent with my grandparents was wonderful. I am so lucky that they were in my life. I can only hope that my grandchildren will remember me as fondly. 

My dad and the rabbit hole

My Dad and his theories

Hey Everyone! I'm going to talk about my dad and some of his theories. My dad is one of the smartest people I have ever met. If he’d had a good support system and been able to attend college I can't imagine how much he could have accomplished. I respect my dad more than just about anyone. He has a deep sense of honor. If he tells you that he will help you with something nothing will stop him from honoring that commitment, even if it causes trouble for him.

My dad was born into extreme poverty. One of his early memories is of his heavily pregnant mother working in the fields while his father sat in the car eating a candy bar and drinking a Coke. My dad and his sisters went to live with their Uncle and Aunt when their mom died. My dad was ten years old. My grandmother died because she lived in pre-Roe Vs Wade times. My father said before they lived with his Uncle and Aunt that he was always hungry and was never warm. A relative had to take him and his sisters to buy shoes for their mom’s funeral.

Dad joined the military as soon as he graduated from high school. He met and married my mom a few years later.

Jumping ahead about 20 years. As a young adult, I was in several Book of the Month Clubs. Every few weeks they sent out brochures with their recommendations. In 1987 I saw something that looked intriguing. A book by an author I followed. Whitley Strieber. This was a “non-fiction” book about his encounters with aliens. woo.

Little did I know that this would lead to a 15-20 year deep dive into every alien/shadow government theory for my dad. He was dealing with a lot. My mom was descending into extreme mental illness. She did not respond well to treatment. After Mom died my dad said it was like tap dancing on the edge of a razor blade for 30 years. He got very little sleep and still had to work to provide for them. So, he was not in the best place mentally. He needed something interesting to help him escape what was happening at home.

I read Communion and it blew me away. I gave it to my dad. We always shared interesting books. It took hold of him. We read everything we could find about alien encounters, abductions, etc. And there was a lot. Communion seemed to set off a chain reaction. Books, movies, and pop culture were obsessed with these alien abduction stories.

Dad was obsessed. We read Ed Walters's book The Gulf Breeze Sightings. Dad began listening to Chuck Harder’s webcasts. Chuck had just about every UFOologist, and conspiracy theorist on his show. If someone saw a strange light behind their Granny’s house after drinking moonshine they were probably on the show. Dad was introduced to theories on ancient astronauts, the Shadow Government, and the New World Order. He heard tales about governments across the world colluding with aliens to harvest and enslave humans, the Clinton conspiracies, and theories about The Royal Family. Every day Dad checked The Rense Report and The Drudge Report. Every link had to be clicked. Dad introduced all these stories to coworkers and friends.

After mom died and Dad’s every breathing moment was consumed by caring for her, Dad’s belief in the conspiracy theories/ alien abduction stories died down. They are still interesting. But, Dad realizes most of the theories are absurd.

Of course, Dad still doubts the existence of the World Trade Center. He has been to New York a few times and has never seen the Twin Towers. Of course, it was foggy or very rainy on those days. But, still. Dad still believes in Gaia, the Earth Mother, nurturer, the Soul of the Earth. He still believes in all the Clinton Conspiracies. But, mostly he likes reading about Big Foot, ghosts, cryptozoology, etc for escapist entertainment. I think this stuff is interesting. But, I don't really believe in any of it. But……..the Shadow Government theory. Hmmm. There may be something to that. But, maybe not.