ancona
Praying Mantis
I was talking with my very practical wife, who God bless her, still has not come over from the dark side and in to the light of the prepper’s realm, and the discussion segued in to one of needs versus wants in a time of extreme crisis. While she has fully accepted most of my preps, and that with a smile, she still regards me as slightly eccentric and just a little bit paranoid. We often discuss our government at great length to include the constitutional issues facing us and the massive expansion of government in to our lives. The other day I spoke to my daughter, who is finishing up a month long stay in Europe, and she related a story to me that formed the basis of a very important conversation with my skeptical wife. We were talking about her day, which included a trip to the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower when she said that upon returning to the youth hostel that evening, the whole place smelled of “body funk like a skunk”. I laughed it off at the time as she went off on a tangent about how Europeans don’t shower every day, and that her “home stay” sponsors thought her a bit strange for insisting upon a shower each day, explaining that they only showered twice a week or so, and that the custom was a sponge bath most of the time.
My wife, revolted by the idea of not showering every day said something like, “That’s disgusting, how can someone live like that”? I thought for a minute, because I didn’t want to say something stupid and screw up what I sensed was an opportunity to preach about preps a little bit and push for installing the well I have been plotting to install for ten years now. I decided a socratic discussion would force her to say what I wanted to hear her say for so long, so I answered her with a question. “What would you rather have in a grid down situation, good water pressure from our well or air conditioning”? Not ready for this, I could see the gears begin to turn as she ruminated on this for a minute. I turned back to the idiot box and waited for an answer.
Now, I should explain that we have been married for 24 years now and that in that time we have mastered the art of outwitting each other, and have a lot of fun with conversation. Since most couples literally run out of things to say to one another, we decided long ago that no conversation needed to be rushed and that questions could remain questions for as long as was needed to arrive at a correct conclusion. Conversation between us can be casual and quick but it can also be contemplative and take days to finish, with long pauses between bits. This would be one such conversation.
Several hours later, she came in the room and said, “Water pressure of course”. AHA! Sensing a trap, I asked, “Why”? She walked away again and started folding laundry, clearly thinking about a response. I believe she simply thought about my first question and stated what she thought I would want her to say, so now she was really thinking about my one word [vaguely] socratic response. I was having fun now.
Several hours later she came in to the living room and sat down. I could see she was thinking about her response now. After a fashion, she turns to me and says, “Because flushing the toilet, bathing and sanitary conditions far outweigh the luxury of air conditioning. In addition, our propane will only last just so long, and the A/C makes the generator work much harder, consuming more fuel and shortening the amount of time we will be able to keep our food cold and the freezer frozen, so water is far more important”. Good, now we were getting somewhere. A few minutes later I asked her a trick question, “So, how does our water get to us”? Answering immediately she said, “It’s a gravity system, so it comes from the water tower”. “How does it get to the tower in the first place”? “Big pumps………….DAMN”! I had her now. “So, when the lights go out, and there is no power to push that water up the tower, and no jockey pumps to boost pressure, how long will it take until the tower is empty”? No answer. She went back to ruminating for a while, actually……stewing, because I think she knew I had her.
My wife has been against a well for a long time, but purely for financial reasons, since we are on septic tank, and our monthly bill is less than thirty bucks, a quick cost/benefit analysis shows it will take ten years to pay back when you add up the drilling, sleeve and screen, aeration box, pressure bottle, solar panels and batteries. I have raised the idea many times in the past and have been shot down each and every time. Although I haven’t really fought that hard for it before, I really do want to be as independent as is possible because I can feel the end game now and worry about the quick degradation of our infrastructure in financial collapse. I hoped she would cave in but still had my doubts.
It’s always amusing when we’re around folks who don’t know us well, and we get the “Did I miss something” look from folks as we pop out with occasional bits of conversation that are completely removed from the discussion at hand. Our friends are used to it but we have fun with folks because we usually have several on-going discussions, and when talking in a group, can be prompted by the subject and suddenly reply to a three day old question. Sometimes we really do look quite completely insane. I love it.
Well, the next afternoon, my wife came out in the front yard where I was picking up some dead limbs and sticks and said, “Go ahead and dig the damn well, you win”. That was it, no further discussion, no bitching about the price, no questions about the system, just do it.
And to think, just like a Shawshank prison break, it only took ten years! It seems that patience, after all, truly is a virtue.
:wave:
My wife, revolted by the idea of not showering every day said something like, “That’s disgusting, how can someone live like that”? I thought for a minute, because I didn’t want to say something stupid and screw up what I sensed was an opportunity to preach about preps a little bit and push for installing the well I have been plotting to install for ten years now. I decided a socratic discussion would force her to say what I wanted to hear her say for so long, so I answered her with a question. “What would you rather have in a grid down situation, good water pressure from our well or air conditioning”? Not ready for this, I could see the gears begin to turn as she ruminated on this for a minute. I turned back to the idiot box and waited for an answer.
Now, I should explain that we have been married for 24 years now and that in that time we have mastered the art of outwitting each other, and have a lot of fun with conversation. Since most couples literally run out of things to say to one another, we decided long ago that no conversation needed to be rushed and that questions could remain questions for as long as was needed to arrive at a correct conclusion. Conversation between us can be casual and quick but it can also be contemplative and take days to finish, with long pauses between bits. This would be one such conversation.
Several hours later, she came in the room and said, “Water pressure of course”. AHA! Sensing a trap, I asked, “Why”? She walked away again and started folding laundry, clearly thinking about a response. I believe she simply thought about my first question and stated what she thought I would want her to say, so now she was really thinking about my one word [vaguely] socratic response. I was having fun now.
Several hours later she came in to the living room and sat down. I could see she was thinking about her response now. After a fashion, she turns to me and says, “Because flushing the toilet, bathing and sanitary conditions far outweigh the luxury of air conditioning. In addition, our propane will only last just so long, and the A/C makes the generator work much harder, consuming more fuel and shortening the amount of time we will be able to keep our food cold and the freezer frozen, so water is far more important”. Good, now we were getting somewhere. A few minutes later I asked her a trick question, “So, how does our water get to us”? Answering immediately she said, “It’s a gravity system, so it comes from the water tower”. “How does it get to the tower in the first place”? “Big pumps………….DAMN”! I had her now. “So, when the lights go out, and there is no power to push that water up the tower, and no jockey pumps to boost pressure, how long will it take until the tower is empty”? No answer. She went back to ruminating for a while, actually……stewing, because I think she knew I had her.
My wife has been against a well for a long time, but purely for financial reasons, since we are on septic tank, and our monthly bill is less than thirty bucks, a quick cost/benefit analysis shows it will take ten years to pay back when you add up the drilling, sleeve and screen, aeration box, pressure bottle, solar panels and batteries. I have raised the idea many times in the past and have been shot down each and every time. Although I haven’t really fought that hard for it before, I really do want to be as independent as is possible because I can feel the end game now and worry about the quick degradation of our infrastructure in financial collapse. I hoped she would cave in but still had my doubts.
It’s always amusing when we’re around folks who don’t know us well, and we get the “Did I miss something” look from folks as we pop out with occasional bits of conversation that are completely removed from the discussion at hand. Our friends are used to it but we have fun with folks because we usually have several on-going discussions, and when talking in a group, can be prompted by the subject and suddenly reply to a three day old question. Sometimes we really do look quite completely insane. I love it.
Well, the next afternoon, my wife came out in the front yard where I was picking up some dead limbs and sticks and said, “Go ahead and dig the damn well, you win”. That was it, no further discussion, no bitching about the price, no questions about the system, just do it.
And to think, just like a Shawshank prison break, it only took ten years! It seems that patience, after all, truly is a virtue.
:wave:
Soon you will have one more thing ( along with all the other things you already have done ) that works, so your family can survive what may come in the future . . .
