Tocky on 10/3/2024 at 01:22

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Oh you people in the city are going to die. Mad Max gangs will pillage, rapes and robbery and wholesale murder will be the order of the day, when an EMP wave hits. Sorry.


I actually don't know how it's going to be. I assume some martial law situation will prevail until workmen put on their tool belts and things get back in order.

Aja on 11/3/2024 at 14:48

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I can bake sourdough from flour and water, and I can build simple furniture with a basic kit of hand tools (axe, plane, brace, saw, chisel), but that's about it. I figure we don't all have to be Tockys for the apocalypse as long as we each have one or two skills to contribute.

DuatDweller on 17/3/2024 at 17:54

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Another story, this happened in the summer of 1980 in Italy.
I know I cannot be a reliable witness with this schizophrenia thing-am-a-bob, but this happened way before the on set of symptoms and there was another witness.

Fabrizzio and me were playing in the grass in the yard between 4 apartment buildings, which were built from the end of the 60s and the early 80s, they were all of the same style, 5 habitable floors and a ground floor entrance supported by several columns.

It was early noon a day of June when from behind a small mountain to the east passes a flying saucer, going west, crossing over an even larger mountain 2200 meters high (7217 feet) so it was going at least 2500-2700 meters (8202-8858 feet) high, and emitted no sounds, it had no decorations or symbols or ID or any cuts in the fuselage. (no, no lights either)

We were a bit dazzled by the view. Not to mention the emotional status was very much altered.

Next week, on a "Famiglia Cristiana" magazine a report mentioned the flying saucer going far away up to Lombardia, Milano (Milan), being followed a jet fighter from the Italian air force which never reached or matched its speed and lost sight of the craft.

Tocky on 15/3/2025 at 04:12

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It happened. What I had dreaded for so long. It became harder to get Mom to eat. We were grinding her pills and putting them in apple sauce to feed her. Part of those were antibiotics to fight off a possible UTI or flu. I had it and got over it and hoped mom would miss it somehow. None of us had thought to get a vaccination this year. The decline was so slow. It had been happening for the past year. Once she lost the ability to stand I suppose it was inevitable. But I had wanted one more weekend where I could take her out in a wheel chair to enjoy the sun, maybe to see her old house once more. They were all cold and rainy. The best I got was her into her old recliner where she stayed all day. I used to come to her place and watch westerns or Wheel of Fortune back when she paid attention to the TV. This time she mostly slept but wanted to be in that chair while she did.

Then she choked on some eggs Monday and we worried. Breakfast was her favorite meal. Then she didn't want to eat anything. I fed her and gave her water a spoonful at a time while I talked to her ever hopeful. But I knew. Nevermore is real. At one point the last day, a Thursday, she said, "oh Lord, I'm right here". She enjoyed telling my wife she didn't love her and laughing when Rena pestered her about saying it. That day, the last thing she said in fact, was that she loved her. I have slept on the couch next to her bed since September in case she needed me. That night I awoke at around 2:30 AM to her ragged breathing. She snored but this was different. I hooked up oxygen for her and she was so limp. I pushed her recliner next to the bed and sat in it as I held her hand and dozed off. Around 4:30 I noticed I was only hearing the oxygen machine.

We let the kids know and they were over in no time. I made coffee. While I cleaned the stove in preparation for breakfast my son came over to me. He knew I was putting off the breakdown. He hugged me and I buried my face in his huge shoulder and let go. I have some wonderful kids.

I have some wonderful friends too. They came from all over. Dit called crying himself at the news. All of them called or came but that meant so much. We did all the funeral stuff, they took her away, we picked out a casket and dress, and a vault. My daughter had promised her that she would do her makeup, hair and nails, so that she would look natural and she had done it so many times while she was alive. That must have taken so much out of her. She was Moms favorite and it went both ways. I recall when she was little she said she was going to marry Mom when she grew up and that Mom would have a baby and it wasn't going to be Dads and he couldn't rock it. Kids.

So many holidays and every Sunday dinner we all gathered at Moms house. So many good memories. Samantha wrote a lot of what she said down in those days and used it in her eulogy. It was about her younger years and all the trials and joy she had with her many sisters and brothers. It was also about us kids and what we were like. I had to laugh when she said I was perfect all the time. Hardly. I was reckless and selfish and thought everything had to be some grand adventure. Somehow it actually was though. And my parents made childhood perfect. So much time and attention. So many acts of kindness. All of us agree we were the luckiest kids on earth.

Sam sang Moms favorite songs, including "Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree With Anyone Else But Me" which was Mom and Dads song. She sings so well and only broke once for just a bit. I'm still pretty broken myself and don't feel like doing anything though there is so much to do. But I've got the engravers for her stone and that is the last of the burial things. So many flowers, so many relatives, so many good neighbors bearing food. I'll have to get the kids together to divide stuff and sign for my little brother to have the house.

I'm going to miss her so much.

https://i.imgur.com/ptB8xUG.jpeg

Pyrian on 15/3/2025 at 08:39

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I'm sorry for your loss. Rest in Peace, Tockymom. :(