The Homeless Mentally Ill

Vicki Notes

Homelessness:

A Historical Perspective

• In the 18^th century America – some believed the mentally ill were possessed & that they should be feared.
• Toward the end of the century, state mental asylums were established & evolved throughout the 19^th century & early 20^th century.
• During the great depression of the 1930s there was a surge in homeless people.
• After World War II – skid rows began to develop in major urban areas.
• This census rise was too much for state hospitals to handle (provide adequate care) à care then deteriorated à and resulted in warehousing.
• In the 1940s the media exposed deplorable mental hospital conditions.
• In 1948 the National Institute of Mental Health was established.
• In 1953 the first major tranquilizers were introduced.
• As social reform responded to deplorable hospitalization conditions, the movement towards deinstitutionalization began à this lead to mentally ill persons being discharged to nursing homes, boarding houses, hotels, single-room dwellings & low-income housing à By the end of the 1970s many of these persons were among the homeless.
• In the 1980s -1990s decreased funding for low income housing & decreased federal aid to the disabled (many who are mentally ill) increased the problem.
• Today the criminal justice system & homeless shelters are often the primary care providers for the homeless mentally ill.

Who are the homeless?

• Families (single moms with 2-3 children), schizophrenics, the elderly, people displaced by domestic violence, runaways, people on the street.
• There may be as many as 3 million homeless in the US.
• There are three defined categories of the homeless:
• Those who suffer severe economic setbacks.
• Those with personal lives & decisions complicated by crisis or series of crisis.
• Seriously disabled with mental illness or substance abuse disorders with no social support system.
• The homeless are mainly Caucasian & less than 50% have a high school diploma.

Homeless Families

• Families are the fastest growing subpopulation of homeless.
• A typical family is a single mom with 2-3 children.
• These children show developmental delays, depression, anxiety, learning difficulties & shame.

Homeless Mentally Ill People

• Account for 1/3 of the homeless population & half show symptoms of depression.
• Schizophrenia is the most common mental illness affecting homeless people. Major affective disorders & alcoholism are also higher in the homeless.
• Changes in TX philosophy & mental health law have created a rise in homelessness of chronically mentally ill young adults. They usually receive TX à leave the facility à do not follow-up & decompensate.

Factor Contributing to Homelessness in the Mentally Ill:

Discussed here is substance abuse, poverty, inadequate housing & high mobility.

Substance abuse

• Mentally ill, especially young adults may attempt to self-medicate psychiatric symptoms with street drugs or alcohol.
• Between 20% - 40% of homeless mentally ill people also have alcohol or substance abuse disorders.

Poverty

• The most seriously affected are people of color, children & the elderly.
• Unemployment, public assistance cuts, and increased domestic violence contribute to homelessness.
• High % of new jobs created in the 80s & 90s paid only minimum wage or higher à this increased homelessness.
• Those with better paying jobs are not immune.
• Americans in low paying jobs may only be a few paychecks away from homelessness.

Inadequate Housing

• People with low incomes are paying more for housing.
• In the 1980s there were twice as many low-income families as there was available low-income housing & there have been no improvements.
• The poor, the nonwhite & the elderly are victims of eviction.
• A wide range of community housing is needed for the diverse functioning levels of the chronically mentally ill.

High Mobility

• A phenomenon of restlessness affects many homeless mentally ill.
• Moving in & out of homelessness or homes & outpatient treatment facilities.
• Chronically mentally ill young adults may find a sense of autonomy in being homeless à it makes them fell independent of family/parents. However it leads to them receiving a lack of treatment, using street drugs to self-medicate & not being able to cope with their mental illness.
• 3 types of mobility are noted in the homeless mentally ill:
• Episodic or intermittent – movement in & out of homelessness.
• Seasonal-type movement – in a geographically defined area.
• Migratory-type movement – over wide geographical areas.

Critical Issues Affecting the Homeless Mentally Ill:

These include the effects of deinstitutionalization, barriers to care, the shelter system & health concerns.

• A sense of belonging & a psychological sense of a home are lost for the homeless person.
• Chronic homelessness occurs when community support is not available to prevent it or turn it around.
• To cope with losses the homeless may disaffiliate from conventional society & identify with a homeless culture à called acculturation.

Effects of Deinstitutionalization

• Taking the mentally ill out of institutions began as a positive process in support of these patients’ civil rights à but when less were put into institutions there was nowhere for them to go à they lacked community support services & housing.
• They have the right to receive TX, refuse TX & be treated in the least restrictive environment à the question is – is that therapeutic?
• It has affected about 2 million seriously mentally ill in the US/

Barriers to Care

• Barriers to care include lack of insurance, transportation, knowledge of available services, they have no identification or address (which are often required for eligibility or services), fear of leaving their things while at an appointment, missing meals, or fear of scrutiny by acre givers.
• An internal psychological barrier in accessing care is the two-way process of withdrawal that may occur between the nurse & patient à nurses should focus on the physiological causes of the clinical situation, not examining their own feelings & attitudes. Avoid the all or nothing approach with treatment à be flexible.

The Shelter System

• Are needed for homelessness but are not & never can be the solution.
• Act as a replacement for mental institutions in urban settings.
• Vary in size & service offered à may have beds, cots or only floor space, meals, reading materials, laundry facilities & clothing. Some have psychiatric & health services.
• Often staffed by professional & nonprofessional volunteers.
• Valuable opportunity to provide health education.

Health Concerns

• The chronically mentally ill have 3 times the disease morbidity & mortality rates à with the homeless being even higher.
• Chronic disease of the homeless – 1^st is mental illness à then hypertension à followed by diabetes, circulatory disorders & peripheral vascular disease à only half seek help.
• Average life expectancy of the homeless is 50 years.
• Other health problems from being homeless include – exposure, dependent positioning (being on their feet all day), poor ventilation, trauma from violence (especially in cities), high population density, heat stroke, frostbite, lice, scabies, insect bites & poor nutrition.
• Because of their anonymity, homeless people are often victims of senseless crimes à and are victims far more often than the perpetrators of such crimes.

Assessment

• Stereotypes to homeless may be a barrier to providing care, as they are widely stigmatized as, "crazy"à nurse should assess her feelings and attitudes to be able to provide effective care.
• It is not unusual for a nurse to feel uncomfortable and even fearful when beginning to work in homeless settings.
• Assess capacity to work, ADL’s, chronic treatment needs, seek out and enjoy leisure time, difficulty relating to others, lack of self confidence and self-esteem, dependency needs, affects of meds that limit motor capacity, acting out that interferes with relationships, financial resources, lack of motivations or self-direction toward defined goals.
• Assessment may be difficult due to lack of privacy and the high noise level in shelters, distractions of the street when outside a shelter. Embarrassment of having belongings inspected and frisked for weapons.
• Proceed with mental statues exam- keep in mind the most pressing problem may be securing a place to stay that night. These patients have increased likelihood of CNS impairment. Note history of head traumas and other organic damage. Screen for STD’s, toxicology, risk factors for HIV and with consent, blood testing.

Nursing Diagnosis

• Psych nurses must be familiar with the norms and necessities of street life, because some unusual behaviors actually may be adaptive mechanism (ex: patient may wear excessive clothing to keep people from sealing them or patients exhibit bizarre behaviors to keep others away).

Some Nursing Diagnoses:

• Altered Family Processes r/t recent displacement
• Social Isolation r/t new onset of homelessness
• Ineffective Individual Coping
• Powerlessness
• Self Esteem Disturbance
• Social Isolation
• Risk for Infection
• Risk for Injury

Client Outcomes:

• Should be reasonable and attainable, for example: The client controls paranoid thoughts long enough to spend a complete night in a shelter.
• Other outcome goals may include- demonstrating an increase in appropriate independent functioning, increasing contact with case management services or increasing use of clinic services.
• Evaluate outcomes in terms of small successes.
• Do not necessarily designate the end of homelessness as an outcome criterion à episodic Interventions:

Create an Alliance

• Initiate the helping relationship in a nonthreatening manner à giving patient as much control as possible.
• Avoid wanting to "fix" problems, act as an advocate but know your limits.
• Don’t make quick referralà before you establish trust.
• Discuss medical conditions before psychiatric problems to help build trust.
• May need to postpone interventions for disturbing symptoms at first to decrease negative experience.

Medication Management

• Sedating effects can put a patient in danger on the street.
• Carrying medications increase the risk of assault and robbery.
• Caution against combining meds with alcohol or other drugs.
• Involve patients in medication management.

Education

• Teach on topics such as hygiene, dealing with infestation, heat and cold temps out doors, cancer/ respiratory risks/ problems, STD’s and substance abuse.
• Teach them particulars about their mental illness, symptoms, and medication side effects.

Case Management- encompasses all needs.

• Provides a connection between patient and the community.
• Nurse ensures patient receives structure and support they need.
• Responsibilities may not be able to handle the increased caseload, nurse doesn’t trust handing it over or patient doesn’t want relationship with the nurse interrupted.

Political Involvement and Advocacy

• Nurse should address the structural problems of society and help influence policies regarding change.

Questions to consider:

1. What are the factors contributing to homelessness?

Substance abuse, poverty, housing and mobility patterns among the homeless mentally ill.

2. What are the issues specific to the homeless mentally ill?

The ongoing effects of deinstitutionalization, the impact of loss on the person, ensuring access to care, the shelter system and health concerns.

3. Who is the homeless population?

Heterogeneous, the young, elderly, families with children, victims of domestic violence, runaways, veterans, ex-prisoners, immigrants and the mentally ill. Families are the most rapidly growing segment.

4. Homelessness is a result of what?

A series of crisis, lack of community and family support, poor decision making, external economic issue and missed opportunities with the impact of these losses having physical and psychological effects.

The appreciation for wood for heating and cooking

        Where I live, many people depend on wood for heating and cooking, even in 2012.  And a good wood stove is still valued and appreciated. So is the kind of wood, since like we humans, some are better than others. Like hickory burns hot, while softer woods, like pine or hemlocks, does not last long or burn well. It often makes too much creosote, for example.

            And now one old Family joke about how important wood can be. Back around 100 years ago my great-grandfather suggested to the local caretaker that he should help his wife collect wood for the cooking here. Well he responded as the old joke goes: Mr. Williams, I would not trust any woman with that much wood.

            Well that story just reflects how important wood can be to we humans. Even during the siege of Leningrad during WWII, it was a big deal. And how about even during the movie Dr. Zhivago, watch how much furniture was burned.

            I even remember reading stories about the patriarch of the Family that became the band the Cowsills had them burn their furniture just to keep warm during the cold season. Here's a link to one Cowsills song you may have heard:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bl61-KMQAnE

            So wood heating, and cooking, is a big deal.

            And to many people.

Stories from my past

       What prompts this post is an old lady asking me to sit down on my way out of a monthly doctor's visit. She had overheard me telling stories back in the other part of the building. We were in the waiting room when we met, and I was on my out.

            Well today is Pearl Harbor Day, to me.  And I used to live there, too. And her brother is entombed in the Battleship Arizona, forever. And she wanted to share this story with me. She had even been there to throw lei's in his honor.

            Heck, I learned to play spin the bottle in a bomb shelter (we had to break-in which we boys and girls knew how to do) built in Southern California just to protect people from Japanese bombing that our ancestors feared, and prepared for.  Hard to believe now.

            Even during my first time in Okinawa, my Momasan (when I could afford one back then), shared a story about being in a cave with her grandmother, when the Marines came in. She assumed she would die, since she had been taught that to be a Marine you had to kill and eat your grandmother just to qualify. Hard to believe now, and I shared this story, too.

            And my last time at the Pearl Harbor Arizona Memorial, it was full of Japanese tourists. As luck would have it I was also at the Peace Memorial in Hiroshima a couple of weeks before. In both places I felt sheepish when I realized most of the visitors had to learn about such things through books and school due to their age. As for me, I will always remember in my mind the impression, shadow if you will, of a human embossed on a stone pillar from the bridge where the first use an atom bomb in war went off.

            Well then the stories got flowing. And my impression was that women can lie/embellish stories just as well as the men. So it was a fun experience, to me. By then the ratio in the doctor's waiting room was like 4 females to 2 males.

            So then we got into earthquakes, future beachfront property, and stories about California, like Southern versus Central versus Northern.  I even shared a story about camping out in Yosemite, and the park ranger warning us about a marauding  bear and to hang our food in the trees. Well, to make a long story short, we saw the bear when coming out of outhouses, and when my brother tripped (age 3 or so) my mother passed him up on the way from the bear and on the way to the camp. So much for maternal instinct versus self-preservation.  And my little brother got up, and still beat his Mom back to the camp. And when we got to the camp, and turned around, the bear was running the other way. I expect my mother will arise out of her grave and come get me tonight just for sharing this story.

            And this old lady had had her honeymoon with her husband at Yosemite, and was proud of it.

            Well, then another female in the waiting room shared a story about going through an earthquake in San Diego, California. Her Navy husband was at work, and their baby slept through it all. It was a pretty good earthquake as she reported, like shaking the bed around the room. She obviously  loved him, or so I thought as I listened. I countered with all my Hawaii earthquake experience. At the 2d grade level of age, nobody thinks they can die, so an earthquake can be nifty. Now I suspect my Mom and Dad may have thought otherwise.

            Same idea applies to the tidal wave we went through, now called a tsunami. In this case we evacuated to the ridge above where we lived on the beach, and what I was disappointed in, I suspect my mother and father were relieved in. And I shared this story, too.

            Now I could go on, but choose to stop. There was a lot of storytelling going on.

            Anyway, you just never know what will happen when an old lady asks you sit down, and listen.

I just don't care anymore

       My priority these days is just to make electricity, grow my own food, and protect it all.

            Heck I even got pleased yesterday with my new two man foxhole with a drainage canal. If I am wrong, then the kids will probably use it as a play house. And even more corn seeds arrived in the mail (which remarkably still works), which also made me pleased. I could go on, but bottom line, I just don't care anymore.

            I've talked politics until I am blue in the face.

            Now I've got to look out for myself, and my Family and friends, as best I can. Now that is a priority, at least to me during these times.

            Let me say it another way. Our USA country has voted itself into political and financial oblivion, and it will affect me too. I will probably lose over half my wealth I scrupulously  built up over a lifetime. And probably millions will now have to die, needlessly in my opinion. And I will even have to protect what I have as best I can. There are plenty of bad people where I live. Heck, I may die in the protection process, too. What a way to end one's life. I always expected to die from old age; and not being shot on some domestic battlefield protecting what little I have left.

            So do I think times are going to get hard? Probably. Now everything I do is pretty much dual use, in case I am wrong.  And right now, I just don't care anymore.

Boys and Girls are Different

       Thank goodness.

            And the success of humans on planet Earth is probably due to the differences being so influential.

            Of course some things are obvious, like the physical differences, and not just the sexual stuff, but even things like the influence of testosterone and estrogen, how we think, and our priorities.  Just go to Walmart and count the aisles dedicated to women's health and beauty compared to those aisles dedicated to men's health and beauty.  Vive la différence.

            Hence I find it remarkable in many cultures, especially those in the West, that many tend to try emphasize sameness and equality.

            Having been around the world, literally and figuratively, I more interested in people being happy, like having self respect and dignity. And a good quality of life while we are alive is also a priority to me. And along the way, also I honor the differences between boys and girls, men and women,  as best I can. And you can, too.

            And for sure, boys and girls are different. And thank goodness for it.

            Now many of us know all this, but some don't, and often they are the fly in the ointment, an old time expression.

Fiscal Cliff Notes

By Thomas Sowell

Amid all the political and media hoopla about the "fiscal cliff" crisis, there are a few facts that are worth noting.

First of all, despite all the melodrama about raising taxes on "the rich," even if that is done it will scarcely make a dent in the government's financial problems. Raising the tax rates on everybody in the top two percent will not get enough additional tax revenue to run the government for ten days.

And what will the government do to pay for the other 355 days in the year?

All the political angst and moral melodrama about getting "the rich" to pay "their fair share" is part of a big charade. This is not about economics, it is about politics. Taxing "the rich" will produce a drop in the bucket when compared to the staggering and unprecedented deficits of the Obama administration.

No previous administration in the entire history of the nation ever finished the year with a trillion dollar deficit. The Obama administration has done so every single year. Yet political and media discussions of the financial crisis have been focused overwhelmingly on how to get more tax revenue to pay for past and future spending.

The very catchwords and phrases used by the Obama administration betray how phony this all is. For example, "We are just asking the rich to pay a little more."

This is an insult to our intelligence. The government doesn't "ask" anybody to pay anything. It orders you to pay the taxes they impose and you can go to prison if you don't.

Then there are all the fancy substitute words for plain old spending-- words like "stimulus" or "investing in the industries of the future."

The theory about "stimulus" is that government spending will stimulate private businesses and financial institutions to put more of their money into the economy, speeding up the recovery. But the fact that you call something a "stimulus" does not make it a stimulus.

Stimulus spending began during the Bush administration and has continued full blast during the Obama administration. But the end result is that both businesses and financial institutions have had record amounts of their own money sitting idle. The rate of circulation of money slowed down. All this is the opposite of stimulus.

What about "investing in the industries of the future"? Does the White House come equipped with a crystal ball? Calling government spending "investment" does not make it investment any more than calling spending "stimulus" makes it stimulate anything.

What in the world would lead anyone to think that politicians have some magic way of knowing what the industries of the future are? Thus far the Obama administration has repeatedly "invested" in the bankruptcies of the present, such as Solyndra.

Using lofty words to obscure tawdry realities extends beyond the White House. Referring to the Federal Reserve System's creation of hundreds of billions of new dollars out of thin air as "quantitative easing" makes it seem as if this is some soothing and esoteric process, rather than amounting essentially to nothing more than printing more money.

Debasing the value of money by creating more of it is nothing new or esoteric. Irresponsible governments have done this, not just for centuries, but for thousands of years.

It is a way to take people's wealth from them without having to openly raise taxes. Inflation is the most universal tax of all.

All the pretty talk about how tax rates will be raised only on "the rich" hides the ugly fact that the poorest people in the country will see the value of their money decline, just like everybody else, and at the same rate as everybody else, when the government creates more money and spends it.

If you have $100 and, after inflation follows from "quantitative easing," that $100 dollars will only buy what $80 bought before, then that is the same economically as if the government had taxed away one-fifth of your money and spent it.

But it is not the same politically, so long as gullible people don't look beyond words to the reality that inflation taxes everybody, the poorest as well as the richest.

One of the big advantages that President Obama has, as he plays "chicken" with the Congressional Republicans along the "fiscal cliff," is that Obama is a master of the plausible lie, which will never be exposed by the mainstream media-- nor, apparently, by the Republicans.

A key lie that has been repeated over and over, largely unanswered, is that President Bush's "tax cuts for the rich" cost the government so much lost tax revenue that this added to the budget deficit-- so that the government cannot afford to allow the cost of letting the Bush tax rates continue for "the rich."

It sounds very plausible, and constant repetition without a challenge may well be enough to convince the voting public that, if the Republican-controlled House of Representatives does not go along with Barack Obama's demands for more spending and higher tax rates on the top 2 percent, it just shows that they care more for "the rich" than for the other 98 percent.

What is remarkable is how easy it is to show how completely false Obama's argument is. That also makes it completely inexplicable why the Republicans have not done so.

The official statistics which show plainly how wrong Barack Obama is can be found in his own "Economic Report of the President" for 2012, on page 411. You can look it up.

You may be able to find a copy of the "Economic Report of the President" for 2012 at your local public library. Or you can buy a hard copy from the Government Printing Office or download an electronic version from the Internet.

For those who find that "a picture is worth a thousand words," they need only see the graphs published in the November 30th issue of Investor's Business Daily.

What both the statistical tables in the "Economic Report of the President" and the graphs in Investor's Business Daily show is that (1) tax revenues went up-- not down-- after tax rates were cut during the Bush administration, and (2) the budget deficit declined, year after year, after the cut in tax rates that have been blamed by Obama for increasing the deficit.

Indeed, the New York Times reported in 2006: "An unexpectedly steep rise in tax revenues from corporations and the wealthy is driving down the projected budget deficit this year."

While the New York Times may not have expected this, there is nothing unprecedented about lower tax rates leading to higher tax revenues, despite automatic assumptions by many in the media and elsewhere that tax rates and tax revenues automatically move in the same direction. They do not.

The Congressional Budget Office has been embarrassed repeatedly by making projections based on the assumption that tax revenues and tax rates move in the same direction.

This has happened as recently as the George W. Bush administration and as far back as the Reagan administration. Moreover, tax revenues went up when tax rates went down, as far back as the Coolidge administration, before there was a Congressional Budget Office to make false predictions.

The bottom line is that Barack Obama's blaming increased budget deficits on the Bush tax cuts is demonstrably false. What caused the decreasing budget deficits after the Bush tax cuts to suddenly reverse and start increasing was the mortgage crisis. The deficit increased in 2008, followed by a huge increase in 2009.

So it is sheer hogwash that "tax cuts for the rich" caused the government to lose tax revenues. The government gained tax revenues, not lost them. Moreover, "the rich" paid a larger amount of taxes, and a larger share of all taxes, after the tax rates were cut.

That is because people change their economic behavior when tax rates are changed, contrary to what the Congressional Budget Office and others seem to assume, and this can stimulate the economy more than a government "stimulus" has done under either Bush or Obama.

Yet there is no need to assume that Barack Obama is mistaken about the way to get the economy out of the doldrums. His top priority has always been increasing the size and scope of government. If that means sacrificing the economy or the truth, that is no deterrent to Obama. That is why he is willing to play chicken with Republicans along the fiscal cliff.

Salt 101

       Bottom line, we humans need salt in order to live.

            At one time, salt was literally worth its weight in gold. That's how hard it was to get for so many people. And how important it was to them.

            And our animals know it, too. There are many salt licks around.

            Now salt is easily available today, and we have a salt epidemic, like we have too much salt that adversely affects we humans, mostly in our diets. After all, salt makes most things taste better to we humans.

            Now even I remember during Marine training in my time, we had to take salt tablets in the morning and the evening, and the drill instructors watched us to make sure we took these tablets. And we usually had  white collars from all the sweat we had from training. So it made sense, to me.

            Later I shared this experience with two doctors, and both agreed that we need salt, really sodium, but all things in moderation also applies, which made sense to me.

            Even through Amazon.com, one biker athlete formula is basically just sodium and potassium. The intent is just to prevent cramps, and it works for me, along with water, by the way. And even the original Gatorade formula included a lot of sodium, I think. Not what's in it these days, I do not know.

            So what are you going to do where you live? I know where I live I will keep salt around, like a lot, and just in case.

Could we live like our ancestors?

       Now would we want to? Probably not. Would our ancestors want us to give up all the nifty things they worked so hard for us to have? Probably not. Of course they are all dead and gone, so any way to ascribe to them an attitude in general is just conjecture. But for sure, they did OK in their time and with their means, and so can we if we have to.

            Now I personally have an advantage. It's called being deployed in the Marines, and often that means doing without, and getting used to it. And I did OK, though it was not fun. And returning to better means to live by was always enjoyed. Heck, even I like being warm and dry and fed routinely if I can get it. And I suspect our ancestors did, too. Call it all the comforts of home.

            So I wonder why the Army fellow accused of leaking so many things says he "lived in cage" when it sure sounds like a similar tent I lived in, and I thought it was pretty good. Waking up with ice on the tent walls was considered normal to me. If he considered that harsh, well I lived like that, too. And I did not spill the beans. Heck I remember one thirty day period in Korea, when it never got above freezing at all, and that was just normal to me. Nothing like putting your butt on a cold hole to poop. All these stories just remind me that we can live that way, if we have to. Now do we want to, absolutely not! We have a better deal these days, in my opinion.

            So if our ancestors did OK in their time, so can we do so in our time. Now do want to, probably not. It was not always a fun existence.

            Examples and our imagination are limitless. Imagine living without public electricity. Imagine wearing long johns a lot. Imagine no hot water unless you heat it yourself. Imagine no water out of the tap. Imagine having to make things if you want things. Imagine going a month without a bath. Imagine having to use a chamber pot to do the night time bathroom uses. Imagine having to cook and sew. Imagine having to barter. Imagine getting sick, and there are no hospitals. Imagine no gasoline powered cars. Imagine having to sleep in a bed with others just to keep warm. Imagine having to get up during the night just to put wood in the wood stove. Imagine having to cut and split the wood manually. Imagine, imagine, the list is limitless.

            Well, I already know a lot of people in the world already live this way, so I know we can do it if we have to. I just don't want to, if there is a better way.

Electricity generation

       When you turn on a switch to turn on an electric widget, the electricity has to come from somewhere. Now somewhere varies a lot, depending on where you live.

            Here's a good link that generally summarizes all this info:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electricity_generation

            And electricity is wildly popular throughout the world. Just look at all the telephone poles and power lines everywhere, for example. Its hard imagining living without easy to get electricity for so many these days. Heck we can light up the night, for example. Worldwide communications and trade depends on it.

            Said another way, when it comes to electricity generation, when the light bulb goes on, one does not know for sure how that electricity was generated/made, and even where it was generated/made. You just know it worked, and when it doesn't work, then we are usually unhappy, especially during the cold season. Generally it is made in the region you live in, so the national numbers are not really good indicators for where you live. And often the electricity you use is from some combination of generating modes, like some combination of coal, nuclear, natural gas, hydro power, etc., etc.

            And since electricity is not easily or economically stored, the demand at any one time influences how the controllers make more or less electricity to meet the demand. For example, we generally use more electricity when we are awake, than when we are asleep. Thank goodness some of these patterns are predictable, so those who make electricity can better anticipate demand that keeps us happy, at least until we have to pay the bill.

            Now I could go on and make this post get complicated, but the aforementioned covers all the basics, I think.

More wild lands stories

       From Theodore Roosevelt's 1914 book "Through the Brazilian Wilderness"

By these rapids, at the fall, Cherrie found some strange carvings on a bare mass of rock. They were evidently made by men a long time ago. As far as is known, the Indians thereabouts make no such figures now. They were in two groups, one on the surface of the rock facing the land, the other on that facing the water. The latter were nearly obliterated. The former were in good preservation, the figures sharply cut into the rock. They consisted, upon the upper flat part of the rock, of four multiple circles with a dot in the middle (O), very accurately made and about a foot and a half in diameter, and below them, on the side of the rock, four multiple m's or inverted w's (M). What these curious symbols represented, or who made them, we could not, of course, form the slightest idea. It may be that in a very remote past some Indian tribes of comparatively advanced culture had penetrated to this lovely river, just as we had now come to it. Before white men came to South America there had already existed therein various semi-civilizations, some rude, others fairly advanced, which rose, flourished, and persisted through immemorial ages, and then vanished. The vicissitudes in the history of humanity during its stay on this southern continent have been strange, varied, and inexplicable as paleontology shows to have been the case, on the same continent, in the history of the higher forms of animal life during the age of mammals. Colonel Rondon stated that such figures as these are not found anywhere else in Matto Grosso where he has been, and therefore it was all the more strange to find them in this one place on the unknown river, never before visited by white men, which we were descending.

This area is in Brazil, and they were exploring a previously unmapped river.

            Here's an abbreviated trip report from a fellow searching for Patiti in the Amazon Rain Forest in Peru.

            I just returned the end of last week, and I am amazed (and a bit perturbed with myself) at how quickly I get enmeshed in the daily runaround of rushing off to work, rushing home, rushing off to evening job, etc. and etc.

The expedition had as its final goal, before setting off from Cusco, the following:

-To as quickly as possible reach the Lago de Ángel that we identified for the first time in 1999, then revisited briefly in 2004 (both times having been transported to the Lago de Ángel area by helicopter), and then to leave the pack-animals and go off on our own to push our way to the north-northeast, to eventually meet the valley of the Río Timpía at a point just north of our furthest point reached when we went as far down that valley as possible in two weeks, walking along the course of the river below in order to follow the trajectory of the "Camino de Piedra" that continues along, ever northward, along the left wall of the valley, at a mid-point in the bosque de nubes between the river, below, and the highlands, above. There we would check out the continued route of the Incan Road of Stone, as well as the distinct possibility of an archaeological site nearby.

We were going to meet the mules at Sacramento, a precipitous area of campesino chacras overlooking the Río Yavero, below, an area at least relatively close--as the harpy eagle flies--to Lago de Ángel, at least in its being directly south of the Lgo de Ángel area.

But, as it turned out, we were unable to contract or arrange with an arriero from that area. So we would have to enter from an area, Lacco, much further to the southeast of the Lago area, because that was the area that had an arriero con mulas that we could contact and make tentative arrangements with.

So, from Cusco, we went there by vehicle, after a delay finally were joined by arriero and mulas, and headed on, to the northwest, climbing and climbing and climbing, broken by stepp and muddy and high-grass swampy areas, muy acidentado. After a few days, the territory was too difficult for the mules, as well as for one of the younger fellows hired in Calca to help carry equipment and assist Paulino. The arriero, his mules, and one of our assistants thus left, leaving us with an overabundance of weight to carry ourselves. Paulino, of course, carried the weight that ordinarily would be carried by almost three men, but the rest of us were really weighed down too.

After more days that were, for me, almost as difficult--because of the type of territory--as the Río Taperachi in 2006, we finally, totally wet and chilled from the cold, the altitude, the daily rains and hail, reached the Lago. It had become obvious that, because time was running out and the territory between Lago de Ángel and our meeting with the Río Timpía to the north-northeast would be even more broken and acidentado and slow-going than that through which we had just pushed ourselves, it would not be feasible to go off and reach that goal.

So, we had to come to terms with making the most of where we were, and where we would be able, this time, to reach. So we more fully explored the very mysterious and unique Lago de Ángel area. This lake is a rarity in the highlands, in that it is more like a Scottish loch than an Andean lake--it is steep-sided and angular, with wine-dark waters that seem to be very deep, with a shore line that appears in places as if it were carved in order to be so straight. And the highland cloud-forest overlooking it is replete with a tumble of caves. In 1999 we had found what seemed to be a triangular stone monolith in one of the caves; in 2004 we had tried to find it again, but couldn´t. But now, we did find the cave, but upon more close examination found that the triangulat stone was in fact not attached to the cave wall, and more likely was a natural slab that had fallen into its strange position from the ceiling oif the cave above. We documented and photographed other of the definitely man-made stone platforms that were at the entrances to some of the caves. The entire area appeared to have functioned as a ceremonial area, as everything found there appeared to be for ceremony rather than for pragmatic use.

Then we headed off to the northwest, to the area of the large ceremonial area of "Último Punto" that we came to and documented in 2004. The intervening years with the encroaching vegetation, and an apparent attempt by, perhaps, some wandering cowboys to "huaquear" (to sack, to dig up treasure from) the site, had all conspired to make what had been a very impressive plataforma into yet another nearly indistinguishable pile of stone rubble. We also climbed the nearby peak, where there had been a low star-shaped platform in 2004; it as well was harder to distinguish, covered in much vegetation, but was at least still intact.

From here we would begin our return, having decided to in fact go directly south from here, to return by way of what would have been our initial staging point if we had been successful in locating and contacting an arriero from there, Sacramento. From there we would zip to the east along the course of the Río Mapacho/Yavero, to find ourselves again in Lacco, to meet with the vehicle from Cusco with which we had arranged a pick-up at the very place the driver had left us off weeks before.

That return trip south certainly seemed just as difficult as the journey northwest had been, and we found the area so waterlogged that it was like traveling in high, cold, precipitous highland swamp, with it very difficult to find a suitable campsite each night. But somehow, because of Paulino´s unfailing judgement and discernment, it did always somehow fall together at the last possible minute just before darkness fell.

Finally we reached sacramento, after the most acidentado descent ever, during which both the Italian with us, as well as myself, injured our knees (not so much from one particular fall, but rather from the cumulative effect of many falls, many wrenchings, many multi-hour constant steep descents...

In Sacramento we found the chacra of Mario, one of our arrieros from 2004. He just happened to arrive there that day from a journey down the valley, and next day we headed on, staying at this and that isolated campesino settlement, until we finally reached Lacco and eventually were joined by our hired vehicle and driver from Cusco, and back to Cusco, by way of Quebrada and Lares, we went.

(I gave my camera to Paulino, for him to use throughout the year, so I have no photos to transfer to computer at the present moment.)

Baking soda 101

       Here's some more ideas that might help you where you live. Here's the link:  http://www.greenlivingtips.com/articles/30-baking-soda-tips.html

            Here's one more link:  http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/the-miracle-cleaner-baking-soda-tips-tricks-for-using-baking-soda-around-the-home-164996

            There are many other internet discussions on baking soda, too.

            Here's the wiki link on the subject:                                 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_bicarbonate

            Now if we try to make it on our own, good luck. Here's a link on that subject:  http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080412170556AA5KWjw

Vinegar 101

       I sure hope this link helps you where you live: http://www.vinegartips.com/Scripts/

How about something in between?

       Suppose we in the USA reject the royalty way of ruling?

            Suppose we in the USA are otherwise attacked by people trying to rule us?

            What are we going to do?

            Are we willing to fight for our way of life?

            Now I think most are willing to fight for our way of life, but the Country still seems divided the last time I checked.

            Perhaps some will even surrender, or even choose another way?

            Do we have something worth protecting and preserving for ourselves and our children?

What does going down the tubes mean to you?

        Mostly it means losing access to clean water, and next waste water treatment, like where does our poop go in order to keep us healthy? Nobody wants to get cholera, like in Haiti, for example.

            Bottom line, we can have three days without clean drinking water before we die. Said another way, we have to drink clean water that does not make us sick.

            Next it goes to food, like eating to live. I personally believe we will shop out our local grocery stores within three days if times get hard. Then we are on our own. Now remember we can, worse case, go 30 days without food.

            Next it goes to security. Like if is your Family is OK health wise, then the bad and probably local desperate people may come to invade and rob you anyway. And there won't be a 911 to call; in fact the whole phone system may be down. Again, we are on our own, and so are you.

            Is this simple enough?

            Later one can even add in the food, shelter, and clothing ideas. But that comes later compared to the idea of "going down the tubes", and surviving that initial process alone.

Cooking 101

       I got thinking this morning while shopping at the local grocery store.

            In fact, I like to cook, really just experimenting on myself and my relatives and friends. And I am willing to admit failure sometime, like what I made just is not too much fun to eat, or otherwise popular.  Then the dogs and other critters give me a fall back.  Now more often it is enjoyable to eat, too. So if someone asks me for a recipe, usually I don't know the proper answer since I just use ideas to try out. Anyway, it is fun to me.

            It's a little bit like a high a school chemistry experiment, with the emphasis on "experiment".  After all whatever food we cook does interact different ways.

            What got me thinking was that I am a male, and somehow females got associated with cooking. Why I do not know, especially thinking few of us are born knowing how to cook and prepare food. Usually we have to be taught. Fortunately, I had a grandmother who took the time, now and then, to teach me some of her tricks and methods. She was a good cook, and a good presenter of food, too.

            Mostly she often ignored me (when I lived with her) as she was pretty busy, too. And often the hard things, like shucking beans and pulling their strings (from the farms), and pulling up nut grass, well I ended up getting the work as an assignment. My younger brother would usually slink off, "usually". I guess we grandkids end up running together in our grandmother's minds, though I distinctly remember her in my mind. Also my mother, her daughter, was a crummy cook, and I guess a disappointment to her own mother in the cooking arena.

            And, when you think about it, cooking and serving food to the eaters gives the person doing the work a lot of power, influence, preaching power, whatever, as long as it feeds the critters who eat it. And often it is the female of the human species who does the cooking and serving.  Again, why I do not know, but that does seem to be the way things are in general. So I guess most females just have to learn on their own these days in the USA. Now if they are lucky, somebody they grew up with taught them something, too, including about cooking. Now if nobody taught them, then they, and even I, have to now figure it out all over. What a crummy deal.

            Like 350 F (177 C) is a good temperature to bake and cook most things at if you don't know any better, like if you have never been better taught otherwise. And if you have never been taught, then you just have to keep an eye on the food to see when it is "done", like cooked. Use your own judgment and eyes. And there is such a thing as cook's prerogative, like taste it yourself to see what you think.

            End of cooking 101. There won't be a test.

Raw  linseed oil

       I live in a 1905 house with all wood floors.  I think of it as a living museum, and I'm the one living in it. I try to use ways our ancestors used. Once a month I swab the wood floors with a vinegar water solution to try clean them. Then I put on oil, and it generally takes about a day to soak into the wood, or just dry out. During this period the floors are slick as ice, especially during the first few hours.

            Now about any kind of oil can be used. Now I don't think that applies to the oil we use in our cars, or other such petrochemical products.

            Yesterday, I tried using old fashioned raw linseed oil as my oil for the wood instead of more modern oil concoctions.  I have not tried boiled linseed oil, by the way.

            Basically, one can see the wear patterns in the wood before they start, and that is generally where I focus my mopping efforts to apply to the wood. Now I  do the whole floor just to make sure there are no dried mop lines left, but still concentrate on the high wear areas, usually with extra raw linseed oil.

            So far I like the results. And I noticed last night an inside dog licking the floor, and after research on the Internet, read raw linseed oil has food qualities, too. The dog had already figured it out.

            Now I'm thinking it has down sides I don't know about, too. After all, we have more modern was to preserve wood, too. I assume that is for good reasons.

            Also, I have used other oils on my outside porches wood in the past, and it does waterproof the wood, like causes the water from rain, etc., to bead up, and evaporate.

            Last I started oiling my wood floors a year or two ago. Well, I guess it had not been done for years, as the wood seemed "thirsty" on the first application.

            As to raw linseed oil, only time will tell the pros and cons. Now I do think it is still often used for shining up wood stocks for rifles. And I have been taught it was a preferred oil for wood floor use in our human past.

More on sourdough cooking

 

Letter Re: Sourdough Bread Baking

Dear Mr.XXXX,
Another advantage of sourdough bread is that it is lower on the glycemic index than most other breads and is better for diabetics and people with blood sugar problems. As a diabetic myself, it's about the only kind of bread I eat and would be very useful in a survival situation in which I would be forced to regulate my sugar levels with diet.
- Burke in Ormond Beach, Florida

Just some weekend food for thought that might benefit you, where you live.

 

Security at night at the Hemlocks

       First is the Compound discussion.

            We have lights powered by local rechargeable electricity. And the roofs work, and should until at least 2020. In case I am wrong, then we have roof repair stuff, too.  Mostly the local electricity is just low power LED (light emitting diode) stuff, but there is also an LED ganged outside light that is setup to run off of Hemlocks' water power. The on-off switch for it is in the electric room and uses the circuit breaker to turn it off and on. As of 12/1/2012 it is turned off.

            We also have a lot of self defense stuff, whose distribution will have to be figured out if the poo poo hits the fan. This gear consists of guns, pellet guns, crossbows, sling shots, various cutting things, and even bear spray.

            Second the away from the compound discussion.

            We have a lot of gear to help protect those defending us away from the Compound, like wet weather gear, and even ponchos. The initial intent is to also have warm broth, ramen, or something like that ready for  those coming off of patrols, so someone will have to be up to do this. Plus there are two Stanley stainless steel thermos that should be used. One can use the wood stoves to make this warm broth.

            Now for night vision gear, including FLIR (forward looking infrared radar), like the discussion.

            Bottom line, I would rather have it than not, but it is not the be all, end all. Just how to interpret what you see through this gear is one of the problems. Weather, to include rain and fog, is another problem. Plus laser range estimation can be very difficult depending on terrain. Plus we humans are still a few years away from gear that works best for an extended period of time. Plus take all the  electricity considerations, and the gear that runs off of rechargeable batteries is best. Even during Desert Storm the best gear was captured gear, often British RACAL built, that ran off of AA batteries, vice USA built proprietary batteries that were very often hard to get.

            So be prepared to patrol the old fashioned way at night. Like let your eyes adjust, use moonlight if available, use warning cans with pebbles on strings, etc, etc. We should be OK, though it does take work. And rehearse the routes during daylight, as well as installing extra defense measures, too.

            Our human ingenuity works to our advantage.

            For example, I imagine two people out for a 4 hour watch, 24/7/365. One would be in a foxhole near the Compound, and one would be foot patrolling. No trench warfare here...this foxhole would be sand bag lined (already at the Hemlocks) with a couple of pallets in the bottom, and a drainage ditch out of it, too. Heck, our kids could play in it, and probably will. There is another post on this proposed initial route and setup, and what to protect. They might use the one night vision monocular we have, and do the best they can, which should be pretty good.

            Also in good times, thieves tend to be lazy, like they will probably come during warmer times and during daylight. But in hard times, expect them to come in the dark and poor weather, and even during cold times. That's the security person's job to figure out, as best they can, and with the people and gear they have to work with.