WOMEN ONLY - MEN WELCOME!!!!!

I have been reading Dave’s Forum topic of ‘Guy Stuff, Women Welcome’ and thought we should start one of our own..

What gave me that idea was all the fascinating info on black powder guns, cross-bows, swords and knives etc.

My departed husband was a very thoughtful fellow and he left me with a .357 Magnum Colt Python with – yes – a 6” barrel!! He also left some swords and knives among them a 1918 US Marine’s knife with a double-edged blade and a built-in brass knuckle duster. I believe those could be mounted on the front of a rifle like a bayonet. So, hey, I’m pretty well set with weaponry, but, as the men are going to be out there protecting us and dealing with the murderous mob when Armageddon arrives, I thought we ladies should get together and revive some of the traditional female survival techniques (no, this is NOT going to be about Sex!)

How many of us know anything about nursing? Somebody is going to have to dig out those bullets and bind the wounds. Do you know how to tear up a cotton petticoat and linen sheets to make bandages? Sorry, forgot, we don’t wear cotton petticoats any more and most of the bed linen is synthetic. Oh, well!

Right, we are going to have to use those knives to skin the animals the men have brought home for us to eat – or is skinning the men’s job? Not quite sure, will have to look it up.

Then we are going to have to learn how to make needles from bone and how to twist the sinews for thread, so we can sew these skins together to make clothes, etc. The knives will come in handy there too for cutting and I do have a whet-stone to keep them sharp.

Next thing of course is to keep sheep, so we can gather the wool, spin thread and learn to weave into cloth.

We need to find out how to make a loom and a spinning wheel, or we just clutch the distaff under our armpits like they did in the days of the Greek goddesses.

Then we are going to have to learn how to store grain and roots for the long cold winter, unless you all come to S.A. where stuff grows all year round.

Have any of you read the ‘Day of the Triffids’ and related books which were so prevalent in the sixties?

After reading that I thought of a game plan.

Immediately on waking up one morning and finding 90% of humanity had been wiped out, I was going to find a couple of Pantechnicons. I was first going to the Library to collect all the self-help book and ancient tomes possible which would teach me how to make stuff. Then I was going to go the the shopping malls and Outdoor Living shops and load up all the tinned food (don’t forget the tin openers!), gas bottles (full of course) camping equipment, spades, tools – manual – and all the stuff I could think of, then I was going to trundle off into the wilds of the country to find myself a farm or ranch as you call them. Because of the high incidence of farm murders in S.A. they are quite securely fenced these days so I would be able to stop the hungry mob when they were coming to storm the place.

I would collect some other survivors along the way and of course as many domestic animals as I could and we could set up shop.

NOW my suggestion is this.

Let us start different forums, otherwise the whole thing gets too bulky and we cant find anything, unless of course Andrey can index it all for us!

These could be:

Clothing and how to make it

Food, how to cook over an open fire

Food, how to preserve it – there’ll be no sugar or salt after it runs out!

Bread – how to grow grain, grind it, make sourdough and bake in a wood oven

How to make and repair furniture – hey, maybe the guys could do that

Etc, etc, etc.

I am sure you get the gist.

So, ladies and men, lets get something constructive going on survival!!!

Love you all

Ursula