Meanwhile, Back at the Farm: Important Information on Preparations

From the second story deck.  I do not recall a March storm this bad in the twenty five years I have lived in this state.

     We tend to be better prepared than most families.  Not to be, when you have a book out called Rational Preparedness would be just plain embarrassing.  As you all know, a late season blizzard hit our region of Virginia on Wednesday bringing a foot of very heavy wet snow.  Cedar trees snapped,  arborvitae snapped, and even my large bushes from Arizona which don't require much water are badly damaged.  Here in Virginia, some of the pines grow as much as one foot a year, and this is why this is such an attractive area for selectively harvesting timber. The recovery here can be so quick, that the wood is truly a renewable resource in a demonstrable time. I realized this week that one of the reasons so many families for so many miles are without power, are the trees. Pines especially grow very quickly here, and as the tree grows taller and very quickly heavier, it puts a great deal of pressure on the root system. The last couple of years here have brought drought, and this drought means that none of these tall and heavy trees have the root system they should. The result are tons of trees in this storm that are lying across the powerlines which lead up and down the roads.  Once power is led to a subdivision or a private home, most often it is buried, but first it must get here on powerlines which stretch up and down the mountainous roads.  When I finally got out of the farm today I had to stop counting the trees which were lying on powerlines.  There were Virginia pines, white pines, royal paulonias, and even a downed oak, and tons of gumball trees all swirled in power lines as a result of the snow and of the high winds.  No one is going to begin to work on restoring power until someone works on all these trees !   My plan in getting out today was to check our daughter's house, to get the mail, and then check the house of a friend.  After a couple of days without power, our daughter headed to a hotel for a shower, and heat as she has the flu. I found everything at her house to be in order, although her forest will need some tree work once the ground is dry and more stable.  I got the mail at the teeny rural post office, and headed to my friend's house.  She is out of town, which is a good thing, because her house still does not have power. I called her via cell and gave her the report.
              In my book, and as part of this blog I have said many times, that utility companies are not maintaining infrastructure as they once did.  Our extremely rural area only received electricity in the 1930s, and when it did, it did so through two electric cooperatives, and a larger company which serves more urban areas as well.  When we built both of our farms here, we were told that the larger more urban company would be serving us.  Today, as I drove back to the farm, I noticed that one "cherry picker" truck for one of the electric cooperatives had broken down and parked across all the sand parking spaces at the tiny rural post office.  It seems that they are not only not maintaining their infrastructure, but not maintaining their trucks either !  I headed for home. I had wanted to fill my car with diesel, but both of the gas stations in the village are out of power, and so the one with diesel won't be able to pump anything.  I decided to go straight home and not waste any more fuel. About six miles from the farm, I noticed another large truck from the other electrical cooperative. It was broken down in a deep water filled ditch at the side of the road.  Conspicuously absent is my own power company, which has not been out to our area yet and we have been without power since Wednesday morning.  The original projection for restoration came and went, and now they will no longer venture a guess.  The internet and the landline phone went out Wednesday also, but returned on Thursday.  The cellular service was patchy and slow all through the storm, but we were happy to have it.  We have survived without having to head fifty to seventy miles elsewhere, because we have the Simple Pump which will allow us to pump water, and use water in the house.  We also have a village generator which we purchased through a government auction. What we did not have was adequate diesel to run it for days because we had believed that it was late enough in the storm season that we could use the diesel in our vehicles in order to rotate it, and replace it. The generator runs and in addition to powering the house and outbuildings charges marine batteries which will power large inverters (Outback and Xantrex)  These are beneficial because your generator can operate for an hour or two during the day, and then be turned off. This will allow your marine battery fed inverters to operate noiselessly, making your family less of a target for those who have not prepared. Suffice it to say, in future, we will wait until April 15, to use and replace our diesel, and we will have better supply levels of it.   We also have a gas stove that will operate without power, and we have gas logs which will heat the entire main floor when necessary. The gas logs will operate in the absence of electrical power.  This allows us to survive. The entire house will not run at once, but we can cook, maintain refrigerators and freezers, heat or air condition, and provide water to family or animals. During Winter, without power, we cannot really heat water, (through our conventional water heater) and so we cannot easily shower, wash hair, or run a giant laundry load, however we are working on a way to do that too. We are able to heat water on a kettle on the gas stove, and pour that into the sink with cold water to do dishes.) We also have a security system and farm gate entry system which operates on solar with battery back-up.  At this time, we have no idea when our primary power will be restored.  I am relating this because it's important to see that it is very likely that restoration times will be later and later in the future as infrastructure continues to fail.

             
   Also there are two important products I wish to tell you about that have been invaluable to us this week.  (Once again, these are just my personal recommendations and I have no financial interest in either of these products. )   One of them is the Motorola Talkabout  2-way radios MJ27OR  FRS GMRS Radios.  These come with 22 channels, 121 privacy codes, 2862 combinations.  These NOAA approved walkies are available at Wal-Mart and were recommended to me by a neighbor at a farm nearby. These boast a 27 mile range. Our neighbor thought that we should have an agreed upon code in order to talk to one another in emergencies.  These devices were very valuable this week when our landlines were down, our cells were patchy, and we wanted an additional way to talk to our daughter whose house is a few miles away.  The only downside to these devices is that they need to live in a charger and be used, and then returned to said charger.  These are well worth having.
                  The second product I want to tell you about is the Eton Microlink FR160.   This is an amazing small device which can be charged using 90 seconds of winding. Then it provides AM and FM radio as well as all seven NOAA stations.  It also has an intermittent LED light, and a USB charging device which can be used to charge many cellular phones for an emergency call. They come in black, red and a fluorescent green. The only downside to this is that although the radio will run a huge amount of time on relatively little winding, you likely are restricted to only emergency calls, as it's a fair amount of winding in order to charge a cellular phone or similar device..  It also charges using solar energy.  During the day, I just placed it on the windowsill.
               Both products were extremely helpful this week during this emergency, and identical units will become gifts to my kids later in the year also.  (I hope they don't read this blog !)


                I want to leave you with a funny story.  One of our sons went to college yesterday and returned later this evening. One of his friends there lives in Charlottesville and commutes and lives at home. They have also been out of power since Wednesday with an open ended restoration date.  They have a generator and were using it yesterday evening, when all at once it cut out.  They looked outside to see that a man they didn't know had cut off the generator and was attempting to siphon the fuel out of their generator's tank.  His father grabbed the shotgun and our son's friend grabbed his closest weapon, an airsoft gun which shoots pellets. When they confronted the thief, rather than running, the man tried to retrieve his siphon, and then he ran. They chased him, and our son's friend shot the man in the back of the head with a plastic pellet.  The man kept running probably wondering if someone was going to shoot him with a shotgun next !   The attempted robbery was not all bad as they were left with the thief's excellent high quality gas can which they have put away.
                There are important lessons in both of these stories.  One of them is that each of us needs to be as well prepared as is possible. Many of us believe that US infrastructure will continue to deteriorate and that we will spent more and more time waiting for service restorations. Make a plan, and consider using your tax return for something which ensures your family's survival in an emergency.  Secondly, our son's friend in Charlottesville was only out of power for two days before someone brazenly turned off his generator and attempted to steal fuel.  How long do you think it would be before armed people came to take fuel or the generator itself ?

Please see our original post on this weather event and our coping with power outages:

http://rationalpreparedness.blogspot.com/2013/03/a-late-season-snowstorm.html


UPDATE:  As of Saturday afternoon,  March 9th, the electricity here has still not returned, and we still have a fair amount of snow, although driveways, farm roads, mountain trails, and secondary roads here are passable.

Power returned in the early evening of March 9th.  Thanks to everyone who checked on us !

When Close Friends Move

Sometimes, a friend changing their home is almost as traumatic and your changing your own. We will no longer have "relatives" a few miles down the road.

    


  As we move through life, we often find that we don't acquire the close friends we have, quite as easily as we did when we were young. I still have several high school friends with whom I stay in close touch.  I have a number of people from college whom I consider close friends.  I am even still friends with a woman who shared a hospital room on maternity with me, when one of my kids, and one of her own, were born.  I have a few friends who were forged when my kids were small, and a few from the area, after we built the farm.   It's rarer to make close friends as we age. We seem to need to have more in common as we age, in order to forge a lifelong type of friendship, and life is so much more complicated now.  Back in my twenties, it was enough that my friend and I were each having our first babies. Even though we were very different, that one commonality was enough on which to forge a friendship.

         About five years ago, on a beautiful day, my daughter and I stopped at a garage sale, not all that far from our home. The family having the sale was moving to the state I went to college in, and they were selling as much as they could to avoid taking it all out of state.  This was one of those pivotal garage sales that I will remember all of my life. They had horse stuff, really nice kitchen and cooking implements, lovely clothing, bags and hats they had worn to the last Kentucky Derby.  The more we spoke, the more we had in common.  They had kids in college, as did we.We developed a fledgling friendship and we stayed in touch when they moved out of state. We both had said what a shame it had been that we hadn't made friends when they lived so nearby.

         The following year our youngest son died, and our family didn't do a lot of socializing.  Friends and acquaintances were there through this time.  Not long afterward, I learned that our friends from the garage sale were moving back to the home they had rented out while they were out of state.  It was a blessing to have their support, and the support of my newest female friend in this time after Daniel's passing.   As much as it has been a blessing to have really good friends nearby, we have never spent as much time doing things together as either of us had hoped.  She was busy with a son in law school and then with her son's wedding.  Her daughter was leaving for an advanced degree in Europe. They traveled a great deal also.   We were busy with an adoption of a teen-ager, who was a bit older than Daniel.  We were busy with the farm and with our eldest children's graduation from universities. We were busy sending our third son to college.  We did go to our friend's garden party in the Summer and we had a wonderful time.
          This week, we find ourselves in the same position.  This time, our friends children are grown and have moved away. They are a bit overwhelmed at the distance our homes are from civilization. They had been talking about building a horsefarm near here, but their choice changed.  They bought a home in a Virginia city in a lovely area where they can be nearer to some of the things they enjoy.  They will ultimately sell their home here.

It is not just the intelligent conversation and hospitality I will miss. I will miss my friend's warmth, particularly on tough days.

          I know that I should be happy for them. They have made a choice that will allow each of them to enjoy their lives more fully.  It will still be possible for us to talk on the phone, e-mail, and visit. They have asked us to come and stay overnight as soon as they are settled.  What it boils down to is that as we move through our lives, we have friends. Some remain important fixtures in our lives, and others move on as they hear different calls. Having children, launching children, and then the departure of children from the nest causes us to reevaluate where we choose to live. Finally, retirement and even aging changes our choices.

         We will miss having our friends nearby.  There was a certain security to having friends like family a short distance from here.  We will miss them, in both good times and in bad. Still, we are carried through another part of life ourselves.  Now we will have a reason to travel to another city. We will stay there, on occasion, and learn about another place.   It's still hard to shake the feeling that everyone is leaving, and that only our very own family is remaining in our area.



UPDATE:    We continue to be out of power since Wednesday's storm.  It may be restored over the weekend.  There remains significant tree damage over lines.  The landline phone and internet were restored yesterday.  We are continuing to run the diesel generator during the day, and turn it out at night.  The diesel fuel is holding up.  We are continuing to cook meals, wash dishes, etc.   We all would like a shower.
The gas logs are keeping the main floor toasty.   Delonghi heaters are keeping the colder spots more temperate.  I still can't get my diesel front wheel drive vehicle out of the driveway.  A lot of snow has melted, but there is an ice sheet below it.  The animals are all fine.  I saw each and everyone one of them today, although I could have used snowshoes !

A Late Season Snowstorm

The mountain trail near the farm early this morning when we had half the snow that we do now.

           Here in Virginia, it's unusual to have large amounts of snow, especially so late in the season.  There are some years where we go without real snow, seeing little more that flurries around Christmas and perhaps nothing more that Winter.  Most years, we have a couple of good storms that are just enough to ensure rural children a few glorious snow days in which to sled down hills, and a few flurries and not much more.  This year, in our area, it's been a fairly mild winter with a couple of snows here. The weather people for the cities some distance from here had been warning us for a week about an incoming snow or ice storm. We didn't worry much because we are usually ready for most anything, and are pretty flexible anyway.
           Yesterday, we learned that not only was a storm incoming over night, but that our daughter had the flu and was pretty much confined to her new home.  I went over yesterday and dropped off bottled water because she does not yet have the Simple Pump as we do, which would allow her to pump water during an outage.  She looked more or less ready to make it through such a storm, and the day before she had new tires placed on her car.

Early this morning.

 

           This morning, we were still surprised to see so much snow, especially so late in the season. The lights went off and on here, which is a sure sign that some of the overhead power lines a distance from here, have a tree lying against them. Eventually we lost power.  Our son who commutes to college found that classes had been cancelled.  My husband found that there were deep drifts on the roadway making it impossible for him to go to work.  Our daughter called in to tell us that she was also out of power, but was no longer febrile and thought she might be a little better.  She called in to work to find that everyone there was being dismissed for the day due to rapidly collecting snow.  A friend told her that a car had turned over on the route she normally takes to work.  We called the power company whose recording tells us that they have multiple outages over a great distance and are unsure when any restoration of power will occur.
           My husband normally keeps enough diesel to run our generators for a few days. However, he had used it in our diesel vehicles in order to rotate our stock.  He headed out early this morning to try to get more diesel.  I think this was probably more of an adventure than anything else.  He returned an hour and a half later having helped neighbors remove trees from across roads, and having slid into a ditch when another truck ran too quickly in the center of the road.
           Presently, the generator is running, and we have internet. We have about 12 inches of snow in most places, as of noon.  We have drifts because we have wind gusts to 30 mph.  If you stand outside, you can hear trees snapping and falling over under the weight of the snow.  One of my favorite cedar trees over by the garage has cracked and collapsed this morning.

This is the kennel area.  The dogs all seem fine.

Another area of the farm. All the animals though it would be a good idea to stay in today. I can't say I blame them.

        The television station in Charlottesville, Virginia which is quite a distance from here is off the air, but the weather alerts we receive via e-mail say that the snow will continue until midnight tonight.  I must go now, and knock the heavy snow off the back deck of the house.  Stay safe, wherever you are.


UPDATE:  When the snow was finished, we had twelve inches of wet and heavy snow.  First, we lost electricity, then landline telephone, and then internet.   The diesel generator started right up.  Our largest concern was that our daughter, who bought a house last year within ten miles, also lost landline, and electricity.  We recently bought 27 mile Walkie-Talkies from Wal-Mart, which have allowed us to stay in touch.  She is not only a juvenile diabetic, but she has the flu, so we immediately asked her if she wanted to stay in her room here.  She wanted to stay home thinking that her power would be restored soon.  
Then, we heard cracking.  In all we have lost two oak trees, a gorgeous tall cedar split in half, and we have really severe splitting damage to the tall and numerous arborvitae.   The animals are all well and fine, choosing to stay in to all the outbuildings.
              Last evening, my husband decided to head out for more diesel.  We normally store quite a bit, but stock must be rotated, and he believed that our Winter season was over, and so we used it in our vehicles. Now we are scrambling for adequate diesel.  He took one of the trucks out last evening and found everyone out of power for 50 miles.  Lowe's had a generator and was up and running quite a distance from here, but of course, does not sell diesel.  The internet, but not the electricity or phone, came back just a few minutes ago. 

About Latex Allergy

This is the offending tree from which we make so many things.

   
 
 We touched on latex allergy just a bit when I mentioned bungee cords.  Bungee cords, most of the time, are made of latex rubber and have silk or other fabric around the cords themselves.

         Latex Allergy comprises a really large range of potential symptoms.  The classic and most dangerous is the genuine anaphylactic reaction, where a physician, for example, who has never had a latex allergy before, dons gloves in the ER which are made of latex, and then promptly collapses. The ER staff are left wondering whether the physician had an MI (myocardial infarction or heart attack), an arrhythmia, or heart rhythm disturbance or has collapsed from a lengthy shift.  The most violent of reactions can cause airway swelling and rapid death, without rapid epinephrine injection.  
          Another type of potential latex allergy is a contact dermatitis, where the patient develops burning or a rash at the site of contact. This can produce wounds which ooze.    Another type of contact allergy is irritant contact dermatitis, where the person, on exposure to latex has burning and discomfort, but this does not progress furthur, at this time.
           Many people are at risk for latex allergy.  Anyone who is or has been a health care worker who had, even at one time, multiple exposures to latex, is at risk.  Anyone who has had an episode of a lot of medical interventions, or multiple hospitalizations or surgeries is also at risk.   Almost 70% of children with myelomeningocele or overt spina bifida are allergic to latex.

This is a fairly mild reaction to latex gloves. Can you imagine donning latex gloves again ?

            The problem is that latex gloves and materials all have in common that they share a common protein from the Hevea braciliensis tree, which is a type of rubber tree.  Some patients have such a violent reaction to latex, that they can react to something which has simply rested on top of something which contains latex. This can be a very serious and difficult allergy.

           Because a Johns-Hopkins study of latex allergy revealed that deaths from latex allergy are far more possible than was understood prior, almost all hospital systems are in the process of gradually replacing all their latex gloves with vinyl or nitrile gloves which have low potential for such reactions.  Sadly, many other medical and other products are still manufactured with latex.  Most nurses will use a latex foley catheter for example, not realizing that a silicone foley catheter can be ordered in its place.  Silicone is less flexible, but can be much safer in a latex sensitive patient.

         People with latex allergy may also have some food cross sensitivities.   Sometimes latex sensitive individuals show allergic reactions to mangoes, bananas, soy, kiwi, passionfruit, avocado, or pineapple.

         In addition, violently allergic people need to be very careful because everything from rubber gloves, some baby bottle nipples, condoms, cheaper tool handles,elastic bands, bungees,  clothing, (especially bras have latex components or threads) balloons, car interiors, some sneakers, and toys,  are often made of latex.   (Condoms can be substituted with the vinyl variety of condom, but these need to be located prior and are not available everywhere.)

More information:

http://www.acaai.org/allergist/allergies/Types/latex-allergy/Pages/default.aspx

http://www.aaaai.org/conditions-and-treatments/allergies/latex-allergy.aspx


Important points to take away:

  Anyone with a latex allergy should carry an Epipen kit with which to treat severe or anaphylactic reactions.

 Anyone can develop a latex allergy at any time.  We all need to be alert and aware.

Sinkholes

What an incredibly beautiful happy graphic for such an horrific and frightening event. (Graphic from: www.swfwmd.state.fl.us  )

       


   All over the world this week people heard about the extremely sad story of Jeffrey Bush.  Mr. Bush, 37, was asleep in his bedroom, in a house he shared with his mother, his brother, the brother's girlfriend and children, and others.  The house which ironically is located on 240 Faithway Drive, was built in the 1970s in Hillsborough County, Florida.   With no warning, a loud sound occurred and the sleeping Mr. Bush and the contents of his entire room collapsed and fell into a newly opened sinkhole.  His brother Jeremy entered the room at once and tried to save his brother, however the collapsing continued.  Jeremy Bush was rescued by a very brave Hillsborough County sheriff's deputy. He was however, unable to rescue his brother Jeffrey.
           In much of Florida, the ground is built upon caverns and caves.  This is such a prevalent feature of the landscape that it has become impossible not to build in regions where this is a possibility.  The best people can do is buy insurance and have their homes inspected periodically for signs of cracks and issues which indicate sink hole activity.  In the case of the Bush Family, they had no prior cracks in their home and they had lived in this location from the time the house was built in the 1970s.  This was truly an unexpected occurrence. It is possible that their entire neighborhood will need to be condemned, when it was apparently stable from the nineteen-seventies forward.

This is a sinkhole in Ocala, Florida.

          Despite rapid work by the police and county hired engineers, using flexible sound and visual high tech next generation fiber-optics , no one has been able to locate Jeffrey Bush alive. They have detected no sounds within the huge chasm which has opened below the house and likely below the neighborhood as well.  They also have stated that they will be unable to recover a body.  A fairly recent inspection for potential sink hole activity,  as is a requirement for homeowner's insurance was recently done on the Bush home. However, this time, no signs of impending collapse were seen by the inspector.
         Sinkholes are not rare events in Florida, however the loss of a person in a house with no notice, is a rare event.  Although we all know Florida for sinkhole potential, many other places around the world have such potential.  The Yucatan Peninsula and Belize have this as a possibility.  The Bahamas, New Zealand, China, Mexico, New Guinea, Venezuela.  Within the US states, Louisiana, Kentucky,  Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Tennessee, Texas, Alabama, and Missouri have all experienced sinkholes. It is possible in states not mentioned.  Even though Virginia does not appear in any of the references I have been reading, I am aware that following seismic or vibratory events, sinkholes have appeared, particularly on roadways and parking lots.
        Sinkholes can be completely spontaneously occurring as limestone or other stones erode underground due to normal amounts of water, or they can occur the result of the intervention of human beings as we bury lines, and perhaps water seepage permits erosion of which we are unaware.

        You should be alert to cracks in your drywall, your foundation, or aberrations in your well as potential indicators of abnormal subterranean erosion patterns.  Usually such indicators are seen prior to a collapse event.

       Unknown to us, our last farm was in an area of goldmines from the 1880s.  We were out for a distant nature walk from the house one day and discovered the ground near us collapsing.  It was only held up by large oaks and their root systems.  We notified the US Department of Mines, and they excavated and capped off the old goldmines, at no charge to us.  This was a very frightening time.

       Our family's prayers go out to the Bush Family.  May they feel the hand of God, the support of kind neighbors, and a compassionate and helpful local government as they try to move forward from this terrible tragic event.


More information:

http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/earthgwsinkholes.html

http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/sinkholes/10637/what_causes_a_sinkhole_/554362

Storm on Sakhalin Island

      



  To our friends who are on Russia's Sakhalin Island, today has been a difficult day.  A severe snowstorm is under way which has also brought winds in excess of 125 km./hr.
   When we were in Russia's Far East, some of our party left for Sakhalin Island, and then returned to Primorskiy Krai with us.    Sakhalin is North of Japan, and East of Primorskiy Krai which is the Maritime Province in which the city of Vladivostok, the seat of the Russian submariner fleet is located.

      The Kamchatka Peninsula, just Northeast of Sakhalin had some rather significant 6.9 earthquakes this week and so I am sure this is a stressful time.

        I have fond memories of Vladivostok and the Russian people during our month long Winter visit.
Stay safe. Don't let your teeth crack in the cold, or the tears freeze on your cheeks !  This is cold and difficult, even for Far Eastern Russia !

Does everyone see how close a proximity Far Eastern Russia has to Alaska ?  This is one of the reasons that some Alaskans fear a Russian military invasion for the purpose of obtaining additional oil.

This is video from today's storm:







 


   UPDATE: Please see our post from December, 18, 2011 concerning Sakhalin Island, Russia at:

 http://rationalpreparedness.blogspot.com/2011/12/sending-prayers-to-families-of-sakhalin.html

Noticing Disturbing Trends

Empty houses don't stay this nice for long. It's surprising how quickly a house which is not being checked or maintained deteriorates.

            


   We live deep in the country where barns are common, and large acreage and forests are the norm. I mentioned this trend some time ago, but it is a trend which is continuing. When I make my weekly trips to pharmacies, or the distant trip to Sam's Club every couple of weeks, I have been noticing that more and more people are moving and leaving their homes empty.  Why does this happen ?  Well in many places, people disappear when they choose not to rent somewhere anymore. However, in our area, there are very few rentals, and so the homes being abandoned are not generally the rentals.  Sometimes people leave when they lose a job and find another one elsewhere, and could not sell their home. Homes are averaging a year on the market, and so sometimes people must simply move to another state, to a new job. They, in essence, abandon their home and their responsibility to pay its mortgage. Quite a few months later, the bank forecloses, and then makes attempts to sell the home.  You might think that this is a great way to pick up a house at a low cost, but it really isn't.  Our daughter spent a year visiting all the local foreclosures trying to buy a home here. What she found was that banks who often felt very stuck by having someone who owed two hundred and fifty thousand dollars on a home, were not at all likely to accept that the home they now own, has a roof leak and may now be worth about ninety-thousand dollars. Rather than cutting their losses, many of the banks see these sales as a chance to recoup losses.  The result are homes and farms which stay vacant for a long time and fall into significant disrepair, even if they were constructed within the past five years or so.  Our daughter finally found a home, but she did not purchase from a bank.  It is disturbing to note more and more people moving away, as they cannot pay mortgages on a home they once loved. The result is a county who charges taxes to someone, likely a bank, and then who finds that a property that was at one time assessed at a high rate, is now worth much less.  Our county has seen a consistent devaluation of many properties during this recession. Some of the luxury homes have been up for five years or more. The owners cannot take a huge amount less for them, because a large mortgage is owed. They simply cannot take less than the mortgage owed, because then the property cannot be conveyed to someone else, without the original mortgage being cleared. Locally, banks haven't been too willing to receive less than the mortgage amount, even by a couple of thousand dollars in order to convey the property to someone else, and get a loan which is in trouble off their own books.

This trained horse which is registration eligible is for sale for $800. in a county nearby. She is only five years old.

                The other trend which is happening here, concerns the animals.  In the past eighteen months, costs to feed our animals have doubled.  Cornmeal has skyrocketed in costs, as has hay and other staples for animals. My husband believes that it costs us five hundred dollars a month to feed all of our animals.  This trend has caused people who own horses to sell as many of them as they can.  It has caused people with alpaca farms to liquidate completely.  There are also many ads, where someone with farm livestock is selling their animals, pigs, calves, etc. for a particular price, but if you have a good home which meets their requirements, then they will make a gift of the animal to you. I cannot tell you how many Quarterhorses, Percherons, donkeys, or others have been offered to us free of charge recently. People simply can't pay feed costs, veterinary costs, farrier costs, etc.  Although I would like to get a miniature horse at some point, I cannot take any animal for which I don't have pasture and housing specifically arranged, and arrangements for equine veterinary care and farrier care. I am thankfully not aware of trends indicating that animals are being abandoned here.  Thus far, when people must leave, they have made arrangements for their animals.
           I have no idea whether my area is unusual or whether this is occurring in other rural areas across the country. We are told that an improvement in construction trends is being seen.  It hasn't reached here yet.  I hope things are better where you are.