Sunday, November 7, 2010

Essential Preparedness Tools of the Trade Part III - Working Hands




One of the most oft overlooked aspects of preparedness is practical application.  You can have all of the tools, supplies and reference materials to weather any storm that comes your way, but without willing hands to do the job, your preparations will be worthless.

Making Lemon Curd
Dipping Caramel Apples
When you consider all of the jobs our hands need to do, it is absolutely amazing.  We have got to be willing to get our hands dirty, do the hard things and soldier on.  I look at all of the things my husband does with his hands.  He works on generators, wires electric systems, chops wood, flips crepes, bandages injuries, hugs children, fixes fences, re-loads ammunition, shoots guns....the list could go on forever.  My husband is not a man afraid to get his hands dirty.  His hands often look as though they have been through a war.  They are scared, smashed and scratched.  They are the hands of a working man.  They are also often folded in prayer.  These are the hands we will need in order to survive the coming collapse.

Bandaging an injured toe

Kneading dough
Maid Elizabeth works at a grocery store.  She now works in the bakery department, but she used to be a checker.  She enjoyed her job as a checker, however, there was one aspect that she really had a hard time with - welfare.  She noticed a few things about the folks that would come through her line bearing their welfare card.  The first thing that she saw was that most of the ladies using their food-stamp card had professionally manicured fingernails.  They were often so long, that the women had to use a pen to push the buttons entering their PIN number.  They didn't empty their own cart, but waited for the checker or a bagger to empty it for them.  They bought no food that would require preparation.  They refused to put their own groceries in their car, but, once again, expected someone else to do it for them.  Then, to add insult to injury, they would get cash from their welfare card and gamble on the slot machines located next to the checkout lines at the store.  What will these people, who don't know how to work with their hands, do when the shumer hits the fan?  They will shrivel away waiting for someone else to take care of them.

Checking battery voltage

Watering batteries

Tinkering with the generator
Many people who go to work every day and provide for their families have forgotten how to work with their hands.  They type at lightening speed on their keyboards, are very experienced in texting and can maneuver their way through most any computer program, but can they lance a boil on a horse and nurse the wound back to health?  Can they sow seeds and tend a garden?  Can they repair a small engine and keep mechanical equipment in good working order?  Can they kneed bread and prepare biscuits?  Can they milk a cow or nurse an orphaned lamb?  When things get bad, all of the computer knowledge in the world won't amount to a hill of beans.  Only real life skills such as suturing, bandaging, animal husbandry and gardening, butchering and canning, cheesemaking and sewing will make life worth living.  If you don't have these skills, now is the time to learn.

Hanging laundry

Our children can be our greatest asset, but only if we are teaching them to use their hands.  In the day that we live, children are often bombarded with absolutely backward ideals.  They are taught that being entertained is the only thing that matters, that work is a thing to be avoided at all costs and that it isn't "fair" to have to earn your own way.  One of the sayings we live by in our home is "work before play".  Our kids have learned that a movie can only really be enjoyed after having spent the day fixing fences or chopping wood, that a cup of cocoa on a cold day is even better after they have trudged through 3 feet of snow in a blizzard to feed and water the animals.  They are learning the value of working with their hands.  They will be an asset to our family when TEOTWAWKI hits because they understand the value of work.  Rather than battling spoiled children who whine about doing the dishes, we will spend our time taking dominion over the tasks at hand.  



Our hands are one of our greatest preparedness tools.  Learn how to use them!


And remember, He made this with HIS own hands!

7 comments:

  1. Your first picture says it all -- when the Schumer hits--it's going to be prayer and hard work that keep us going.

    Great post!
    Lisa
    www.HomesteadOriginals.com

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  2. my daddy's hands were large, calloused from hard work, but warm and gentle. my husbands' hands are the same..just a gentle touch on my shoulder by these hands make me feel safe, loved, and cared for. my own hands have callouses, brown spots from the sun, alot of wrinkles and get awfully chapped in the winter. they have known many things and still do the work they have always done..well, not as fast as they used to be...but jobs get done. if i were to lose my vision today, this moment, i would know the touch of my husbands hands and all would be okay.

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  3. Save the Canning JarsNovember 7, 2010 at 7:49 PM

    I've got to "hand" it to you, that was a great post!

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  4. Your posts show a deep thinking and faith that I hope to show some day. Thank you for the example you hold up for us.

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  5. Hands and feet will be vital during TEOTWAWKI. We'll not only have a lot of work to do with our hands, but we'll have to walk everywhere we go unless we can ride a bicycle (hard to do in deep snow). So, with that in mind I have been stocking up on first aid supplies with an emphasis on hand and foot care. I want to be able to work side-by-side with like-minded individuals (LMI) when TSHTF. By taking care of my feet and hands, with proper clothing, prudence, and first aid care, I should be able to be an asset rather than an encumbrance.

    I'm happy to see that your husband wears gloves when maintaining the batteries. He's taking care of his hands. I hope you are taking care of your hands, as well.

    You mentioned "the coming collapse" and I completely agree with that statement. I pray it doesn't happen, but I prepare for the worst.
    May God have mercy on us all.

    NoCal Gal

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  6. As you put it there will be a collapse that the welfare crowd will have to face too. They will quickly find out that those who don't work don't eat. That is really how it should be.

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  7. I saw this on another blog. She uses a plant water jug to fill her house batteries instead of a jug and funnel. She says its a lot faster.

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