<![CDATA[Forum for We're Alive - Blogs - Alive Anonymous "A place for help on the season breaks." by yarri]]> https://www.forum.werealive.com/blog.php?772-Alive-Anonymous-quot-A-place-for-help-on-the-season-breaks-quot en Thu, 07 May 2026 14:49:45 GMT vBulletin 60 https://www.forum.werealive.com/images/misc/rss.jpg <![CDATA[Forum for We're Alive - Blogs - Alive Anonymous "A place for help on the season breaks." by yarri]]> https://www.forum.werealive.com/blog.php?772-Alive-Anonymous-quot-A-place-for-help-on-the-season-breaks-quot Exploration of Survival part 4. Blog 45 ... Falls hurt and leave bruises. https://www.forum.werealive.com/entry.php?366-Exploration-of-Survival-part-4-Blog-45-Falls-hurt-and-leave-bruises Fri, 28 Mar 2014 19:45:20 GMT My last fall number 14 :( Yes I fell 14 times. It seems that there is a technique to walking in snow that I didn't master till we had to leave. The phrase "Pick em up and put them down" is forever branded into my soul along with every sticker bush in the entire state of Illinois which found its way into my flesh.

I decided to try and be helpful and put my new hatchet to use. I had watched Chris chop half way through a larger dead fall log then kick it to break the log the rest of the way. Well... I efficiently chopped then I kicked the log and got flipped ass over tea pot into the mud and snow on my ass. I have a really awesome set of bruises from that. Oddly neither of us remembered what we said but we both remembered we were surrealistically calm. I did manage to break the log with that kick though it did kick my ass in return.

The log... Click image for larger version.  Name: image.jpg  Views: 8886  Size: 228.9 KB  ID: 3111

We managed a pile of good pieces of wood and we sat again to rest. Chris told me that real survival was exactly what we'd been doing. Working together as best we could to gather the basics of existence, shelter, warmth (fire), food, water and resting often to conserve energy. (his words were better then mine and that was how he explained it)

The nap! Click image for larger version.  Name: image.jpg  Views: 8785  Size: 144.8 KB  ID: 3112

The woods in Illinois are beautiful at night or at day. Its an amazing place to explore. I had wanted more pictures and Chris being the good man and good friend was happy to help me in this as he'd grown up in this woods and knew every inch of it and helped me find the best spots for "artistic" pictures. (will post pictures in the end)

Moral of this story: Survival isn't easy but its easier when you've got friends with you who have mad skills.
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]]> yarri https://www.forum.werealive.com/entry.php?366-Exploration-of-Survival-part-4-Blog-45-Falls-hurt-and-leave-bruises Exploration of survival. Blog 44 part 3.5 Nap time is important! https://www.forum.werealive.com/entry.php?365-Exploration-of-survival-Blog-44-part-3-5-Nap-time-is-important! Fri, 28 Mar 2014 19:35:53 GMT After the fire got going (before it went out the last time) Chris declared it was time for food. We'd planned on not eating anything we couldn't catch or forage for. I feel this change of plans was an act of mercy for me. I'm horribly green yet in the art of survival. I was already feeling the affects of the extensive exercise and lack of food and water. I was shaking and sweating. So after the food and entertainment
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Titus and I took selfies then Chris and Titus took a much needed and deserved nap Click image for larger version.  Name: image.jpg  Views: 3108  Size: 279.8 KB  ID: 3110 (nap pictures to be posted at the end as its awesome. ::insert evil eyes at the chat blog program:: "tell me I can't add more then 5 files per blog... I count 3 you filthy liar!" ....
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]]> yarri https://www.forum.werealive.com/entry.php?365-Exploration-of-survival-Blog-44-part-3-5-Nap-time-is-important! Exploration of Survival part 2 blog 43. https://www.forum.werealive.com/entry.php?364-Exploration-of-Survival-part-2-blog-43 Thu, 27 Mar 2014 18:04:36 GMT Chris told me that the branches of evergreen trees were great for breaking the wind, as well as holding heat. Roughly a hour later, Chris returned... Chris told me that the branches of evergreen trees were great for breaking the wind, as well as holding heat. Roughly a hour later, Chris returned without the Evergreens. He did bring with him, the beginning materials for a fire. Dead, tall grass and some SEMI-dry leaves.

Fire
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As you can see, the quest for fire was difficult. Even for someone with experience like Chris. The cold weather, snow covered ground and wet materials all added up to a frustrating endeavor. Two cans of bug spray as our accelerant
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A large mass of dry grass and many, many small twigs later. We had a decent fire going.

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Alas it was not meant to be... Even the best fires no matter how skilled the builder is go out when everything is sopping wet:(
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]]> yarri https://www.forum.werealive.com/entry.php?364-Exploration-of-Survival-part-2-blog-43 An exploration of the meaning of survival. Blog 42? I think part one https://www.forum.werealive.com/entry.php?363-An-exploration-of-the-meaning-of-survival-Blog-42-I-think-part-one Thu, 20 Mar 2014 16:12:57 GMT I opted this year to take my vacation an go see my friend USMCZombiekiller aka my friend Chris. He came up with an interesting idea. We along with... I opted this year to take my vacation an go see my friend USMCZombiekiller aka my friend Chris. He came up with an interesting idea. We along with anyone else that wanted to join us take an trip to the woods and ... survive.

This sounds simple right? The planning stages of the trip were extensive and took us three months. We invited multiple people but in the end is was him and I and his dog, Titus.

The day started out with a clear plan. Leave at the ass crack of dawn. Drive to the location. Hike with heavy packs and make our way in the dark in to the depths of a frozen Illinois woods. Has anyone watched the news about the snow fall this year in Illinois? You see where I'm going with this.

So we set out from the truck in the dark moving into the woods only having single head lamps to guide our way. Did I mention I'm not the best at night? I fell the first time as we entered the woods my backpack being off balance caused me to fall sideways in knee deep snow. This is where I also discovered my god damned nemesis...... STICKER BUSH! Chris being a very good teacher with more patience then I have allowed me to figure out how to get up by myself. He waited a ways off until I gained my footing.

We walked what seemed like hours. Chris tells me as I type this it was only fifteen to twenty minutes tops from the road to the camp site. I'm suspicious he's only saying this to spare my ego from taking so long to walk what was less then half a mile.
We went up hill. We went down hill. I fell and the sticker bushes took the opportunity to assault me violently. My knit hat was taken as a trophy in the predawn by the god damn sticker bushes and they nearly got my mittens. I fell two more times. The last time I fell so badly I was pinned by my backpack like an upside down turtle. Chris was gallant and came to my rescue helping get the pack off so I could get to my feet then came the disaster of trying to get a forty pound backpack back on. Chris had demonstrated multiple times how to put on a backpack from a front position. He flips it backwards over his head rests it on his shoulders and fastens the straps before sliding it into the correct position on his back.
I've learned that watching is not the same as doing. What Chris can do with a backpack twice the weight of mine looks easy but its not. He had to assist me at this point to get the backpack on me. I need to practice that maneuver and lift weights.... a lot of weights.

Once I was on my feet again and my cumbersome pack again securely on my back again, we stepped off again. Once again, for what felt like hours. We reached the camp site. The camp site that Chris selected was at the base of a finger, in a sticker bush and dead fall grove. This gave us a good position to build our shelters, facing each other. It also gave us good concealment from any possible unaware passerby. As a side note, our position would have been harder to locate, if I had chosen a tarp that was a natural color rather than blue. I like blue though and blue is pretty. I type this and grin. He rolled his eyes again at me.

Now that we were at our camp site, we dropped packs and began the long process of clearing brush and snow. FYI, this snow had large chunks of ice in it making it difficult for me to clear my space. Chris on the other hand, had no problem clearing his site. Once again, Chris made this look easier than it actually was. Chris had cleared his site and the fire pit site before I had even cleared four feet of snow.

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Shelters need a few things to be considered suitable. All those factors were not present in my shelter. Chris allowed me to build mine in any fashion I chose. Giving me only enough advice to allow me to be creative. From the photos, you can see who obviously put a little more thought in the construction of their shelter.

Before I knew it, it was pushing 10am in the morning and Chris took off to find some evergreen trees.
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end part one
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]]> yarri https://www.forum.werealive.com/entry.php?363-An-exploration-of-the-meaning-of-survival-Blog-42-I-think-part-one <![CDATA[What I've been doing for the last 10 months. :)]]> https://www.forum.werealive.com/entry.php?362-What-I-ve-been-doing-for-the-last-10-months-) Thu, 20 Mar 2014 15:42:25 GMT Ten months ago I and most of my team at the hospital accepted a challenge. We were asked along with nine hundred other idiots to open the first brand... Ten months ago I and most of my team at the hospital accepted a challenge. We were asked along with nine hundred other idiots to open the first brand new hospital in the state of Oregon in forty-five years.

Ten months later here I am. Our new hospital is two months shy of its first birthday and growing better and bigger everyday. I'm proud to have been a part of something so amazing. Opening a hospital is a one in a life time opportunity for a nurse. I'm glad to have done it but I never want to do it again. :) It's bloody hard ugly painful work.

Neat thing though about this hospital I think if the biters were ever to rise up my hospital would be worth the effort to reclaim. Solar powered with water reclamation and utterly state of the art... Yes yes it would be worthy of the fight.

P.S. New blog today as soon as I can upload the fracking pictures.
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]]> yarri https://www.forum.werealive.com/entry.php?362-What-I-ve-been-doing-for-the-last-10-months-) Survivor Skills for an Apocalyptic Age: Part 1 by stick, hook and wheel yarn is born. https://www.forum.werealive.com/entry.php?338-Survivor-Skills-for-an-Apocalyptic-Age-Part-1-by-stick-hook-and-wheel-yarn-is-born Sat, 25 Aug 2012 03:26:38 GMT As this is my fortieth blog, I felt it was a milestone for me and I wanted to do something special. I’ve invited two of my dearest friends on this... As this is my fortieth blog, I felt it was a milestone for me and I wanted to do something special. I’ve invited two of my dearest friends on this forum 7oddisdead and Reaper239 to join me in starting a series we’ll call for now Survivor skills for an Apocalyptic Age. (Subject to their input)

I’ll start the ball rolling with one of my unique hobbies which in the end of modern civilization will become very useful. I can spin. No I’m not talking about spinning in a circle I’m talking about the ancient art form of spinning wool or other animal fiber into yarn as well as processing it in its raw form from the beginning which is right off the animal to the end product which is useable yarn.

I know many of you would scoff and find it a useless craft but think about it, machine made socks are thin and wear out rather rapidly and are also not easy to repair. In time you will run out of socks it’s going to happen there is nothing anyone can do about it. So what will you do? Wrap your feet in strips of cloth and or animal hide and hope for the best?

Napoleon Bonaparte said “An army marches on its stomach.” I always found this quote to be bullshit. An army marches on its feet and if a solder doesn’t change his socks every day or sometimes more depending on how wet his feet become. He succumbs to foot rot and your army no longer marches.

The very best material to make socks from is wool yarn. It will wick away moisture from skin as well as hold in heat if it gets wet. Wool yarn is made by spinning the processed fleece from a sheep.



This is a sheep with an ok growth of wool but she’s not quite ready to be sheered.


This lady really needs a haircut.


To understand wool you must understand sheep as not all sheep are created equal. There are many different breeds of sheep, a thousand total in the world with forty breeds here in the United States. Sheep are classified primarily by their use meat, wool, or milk with sub classifications within each classification. For simplification of this blog I’ll deal only with wool sheep and specifically fine wool sheep. For my own hand spinning I prefer the Merino breed of sheep. The second sheep picture in this blog is of a full coated Merino sheep.

Sheep’s wool is classified by its diameter of hair. The finer the diameter of the micron of hair, the finer the end result of the spinning. My preferred wool is from the Cormo which is a hybrid of Merino and Corriedale or pure Merino. Most hand spinners prefer a longer length of sheep wool as the fiber is easier to spin. I do not, as the longer the wool fiber the rougher and more itchy the end product. I prefer my wool yarn soft and non-itchy.

The art of spinning wool or animal fiber into a yarn for the creation of garments is an ancient craft. There are documented “twisted” fiber garments dating as far back 10,000 years. For the purposes of this blog I’ll be talking about a drop spindle and the techniques used to produce yarn with it.
There are two types of common drop spindles, a bottom or low whorl and a top or high whorl.

A bottom or low whorl drop spindle is used to make heavier or thicker yarn. A top of high whorl drop spindle is used to make a finer yarn.



You can also see the parts that make up each of the spindles. The shaft is what is used to spin the drop spindle as well as a holder for the yarn that is created in the process. The whorl is a weight used to help the shaft spin and pull the yarn from the fiber or roving that you are using. The hook at the top is merely a place to secure your yarn during the spinning process. In history before the hook a notch was cut into the shaft to be used in its place. The last part is the leader thread, which is a piece of yarn used to wrap and hold your newly spun yarn

A drop spindle can be made of anything you can find you need a weight and a stick and a hook. The weight or whorl can be anything from a lump of claw to a cd disk or even something as ornate as a disk of carved wood. My very first drop spindles were made of a wooden rod, a hook, and a wooden wheel from the craft store, like the picture below.


As you can see a drop spindle can be made of almost anything. The one above is a clever use of junk mail and a good example of recycling.
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]]> yarri https://www.forum.werealive.com/entry.php?338-Survivor-Skills-for-an-Apocalyptic-Age-Part-1-by-stick-hook-and-wheel-yarn-is-born Blog 39 Use this, not that: Part 3 of inspirational weirdness with pictures. https://www.forum.werealive.com/entry.php?333-Blog-39-Use-this-not-that-Part-3-of-inspirational-weirdness-with-pictures Mon, 09 Jul 2012 18:31:47 GMT To truly grasp the concept of how important toilet paper is to the civilized world. People should see what they could be forced to use if there were... To truly grasp the concept of how important toilet paper is to the civilized world. People should see what they could be forced to use if there were no longer any rolls of toilet paper. Also, I felt showing what not to use was a good public service announcement and might save the dignity as well as the tushes of my friends and fellow survivors.


1. The leaf: Not all are created equal in the sight of your fanny.


USE this

Morus is a genus of flowering plants in the family Moraceae or commonly called the Mulberry. There are something like 16 varieties of them all soft and ok to use from what I've read. These are considered the best of all leaves to use if you can find them. They grow all over the world from Texas to Asia.

In a pinch you can use these
Along with the Oak, Birch or Beech will also do.

I suspect a soft pine fur tree branch would be all right as long as it wasn't to sappy and it was soft as some of them can be.



Sort of like a toilet brush?

DO not use this:



or you will look like this....


WARNING REALLY GROSS PICTURE DO NOT CLICK IF YOU'RE WEAK OF STOMACH AND UNMANLY!!!!!

http://allstop.com/poison-ivy-news/w...81074i7HJr.jpg
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]]> yarri https://www.forum.werealive.com/entry.php?333-Blog-39-Use-this-not-that-Part-3-of-inspirational-weirdness-with-pictures The History of Toilet Paper” Blog 38 part 2 of me being inspired by weirdness. https://www.forum.werealive.com/entry.php?325-The-History-of-Toilet-Paper”-Blog-38-part-2-of-me-being-inspired-by-weirdness Tue, 26 Jun 2012 15:14:19 GMT ***********************WARNING WARNING WARNING******** ***********************************************************************************WARNING... ***********************WARNING WARNING WARNING********
************************************************** *********************************WARNING WARNING WARNING*
If you are eating food,
thinking of eating food,
or making food don’t read this blog.

Signed The Children of the Blog writer.
******************WARNING************************* ***




In the dawn of time before the birth of civilization, toilet habits such as the use of toilet paper and hand washing were non-existent. Man was a disgusting creature that went forth about his business with poopy paws and soiled rear ends.

It was a dark time, of the weird smells, greasy hair, skid marks in the trousers and folks only bathing twice in a life time, at birth and death. Sorrow was known as man quested for ways to be clean in the nether regions.

The Greeks, with their vast wisdom and knowledge of Plato and Socrates, used a sea sponge on a stick in a bucket of salt water. After “cleaning” one would leave the sponge on a stick in the bucket for the next person to use. The Middle Easterners used the left hand which is still supposedly considered unclean in that culture. In Europe, the rich used wool, lace, and hemp. The poor had more variety of things to use if less savory then wool, lace, and hemp. The poor used leaves, stones, sea shells, bits of pottery that were sanded smooth, the sand used to smooth out the pottery shards, corncobs, husks of fruit, snow, water, a hand maybe yours maybe not. One fellow suggested the neck of a well downed goose as well as oth and many other things.

The Chinese are credited with the invention of toilet paper, the first documented use of toilet paper in human history dates back to the 6th century AD, in early medieval China it was expensive to make and reserved for the rich interestingly to note that prior to the Chinese toilet paper one of the common items used for cleansing after voiding was something called a Chungi.



Seriously, does anyone have an idea on how one of these might be used?

The Chinese toilet paper wasn’t on the traditional cardboard roll that we are used to now. It was in sheets two by three feet size in packages of 1000, to 10,000. For the royal family it was super thick, soft and scented.
The rolled and perforated toilet paper that we use today has various sources credited with its invention as well as dates. So somewhere between 1877 to 1890 and either the Albany Perforated Wrapping Paper Company or the Scott Paper Company. My money is on the people at the Scott Paper Company.



Imagine, if you can the stock splits on Scott Paper Company since the 1800's :rolleyes:

Today, the preffered color of toilet paper is white, and is available with or without quilts and perfumes. It might have a little lotion or aloe impregnated into the rolls for luxury and is expensive. Or the paper might be 2 ply, rough as sand paper, no design, no aloe and be $4.62 for a twenty-four pack and a bargain. It’s remarkable to me to see how much such a simple item as toilet paper has changed in thirty years.

In the 1960s and 1970's you pretty much could color coordinate your toilet paper to the color of your bathroom. I remember pink, lavender, pale blue, green, and yellow with quilts with flowers and other patterns on them. I got into trouble a lot for using the purple toilet paper to make gowns for my Barbie.

Civilization places a great deal of importance on toilet paper and cleanliness after voiding. Hygiene is what lifts us up above the animals. When the zombie uprising comes and the world is divided into them and us. Think about who you would wish to lead you... someone that can maintain some semblance of civilization or a tyrant warlord that uses pages torn from the classic works of Shakespeare to wipe his ass?
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]]> yarri https://www.forum.werealive.com/entry.php?325-The-History-of-Toilet-Paper”-Blog-38-part-2-of-me-being-inspired-by-weirdness <![CDATA[Blog number 37. "I'm inspired by weird shit what can I say" Part 1]]> https://www.forum.werealive.com/entry.php?314-Blog-number-37-quot-I-m-inspired-by-weird-shit-what-can-I-say-quot-Part-1 Fri, 01 Jun 2012 19:34:45 GMT Typical day in my house, the cupboards are bare, the fridge echoes from the depths of its being, as its empty again. In the window when I drive up I... Typical day in my house, the cupboards are bare, the fridge echoes from the depths of its being, as its empty again. In the window when I drive up I see two of my three children are staring at me with vacant expressions of the low blood sugar variety and complaints of "We're hungry and there's nothing to eat!" From the looks on the faces of the pair of them you’d think I never fed them until you notice that one of them is six foot five inches.

In my house, two of my three children are boys and one of them is a teenager so knowing these facts you will realize that we have no food, we never have food. Food has become a figment of my imagination, an expensive figment of my imagination. I sat down and tried to figure out how much it takes to feed my little family a year. I was horrified to find it takes roughly nine thousand dollars a year to feed my family. Yes I said 9,000 dollars that’s $860 dollars a month to put food on the table and that's not even going out once a week. I’m whining and I'll get back to my tale of excitement and discovery.

Like any faithful believer in the eventual coming of the Zombie apocalypse I always have my eye out for things I could scavenge to use after "Z" day arrives for trade and the keep the family alive and comfortable. It was during my last trek into the wilderness of my local supermarket that I discovered the greatest thing ever for trading in the coming zombie apocalypse, better then food, better then gold, better then fuel, better then ammo, even better then booze and drugs… I discovered toilet paper!

I was going down my list and the last thing I needed was toilet paper. I stood before the paper aisle and looked at the forty feet of butt paper goodness and realized how much the world will suck when the Zeds arrive and we've no paper for our intimate potty needs.

Can you imagine a world without TP? I can't bring my brain to the point of even considering how to live without my favorite roll in the bathroom with me. I shudder in horror to think of what I would have to use as an alternative on my delicate parts when I am forced to answer the call of nature and am without the most holy of paper products at this time of world upheaval.

Don’t laugh its true and you all know it. Anyone, who has ever been forced to use alterative roughage for TP will attest there, is nothing better than two ply Charmin with the lovely little quilts. There is plain toilet paper that’s cheap and white and rough as sandpaper. The expensive stuff is thick as a down comforter and four layers thick and scented for masking the more unpleasant aspects of normal human evacuation

Toilet paper is the corners stone of humanity, it’s what separates us from the animals. Nations and empires can rise and fall with whatever plague or monster the gods throw at us any given day of the week but if we have toilet paper we maintain our status as the most dominate life form on the planet.
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]]> yarri https://www.forum.werealive.com/entry.php?314-Blog-number-37-quot-I-m-inspired-by-weird-shit-what-can-I-say-quot-Part-1 <![CDATA[Survivor Kitchen "American style"]]> https://www.forum.werealive.com/entry.php?290-Survivor-Kitchen-quot-American-style-quot Sun, 06 May 2012 19:30:33 GMT Space Balls I mean Spam Balls (with peanut butter sauce) This was an interesting challenge and forced my hand as a kitchen witch to work some... Space Balls I mean Spam Balls (with peanut butter sauce)


This was an interesting challenge and forced my hand as a kitchen witch to work some intense magic with spices and heat to create something eatable out of one of the most notoriously icky food products in the history of the world… Spam, Yes I said it SPAM © What is SPAM you ask? Spam is a combination of two words spiced and ham (I question the spiced idea of that cause its bland as flour paste with a pork flavor that is unique all on its own but it’s not spicy) Spam is a canned precooked meat product (the definition of meat product is assholes and lips) and it was originally made by Hormel Food Corporation and as per the web site it was introduced in 1937.
I used original Spam for this recipe but there are about seven different varieties. Spam, Spam light with less kcal, salt, and fat, Spam turkey, Spam with less salt, Spam with black pepper, Spam with jalapeno, Spam with bacon (yep pork with more pork I had to look at that one twice) and Spam with hickory smoke flavor, Spam with cheese and Spam hot and spicy.
The idea for this blog actually came from Osiris so I give him credit for it. Originally I had thought to grill the Spam over the BBQ but as I live in a temporal rainforest that plan went to hell with the downpour on Friday when I did the cooking for this blog I opted for meat balls and it was an excellent way to use the canned chicken that was one of the three chosen ingredients for this blog.





For this I used high quality Adam's peanut butter as in a end of the world type situation Adams best simulated homemade peanut butter for taste, Canned chicken breast and Spam original recipe.



To make a good meat ball meat if solid needs to be minced fine as I do not own a meat grinder I added the chicken and Spam to my food process with the S blade and pulsed it till it looked like this...(don't forget to drain the chicken well)



Looks sort of like veal or maybe ground human? j/k

The resulting mixture is very soft and moist. So somethings are needed to help them form into meatballs and as the paste of meat was really rather unsavory when I tasted it.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8161/7...77160f7f_z.jpg

Panko bread crumbs will be rare in the end of the world so oatmeal 1/2 to 2/3 of each can be used. I used soy sauce, hot sauce, chili peppers, pepper fresh ground, cumin, rosemary, curry, mustard.. anything can be used and I strongly encourage it. ( and this egg was in the picture I never used it I'm unsure of why its there but it is) oh and garlic and onion powder



With clean hands form balls with the meat in as close to the same size as possible. I did these approximately the size of a walnut. I then baked them at 350 degrees for 20 minutes till they were a brown and heated all the way through.




While the meat balls cooked I made the peanut sauce. In Thai cooking a peanut sauce is usually served with Beef or Chicken satay and as this recipe is a variation of satay using spam I made peanut sauce. I don't follow a recipe I have my own that my family prefers.



1 cup peanut butter thinned with the coconut milk seasoned to taste with chili powder, garlic, fish sauce, fresh pepper,

FYI, when cooking with coconut milk you need to watch the pot when its heating up this was the result of 30 seconds of me not paying attention.



pretty sure I can't save the pan.


As the entire dish is ugly as sin and the same exact shade of taupe I served it over noodles which also blended in I added a good green salad and grape tomatoes for color.



My daughter shown here holding her plate before she prepared her self to eat it. I'm happy to report she's alive and well and expressed enjoyment of her repast.


(no egg was harmed in the making of this blog... I still don't know why I had it out when I never used it)
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]]> yarri https://www.forum.werealive.com/entry.php?290-Survivor-Kitchen-quot-American-style-quot Combat Fatigue posted by Reaper answered by me. https://www.forum.werealive.com/entry.php?286-Combat-Fatigue-posted-by-Reaper-answered-by-me Sat, 07 Apr 2012 14:31:39 GMT ---Quote (Originally by reaper239)--- ret lt col dave grossman wrote the book on combat (http://www.killology.com/book_oncombat_summary.htm) and...
Quote Originally Posted by reaper239 View Post
ret lt col dave grossman wrote the book on combat and there he deals with the problems that face soldiers in extended stays in a combat zone. well, all of america is a combat zone, so this begs the question: how do you stay fighting fit and mentaly stable (cou-skittles-gh) when everyday you face the threat of death and are in a perpetual state of preparedness to enter mortal combat to defend yourself. i just started reading the book, but he talks about a 60 day period (i think, i'll look back at it when i get home) after which you're pretty much comatose. of course he is dealing with fighting a human foe and our culture has established that zombies are not human, so i don't know how that would change things, but you can't stay in combat forever without a break. thoughts?
As I served in the U.S.N and never saw combat. I can't place my self in that mindset to understand how I would deal with a situation that I've got nothing really to compare it too. So to answer the question I'll work it from the angle of how I would have treated these solders during the conflicts and ways to prevent it by basing how I would have helped my brother if I'd been with him during his service.

My younger brother was in two branches of the service. He started his military career in the USMC and ended it in the US Army. He primary MOS wasn't combat solder it was mechanic but as those of us know every solder secondary MOS is combat regardless of what his primary job is. He did one tour in Bosnia and two in Iraq. (double checked this with our mother so I corrected the location)

For him, the combat fatigue didn't manifest itself to a point were you could tell something was wrong until after the last tour when he was sent out into the field with a squad to try and retrieve a downed vehicle. I suspect it was a tank he never did tell me what it was. But I knew he could work on any of them. He was targeted by a sniper and had to find a way to make himself a very small target. My brother is six foot four so there was was a lot of him to try and make small. He told me it took the squad forty minutes to figure out where the shots were coming from and call in a gun ship to deal with the problem. During this time the sniper put a round about six inches from my brother's head into the chassis of the vehicle as well as made very sure that vehicle would never move again.

Up until this time my brother had had a RPG go through his tent in Bosnia and take out his computer when he left to use the head. He'd had to pick up a teenager's body who'd been blown up by an anti personal mine and return it to his mother in a trash bag because he'd been denied the use of a body bag which he'd been told were "reserved" for American troops. I know there is most-likely more but he refuses to talk. He'd seen some horrific things but I think the deciding factor in his combat fatigue manifesting was the round next to his head and his fatigue wasn't comatose it was rage.

My brother isn't normally a violent person. I don't believe any solder is, they use violence as a tool like the weapon they carry. He's one of those guys that has the physical presence in a crowded room that says.. "I'll crush you like a bug if you step out of line" but I know him as the little brother that let my daughter at age four paint his toe nails pink cause she wanted to make him pretty and admired his nephew saying how my kids were like looking at me and him only smaller. He wasn't the same person when he got home. My funny, sweet peaceful teasing brother was dead. He'd been replaced with moody, quiet, short one word answers, hating, pick a fight with you over the toast guy. He wasn't sleeping I knew he was having night terrors. He drank to much, partied to much. He was like a kite with its string cut. He sort of drifted from one place and party to another. This lasted for 10 years since he got out until recently. The thing that brought him back nearly killed him but he's better now he survived.

I'm not overly impressed with the VA system to catch and treat signs and symptoms of combat fatigue or as its called now PTSD. Nor the military's to relieve it during combat. I feel our fighting forces would be more effective if this were addressed and we would have fewer tragedies such as what happened in Afghanistan with the solder who shot and killed 16 unarmed civilians or the increase in domestic violence when the solder returns home.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/15/us...pagewanted=all

The solders in the article were a married couple. The part I think that bothers me the most was this..

"During an investigation, Army officers told the local police that they did not realize Erin Edwards had been afraid of her husband. And they acknowledged that despite his restrictions, William Edwards had not been escorted off base “on every occasion,” according to a police report."

Prior to the end result of her death and his, she'd sent her children out of harms way and filed a restraining order as well as pressed charges on him. As a nurse this says "I'm afraid of my husband". How could they miss that?

Ultimately to end combat fatigue, combat must end but that is an unrealistic expectation. Wars happen and solders are called to fight in these wars.

How I'd work on relieving combat fatigue in the troops is start in basic training. Talking openly about it as part of the potential hazards of the profession. Teaching each solder what the signs and symptoms look like and how to initiate a conversation with a superior for themselves and or with a battle buddy if they are concerned. There is no shame in this condition. Its not a sign of weakness its a sign of being human.
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]]> yarri https://www.forum.werealive.com/entry.php?286-Combat-Fatigue-posted-by-Reaper-answered-by-me Scratch, the greatest female villain of all time… “I beat my thesaurus up for her” https://www.forum.werealive.com/entry.php?282-Scratch-the-greatest-female-villain-of-all-time…-“I-beat-my-thesaurus-up-for-her” Tue, 13 Mar 2012 18:32:29 GMT Maybe spoilers I’m not sure I’ve been up all night and I’m quite tired ... Maybe spoilers I’m not sure I’ve been up all night and I’m quite tired




In the history of evil bitches you hear names of legendary villains such as Poison Ivy, Mystique, Cat Woman, Jennifer Check from Jennifer’s body (one of my personal favorites), Cruella De Vil, Ursula from the little mermaid, Maleficent, Elle Driver in Kill Bill 1 & 2, Annie Wilkes in Misery, and Baby from House of 1000 Corpses and Devils Rejects. None of them come close to or can be compared to Scratch’s passionate approach to her evil.

I’d never thought I’d be saying this but… I Scratch deeply and truly for the vile, wicked, psycho hose beast, bitch, spawn from hell that she is. Chapter 27 parts 1 and 2 have shown me the depths of delicious cruelty that she can descend too. Her earlier works, in season 1 and 2 I was to overwhelm by the nastiness to truly appreciate the work of a prodigy of evil that she is... I didn’t see her mastery of pain, her perverse nature and the serious pleasure she gains from how she hurts people. She’s an artist at inflicting emotional and or physical damages. She’s a master of the sadistic torture and the best part is she’ll make you do it to yourself and thank her for it. She understands instinctively how to cut and wound a person for maximum effect and maximum fear. She’s a hurricane of chaos set loose upon the world.

Jenna McCombie is amazing in her acting craft as she’s given voice and life to Scratch written by KC Weyland. I’ve seen pictures of Ms McCombie she’s stunning and almost delicate looking. I’ve read things by other people that tell me she is the sweetest soul. I admire her abilities to channel this dark character up and out giving Scratch a voice and serious depth and layers that intrigue me and make me want to know . . . What made Scratch who she is? Where did she come from? What is her real name? (This is one thing I’m not sure if I remember hearing in the podcast.)

I know chapter 27 part 2 left me wanting more of Scratch…
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]]> yarri https://www.forum.werealive.com/entry.php?282-Scratch-the-greatest-female-villain-of-all-time…-“I-beat-my-thesaurus-up-for-her” Ghost in the Machine: https://www.forum.werealive.com/entry.php?264-Ghost-in-the-Machine Fri, 16 Dec 2011 02:31:35 GMT The story of a prednisone induced psychosis or the OS on my laptop has achieved self-awareness. (I’m really hoping for the psychosis) No... The story of a prednisone induced psychosis or the OS on my laptop has achieved self-awareness.
(I’m really hoping for the psychosis)


No spoilers at all.

This has not been the year for me and electronic devices. I’ve dropped, stepped on and drove over my own cell phone not once but twice. Thank the gods I invested in a military grade, yes I said it, military grade cellphone after my youngest kid murdered six phones in six months. The salesman swore to me I couldn’t kill this phone. He was right. Oh and thank God for insurance.

I tend to carry maximum insurance on all my electronic things because of the children… They aren’t kind to things especially when the things are mine. I hope all three of my kids have children exactly like themselves I do I really do… Ok but I digress back to the story.
I splurged a month ago on a laptop. I decided I wanted to take a more active role in being online and maybe consider going back to school for my next degree. None of these ideas are possible when you share a desk top with two other people who both are students.
So off I go to the place where everyone knows my name… my neighborhood Office Depot. I spend a great deal of time in this place, also a great deal of money. Normally the money is spent on debugging my desk top of all things related to porn… the joys of living with an eighteen year old human male.

I get this sweet deal a nice lap top with as much hard drive as my desk top plus a lovely 4g of RAM all for the sweet price of 400$ with a 50$ mail in rebate. I’m stoked because they also have insurance….

The insurance is the best; everything replaced no questions asked etc, etc... you all know the drill. So I get this laptop cleaned up of all spam ware. I get a Word program loaded onto it for an extra 100$ and off we go. I take my new baby home only to realize… I need a wireless router and back I go to Office depot. They do love me there they really do. I get a wireless router and back I go home.
I “allow” my son to set up my wireless router. When I say allow him to set it up I mean, I went to cook dinner and he ripped open the box to “help” me and attempted to master the router and set it up in a manly fashion meaning he tossed the directions to the side. It took me an hour and a half to uninstall the D link and reinstall it and voila!!! It worked!!!! Directions are a cool thing.

My laptop is awesome, the stuff of dreams I’m surfing the net I discover Skype etc. then I loan my daughter my computer. My computer was 2 weeks old when it fell off the couch and shattered its screen. I’m still in mourning but hey I have insurance which I failed to read the fine print on and it will take 10 weeks TEN freaking weeks to get my full money back. I’d gotten used to being free to surf the net on my own without having some nagging person standing behind me saying “ I have a test or I wanna check my email” so I with great sadness buy another laptop.

It’s not as cool, or as slick running but it’s as close to the murdered laptop as I can get and I get more insurance. I’m not accepting of this new laptop and it’s not happy with being my new computer too. I think it knows it wasn’t my first choice and resents me for it.
Let us fast forward to yesterday…. It’s been a month lots and lots has happened. It’s now full winter and I’m prone to lung infections. I work with sick people go figure. So after a month of being sick I go to the doctor and get placed on my least favorite drug in the entire world….. Prednisone, for you all that don’t know this is a heavy duty common steroid used for inflammation of the tissues or in my case the lungs. I like breathing so I don’t argue with the doctor when she in her vast knowledge and wisdom writes me a script for 3 times the dose per day then I’ve ever taken before. Prednisone has a strange effect on me. The common effect is a rabid case of the munchies… but no not me I’m unique and I’m wired for radio when I take it…

So me on prednisone is like a 2 year old on sugar and a Redbull. I’m off the charts crazy and as its 3 times the dose it’s 3 times the fun. I turn on my computer and my four year old wants to go to bed with a cartoon. I turn on Netflix and he and I lay down to watch a cartoon while he goes to sleep. All perfectly normal when my strange laptop starts making a clicking noise… I’m all like “WTF now is this stupid thing going to do” I investigate the noise and in the process I get a “new” screen. Not blue but black. I’ve since learned that black screens can be worse than blue screens. I’m in full panic mode I can’t hard boot and nothing is responding so I pull the battery and turn the computer off. J0be would have been proud of me here. When it comes back on, the flipping thing tells me it can’t find its hard drive and it gives me a web address to “trouble shoot” what’s going on. I got to thinking afterwards… how the F do you trouble shoot if you didn’t have a second computer?

I put the laptop through every test I know and the HP web page tells me to do and I determine that the hard drive is blown and the computer won’t even reboot.
Sadness utter sadness so I take the laptop back to the Office depot this morning… I see my favorite tech, she cringes when she sees me…
Adrianna: “Oh no what happened?”

Me: “Its dead the hard drive is dead” I thrust the corpse of the computer at her and I proceed to tell Adrianna what’s happening and everything I’ve done to come to this conclusion.

Adrianna: “Let’s not panic. It might just be a virus.”

I love her she knows my history well. It’s normally always a virus.
I watch as my favorite tech sits down with my laptop on her lap and she turns it on. My freaking laptop turns on and boots up . . . normally…. FREAKING normally…..

Adrianna looks at me expectantly. I have no answers as my laptop glows happily and normally.
I’m sent to pace the store because I’m hovering. Adrianna takes my computer to the work station and she performs something she call a virus scan at this point I call it “magic”.
Forty minutes later she tells me there’s nothing wrong no virus no hard drive damage nothing… it’s a happy laptop…. Her last words to me were. “Maybe it’s just messing with you?”
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]]> yarri https://www.forum.werealive.com/entry.php?264-Ghost-in-the-Machine Ode to Burt. By Yarri https://www.forum.werealive.com/entry.php?263-Ode-to-Burt-By-Yarri Mon, 12 Dec 2011 22:11:33 GMT Spoilers all over the place, you’ve been warned. http://www.earthpresents.com/files/artwork/swatches/CandleInTheWindow.jpg Dedicated to an... Spoilers all over the place, you’ve been warned.


Dedicated to an “eggs”cellent man I know.

Last season left us all with questions unanswered, concerns founded or unfounded and a healthy dose of fear for the outcome of several very beloved characters. One character in particular was Burt. When Burt was last seen, he’d been following Michael across the zip line between the tower and another building. The zip line had caught fire and broken causing our beloved Burt to fall to his supposed death just feet away from Michael’s outstretched hand. It was presumed that our Burt had died, but I never heard him hit the pavement. I heard a scream, but no sound of a good sized male body striking something solid like the ground. Yes, at the time it was very noisy with rocket launchers going off and people dying and buildings falling, but I still refuse to believe that Burt is dead. How can a man, a marine of Burt’s testicular fortitude survive Viet Nam, the death of his beloved wife Shirley to cancer, hypoglycemia while being locked in the bathroom during the zombie uprising and being forced to try and fill Michael’s rather large shoes as leader of the good guys, die such a wussy unthinkable nothing of a death? It’s not fathomable I say!

Say it isn’t so? Please? Who do I have to talk to change it? I’ll grovel if necessary. If the beloved old Marine has to die, let it count for something let it not be wasted. Let him go out like the bad ass thug he is, not “falling from grace” off the edge of a snapped zip line with his friends watching in horror unable to help him as he so many times helped them.

In the beginning Burt wasn’t my favorite character but over time I got to know him and he grew on me. Kc said once that Burt was a bit like his own father. I agree with that statement and I’ll add my own opinion to it. Burt is the amalgamation of everyone’s father. All the good and the bad traits mixed up into one bad ass cranky old man who laughs to loud in the wrong parts of the movie. Who drinks too much and embarrasses their children at parties. Who farts and fights and plays catch with little boys and dolls with little girls. Burt has life left in him. Who will be there to take his place and keep my darling Saul (my favorite character) out of trouble? Who will be there to shoot the baddies that others can’t hit or just plain miss? No one if Burt’s gone.
Please take a moment to think about Burt and all he’s done for others in the WA world.
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]]> yarri https://www.forum.werealive.com/entry.php?263-Ode-to-Burt-By-Yarri Survivor Kitchen: Part 2 “Potato Wars” A New Potato. https://www.forum.werealive.com/entry.php?251-Survivor-Kitchen-Part-2-“Potato-Wars”-A-New-Potato Wed, 26 Oct 2011 02:04:28 GMT … a long time ago in a Kitchen far away safe from flesh eating zombies and rampaging behemoths.. The brave and fearless scavengers forged far and... … a long time ago in a Kitchen far away safe from flesh eating zombies and rampaging behemoths.. The brave and fearless scavengers forged far and wide returning to the kitchens with offerings of plain potato chips... You know the ruffled kind but no dip, Bastards… A single can of red
beans, and a lowly box of instant mashed potatoes. They stare at the cook with eyes begging
for a sumptuous repast as a reward for their hard and dangerous scavenger work…

My humble offering is Potato, red bean onion cakes!!!!

10 servings of instant mash potatoes made up per the box directions
1 bunch of green onions chopped and washed.
1 can of red beans drained and mashed
Half a bag of potato chips crushed fine (most potato cakes use panko bread crumbs this will be the substitute for them)





The winning ingredients…




Ok that picture of the finished potatoes isn’t blurry its steam. Yes steam ok… maybe it’s not steam F me its blurry.. Well its potatoes. For added flavor I used chicken broth when I made it up. I’m not redoing the picture now… the cakes have been ate!




This is the mashed beans see the beans yes these are what beans look like when they are
mashed. If you don't mash them the cakes fall apart.



The chopped onions, the potato and the beans all mixed together. This is when you want to
season it. I used garlic, black pepper and salt chili pepper cumin a bunch of other stuff I can't remember.. Just season it to taste.



Crushed potato chips… a good way is put them in a zip lock bag and beat them with a rolling pin.. Or the other good way give them to the 4 year old and let him beat them with rolling
pin easier and less stress on your body.

At this point take a half cup or so sized amount of the mixture form it into a ball with your
hands and roll the ball in the crushed potato chips… form it into an even cake and place it
into a well-greased hot frying pan. Cook until brown on both sides then serve with catsup or plain.




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]]> yarri https://www.forum.werealive.com/entry.php?251-Survivor-Kitchen-Part-2-“Potato-Wars”-A-New-Potato