I got to thinking while I was watching Voyager tonight. (I heard that ~ "Ut oh! She's thinking again...SHE'S GONNA BLOW!!! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!!!!! Smartass. hehehe)

Tom Paris and Tuvok were stranded on a near barren planet after being drawn into a gravity well. They were there for two months ~ hunting for food, fending off people hunting them for their supplies and such. I got to thinking: how long would the average person living today last during something like that?

More importantly ~ how long would I last during something like that? How long would I last if something happened and I had to completely depend on myself for survival?

Quite honestly, I don't know. Can one person really be certain of their skills until they've been tested?

Let's see ~ let's play with this. What would I do for water? Well, there is the pond next door. There is the pool too. There is also the well ~ I'd have to take out pipe and the pump so that I could get some sort of container down there to scoop up the water (Honestly, I think that this is the most palatable idea ~ as well as potable). I also would need to set out containers to catch rain water ~ the more water, the better.

What would I do for food? Well, depends on what time of year it is. Winter? That would make it harder. I do have several cans of food put back. I do have a rifle and bullets ~ if I had to, I could go hunting. There are deer around here as well as plenty of cattle all around. Opossum too ~ although I think I'd have to be awfully desparate to eat one of them. There are hickory and oak trees in the yard ~ the nuts from both trees are edible, even though the hickory is a bit less trouble than acorns (you have blanch them and soak them and I don't know what all to be able to eat them because of the tannins they contain). Summer would be a bit easier. There could be all kinds of fresh greens and berries from the yard: dandelion, violets, strawberries, yarrow, chickpea, chickory, nettles, blackberries, plaintain, clover, thistle and queen anne's lace. There's what I've planted myself too: sage; thyme, rue, valerian, lemon verbena, lemon balm, hyssop, catnip. I would still have to hunt ~ the cats have to eat, too. I think they're a little too tame to be able to survive without human help for very long.

What would I do for clothing? I think that for a while, I wouldn't have to worry about that. I have plenty in my regular wardrobe. However, if things started wearing out and there was no way to replenish what I had? That would be a desparate situation indeed ~ if it were only me surviving, I could go into the empty houses and get what I need. I could restore some food that way as well. If that wasn't an option, I would have to save the skins from the deer and/or cattle. I guess it would be a good thing to learn how to tan a hide ~ or at least have the instructions handy, huh?

Heat could be a bit of a problem, unless I got creative with having a fire inside the house. I guess if worse came to worse and I were out of kerosene (a plausable situation), I could work on converting the kerosene heater to wood ~ basically gutting the thing and using it as a container for a wood fire. If the catastrophe occurs during summer, I could figure out how to add a fireplace to the house ~ if nothing else, I could convert a doorway into one. There are plenty of trees around for fuel.