The dentist trip.....

I kinda know how the guy over to the right feels there lol.

I have a confession to make, I hate going to the dentist.  For some reason they scare the heck out of me, always have.

Well I'll admit I haven't taken care of my teeth like I should.  Also the military 'took care' of me with their dentists a few times when I had to deploy so that didn't help matters much.  Well as it turns out I was better off overall for the health of my mouth to remove all of the bad teeth from my upper, and get a partial denture done on the bottom.

I went in last Thursday and had them pulled.  To say that was an experience is saying the very least.  I walked out of the office swollen, sore, and with my first set of full uppers and partial bottom dentures.

I can safely say that I wouldn't want to wish this on anyone.  I have basically been on a liquid/soft food diet since getting them.  I will be doing that for at least another 2-3 weeks to make sure my gums have healed up before I can use any type of adhesive on the uppers so I can have a little force while chewing.

That is another experience, trying to chew with these in.  It's like my dentist told me, think of it like its a prosthetic, because it really is.  You have to basically relearn how to chew, and yes speaking too.  By the time I get my final set in 6 months, I should have everything down.  Also my final set will be half the size and thickness the ones I currently have are so that should prove interesting on how that adjustment will go.

So here is another thing to think about.  If there was TEOTWAWKI event, what will you do about taking care of your teeth?  Trust me it's a pretty big thing as some of you I'm sure know.  If you need teeth pulled I know how much fun it is with a deadening agent so there is little pain but what if there are no pain killers?  One thing I now wonder is what will I have to do since I have dentures?  These are things that have to be considered now.

Just a few questions to ponder for everyone.

Tiny Homes.....

On Facebook I had recently found a pretty cool page over there.  It is called Tiny House Design and they show all sorts of houses that people have designed with a wide variety of items.

The one in the picture above caught my eye as someone took a piece of corrugated pipe and made a small house from it.  It looks like a one room house, maybe something for those guests you have over?

Its pretty cool to see the ideas that everyone comes up with.  It gives you all sorts of ideas on how to re-purpose items that you see laying around.

A slow change in the population...

For the longest time anyone that even thought about being prepared for any bad times was considered like the guy to the left there.  A little nuts, off his rocker...the black sheep.  Oh wait that kinda sounds like me but  I digress lol.

Here recently I have been reading more articles such as this one I have linked.

The 'movement' if you want to call it that has been steadily gaining steam and a little more mainstream.  Are there areas or populations that will still think you are nuts?  Of course there are, there always will be but overall from what I can tell more people are wanting to be prepared for the 'bad times'.

I also want to believe that more people are looking back and going back to their 'roots'.  50 years ago, heck 30 years ago having a store of food was common for quite a few people.  As a child I have many memories of canning out of the family garden, processing chickens, hogs and cattle.  I know myself, I am striving to regain those skills that have not been practiced in years.  I also remember we only made a trip to the grocery store for major food items maybe once a month.  You kept a nice supply of food on hand.

I think in the more rural areas of the country, where your food and self sustaining people live, they are quietly preparing so that they can weather anything that comes their way.  The only major change I see from our forefathers from 50 years ago is that more are prepping in regard to a more severe situation, ie no power, no law enforcement to speak of, things of that nature.

This doesn't mean that you drop your OPSEC and talk openly to everyone you know about what you are doing.  You still need to be careful in that regard, but, you might be finding more like minded people now than before that you can share and exchange information with.