Extra people means less supplies and the knife attack at UC Merced

Last week we had a family and friend gathering at our home for the weekend.  Some out-of-towners stayed with us, either sleeping on mats, extra beds, the couch, or in the trailer.  Feeding 25-30 instead of 3 uses up a lot of supplies really quickly.  I used 10 times as much food and supplies during that one 3-day weekend. Yes, that's equal to one month of food and supplies used up in 3 days.

While we plan to supply ourselves with food and household goods, and we daydream about having our family and friends join us when TSHTF, last weekend sure was a wakeup call!  If you open your house to extra people, are they bringing a full range of supplies? 

Future Spouse came out to California last weekend.  FS was asking some of the relatives, especially those in Southern California, what they plan on doing to prepare for a disaster, even if it's an earthquake.  The relatives gave responses such as they didn't need to do anything or they had a few days of food in the house.  I think they are complacent because they've lived through many earthquakes and haven't ever really been affected. 

FS is back in Colorado and now is planning on building my greenhouse.  I made it very clear that I wanted one big enough to grow all the vegetables that we would need.  I have never had to do intensive gardening as I've always had as much room for a garden as I wanted.  It's a different way of thinking.  I was asked how large of a building do I want.  How should I know?  As big as we can afford?  I was told that there is a greenhouse building boom in Colorado right now.  That's because they are being used for all the new pot farms. 

FS is also planning on building a root cellar.  I'm not sure if it's going to be built into the side of the hill or if it's going to be built like a storm cellar.  I don't always know what FS has in mind.  All I know is I'm pleased that FS is taking a proactive approach to the requirements needed for a full scale homestead.  While FS is an avid hunter, it's good to prepare for a well rounded diet.

On a different note, the person at UC Merced that slashed four people with a knife prior to being shot and killed by the police was being identified yesterday as "a Californian".  I knew there was something strange about that.  The person's identity couldn't be made public until the next of kin were notified.  Normally the news still says something about the person, just not their name.  Why was this person being identified as "a Californian"? Illegal alien perhaps?  No, it's because his name was Faisal Mohammed. 

He was described by one of his victims as looking scared but at the same time looking like he was having fun and he was smiling as he was stabbing people.  Now if this was just an attack by someone who was having an argument, he wouldn't have been looking like he was having fun and smiling.  Perhaps he was following the orders of the Gaza Imam?  I'm sure we will be told that he was just a lonely teenager who was unhappy because he didn't have a girlfriend. 

I wrote the above paragraph during my lunch break at work today.  Then I had to leave the office.  On my drive I listened to the news conference put on by the university.  They made it very clear this was not intended as a terrorist act. Yet, they said they have no idea because they couldn't find anything on social media nor through his family.  So that rules it out?  He had a backpack on him that the bomb squad had to neutralize.  After doing so they were able to go through his pack to see what was in it.  Zip-tie handcuffs, duct tape, and Vaseline and some other items.  The sheriff said the Vaseline could have been used as a poor man's napalm.  Really?  Why would the sheriff say that in one sentence and a minute later say it's not terrorism?  His dorm room was searched and they found his checklist of items needed to be included in the backpack.  The only thing on the list that they didn't find in the backpack was a pair of scissors. 

Due to privacy issues the neither school nor the sheriff can release the names of the victims. Now the contractor wasn't someone he planned on stabbing, the contractor walked in and interrupted the attack.  But Mohammed did attack two students in his class and then stabbed a staff member in the back. It would be interesting to note what sex, race, and religion the victims were.  I'm sure the results will be played down.