Something New!

Hello all -- we've decided to postpone meetings for a few months.  We're anxious to see what we can accomplish using the blog regularly.  If we can get you into the habit of checking in here for updates, tips and hints, we can get so much more information to you.  If you will post comments and questions, we can all be more efficient and care share and learn sitting at our own computers in the comfort of our own homes!

We want to collect ideas from you for our classes starting in January and gear up for those.  Plus we all have busy months just around the corner and will be able to use those 2nd Tuesdays to stay on top of things.

Let us know what you think --- we're anxious to hear from you.

Organization -- It just feels good

How organized is your pantry?  How organized do you want your pantry to be?  Check out the link provided in the side bar titled Peek into Other People's Pantries.  Wow!  It's fun, inspiring and motivating.  I organized my hall pantry and am in the middle of organizing my kitchen cupboard/pantry.  I'm hunting for the perfect storage containers and baskets. The search is on!
When I'm all done, I'll take pictures and then see if I can figure out how to post them here.  How about you?

Next Project:  Tackle the freezer!

So Organized!  So cute!

Take a look and be inspired.  Scroll down to Digiscrapital / My stock pictures:

http://www.pinchingyourpennies.com/forums/showthread.php?t=114033&highlight=food+storage+pictures

We're BACK!

Summer has been keeping all of us busy, but now we're back and ready to inspire and be inspired. If you haven't taken the time to check out the sidebars (over on the right of this entry), please do so -- there is a wealth of information on these sites. You may find answers to questions you have right now. If you're like me, you find answers to questions you didn't have, but are glad to find out!

We've had a lot of requests for a hands-on canning demonstration. If you're interested and want to participate, post a response here and let me know. Please add any specifics you want to know about or do --- do you want to can fruit? can vegetables? meat? what about freezing any of those? We'll get it scheduled and we'll can something together. Also, if you have experience in these areas and are willing to help with the demonstration, please post here too. We want to share our knowledge with each other. We're finding that we all have something to share that benefits someone else in our group and that's exciting.

Don't forget tonight's meeting: Desi's home at 6:30pm.

Group Deal: Siphon and hose for 55 gallon water barrels (Thanks Stacy!)

Remember: If you have something you want to give away, bring it to the meeting -- great way to weed out and share with someone who may be looking for that particular item.

Also: If you know of a deal to be had -- share it with us, we'll post it here and send out an email.

THANKS EVERYONE!

Solar Cooking Seminar

Solar Cooking Essentials Seminar

When: Tuesday, June 29th, 2010
Time: 6:30-8:00PM
Where: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Monica Building - Cultural Hall - 851 Monica Street

Bring your spouses and friends!
No childcare available.
Samples will be provided.


Special Guest Speaker Paul Munsen of Sun Ovens International.

An increasing number of families have solar ovens on hand in the event of an emergency and have been pleasantly surprised by the improved taste of sun cooked foods and lifestyle advantages of cooking with the sun. We will learn how to harness the power of the sun to bake, boil, and steam foods. He will show how practical and easy it is to cook in a solar oven and discuss the many economic, health, and environmental benefits of cooking with the sun.

Learn how to never have to worry about burning dinner again. Discover how to use a solar oven to naturally dehydrate fruits & vegetables and enhance winter sprouting. Find out how to reduce your utility bills and the amount of fuel you need to store for emergency preparedness.

For more information please contact:
Sheri Van Patten 363-0760 olostdelight@yahoo.com

Did you know this??? ... YOU CAN FREEZE EGGS!!!

I just read this on a favorite recipe blog I read, Our best bites, and was so excited to tell you guys about this. I know that a lot of us have an extra freezer and this would be fantastic for your food storage! To read the whole post on eggs ... go here ... but I just copied the freezing part for you here.

Freezing Eggs
Once you've separated eggs you often only use either the whites or the yolks. Instead of tossing the unused portion, you can freeze them.
Egg whites freeze really well. Use an ice cube try and place one egg white in each portion. After they're frozen transfer to a plastic bag or other container and you can grab one white at at time for easy measuring. Or, you can freeze them all together in a container. Just be sure to mark the container with the number of egg whites that are contained in it.
Egg Yolks can get lumpy when frozen. To avoid this problem, add either 1/8 tsp salt or 1 1/2 tsp sugar (depending on whether you're going to make something sweet or something savory with them) to every 4 yolks. Stir gently and then freeze.
For both egg whites and egg yolks, if you freeze in bulk, just remember that about 1 T = one egg white or one egg yolk.

What do you want?

I have been trying to keep the blog updated in order to keep everyone informed and motivated about emergency preparedness, but
I am curious...

What do you guys want to learn more about?
Are there any tutorials you would be interested in?
Are you stuck on one particular part of your 72 hour kit?
Want more coupon/sales updates?
Anything?
Bueller?

Let me know and I will blog about it!

Until then I will leave you with this talk by Elder Robert D. Hales.

I especially love the quote:
"Is this benefit temporary or will it have eternal value and significance?"

7 Mistakes of food storage

7 Mistakes of food storage By Vicki Tate

If you are going to store food, make sure that the food you store is adequate for the need you and your family anticipate. This may not be as easy as to achieve as many people think, because the facts are that most people make serious errors when storing food—errors that will come back to haunt them when the food they’ve stored is the only thing that stands between them and their empty, dissatisfied, bellies.

There are seven common mistakes people make when storing food. They are:

1. Variety

Most people don’t have enough variety in their storage. 95% of the people I’ve worked with have only stored four basic items: wheat, milk, honey, and salt. Statistics show most of us won’t survive on such a diet for several reasons. a) Many people are allergic to wheat and may not be aware of it until they are eating it meal after meal. b) Wheat is too harsh for young children. They can tolerate it in small amounts but not as their main staple. c) We get tired of eating the same foods over and over and many times prefer to not eat, then to sample that particular food again. This is called appetite fatigue. Young children and older people are particularly susceptible to it. Store less wheat than is generally suggested and put the difference into a variety of other grains, particularly ones your family likes to eat. Also store a variety of beans, as this will add color, texture, and flavor. Variety is the key to a successful storage program. It is essential that you store flavorings such as tomato, bouillon, cheese, and onion.

Also, include a good supply of the spices you like to cook with. These flavorings and spices allow you to do many creative things with your grains and beans. Without them you are severely limited. One of the best suggestions I can give you is buy a good food storage cookbook, go through it, and see what your family would really eat. Notice the ingredients as you do it. This will help you more than anything else to know what items to store.

2. Extended staples

Never put all your eggs in one basket. Store dehydrated and/or freeze dried foods as well as home canned and “store bought” canned goods. Make sure you add cooking oil, shortening, baking powder, soda, yeast, and powdered eggs. You can’t cook even the most basic recipes without these items.

3. Vitamins

Vitamins are important, especially if you have children, since children do not store body reserves of nutrients as adults do. A good quality multi-vitamin and vitamin C are the most vital. Others might be added as your budget permits.

4. Quick and easy and “psychological foods”

Quick and easy foods help you through times when you are psychologically or physically unable to prepare your basic storage items. “No cook” foods such as freeze-dried are wonderful since they require little preparation, MREs (Meal Ready to Eat), such as many preparedness outlets carry, canned goods, etc. are also very good. “Psychological foods” are the goodies—Jello, pudding, candy, etc.—you should add to your storage. These may sound frivolous, but through the years I've talked with many people who have lived entirely on their storage for extended periods of time. Nearly all of them say these were the most helpful items in their storage to “normalize” their situations and make it more bearable. These are especially important if you have children.

5. Balance

Time and time again I’ve seen families buy all of their wheat, then buy all of another item and so on. Don’t do that. It’s important to keep well-balanced as you build your storage. Buy several items, rather than a large quantity of one item. If something happens and you have to live on your present storage, you’ll fare much better having a one month supply of a variety of items than a year’s supply of two or three items.

6. Containers

Always store your bulk foods in food storage containers. I have seen literally tons and tons of food thrown away because they were left in sacks, where they became highly susceptible to moisture, insects, and rodents. If you are using plastic buckets make sure they are lined with a food grade plastic liner available from companies that carry packaging supplies. Never use trash can liners as these are treated with pesticides. Don’t stack them too high. In an earthquake they may topple, the lids pop open, or they may crack. A better container is the #10 tin can which most preparedness companies use when they package their foods.

7. Use your storage

In all the years I’ve worked with preparedness one of the biggest problems I’ve seen is people storing food and not knowing what to do with it. It’s vital that you and your family become familiar with the things you are storing. You need to know how to prepare these foods. This is not something you want to have to learn under stress. Your family needs to be used to eating these foods. A stressful period is not a good time to totally change your diet. Get a good food storage cookbook and learn to use these foods! It’s better to find out the mistakes you’ll make now while there’s still time to make corrections.

It’s easy to take basic food storage and add the essentials that make it tasty, and it needs to be done. As I did the research for my cookbook, Cooking with Home Storage, I wanted to include recipes that gave help to families no matter what they had stored. As I put the material together it was fascinating to discover what the pioneers ate compared to the types of things we store. If you have stored only the basics, there’s very little you can do with it. By adding even just a few things, it greatly increases your options, and the prospect of your family surviving on it. As I studied how the pioneers lived and ate, my whole feeling for food storage changed. I realized our storage is what most of the world has always lived on. If it’s put together the right way we are returning to good basic food with a few goodies thrown in.

Just some things to think about!

How to Turn Off Utilities

This is something we talked about at our last meeting and I hope that since then some of you have gone out to find your main shut offs around your house. Once I told my husband what we talked about he drug me around showing me where everything was and how to shut things off. Now, the key for me will be remembering what he showed me in a true emergency.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Anyway, my whole point in bringing up this subject again is that the girls over at Food Storage Made Easy have been doing a "How To: A Helpful Series" with how-to videos on how to turn off our natural gas and how to turn off the main water supply.

Check it out!

Super CPR Saturday

I received this flier in church on Sunday:

Click image to enlarge

BPA Warning

I know we just talked about keeping plastic water bottles stored in our car for an emergency, but you may want to rethink that. There has been a lot of news lately about the danger of BPA exposure from plastic bottles so I found some recent articles for your reading pleasure so you can be fully informed before before making your own choice on the matter.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FDA Issues Warning About BPA Exposure

Now the FDA says based on new studies, while still considered safe, it now has some concern about the "potential effects of BPA on the brain, behavior and prostate gland in fetuses, infants and young children."

The FDA issued a warning to parents to limit the exposure of BPA in infants and children
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Some BPA-free water bottles:

REI has a great one that I actually own and love!
Good Housekeeping did a review on several BPA-free bottles.
Sigg had a good variety of aluminum bottles to choose from.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Please leave comments if you have anything to say on the matter or BPA-free products to recommend!!!

May Meeting Recap

May 11th, 2010
Marci Neville's House

What you missed:

1. Lori Gabbitas - 72-Hour Kits
a. "Are you Prepared?" www.72hours.org
b. Keep your 72 hour kits easily accessible for everyone

2. Brenda Noblia - Car Kits / How to turn off gas, water, and electricity
a. Car Kit - Sam's Club $32.00
i. May need to add water, snacks, and clothing
ii. Car kits also available through Red Cross
b. Turning off Gas, Water, Electricity
i. See Handouts (below)
ii. Know where and how to turn all of these off

3. Desi - Living Trust / Will - legalzoom.com
a. Living Trust - transfer of money and property without probate
b. Will - distribute money and give guardianship of children
c. Living Will - does NOT establish guardianship
d. Good idea to write letters to leave for children/spouse
i. Need to know account #'s/safe #'s

4. Water Bottle money is due immediatly to Gaye Galyan ($25)

Goal for next month: CAR KIT

Next Meeting: June 8th at Desi's House

Handouts:
Sample 72-hour kit
Utility Shut-off Instructions

Also, if you enjoyed Gaye Galyan's delicious apple crisp using dehydrated apples, click the link below for the recipe:
Apple Crisp

CONGRATULATIONS SHERRY!

Sherry won a $5 gift certificate for the LDS bookstore in our drawing this month. All she had to do was access the site to enter the drawing.

Make a comment, add yourself as a follower, email us to request information you'd like to see on the BLOG. Get involved!

Announcement

Announcement: You’re Invited to my FREE Online Class!

Posted: 19 Apr 2010 12:01 AM PDT

I’m so excited to announce that I’m trying something new (and hopefully, you and your friends will LOVE it!) You all know that I wish I could visit more of you and hold classes. Unfortunately, it’s hard to configure that many schedules…my toddler’s being the worst! . So…I’m going to TRY and do a FREE sort of online class for you.

HOW IT WILL WORK: Because we’re all busy and have other things to be doing, I’ll be splitting it up over multiple days (posting Mondays and Wednesdays) with shorter tidbits of how to do something with the over all theme of the class, something everyone can fit into their schedule. This means that during the duration of the “class” there will be a lot of how-to videos as if you were at a class-except this time you don’t have to worry about someone blocking your view and it will be like you’re right next to me in the kitchen-which is really the best way to learn! The real beauty is you can take what you learn and practice it before the next installment and leave your questions as comments on the post to be answered (this way, everyone can benefit from your question and the answer). So, no information overload! It promises to be a wealth of knowledge, given in well sized, usable, portions!

MARK YOUR CALENDARS: Now, that you’re excited (right?!), let’s talk about what the next topic will be and when it will start. We’ll be learning Pressure Cooking 101 and the class will run from Monday, April 26th through Friday, May 7th. Just like a regular class, make sure and bring your friends to the event! You can send them this invitation to make sure NOBODY misses out! Can’t wait to see you there! Click HERE to download a JPG of the invitation to use on your blog (just make sure you link the invite to this post) and click HERE to download a PDF of the invitation to email to others.

At Albertsons Now thru 4/20

What I will be buying this week at Albertsons without coupons!!!:

• Quaker instant oatmeal


• Quaker chewy granola bars


• Quaker Life Cereal or Cap'n Crunch

Buy any of these in a group of 5 and get them for $1 each! There is a limit of 5 per card so ask around and see if you know anyone who will let you use their phone number.

I'm mostly interested in the oatmeal because this is what we have for breakfast everyday in our 72 hour kits.

Filtering water bottle

This is the new bottle that the church has been sending with all foreign missionaries and also to emergency relief efforts (like Haiti). This bottle is not made by the church but the church orders so much from them that they offer all church members a 50% discount.
This bottle is $50 but with our discount we can get it for $25. The picture and info for this bottle is taken from the website: www.seychelle.com

Seychelle presents the worlds only environmentally safe stainless steel filtered water bottle.
Enjoy filtered tap water on the go instantly filtered as you drink! This exclusive filter removes up to 99.99% of pollutants for up to 100 gallons* of great tasting filtered water. It keeps the water cool for extended periods, and easily fits into a car cup or bike rack holder.
Each 27 oz. (800ML) 304 food grade stainless steel water bottle is non-leaching, BPA and lead-free, reusable, lightweight, and taste-neutral, and saves the environment from 757 half-liters of plastic bottled water discards! It is the ideal replacement for bottled water; now you can drink from the tap with complete confidence without the chlorine bad taste and save time, space and money too!(
The Ionic-Adsorption Micro-Filtration System is an entire water filtration plant within a portable bottle. The patented Ionic-Adsorption Micro-Filtration reduces up to 99.99% of the following zones of contamination:
Aesthetics: unpleasant taste, odor, clarity, chlorine, dirt, sediment and Chlorine.
Chemicals: toxic chemicals, detergents, pesticides and other harmful industrial and agricultural wastes.
Dissolved Solids: heavy metals such as aluminum, asbestos, copper, lead, mercury, chromium 6 and others.
Key Features:
World's first and only stainless steel filtered water bottle.
Comes in three attractive colors: Metallic Blue, Metallic Red and Clear Stainless.
Now with BIOSAFE®, removes up to 99.99% of pollutants as you drink.
Ideal emergency preparedness survival bottle.
Filters everything but salt water.
Up to 100 gallon capacity.
Replaces up to 757 half liters of bottled water.
High-quality food grade 304 L.N. stainless steel.
Durable, lightweight, reusable and 100% recyclable.
BPA-free; non-leaching & lead-free.
No inner lining; clean tasting.
Non-slip base.
Holds 27 fluid ounces (800 ml).
Environmentally safe!
Seychelle's exclusive filter has been tested by independent governmental laboratories to EPA/ANSI protocols and NSF Standards 42 and 53.
The product is covered by one or more of the following US Patents: 6,136,188; 6,136,189; 5,609,759 and 5,914,045.
* Approximately 12 months of use.
Available in three colors: Metallic Blue (shown above) Metallic Red and Stainless (no color).

***To go directly to the site and see all the products they offer ... CLICK HERE!!!

***This would be a great thing to do a bulk order on so that we can all save on shipping.

Another start at self reliance ...

Lori asked me to post about our backyard chickens. Kerri Bunting did an interview with me about my backyard chickens ... check it out HERE! (click the word HERE to be directed to Kerri's original blog post.)

We really did get them to help us produce something for ourselves. Its a fun little start at having to not rely so heavily on everyone else. ;)

Homework Assignment

If you want to accept the challenges, here they are.
#1 WATER STORAGE: 2 week supply
That's 14 gallons of water/person.
Get it all or just get started and set a goal for your family.

#2 EMERGENCY BINDER: Section A
Get a binder, any binder.
Complete Section A. Emergency Information
(Check back later for details on this)

That's it! Let's get prepared together.

How to store Garden Seeds

This topic came up during our meeting. Can we store our own garden seeds? How do we store them? Where? How long can we store them in these conditions? For information and great tips about storing your garden seeds, check out these links:


http://www.closertothedirt.com/gardening-tip-storing-seeds/

http://www.getseeds.net/storing_heirloom_open_pollinated_vegetable_seeds.html

72 hour kits ...

{Reposted from The Galyan Gang 3.10.10}

It was time to restock the 72 hour kits ... which makes a major mess ...and takes a lot of help ...but finally we are done and I have my kitchen table back!This is what I put in mine:
For food - I use a gallon size ziploc bag for every person for everyday. I put three meals, a couple juice boxes and a snack in each bag. Breakfasts are usually indiv. cereals or oatmeal. Lunch is usually jerky, trail mix, canned fruit ... ect. Then dinners are chicken salad(canned chicken with indiv. mayo packets), chili, and soup all with crackers. Snacks are hard candy, fruit snacks, gum ...These are all just examples. Dessert is usually cookies.
They all have lots of water.
They all have their own toiletries and first aid kits.
Flashlights.
One pair of sweats and undershirt (if it were summer I would just cut them into shorts), rain pancho, blanket, mess kit, and a penny stove.

*I need to add a copy of our documents and then they will really be done!!!
*Oh and I was just thinking ... do you guys keep money in yours? I was thinking like 20 one dollar bills?

Canned Beef ...

Jocelyn mentioned making stroganoff with her canned beef, here is another way I use my canned beef. It doesn't really have a name, its just one of my 15-minute one pot wonders that we eat to keep a good rotation of our food supply.

Recipe and Directions:

1 can Roast Beef

1 can pinto beans

1/2 can corn

2 cups (or more) mexican rice (I used left over white rice and just added a little tomato sauce and garlic salt)

Mix all ingredients in nonstick frying pan (I do add a little cooking spray) to heat.

Garnish with (optional):

Cheese

Tomato

Avocado

Sour cream

Eat with tortilla chips (our personal favorite) or wrap in a tortilla for a burrito. Enjoy! ;)

Can organizer

I saw a website a few days ago that shows how to make your own can organizer, and here's a website where you can buy them already to use. Pretty cool.

http://www.thecanorganizer.com/foodstorage.html


If sisters are interested we could do a bulk purchase of these.......Or make our own....

Canned Roast Beef

{RE-posted from "The Skinny On Things" August 18th, 2009}

Can you tell its the last week of summer and I'm trying to knock a few things off my summer to-do list? The boys and I took a trip to our local meat supplier (Bernard and Sons) yesterday morning and came home with 85 pounds of bottom round beef for $1.63 per pound. Needless to say we stopped off at Walmart to buy a few more jars because I thought it would be more like 50 pounds. Oh well. I figure I've already blown my budget out of the water this month might as well go out in style!

All trimmed and ready to go in the jarsPacked in nice and tight with 1" head roomFinished product cooling off on the counter...ready to be labeled

Here is the directions I followed - the came with the pressure cooker
Recipe from Presto - http://www.gopresto.com/
CANNING RECIPES: MEAT
CUT-UP MEAT (strips, cubes, or chunks) -Bear, Beef, Pork, Lamb, Veal, and Venison
Remove excess fat. Soak strong-flavored wild meats for 1 hour in brine water containing 1 tablespoon of salt per quart of water. Rinse. Remove large bones and cut into desired pieces.
Raw Pack: Fill jars with raw meat pieces, leaving 1-inch headspace. DO NOT ADD LIQUID. Adjust jar lids.
Hot Pack: Precook meat until rare by broiling, boiling or frying. Pack hot meat loosely in clean, hot Mason jars, leaving 1-inch headspace. Cover meat with boiling broth, water, or tomato juice (especially with wild game) leaving 1-inch headspace.
Adjust jar lids.
Process at 11 pounds pressure – Pints 75 minutes and Quarts 90 minutes.

{When I posted this I hadn't tried the meat because I am stingy with my canned goods. We have since had this meat lots for dinner and it is DELICIOUS! Our family favorite (feeds 2 adults and 4 big eating kids) is Beef Stroganoff. I put one jar of beef in the pan, warm it up, add one can cream of mushroom soup, and 1 cup of sour cream, season to taste, and eat over pasta or mix into pasta. Seriously pan to plate in the time it takes to boil the noodles! My kind of cooking.}

Something to think about:

I really liked this:


If I were to be starting to stock some food, it would begin with a few extra items at the grocery store. For instance when I saw lasagna noodles on sale well below the best every day price, I bought 12 boxes for $11.00 planning to eat lasagna once a month. A few years ago when a friend said she planned for the whole year, I was shocked. Then she explained that she knew how many times a year she would be making a crab cheese ball. When she sees crab on sale for half price at Walgreens, she buys her whole year's supply. She planned out one month multiplied that by 12 and she knew exactly how much tuna she needed in a year, how many cans of creamed soups, how often she neededramen noodles, etc... She wasn't concerned if she didn't stay exactly on plan because as she got better and better prepared she had more options not fewer. The first month was the tightest but after that she had to buy less and less food because it was already on her shelf. Money was saved in getting the sales and even bigger dividends came when she saved the cost of eating out because there was a delicious option at home.

It wasn't raining when Noah built the Arc

The Parable of Gomer

These are the generations of Gomer, son of Homer, son of Omer. And in the days of Gomer, Noah,

the Prophet, went unto the people saying, "Prepare ye for the flood which is to come, yea, build yourselves

a boat, that ye may not perish."

Now, Gomer was a member of the Church, and taught Sunday School and played, yea, even on the

ward softball team. And Gomer's wife said unto him, "Come, let us build unto ourselves a boat as the

Prophet commandeth, that we may not perish in the flood." But behold, Gomer saith unto his wife,

"Worry not, dear wife, for if the flood comes the government will provide boats for us."

And Gomer did not build a boat. And Gomer's wife went unto Noah and she returned saying, "Behold,

Honey, the Prophet saith unto us, "Build a boat, that we may preserve ourselves, for the government

pays men not to grow trees, wherefore the government hath not the lumber to build for you a boat."

And Gomer answered saying, "Fear not, oh wife, for am I not the star pitcher on the ward softball team?

Wherefore, the Church will provide for us a boat, that we will perish not."

And Gomer's wife went again unto Noah, and she returned unto Gomer, saying, "Behold, mine husband,

the Prophet saith that the Church hath not enough lumber to build a boat for everyone, wherefore,

mine husband, build for us a boat that we might not perish in the flood." And Gomer answered her

saying, "Behold, if we build a boat, when the flood cometh, will not our neighbors overpower us and take

from us our boat; wherefore, what doth it profit a man to build a boat?"

And Gomer's wife went again unto Noah and she returned, saying, "Behold, the Prophet saith, build

unto yourselves a boat, and have faith, for if ye do the Lord's bidding, He will preserve your boat for

you." But Gomer answered his wife, saying, "Behold, with this inflation, the price of wood has gone sky

high, and if we wait awhile, perhaps the price will go down again. And then I will build for us a boat."

And Gomer's wife went again unto Noah, and she returned saying, "Thus saith the Prophet, build for

yourselves a boat RIGHT NOW, for the price of wood will not go down, but will continue to go up.

Wherefore, oh husband, build for ourselves a boat, that we may perish not." But Gomer answered his

wife, saying, "Behold, for 120 years Noah hath told us to build a boat, to preserve us from the flood,

but hath the flood come? Yea, I say, nay. Wherefore, perhaps the flood will not come for another

hundred and twenty years.

And Gomer's wife went again unto Noah and returned saying, "The Prophet saith, he knows it has

been 120 years, but nevertheless, the flood will come, wherefore, build unto yourselves a boat."

And Gomer answered her saying, "Wherewith shall we get the money to build ourselves a boat, for are

we not now making monthly payments on our snazzy new four horsepower chariot? Wherefore, when our

payments end, perhaps we shall build ourselves a boat."

And Gomer's wife went again unto Noah and returned saying, "Behold, the Prophet saith that we

should cut down on our recreation, and our vacations, and even give each other lumber for Christmas,

that we might thereby get enough lumber to build a boat."

But Gomer saith unto her, "What a drag! Are we to cease enjoying life, just because we must build a

boat?"

Wherefore, Gomer built not a boat. But behold, one afternoon Gomer heard thunder in the sky, and he

feared exceedingly and he ran, yea, even to the lumber yard to buy lumber. But behold, the lumber store

was crowded with great multitudes, all seeking to buy lumber, and there was not enough lumber to be

found for the multitudes.

And on the same day were all the fountains of the deep opened, and the windows of heaven were

broken up, and the floods came -- and behold, Gomer had no boat. And as the water rose above

Gomer's waist, his wife saith unto him, "Behold, Honey, I told thee so!"

--- Author Unknown