Have a bad feeling.

  Does anybody else out there feel like the wheels are about to come off and we're ready to plummet off the cliff as a country?  I don't know if it's all the happy Black Friday videos showing society's descent into madness, or the festive news of the Euro's impending collapse, or our own shameless political hacks pointing fingers at everybody but themselves, or maybe it's all of the above.  I'm waaaay further down the "pessimism superhighway" than my DW but even she was feeling it this morning.  She was even reading about some of Fernando Aguirre's experiences in dealing with the collapse of Argentina's economy in 2001; pretty scary stuff.  I'm feeling very exposed here in Cinci as we ride out the rest of this school year, trying to make it to the time when we can scoot for the homestead.  I think my trigger for an early bugout is going to be if the government declares a "bank holiday" like it did during the Great Depression.  There're quite a few miles between Cinci and Nodak and three very troubling places in between, namely Indianapolis, Chicago and Madison.  I don't want to wait too long should our very own collapse start unfolding before our very eyes (again read Fernando Aguirre).

  On a happier note, I finished one of the horse cart leaf springs today.  I also got off my hind-end and ordered a Big Berkey water filter system.

I got two spare filters and the sight glass spigot.  It's really pricey up front but when you figure out how much it costs versus the amount it will filter over its lifetime, it's a great value over buying bottled water.  We got the house water system hooked up to our well this summer but we still need to get the water tested.  I found two university studies that showed that this filter was effective at removing pesticides.  Even if our water tests good, I'll feel more secure since we live in a heavily agricultural area where the farmers just love to spray.

  As a last little ray of sunshine, I was overjoyed to hear that congressman Barney Frank wasn't going to seek re-election.  I try to live my life not hating anybody but this guy is about as close as they come.  My skin crawls when I hear the "man" speak!  I think his leaving is "too little to late" but it's still a nice gesture on his part.