#futureJer

8:08AM PST, Dec 15, 2008

[ed, is the Twitter of @JeremiahTolbert from 2 years into the future.]

8:30AM PST, Dec 15, 2008

I miss the excess of a Walmart Superstore. All that colorful, breakable crap lining the isles. No wait, that’s a lie.

9:30AM PST, Dec 15, 2008

So it turns out that learning how to castrate bulls has secured my finances more than my bachelors degree

11:30AM PST, Dec 15, 2008

speaking of my degree, I think we burned it along with everything else made of paper last winter. I miss non-digital books.

11:30AM PST, Dec 16, 2008

I traded three hours of ranch guard duty last night for a couple of fresh steaks and a bottle of whole milk. Totally worth it.

1:30PM PST, Dec 17, 2008

off to check my snares. Taking my rifle. There have been food riots in KC again.

5:30PM PST, Dec 17, 2008

someone’s been stealing my snares. Not good. They take a long time to make. I had one possum though. Guess what’s for dinner?

8:30AM PST, Dec 18, 2008

posted a notice on KansaNet for a cat. Rats are literally eating us out of house and home. Stupid FIV disease made cats rare.

12:00PM PST, Dec 19, 2008

taking a lunch break. Apples and bread. Surfing KansaNet for national news. With the internet in pieces, it’s hard to do.

12:30PM PST, Dec 19, 2008

looks like no progress still on the investigation into the latest assassination attempt on the president. Big surprise there.

12:30PM PST, Dec 22, 2008

county meeting tonight. Tuning up my bicycle to get there. We need more patrols. Refugees from the city are getting worse.

10:30AM PST, Dec 23, 2008

just saw a deer behind the compound. I couldn’t get my gun in time, damn it. Deer have been rarer than dodos lately. Mmm Venison

11:00AM PST, Dec 23, 2008

I can remember when you couldn’t drive down the high way without hitting a deer. Now nobody drives and the deer are hunted out.

12:00PM PST, Dec 24, 2008

Finishing up the cradle with my stepfather. Don’t tell Sarah. We don’t have much for Christmas, only what we make ourselves.

9:00AM PST, Dec 25, 2008

A modest meal today of canned vegetables and a turkey I shot this morning. If I was a believer, I would call that bird a miracle.

9:00AM PST, Dec 26, 2008

Neighbor has a kitten they will trade me for three cords of wood! Prepare to die, you rat bastards. Late christmas present for me

8:30AM PST, Dec 28, 2008

A cold front has dropped a foot of snow, and I’m biking to Kansas City. It’s 30 miles. Taking my rifle. Sarah upset, but...

1:30PM PST, Dec 28, 2008

Doing inventory in the cellar. I’m not sure we have enough to make it through the winter. I’m going to have to go to the city.

2:27PM PST, Dec 29, 2008

made it. Stayed overnight in a spare tent in a Bushville in exchange for a couple of bullets. Now will look for work. Hopefully

4:27PM PST, Dec 30, 2008

I spent the day moving dead bodies out of homes in Olathe. With no heat, a lot of old folks don’t make it. Paid in potatoes.

10:15AM PST, Dec 31, 2008

I gave a third of my potatoes away to a child with a bloated belly. We’ll stretch and make do. Things are so bad up here.

10:25AM PST, Dec 31, 2008

we all hope and some of us pray that the new year will bring change, and with our new wisdom, we will appreciate things more

11:58PM PST, Dec 31, 2008

2011. Will it feel any different? Things never get better. Nothing works anymore. Sometimes I just want to give up. But no.

11:59AM PST, Jan 1, 2009

heard explosions in the distance last night. Hope they were just celebrating the new year. Hope so...

10:30AM PST, Jan 2, 2009

explosions were NOT celebrations. Every bridge across the Missouri River within 60 miles was blown! Militia forming tonight.

10:30AM PST, Jan 5, 2009

Luckily this is Kansas and we all have guns. Boys down the street have M-16s from when Ft. Riley closed up! We’re ready for an attack.

2:30PM PST, Jan 5, 2009

We’re scared, but ready to protect our own. I never thought I would do this. With a baby on the way, my principles have changed.

7:30AM PST, Jan 7, 2009

KansaNet is full of talk about raids by Missouri militias into our farms, stealing cattle and other livestock. True or not...

10:30AM PST, Jan 8, 2009

decided the paranoia was getting to me, so I went hunting down the highway. Got two big rabbits. Felt like I was being watched.

6:22PM PST, Jan 8, 2009

there’s one hell of a fire lit up the northern sky. Jim came by, asked if I wanted to go check it out. Sarah said no way in hell.

10:06AM PST, Jan 9, 2009

Olathe burned down. No fire department to stop it, not sure how it started. Refugees all morning. We do what we can to help out.

8:30AM PST, Jan 13, 2009

been busy putting up whatever refugees we can in town. We all have thought of the city folk as pests, but they are as human as us

10:30AM PST, Jan 16, 2009

we’ve taken a young man named Ben into the house, a refugee from the fire. He’s a hard worker and of good spirits despite things

11:00AM PST, Jan 17, 2009

I have the house to myself. Everyone else is at church. I bareley went before the collapse, but I sure as hell don’t go now.

1:00PM PST, Jan 17, 2009

Mike and I went fishing this morning as the river’s thawed briefly. Brought back four catfish of good size. Dinner will be nice.

2:00PM PST, Jan 18, 2009

We’re working on the wind turbine. Not getting maximum efficiency lately and I can’t live without my e-juice just yet.

8:00AM PST, Jan 19, 2009

The boys down the street managed to get a newspaper printed up for the first time in months, handing them out. Free toilet paper!

11:00AM PST, Jan 19, 2009

just read an editorial calling for the reformation of the Jayhawkers. What is this, 1856?

5:45PM PST, Jan 20, 2009

That damned editorial! A posse of a dozen young men with guns just rode out of town headed east. Gotta stop this. Back in a bit

7:45PM PST, Jan 20, 2009

Mike and I rode out and met the posse at the river crossing. He played good cop, I played bad cop. They went home reluctantly.

12:45PM PST, Jan 21, 2009

Mom’s cough has gotten worse. I’m trying to barter for a doctor’s services on KansaNet. Don’t have anything they want so far.

2:19PM PST, Jan 21, 2009

Found a doc next county over who needs her laptop worked on. Will be here tomorrow. Maybe she delivers babies too? Will bring up.

11:30AM PST, Jan 22, 2009

The doc is an elderly woman named Dr. Kohl. I am cleaning some stone age spyware off her pc. She’s examining mom in the kitchen

12:30PM PST, Jan 22, 2009

The Doc gave Mom some antibiotics (rare and valuable). Doc’s tentatively agreed to deliver the baby! I owe her a lot more work...

9:30AM PST, Jan 23, 2009

A trader just arrived in town by wagon and said he saw bodies all along the road to the north on his way into town. Some kind of fight.

1:30PM PST, Jan 23, 2009

Mike and I checked out the battlefield with binocs. Men from the county over tangled with the Missouri Militia. Now they’re dead.

9:30AM PST, Jan 28, 2009

I have enough juice in one last battery to post this note. Ice storm wreaked havoc on my wind turbine. Still trying to fix it.

8:30AM PST, Feb 4, 2009

the storm has passed and I have my turbines up. Now I’m bartering to fix others in the area. We need more food with the new kid.

2:13PM PST, Feb 4, 2009

hostilities seem to have been slowed by the bad weather, thankfully. No more reports of violence yet. I’m still worried though.

3:05PM PST, Feb 4, 2009

with things thawing, the local men are talking about retaliating across the border. Nothing Mike and I can do to stop this now.

4:45PM PST, Feb 4, 2009

I talked with John, the man who makes my shotgun ammo. He’s out of supplies already even with the trader having just been here.

6:44PM PST, Feb 4, 2009

Walking back from a neighbor’s compound, I swear I saw a mountain lion stalking me through the treeline. Didn’t look healthy.

10:07AM PST, Feb 5, 2009

the F Bar Ranch, where I sometimes trade guard duty for meat or milk, was raided by rustlers last night. Lost 20 head of cattle

12:45PM PST, Feb 5, 2009

over the past 3 days, I repaired six wind turbines and added about 30 pounds of goods to the cellar. Nobody starves this year...

11:20AM PST, Feb 6, 2009

Mom and sis rode the wagon over to the F Bar with a few things we can spare. Charity survives despite it all, somehow.

4:40PM PST, Feb 6, 2009

Sarah’s belly is as big as the moon. She craves dark chocolate, but I haven’t seen any in almost a year. Even hot cocoa is rare.

9:00AM PST, Feb 7, 2009

God DAMN it! Someone broke into the cellar last night. We’ve been lax on keeping guard. No idea how much we lost yet, checking

10:37AM PST, Feb 7, 2009

the thieves only made away with several jars of raspberry preserves and two sacks of potatoes. Still posting guards from now on.

12:05PM PST, Feb 8, 2009

tired, still steaming over the robbery yesterday. Looking for barter on Kansanet. Things are so desperate out there right now.

1:12PM PST, Feb 8, 2009

I didn’t find work, but I found word that chronic wasting disease is killing our local deer population. Explains things.

8:41AM PST, Feb 9, 2009

I caught Ben asleep on his watch last night. Screamed my head off at him, and he ran off. I feel terrible about it now.

10:39AM PST, Feb 9, 2009

hunting this morning, I saw signs of the CWD killing deer myself. A whole herd, rotting in a field. Stunk like the fall of 2008.

2:50PM PST, Feb 9, 2009

helped Mike cut some wood for a furniture commission he landed. More cradles, believe it or not. The world keeps turning.

6:13PM PST, Feb 10, 2009

Ben staggered home drunk just after dinner. Wanted to be mad at him, but really, I just wanted to know how he got booze.

9:27AM PST, Feb 11, 2009

I heard gunshots to the east this morning not far off. Rifles and machine guns. Sent the girls into the cellar. Guns loaded.

3:05PM PST, Feb 11, 2009

four men on horseback tried to enter our property. We fired two warning shots, and they thought better. Shouted they’d be back.

10:05AM PST, Feb 12, 2009

more snow last night. I found tracks around or property line this morning. Really starting to worry about this border “dispute.”

3:21PM PST, Feb 12, 2009

John came by with a load of ammo. The defacto mayor has had him working overtime and distributing it to everyone in 30 miles.

11:15AM PST, Feb 13, 2009

Sarah thought the baby was coming this morning! Still two weeks early. Pains subsided. Oh god, I am really going to be a dad.

2:40PM PST, Feb 13, 2009

foisted my chores off on others so I could be close to Sarah all day. Haven’t done that in months. Lovely, but I feel guilty.

9:08AM PST, Feb 14, 2009

I swear I heard cannonfire last night. Either that or someone is celebrating the New Year six weeks late. Please let it be that

1:30PM PST, Feb 14, 2009

I thought the world had forgotten about America. But KansaNet reports the U.N. are rolling in from Colorado due to border war!

10:55AM PST, Feb 15, 2009

I just had breakfast with a dozen Sikhs in blue turbans in a UN camp 10 miles west of home. They smile so much it hurts to see.

3:10PM PST, Feb 15, 2009

dumb hicks are running around claiming that we’ve been invaded by the “Mussins”. The Sikhs have been distributing goods though.

12:30PM PST, Feb 16, 2009

The peacekeepers are asking everyone to voluntarily disarm. They’re not getting many volunteers even in our household.

11:15AM PST, Feb 17, 2009

now the crazy rumors on KansaNet are that Chinese “peacekeepers” have landed out in California to restore order there. Sigh.

1:47PM PST, Feb 17, 2009

just saw some very convincing photos supposedly from San Francisco of a Chinese fleet in the Bay. Hard to care about Cali now.

9:04AM PST, Feb 18, 2009

the peacekeepers are rolling out, headed north. Nobody knows why, rumors are thick. Everyone’s angry. Things have been safe.

5:21PM PST, Feb 18, 2009

There were too many of them. We couldn’t stop them. A gang just conscripted Ben into their “army.” So much fear here now.

2:00PM PST, Feb 19, 2009

a major battle was fought in Lawrence last night. Many killed on both sides. The ghost of bloody Kansas has risen to haunt us.

8:45PM PST, Feb 19, 2009

two young bastards from the “army” arrived to tell us that Ben was killed in the battle of Lawrence. We will bury him here.

12:15PM PST, Feb 20, 2009

an old turboprop plane just flew by overhead, and someone parachuted out. We are riding out to check it out after we bury Ben.

3:49PM PST, Feb 20, 2009

He is a reporter from Canada named Sebastian, and they robbed him naked before we arrived. Had no idea what he was getting into.

9:30AM PST, Feb 21, 2009

Sebastian says things outside the U.S. are not that much better. The Midwest is the worst here. South America in one giant war.

4:15PM PST, Feb 21, 2009

We gave Sebastian a set of my old clothes and a little food and sent him north. Felt bad not giving him a gun but can’t spare it

5:25AM PST, Feb 22, 2009

Sarah’s gone into labor. I’m trying to stay calm and trying to reach the Doc via KansaNet. Trying not to panic.

8:41AM PST, Feb 22, 2009

riding to the doctor’s place. Not getting a response on the Net mail. Will report back if I can get a signal.

1:20AM PST, Feb 23, 2009

very wary folks told me the Doc was conscripted for her skills. Probably working on the wounded in Lawrence. No time, homebound

8:45AM PST, Feb 23, 2009

I missed it. Sarah’s exhausted, and we have a little girl. Her name is Amelia. She has ten fingers and toes!

9:03AM PST, Feb 24, 2009

haven’t slept in 2 days. Between the war, the baby, and everything else, I can’t spare the time, really. Parenting is hard!

2:41PM PST, Feb 24, 2009

The entire world just shook. Oh god. What happened?

12:01PM PST, Feb 25, 2009

if you’re reading this we escaped the EMP thanks to the distance from the bomb.

3:25PM PST, Feb 25, 2009

Big chunks of KansaNet are offline. Total chaos. Nobody knows what the hell happened. Witchita?? Who would nuke Witchita??

12:15PM PST, Feb 26, 2009

Jets (of unknown origin) have been screaming across the sky all morning. The baby has been screaming too. I wish I could.

4:38PM PST, Feb 26, 2009

talked with a nuclear physicist working on a co-op nearby. He said the word is it was a low-yield, fallout should be “minimal.”

12:45PM PST, Feb 27, 2009

men, soldiers by the dozens coming from the north. They’re smiling. The border war over. “We have a bigger enemy to fight.”

3:00PM PST, Feb 27, 2009

Rumors say it was China but it makes no sense to me. Other nukes reported. Kansas and Missouri are at peace now though?

4:30PM PST, Feb 27, 2009

#futurejer Kansanet: Chinese peacekeepers pulling out of U.S., claim no responsibility for the bombs. Say it was our own government.

12:20PM PST, Feb 28, 2009

Americans are united again. I saw someone actually use dollars today in town. The giant is stirring, but who is responsible?

12:25PM PST, Feb 28, 2009

I don’t know what the future has in store for us. But my family will face it like we have faced these past two years. Together.