30 Day Picture Prompt Challenge

Lunar Journal # 1

March 17th, 2018

For weeks, all anyone in the news and science communities has been blathering about is the near miss of Earth by Asteroid 45-B3502. Near miss of Earth alright, but no one ever said it would hit the backside of the moon! Worse, it was a direct hit, knocking the moon out of its orbit. We can't even see the moon here in Michigan because it is the new moon. We have to wait a bit to see it. The scientists say the moon is now about two-thirds closer to earth than it was. There's all sorts of speculations about fall out of moon chunks, whether or not the new orbit has stabilized and if the moon could crash into Earth. Happy freaking St Patrick's Day. Right now, I think we need some luck.

March 31st, 2018

There's almost a party atmosphere with the first full moon, AAI. (After Asteroid Impact) I have to tell you, the moon is HUGE! Remember back where there'd be a full moon and it would rise on the horizon and look simply immense? Yet, if you took a picture, it looked normal? Now, cameras see what we see, no illusion. It used to be roughly 239,000 miles away...now it is about 80,000 miles away. Away sounds funny, because it is very near! It seems to fill the sky. Beautiful and scary at the same time.

April 1st, 2018

No joke. The pictures online from last night are amazing. Right there, in your face. Can't hardly see the 'Man in the Moon' any more because our focus somehow shifted when it is so close. The news is full of stories about incredible tides, mass flooding, people fleeing the coasts. Gas has jumped to $15.00a gallon! A bunch of refineries in Texas were swamped, barges upended like dominoes, New Orleans has flooding worse than with Katrina, and the Jersey shore is fifteen miles farther inland than it was. Entire countries in the far east are swamped.

April 29th, 2018

I'm glad I've been writing this in my journal, power's been out for a week now. A couple of major relay stations flooded out knocking out power to huge chunks of the country. We are getting hit with moon chunks after all. Just not quite like they feared.

I've officially, and, to be honest, unhappily, quit smoking. There are none to be had, assuming I could even afford them. Money's gone. Swallowed up when the banks went dark. Even when the power's on, ATM are not being filled. We might have been able to trade venison for some, but, and he was right, Ken said it was silly. We are now dry (no beer to be had either) and smoke free. Let's get healthy while we starve to death at the end of the world. Whimpering is the new hallelujah.

I noticed something yesterday. I swear I'm not crazy, but I think we have tides now in the Great Lakes. Normally here in Lexington, the water is a hundred yards or so away from the cliff at the edge of our property. Last night, the water was almost to the stairs.

May 9th, 2018

My birthday. I'm surprised I remembered it. No one else has. Mother's Day isn't even mentioned. We've had power back for a couple of days now, but still no internet. CNN says that several communications satellites were hit by moon rocks. A big chunk of the moon hit the atmosphere yesterday. We saw it here screaming across the sky. The sonic booms were incredible. Much of it burned up, but a half mile sized piece took out a fifteen mile long swath of forest in northern Russia. The impact registered on the Richter scales in California! There is talk of earthquakes and fears of volcanoes erupting. There's a lot of talk about Yosemite.

People are acting weird. Gives new meaning to the word 'lunacy.' Detroit is just one big bonfire. They gave up trying to contain it. There's an eerie sort of orange glow to the south...

I guess it is happening other places too and in other countries. Foods getting harder to get. Ten bucks for a loaf of bread, milk is pretty much unavailable. Something about the cows not producing.

We absolutely have tides here now. I'm glad we are way up on the cliff. In town at high tide, the waters go way beyond Main Street. Our touristy town is history. We have to go inland to Imlay City or farther now to find stores, but the gas is too dear.

We are going to finished digging up the front yard today. Our driveways is about a quarter mile long from the gate. We've got most of it dug up now, and we'll be planting the biggest garden. Ken took a deer last night. Not hunting season, but we've got to eat!

June 21st, 2018

Power's been sporadic. We pretty much don't count on it any more. Least we have water from the lake. Garden's growing. Wish I knew how the kids all are. Haven't heard from them since about a week after everything happened. Knowing Rob, he's hunkered down in Colorado and doing okay. No idea about the other two. Kelly's tribe is fairly self-sufficient. I worry most about Cara and Noah.

Everyone's talking about the super tides tonight. I hope it is cloudy. I like it better when I can't see the moon. The folks on this stretch of the road have taken to meeting up once a week or so. We see each other getting water down on the beach. Pretty much all of us have rigged up a pulley system to get water up to the houses. Sure beats lugging five gallon containers up the 110 steps to the back yard. Up side to all this? I've lost close to forty pounds. None of my clothes fit. Downside is I can't go on a new clothes buying shopping spree. Life so is not fair! Silly me. As if that's the worst thing I have to deal with!

July 5th, 2018

I really miss coffee. We put the USS Constitution flag up yesterday morning. Saw a freighter go by today. We rang the big bell out by the flag pole. Three times; signal for 'hello.' They answered back, three long blasts. Life goes on. No fireworks. Guess we've had enough of those recently.

July 10th, 2018

Cara and Noah showed up last night! They came walking down the road like they were just coming for a visit! We had the guns out. When we first saw people, we didn't know who they were. Neighbors come up the beach and pull on the rope railing to set off the little bells. There were tired and dirty and starving. Ken's been keeping us in venison (keeps the deer out of the garden) and we had a feast after the kids had a bath in the lake.

They told us that most of Jackson, Mi is gone, burned to the ground. Same with Detroit, Flint, Pontiac and Lansing. They'd heard rumors that DC was flooded out, the tidal rushes coming up the Potomac. They'd also heard that the Washington Monument had fallen over, sinking first into the water-logged ground before toppling. They also talked about hearing Manhattan was flooded with people in boats on Broadway. Apparently there were massive riots there and in Chicago.

They decided to head up here because people were getting killed over cans of lima beans. Lima beans? Seriously? Why do folks do things like that? Makes no sense to me. Then again, not much does these days.

Cara and I had a good giggle about the 'green cheese' diet. I am now sharing clothes with Ken. I haven't been able to fit in his jeans in 15 years. Cara's taken over mine. We look good. Rummage sale reject fashionistas of the day. This was before she told me about Noah having to kill some guy who was crazy and kept trying to attack them. She told me how she still can smell his blood that had gotten all over her. I didn't tell her that when they'd arrived she still had a bunch in her hair.

July 13th, 2018

Had a campfire last night. Neighbors came by and we cooked up some of the venison from the latest deer. We have probably a hundred pounds of it smoked, but decided we all needed a treat. We talked of odd things...the folks up in the space station...Noah being torn about which direction to head...here or down to his Mother's place. We talked of barricading off our section of the road and building driftwood fences down on the beach. Stan, two doors down, took his boat down to Port Huron on a scouting run. Says he won't do that again even if he could get fuel for it. The marina is a disaster. Someone dynamited the Blue Water Bridge on the Canadian side.

We are taking turns on watch. Ken tends to sit up in the tall pine at the corner of our property; he has a good vantage point from up there. Three houses up and down from us are all working together. Only house not involved is the Selick's place. He only comes once in a while these days, living out on Hawaii. His place is the biggest of them all. We may take it over and live communally. Not ready to give up here yet, but it is something to think about.

Got really out of breath today. I've been out of blood pressure medicine for a week or so now. Ken's talking about a foraging run, maybe there is some left at the pharmacy. Not what one would go after when it was ransacked. Lucy Danvers died yesterday. She'd been out of insulin. She's not the first, probly won't be the last. She was a sweet lady.

July 15th, 2018

No more campfires. A hoard of folks came up the beach. The guys picked most of them off climbing the stairs. Others ran away. We will be using rope ladders from now on. All the stairs are now future firewood. Ken and some of the others in our group broke into the Selick's house. He had a lot of ammo and stuff in the basement. Guns too. We parceled out the dry goods. Cara and I got some clothes.

Harvested lettuce and cukes today. A salad has never tasted so good.

July 17th, 2018

Sad, bad day. Been feeling rotten for several days. Heart was really racing as we worked the garden. Guess I got dehydrated because I passed out. Freezing. Stan fell off the cliff today. He was fixing his water pulley. Broke his femur and the bone was sticking out. He bled to death in what seemed like minutes. Nothing we could do. Feeling very helpless. Kelsie, his wife, hung herself a few hours ago. She left a note saying she'd never survive without him and wanted her death to be her choice. Our choices get slimmer and slimmer.

July 18th, 2018

Cara told us today that she's pretty sure she's pregnant. I don't know how to feel about that.

July 26th, 2018

We cannot stay here any longer. Not safe. Ken found a sway backed mare wandering down the street. We've put what we can into a small wagon and will head north. Maybe we can make the straights by winter and cross the ice to the U.P. There is nothing here any more. We can't drag enough water up the cliff to keep the garden watered. It hasn't rained since April. This journal is full, so I'm leaving it behind. Kelly, Rob, if you find this, we are headed to the cabin. Maybe we will see you there. Least we know it is stocked with pretty much anything we will need to get through the winter.

We love you and hope you are safe. God bless us all.




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