Self-reliance, self-awareness, the emotional bank account and getting along with the neighbors, it's important.

  The wind blows a lot here on the California Delta, it's a very rural area, some of the islands do not have a single person on them. Others like the one I live on has a small population, 1500 people total, after being here for 20 years we know a lot of them. There are a lot of people that live here for a while and leave, come back and stay, others are never heard from again. There are a number of natural events that are always present, the levees protect us from flooding, there are earthquakes regularly, high winds, and storms are all threats. If we have a major occurrence, I don't like words like "disaster", "catastrophe", and the like, they sound way too permanent. Being in the middle of nowhere most of the people I know living here have a high level of awareness. We all know on the first Wednesday at 11 am of each month the evacuation siren goes off, every time I lift my head until I remember what day it is. I sometimes wonder what would happen if an extreme coincidence took place and an evacuation event happened at the exact same time. Well, that would be a huge coincidence, especially considering that a levee breach has a chance of happening which is below 1%.

Our Levee top, yep they want to make it a road. I like it the wayit is, I do really have great neighbors. 

In other words, yes we are aware of the possibilities of it happening, but will it? Chances are it will not. I am aware that the news networks are quite often running stories on the poor condition of them throughout the country, on our island they are sound. It still may happen, but if it does it would most likely be due to human error. Our Municipal levee district came out a few weeks ago with some declaration that they want to asphalt the top of our levees, they are all privately owned. Some of us own halfway across the slough, and the District wants the homeowners to foot the bill, of course. I don't think they put enough thought behind the proposal, the levees were built in the last quarter of the 1800's, by the same Chinese laborers that built the railroads. There is no way they can be built simply by spreading asphalt on them, rolling it out and calling it good, engineering must be done. Once a month there is a meeting, and very few people show up unless it's a major issue, sometimes they do weird things. But what if some event was to happen and force us to evacuate.
  We have a 3-mile hike out to the bridge, then across the slough to a muster point, for an old guy it's a pretty good walk. There would be dogs, cats, people, and vehicles moving along as I see it. Most of the people have no preparations at all, maybe grab a bottle of water and start walking, if we could not gain access to our homes even that would not be available. That's when getting along with the neighbors pays off, and that starts well before any event were to happen. If you are a student of "Steven Covey's" 7 habits of successful people, one of the habits is called the "Emotional Bank Account", (Link) I have taught it to each of my grandkids. What it entails is building good feelings with all of the people in your circle of influence, in this case, I am talking about getting along with the neighbors. The spirit is not to just do it because you may "need" them at some point, but because in our everyday lives it makes living a whole lot better. There is an old custom that has grown out of use in most areas, including our island, I had a neighbor that knew of it, and he and I used it until he passed away. I miss old Bob, he was a character, and he pretty much stayed upset with me for various reasons, none of which I ever knew. We were always friends although he would

There's the rock on the fence, that is Old Bob's place.

"snub" me, then I would give him something and within a few days he would chum up again, it defies description. The old custom was to place a rock on a shared fence if the neighbor wanted to talk to you the rock would be removed and set on the ground on your side of the fence, he knew it was seen because it would be set back on the fence. The meaning is that the neighbor would be over to see you soon, or if the rock was on your side, you would go to his house. It is a good way to start communications, at least the problem would be known and it can be talked about. But the reason may be completely opposite of a problem, he may have something for you, or need help performing a task. Mostly with Bob, it was because he was upset with me, the poor guy was in a lot of pain before he died of stage 4 cancer.
  I know a man that has lived in the California gold rush country his entire life, his 20 acres or so has been in his family for generations. It is a very rural area as well, but it's in the mountains, it's rocky and not real receptive to farming, livestock yes but farming no. A person from the City bought a piece of property about 1/2 mile from him and decided to have it surveyed. The last time it was surveyed was in the 1800's, around the gold rush time which was in 1849. The survey was done later than that, few markers could be found. The people living there had a meeting and the consensus was not to survey, however, the newcomer decided to do it anyway. They had another meeting after the survey to decide what to do about the results, it did not turn out well for anyone. Outbuildings were in the neighbors' pasture, fences ran right through properties, the porch of one house was on another neighbors land. It was a mess, it would have cost a lot of money, time and effort to correct it, no one lost any property the lines were just off. They all decided to leave things as they were, they dusted themselves off and went back home never to revisit that situation. It worked out due to the "emotional bank account" they each had built up with one another, it's good to get along with the neighbors. Fences, repairs, and common areas all have to be agreed upon, and we all know some people just can't be pleased.

Yeh, that's the fence.

  We end up with problems often, it seems as if people always find something to be upset about, right now it seems to be politics. My neighbor is in a minor dispute with his neighbor because he did not get a survey, the fence is less than a foot over the line. I had pounded a pipe in the water side of the levee to anchor a derelict boat, he thought it was the property line and set his fence to it. He was asked to remove the fence and put it on his side of the line so he pushed his fence over into the lot next door, about 2 years ago and it lays there still. It's a problem that is festering and may very well become bigger than it should. They are not talking to one another, it's not a good situation, I suspect it will be resolved successfully somehow. The emotional bank account is not as full as it should be.
  The neighbor on the other side is not here very often, he's a good guy and lives in the City. (San Francisco) He rebuilt his dock, it looks good, and the old dock is tied to the new one, old docks are hard to deal with. The days of cutting them loose and letting them drift away are long gone, he does want to be rid of it, so do I.

It's not really bothering anything, I'm helping him find someone that may want some of the floats and other parts they may be able to use. We will resolve that issue it's just a matter of time. So what does all of this have to do with anything?
  I write about self-reliance and self-awareness as it relates to knowing ourselves, most of the people living here are river people, not a great amount of wealth, and for the most part we all get along well. An emotional bank account that is not empty will pay off if we ever do experience a natural or manmade disaster, especially if we have to walk out. If problems are not ironed out before an evacuation is in effect, it will be very hard to move along and to assist one another. Personally, I do not want to deal with a bunch of festering wounds when emotions are sky high already. The situation could be much worse if it was a situation that involved a shortage of water, or food. It would have to be an extreme event but still, it is possible, most people do not have supplies to last over a week. No matter how improbable it may seem, we should still hold that in our minds as a possibility, our emotional bank account needs to be healthy. I won't outline the numerous events that could take place to initiate a food shortage, but if one does occur we may have to make stone soup.
  Sometimes little groups form, and they sustain themselves for a long while but soon problems within the group start to form. Many times it's due to a new member that has recently moved into the area and decides things need to change, the backbiting and insecurity begin. We all need to guard against that happening, one toxic person can become cancer and doom is not only brought to the group. Many times it is like an octopus with tentacles running all over the place affecting people that have no knowledge of what is happening. There was a few weeks back a problem with a Hibiscus plant, yep, a plant, tempers flared, arguments ensued. There were at least a dozen people involved by the time our local contractor and everyone's friend was enlisted to deliver it to the person who thought they were treated unfairly. It was actually a huge misunderstanding and a short conversation would have resolved it in a few minutes, literally a few minutes. As it ends up blows were nearly exchanged, and hard feelings are abundant in our little area of the world. I will never understand why some people feel as if they have to take their problems "to the street" and involve everyone they can influence.
  It's unfortunate that these types of disagreements take place, but hey, we're human after all. If we all just take a while to think about things a lot of minor issues would stay minor. We have a three-day rule in our family. If we get upset with another member we give it three days before we confront them, we don't always though, because after all, we are just human. However, if we put effort into getting along during our regular day to day interactions, we are polite (yes politically correct) treat one another with respect and communicate with each other, when a highly charged event does take place we will at least be on the relatively level ground with one another. So let's work on our emotional bank accounts, and if nothing ever happens we will have a great atmosphere to live in at least.
  Thanks for reading and sharing, tell me what you think in the comments, have you ever had a dispute with someone that seems there is no resolution? If we communicate there may well be one.
jacquesandkate  emergencykitsplus.com