- This topic has 261 replies, 24 voices, and was last updated 11 months ago by
.
-
Posts
-
-
-
Papers have been multiplying on the table in the cabin. I had some thrift store notebooks and have started putting things in them by category and putting all the house/construction papers in their individual tabs in “the house book”.
I can know about how far down in a stack a paper is but that’s when I’m the only one “messing with” the stack. This way things that are needed can be found by both of us and everything else is put away and out of the way.
And I did get out my “brain” and get it updated so I can have all my portable information handy.
We can never out-prep paper!
-
Libraries, a bit behind on this one. Decided to check em out. The one close to me is closed on sunday. The system has lots of free seminars, like French, guitar lessons and books online. So perhaps tomorrow I’ll get a library card. I think the book sales are in different locations. Will need to ask about that when I am there
Checked out the book The storm gourmet, and will probs purchase or borrow if the library has it. As a Floridian, it will come in handy
To update:Irma the power was out for 8 days in my area. The keys I am sure a heck of a lot longer.
It doesnt look like Florida has announced if/when we will have a sales tax holiday for hurricane preparedness supplies. 2018 info is up, but nothing about 2019.
-
March 3
So happy there is another challenge for I get new ideas from reading post.
I made a carper freshener out of baking soda and essential oil, didn’t have a shaker can so I made one out of a mason jar and poked holes in the lid with an ice pick, works just as good. I changed the central heat/air filter and put drops of essential oil on the new filter, just ready for weather that I can open all the windows and turn the heat off.
-
-
-
Cinnamon Grammy go to hikelightdotcom and then go to the videos link – chapter 33 has a demo of how to make a pot cozy. After I watched the video I realized I had already made something like that years ago using leftover prelined quilted fabric from a robe. My lid just connected part way and then I had a ribbon on the lid part and the pot part to tie it closed. I didn’t “cook” with it but it helped keep a pot of food warm for several hours. Mine was sewn but his tape tip would probably work.
Slow cookers sometimes come with a BIG rubber band to hold the lid down as it goes over the handle on the lid and connects to handles on the pot – that might help. Also I will often put a piece of parchment paper between the lid and the pot to help with dribbles and then secure the lid.
Some pots have really tight fitting lids but they would not be worth the money if you already have a good pot.
-
-
1st: Listed our dirt bike for sale. We just don’t get to enjoy it and want to buy something different to use as our kids grow.
2nd: Went to the closeout sale at our local Shopko, and picked up some First Aid items, extra socks, and another pair of good pants.
3rd: It’s been really wet outside this weekend so we are fighting off colds. I’ve had 4 messages about the dirt bike, so hopefully it will sell this week and we’ll be able to take care of some stuff.
-
Corsaire – I read The Storm Gourmet a few years ago and enjoyed it! I thought it contained some clever ideas on how to make meals from stored foods a lot more varied and tasty.
I haven’t gotten much physical prepping done the past couple of days. I’ve mostly been revising my food storage inventory and watching preparedness-related YouTube videos. There are quite a few older ones I haven’t seen yet, so I’ve been using this “shut in at home due to bad winter weather” time to catch up on the old videos posted several years ago by folks such as Bexar Prepper, I’m Still Workin’, Obsessive Chicks, etc. Lots of good canning demos and other info. in their posts!
-
So today…..we did have some snow but nothing like was ‘sort of’ predicted. Didn’t come here….thankful!!! New shovel is heavier so it’s officially DH’s and I’ll use the red one. Annoying part was getting everything swept/shoveled and driveway plowed. Took a romp in the woods with the dog. Took a nap while sitting at my computer [chaise lounge so I didn’t fall off the chair] 😉 ….and woke to another bit of snow. Did it all over again….tho not much.
Worse…..we’re subZERO….and that’s the part that can get dangerous. Supposed to warm up this week. We’re TRYING to get out to restaurant with our elderlies for belated birthday celebration. ……
THEN I read about THE NEW FLU STRAIN… { I’ll do this without being an actual link ….cuz of the spammers y’know. Just copy without the NOLINK if you want to go there….or Google your own}
NOLINKhttps://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2019/02/25/flu-season-2019-severe-strain-rise-what-you-should-know/2978595002/
OK…I’ve been saying we need Sambucol or other elderberry concoction … Just put it on the top of the list. Next time in town….. We’re restocked with our sickness items after DH broke our ‘never sick’ record in Jan/Feb. Except that product.
Point of Information: It’s been said that you should NOT use an elderberry product if it’s a pandemic-type flu. That means the ones dying the most are young, healthy adults instead of the usual old, children, ill folks. Has to do with overstimulating the response …. {long time since I studied that…look it up so you know}
This one does NOT look like a pandemic type. Just that symptoms are more harsh. I know a 5 yr old who was admitted to hospital last week with “pneumonia and dehydration”. In our local article about this new strain of Type A flu, it says folks feel fine and all the sudden they’re very sick. “Hit by a truck” sick. Young ones at risk. This round might last til May. {groan}
So research was part of my prepping today.
OldMtWoman G’nite all
-
Shoot…..I thot I’d rigged the link so it would not appear as a link. So you would not have to moderate the post. ???? Then…my other post has the same “awaiting moderation” message and there is no link in that one. Let’s see if this one triggers something…..
OldMtWoman …trying NOT to make Daisy more work.
-
-
-
-
Littlesister – Thank you! I’ll be extra careful walking on the snow and ice 😉 … As to the butane stove idea, you’re very welcome! I have a couple of them myself since they’re fairly inexpensive and readily available – but I only have a few butane canisters in my storage – I need to get a lot more of those when I find a good sale on them. … HERC tea light ovens sound great but they’re pricey. Here’s a website in which a lady describes how she built a small DIY tea light oven for only about $39 US total using an inexpensive toaster oven as the housing (and she discusses how to use one safely): http://www.bluebonnetacres.org/diy-tea-light-oven-off-grid-cooking/ I’d like to try making one of those that myself! … One place you could purchase a pattern (either digital or printed) for a heat-efficient, streamlined DIY fabric thermal cooker called a “Hope SaC” and, in the process, contribute to a worthy charity, is at Cindy Miller’s website ThermalCooking.net I think there may also be free patterns available online for other styles of DIY Wonderbags. If you want to make a DIY fabric Wonder Box/Oven instead, there are free instructions on how to do so at this webpage: http://www.iwillprepare.com/files/pdf/handout-wonder_box_instructions.pdf Also, if you haven’t already seen this one, here’s a link to a nice article about making and using Wonderbags: https://www.survivopedia.com/how-to-make-and-use-a-wonderbag/ … Here’s the full title and author information for that book I mentioned a few days ago, which is available on Amazon: <span style=”text-decoration: underline;”>Living Terrors: What America Needs to Know to Survive the Coming Bioterrorist Catastrophe</span>, by Michael T. Osterholm, Ph.D., M.P.H., and John Schwartz. Among his many credentials, Dr. Osterholm is the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) based at the University of Minnesota and has served on the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB), so he knows his stuff! This book was published back in 2001 but most of its content is still quite relevant so I think it’s well worth reading – matter of fact, I think I’m going to read it again 🙂
-
-
I have enjoyed reading the March post. Great ideas and books to read as well. I see a collection of books back in bookcase at this rate. But these would be some good ones.
I have been washing all the clothes, towels and sheets today. Did a bit of reorganizing my food closets as I have been using up things in them. So needed to tighten up on things. Also making a list of things we might need from store. Still have not been able to get to the clothes to go through nor have I gotten to dehydrating the veggies from freezer. Had some things I really needed to catch up on that I put aside while doing some decluttering. I really need to step up my game plan as I have been so tired and slow at getting a lot done. I really think my thyroid is off and I will no for sure come the 12th as we both have doctor appts. and blood work.
-
Hi, all!!! So happy to be back and determined to stay with the prep everyday program this month.Sometimes things can get a bit more complicated than I like so I have to simply pace myself. As I’ve always been a Type A personality that’s a hard thing for me to do. But, I’m learning. 🙂
Though it’s bitter cold outside (at least for my neck of the woods – currently 24 degrees F) the sun has at last made a comeback! Supposedly we’re going to get at least three sunny days in a row. We’ve just had so much rain everything is flooded and soggy. However, tornadoes remain our biggest threat for the next few months. I was so sad to read of the destruction in Alabama and Georgia this weekend. Last week our state had a weeklong disaster preparedness emphasis attempting to get people to think about the need to prepare. It seems to me the general uneasiness many of us are feeling with the current emphasis on “gun control” and free speech rights under attack, plus so many other social issues…I don’t know…it might get interesting in 2019.
Whatever, at my age I’m not afraid to speak out, write letters, take a stand for what I believe are important issues, and encourage others to do the same. Violence is not called for, but strong, peaceful resistance is absolutely my right. Then, I’m like old Charlton Heston who said “you’ll have to take my gun out of my cold dead hand, for I’ll never give it up.” I’m not going to register it either. 🙂
In the meantime, back at my little homestead, someone mentioned reviewing their previous posts so I plan to do that also just to be reminded of my progress. And, there has definitely been progress. A few highlights have been my joy engaging in indoor gardening all winter. I have thoroughly enjoyed being able to go out and pick fresh spinach greens and onions. I’m also still working with my Food Saver thingy and the dehydrator. Number two son wants to “borrow” the dehydrator but I said No ’cause he’ll like it and won’t bring it back…:) He has the means to get his own so I’m not being too selfish…it’s my new toy and I’m just not ready to give it up!
I have seeds to start indoors this week and handyman is going to be making me some raised beds.
Have we had an update from Molly with the big closet project? I’m wondering about so many others, too. Such a great group of preppers. So many good ideas to glean from ya’ll. Thanks for posting.
-
One of my flashlights fell apart yesterday…grrr. Today typed and printed out emergency #s to keep in various places. Printed out a fire protection check list. Will need to get a full size extinguisher, as I only have a small “canned” one.
Countertop is going in on Wednesday and later the kitchen sink will be hooked up. I dont miss it one bit. Washing dishes outside in the fresh air is quite therapeutic. And the water is warm, so no need to heat it up.
-
-
-
-
<span style=”text-decoration: underline;”>@Corsair</span> look at getting a gel fire extinguisher they are pricey but when you have a nasty oil or fuel fire they put it out better than powdered Chem.
Getting last of equipment repaired for spring push on farm, separated the breeding stock chicken flocks, started garden plan, next comes seed starts, cleared the green house outside of snow and stared warming it ip with mass heater.
Oil change on equipent and vehicles
Tomorrow is final push selling pork, hope it goes fast but always worry we won’t sell it all each time as we keep increasing out put.
We are down to last 8 rounds of hay spring can’t come soon enough.
-
-
Columbia River – I have a couple of “Urban Cheesecraft” kits that I got wholesale from Frontier Coop. I didn’t do the one done today because I grossly underestimated the work time for my income-earning tasks today, and I am disappointed, but hopefully it will work out tomorrow. You can go to “urbancheesecraft(dot)com” to see what they have – they produce kits for both vegan and traditional cheeses. Honestly, anything that comes in a kit is usually overpriced – but very convenient. I could get all or most of the kit ingredients in bulk at Frontier Coop as well – or even in the Amish discount store bulk section. But I don’t know what I’m doing, so I thought the kit would be good to start with, especially since I could get it wholesale.
Sending the email out tonight to remind our ladies that we need to do another Frontier order next week.
Most of the cooking today had to be super fast because of the workload, but managed to make millet-flax seed bread today and dipped it in hummus. Yum!
Read more in One Circle… and I am amazed at what a vegan diet based on potatoes can supply in the way of nutrients. When I finally get a chance to write up a summary, will try to post it Once the soil is in tip-top shape and your garden skills are also well honed, a person really could live on what you grow in about 700 square feet (potato-based vegan, 2000 calories a day). But you would be cutting it really close if you had a crop failure, and people do tend to need animal sources of vitamins A and D as well as B12 if they are very young, aged, pregnant or sick.
-
Downloading the austere medicine info while I’m typing – thank you Corsaire. That’s enough for my prep today as physical therapy today was “tell me when to stop” as he stretched my arm in lots of painful positions for an hour and I left feeling pretty beat up. I am still on passive exercises only.
Hieronyma Textor 1) thanks for info on cheese kits, I will check them out. 2)when we lived off grid I would frequently make an extra large batch of cereal (oatmeal, grits etc) and then turn that into he main dish for a meal later on that day – oat burgers, tamale loaf (grits & seasoned beans and “enchilada sauce”) rice pudding etc. I had a lot of waterproof tupperware and in the summertime would store food in them and then have my children put it in “the refrigerator”- a plastic crate with a lid and a heavy rock in the bottom of it in the creek. In cooler weather we used the pantry with small openings at the top and bottom of the outside wall. The warm air would escape and cool mountain air came in the bottom. Depending on the temperature the “perishable” food went on the floor or on lower to medium shelves. In the winter we closed the vents as it was very cold outside andmy produce would freeze if I left them open. I was able to keep “refrigerated” food safely for a couple of days. I just always needed to be aware of what I had and plan my meals around what I had in the “cooler” It was a different kind of menu planning than I had done before but I am more aware of things now because of that experience.
-
Hieronyma Textor – ooooh I had never heard of this company before. Thanks! I think getting a kit for a starter and then get the book and make my own kits would be the best way to go. I’m assuming her dairy free cookbook released last month has all the different cheeses in it. Very very special treat you’ve shared with me I usually make my cauliflower queso although I’ve made cheesy sauce with both nut base and oatmeal base, a sliceable cashew cheese and frequently a “parmesan” cheese. But to have things as a mix is just so appealing to my prepper’s heart. 🙂
-
Cheese if you are doing more than a Block at a time you should pick one type or have separate kitchens as cross contamination of mould is nasty and you can never clean that good. Soft cheeses are some of the toughest to make, hard cheese takes time to age to bring out flavour.
We have 3 local artisan cheese makers, it’s simpler to trade them full raw milk for cheese. All of them have won medals for thier cheeses, super lucky to have them close. They put on workshops and I have gone over to see hands on how it’s made. The cheese cellars are giant root cellars with humidity controls and a ton of mould spores from the cheese type they make.
My favorite cheese from them is a blue/brie cheese mix, mixing the two moulds is a pain so they start with blue cheese mould let it ripen for 21 days then hot water sterilize the cheese add fresh curd then inoculate with white mould and let it sit for 21 more days. Tasty but beyond anything we want to try so we trade instead.
The circle food growing book is a good read we implement some of it, there is a good additional book it is a book about sold deficencies and how to use plants to diagnose and repair the soil.
If anyone is looking for a good read I just finished forbidden archeology by Cremo it’s is a book you can’t rush as it takes alot to mentally sort and rearrange what most think are absolute facts concerning archeology.
-
Great to read everyone’s posts. Welcome back, Muffy. Don’t worry about the “Post in Moderation” message. I got that on all three of mine yesterday….and only one had a link… that wasn’t a link. Daisy will get it worked out.
Too much snow removal recently – I’m worn out and sore And yet my side gate is STUCK now with the ice level getting up too high. 🙁 That’s what I’ve been working to avoid! Been successful til today so tomorrow I may just dig a hole and let it fill with water. We’ll step over it to got thru gate. Hillside has slide down thru the years cuz that gate was way above ground level when we set it. Hmph! Mountain challenges!
On low energy days I usually read articles. I’ve chased around a whole bunch of interesting ones lately. The other thing I do is write stories. Well,…..to clarify, I begin stories. I rarely finish them but I enjoy it a lot. Mine are usual sci-fi or dystopian of some kind. They are NOT zombie, not military [cuz what do I know about that] — but just tough situations….. EVAC situations….etc. LOL Dystopian LITE?
Most of the stories are actually my way of figuring out HOW ‘me and mine’ would handle a variety of Stuff Hits Fan situations. It’s mental preparation…. If my kids ever ask me how to prep….I’m going to email them one of my stories and that should handle it. LOL They are even in some of them. Well, not exactly them – but using us as a “template” for some characters.
I’ve got notebooks full of stories beginnings …..and ideas for stories. Also have more on laptop/thumb drives. Sometimes I’ve got quite a number of chapters. Usually in winter I get an urge to pull them out and begin to write again…add a few more chapters before summer comes and other things get in the way. Sometimes I don’t even remember stories I wrote years ago. That’s interesting.
{or worrisome? LOL }
So that’s what I’ve been up to.
OldMtWoman G’nite all
-
Back again.
I am behind on daily preps. Sunday Morning, we participated in an international conference call. A student that spend two years with them in high school, came back for a year of college, then returned home to Hungary, is coming to visit. And bringing her Italian husband! How did that happen? Old enough to get married? They will be here for ten days in the middle of the month. That should be fun.
Also on Sunday, a Bridal Shower 40 miles away, and we ended up staying in the cities all day. Another of my daughter’s international students, “Jeremy” from China who is now going to college nearby, came over for supper because it was his birthday. That was nice. Nice for me. Hubby did not bring anything to do, and was bored all afternoon, because he did not think we were staying.
Since I knew that Hungarian/Italian company was coming to visit, I offered to do some cleaning for my daughter. They are a busy household and she both works and is grad school. I got to clean an open-on-most-sides bookcase that was spilling over. Result, she found several books to donate, and I got three books on vegetarian cooking and took back my favorite chicken cook book. But, now I have four new books so I must eliminate at least four. Something in – more out!
My daughter and family do not clean house. Seriously. They keep the kitchen clean, but nothing else. How that happened I do not know. There is no place to sit. I am hoping that the therapy she is undergoing will bring her around to seeing that just a couple minutes to put something away will make her feel better. I do not dare talk about prepping with them, or anything more serious because they seem to be barely hanging on to day-to-day life as it is. They just know to come here.
Yesterday, my prep was re-hemming towels. You know how the selvedge edge always frays because we pull on the towel to scratch out backs? It ravels. So I did that to two towels. They will not ravel again. Then I dug into a box that was still sealed after 8 years of living here, and only saved a few papers. It was full of class notes and handouts. If I was still teaching, I would have save them. I’m not, so – out they go! And, I did not feel bad about it!
I looked up knitting and crocheting hats. I know how, my questions relate to the size of the yarn and needle/hook used and how that determines how many stitches to start with. I found several good pages, and now must print them and create a reference notebook. Yes, people say, it is online, or save it on your Kindle. I’d rather have a printed copy that will not go blank if I have not checked it in a minute, plus, it is larger print. So, one copy to use, and one electronic copy to keep for back-up.
Now, off to see which cookbooks I am going to donate, and find something else to do in the sewing room. There is light at the end of the tunnel – things are getting more organized.
Stay well everyone.
-
Greetings, All.
Best wishes to anyone in severe weather path. Expecially to those in Alabama.
I need to keep a running document for all of the hints and links that are given here. I did that for January. Just catching on the March readings today, I have half a page of things to look up.
Thank you everyone:
Columbia River: links to hikelight.com. I agree about placing something under the lid of the pot to reduce dribbles. I wish we had a stream of any kind. Will need to talk to hubby about a potato clamp. We have a basement that is a combined crawl space, part fully useable cinderblock, and partially excavated basement with old limestone walls and a cellar door that perhaps we could use. I just hate to go in there it is so yucky. I will look up Storm Gourmet and Apocalypse chow.
Hieronyma Textor: I had not thought that someone would produce a cheese making kit for non-dairy. I’ll need to check the “One Circle” information, too.
Old Mt. Woman: Yes, Sci Fi and Dystopian. My Hubby does not care to read this type, unless I have him read for a purpose/idea. Then he is surprised when I come up with a comment to something he “thought” of and basically say, “…that is common in Prepper circles.” I always skim over the discussions/descriptions of weapons. I only know a few things: hand guns, big guns that shoot a lot at one time, and bigger ones that will take it all out, or knives. My husband was a research biologist and used a variety of guns to collect his animal specimens; he is the shooter. I will trust him.
About cheese, I stopped using any dairy the last two months because I was having bad reactions. (Too much “seat” time – if I got there.) I started taking a pre- and pro-biotic in January and it has made a difference. I had pizza a few days ago and my symptoms were greatly reduced. I think I will still avoid these dishes at home, but now I know I do not need to panic when I see dairy in an item.
Ham radio club on Saturday. There was only one other board member there; Ex. Dir. was taking car of his grandson to help out his ill daughter, and did not discuss any meeting plans. I was surprised. I thought, I can lead this meeting…then Hubby said the other guy should chair the meeting because I had to take notes. Bummer. I was looking forward to it. That would have been a coup for me – asked to chair the meeting. I never have. Now I need to write up the notes for publication.
I am going to stop this and continue in another comment so it does not get too long for Daisy.
Be right back.
-
March 5
My six gallon bucket of kitchen scraps is full, so today I put it all into the large compost tumbler with some topsoil and brown leaves. I don’t think it will be ready for Spring gardening, but am pleased for trying something different and the kitchen scraps are not being thrown in the garbage.
Today I am cutting beef shoulder roast that I got on sale a few weeks ago into stew meat, it saves me money by using roast for stew meat, more meat for soups and stews at a lower cost.
Got in my bulk order of cotton flat sheets for making beds this summer, much cooler and easier to make beds using flat sheets.
-
thanks namelus. It looks like Home Depot just started selling a 1 shot one, via the web.
I bought a sewing kit to make a sock heating pad. But the needles were gosh darn too tiny.
Zipties to the rescue. I purchased low cut socks from the dollar store. I cut a slit in the collar and worked the narrow zip tie around. Filled it with rice. I pulled the tie tight and cut off the access. Viola it worked just dandy
-
Whew!!! I was concerned that I had been blocked from our group and delighted when Daisy said was just a glitch.
I do so love reading all your posts! Feel that I’m beginning to know you in a special way. I need to take notes when I read your posts so I can ask questions or comment as seems appropriate. But for right now I want to report on progress with my garden planning.
I’ve bought heirloom seeds and handyman and I are going to work in the tool shed tomorrow where I’ve been growing spinach all winter. These seeds hopefully will provide me transplants for early Spring planting. Our last frost date is usually mid April. Amazing how much stuff has accumulated in there over the winter months. I keep the lawn furniture there so it will need to go out early this year and I have my extra 5 gallon cans of water there as well. Something of a mess, but gardening is becoming a favorite thing to do. He’s building me some small raised beds and I’m watching dozens of youtube videos about beginning gardening, especially the no till ideas.
Inside the house I continue to try dehydrating veggies I buy fresh or frozen and then trying different recipes to see how it turns out. Bad luck with my apples but I think they were just too ripe and sweet to dehydrate properly. In my effort to focus on food preservation that does not rely on electricity, I’m trying both mason jars sealed with the Food Saver device and some things vacuum sealed. Jars look lovely with beans, rice, dried spinach leaves, powdered tomatoes, etc. but they do take up a bit more space and that’s a problem as my retirement home is relatively small.
I think the vacuumed sealed bags may be the best way as I can store these in buckets. I’m making labels to stick on the outside of the buckets to remind me of what’s inside. I think it’s going to work well. At my age I’m concentrating on developing a pantry with about one year’s worth of stuff that I can maintain by purchasing to replace what is used regularly. I think I’m stocked at about 6 months now. When I finish my journey down here, my year’s supply is still good to pass on to my family.
I have one granddaughter who is a real homesteader in the making. She’ll soon turn 16 and is excited to be getting her driver’s license. She cans, raises chickens and rabbits, gardens, sews and does most of the cooking for her family now. This weekend she made her first attempt at cheese making. And, she plays piano, and soccer in season, and is active in 4-H club. Sorry. Typical grandmother…I’m blessed with nine healthy, active grandchildren ages 4 – 20. Oh, and did I mention they are all handsome and smart? 🙂
Oldmtwoman…a writer! go girl….maybe as you have time you could begin to work on your stories, create a collection of your best, self-publish or just make copies for your family. We will be like the flowers of the field that pass away and be remembered no more. But written words leave a legacy of you behind. I think that’s cool!
Cinnamon grammy…thanks so much for sharing so much of your activities with us. You are one more busy lady. Ah, our adult children…sometimes we just need to be there for them…listening to them, providing some stability when storms hit their lives. And, just not saying anything. Just being there. I’ve been there, done that. It’s tough to see them hurting. But, you’re doing the smart thing I think…staying busy. And, wow..Having friends from other cultures is so enriching for everyone I think.
My GD Carolina is studying at a boarding school in France this semester and is really enjoying meeting young people from all over the planet. One of her roommates is from China, another from the Netherlands…they’re all studying French primarily but she said many of the students speak some English. She’s the only American there at this time and it is being a great experience for her. Homesickness so far has been minimal. The family does Facetime with her on the weekends so that helps.
Whoops, I’m going on too long. Happy prepping everybody! This is a good thing, ya’ll. 😉
-
Posted somewhere else for the first three days this month. Don’t even remember what I did yesterday.
Today had the new kitchen stove delivered and made pizza. It takes up less space than the old double oven so will put up pegboard for hanging pots and pans. Had to find a temporary place for them as I had stcked them on top of the old stove. My kitchen is VERY small- like a small walk-in closet. One of my relatives calls it a nightmare kitchen. Whoever built this house must not have liked cooking.
I’ve been reading posts, doing some research, and normal decluttering and organizing.
OldMtWoman- perhaps you might like to post a short story or some of your writing here?
-
OldMtWoman – I’m sure your stories are great! Your posts are always so lively and entertaining and I imagine that same quality shows up in the stories you’ve been writing 🙂
Today I made a trip down to the fruit products’ outlet store in a town that’s about a 45-minute drive away from where I live. Unfortunately, they didn’t have any of the used blue food-safe 55-gallon barrels available for sale today. I’ll try to check again when I visit that town next month. I did have a nice lunch at an Indian restaurant with a friend while I was there today, so the trip wasn’t a total waste of time – but I sure wish I could have come home with a barrel for water, lol.
-
Grannyj Smith where did you find your bulk order sheets?
We got more food for the pets we are caring for while son is deployed. I like to stay well ahead of their needs because they have been left in our care so that makes us responsible for “prepping for puppies” – sounds like a game show 🙂
Also went through all the weekly and monthly (grocery and farm store) ads and noted those things we would normally buy now and then so we can stock up while the are on sale.
Getting tired of this busted shoulder – must mean it’s getting better. Warning from the voice of experience— do not fall!!! We’ve had zero in March and old timers don’t remember it ever being that cold in March. Still have lots of snow and ice here.
Cinnamon Grammy what? Getting rid of cookbooks? How can anyone do that? 😉
-
grannyjsmith – where did you find the bulk cotton sheets? I need some 🙂
Cinnamon Grammy – The more I get into One Circle, the more I realize I need to learn. I do need to emphasize, however, that it is about efficiency in *growing* food, not *buying* food. I tried a little experiment today, wanting to see if buying the things in the sample diets they give are actually more economical to buy. So I found non-sale prices per pound and ounce at a Chicago area Walmart for potatoes, onions, turnips, turnip greens, sunflower seeds, parsnips and garlic (the components of the least optimal diet example), as well as the cup of full fat yogurt that I would want to add in exchange for a potato or two, and it came out to between $4.50 and $5.00 per day. Not bad, but I think I could beat it in price and get the same nutrition with some other foods, if I were buying and not growing.
Then I started thinking about various traditional diets of “aboriginal” peoples and how what they grew and how they grew it probably matched a lot of the criteria of the One Circle diets. For instance, the corn, beans, squash and sunflower seeds plus wild berries and greens of many of the agricultural groups among Native Americans in North America. I wonder if that particular diet, or the one used by the Tarahumara in Copper Canyon, supplemented with small game or livestock, might outperform the diets in the One Circle book. But I won’t know until I do the math. It’s all about a balance between multiple factors – RDAs of various nutrients, calories, production per square foot in the garden, the gardener’s skill, etc.
Hoping all this ruminating will result in an improvement in the garden, the grocery budget, and our health.
So I finally made one of the vegan cheeses today. It’s “OK”. I really love real artisan cheese. This is not cheese. It is a cheese-like food. I made the “Chevre” using blanched almond flour as the base. The instructions say you can also use other nut flours or even cooked white beans as the base. Nothing is going to replace real dairy, but this is passable as a substitute, and it does taste good. Even with using blanched almond flour, which is rather pricey, and a kit, which also has a price, it costs far less than the real thing. It is certainly not providing something indistinguishable from real cheese, however, and the nutritional profile is also different.
So thumbs up as a passable substitute if you’re allergic to dairy, and possibly as a nice prep.
-
Muffy….I’m impressed with how you just got going on all these new things like winter garden [tho miniature] and dehydrating and vacuum sealing. Maybe one day you’ll be teaching a class on what you’ve learned! Glad Carolina is enjoying France. My niece did not enjoy her study time there at all… But she’s got strong opinions. 😉
Woodsrunner….hope your new stove meets your expectations and needs. My whole house is quite small and we completely eliminated a table/chairs in favor of a home built, free-standing counter/shelves underneath. “Walk-in closet size kitchen”…. complicated by mouse invasion describes mine! —- I THINK the poison has finally eliminated the rodents…but haven’t reclaimed the fouled lower cabinets yet…further shrinking the size of kitchen. Store things elsewhere yet.
Hieronyma…..I have looked up the pre-tech cultures in the areas I’ve lived. Food …but also other things like shelter, etc. It’s a good prep for if we’d find ourselves suddenly POST-tech…. I figured that if I look at the cultures specific to the area I’m living in….providing the weather patterns, etc haven’t changed too much…it might improve the chances with gardening and wildcrafting. However, we’re finding that things have changed rather drastically in past decades tho…. Population density eliminates a lot of wildcrafting for food.
Today was spent with our elderlies. It was good…..and hard…..and depressing….and good. As it usually is. Two challenges we happened to be present for: The ROTTEN POTATO CHALLENGE. And the BATHROOM LEAK MYSTERY. {groan}
We brought food for lunch. There was a bag of potatoes sitting on the chair on porch and a small candle-in-jar burning in their pantry shelves. Um….what? Well, taters had gone bad. I kept an eye on that burning air freshener – you can bet! At one point the door was accidentally closed. I decided it was time to put out the candle before it was forgotten in there – still burning! 😮 Then the smell was still strong so further search produced a recently-purchased bag of taters….definitely had rotting ones in that too.
Question: Are any others of you in other areas finding that white potatoes have been massacred during harvest/handling? I go to a different store and I’ve been noticing all the cuts on the potatoes. Not reds. Curved cuts from harvest or handling???
………….Reminds me: Just went to take mine out of dark closet [so they don’t ‘green’] cuz I need to REMEMBER to check thru and use ones with those cuts. I boil a bunch and use for potato salad, fried potatoes, etc.
Anyway….DH and I took the smelly bags home and tossed them into the pasture tonite. [not the bags, of course] Elderlies don’t have a way to dispose of them quickly with intermittent trash service……cuz they’re too old to haul the stupid huge wheeled bins down their steep driveway and back up – so they can’t HAVE the usual trash service in this county. [don’t get me started!] Anyway….we washed off the intact potatoes and they’ll be fine. They paid for more damaged ones than whole ones…. Hmph!
And we don’t know yet what caused the basement bathroom leaking ….cuz it wasn’t a lot and it stopped ….and we couldn’t reproduce the EVENT. So we’re left with a mystery ….the sort no one enjoys. 🙁 Likely we’ll hear more on that…..or maybe not? { I DETEST mysteries!!! I like logical ANSWERS!}
Was good to be there and support these annoying challenges. Also DH drove one to P.T. today so other elderly didn’t have to. We did puzzles, of course. I helped to get the next puzzle started. It IS good to challenge brain with SOMEthing each day. Even if they don’t get out for much more than grocery/mail/medical.
Came home to feed our critters…and I walked dog……and FELL! Blasted ruts in the road…from tires squishing up mud and by the time we got home it was frozen ….and very DARK outside. I use headlamp and a small BRIGHT flashlight in my hand. Too aware of our larger predatory wildlife and want bright light deterrent both fore and aft of me! Course I’m with the very large dog but she’s going about her business.
So I’m swooping my light around….JIC y’know…..and caught my boot on a frozen rut. Did not land with my usual tuck N roll. Actually did tuck a bit but I slammed onto L elbow/wrist. Did not let go of the dog’s retractable leash. [might have landed better if I had] But called her over to help me get back up. She’s trained for that and wears a body harness. Also helped me to climb all the stairs up to our house.
Columbia River….nope, I did not slip on ice….nor did I break a shoulder or anything else. Whew! I think I see a back adjustment in my near future but after a Nuprin and laying down, I’m ok. Hopefully I can say that in the morning.
And speaking of ice….today’s melting has migrated a whole lot more ICE into places we do NOT want it…in front of doors and gates….so that will also be a project for tomorrow. Sanding ice….AGAIN.
I think I’m better off if I stay home! {roll eyes} Not sure any of that was prepping…more like survival!
OldMtWoman G’nite all
-
-
Greetings, All.
Our weather has stabilized. No new snow. Temps reaching 20s. Sunshine. Perhaps there will be no new snow record for this month.
I started a new sewing project. I am going to try and make a flannel shirt for home wear. My brain wants one that crosses at the front neck and has an asymmetrical bottom front edge. To do this, I am combining patterns. I cut it out yesterday, and will start putting it together today.
I am proud of myself that I actually put the patterns back in their packages right away! No stray pieces yesterday. I do have a place where I put stray pieces that I find. Hopefully I will find their homes. I should go through the pattern drawer, too. There are size sixes that I have had for 50 years. Not my size anymore. Sigh. I’ll keep the little kids patterns, though. They are always useable.
I removed several cook books so I can add my new ones. Books I have not opened in years. A couple belong to Hubby, so i will check with him on those.
When we were at the birthday party last Sunday, my grandson decided that he did not have the time, or mental stamina to do his homework/projects, and finish his merit badges for the Eagle requirements. We are disappointed, of course. But, it is ultimately his decision. I have no idea what he has left to do. But, he has less that two weeks until he turns 18 and ages out of the program. His father kept telling him, last year, it is ok if you don’t, you have already gotten a lot out of the program. !?!?!? Not a way to encourage or help your son. One way he fell behind was to be a camp counselor each summer. There is no time to work on badges, etc., while there since they work 18+ hours a day/six days a week. Oh, well. He is an outstanding young man, of high values, a helpful and good character. There is much to be proud of, including his decision. He did get a college acceptance letter yesterday. Nice.
OK. I must write up the minutes for the Ham Club Meeting. Then off to sew. Later, guys. (And stop falling!!)
-
A bit chilly and windy today in the tropics, so no clothes on the line.
Couldnt find my spatula today, as its probs buried in a box. I used a putty knife instead. It worked better, as it was thin and had a sharpish tip. I think it would work well to cut brownies, lasagna and the like.
Started reading the austere medicine book. Also closed my Amazon account. Now that I cant get things in an instant ( one click and prime ). I will need to be really up on inventory management. Overall for me, its a good thing, as it will keep me on my toes prep wise.
-
Not a lot done today in the forum of prepping, but other things that needed to be address. Fighting insurance com. over one of hubby’s meds. So he may be off of it. Time will tell on that. Still fighting it. Doctor that put in his pacemaker did not help on this and wants to change that med to something else which means I would down the line have to change several other meds do to a medication conflick. Not worth it so still doing some digging on the blood thinners.
On another note. I got the ironing done and kitchen cleaned up. Floor mopped and then decided to finish watching my documentries. I have been watching how people lived back in the 1700’s. Name of that one is Tales from the green valley. The second one was Victorian Farm from the later 1800’s to start of 1900’s. Just starting another one from the start of WW2. So not sure about that one yet. All these are on you-tube. I can say one thing. After watching the first two, I can see how people of today have gotten so lazy to a point that if the grid went down, an economic collasp. And yes even if war breaks out and is bought to our country this time. I see many people will not have a clue as to what they need to be doing. I am learning some things from these shows though I don’t live on a farm nor am I off grid. But knowing how these people did things back in the day will go a long way in knowing how we might have to one day start living.
Also there is to be NO falling and slipping on ice. No one needs broken bones and sprains, nor being cut and bruised up from those falls.
Also I have been trying to get some est. on someone cutting the grass and keeping things in flower beds done without the use of Roundup. The last guy killed my flowers. I don’t think he knew what a flower was. But he also cracked a window, and buried the pipe leading out for the air conditioner drain. I got that dug back out but it is plugged up. So as soon as it warms up a bit I will have to go out to clean it out. Plus he didn’t do half of what he kept talking about he was going to do. So I fired him. It is a learning curve I guess. But the next guy cutting will get the idea of what I want done or I won’t hire him. So far I have about 6 people to call before I make a decision on that.
-
Trying to keep boxes from toppling over I had DH move things and found a whole box of my papers from a board I served on for years. No one seemed to have the history so I will give the whole thing to the current paper keeper and if it gets archived – fine. And if it gets tossed – fine. But I’m through.
Can’t believe that box made it to the cabin as a “must keep handy” Paper – ugh!
The other thing I did was let the Head Deacon know about an active shooter class from law enforcement. Not directly for me as I couldn’t fit it and physical therapy into my day and PT is definitely important for my immediate and long term health preps. The class is only prepping for a remote possibility and for right now I’ll let the Deacons learn and I’ll take care of my shoulder.
-
OldMtWoman – Sorry to hear about your fall! I’m glad that you didn’t get any serious injury from it though!
Today I did some online research to try to learn more about the Amish and Mennonite communities near where I live. I saw the website for a monthly publication, the “Plain Communities Business Exchange”, that contains lots of ads for businesses selling products purchased by members of Amish, Mennonite, and other “plain” groups. In a free issue on the publication’s website, I was interested to see an ad for a clothes washing machine that runs on compressed air. There was also a model that runs on solar power, which didn’t surprise me, but I never realized that some equipment can run just on compressed air. I’m interested to learn how that works and if it would be a viable alternative to electricity in a SHTF situation.
.
-
Amy most of the time compressed air needs to come from a electric or engine driven compressor. There are manual compressors but they are rare. We keep a engine driven one for our needs on farm, but even those are not overly common expecially with diesel engines. Gas ones means after 1 year of teowaki you have expensive metal junk because no fuel.
-
Hm- I started tying and it just disappeared; dunno what happened.
OldMtWoman- NO more falls- I certainly hope you feel okay tomorrow. I know I can hurt myself so much easier now that I’m old. Hate that. I do like my stove so far. I can use the burners if power is off but not the oven.
I went to town today for errands and got some bags of dogfood to stash. Also a few other things. I went to church this evening and it started snowing again. Some towns had 30 below zero last night. I didn’t check temp but probably wasn’t far from that here. Tired of winter and still have huge piles of snow.
Also this morning made a couch cover from a too large quilt. I bought it last summer at a yard sale and it must have been for a California King. Didn’t make it for the whole couch- just the seat as we let the little dogs sit with us. They are spoiled rotten but no one will sneak up on us.
-
LOL….no falls. Hmm, I’ll have to put that on my To Don’t list. Unfortunately, I will always fall. FORTUNATELY, I almost never get injured….I fall well. I did get a quick chiro adjustment today. I heard my neck crackle last nite as it was jarred sideways when elbow landed. But after taking one Nuprin, I slept thru nite and woke with no pain anywhere.
Due to my disease, I have balance issues. There is a very odd deal when I catch my heel on something: Immediately all my joints go loose from my hips down. I flow to the floor/ground. “Flow” is much safer than “tree fall” type of falling. But it’s also a very helpless feeling. There is no stopping it. Any contact to the back of my heel will trigger it. I can ALMOST ALWAYS reflexively direct where I flow….and avoid contacting anything else besides floor/ground. That increases safety. Aging does often mean worse results in a fall. I’m so thankful for training my reflexes in younger years, how to fall correctly. Still….I do tend to get going and just barrel into my projects….
Would you believe I even tipped a wheelchair over backwards? Years ago…I was hurrying and kicking backwards is faster for me than using weak arms. I was ok….but crawling out of a tipped-backwards wheelchair is extremely awkward…..no dignity left! Uff tah! My new wheelchair has the anti-tipping devices…LOL
Well on the subject of falling, today was all about ice! It was trying to invade my domain. I spent two sessions with shovel. Scraping melting ice away from pathways. Pouring dirt/grit onto melt water to make safe “islands” to walk on when that location has no way to drain the water away. I made mini canals in places that will be awkward to avoid stepping on the small crevasses…..but the only way downhill.
I ran into blockades of frozen dirt or thick ice….and could not make the water flow downhill. In one case I dumped fluffy snow at the blockade to soak up the melting water. It’s quite absorbent and will even draw the water into it. But like any absorbent ‘diaper’, it will have to be ‘changed’ or it will turn to a lump of ice…and/or leak it’s melting water all over again.
As you can tell, I do take slipping on ice very seriously. Even with my reflexes, ice falls are so very fast, I can’t be sure I’d fall right. And DH has repeatedly proven NOT very good with ice falls. So I spend time/energy to prevent injury in pathways we use all the time. It’s taking up most of my energy but an injury would be worse. Mountain living means water runs down….every sunny day. And each nite it freezes again. Mountain living also means we and our animals are perched on those hillsides in tooo many locations to be convenient in this season.
OldMtWoman G’nite all
-
oh my oldmtwoman…I can only wonder if where you live is going to work for you as the years pass…goodness, that you fell is not a good thing at any age…well, I think you are tough and they say what doesn’t kill us just makes us stronger…:) stay careful as you can…
Good to hear another grandma brag on their offspring…I find being a GM so much more delightful than the parenting years. Of course, I know there are so many struggles that many face and my heart goes out to them. So far, my 9 seem to be making wise choices…three currently in college. Four in private Christian high schools and doing well. Last two are 12 and a surprise 4 year old. Any one of them can get off the rails, but hopefully that won’t happen.
To prepping news: well, I’ve perhaps watched too many how-to videos about planting seeds indoors to get an early start. In fact, it’s almost as if I’ve become paralyzed, frozen in the muddle of so many different approaches and suggestions for success! I have my seeds, seed planting mix in a bag, varied containers, everything required and I can’t seem to take the first step. So, I’m going to sleep on it one more night and determine to get up in morning and just do it!!! You experienced gardeners have got to be laughing and I don’t blame you. It is laughable.:)
Handyman came over today and we did get the tool shed sorted out so working in there will be much better. Watching my spinach now for signs of bolting (I think that’s the term) so I can hopefully save some of the seeds – if I can figure out where they are on the plant. Another youtube video described how to do this if I can just remember what they said. These are heirloom seeds that should reproduce themselves properly.
Went to my favorite store in town today – the Dollar Tree. I love it because everything is $1 and I can count my items as I go and stay within my spending budget. I picked up a few items to add to my stash of prepper supplies – paper plates, shampoo, etc. However, bad news in Business Insider today is that some major investors are wanting to raise prices beyond a dollar for more profit and to make up losses the Dollar Tree corp. has incurred as a result of their purchase of the Family Dollar Stores which are experiencing serious losses. So I said I’ve got to write a letter and tell them to give up that idea!!! I like the Dollar Tree just as it is and could give a rip for their bad decisions. Oh, and Lowes is closing stores along with numerous other retail brick and mortar stores. On-line shopping is killing them. I’m guilty. The convenience for me of having stuff delivered to my front door wins out over the 30 minute drive into town and back. Times they are a-changing.
Daisy posted an interesting article on the current debate over vaccinations and the push among some to make them mandatory at the Federal government level. Important topic and interesting read if you haven’t seen it yet.
G-nite all…stay safe. More rain headed my way but last couple of days of bright sunshine have been a blessed reprieve.
-
4th: Worked on my family yearbook. I hate getting too far behind, so I caught up the entire month of February. I also did some decluttering and sold a few small items on Marketplace to make a little extra money.
5th: Cleaned out my garden space. It was bad. Last summer, the space had nothing planted and no care since I was very pregnant. But we learned after about a month of not paying attention that the garden sprinklers came on every day, so the dirt was being watered well, and the weeds grew to trees. Cleaning it all out felt so good! Friday, I get to pick up my raised bed kits, and I’m so excited I could just burst.
6th: Got our tax returns back. Paid off several smaller debts to free up some money every month. Bought a few things from case lot at the store, including 2 5 Gallon water jugs, 4 115 hour candles, and a stockpile of soaps and tooth care.
-
Greetings, All.
I am chuckling over the medical, pharmaceutical, and physical condition talk. I remember my father saying, that when he met his friends for coffee, that their health was all they talked about. I suppose it is normal. At “our” age, and I realize that not everyone here is retired, our physical condition and how we deal with it is a major part of our lives. Little Sister needs a Pharmacy Degree. Gone are the days when we believed everything the doctor said. We can, and should, advocate for ourselves. Also, I notice that the people here, have proudly not taken to their “chairs” and just letting the world happen around them. We will go into this brave new world fighting every day.
My box of school papers has been recycled. I continue to find items to add to give away boxes. Hubby accused me of being in a Spring Cleaning mode. Yes. When we moved here, eight years ago, we moved “stuff” – stuff from his mother, my father, and his career as a research biologist and university professor. (None was mine, of course; clearing throat.) It is time to eliminate stuff. [Dalek, “E limi nate. E limi nate.) Hubby has been complaining about the weather this winter, and moving somewhere warm. Yet, I cannot get him to go through his boxes and recycle.
Today, we are defrosting a freezer. We have two freezers and two refrigerators – for a family of two. One freezer is in the kitchen and the other in the basement along with an old refrigerator. My goal this winter is to empty the freezers so that they are available for the next hunting/harvest season. Plus, shut off that extra refrigerator, do not need it except and harvest and holiday time. The freezers are filled with things that cannot be canned very well, such as zucchini, pea pods, broccoli, butter, nuts, cheese. I just took out a small turkey to defrost, and stuffed peppers for dinner. On another site I saw someone canned stuffed peppers; perhaps I will try that this harvest season instead of freezing them.
Happy Grandma moment: When my daughter and I were going through her cookbooks last Sunday, her youngest commented on my cooking. He said I was the best cook. I tried to qualify that statement, but he (13 years old) was insistent that I was the best – better than his mother who does not like to cook, and his father who does a lot of it. She agreed with him. (Swelling with pride!) Even when I give them burnt offerings. Reminder, that they have many international students stay with them, and the students cook! So the family is used to getting unusual food. Plus, they have also traveled throughout SouthEast Asia and eaten bugs, and raw octopus, etc. Now, what will make me proud, is when they ask for a recipe and I get to teach them how to make it.
i think the tension is off on my sewing machine. It was breaking thread yesterday. Luckily I was only overcasting the edges of the pattern pieces.
Note about harvesting seeds: a long time ago I read an article that said you should place the plants you intend to harvest seeds from in a different garden bed. This does a couple of things: prevents you from accidentally harvesting the plants instead of letting them go to seed, and letting the biannual plants, that need two years to set seed, have a safe place that will not be dug up. Plus, by isolating the ones for seed…a specific carrot, or type of tomato, for example…you can keep the heirloom strain pure.
We are supposed to get 13 inches of snow in a blizzard this weekend. I should be able to finish my flannel shirt, defrost the second freezer, and pull up another box of papers to review. Some of you are talking about harvesting spinach, or starting seeds. I need to wait another month! More snow! 🙁
Stay healthy everyone.
-
<p style=”text-align: left;”>Cinnamon Grammy you can can butter something called ghee it’s clarified butter it is used alot in middle east. You can find it in east Indian stores, worth having in stock pile as it is shelf stable for years unlike other oils.</p>
-
-
So many store closings. It is so sad to see this happening. I guess online shopping has really taken it’s toil on the brick and mortar stores. Though I had not heard about Lowe’s.
Amy Dixon I had not heard of a compressed air washing machine before. Interesting.
OldMtWoman- my husband has balance issues but his was caused from his stroke. If he falls there is no stopping it. He would get hurt rather bad. I have to watch him all the time as the balance problem has gotten worse.
Muffy. Grandkids are great. You can spoil them rotten and pass them back to their parents. Fun. My youngest of 5 grandchildren will be graduating a year early from high school. Then off to college in the fall. So that makes my daughter, one granddaughter, and this fall my grandson all in college. My granddaughter will be going to medical school in the fall as she is finishing up her science classes now. I have two other granddaughters that are married and both have finished college. And a grandson in the Army. We are very proud of all of them. They all grew up to fast.
Cinnamon Grammy: I see so many people on survival forums and this one which I think is much more down to earth about prepping. But I also see just in my neighborhood alone and I know there are others that just don’t believe anything is going to happen. They don’t seem to understand that WW3 will not be like the last 2 wars. This country will go down in so many ways. I already see it happening in many ways. Just look around us. Store closings happening all over the country. Malls are closing there doors. There will be more strip stores but no more malls as the stores continue to go out of business. I think in some ways our country is already going down in ways I never thought about. I don’t live on a farm any longer as when my grandparents passed away the farm was finished. It has become commercial property and still not sold. But now there is to much town around it. This is what is happening where I live now and want to move out but at this time that is not an option. We have 5 grocery stores all around us with one in walking distance. None of these stores are carrying near what they used to and have stopped carrying a lot of things they used to carry. They no longer keep a back up stock in the back rooms any longer. Though I did find out one thing. I have been buying Ghee from the long term food companies and now Harris Teeter is carrying it. That was a surprise. Never thought I would see a grocery store carry that product. I have been using it for the past few years. I used it to fry up some onions and squash. For those who have never tried it, it taste like butter though it does not smell like butter. It really adds great flavor to the food.
I found someone to cut our grass for us so now hubby only has the garden to deal with. He can’t handle both yard and garden and I have to help him with the garden as it is. But it is fun to do. But his pacemaker doctor will not work with me on the blood thinner, so I am waiting for his regular heart doctor to get back in town on Monday and will talk to him about coming off of it. Yes I used to do this for my patients at work. But it is not like it was a few years ago. The doctors and insurance don’t care anymore about patients. It is getting harder and harder to win on these things. But the fight is not over yet.
-
To use my planner in the purse type holder I needed to change out the current rings for larger ones. We’ve been looking for the tool to do it and in the transition it became one of the many missing parts of our lives. Today my DH went to the store with the old one for sizing and bought a new micro sized hex wrench. A whopping 36 cents. And when I got home I changed the older and smaller one for the bigger one with everything in it. The nice part of the “purse” set up is there is a shoulder strap and an outside pocket that will hold my phone an ID. I only have to unzip it if I want to access my information. I am a happy girl. It was nice to not carry so much but it will be so nice to have access to all that information.
-
Namelus – Thank you for the information on compressed air -powered devices. It definitely sounds as though the solar powered washing machine is a better option for a long-term grid down situation (or a James Washer with a wringer, lol).
Littlesister – Me neither :-). I’m thinking about getting a subscription to that Plain Communities Business Exchange publication just so I can read the ads!
Today I finally got started vacuum-sealing the cocoa powder and dried beans I got a couple of weeks ago in my last grocery “haul”. Looks like I’ll be needing lots more half-gallon Ball jars . . .
-
Uff tah! DH was the one to fall today……. and it was not the ice that I’ve finally battled back away from our paths. He was walking the grassy [not the rocky one] hillside with dog. Grass is fully covered with deep snow tho and evidently was melting/slushy underneath. Swoooop, and he sat right down in the deep snow. Nice cushion, tho a bit soggy. So he was fine. Whew! This snow/ice/melt/snow/ice/melt year is getting treacherous! LOL …he found out the dog is not trained to help him get back up to his feet. She’s only used to helping me!
Muffy…re: spinach seeds. They’re quite easy to spot. They form at the top of the plant in a bunch. Well, most of them. You have to keep the plant alive til the seeds in the bunch fully mature and dry out. When you see the seeds begin to fall down, those are the dried ones. Since you’re inside, lay an old cloth down and they seeds will fall onto that. Spinach has some tricks to it. It tends to bolt when weather gets hot – which it will in your area. In our cool mountains, spinach doesn’t bolt till fall. It self-seeds easily and we let it grow wherever. There is something about male and female plants too. Whooo, I didn’t know it was complicated….just looked it up. Some seed saving is quite easy. Spinach is not biennial tho…like carrots. Here’s an article: https://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/growing-spinach-lettuce/saving-spinach-seeds-ze0z1403zcov
And don’t stress…have FUN! 🙂 We save food in many ways so if one is a failure that year, we’re backed up. No pressure.
Cinnamon Grammy…..Stay safe in your blizzard…Uff Tah! Yeah, I use a variety of adaptive equipment for mobility/other. Depends on the day but sitting down and not getting up is not in my personality. I’m up as much as I’m able….and down as much as I need. {well, usually. LOL }
LOL So…which “Doctor” do you like best? Re …Daleks. I like the one with the extra long neck scarf. 😉 Never got into the modern ones.
Best Grandma comment for me….after I showed my hot-climate grands how to snow sled on our steeep mountain hills. GrSon13 “Well at least we don’t have a boring Grma!” I hooted with delight when DD told me that one. {Pssst…I was one exhausted Grma after playing in snow on hills with grands tho…}
Lil’Sister…..does you DH use any adaptive equipment? I love all of my options cuz it MAKES ME MORE ABLE-BODIED! I refuse the notion that canes or even wheelchairs make me “disabled”. Not true at all. And I use the right ‘tool’ for the job! I will admit I was disappointed to ‘graduate’ to a quad cane before I thot I would. But really only on bad balance or weak days and first thing in the morning. Now I kinda like the quad cuz it stays put and doesn’t fall over! Often I don’t use anything and get around fine. My ‘stuff’ is that variable.
Not to get into your business but, does your dh do wall-trailing to get “a 3rd point of reference” for better balance? That’s really what a cane is about too..not necessarily leaning on it. Getting more feedback on WHERE we are in space. Wall-trailing is lightly running a hand along a wall or furniture or whatever – helps to keep ‘up’ from ‘down’. Gives the body/brain more data. Installing grab railings along hallways would help him have something to grab where furniture isn’t available. Loss of balance is a harsh issue, for sure! Be careful you don’t get pulled down with him! {hugs} Course, you might already know all this thoroughly….but mebbe someone else needs the data.
Columbia River…..I love having my data near to hand …and organized!!
Soooooooo….I finally got caught up on the battle with ice and melt water. Tonite I sat and peeled older potatoes to boil up….and the durn bowl slid right off and dumped into that laundry basket. This basket is my “going to FINISH these projects soon” container. So it’s sitting by MY chair where I accomplish such things. Now filled with taters and peels, for petes sake! Had to dump everything out cuz everyone knows you don’t want to find a peel in there next week….by it’s SMELL!
So after sorting all that and getting the potatoes boiling, I actually made some progress on one of those projects. I’m trying to record several things from my large calendars [several years] but condense the data into a spiral notebook. Like our medical things – WHEN did this or that happen? WHEN has our dog gone into heat? (she’s overdue..) Which year did this or that get done on this house? Etc. It’s all on those big wall calendars and now, a lot is in the notebook by category. Still need to quickly double-check the calendars again before I roll them up and shove them onto the shelf [where they all look like the Dead Sea Scrolls]. Soon THAT will be done and out of my FINISH THESE PROJECTS basket.
OldMtWoman G’nite all
-
Greetings, All.
Old Mt. Woman: The one you are referring to is Tom Baker. I think he was the first one I ever say. Since then we have managed to see most of the older ones as they have come available.e I like it when they refer to reality. “Avogadro’s Number is all wrong,” came up when I was studying chemistry. The new Dr., Jody, is great. I like that she challenges the men. A male-in-charge, said, “Why are you in charge?” Her groups said, “Because she is.” The actress is also not afraid to do silly physical things. Yay for her – taking on an all boy’s club.
Sewing: My sewing machine was having problems because a needle had broken. When I took apart the bobbin casing I saw the tip of a needle stuck there. It was gradually fraying the top thread. My machine does not call for any oiling, but I did oil some moving parts, such as the bobbin case. Now it is just humming along. I put together the basic boxy pattern of the flannel jacket yesterday, now I get to experiment with the neckline. This should be interesting.
My oldest grandson is not having a good month. He chose not to continue with his eagle rank because he did not do things correctly. He did not want to ask counselors for exceptions. He has very high standards. (Daughter was checking things for him.) Today, he found out that he was not asked back as a counselor at his favorite Scout camp. They were “full” and he should “check with another camp” which would be in another county or state. Basically he was fired without the benefit of a reason. (Of course, there are thousands applying for only hundreds of jobs, which is normal.) This is difficult for him because he loved it there; even though they were not paid much and the hours were horrible. He loved being outdoor, serving others, and the values of the organization. It is also difficult because his middle brother was asked to be staff at the most coveted sub-camp. They were looking forward to serving together. So, my nearly 18-year-old, is learning the facts of life, and the stress. Unfortunately, I am sure he will be depressed. He does not deal with stress well. There is a life lesson in there for him. What it is he will find out. Apparently he is supposed to learn something else this summer. Grandma cannot hug this hurt away. They say grief is halved when you share it.
Since Hubby is complaining about the snow and wants to move away from it, I am pushing him to empty his file drawers. Everything we own would fill up a Tiny House and leave no room for us.
Enjoy your weekend, everyone.
-
@Cinnamongrammy maybe a medium house? Or cut more? I went other way more space and storage for my stuff. Moved from city to country to allow for this along with start living what I feel is right, not in a cage I put myself into.
The mobile tiny houses can be upgraded with larger heavier axles platforms. Depending on what you have to tow it with is the limit. We made first one on a 7500 lb total weight trailer, huge learning curve. We are now looking at using a old heavy equipment trailer. Got it for 2000, the deck is a mess and needs to be replaced the brakes and tail lights redone.
The other option we have done is a container 20 foot, finding a used one with a refrigeration unit, you can find one for under $4000. Using this set up you can get a tow truck to move you if you don’t own one for longer trips it fits on intermodal transport, this means train trucks and sea cargo ships. For ideas how build look at ship builders techniques for sto rage and maximizing space.
It’s just one of many ideas for a home that is mobile and non traditional. Remember you can pack it full for transport, unfold it and take stuff out when you arrive.
-
-
OldMtWoman- Hubby will not use a cain. I think his pride gets in the way. He uses me. So I have to walk close by him when we go anywhere. His balance problem is from the stroke. As long as he is touching a wall or something he does ok. But the balance is getting worse. When we go out somewhere that is when I really have to watch him and stay right by him. Also something is going on with his left knee as it gives out on him sometimes. Waiting on the ex-ray report for that. His right knee has not got any movement much in it at all. So right now the left on is the main concern.
You guys are so lucky to be living in country. I want so bad to move from a neighborhood that is growing way to big and get back to the country. Though I would have to be careful of where I would move at our ages. I would need a place I am sure I can manage. No more that 3 acres of land. That would be plenty for a garden and chickens for us. Plus a water source would be great as well.
Anyway on the prepping side, got the sheets washed and cleaned house and then went though a few papers and got them in the proper folders. Things will be on hold for a few days as our granddaughter from CA called and is coming in tonight. Her flight should be landing about 11 pm. She will be so tired when she gets here.
-
Namelus: Not a “tiny” one at all.
I am thinking of a 30-foot long, triple axle Tiny Home built by a certified RVIA dealer. Built with solar panels, wind generator, self-contained water and compostable. Main floor motorized Murphy Bed. Upper lofts for storage.
Check out Zero Squared in Calgary Canada. They even have room roll-outs. Their units are very well insulated. I’d remove the wall in the middle and move the bed and love-seat side by side. Install an electric fireplace, galley kitchen, drop down deck, and drop $100K. The next vehicle would need to be a dually truck.
This house will need to be sold first. If we can get some land on which to garden, I’d install a basement for canning storage, and a pole barn for garden and vehicle supplies. Stay there in the summer – in our home, then after Christmas travel the rest of the states.
But, that is a dream. So many things to do here first to handle it all.
-
7th: We took the day to drive to the city. We financed a used truck for my husband, and we are going to sell his older truck and car. We went to 2 thrift stores and scored some great prices on clothes for the kids. My husband made it home to go to work (2nd job), and at the end of the night, he was fired. It was a very unexpected blow, but we had planned for anything like this, so it wasn’t as devastating as it first felt.
8th: We picked my raised garden bed kits that I ordered Wednesday. I also got my new glasses today. My eyes are still adjusting and I almost feel like my eyes are drunk. We picked up a new wheelbarrow that we had planned to buy, but decided to wait on the lawn mower just to have that extra cushion until we figure out our next step. We are still planning on buying a half Beef and ordering from Case Lot to fill some low spots in the food storage.
-
Patio doors only way to secure is to roll shutter, go with metal framed ones with layered glass and real locks with restricted key ways. We used the container doors from intermodal container to make barriers on the French doors open when at home closed tight when not, even if you cut throug outside lock there is still inside locking bar, no grinder or saw all will easily cut through, using free spinning coated round stock (solid metal pipe coated with fiberglass) it is near impossibe to cut fast or efficiently.
All you can do is buy time for response and make it so hard they move to easier target. Being small town you know who bad element is, you can make sure they give your place a pass.
-
Cinnamon Grammy….aren’t you glad you didn’t take your sewing machine in for repairs. You figured it out yourself for free. RE your Grson….aww, this IS a hard time for him. 🙁
Namelus….I love looking at the bitty, tiny house designs. We live in a house that nearly qualifies. But what I would need is a 40′ shipping container for simply storage: shelves and racks and drawers all over the thing! Then I could live in a tiny house just fine. LOL
Corsaire….white glue and baking soda? What proportions? That sounds like a good fix to write in my ‘odd recipe book’.
Lil’Sister….Sorry to hear the stroke has depleted his abilities. Good that he’s ‘wall-trailing’. Not good that he refuses adaptions that would FREE him!!! Yeah, I know. Some folks don’t see it like I do. But then, I had to start all this when I was young so it was never a “being old” issue for me back then. By now, I don’t care – I want as much independence and mobility as I can contrive to have. Pssttt!……y’know, the shopping carts are actually “rolling walkers” don’t you? 😉 Don’t tell tho… I FINALLY got our elderlies in the habit of EACH of them taking a cart while shopping – for stability.
And next location for DH and I needs to be FLAT around house/outbuildings/garden. It can be hills around beyond those, but I need to have a chance where I’d walk the most. Around here, you can’t go 20 steps in any direction without going severely UP or DOWN hill. Only 5 steps out the back door…and that UP HILL is creeping closer every decade. Done playing mountain goat on this property!! Hmph!
PrepperFan…Sorry about your dh’s 2nd job. Hope he finds something else.
We’ve been oddly WARM. ‘Course at these altitudes, we just wait for the other shoe to drop. Had a Blast of Blizzard for 10 min tonite. A productive 10 minutes – the ground is white again. { roll eyes }
I was reading articles today, as usual. Some scary stuff out there, huh? But I read odd interesting things too. I like BBC articles about other places in the world. How folks live. Today was about Faeroe Islands between Iceland/Denmark. Talk about Off Grid!
I also have finally used up the older herbs/nutritional products from my pill box containers. Tonite I replaced all that with fresh ones and labeled where I’d changed something. Put both small containers in my In-Town bag. With our elderlies, one never knows when I might have to run in to stay with them. Best to remain prepared. ….or the stray BugOut here and there… 😉 but that’s more usual in wildfire season.
OldMtWoman G’nite all
-
-
Greetings, All.
Safari has quit on me twice now. Frustrating. I have no idea what we will do when we can no longer communicate electronically. No phones, no internet. I don’t mind living in the country as long as I can communicate. This tenuous link is why I save everything to a hard drive or print for future use. No Cloud for me.
Prepperfan305: Best wishes. It is good to be prepared mentally and physically when something you anticipate happens. Does not mean it is a good thing, though.
Little Sister: What is it with men of that age? “I don’t need hearing aids it is you who is not speaking loudly enough. I don’t need a cane, I am too vain to be seen with one and I am NOT fragile.” Personally, I DO need hearing aids, just don’t have the money to get them. We have my MIL’s walker in the basement, just gathering dust, for when we do need it.
Old Mt. Woman: A 40’container is a start, right? Chuckle.
Imagine this: a concrete “basement” with its rooftop three feet below ground. The well and septic for the main house (or tiny house) goes through the basement, first. Electrical generation and ventilation. Murphy beds. Full kitchen, large panty. One access is through the attached root cellar. Top it with a concrete patio which is in front the mobile tiny house. You can bug-in or bug out! Prepared for anything. A dream.
That dream will not happen on our social security payments alone. We would have to sell this house and property. To do that, I need Hubby to get off his computer and stop watching the news and get rid of his stuff.
My sewing machine is humming along. I am glad I cleaned and oiled the bobbin case to find the tip of a needle. I did not need to throw away the thread because it was fraying. My shirt will be finished today. The flannel hugs the neck and the front is asymmetrical enough to be interesting. An easy pattern. I sorted my yarn by color last week, when this shirt is finished it is time to sort my fabric stash. There are no pieces large enough to make much, mostly for decorations or quilting. No I am not ready to learn how to quilt. Yet.
We continue to eat completed meals from the freezer. Stuffed peppers, and Vegan Shepherd’s Pie. I still have a lot of zucchini. Maybe a vegetable stew, or a chocolate zucchini cake??? I can find things in there now, and rearrange things too.
Thank you for the idea. I should try canning Ghee. I have not tried to use the canned bacon I made a couple months ago. Both of those would really empty freezer space. Leaving room for things that cannot be canned: pizza, yeast, and nuts.
Little by little. Step by step. Each step does not seem like much, but holes are being made where they should be and skills are learned.
It is so nice to be able to talk to you all about each step.
Thank you, All.
-
OldMtWoman
I found this at Hunker, its listed on a few other sites as well.
Homemade Caulk
The exact amount of baking soda and glue you’ll need will depend on how much caulk you’ll need. Assume 2 tbsp. of baking soda will make enough. Mix the baking soda with enough white glue (a craft glue works best) to create a thick mixture. Mix this in a bowl, on a plate or even on a piece of foil. Stir with a spoon or paint stirrer until the baking soda is completely dissolved and mixed into the glue.
Skimmed the thrift stores today, as I needed dishes. Found some, but the store was closing and I needed to pick through the stack. There were plenty and the store is open tomorrow.
-
Old mountain woman if getting one get 2 or 3 40 foot containers so you can use as shop frame as weLl just make a gravel floor if you can’t do a concrete one. Two is parallel 3 is u shaped make sure you Dont make the door blocked in on bottom of u trailer without cutting doors off first trying after is a huge mess and doors won’t be able to be repurposed (make awesome security doors)
Ithe roof when you put it on allow a 18 inch gap between top of container and start of roof, put a clear plastic green house material that looks wavey like corrigated metal sheets it allows light into barn area to reduce lighting needs. Should face the open part of a u shaped building south if possible, it gives you maximum natural light. Keeping the gap between trailers at 30 feet you can get single span pre done roofing trusses delivered and installed in a day, payin is easier and faster unless you have the equipment and skills.
Find a local roofing company and ask them if they sell old job materials, they will say no mostly but then ask the guys, offer them beer for the materials , you would be amazed at what a few cases of beer can buy. I got an arena roof 200 x100 foot roof used stacked on pallets for 10 cases of beer. Delivered to my farm.
Shop around for containers prices vary and inspect them first, make sure the Maine corners are square tube not flat bar and the floors don’t have all the screw popped, check for smells, be wary of almond smell and of petrochemical smell. Almonds scent can be cyanide.
You should never bury containers without renforcement with rebar and cement they tend to collapse. Without insulating the container (close cell spray foam) they get hot in summer and cold in winter so make sure items inside can with stand that, also haveing disilica humidity absorbers is a good idea.
Containers come in 8x8x40 aND high cube 9.6x8x40, if you are building a home make sure you get all the same brand on containers or you will have to dwalk with minor variances but very time consuming with flooring and walls.
-
Cinnamon Grammy you are so right about older men. They are hard headed and stubborn. Hubby needs hearing aids as well but if they gave them to him free he would not wear them. He was told three years ago when they did a hearing test that the hearing aids would help his balance. He just doesn’t seem to care. Guess maybe I should start looking at wheelchairs.
On a brighter note. My granddaughter from CA is here. She is off visiting people she hasn’t seen in awhile and trying to get used to the 3 hour lag time from CA. She should bounce back on the time as she is used to traveling a lot for her job.
Went to the general dollar store today to look around as I had not been there in a long time. Found some good sales. They had Dinty moore beef stew on sale for a $1.50. Only had 4 left so I bought them. Picked up some garden stuff as well. Normally I can my own beef stew but used it up. Got to get everything together to can more. This time I am going to double what I canned last time as it is a fast meal for us when we are really busy. Only have 2 cans of pea soup that I canned so will have to can more of that as well. Waiting for our tax return to come in. But not sure as of yet what we will do with it. There are things we need to do but need to get priorities straight on what is needed the most. I do want to get the camp stove and propane. That is on the list. Looking at having the fireplace checked out also as I know it needs work. If it can be done I want to have it fixed where I can cook in it during winter months. It is large enough to do that but want a pot hanger put in it. If it can be done that will be on my list when the chem. guy comes to check it out.
I also have been thinking about the times when I stayed with my grandparents as a child. I would go up there and stay from the time school was out till school started again. I used to help my grandfather in the gardens picking the veggies and then sitting on back porch with him chucking corn and shelling butter beans. Then would help grandma do the canning. I can still picture my grandmother restringing the blinds when the cords got so old they rotted. Now people just throw them away and buy new ones. Had a neighbor that used to buy new ones every year because she didn’t want to take those down and wash them so she just replaced them. I remember the apple orchard and us kids picking the apples and grandma would make applesauce and I loved the apple pie filling she canned. It made the best apple turnovers you ever ate. Those were the good times. Sure do miss that place.
Also on the sheets. When you buy extra ones, has anyone thought of the different uses they have. I have used them for making curtains. Lining drapes and making dish towels out of the cotton ones. Now it is hard to find real cotton sheets.
Prepperfan, sorry to hear about your husband’s second job. I know it can be rough as my son in law has had to find new work 4 different times. He now has a job that pays well and is doing great at. It is in the same field he was working in so it helped him to get a management position in food distribution.
-
Grrr it all disappeared on me.
Yesterday doctor said I can start weaning myself from the sling. Yay Even though I’m slowly getting energy back it’s at least going in the right direction
also went to library book sale and got some good prepping books and other treasures
today I went for an hour long walk it’s the first time the weather, the ground, and my general energy level all came together. Spring is surely coming! I wore my cleats because there’s still lots of snow and ice out there
-
Hi y’all. Today was less warm but that bit of snow melted. We’re likely going to experience colder/snow this week at various times. But….we’re past the point where it will last for months….I hope.
Was mostly working on some of my stories. Began to edit one I began in 2010 and hadn’t read for a couple years. I like to edit and refine them after I haven’t read them for a while. I often end up with one or two main themes in my stories. For my entertainment only so who cares.
DH brought back two bottles of Sambucol from town….so we’re set with fresh supply if either of us gets the flu they’re now talking about. We still need to do a major fill-in-holes shopping trip but I’d have to be up for that expedition.
Went outside once today to do AM chores while DH in town. Stayed in after that. DH did PM chores.
Corsaire, ….Thanks for the details. I’ve got that idea recorded now. JIC.
OldMtWoman G’nite all
-
Hi, ya’ll….well we’re under a tornado watch today until 5 p.m. It’s that time of the year for us. Fortunately, our little community has a good working siren now, so should one touch down I should have a bit of warning. Our local Baptist Church opens up their basement if it gets really dicey, but I have just always chosen to hunker down in my house in the windowless bathroom. If I take a direct hit, so be it….I just don’t choose to avail myself of the Church basement mostly because of the frequency of the watches. A warning which means a tornado has actually been sighted probably wouldn’t give me enough time to drive to shelter. So, this is where I will stay. 🙂 Tornadoes are amazing things. We once owned vacation property at the lake and the tornado skipped our cabin but totally destroyed the house 300 yards away.
So, to prepping report – I did get the planting tray filled and seeds put in the special mix. And, I remembered to label them. I have 72 cells planted with some great early Spring veggies. Currently have the tray in a spare room on top of a heating pad so I think I’m looking for germination in 7 – 10 days. Got my fingers crossed. When they poke up through the soil, I’ll move the tray out to the shed under grow lights. I’m also going to try planting a few things in the solo plastic cups as I’ve seen on youtube. Then I also have some clay pots of various sizes I thought I’d put seeds in. Hopefully something will work and I’ll have plants ready for setting out in the garden around the middle of April which is our last average frost date.
Oh, yes…I’ve ordered a couple of cases of peanut butter; creamy and crunchy for the pantry. Supposedly 2 Tablespoons provide lots of nutrition. As I mentioned earlier, I’m trying to focus on pantry food items that don’t require refrigeration of any sort. Perhaps I see a long term EMP grid down scenario more likely than anything other than natural disasters where power might eventual be back on within a matter of weeks? Who knows.
Number 2 son stopped by today with their “surprise” 4 year old I call Boy…he’s absolutely adorable, so well behaved it’s eerie but he has FIVE older sisters along with his mother, so I guess that explains how mature he seems for his age. Whatever, son picked up the book- The Survival Medicine Handbook – which was just lying on the coffee table. Daisy had recommended it. This gave me an opportunity to explain, again, what I am doing. Trying to prep with enough food and supplies to provide for one adult, for one year. Putting some money in these resources seems to make sense to me if hyper-inflation hits us such as what’s going on in Venezuela. He grunted, which means he’s listening with a measure of approval. Of course, just as importantly to me is the feeling that I’m doing something positive with my days rather than just drifting along getting older and more frail from lack of activity and interest.
Poor balance has become one of my issues, but I’m resisting using any walking aids…forcing my mind to make the muscles work. I do the “wall” trailing thing a bit…and I use the carts while shopping as a stabilizer. And I’m really careful when I stand and I don’t turn quickly. How does one know when it really would be better to start using a cane or walker? to avoid a potential fall…
Good to hear from Prepperfan3…still wondering how SDoldman is getting on with his leather work. I still keep forgetting to jot down notes as I read your posts, but I do so enjoy reading about what’s going on with each of you.
Sky is looking interesting so I’d better get my little tornado kit handy to put in bathroom – sturdy shoes, flashlight, water bottle, blanket. If the siren goes off, that means a tornado has actually been sighted and we don’t have much time to get to cover. I always call my son’s house because they can’t hear the siren from where they live. Hopefully, the bad weather will just pass on by…
Talk to you later – stay safe everyone.
-
Muffy1938 – Saying prayers you and your loved ones stay safe! When you can, please let us know how you’re doing.
PrepperFan305 – So sorry to hear about your DH’s loss of his second job. It’s great you had prepared for this possibility but I know it will still be tough for awhile. Hang in there!
Yesterday and today I’ve been working on updating my inventory of non-food preparedness supplies and creating a new inventory of the books I have already. (I have a bad habit of ordering a physical copy of a book and then finding out that I already had it in my home library but just hadn’t read it yet! Hopefully, the inventory will prevent me from making any more duplicative purchases). As far as new equipment purchases go, I had planned on waiting a while longer to purchase the multi-level dehydrating/baking rack that is designed to fit in the All American Sun Oven I have. However, after receiving the email Paul Munsen sent out a few days ago about the very bad sales slump Sun Ovens International has had the past few months, and how it could potentially cause the company to have to shut down, I decided it would be a good idea to make that purchase now instead of waiting – it’s a relatively small purchase but maybe it will help the company at least a little. So, I’ll have to tweak my March budget a bit so I can afford to buy it this coming week. BTW, I love my Sun Oven! If anyone has been thinking about getting one at a discount, it looks like now would be a good time 🙂
-
Ok with the women’s complaints guy won’t use medical stuff like hearing aids and canes, first of all real men where taught you never complain, you do what you must and you never show weakness. This is ingrained in us from boyhood, and you expect change at after 50+years?
Solutution, you can get shooting and saftey elecronic ear plugs with sound enhancement, they turn off high impact noise (gun shot, tool noise) yet amplify ambient noise (speech). You get a set as a gift for them, (corn in the pig trap). They will use them as they are nearly invisible and they can hear better, amazing how they will wear just one àfter awhile and take it out when they just don’t want anymore inter action with people.
Please note the ones with amplification need batteries which is what you are looking for.
https://www.geekwrapped.com/guides/best-electronic-ear-plugs-for-shooting
-
Yeah, great to know and that’s a great idea. I got a few custom koozies in bulk with a set of batteries to gift my office employees. They always have a rush and need to remain always out for marketing work.
-
-
-
March 10
Put the smoked turkey we didn’t use for Christmas in the oven so we can have turkey sandwiches this week also made a pot of homemade hot dog sauce for chili dogs this week. I took the apples I got marked down at Walmart a couple weeks ago and using them to make apple bread instead of more apple pies.
-
Wandered to YouTube page on vegan cheeze and then another and another and pretty soon I realized I had been sucked down the hole like in Alice in Wonderland. I wrote down some of the recipes and even though they all seemed attractive I decided that was enough. That can be a dangerous place p
Also went for a walk and even though it was shorter than yesterday’s it was good to get some exercise. I am almost back to a full day att work and I am exhausted by the end of the week so I need to take it somewhat easy today but I also know that to get energy you need to exercise your body. And (TaDa) found the dog tag that one of my errant grand puppies lost. He somehow managed to get the wire loop pulled apart! That thing is like the circles on key chains-2 full loops. Oh well it’s found.
-
Corsaire
they put up “mud” on the Sheetrock at the househusband past week. Went up to see and it felt like walking into a sauna as the woodstove is going but everything is taped up so they could put up the mud without doing windows or doors. I just hope it dries out soon so they can paint.
You are a determined soul to have that going on around you and over your head. But it’s only for a little while and then a better place! Yay
Have fun with it and won’t it be wonderful to have it all done and good lighting? I’ve had “old eyes” since I was young and always need lots of light so I got lots put in this time. 🙂
-
Got to working in the “shed”, cleaned out some of the waterlogged stuff, the door got frozen open during the worst of the snow/cold.
Noticed how low am on certain powders, need to correct that bad. Same for rifle bullets now that I have made decisions on certain loads.
Rearranged shelves in the greenhouse, hopefully it works better this year.
Got to looking at food storage and what we use / actually use. Some revision is needed.
Hopefully the snow this week won’t set me back too far.
-
Muffy….hope bad weather passed you by. 😮 I hate tornadoes….so little warning.
As far as cane/walker use: Canes are when wall trailing isn’t enough….or you have too many wide gaps where you can’t wall trail. A cane, in particular, isn’t necessarily to LEAN ON. In fact, if you get to the lean-on stage, it’s getting close to time for a walker. A cane is another way of getting data so you keep upright – a ‘wall trailing’ that you bring with you. Also called “Third Point of Reference”. At this stage, you should adjust a cane so that you’re walking upright, normally. Be aware of slumping over/leaning merely out of habit.
Glad your son is ‘listening’! \0/ I’m also wondering where @OldMansd is…?
Columbia River…..LOL I know that rabbit hole! Been down there many times! 🙂 But it’s FUN!
We’re prepping for the unsettled weather this week. DH will go “to town” tomorrow to pick up a few things and see if ANYone has wood pellets. We’re conserving wood pellet use for when temps drop low again. He filled the livestock tank again this afternoon.
I’ve been working a bit at a time on transferring data from 2016-2018 calendars to a more logical notebook. DH and I were really scratching our heads to figure out WHICH YEAR that person was in hospital…etc. Got more recorded today….tho with the scratches out and arrows, I’ll eventually have to redo the notebook pages. Wow….enlightening! We’ve been unhappy about all the stuff we haven’t been able to accomplish or keep up with but….this is showing where all our time/energy has truly been spent. Constant medical stuff with us and even more with our elderlies. So MUCH in the past few years!!!! We kept saying – “All THAT happened in the same year? Seems like ages have passed!” …… {sigh} Also had a depressing conversation with all our generation about the elderlies…again. 🙁 We’re trying to be prepared for eventualities.
OldMtWoman G’nite all and stay safe
-
Thanks for the kind words everyone! I truly appreciate it.
9th: We decides to do the bulk case lot order in 3 parts over 3 days, to make it easier. On this day, we picked up all of the canned fruits and vegetables, as well as 8 boxes of butter. I hate spending almost $4 for it here so when it goes on sale, I stock up and store it in my freezer.
10th: We went to the store to pick up all of our canned beans, dry beans, rice, and hot dogs. I always worry that we won’t have enough protein, and even though hot dogs aren’t the best form, it was on sale so we stocked up.
11th: it’s snowing today (gah!!!) so I’m spending the day working on mount washmore until my happy mail gets delivered. It seems silly to some but I ordered an indoor retractable clothesline and a dish drying rack. I’m hoping to save on water and gas from now on by doing dishes by hand and enjoying it. I’ll be putting in our outdoor clothesline in May so I can hang dry outside too.
-
March 10
After a long two days of caring for my two small grandchildren I was just give out, so I only made one loaf of apple bread and decided to freeze the rest of the apples, don’t know how freezing apples will turn out. First I peeled the apples then rinsed them in lemon water, drained them, put a coat of sugar and cinnamon on them, vacuum sealed them and put in the freezer.
-
Yesterday and today I watched some interesting videos on the Modern Refugee YouTube channel about 1) a 5000 watt portable gasoline powered generator that was easily converted to run on propane and 2) how the poster would set up one of his compound bows to use as a survival bow. I was fascinated to learn how much less upper body strength is needed to pull a compound bow! I have never tried one but am now really interested in doing so. I used to pull just a 30 pound recurve bow in college archery classes but have developed rotator cuff problems in the years since then, so I think I’d need a lighter draw weight these days 🙁
-
Yesterday I went to church, then came home fixed us some lunch. I was so tired, I layed on the couch and went slam to sleep. So nothing much got done.
Columbia River I am so glad your shoulder is doing much better and you are on the mend.
My nextdoor neighbor came home from hospital Sat. Sunday was a nice day 78 degrees and neighbors daughter was walking him in a wheelchair around block. Thought maybe he would be healing up from the cancer but during night last night he was rushed back to hospital from severe blood lose from the ulcer he has. So off to surgery. They cartherized it so hoping it will work. But while in Ambulance on way to hospital he flatlined. He has already had 16 units of blood before he came home. He is not doing well at all. Stage 4 throat cancer is really bad.
Today I have started some spring cleaning. Tore my bedroom up to clean floors, windows and under furniture. Got furniture back in place and just a few things left to do and then move on to another room.
Haven’t heard from my granddaughter that came in from CA yet. So figure she might be here by end of week. So not waiting to get the cleaning going. She is my step granddaughter and her real grandmother is in hospice so she is spending as much time with her as she can. Not sure how long they have given her. Cancer is all over her body. It is pancreatic cancer and has spread to liver and is in brain as well.
Was looking at the garage today and trying to figure out how I can make more storage room. I saw a pinterest post on putting shelving at the ceiling for storing items on them. But my ceiling is a dropped ceiling with 3 windows where the ceiling is raised. This house is not made for much storage. We are limited on how we can do certain things. But knowing me I will figure something out.
-
Sunday I went to church then came home and shoveled snow. It had snowed so it was 3-4 inches deep and more work than I had thought. Today more shoveling. It snowed again and snow plow went by and filled the end of the drive. Must have done it at night because it was hard and packed down.
78 degrees sounds so good right now. But it will melt someday.
Little Sister- sorry about your neighbors. It seems cancer is so prevalent anymore.
I got another cupboard cleaned out and put on index cards. I also keep a notebook entitled “where” and it works if I can remember where it is.
-
Thanks for the encouragement @Cloumbia river, it means alot 🙂
Today I picked up lights. 2 pack of battery operated work lights. Battery operated cause I live in hurricane territory and they would be useful during an outage
Todays article about emergency funds got me thinking about flood insurance. I went to FEMA.gov and plugged in the numbers. 6 inches of water would set me back 21K
The home isnt in a flood zone, but the street in front is.
Yea time to talk to my insurance agent.
-
Checking in…last time I wrote we were under a tornado watch. Fortunately, none appeared. We’re in a part of the world where we get a lot of this kind of weather, especially in the Spring. So, we sort of get used to it, maybe like those who face hurricanes fairly regularly. Anyhow, all is well except it just keeps on raining. I’m not plugged into the farmer talk as much these days, but wet conditions could impact Spring planting.
My current dilemma is what to put in my raised beds. HELP people, please. Handyman Tim has one bed completed. It is 8′ long X 4′ wide by 8″ deep. According to one website I found, I will need 27 cubic feet of something to fill the bed. BUT WHAT? I’ve looked at youtubes and done web site research til I’m blue in the face but still can’t figure out what I should buy.
Lowes is our one garden supply choice and they offer a lot of stuff. It could get pricey if I go with the Miracle Grow raised bed soil at $9 a 1.5 cubic foot bag! Surely, there’s another way to skin this cat. Some where I read to make a mixture of 1/3 compost, 1/3 manure/fertilizer and 1/3 top soil. I need something simple to do and not too terribly expensive but with hopefully good results. 🙂 Anybody got any suggestions…or just tell me what to do….my seeds have sprouted and I now have them under grow lights…YEAH
House is upside down while I’m beginning to do some Spring clean-out/get rid of more stuff. And, I can’t find the foot attachments for my sewing machine. Arghhhh…made some new valances for kitchen windows so first time I’ve used sewing machine in a long time. Easy to make, simple change lifts my spirits.
Oldest granddaughter, a senior headed to dental school next year, is spending Spring break in Guatemala on a medical missions trip with church group. Now I have two Grands in overseas locations. Hmmm…watching the news could make me fearful for them being anywhere away from home, but then I think “no, they’re young and they have life to live.” I’ve always traveled a lot and my life has been fuller for the experience. I can’t let my old lady prepper interests dampen their enthusiasm. My prayers go with them. Thanks for yours too…for Davis in Guatemala and Carolina in France.
Digital smiles and hugs to all…
-
-
-
Olivia dont use hooks tie two sacks together with rope the toss over beam if exposed . If going into walls use a closed o screw instead of hook, then use the rope trick but add a carabiner for quick unhook incase of emergancy. the reason no hooks is in an earthquake or natural disaster the stuff gets loose unlike ghe o screws
If you have never put in heavy screws into wood first find edges of said wood then drill the hole first with drill bit with tape around drill bit shft to get proper length, the turn in screw or you run chance of only partially screwing into wood and if the gauge of the screw shft is too big directly sewing in without pre drill will split the wood. To turn a o into wall get a piece of wood or metal that fits through the o and use it for leverage to turn it in or you will have sore hands after a few.
-
Yesterday did some reading on digital security. Frightening! The only solid solution is a return to written communication, but that’s not the direction the world is going.
Today I’m calling for an appointment with dermatologist for a head to toe inspection. Nothing going on – just preventive. Memories of taking maternal grandma (and my skin is like hers) for treatment and dad’s every few months standing appointments to have cancers burned off is triggering the call.
-
Greetings, All.
Thank you Namelus for the recommendation of how to hang BOBs. Plus, the idea of shooting/safety earplugs is perfect. Hubby does not have a pair and it would be a great idea.
International Student and her husband are arriving at 4 PM today. Everyone is excited. Brave guy, coming from Italy to stay with people he has never met. Yesterday I helped my daughter clean house. She gave me the front entrance with what must have been 100 pairs of shoes. The goal – match the shoes, claim the pair, then donate or discard. With her three sons and all of the international students that go through the house, mostly males, there were shoes that no one claimed. (How do you end up with ONE shoe?) That was a major, literally, stumbling block in the coat area.
Proud grandma moment: The 16 year old asked how things were going with me!! A surprisingly adult and selfless point of view. Before I responded, I said, I need a lap. He obliged and I sat down on his. He is 6’4. So, that is the only time I get to see eye-to-eye with him. Lol They are growning up to be affectionate young men, even giving hugs in public. So what if their house is a mess, they have the right attitudes, are helpful, and bright people. You can always hire a cleaning lady (or grandma).
I finished my pink flannel shirt. For the buttons, I scrounged in the button box and came up with eight that are mis-matched. There are things I do not like about the new shirt, but the neck crosses and is keeping me warm. Next time, I will know how to alter the pattern. Now, I must clean up more of the sewing/craft room before I start another project. After, I make a paper pattern of what I did. I never did things like this when I was younger. I did not have the courage to create from scratch. Now with more time than money, I can use up stashes of fabric for wear-around-the-house clothes. Now, what should I make from the knit fabric of colorful little dinosaurs? Originally it was meant for a baby one-sie, perhaps it still should be. I’ve had it for 18 years, and there are no great-grandchildren in sight. Cedar chest with the baby blankets…
We barely made it up our hilly driveway yesterday. Icy underneath the snow. Forecast of rain, and snowmelt for the next three days. If that prediction holds, we are not going anywhere. It is nice to be retired preppers and not need to go anywhere.
Today I am baking a small turkey that I found at the bottom of the big freezer. Eat it today, then can it. More shelf stable food. I love my All American Pressure Canner.
Time to go be productive. I have had my hour of SunBox light. Stay well and healthy people. Watch your feet and stay upright.
-
Hi all, Got back from our trip and found our kitty Miss Zephyr not doing so good. Had to take my kitty to the vet Monday to help her over the Rainbow bridge. She developed a very fast acting lymphoma cancer.Our other cat, Miss Chloe is still wandering around looking for Zephyr. Our vet was understandably upset as we had been in a couple of months earlier for her well check and nothing was wrong with her.SO I haven’t been doing much. DH’s friend and fellow Lion is collecting shoes, prom dresses and accessories for one of her friends that runs a “Cinderella Closet” for the girls that can’t afford a prom dress and etc’s. SO I did clear out a LOT of shoes(16 pairs)that I haven’t worn or wore only once to give her. I have quite a few shoes (heels) that I couldn’t wear after my foot surgery so they sat on the closet shelf. Got a gift card from one of the brokers I worked with one Christmas and decided to replace some of my older shoes then I had foot surgery and can no longer wear my 3″ heels anymore, Thanks Doc. My co workers used to tease me about being an “Imelda” with my shoes. Told them old habit due to my performing and needing to “rotate” my shoes LOL. Plus I found the dress I wore to Son1’s (1st) wedding tucked in the closet downstairs and am donating that as well. Don’t know why I kept that, probably forgot it was in there but hopefully another young lady can use it. Am getting worried about what is happening in the world and around here.Gotta get off my butt and get back to doing. There is a Home Show starting this week end so DH and I are going. Many vendors to see. We are going to look for windows and a french door for the living room, we still have most of the originals when house was built and it’s time to replace them. The original owner worked for the builder that did this subdivision so we have a lot of top of the line stuff in this house.Too bad the people we bought the house from didn’t do a good job of maintaining things. We’ve had to repair and replace a lot over the last 17 years.
-
-
Cinnamon Granny, Sounds like you have a lot to be proud of. As for the house, My mom used to say “If I am one step ahead of the Health Department , I’m doing good” With the 6 of us (and friends) the house was cluttered but clean.Yeah our house was the hang out house.. Mom didn’t care how many came over to play OUTSIDE of course, just as long as we cleaned up after ourselves, Me thinks she just wanted to keep an eye on us LOL.
-
When at the box store for plumbing supplies ( the kitchen sink is going in tomorrow)
Found drill bits on clearance. $3.00 at my homedepot. They werent listed on line, so if there is one nearby its worth checking out. Ryobi is the brand, and they were in the front of the store.
Also went to wally world for soap and looked at their camping section. The prices— ouch. A little camping lantern for $7.00. The larger ones were in the teens. I’ve got plenty, but WOW.
-
Sounds like everyone has been having a busy spring. We are back in a cold snap again but not suppose to last long this time.
Columbia river. That is a great idea for a skin cancer screening. My husband’s brother had a mole on his back that was manenoma. 3 years later it has spread to his brain and he passed 30 days after they found it. So I took hubby to be checked but all he had was skin cancer on arms. His job was working outside for gas co. and no air condition in truck so he would stick his arm out of window. Not the best thing to do. So he goes to doctor every 4 months. I found a colloidal silver soap for him to try and it has really helped his skin. That stuff is great. His skin is 100% better.
Mama Cando. So sorry to hear about your cat. I know how that can be. We have has to help 2 dogs and 2 cats over that rainbow. Although our last cat died in my arms. They had kidney failure from the cat food and we didn’t know till a few years later there was a problem for several years. We know of others that had that issue as well. Cat food and dog food was recalled but not before the damage was done. So if I ever get another dog or cat, I will be making my own dog and cat food.
Namelus. We don’t have rafters in garage. It is a flat ceiling. Rafters are in attic and I want to hang some type of shelving from ceiling so I can store a few tubs of things on them out of the way. Not sure if it will work but are looking at options.
Doctor appts today went well. But hubby’s A1C was up. So changed how he takes his diabetic meds. Will be working on getting it down again. This might be why he is so tired. He came home and has done nothing but sleep all afternoon. So I am not getting as much as I wanted to do done.
Off to fix dinner. Later everyone.
-
Littlesister – I’m sorry to hear your neighbor is feeling so badly despite his throat cancer treatment. My late Father had throat cancer but, fortunately, his was diagnosed at an early stage.
Mama cando – Very sad to hear about Miss Zephyr. I hope that Miss Chloe will be able to adapt to her absence or that perhaps, in time, you might be able to get another kitty to keep her company.
Prepperfan305 – You’e not alone! I’m also interested in having a retractable clothes drying rack indoors. In fact, I’m hoping to eventually get one of those “SheilaMaid Airer” racks that lower down from the ceiling and raise back up out of the way using a cord and cleat system. From what I’ve read, that sort of drying rack was popular in Great Britain back in the Victorian era. I saw a similar model on the old BBC television series “Wartime Kitchen and Garden” and have wanted one ever since 🙂
OldMtWoman – That same thing happens to me a lot. Sometimes if I know I’m going to type a long post, I type it in a Microsoft Word document first, then cut and paste it into the Forum’s posting “box” so I can be sure it won’t get accidentally deleted before I can hit the Submit button.
Yesterday, I went ahead and ordered the dehydrating/baking multi-level rack for my Sun Oven. Today, I’ve been enjoying watching the preview videos offered free online this week by Jill Winger of “The Prairie Homestead” as a way to introduce folks to her new Heritage Cooking and Kitchen Skills course. I particularly enjoyed her videos on making: sourdough starter (her method seems simpler than others I’ve heard of), a nice flaky buttery pie crust, homemade burger buns, and lacto-fermented sauerkraut.
-
Didn’t see posts by Olivia Green or namelus until just now and couldn’t figure out what was being responded to. Don’t know why they were hidden from me today. Ah so. And oh well
Amy Dixon. I like the Microsoft idea for not losing posts. Especially when I’m on my phone it seems t be a problem so maybe I’ll just type in notes or such.
And also the idea of the clothes dryer from the ceiling. We have two sturdy ones of the kind that stand on their own or collapse and use them often along with a clothesline in the summer. I hang all my dress clothes on hangers on the shower rod. Have a dryer but never use it so might give it to our son for the cabin and the kids can use it if the need a dryer.
And found out that dermatologist is a specialist so have to get a referral from family doctor. Medical dancy dance to keep the insurance folks happy. Ugh.
-
columbia river was responding to littlesister post of march 11th @7:43 pm about her garage.
namelus thanks for the info.
wish i had a garage! just have a car port.
i was thinking about some light weight things to hang from guest bedroom ceiling.
such as pillows, bags of yarn.
then when have someone visiting, will pull futon out, sling bags underneath out of the way.
that would free up space on a sturdy shelf for heavier itemsand, there will be no bug-out bags for me.
have a condition that i cannot be in the sun at all.
and frequently have extreme fatigue and insomnia..
would be an impediment for others.
just hoping my knowledge will be considered an asset! -
Want to thank all of you for the thoughts on my cat. Dropped off the stuff to DH’s friend today. She was also saying they need jewelry and are looking for donations, so I am going thru all of my costume stuff I don’t wear anymore to see what I can come up with. So far I have quite a few earrings and some necklace sets to pass on. I’ve also been roped into helping the girls pick out their dresses and accessories this April, DH “mentioned” that I had spent almost 20 years in retail outfitting women where I worked. They have about 600 girls coming to this event and need a lot of help. I just hope I still have the knack to put together outfits.
-
Gaaaaah! I just lost this post again. However I’d copied MOST of it. So I didn’t lose it all. These pages jump up and down and all over and this time, I was clicking on something when the page jumped and sent me off this page. When I return — ALL IS LOST!
Quickly recap the part I lost: Sorry for the kitty you lost, MamaCando. Lost mine in Nov and MISS her! 🙁 Yesssss, get checked for Skin Cancer…which is NOT SKIN DEEP. Dallied too long and got a chunk cut out of my face couple years ago – thankful plastic surgeon did an excellent job of fixing the ‘divot’. Muffy – on the previous post I lost, I had written from my experience on WHEN — cane/walker. I’ll see if I can reconstruct it but not tonite.
A LOT of prepping for DH and I today. If anyone has taken a look at the Doppler weather map with the WINTER storm warnings overlaid….you’ll see we’re in a bit of trouble out here…..tomorrow and into Thurs. Now it really depends on where you are. I’m fortunately in a spot that MIGHT squeak by…..mebbe…..mebbe not. So we prepped JIC. Of course.
I’m really into weather and daily visit 3 sites: Doppler full screen. A site for showing me the High and Low pressure areas. And the Jet Stream. Course I view what our local REAL meteorologists have to say also. I’m amateur but learning. After a bad scenario where the power/Internet loss would shut down my data collecting would be gone too. BUT…I also have my own bits of equipment that I keep an eye on. Anyone in high altitude needs to use an altimeter for getting barometric readings. Barometers don’t work as high as we are.
As for what happening currently: the main issue in this ODD storm is that the barometric pressure …is going to break all records for LOW. The lowest pressure every recorded in this region. Tomorrow. If it hasn’t changed, it’s expected to hit it’s lowest point while passing near Lamar, Colorado around noon WED. [southeastern part of CO – near Kansas border…way out on the plains.] They’re expecting it to register as low a reading of millibars [of mercury] AS A CATEGORY TWO HURRICANE! Whoa! In the middle of the plains and Rockies????
As Spock would say: Fascinating. [raise one eyebrow] What causes that????
Meanwhile, though that will be far, far away, it’s SUCH a strong system that it’s wrapping through several states…like hurricanes do. So while we will not have blizzard conditions, we’re in the cold/windy/snowy realm. The real issue is if we LOSE POWER with all the WIND they’re predicting all over the place. Limbs and trees falling can easily make that happen. [not sure where we get our power from…might be good to find out.]
With all that in mind, our preparations today [HOPING THEY WERE OVERKILL] :
A. Got our military EXTRA cold sleeping bags out of my truck and into house – JIC. B. Moved truck down near the road….out of way for snowplowing. C. Collect Buddy Heater and Coleman cooking stove up to house. + propane tanks, Coleman fuel, and lamp oil. Fuels kept a short ways away from the house and are now on porch. We have many types of non-flammable lighting options but oil lamps HEAT! Have a big Dietz Jupiter that can help keep us warm w/o furnace. D. Poured water in basement for animal care if we lose well pump and upstairs for drinking and buckets in bathroom for flushing/washing. E. Washed some duck eggs cuz we’re out and need to use those up. Hope we’re not so cold …cuz if lose electric for the livestock tank heater…it’s full and would be a solid chunk of ice if we got subzero. {not likely} Pretty warm lately.
Our big energy expenditure was to find loose dirt/grit to chuck into a sled – haul to the horse shed. Bad design leaves it full of ice when a steep eastern hillside pours meltwater into it. It doesn’t see sunlight. But IF we get nasty weather, they need that shelter. So we covered the ice with a good layer of dirt/grit/mud. Keep them from slipping…us too. We just haven’t had to use it …until now. THIS IS WHAT BAD DESIGN WILL DO TO YOU – think carefully about placement of outbuildings and such!! Uff tah. Thot DH was going to collapse during this job. {he thot so too — mud/sand is heavier than snow} Took breaks, ate energy bars, but got it done.
I did some trenching to encourage standing water [will turn to sheet ice] to drain downhill today…before we go COLD again tomorrow. Mostly in barnyard cuz it’s finally under control up here. Only a little work out the back door…cuz we just snowed an inch again last nite.
We also battened down everything!!! All loose items — but we don’t have much cuz it’s ALWAYS some windy here.
We decided not to send DH into the village for last minute supplies. Frankly, it took all we had to finish the preps! So we dug out the evaporated milk …and condensed milk for when we run out. Also have cans of dry milk. Dug out some things from the EVAC buckets. DH was impressed I could find his stuff after I’d reorganized last summer. 🙂 He’d made bread yesterday so we’re fine there. I need to bake the bacon in the morning. Easier to just heat it up then. Fridge not working won’t be a problem – have MANY ice packs…some live outside and will be frozen.
So that’s our exhausting day but we’re set with preps and adaptions and substitutions. I’ll let you know if we forgot anything….or if we actually need all this. HOPING NOT! We’re both about played out with crisis after crisis. Pray for our elderlies cuz they’re a bit closer to heavy snowfall area. They hire the snow removal but….we’ll be out of reach for a couple days of dangerous road conditions and busy here with animals. However…both houses have phones that work with no electricity. Old type. So there’s that for communication anyway. But … they’re not doing well right now. 🙁
OldMtWoman G’nite all and good luck to anyone else in the mountain West and plains…
-
Didn’t see posts by Olivia Green or namelus until just now and couldn’t figure out what was being responded to. Don’t know why they were hidden from me today. Ah so. And oh well
Amy Dixon. I like the Microsoft idea for not losing posts. Especially when I’m on my phone it seems t be a problem so maybe I’ll just type in notes or such.
And also the idea of the clothes dryer from the ceiling. We have two sturdy ones of the kind that stand on their own or collapse and use them often along with a clothesline in the summer. I hang all my dress clothes on hangers on the shower rod. Have a dryer but never use it so might give it to our son for the cabin and the kids can use it if the need a dryer.
And found out that dermatologist is a specialist so have to get a referral from family doctor. Medical dancy dance to keep the insurance folks happy. Ugh.
-
-
Spent the morning in attic going through things and sweeping floor from where they were working on air condition. Wood chips everywhere. Was looking at rafters up there to see what I could do for a shelving system there. It would not be easy as the roof slants. The attic is only over the garage. After that it is a crawl space over the rest of house. The attic floor is raised up like at each of the 3 windows in garage so it is like 3 big wooden boxes. I have never done it yet, but I think it might be hollow with ceiling for a floor in bottom of each of these boxes over windows. From the garage the ceiling is up high for the windows and that is why the boxes structures in attic with the rest of garage ceiling being lowered. I am going to remove the top of one of those boxes to see what it is like inside. My guess is a huge empty space. If so I just may find myself some great hiding places. Not sure I explained the attic and garage ceiling well but best that I could describe it. Worked on garage a bit cleaning things up and getting stuff into place.
OldMtWoman. You guys stay safe out there. Hurricane season for us starts June 1st. But we have never had a hurricane hit around here till about Sept. But you never know. I never thought where you live that hurricanes even happened. Sounds like you have everything under control though. The barometric here must be doing something because my hand has hurt for past 2 days. Arthur has come to stay awhile. So got Bengay to take care of it along with my arthritis glove.
We should be having our tax free hurricane season buys within the next month or so. Want to get more tarps, batteries, duck tape and whatever we need tax free.
I looked up the Sheila maid airer clothes line. Like the idea of it. It is on Amazon for $160. I am wondering how I could make something like that cheaper. Though the ends of that is cast iron. So it would be good and strong. I have my outdoor clothes line that I had to stop using because my nextdoor neighbor decided to hang bird feeders right there on his side of the property line where my clothes line is. So got tired of rewashing clothes. He is no longer doing that now so I am going to clean up the lines to start using them again. I also have 2 retractable lines in garage as well as 2 free standing ones to hang clothes. So I think I am good for drying clothes. I need to get 2 galvanized tubs and a wringer. So I have been going through things to see what I need that would help us in an SHTF situation. I have been reading about things that happened in the great depression as I have heard we could be heading that way again and that it will be worse as people depend more on grocery stores instead of homesteading now. One of the things I did not know was that they had bank closures. So no one could get their money out. I am covered for that, wondering how we would pay utilities bills and such. I guess would have that to figure out if it even happens.
I did not know there was a baking rack for the sun oven. I have one and love it. Have a few pans for it. But no baking rack. Will need to check into that soon.
Well back to work now. Breaktime is over.
-
Greetings, All.
Old Mt. Woman: I hope the storm misses you.
Clothes lines. A ceiling line such as we see in the BBC programs of country homes? Above the stove where it is warm. Nice. There was a clothes line in our basement – a retractable one. We had to take down one end in order to fit all of the pantry shelving on one wall. We have the part still. If I ever get the basement empty of “boxes and stuff” it could be used. We do have a large clothes horse we could use inside near the main floor wood stove, and clothes lines outside.
We have a unique furnace installation. The chimney will also take a wood stove, plus, the furnace will distribute that heat. Cool idea. That would be a good future goal. We could run out of propane for the furnace, and as long as we have a generator, we could have heat on the coldest days.
It rained here in MN yesterday, and with the low temperatures our driveway is sheer ice. So, no going out for us for a few days. Wed. is discount day at the local grocer and we are not taking advantage of that this week.
Yesterday I baked the 13-lb turkey that was purchased last Nov., and used the last of the sprouting potatoes. Carcass is in the crock pot. Now to can up the meat in broth for future use. I really enjoy being able to pressure can my dinners. I will make a freezer exception and make up a large and several small (loaf pan size) pans of Turkey Tetrazzini.
I found a framed sign many years ago, and I hang it proudly on my wall.
“An immaculate home is the sign of a misspent life.”
My family would rather get out and experience the world than worry about dirt in the corner. My daughter and her three sons had an opportunity to visit International Families one summer; her husband managed to get a long vacation and join them for part. They spent ALL summer visiting: South Korea, Thailand, North and South Vietnam, and China. A once in a lifetime chance to be the guests of the families of the students that had just graduated after spending years with them here. What a wonderful life. Whenever the youngest complains that he cannot do something, or is afraid to do something, we say,”You rode on the head of an elephant and traveled on a raft down a rain forest river. What could you possible be concerned about.”
Stay safe everyone.
-
-
Amy Dixon the book by Jill Winger “The prairie homestead looks wonderful. I’ll be keeping an eye on it for possible price drops.
Went back to the homedepot to pick up more drill bits. I am thinking presents and bartering materials. Also flashlights with batteries were 1/2 price. Hopefully these will last ( unlike the other which fell apart after 3 months )
I should check on my elderlies prep supplies. Perhaps make a hurricane box with more supplies. They wont do it on their own.
-
Interesting times. LifeLock, the identity protection service I’ve subscribed to for years, has alerted me that they have found my e-mail info in the “Dark Web.” If you start really researching how modern technology has so invaded our privacy with or without our knowledge and the probable things that can and will be done in the future, it makes me so sad for my grandchildren and for you younger ones on this forum. This particular breach came from the hacking of a company data base that no longer is of relevance to me but years ago I was a subscriber to that particular service. I wore a FitBit bracelet to monitor my walking, etc. and that app kept up with my progress. Unfortunately for folks in their system, the breach was discovered a year ago but is only now being revealed to the public. Whatever. I’m now in the Dark Web somewhere. 🙂
On a happier note, progress continues on my raised beds. Son #3 has encouraged me to go all out and buy the readymade raised bed soil by Miracle Grow. My seeds are bursting out all over and handyman Tim thinks it’s close to time to repot them in larger containers so I’ve ordered those peat moss pots. I may end up having way more plants than I have space for but figure these will make great give-away plants for others in community. It might help some other older folks out in our rural area to try to grow a few things just to keep them up and moving about.
Windy weather today and tomorrow. Tired tonight…warmest regards to all of you!!! I read all your post eagerly each day…thanks so much for sharing.
-
Muffy, I to have lifelock. I also have a fitbit but stopped using it after I found out our info was being stolen from them. I haven’t gotten an alert yet for it but did get one about a year ago that the one I was on for coupons got hacked and a year later was found on black web. I deleted that company from my computer it has been a good 2 years and nothing ever happened. Guess if black web can’t get what they are looking for you are tossed to the curb. I sometimes think they are looking for credit cards and bank accounts. Anything they can hack into from that.
The pancakes sound good. But hubby’s A1C was up so watching the diabetic diets. He was eating to much bread and other carbs. So he is off most carbs for a while till we get him back to normal again.
Granddaughter will be leaving for CA on Sat. and on Monday I have to take car in for oil change and recall. Then I am going to start the canning. I got my half gal. canning jars washed today so I can get the oven canning out of the way. Then the meat balls and the dehydrating is going to be starting as well. I have a lot of frozen veggies in freezer I am going to dehydrate. Never done it from frozen foods before but the you tube makes it very easy. Working on the garden plans. Trying to decide what we want to plant this year. Going to try some new things as well. I have never planted celery but am going to give it a try this year. Still to early for planting yet as we are having warmer weather but still a couple of just below freezing at night. So maybe another week or two and we can start moving plants to garden.
-
Oh these check-ins are just great!
Thank you OldMtWoman for sharing your weather knowledge! What a bizarre storm!
We’ve had rain, some snow, and soon those high winds. I worry about a power outage with the ice and winds. I got some more supplies today and have been thinking about things I may need to do and look out for.
Wishing you all well!
-
Hi everyone! I am just checking in. I am still alive, just buried under homework. I am churning out paper after paper after paper that I wonder if the professors even read. Just finished a take-home midterm. Next up is a paper on GIS (Geographic Information System) mapping technology. (The is a program in emergency and disaster management.) So all that’s happening here is that I keep the clothes washed, the dishes done, and that’s about it. My closet project is abandoned until the end of the semester. All the tools and supplies are in a heap on the living room room, and I just walk around it. I am trying not to make exhaustive lists in my head of everything that needs to be done to called this apartment finally renovated. If I do that, I get discouraged. So right now I am not looking past the closet project.
I did abandon the schoolwork last Saturday to attend Das Rheingold, the first opera in Wagner’s Ring, because I bought the tickets 15 months ago. Wagner’s Ring is so popular there was a lottery for tickets. AN OPERA LOTTERY, GUYS, AN OPERA LOTTERY. Holy [email protected], the Metropolitan Opera production was the no-expense-spared Star Wars version of Das Rheingold with stunning special effects, lighting, and staging. Especially the water effects for the nymphs swimming in the Rhine River, and for the clouds surrounding the gods in the mountaintops, and for Thor dispersing the clouds, and this staircase that looked like a rolling wave for the scene where Odin and Loki travel from the mountains to the underworld. Next week I have a ticket to attend the second opera, the Valkyrie. I read somewhere that when Valkyrie premiered back in the 1800s, a contemporary reviewer complained that “The Ride of the Valkyries” was a tasteless piece of music, and Wagner replied, “Of what use would be a tasteful Ride of the Valkyries?” That line has always stuck with me.
OldMtWoman, I hope you will be safe during this “bombogenesis” that is supposed to be the equivalent to a Cat 2 hurricane. All your preparations sound exhausting. I can’t imagine how you homestead in such a remote place under such tough conditions. When I read about how you and others on this forum homestead, it is a window into a way of life that seems so demanding and challenging and I am filled with admiration. About our manhole fire: Turns out 61 houses lost electricity for a while. The fire was caused by corrosive snowmelt/icemelt product put down on the roads. It mixes with water, drips down into manholes, corrodes electrical conduits until a fire starts. The electric company PR person acted very blasé about it, like it’s perfectly normal to have a GEYSER OF FIRE erupting on one’s street.
Muffy1938, your raised garden beds sound wonderful! What a lot of work, but it sounds like they will be glorious. There are several tragic-looking planters around my building, with dead plants in them, and this year I am planning to plant some seeds in them. No one living in this building will object! I’d like to plant morning glories, and maybe cosmos. Spring is on its way here in NYC. The temp is staying above 32 at night. The daytime temps are usually in the 40s occasionally hitting 50s. I am so looking forward to the better weather. Pretty soon I will take down the thermal curtains and put up the summer curtains and take down the storm windows. Looking forward to the Macy’s Flower Show in Herald Square. And, sorry about your email being posted on the dark web. I guess that must have happened to me as well. Today I got notified that I had successfully opened a free wifi account at a shopping mall in Australia. I contacted them and they closed the account.
grannyj smith, I cracked up when you said you had to go to town for buttermilk because your husband was complaining he has not had blueberry buttermilk pancakes or banana bread in over a week. That sounds like one pampered husband. I hope he appreciates you.
-
OldMtWoman – Praying you and your DH stay safe and warm despite the nasty weather!
Corsaire – Yes, I think Jill Winger’s new book sounds good too! From what she said in an email I received recently, Amazon has lowered the price to pre-order a hardcopy of that book from $35 down to $22.48 (and I think there’s a $1.38 off coupon also available). Jill said she wasn’t sure how long that lower price will be in effect though.
Cinnamon Grammy and Columbia River – The type of clothes drying rack I mentioned, (which is sometimes called an “airing rack” or a “clothes airer” in the U.K.) can be seen in Episode 2 of the older BBC television series “Wartime Kitchen and Garden” (at about minute 6:34) being used by the young actress who’s portraying an evacuee from London billeted with an older lady in the country. (Most of the episodes of that series, including Episode 2, are now available to watch for free on YouTube). The rack in the show, which is seen in its lowered position, looks very similar to the “clothes airer”sold these days at SheilaMaid dot com and in other online stores. It has two cast iron end pieces that are suspended from pulleys fastened into a ceiling beam. You insert long wooden slats through openings in the end pieces, and then hang your damp clothes over those slats. The end pieces/slats apparatus can then be lowered down from the ceiling or raised back up out of the way by means of sturdy cords that run through the pulleys. I believe that once you get the rack into its desired position, you wrap the end(s) of the cord(s) around a cleat that is screwed into a nearby wall. From what I have read, that sort of rack was often used in the kitchen where, presumably, the air was warmer and dryer due to the heat from cooking. I’m wondering if perhaps the hanging rack might have also been used to hang herbs to dry???
Littlesister – I agree, the SheilaMaid clothes airer is pricey. I did a quick check online this evening and saw some other, similar, hanging clothes drying racks and rack kits for sale for prices ranging from $89 to $120 though. I wish some company would make a version from thick aluminum or some other strong metal that wouldn’t be as costly. I suppose it might be possible to make something like it from wood but I’d worry that it might not be able to support the weight as well as those cast iron end pieces can. I also noticed some used cast iron end pieces for sale for about $55 U.S. (including shipping) but they didn’t include the pulleys and cleat 🙁 . . . I received the drying/baking rack for my Sun Oven today. It came amazingly quickly since I just ordered it about 2 days ago! Great service!
Today I watched more of the free preview Heritage Cooking and Kitchen Skills Course videos from Jill Winger at The Prairie Homestead. I really enjoyed the videos on how to cure a picnic ham roast, how to make an improvised smoker to impart a nice smokey flavor to the ham while it roasts in your oven, and how to easily make beef Summer Sausage.
-
Littlesister – I did a bit more checking and found a website for a competitor of Sheila Maid, called Pulley Maid. Their website is www dot pulleymaid dot com and, assuming I did the math correctly, their price for a classic cast iron hanging four-slat clothes airer kit (where you supply your own wood slats) including shipping from Great Britain is about $90 U.S. So, it seems to be a better price, assuming you can later get the wood slats in your own area for a decent price and get them cut to the size you want. Pulley Maid also has the hanging clothes airer in a wider, 6-slat model, and has models with Scots and Welsh designs as well. Another website that sells very similar “Victorian Kitchen Maid” hanging clothes airers is www dot castinstyle dot co dot uk It has a very helpful video on how to install one in your ceiling. The “Victorian Kitchen Maid” clothes airers sold at that website are available in different colored finishes as well such as: black, white, anthracite pewter, smoke blue, french grey, stone grey, and ruby. Oh my! So many choices, lol!
-
Buttermilk — I used to “make” it by adding vinegar or lemon juice to milk. Wouldn’t want to drink it but it worked fine for cooking/baking. I don’t remember the proportions but I’m sure it’s online somewhere
Found the book FROZEN ASSETS at the thrift store and was reading it and longing for the day when I can do some serious cooking again. I used to cook a lot of big batches of food and freeze main dishes. Soon, soon we will be out of the cabin and I will again have tools to do that. (Hard to cook much when a – as in only one – 3 quart pot is the biggest thing I have.)
But I looked up the author Deborah Taylor-Hough and found the following from her – something to think on, for me at least: “One of my daughters said several years ago that our house was the Great Salt Lake of books–books flowed into the house but never back out.” At the time she wrote that she had 2,000 book, down from her all time high of 3,500.
Not saying how many I have, but perhaps in preparation for the end of the world I can be the library (the real library keeps getting rid of books and doing more digital stuff). But, perhaps in preparation for the rest of my life without the end of the world I should consider being more judicious in my selections – and MAYBE I’ll consider taking back my joking comment about getting rid of cookbooks. 😉 Well, I’ll be thinking about all of it at least.
-
March 14
The weather turned bad around three am this morning, trees down, some roofs torn off, we were blessed the wind didn’t damage our home.
Molly, my dh tells me I make the best banana bread and blueberry pancakes, what’s a woman to do with a compliment like that, make him blueberry pancakes and banana bread.
Columbia River, I have tried the lemon juice in milk, but the bread and pancakes don’t taste the same, but you have made me remember a recipe for making buttermilk, so I will post that recipe in the morning if I do it correctly.
-
-
I hope everyone is safe during the extreme Colorado weather.
I am going to can my turkey in broth today.
My big news…My grandson received a National Merit Scholarship. Not the $2,500 one, which would have been nice. It was for $70,000! This is the grandson who CHOSE not to finish his eagle requirements. Now I see why he has been so busy. Well done young man. (He is still trying to decide between St. Olaf that gave him the scholarship but does not have a really strong engineering program, and North Dakota St. U. which does. Seems like a no brainer to me. Follow the money!)
-
Cinnamon Grammy…a quick shout out on the awesome news about your grandson!!! A National Merit Scholarship in that amount is something to crow about. IMO the engineering curriculum is generally pretty structured and tough no matter where it is earned. I’m with you on, follow the money so he doesn’t end up with tons of student loan debt. (The recent news about the corruption in higher education selection processes comes as no surprise to anyone who’s been around that environment. The 50 charged are just the tip of the iceberg and I want them to go after the other 800 they know about. So unfair to hardworking kids whose parents don’t have the money with which to bribe the insiders.) So, congratulations to your Grandson! He earned his place.
-
Molly Malone – Good to hear how you’re doing. It’s great there are so many opera fans in your area that they had to hold a lottery for the tickets 🙂 I think you and Wagner are/were right, “tastefulness” would definitely have detracted from the power of “The Ride of the Valkyries”, lol!
Cinnamon Grammy – Congratulations to your grandson on the great scholarship he was awarded!
Today I watched 3 more of Jill Winger’s preview videos for her new online course. Today’s excellent videos were on making a soft cheese (with an easier recipe than the one I usually use), making 30-minute Mozzarella without using a microwave, and water bath canning a yummy mixed-berries jam sweetened with honey. I’m really enjoying her videos and was pleased to learn that she’s going to have an Encore day this weekend so folks can watch any of the earlier videos they might have missed. I’ve been taking copious notes on the recipes and techniques and now have even more items to put on my prepping wish list (such as Prague Powder No. 1, and mild Lipase powder, etc.), lol! . . . I’ve been doing more thinking about those hanging clothes drying racks/clothes airers. I believe that, with its wooden slats, one could also be used as a pasta drying rack for large batches of homemade pasta. I definitely have to start saving up for one of those racks; they’re sounding more and more useful 🙂
-
Cinnamon Grammy, that is great news about your grandson getting that scholarship. My grandson came over for dinner tonight and we talked a great deal about things he plans on doing when he gratulates in June from high school. He said things are getting bad in the school now and they have started up an LGBT club in there. But he cannot take his Bible to school. He also said they are talking about doing away with the pledge of allegiance and national anthem. So the public schools are really going down. He will be starting school for cyber security in the fall. And he starts his new job tomorrow. Hope it goes well for him. It is Burger king which he is not happy about but he will be a cook and not a cashier. I was surprised they will let him be a cook as he is 17 and other places you have to be 18 and some 21 years old. He said this will give him some much needed money to safe for school in fall. But he is looking still for something better. Age around here makes it hard for a teenager to get a job even with a work permit which he does have.
OldMtWoman, glad you all did well through that storm. I know there was a lot of damage but hope no one was hurt.
Molly, I know that homework and school keeps you busy. My daughter went back to college and still has about 2 years left to go. Seems I hardly hear from here anymore with all this being on line and working full time as well.
Amy Dixon, I am going to check into those other places. I would have no problem getting the rods for it. That would be great for drying herbs as well as clothes and things. I love the concept of it.
Well on another note. Our doctor called this morning to tell us about our labs. Mine was great. Hubby not so much. His A1C was 7.4. It has never been that high. So I am taking away his waffles, bread and a lot of other things he has been eating and then finding out he was not taking his metforman. So changing up what he has been eating and putting my foot down to his sneaking fudge from the market he cooks collards for. He has been bringing fudge home to eat on for a snack. That is coming to a halt. I made him get his shoes on this morning and go walking as it was 80 degrees out today. I have to stay right with him in case he loses his balance. By the time we got back to house he was worn out. So we will be working on getting his strength back. Grandson had dinner with us tonight and we talked a bit and then he went on home to get ready for school tomorrow. We had a great time. And yes we have rabbits running around the yard. Don’t know if they are tame ones or wild. They don’t seem to run if you walk up on them but if you get to close they run under the shed. I think they are living under it.
-
Cinnamon Granny. 70K scholarship, thats wonderful Congrats
Molly Malone. I saw Tristan and Isolde as well as Lohengrin at the MET. Both were fantastic. This is a well deserved treat.
Preps. scoured the grocery store for sales and discontinued items.The occupational therapist says I will need the aggressive splint; which means a heck of a lot of pain. Between now and tuesday, I’ll be making freezer meals, cause I wont be in the mood and probs be “out of it” to cook.
Re.Daisys article. Looked at my facemask. I only have 1 set P95 filter and its on the mask itself. I’ll pick up some P100 hopefully this weekend.
-
There are those tyes of n 100 with exhaust fans they work in -30 and make breathing less strenuous expecially when doing heavy work. They are made in Singapore, used by WHO for ebola and other out breaks. I knew someone on design team so got to stress test in cold for them here.
One should really have 3 kinds of mask,dust, half and full. If only one a good cbrn full face mask with spare cartridges. Make sure to get removable plastic face plate see through covers to extend the plexiglass glass life by protection from scratches. Get kind with mesh net for back of head way more comfortable. Get silicone not rubber.
Half face mask and full face should be fitted as one size does not fit all. If you have them on shelf and need to access quickly mark with color ribbon so you get right size,wrong fit can be dangerous depending on contamination.
-
-
Greetings, All.
Thank you all for the kudos for my Grandson, Max. He is one special kid. He is open and ready to help anyone, and is generous with his hugs. (In addition to being smart as a whip, of course.) He and his brothers attend a charter school that is more minority than white. The students speak their native languages in addition to English. He is in 5<sup>th</sup> year Latin. The school is rigorous with their college prep classes and college credit! Students that have higher GPAs than he does are going to Ivy League schools. He is choosing to stay close to home.
Molly Malone, (Little Sister): Good for you. I think your degree will be vital for our futures. And, keep up your necessary brain relaxing exercises with your operas.
It is challenging but you can do it. My daughter is in grad school at the age of 46. Plus working, etc., I hardly see her. Then she intends to go on to a doctoral program. I, too, went back to college when I was 35. I was two classes and a thesis away from a master before I quit. My M.Ed. was no longer needed.
Old Mt. Woman: I hope your property, and you, survived the ravages of this storm.
Muffy1938: I am looking forward to hearing about your raised beds. I’d love to lift ours to make it easier for the older backs. Thinking of just adding boards to our already defined beds and filling them.
Little Sister: I understand the carbs for the A1c. Cannot get Hubby to see that. He is still borderline.
I hope your Grandson gets his Cyber-Security degree soon. We will need it.
Columbia River: Love those books – education at your fingertips.
Face Masks: How do the ones you chose work with glasses? I cannot see without my glasses, and wearing a facemask, my glasses fog up.
Canned Turkey: I am constantly surprised at how “little” I get from a turkey. This 13-pound turkey gave us two dinners before I canned it. I have 7 pints of plain meat in broth. I made a turkey soup with a Chinese flare, from the bone pickings and, and after eating one serving, I canned 4 quarts, 1 pint, and one of leftover soup broth. Filled in canner space with canning of beans. One-half cup of dry beans, rinsed, filled with boiling water, then canned in pint jars. For the soup, I raided the freezer – zucchini, peas, pea pods, parsnips and bok choy from last year’s garden; frozen mushrooms and fresh onion, ginger, and garlic. Little-by-little the freezer contents are being used. No tetrazzini this time.
Flooding: We were hoping to spend the weekend with our Hungarian Student, but cannot. First the driveway was sheer ice. Then with the rains and 40-degree weather the last few days, the snow is melting and flooding the basement. Our house was built in stages. The original basement, built 150 years ago from local stone, plus several additions, the most recent in ’88 with proper cinderblock. The old part which we do not use, has lost some of its chinking and it looks as if some stone blocks have moved, that is where the water is pouring in. This has happened before, but not to the extent that it flowed over the sill block (six inches high) into the new part of the basement that we actually use. Fortunately, with a shop vac (we did not realize how vital this shop vac would be for a prepper!)
we can vacuum up the water and dump it in the sump pump in the new part. A friend, and also my sister-in-law, have flooded basements. Tough timing for my sister-in-law’s family right now, since her daughter, my Godchild, is getting married in two weeks. That morning, also, his car was hit on the side by someone running a red light and then smashed from the back. Totaled car and he is in pain. Insurance will not cover the flooding, and only partly cover the brand new car, so darling Godchild set up a GoFUndMe account for them. Ah, the vagaries of life. We just roll with it. At least everyone is healthy.
So, we are stuck here at home, due to the flooded basement and icy drive. No need to worry since we have plenty o flood and things to do. Now, I am going to talk to Hubby about Jose’s last article about no electricity in Venezuela. I think that should be our next step: solar, wind, batteries, etc.
Take care, everyone. Be safe.
-
-
Store bought butter milk and real butter milk are different, store read side panel it is made with yoghurt culture, farm butter milk is the left over stuff after making butter basically defatted milk (skim milk). The pre butter farm buttermilk milk is one spin separated cream we do this because trying to make butter from whole milk wastes space in churner. Milk even whole raw jerset milk is less than 20 percent by volume, when fist spin separation is done the volume 4 gallons turns into about 1/2 quart of cream, the reason we only do one spin is other wise milk tastes like water and no one will drink it. We wait till we get about 1 gallon of cream for us that is one day of milking. Then cream, ice cold goes into a mixing tube and whisked at high speed for 5-7 min the butter is then a solid and the liquid remains are poured into pail, then butter is washed with water also put into same pail. What’s in pail is butter milk. Use it to transition piglets at weaning to solid food or to big hogs as a treat. Not even the cat wiLl drink it, it likes suits directly from the teats (hand milk )
As for best cbrn mask best thing is glasses with thin wire as that cam be bent in to create seal, it’s not perfect but it is better than no mask. To test get a scent oil at mask place put it on tighten and then break capsule (outside away from areas you use)
If this does not work for you get a silicone half face mask and go to a scuba dive shop to try different goggles that can have prescibtions put in they don’t all fit the same so it is like shoes try and find best fit. Look online first to find best deal so you don’t get ripped off.
Another trick is if you can see with magnify plastic leans like credit card is to put one onto cbrn mask on face plate, if so get used to walking as it throws perception off. The already confined viewing area will be further reduced so keep your head on a swivel expecially up as more than one time I have found myself sitting on my butt after walking full speed into something that has hit the crown on my head that I didn’t see.
-
12th: Spent the day 2 hours north of us. My mom needed an ultrasound to rule out cancer on a growth. The doctors didn’t find anything and want her to come back in 6 months. We spent the rest of the day hitting thrift shops and Costco to stock up on diapers and other necessities.
13th: Made a large batch of taco meat. Froze 4 meals worth. Cleaned up some through the house. Started on putting my garden beds together.
14th: Installed a new light fixture that was having problems, and a water efficient kitchen faucet. Finally got caught up on Mount Washmore and cleaned both kids bedrooms.
-
This has been a busy day indeed. Hope everyone is well. Prepperfan hope all goes well with your mom. We have seen enough cancer for one year. Several friends have had it of some form or another. Now my granddaughter’s real grandmother just pasted a few hours ago from cancer. What is going on that so many folks are getting this?
But on another note. I am still trying to declutter and get rid of some things. Slow going process but I’m am working at it best I can. I am doing a bit of revamping on the food as I am checking on how much protein foods we have. As both hubby and I both have type 2 diabetics. So far I seem to be good on protein but need to can a lot more meat. I still have plenty of beef canned but need to buy more chicken when it goes on sale again to can as well as fish.
Also I am working on a list of non food items that we need. We live in the east coast area. So if war breaks out the east coast could more than likely be wiped out. Hate to say that but from what I have been reading on Russia, Turkey, China and a couple of other countries, we are in big trouble here. We will not win WW3. I just don’t see it happening. If I could afford a bunker, I would be building one in the country toward the mountains. But that’s not happening so will make do where I am. I have no plans to bug out but will be prepared to leave if we have to. I have been looking at propane indoor heaters and the possibility of getting a 250lb tank buried in backyard somewhere. Need to check on this though. Also a cook stove using the propane as well for indoor cooking. As cooking outside could bring unwanted guest if they smell food cooking. Checking out the idea of a privacy fence as we are on a corner lot and the garden can be seen by two many people. We already have had problems with neighbors coming over to get veggies when we plant. They put their name in but don’t contribute with helping. I don’t mind sharing but our garden is very small and just gets us from summer to summer. If things look like they could go south we might be expanding that garden by putting one on other side of the garden shed. Don’t know how long before a SHTF situation hits but for some reason I feel a need to step some things up. I need to get more grain for bread. I really don’t think I have enough to get us through 6 months and I want to bump that up to a year or more. There are other things I am looking at like trash bags. need to get a supply that is a lot more than what we have. Also water barrels. We have ways for storing water but really think I need to get some 55 gal barrels. We have plenty of flashlights and lots of batteries but need to get more batteries. Looking at going to buy a rifle soon as well. I want to look more into that Sheila maid aire clothes rack as well. I really like the concept of it. Lots of uses. Also looking to getting that baking rack for my sun oven. Need to get more lamp oil although I do have a lot of it as we use the oil lamps if we loose lights and generator quits. But I also don’t know if you guys know that you can use olive oil in your oil lamps. It burns well. I have several bottles from when the stores would have a buy one get one free. We couldn’t use it up fast enough so I packed it up and put it with the rest of the lamp oil. It went out of date so now it will be lamp oil.
Is anyone else looking at how fast things are moving in this world. War, rumors of war, our weather, famine in all sorts of places. Our corrupt government and what is coming in the next elections in 2020. Not even looking good in that respect.
What are all you guys looking to get better prepared. We live in a neighborhood that the city is growing up faster and faster around us. We used to be more country and still have county roads that cannot handle the fast growing pace.
Took hubby walking yesterday around block and it wore him out. Took him out today and his legs stiffened up on him and he couldn’t make it around the full block today. So got to work on that.
I really do enjoy reading all the things that you guys are doing. I think most of you have homesteads in country where it is a bit easier to deal with. Living where I am is not easy and I know those of you that live in apartments are having a tough time with no yard of your own and a small living area. It does make for a challenge of finding storage and ways to deal with hard times.
-
Cinnamon Grammy- woohoo- kudos to the grandson!!
OldMtWoman- hope you are okay after the storm.
Molly Malone- Glad to see you back and glad you’re enjoying some down time at the opera. I still have to laugh whenever I think of the guy who wound up with the Crisco thnking it was a pie.
It was still snowing here today or I should say snowing again. We had a little respite from it but the banks are still high and in the news another roof caved in from weight of snow and ice. Up here we need to shovel the roofs off. IT got up above freezing and did some melting so it was slick outside the door, down the walk and in the drive. I went out to clean up a little and fell down but landed against the snowbank so didn’t get hurt. Still not time to even plant seeds in the house yet.
I went out to the store and always buy a little extra for the pantry beyond what we need at the time. Also have been working on morse code and reading articles on prepping and started genealogy scrapbooks for my grandkids. Had to deal with some winter problems in the house too but the roof got shoveled off before snow load gat to be too much. Will have a lot to catch up on in the spring. I kind of feel like I’m still in hibernation mode.
-
little sister, I feel I’m in the same boat as you. Don’t know what it is exactly but I feel that “IT’S” coming soon. Don’t what “IT” is but I feel the need to really push to get ready.My hubby thinks I’m getting paranoid but I don’t know. Most of my ‘premonitions” have come true over the years, so I don’t ignore them. We went to the Home Show this afternoon, primarily because we need to replace the windows on the house. Much to my surprise, there was 2 companies there that do Security film for windows. We’re going to have them do quotes once the new windows are in.
Did you know you can freeze the olive oil? From what information I have been able to find, the olive oil keeps for about 5 years in the freezer. I haven’t tried it, should put a small bottle in the freezer and see what happens. I have a few bottles in the “lower” pantry that got shoved back and are no longer good for food. DH wanted to toss them but I plan on using them for the oil lamps. According to what I was told I CAN use it for lamp oil if it’s rancid but not to use canola or vegetable oil either fresh or rancid due to the carcinogens they give off when burned. Supposedly olive oil doesn’t give them off. AND when we got home this afternoon I started the roast(cooked like prime roast) after it was time and I went to check temp, meat was still raw in the middle. Thought it was the thermometer but we believe its the heating unit in oven We tried to cook it using the convection button on the stove. Seemed to do it but DH went and got Chinese for dinner tonight just in case, he was hungry LOL. Man I was so looking forward to roast beef, mashed pots and green beans for dinner tonight. DH believes it is both the thermometer AND the oven. So it’s off to the store tomorrow for an oven thermometer, and if things come in threes, wonder what else is going to go wonky.
-
I’ve posted X2…..usually get that the post in in moderation {or something like that} But it’s not showing up??? NOTHING is showing up. I described how we survived the Ultra-Low Pressure pseudo-Cat 2 hurricane…. Problems but fine. I’m giving up tonite since it’s now 2:30AM.
OldMtWoman For the third time: G’nite all
-
-
-
Greetings, All.
For some reason, whenever I try typing in the comment box here, ”Safari Web Content“ freezes. I force quit, but sometimes it still hangs up. So, from now on it will be typing in MSWord before posting here.
Muffy 1938: Thank you and true. The engineering curriculum is pretty much the same, but some school just do not have it. If he went to St. Olaf he would need to major in physics, but he also loves the classics. I have not spoken to him; he has not heard from the other two schools. Hubby is a retired professor, and former director of graduate studies for his college. He says that just having the N.M. Scholarship will help get him into Grad school even if he did not have the appropriate undergrad courses. They can always be taken.
Buttermilk: Have you tried the shelf-stable dehydrated buttermilk? If so, what do you think?
Little Sister: I understand what you are saying. My opinion – start with the fence. Then no one will see what you do. Although, around here, the fence must be short until you get to the back yard. If you install a solid fence, there may be sun issues for gardens. But, there are plenty of herbs and lettuces that will grow in the shade. Your front and side yard gardens can have the colorful lettuces and herbs along with your flowers. Most people would not know. Cooking outside – this is when the haybox type of cooking will work.
Mama Cando: I like to use Sesame Oil in my Asian recipes. However, we don’t use it very fast so I put the Sesame Oil in the refrigerator. I did keep the old rancid oil to burn.
Sewing: I continue to sew up the fabric that I bought a year ago. This time, it is flannel for PJs for Hubby. However, I did not get enough fabric! He will be sleeveless. I probably just guessed at the store without verifying an amount from an in-store pattern. So Remember – BUY EXTRA FABRIC. You can always use it for something else. JoAnn Fabrics has regular sales on notions. I already have shoeboxes full of bindings, elastic, zippers, thread, etc; plus a drawer full of patterns. Spend another dollar when you go to the store, buy just one more…
Today I must wash all the jars from canning the turkey, then label, and place them in the basement pantry. I use a Sharpie and write on the lid, plus, make a masking tape label with more information. I include the seasonings used and any other suggestions for serving. I know what I did and how I want to use it, today; but will not in a year. Plus, if I gift the jars, others will have the directions.
We did talk yesterday about Jose’s article of no electricity in Venezuela. I know what I want to do …start small with Goal Zero. Purchase their hand crank lamp to begin with, then add their small, foldable solar panel, battery/inverter, and lamp accessories piece by piece. Easy to use and take with us. Hubby looked at the prices and did not think it was a good idea. We already have 5 oil lamps plus oil, and many candles. He wants to start with a large regular solar panel, and the huge stationary system. We will see which is cheaper to get started with. On a set Social Security income, there is little wiggle room, even if we use our HELOC, the payments must be very small.
For serious homesteading and prepping you really need both people on board. I have done my part of storing food and water, laundry supplies and sewing/knitting supplies. It is his turn to get off his 80-year old butt and get his stuff done. He has three ceiling lights to redo, two faucets, add more firewood, and with spring – tighten up the garden fence and dig more gardens. Plus, it is time to install the spiles in the maple trees. To be fair, he has drained the water from the old basement that flooded. So, he is not entirely useless…Love him anyway.
Stay healthy and safe.
-
Namelus – Thank you for the suggestions! In the past I looked into getting a good quality full-face cbrn mask with prescription lenses but it was very pricey. I’ll check into the idea of swim goggles with prescription lenses in them. Might be a bit less costly. I wear blended bifocals and can walk around without eyeglasses but couldn’t, for example, read road signs without them. So, if I absolutely had to, I could evacuate, slowly, with just a cbrn mask and no eyeglasses – but it would be better to find some way to have the prescription lenses and the cbrn mask protection as well, lol. Maybe I could take an old pair of eyeglasses, break or cut off the earpieces, and sort of tape them to my nose and temples and then put the cbrn mask on? It would look peculiar but might work in a pinch 🙂
Today I’m watching the encore videos from Jill Winger’s Heritage Cooking and Kitchen Skills course – and taking lots of notes. I’m also making some improvised under-bed boxes so I can store canned goods in my bedroom.
-
-
Corsaire – Hope you’re feeling O.K. despite the aggressive splint!
Mama cando – I have heard about freezing olive oil but haven’t tried it yet. A couple of years ago I corresponded with a lady in Italy who works for Sagittario (at sagittarioimpruneta dot com), a company that produces wonderful olive oil in Tuscany, which they ship to customers in the U.S.A. and elsewhere. She told me that it is best to never refrigerate olive oil but that it’s O.K. to freeze olive oil. However, she said that once the frozen olive oil is thawed out, it tends to degrade (go rancid) more quickly than olive oil that has never been frozen. So, she suggested that if i wanted to freeze olive oil, I should do so in small bottles and plan on using each small bottle up fairly quickly after I thawed it out.
-
Thank you Amy Dixon. He stayed away from the fudge today while he was cooking collards. He knows I will be on him, so he will be behaving his self.
You guys will never believe what my daughter did. She has 5 boxes of canned goods she had put in my grandson’s car to take to the dump. Now mind you some of the cans were way out of date but some were this years date. She will not cook for the 2 children though they are grown nor for her husband. She had all kinds of stuff in there. Though my grandson was carting it around in his car for about a week. And a couple of days where rather warm. I told him when he came over today to bring them into garage. So he did and I just about flipped out. Loads of can tomatoes, canned soups, veggies, all sorts of stuff. Even jars of peanut butter. Out of all that food and taken into account it had been in his car for a week. I still was able to go through and find a lot of stuff that was good and some still in date to the end of this year. Don’t know what her thinking is but a lot of that stuff she has bought over those few years is stuff none of them eat. But a lot of it was. So I am going to keep it in boxes as to what it is and keep it on the spare bed to use first. I have eating canned goods 3 years out of date and they were just as good as when I first bought things like it. I have a paper from the food bank on the dates of things and yes those dates mean nothing as far as the food being good. Out of date food for the most part is still very good. So I made out. We had just about finished eating the canned soups from 2 and 3 years ago and now we have another box of canned soups to eat from 2 and 3 years out of date. So will not be stocking any soups. She also sent over my canning jars from stuff she took home. Green beans, squash, soups I had made, etc. Grandson said she dumped the food out and washed the jars and told him to bring them to me. So next time she wants to take home food that I have canned for the winter months the answer will be no. He said that now there is hardly any food left in the house and he has nothing in there but cereal and stuff to make salad with. So now he is coming to my house to eat. His dad and sister have been eating out a lot. But then they work and have money to burn to eat out every night I guess. I think that whatever this schooling she is doing on line has something to do with saving the environment. As far as her work, she is a medical biller for a food company. She could go to the other side and make sure they treat the pigs right and slaughter them humanely. That is good but her preparing for really bad times has gone by the wayside. Grandson said only prepping being done is his father buying up ammo and more guns. Well I guess they can eat bullets because he doesn’t hunt or fish.
Amy, I am looking at making some boxes with wheels on them to make it easy to pull those boxes out when I need something. I saw something like it on pinterest. The boxes had low sides and then a couple of boards across middle for brace for heavy things. I also had a handle put on it to pull them out easy. I figure I could get at least 2 of them under each bed. And maybe 3 under the queen bed depending on size.
Granddaughter from CA will be back here about 5 or 5:30 so I will be back later to read some more of your post. Stay well everyone.
-
Thanks Amy
I am thinking of putting a comical twist to this whole ordeal. I’ll bring an insulated wine glass and pour my coffee in it and put down a table cloth at OT. Make it look like I am at a fancy restaurant instead of Occupational therapy. Perhaps a fancy bowl of nuts also.
The makeshift heating pad has gone bust. Two problems. Rice doesnt hold heat very well and it burns. Also the dollar store socks are pilling. I did more research. Cherry pits seem to be ideal as well as flaxseed. I purchased whole flaxseed today at TJ Max and got better socks. We’ll see how this goes. The cable tie has held up great, so thats a keeper.
-
Such wonderful posts from everyone…keeps me so motivated to know others are taking prepping seriously. Today has been a good day though it started off a bit wobbly. Son #2 stopped by complaining of not feeling well so he let me play mother for a bit…highly unusual for him, but I think the little boy inside of him rather enjoyed having Mother feeling his forehead for temp, fetching him some aspirin and letting him lie down for a while. And, I definitely enjoyed the feeling of being needed. I raised 3 awesome boys as a single mom and I’m so proud of the men they’ve become. Granddaughter Georgia (twin sister of Carolina who’s in France) stopped in for a visit also. I got to show her my indoor gardening setup which is doing really well! I think I may have lots of plants to share.
Spent some time reviewing the 12 month plan for stocking up…arghhh…can’t find source just now but I’m doing well I think. Placed orders with Amazon for products to make laundry detergent and watch a youtube on how to do it. Definitely is a cost savings over store bought brands.
Oh, yes, GD Davis is back in the States from her trip to Guatemala. Thankful for that. She had an awesome experience working in a dental compound providing dental services to needy children.
A big shoutout to Amy Dixon, Cinnamon Grammy, OldMtWoman, Namelus, MollyM, and so many others who are on the forum. I’m learning so much and getting some great ideas from all of you. Thanks to Daisy for monitoring the site. Just wish there weren’t so many scammers creating so much work for her.
-
Corsaire: you can use dried beans such as the navy beans or smaller. Also you can use corn but it is the type of corn from a feed and seed not the kind for popcorn. Lentils might work great as they are a smaller type of dried bean. I have made one up using the rice for my hand and it does not hold the heat well.
Yes, I to am glad Daisy is montering the site. So much stuff happens.. I left one because of trolls. It got really bad. I just had enough of it and left. The guy went after every member and they couldn’t seem to get rid of him before several really good members left.
Granddaughter from CA was here for quite awhile today and just left about an hour ago to pick her husband up at airport. They are here for her grandmother’s funeral and she came a few days earlier than he did. So they will be back tomorrow for us to meet her new husband. Just wish we were able to go to the wedding but hubby couldn’t make the 3000 mile trip. Grandson of course was here also today. So it has been a busy day for us.
I also need to look into the mask. I have several from when I worked at doctors office. But they are the N95. I want to get the N or P100 face mask. Will be looking into it when things calm down around here.
Amy Dixon I did not know you could freeze olive oil. That is good to know. Right now the ones that went to far out of date, I boxed up and put in shed with my lamp oil. Don’t think dates will matter for use in the oil lamps. I have 7 or 8 oil lamps so this will help with that.
Found out my granddaughter from CA has been prepping and now has a months worth of food if anything happens that they can’t leave home. She lives in appt. right now as they are looking at where they want to buy or build a home. She is prepping for in case of earthquake. She has a good 2 months of food for the dog. Gotta look after the baby. She has bug out bags for just in case, she keeps by the door in case of evac. And I found out she has learned how to can her own food. That was great news. They are looking for a house with a lot of land as she wants a garden.
-
Corsair have you tried a buckwheat as a medium? For heating I still like the re use able sodium acetate pads. Have a set that are 4 years old atleast 100 boils ans use and still works. The neck and shoulder one is my favorite, making a terrycloth bag helps it not get too hot direct to skin to silicone.
-
Molly Malone, I sincerely hope you enjoyed the opera and will enjoy Des Valkyries. I had the opportunity to see the Great Leontyne Price in Des Valkyries. It was wonderful, she was magnificent in the lead role.
Cinnamon Granny, congratulations to your grandson. That’s wonderful news. Just make sure what ever college he goes to doesn’t screw it up. My oldest had a small scholarship that the university goofed up on. Seemed there was a young man with same name as my son but his SSN was one # different. I got a call at 7 am from someone ( who got chewed out about it) demanding we pay or son couldn’t take classes. It was my first day back from the hospital and major surgery and didn’t appreciate the call. I had to contact the Dean and she got it straightened out. Later, Son came across the kid that got his scholarship money and this is what the kid said his dad told him when he got this “extra” money. The dad told the kid “Don’t say anything, it’s free money”
-
Amy Dixon, that’s good to know about degradation after the oil dethaws. Did she give you a “ball park” on how long olive oil lasts and how short a time after it thaws it will go “bad”? We don’t do a lot of frying or using oil that much due to DH’s diet so I only buy the small bottles.Thanks for the info.
-
Daisy…I have no idea why it was malfunctioning last nite…..between 1 and 2:30 AM Mountain time. I’d copied before I hit “submit”….. I was posting on page 9. When it finished processing….I was on page 1 of this thread. Huh? I clicked over to page 9 and my post wasn’t there.
I ‘pasted’ the whole thing again….hit “submit” again….and ended up back on page 1 again. And no post “in moderation” or otherwise. 🙁
After all the manual labor of snow and adaptions for this storm, I was too tired to try again. So the third time I just posted that short note. Can’t remember if it sent me back to page 1 or not???? But that time I did see “post in moderation” ….which is normal now. So I was pretty sure THAT one had completed properly.
I think I’ve mentioned I hate mysteries. Here’s another mystery: Since I thot I’d try to post the whole thing again today, I “pasted” it into a document on my computer. I keep a MISC. file on my computer desktop for reminders and other temporary stuff. So did that { I thot…} and went to bed. Now I can’t find it anywhere on my computer…..so I STILL can’t copy/paste here. WHERE did it go on my laptop? I hate mysteries. …..also not liking being old and so very tired right now. This too shall pass. Hmph!
OldMtWoman
-
I FOUND where I stashed this post last nite so I tried again. It did it again….did NOT post and bounced me back to page 1. Soooo, I’ll get creative and try to post this long post in two sections. Mebbe that is the problem??????
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-…..Part ONE of two….
Regarding our snow bizarre snow storm: Thanks for well wishes, everyone. Welllllll…….. We were right on the border of NOT being in the affected area. {roll eyes} Allegedly. Good thing we don’t RELY on predictions. Yes, it DID get allll the way over here. But we certainly did NOT get what those poor folks in the plains of Colorado got….whooooeeee! I’ve been in blizzards like they got. Dangerous as all get out! Especially if you are inexperienced, arrogant/careless, or just made an error. Unforgiving of errors….this type of storm is!
In our particular piece of the HIGH ROCKIES, we got our usual HIGH WINDS. We’re in a valley with the house half-way up and the barnyard down near the creek at the bottom. We’ve lived here long enough to know how the wind will cause drifting.
So we did NOT get the full effect of the Absolutely STRANGE phenomena of the “bombogenesis” …aka “Explosive Cyclone” , …aka “Winter Pseudo-Hurricane“, etc. There are many names they are calling this monster. Concerned for those who got it’s affect in the warmer MidWest …got terrible flooding. I’m just now able to get on Internet and see how it’s affected other regions. Stay safe …those of you who might still be in recovery…as we are.
The Internet was lost the first day. THAT drove me crazy cuz we have no TV….no cell service….nada for NEWS…DATA. Our daughter called [we have land line] and dug up some information for me. The BEST NEWS is that we did not {quite} lose electric. Whew! Biggest concern. Everything else is rather routine…..tho MUCH worse to deal with all of it now that we’re a lot older. 🙁
While the wind was STRONG, it was within our normal range. But the SNOW AMOUNTS were way over what was expected in our particular piece of the planet. W A Y over! We’ve had worse but again, that was in our younger years. Our snowplow friend did try to clear our driveway. He tried to RUN his truck UP the steep hill and plow DOWN. He never quite got UP the driveway. 🙁 On the third unsuccessful attempt, while backing down….he veered over close to a “vehicle roll over and over” type of edge. While maneuvering, he got rear wheels stuck in the no-longer-frozen-dirt. He and got him loose and away from edge. He used plow to scrape snow backwards from that point. So some is cleared. That deep, every little bit helps us walk up and down.
OldMtWoman ….attempt #4
-
Y’know…it’s not that this report on our storm survival is so important that y’all read it. But since I hate mysteries, I get determined!!! I’ve tried now 4 times to post the second half. And then I tried cutting that part in half again. Thot it might just be too long. Doesn’t seem to be the case. It seems to have posted the first half. But now it just keeps bouncing me back to Page 1 and nothing shows on page 10. I’ll see if this will hold short note will post. But LOL….Part 2 is being held hostage.
OldMtWoman is giving up to go to bed.
-
Muffy 1938 – Thank you! I learn a lot from your great posts also 🙂
Littlesister – Your underbed boxes will be a lot sturdier than mine. I’m being very low-tech and just cutting down some cardboard boxes to fit under there and then reinforcing the bottom seams with strapping tape – super cheapo but should work for awhile, lol.
Mama cando – Here’s what Janet at Sagittario Impruneta wrote to me on that topic: “Oil, whether in a tin or dark bottle will last longer if kept in a cool dark place as you said,” (Note: Here she’s referring to my telling her that I was considering storing olive oil in a dark, dry basement storeroom at about 50 degrees Fahrenheit) “but it will continue to mellow and age in any case and gradually loose its distinctive characteristics and nutritional value. Therefore, a year and a half from harvest is usually considered the limit” (I assume she means if you haven’t frozen it) “and it is ideal if you can manage to buy what you use in a year and be ready for the fresh press by the time it is available. As for open bottles or tins, keep in mind that the part that oxidizes and speeds up aging of the oil, is the surface oil. So, it is not so much a matter of an open bottle as it is of there being little oil in a large container. It is best to decant your tin into smaller dark bottles that can be kept full except for the small one you are using . . . Refrigeration is not good as it is too cold and will also speed up aging. If you want, when you receive the fresh press, you can put some into very small (100ml for example) bottles and freeze it. Then when you open it the oil will be very close to the fresh oil, but you will need to use it up quickly at that point.” So, Janet did not specify how quickly you needed to use up thawed olive oil. However, this morning I saw an online article at a website called canyoufreezethis dot com which said: “Freezing oil will maintain its health benefits, but once thawed it should be used quickly, as its shelf life is reduced to days. For this reason, you should consider how you plan to use the oil before making the decision to freeze it . . . If you want to freeze olive oil, consider freezing it in small single-use quantities. You can freeze it in ice cube trays either alone or with herbs to use as a base for soups, stews, or other cooked dishes. Once fully frozen, these cubes should be transferred to air-tight containers. Freezing olive oil in a marinade or cooked dish are other ways to freeze your oil . . . To thaw your oil, simply allow it to return to room temperature. If you are using frozen cubes, you can put them right in your pan to start your dish. Some people like to thaw their oil to refrigerated temperatures and use it as a spread. The flavor and texture of the oil will not be changed by freezing and thawing, and it should return to its normal state once it has reached room temperature. The molecular structure will be weaker, and the oil will go rancid quickly, so it is best to use the oil immediately upon thawing.” Wow! Apparently it really goes bad fast after having been frozen and thawed! So, if I freeze any I’ll either freeze it in cubes and then keep the frozen cubes in a vacuum-sealed bag in the freezer until needed, or freeze it in very small bottles, like the 100 ml size Janet recommended. I haven’t seen any articles yet that say exactly how long the shelf life of olive oil is if you freeze it but I did see an anecdotal post from 2011 by a gentleman named Greg on preparednessadvice dot com who reported that he froze some extra virgin olive oil for 4 years with very good results. As far as refrigerating an opened bottle of olive oil to extend its shelf life a bit, it seems to make a difference whether the oil is a premium extra virgin olive oil or just a “regular” type of olive oil. From what I’ve read, refrigeration can cause some condensation and moisture formation inside open bottles of oil, which adversely affects the taste of premium extra virgin olive oils but doesn’t seem to bother “regular” olive oils as much. So, if you have a pricey extra virgin olive oil it appears the best ways to store it are either 1) to keep it in a dark, dry storage area at about 50 degrees Fahrenheit (for 1-2 years) or, 2) to freeze it in small quantities (for up to about 4 years) and use the thawed oil up within few days. If you have a more “regular” grade of olive oil, you can store it in either of those same two ways or can refrigerate it.
-
Well I didn’t go back to page 1, my post just disappeared. But I see this morning that many of the things I was going to comment on have been covered. Good enough.
I had planned on attending a class on food prep for hard times along with some natural health remedies and anti pain management. It sounded so good. However we got a 6-8” dump of snow earlier this week and apparently DH hurt his back. I haven’t been driving since I busted my shoulder and didn’t want my first excursion to be a journey instead of just a trip to town, so no go. Boo (he’ll drive me to work but no journey to the city)
I’ve been working on list of foods and recipes to do batch cooking with. I had a few but want to expand the list.
And I’ve been doing more advanced shoulder exercises and got in another hour long walk.
And trying not to trip over 3 large dogs in this tiny cabin (a child is visiting with dog – “small horse” I call her)
and that’s probably enough. Weather has gone from single digits less than two weeks ago and snow dumps to in 50s this week. Mud mud mud and soft soft roads and especially dirt roads (like ours) and driveways. It is the time to endure.
-
-
Corsair. Mine has buckwheat in it. 2 minutes in the microwave. I also have an old fashioned red “rubber” hot water bottle. It also does a marvelous job. It holds heat much longer than anything else.
Cinnamon Grammy – my concern with the huge stash of thread is that it eventually gets dried out and brittle. I was keeping mine in the freezer but it got “evicted” in favor of berries. Haven’t figured out any new solutions.
-
Columbia River thread that keeps its tensile strength Is the synthetic sinew used in leather working, silk, and some of the other plastics, natural fiber, the only one I have seen first hand was hemp, found some along with cloth at my grandma’s as we where cleaning up, she remembers bringing it over when they migrated, she is now 100 + old. It has been in a steamer trunk in basement for 70 years, it’s a bit brittle but still hold once past the outside of the big spool and so was the cloth. Only thing was the faint smell of moth balls when freshly opened.
-
Went to Church this morning and then came home, fixed lunch and took a nap. Was really tired today. Just got back from the evening service. Really good. We watched a movie and had popcorn. Evening service doesn’t do that often but our pasture is on vacation this past week and was just coming back today. So we had no pastor for the evening service.
Have had things going on beyond my control this these past couple of weeks but more so this week. I think I had mentioned my granddaughter from CA is here and her husband just arrived last night for her real grandmother’s funeral. So they will be here another week. Was hoping to see her on a better note but things happen beyond our control. She is my stepdaughter’s daughter but hubby and I raised her. That is a story I really better not say on here. Stepdaughter is about to hit rock bottom and I hope she understands that she needs to stop messing up her life. She is now 50 years old and I think maybe I better just leave it at that. I just keep praying for her as that is about all I can do. I just hope and pray that with things hubby is finding out about his daughter doesn’t depress him. These were all things way beyond his control. So my preps and things have been on hold for a bit. Maybe in a week things will get back to normal again.
Though I have been going through some more papers I found in a box as I can. I just have to much junk that needs to hit the trash. But it will all get done hopefully before time to get the garden going.
-
Amy Dixon, Thank you for the information. Really appreciate you answering me.Went to the store today, I scored. The store I shop at put their small jars of olives on an unadvertised sale $1.00 a jar. So I loaded up. We eat olives regularly, they do keep and as they are no carb, DH is happy. Poor guy, he’s having a real had time sticking to his low carb diet. Yes olives are a bit high in salt but I don’t cook with salt unless absolutely necessary, so I think we’re good, at least the doc thinks so. My father in law was on a strict no salt diet so I got into the habit of not using salt. DH and I can’t stand the after taste of the salt substitutes so we don’t use those. So I use a lot of herbs and spices in my cooking.
-
Lil’Sister….yeah, family issues sure can pull the stuffin’s outta a person, can’t they. We also have ‘a situation’ that is distressing me more than I’ve been in a long while. At some point, we’ll be on the Other Side of these challenges…. {hugs}
Corsaire…..really? Thank you for the compliment. I write stories for my own enjoyment and of course things like these posts. But haven’t done anything professionally. Just me talkin’ 🙂
Columbia River….regarding losing posts: I FEEL your pain! Uff Tah! I was wondering if it was my computer, which is getting a bit old and cranky. Dunno but ….gave it my best try to post.
OldMtWoman….. G’nite all [copy before hitting ‘submit’…new rule for me]
-
Well you got me questioning my information. Found the following on the superiorthread site and probably explains why I thought as I did. I was told that threads don’t last in a sewing class many years ago and have always been concerned. I think I might give my thread a test and then do some replacing as necessary when I see my regular sewing supplies again.
I took a class at the Singer store while in junior high and made a lot of my clothes for many years – I even did a jacket with bound buttonholes while in high school. Maybe I’ll put sewing on my when we finally get back in the house list. It would certainly be easier than finding things on the store racks. And I think my information actually came from a class later when I was told to keep moisture in it and store in freezer used
From superior threads:
A. A good quality thread that is produced today will last much longer than thread which was produced 15 or 20 years ago. Even the best quality cotton thread of a generation ago did not have the advanced processing techniques available to us today and it would probably be best to not sew or quilt with old thread that exists today.
However, a high-quality cotton thread that is manufactured today, like MasterPiece and King Tut, will probably be fine to use in 40 or 50 years from now. Why will threads that are manufactured today last longer than threads manufactured 20 years ago? The difference is due to the advancements in spinning, dyeing, and twisting technology and the evolution of genetic engineering better cotton plants. Because cotton is a natural fiber, it will degrade over time. A good test to check whether or not the cotton threads you have been given are OK to use in your machine is to hold about a one foot section between both hands and pull apart. If the thread snaps (you should feel a nice, crisp break), then it is OK to use. If the thread just separates and pulls apart easily (think of pulling a cotton ball apart), we don’t recommend using it.
As for polyester thread, the color may fade over the years with exposure to sunlight, but there is no evidence that the thread deteriorates like cotton threads, so it’s safe to say that synthetic fibers will last longer.
source: superiorthreads dot com
(Note – I saw other posts that said it was no good if it did snap. I personally think the superior threads response is more accurate. CR)
-
-
-
Thank you Muffy. Of course hubby won’t be going to his x-wife’s funeral as they have been divorced for 45 years. But his daughter had tried just before her mother passed to drag him into a big mess. Since it didn’t work. We have not heard from her since. And his X was remarried for 5th time and this last one for about 30 years. So nothing to do with hubby. Think now the problem is nipped in the bud.
Granddaughter and her new husband from CA will be here tomorrow to spend the day with us. They will be leaving I think on Thursday or Friday after funeral on Wed. Not the best of times to get to spend time with family but we will make the best of it and have a great day tomorrow.
Spent the day today washing clothes and trying to figure out a good place in house to put the dehydrator. Just don’t have the kitchen counter space to put it. So looking at a place in dining room for now. I really need to get started on dehydrating those veggies I thought I was going to do over a week ago.
I now have enough dryer lint to make some char cloth. So that I will be working on in about a week or so. Also trying to get all that food that my daughter was throwing away put into the makeshift pantry.
OldMtWoman, Some of the best stories I have read came from people like you that type stories on line. I for one look forward to what you type. I enjoy reading what everyone is doing in the canning, gardening and just things in general that everyone does on a day to day basis. I learn a lot from how everyone is prepping and making the best of where they live, be it on a farm, a small house in the city or even an apt. All the creative ways everyone is figuring out how to store stuff has given me a lot of ideas for different things.
Concaire, going through the thrift stores is something I want to get back into doing. I have to travel a ways to get to them. But it is worth it as there are several of them close together. So when I do go, I can hit all of them in same day. I only have one close and even that one is a good 15 to 20 min. drive to get to.
-
Well….thanks again, Cosaire and Lil’Sister. I’m going to try to post the second half of our MegaStorm survival. Cross your fingers…..
DIDN’T WORK….sent me back to Page 1 with nothing on page 11. So I’m chopping it in half again…and try a second time tonite. This has become a CHALLEGE!
== === === ===
Meanwhile I dealt with a couple of horses in distress. Had to melt [with bare hands] some icicles off the eyelashes of the big one. He was in a lather – literally thrashing on the ground, then getting up to buck and rear. ??? Cuz part of the ice was dangling and whapping him in the eyeball! Uff Tah, that’s gotta hurt! I solved that for him, praying the maniac would hold still for a minute! Then he and his mate calmed down to eat. Got them dried and strapped her skinny old self into a coat. The whole time, wind coming from TWO directions and lot of snow content yet. They COULD have stayed in the 3-sided shed, y’know. {we’re gettin’ too old for this!!}
End result: We have lower hill and barnyard area cleared enough and melting, albeit slowly. The top very steep part of driveway is still in original condition with LOTS of inches. Snow levels ARE sinking down, compressing as the sunshine works on that area. The car is stuck up here by house until ….spring. LOL We were HAVING “spring” until this odd storm erupted. But it’s melting and we’ll be able to get DOWN the hill soon. ….not sure when we’ll be able to climb the car or truck back UP to house tho.OldMtWoman …second “third” of storm report??
-
Yeah…it did it. Wait for the less exciting third “third ” tomorrow. LOL Update: we have gotten the car down and UP but the melting deeeep snow got ‘greasy’ underneath. DH got stuck trying to position to go down….on flat ground! He finally shoveled near the house where sun hits longer and that melted well today. Yes, even now we’re struggling to get back to near normal. At this altitude, we’re not even NEAR the end of snow season. Augh!
OldMtWoman …stay safe folks, esp in the flooded zones!!!
-
I hear ya OldMTWoman. Never give up! If you published a book, I’d buy it.
snow banks are still so high here I don’t see out the front windows. Way high but starting to melt a little bit. Some flooding nearby and I heard about some other roofs had collapsed. Arrgh. Its so slick outside the front door that I fell after putting ice melt down. On Sunday I heard that three other people (at least) had fallen down too.
I’ve been working on receiving words in morse code. Its harder to receive than send. Also have been reading and organizing.
Little sister- You aren’t the only one with stacks of paper to go through. Sometimes I wonder how many million bits of objects I have in this house. A lot would be bits of paper. So I started notebooks to keep from losing notes on different categories. Computers generate paper.
-
Greetings, All
I appreciate the people on this site very much. I asked a question on another closed site and the people could not even understand the question. I never did get an answer. The people on this site pay attention. Prep Club Members ask the questioner for more information so help can be offered; plus, you all don’t judge – just offer alternatives for you to think about.
Thank you, everyone.
Little Sister: Best wishes with your “daughter” and her issues. It is wise to know when to help and when to not.
Sewing Thread: Thank you all for the information about thread, Columbia River. I had not really thought about it. I have some thread that is polyester over a core that just does not work in my machine; it unravels. I use it for hand sewing buttons and sewing marks. I have some cotton thread from my mother that is cotton; it is fragile and breaks. I did know that. She kept the spools in ancient Alka Seltzer Glass Tube-like jars in her sewing cabinet. I have them on a shelf. I will not use them; they are now a decoration with memories from my childhood.
Question! We may have trouble this Spring. We live on a relatively short hill, one-half mile from the county road. We are surrounded by our woods and neighbor’s fields. There is a lot of wildlife. This winter under the bird feeders, besides the normal birds, we have had: Turkey, Hawks, White-tail Deer, Rabbit, Opossum, Raccoon, and Skunk – two skunks. We smelled the skunk a couple times before we saw it under the feeder. Hubby scared it away and it went onto our porch where it was hanging out on the “welcome” mat in front of our back door. There were <u>TWO Skunks.</u> They were circling each other, one with its tail raised. If they do not care about our scent on our porch, I am concerned that they may be living underneath the porch or under the granary (neither of which we can close off), or in the shed. I have only seen one in the eight years we have been here, and that was in the summer. I have no experience with skunks. How do we avoid them?
We have not been to the grocery for two weeks. In fact, we have not left the property for two weeks. With the record deep snow from Feb., more snow, then rain turning to ice, then melting, then flooding basement and sheer ice on the drive, Hubby imposed a travel ban. No problems. The only thing we are running out of is potato chips. We were well prepared to handle being isolated for two weeks. I am very glad that we had electricity, plus satellite internet and phone connections, to keep us in touch with loved ones. Without that I would have been very unhappy and “antsy” not knowing what was happening in the world. That is an issue I don’t think we can surmount in a SHTF scenario.
There is still not much on our grocery list. I had better check the big freezer to see what needs to be cooked up, canned and put on shelves.
Scholarship: I was wrong about the source of the scholarship for my grandson. It is not a Ntl. Merit Scholarship, but from the school. Either way, I don’t think he understands how lucky he is.
Syrup Time: The Box Elder Trees have been tapped. I wish we had Sugar Maples, too. The sugar concentrate in Box Elder Trees is not as high, but when boiled down, it is just as tasty. A few trees are flowing. What other trees do you tap? I think someone mentioned Walnut, is that true? We have walnut trees.
Today, I am trying to coordinate my recipes. I probably copied thousands to my computer. I am trying to take what we consider our favorites and make sure I have added instructions for canning-if it can be canned. Then make an alias, Command L on a Mac, and put the alias in the canning folder; then I will print them, soon I hope. I am trying to make a list of the recipes we Can can and get them into a physical notebook for ease of use in the kitchen. Plus a list to organize the shelves, so when I send Hubby to find the jar, he will know where it is. This project will take many weeks.
Today is my first grandson’s 18<sup>th</sup> birthday. His brother’s 16<sup>th</sup> is two days later. Then their parent’s wedding anniversary, then birthdays for granddaughter, Hubby and daughter. In there somewhere is a wedding – out of town. This is an expensive month! I wonder if they would like some canned foods.
Spring is just around the corner…Breathe.
-
-
-
Birch has sap at 100 to one of syrup. It has a spearmint taste, great for cooking flavours not so good at pancakes or waffles. A brand called Boylan makes a birch beer soda if you want to try it.
If doing bulk birch use a reverse osmosis water treating system, keep the waste water to condense the drinkable water side is just that water lol faster than boiling off 100 l to get one. It also can’t be kept in partial state like maple which is a 25 to one ratio. Birch goes bad after 2 days turn whiteish with floaties.
The splyes (taps) get stain less ones you can reuse instead of plastic. Birch need to be over 12 inched diameter and can only be tapped 2 years then needs a rest or it can die. You can not tap any birch with a fungal infection, the sply holes are sources for contaminations. On plus side it can grow chaga or a strop mushroom for blade shaping, but it kills the tree.
-
Cinnamon Grammy. One other thought. It’s an ongoing expense, but a satellite phone would let you do brief call to or from a family member or anyone.
They are not cheap but if you have concerns about communication they can be priceless. You basically pay a monthly or annual fee and then when you go over your minutes (staring at 10 minutes a month – this is not your typical cell phone bill) you pay per minute – like $1.50 – $13 per minute.
They are not for those on a tight budget but I have family that are frequently a long way from cell phones or any type of civilization and have them and if you’ve been somewhere and needed one, then there is no price too high. Depends on what the circumstances are
-
Namelus. Thanks for that info.
We have birch but I think I’m not ready to be that self- reliant yet. There’s a limit to what I can do in a day and I’m pushing it right now. Even though the bone is pretty much healed, just dealing with exercises and the muscle pain and trying to find a comfortable place to sleep is sapping energy from me. And I’m not even at work 8 hours a day yet. I’m getting close to full time but I’m tired out.
Maybe next year Cinnamon Grammy and I can put it on our long term prepping plans. 🙂
-
Mama Cando – You’re welcome! Sorry my answer was so L-o-o-o-ng though, lol.
Cinnamon Grammy – Here’s a great list from SoulyRested dot com of 22 types of trees that can be tapped to make syrup: ‘Maple Varieties – Sugar maple – This is the holy grail of maples because its sap is more concentrated than any other maple, meaning you can make more syrup with less sap. Black maple – These rival sugar maples in sap volume and they even resemble them as well. Red maple – While they also produce high yields of sap, rep maples bud the earliest of the other maples in the spring, so their tapping season is shorter. I’m told their sap produces a yummy, slightly tart syrup. Silver maple – While these trees produce spring buds very early, therefore have a rather short tapping season, they make fine syrup. Corey Kanable, of Wisconsin, makes his syrup from a mixture of sugar and silver maple sap every year. Scott Cherek is also in Wisconsin and taps solely silver maples. Norway maple These maples don’t make syrup as sweet as sugar maples, but Roland Jordan, in Rhode Island, taps 30 Norway maples every year and says his syrup has “a nice buttery flavor.” Gorosoe – The gorosoe is the most popular tapping tree in Korea, where its name means “the tree that is good for the bones.” But the sap is enjoyed as a refreshing, healthy drink, not boiled down for syrup. Boxelder – This very hardy tree frequently grows in abandoned areas, along railroad tracks, and in ditches, this may be a sugarmaking tree that you can easily find in the wild and forage sap from. But boxelders may yield only half the syrup of typical sugar maples. Bigleaf maple – Native Americans have tapped these trees for centuries, but current-day sugarmakers tend to not even know about this powerhorse. A group of sugarmakers on Vancouver Island are changing this. Pamela Williams says that bigleaf maples can rival sugar maples in not only sugar content, but also production. Pamela has learned to watch the barometer more than the thermometer to know when to tap. She explains, “Bigleaf sap runs happen after extreme weather events. Barometric swings between the atmosphere and the tree produce sap runs as good as, if not better than, a reliable freeze-and-thaw cycle,” which is important when Vancouver experiences a mild winter. Canyon maple/big tooth maple – These trees are popular in the Rocky Mountain states and Texas. While their sap has high sugar content, their volume isn’t so great. Rocky Mountain maple The Plateau Native Americans made syrup from these trees, found in western North America. WALNUT varieties – Butternut/white walnut – The butternut aligns closely with the sugar maple for sugar content and volume of sap. Black walnut – The black walnut tree is a valuable timber species, as well as a good source for sap, with a long tapping season. I hear it is a truly delicious syrup, with a nutty undertone. Chrystal Smallwood, in northeast Pennsylvania, makes black walnut syrup. She says it’s a rich, dark color and has a unique flavor, which is just a little bitter. Dalton Westerbeck, a backyard sugarmaker in Cinncinnati, says that black walnut syrup is by far his favorite of any variety he’s made or tasted. Although he says it’s not as sweet as maple syrup, it’s “definitely sweet enough.” In addition, Dalton finds the sap-to-syrup ratio is pretty comparative to maple, about 40-50 gallons of sap to 1 gallon of syrup. Even so, many feel black walnuts are more valuable for lumber than syrup, since their wood earns quite a nice penny. In addition, selling them for lumber means you can rid your property of the huge mess that they cause, dropping tons of nuts that turn to black mush. I have heard that people actually harvest their nuts, but I truly have no idea how anyone can get past the extremely messy, staining black layer between the outer shell and the inner nut. Heartnut – While heartnuts have a good concentration of sugar in their sap, they produce much less sap than maples. English walnut These trees produce the walnuts we purchase from the grocery store. They can be tapped, but they need especially cold winter and spring temperatures to be tapped successfully. BIRCH varieties – Paper birch – While the paper birch requires a lot more boiling time than maples, since it has a very low sugar content (less than 1%), it is the sweetest of the birch trees. Yellow birch – This birch tree sap has a higher mineral composition and a higher number of antioxidants than sugar maples’ sap, but a lower sugar content. Black birch – While black birch, native to eastern North America, is most most commonly used to make birch beer, it can be tapped for syrup too. River birch – This birch grows in the southeastern United States and in the Northeast, and it can be successfully tapped. Gray birch – While this is more of a shrub than a tree, the gray birch can be tapped if it grows large enough. European white birch – While this tree is grown as an ornamental in United States, European white birch can be tapped for syrup. But I do feel like I should add here that I’ve been told by a gentleman who did actually make white birch syrup that he would never do it again; he personally found the taste “unappealing,” to say it nicely. Still, it has a very nice redeeming quality, if you want to use birch syrup for cooking, I’ve heard it makes a wonderful substitute for vanilla. OTHER varieties – Sycamore – While the sycamore tree has a lower sugar content than sugar maple, it produces a syrup that some describe as having a touch of butterscotch flavor. Others have told me it has undertones of a honey-like taste. Yet someone else says “like caramel.” Any of those options sound wonderful to me. Of course most people have never heard of tapping Sycamore, so there is a wealth of delicious sycamore sap around the country just waiting to be tapped into. Because of it’s lower sugar content, as well as it’s uniqueness, sugarmakers could charge a pretty penny for the syrup. That of course does come after much hard work. Paul Hovan, a sugarmaker in VT, explains that you are lucky to have 1% sugar content with sycamore, so it takes 100 gallons of sap to make a gallon of syrup and a vacuum system is a must, in his opinion. He describes his sycamore syrup as having a “molasses” flavor, but explains that boiling down even farther than he typically does offers the delicious butterscotch flavor I’ve heard about. American hophornbeam – These trees, also called hardhack or ironwood (although I’m told “ironwood” can refer to other trees as well), produce a sap later in the spring, and their sugar content and volume are greatly reduced compared to birch trees, not alone maples.’
-
Amy Dixon, Nah it wasn’t long. Great information I needed My posts tend to be books til I start editing them, LOL.
Well went to the market today (organic, Non-GMO) and scored. They had the bone broth I buy on sale, Since it’s just the two of us and I haven’t had the nerve(yet) to get out the honking pressure canner and do my own, the small containers are enough. It comes frozen and has a pretty good “shelf” life. I just added to the “pantry” this week. Store I usually go to is having a BOGO on TP and Paper towel this Friday, I will be heading there to stock up (plus I have COUPONS YEAH!!)
DH, bless his pointed head, bought me a 20.5 qt pressure canner (IT WAS ON SALE). I had asked for the American 10.5 qt one for Christmas since it is just the two of us and I could use it on my flat top stove. I’ve had to go out and get a propane camp stove to use it because I can’t use it on the flat top. I’ve been a bit scared to use it. But that may not be a problem soon, the old stove is on it’s last legs and DH is talking getting a gas stove this time, we have the hook up but changed to electric because that is what we had when we moved in here 18 years ago. Other than that it’s been fairly slow around here.
-
-
-
Cinnamon Grammy. Thank you. Though it is my step granddaughter but we raised her the first 12 years of her life. I hate that she is having to deal with my X-husband’s daughter whom is trying to interfere in her stepfather’s affairs. It’s a bad situation. So my step granddaughter is here to put her mother in her place. I can feel for her step-grandfather as I went through that mess with my husband’s daughter also. She had to be put in her place then as well. It was at the time my husband had a stroke and she tried to take over his care right down to telling me she was going to have a ramp put on my house. So I just told her that unless she was paying for it, it better not happen. I got cussed out from one end to the other, but I won. Funeral is tomorrow, so my granddaughter will walk away from her mother and her uncle when it is over with. It is ashame that mother and daughter can’t get along but in this case the daughter is right. This is the part I really don’t want to get into on a forum. It is that bad.
On a better note. Both my step granddaughter and her new husband came over this afternoon. First time we got to meet her husband. He is really nice. They make a cute couple. Sad part is they live 3000 miles away from us in CA. That is a trip we were unable to make for the wedding. We really had a great time looking at old pictures of her when she was little. And she as been doing the ancestry thing on her grandfather and we pulled out some very old pictures of hubby’s family. It was fun to match up what she found out on ancestry.com with the pictures we had. It went back about 4 generations so far. She’s going to do my family as well if it can be done as my father was adopted and the home he was adopted from has sealed the papers. But she found out that because he has been gone from here now 44 years that they should be able to open them now. Though may have to get a death cert. Not sure on that, but it would be fun to know about him.
So only thing I got done today was to repair a jacket for my husband and do a little cleaning. Hoping tomorrow I can start getting things going again. Though grandson comes over a lot now that he is working just up the street. He said he wants to start going to church with us again. I was glad to hear that.
-
Coumbia River – Aw shucks <grin> thank you, but I was just passing along information I found through Michelle Visser’s website: SoulyRested dot com. There’s a lot of great free info. available there about making your own Maple Syrup and related food items. If you sign up for her free e-newsletter, she will send you a password so you can access all her helpful articles 🙂
-
-
Thanks, Woodsrunner…..but I think I’ll have to give up. I just tried to post the final ‘third’ of the Storm Saga…..and yes it did …bounced me back to page one and did not post here. It’s not that long.
AmyD….you copy/pasted that very long piece on sap trees. [thank you much, btw. I copied it for future reference. I hadn’t heard of all of those. ] But did you have any trouble posting????
Cinnamon Grammy…..self-reliant for 2 wks…good for you! Tricky weather this winter. ….skunk always makes me remember why I had to get rabies shots in childhood. 28 in the stomach! But skunk bit cat and cat scratched/bit us. I consider them dangerous enough to SHOOT! But not while they’re near the house.
We’re now getting in and out…down and up. Still a lot of snow but so much has melted. So thankful that the frost came out of the ground VERY early this year…. it’s melting in; not running downhill to make ice. I’m mostly resting to recover. Get up and do things in spurts and then back down to computer or reading. It works.
OldMtWoman G’nite all ….{will this post or bounce???}
-
Greetings, All
Amy Dixon, what a list! Thank you all for the ideas of which other trees to tap! We tap Box Elder and Silver Maple. We have no birch at all, but there are some large walnuts. I am working on Hubby to add a few spiles there. The Walnut trees are on a hillside with a thorny underbrush of wild currant and black raspberries. We can never beat the squirrels to the nuts. It would be better to clear an area with just a low groundcover of grasses so we can actually find the nuts before the squirrels.
Thank you for the idea, Namelus: I have no idea how to do reverse osmosis, but always willing to learn. We use metal spiles and plastic “IV” tubes (purchased for this purpose) which run from the spiles into a vinegar bottle (which hangs from the spiles) and this system keeps the sap clean. All items are washed and bleached first. He only installs about six spiles, and from those mature trees he can make enough syrup to last a year for the two of us. It does take a lot of boiling down, but, that is easy outside on our Camp Chef propane stove.
It sounds as if we need to get 100 birch trees if we want birch sap. I want to get birch trees for other herbal reasons, too, and it would be great to get sugar maples and other nut trees. I want to make this a homesteader and permaculture oasis. He keeps saying that we will not benefit because of our age. I keep telling him that it is for the future. Plan ahead. Perhaps one of the grandchildren will inherit the place.
Little Sister: I am sure that your step-granddaughter appreciates you just being there for her. Sometimes it is just the presence of a loving and understanding person, who does not judge and who is not too nosey, that creates a safe place. Asking, “How are YOU,” and leaving it at that.
I am glad you are seeing your grandson. The connections are priceless.
18<sup>th</sup> Birthday: We were able to leave the house and safely drive down the hill to get to the big city for the birthday. Drive was a bit slippery still. We met at an Old Country Buffet. Since we got there first, I asked for balloons for the birthday boy and we put the children’s coloring placemats on the table with crayons. The teenagers, all four, enjoyed playing with the balloons.
I took a picture with my three grandsons standing in the same positions they did 10 years ago in another picture. All you can see is my head. Funny. The little ones grow up and we are proud of them.
The 18-year-old may have a job at a camp that is about 12 miles from us. He asked if he could spend time with us on his random ½ days or overnights when he is off. Bear in mind that his family is only 40 minutes from the camp. I was impressed that he asked, because he knows that he is welcome at any time for any reason for any length of time. Whenever I see him, I just get this loving smile and a huge hug that lasts until someone else demands our attention.
The three brothers, all appreciate my husband, their step-grandpa, and he gets great hugs, too. He has been around since before they were born so they are close. Last night we sat across the table from my Ex-husband. The two “husbands” are good friends and they talk to each other and help each other quite a bit. Family is what you make it. We are fortunate to have put our problems behind us and have a solid family unit. Next weekend we are going to a wedding that is three hours away and all staying in a rental house together. It is his niece, our God-daughter, the ex’s and mine, that is getting married. I am lucky to still be accepted as a member of his family. Very blessed.
Oh, a dear family friend brought some Alpaca wool from Peru. It is beautiful. Before I realized why she had it, I asked her what I could make for her. It turns out she brought it for me! Still, I will make her a lovely lacey scarf and a cap. (She should have married my son, but he died before they were engaged. I consider her my D-I-L.) Yesterday, my Ex asked her to the lake for Memorial Weekend. Yup, she should have been family. She IS family; family of the heart if not legally.
Columbia River: I have heard of satellite phones. Sounds expensive to use, but worth it if they were needed. At the moment we are 40 and 60 minutes away from family. Both families know to come here if there was a real problem. It would be the not knowing how they are doing that would drive me nuts.
The other option would be ham radio. The problem there is if there is an EMP of any kind, our radio, antenna, and the local repeater would be down. Communication is one of the issues I am concerned about, only because we do not live near the family. (And as the mother/grandmother, I am the caretaker and I worry.) It would take three days of walking to get here if SHTF.
OldMtWoman: Never give up. Write your story out, and perhaps you will find a way link it with Daisy’s help.
I’m glad I don’t live on your hillside. We noticed that in the cities they were pretty much free of snow. I felt out of place wearing my snowboots while my daughter is wearing fancy leather dress boots. Ha ha. We still have snow, and a lot of melt water, but you take the cake after that snowy bomb. Hopefully you can see out of your windows soon.
Time to do some shopping. Grocery and pharmacy. Hubby did use his reserved pills this past week. I wish he would save back a few more than a week’s worth. (Perhaps I will need to be sneaky.) Then perhaps I can get in a quick trip to JoAnn Fabrics and find some flannel so his new pajamas can have sleeves.
It is SPRING! Rejoice. It was an interesting winter; hopefully, the rest of the year will be not quite as much. It will be mild. Summer will be normal. Crops will flourish. Just the right amount of water…Positive thinking.
Later, Folks.
-
Cinnamon Grammy – You’re welcome 🙂
OldMt Woman – The first time I clicked on the “Submit” box, it didn’t post. So I waited about 10 seconds and clicked the “Submit” box again, and then long post went through properly. I scrolled up the webpage to make sure I saw the post in the proper place in the forum before I left that webpage.
-
Slow and lazy start to the week. Aldi had small sewing kits so I picked one up. There were a few varieties of them; eg travel, haberdashery ect.
Weather wise we have had rain for the past 3 days. Cant complain because we need it. Rainy season begins in May and thats when the storms pick up. Though you really never know, as things have been kinda crazy
Shout out to Hieronyma textor and Xant dewit. Havent seen you in a bit and I hope that all is well
-
Haven’t been able to get things I need to do done as grandchildren have been in and out all week. Youngest grandson was here for most of the day and just left about a half hour ago. Oldest grandson was here for his real grandmother’s funeral. He flew in from Texas and will be here till Friday. My granddaughter from CA will be here another week. So with kids in and out at all different times I have had to put everything on hold. But I have enjoyed their company. Though for the two step grandchildren I wish it was under better conditions. The funeral was this morning so that is now behind them and they can go through the healing process and move on. Though I am really tired now. Haven’t had so many grandchildren coming and going since they were little. So this has been my whole past couple of weeks. Nothing done that needed to be done.
My youngest grandson will be coming over when the weather warms up and if it ever stops raining to help me wash windows. He is going to wash and clean out car for me as well. Then he is going to be helping with the garden and getting it ready for planting. He is the one that is always wanting to help me and his granddad with stuff around here. I guess because he is the youngest of the five and the rest have either moved away or really busy with work and school.
So I have giving up on getting the things I need to do for now till things calm down a bit. Grandchildren are fun but now they just want to sit around and talk so it is hard to do things and just sit and talk. But it has been fun hearing all the things they have been upto. Granddaughter and her new husband that’s from CA have been talking about buying or building a house. They are having trouble deciding where they want to move as their jobs won’t be a problem for them as she works from home mostly and he goes to work but can also work from home. My grandson from Texas is in military and is stationed there. We just don’t know for how much longer yet. My granddaughter that lives in Maryland has been in Missouri, on a dog training class. She trains dogs and teaches how to train police dogs and service dogs. I am thinking that is why my youngest grandson sticks so close to us. One sister is out of state and the one that is still here works 3 jobs and college as well. So he feels a bit left out of things. But that will change for him after he graduates high school next June. Though he is working now. So that helps.
So that is the story of my life right now. Just need some much needed energy right now.
-
Mama cando – If you have any trouble using your new pressure canned on the propane campstove, or if you just decide you want to be able to do pressure canning indoors, you could do what I did and get a Broil King Hi-Power Professional single burner electric Hot Plate (the model I got several years ago was # CSR-3TB). The bottom of my All American Model 921 pressure canner overlaps the burner a little bit but it still works well on it. That particular burner is very sturdily built and supports the weight of the loaded canner. Also, it will maintain a steady temperature, which is very important for pressure canning. I believe it is still available on Amazon but you can sometimes find it for a lower price from online restaurant supply companies.
-
I’ve made maple syrup but not to any great extent. If you do it in your house you can get the walls etc. pretty sticky if you do a lot. You need a sugar shack so you can do it there.
about the skunks- it would be good to have some hydrogen peroxide and baking soda on hand in case of spraying. If you mix it with a little dish soap it really makes an antidote for the smell but don’t try to bottle it for later because it can blow up.
I love black walnuts and have picked to nutmeat out of the HARD shells. The walnuts are also good for boiling traps in. I shared some of mine with a trapper. We don’t have the trees here. Its probably too cold but someone gave me some.
Ham radio is excellent for communication and can be used with solar panels. The trick is to use the right antenna setup. People from your club would surely be willing to help you with that.
Cinn Grammy- how are you coming along with your Morse code? I’ve been doing word training. I’m told that you will start getting syllables, then words instead of just letters and it can happen suddenly. I’m just starting to get the syllables. I was just too tired to do it for a while when I had to remove a LOT of snow, but finally its melting. Yesterday I went out and broke some ice up with a spud on the driveway. It was about four inches thick. Still can’t see out the front windows but banks are going down.
-
-
Yeah, Corsaire…where are Hieronyma, Loving Life, Xant, and a lot more? 🙁
As is usual in high mountains, we’re losing snow quickly. Powerful sunshine up here. Then powerfully COLD when the sun sets. Still snow in half of the parking/turn around area.
Whew…I canNOT get my energy back up. Still waiting. Glad for DH to keep things going. Frantic activity necessary during/post MEGA storm is calming down. Usual things like laundry are getting done again. We’re eating soup/sandwich/pasta a lot tho. Still keeping that simple.
Remember the idea for stacking cans in pantry so they rotate oldest forward? Take a box and lay it down. Make a hole in top – back of box to ‘load’ the cans…..the newest can is in the back of the box and rolls forward as cans are used from the hole in the front of the box. Since I’m terribly space-deprived in this little house, I tried the idea of using Kleenex boxes for regular small soup cans. CONCLUSIONS: They are NOT sturdy enough. Plus the box I had underneath for Progresso type soup cans….came apart and suddenly I had cans rolling all over and down over the edge of free-standing shelving units and …… 20 minutes later, with flashlite and odd body contortions in that tight corner, I was able to retrieve them all. Some had fallen to the lower shelf where I keep vinegars, and other bottled liquid condiments. As soup cans crashed, I would cringe but no glass shattered. Tossed out the Kleenex box but will duct tape to reinforce the other box. Still a good idea but….needs some work.
OldMtWoman …G’nite all
-
-
Amy Dixon, Thanks again for the info, will have to check that hot plate out. It may not be an issue(but good for future) because DH is a bit upset at the stove/oven right now. We’re ‘limping’ along with it because we also have to replace the hot water heater. We’ve been maintaining it AND, mark your calendars, DH said I (me) was right, LOL, Heater IS the original in the house, it’s 30+ years old and not heating so well. Even though the plumber (neighbor) we had in said we do a great job of maintaining things, it’s just wearing out. SO I’m taking bets on which one goes out first LOL.We’ve got the first of the appts with some of the people we saw at the home show Friday. Since the heater is at one end of the house (42 and 46 ft ft from kitchen/laundry room respectively), we are also looking at adding either a re-circulating pump to it or installing a small (20-25 gal) tank at the kitchen end of the house to boost the hot water to that end of the house. In the 18 years we’ve been here we haven’t run out of hot water till this Christmas. We actually ran out of hot water Christmas morning, Son1 had to take cold shower in the morning, woke him up pretty good though, LOL. It took quite awhile to heat the water too Neighbor (we trust him) also told us they don’t make the parts anymore so we just can’t “fix” it. Wish manufacturers would go back to making good products not the “throw away” junk they make now.
-
Mama cando – You’re welcome!
Today I watched a couple more of the free videos in the online 2019 Home Grown Food Summit. I saw the ones about cooking in a Rocket Oven, and making 1-Hour Mozzarella. I hadn’t seen a rocket oven in action before. Maybe I’ll try to make one of those too – someday, lol. Also, the Mozzarella-making video was interesting because the presenter started by adding Mesophilic culture to 1 quart of warmed, fresh whole milk and letting it culture first for 30 minutes in a jar on the countertop and then overnight in a refrigerator. The following day, she added that 1 quart of cultured milk to 3 quarts of non-cultured, fresh whole milk, and then carried on with the rest of the Mozzarella-making process. She explained that starting with “pre-acidified” milk (which is how she referred to the quart of cultured milk) helped the resulting curds stretch more easily. She certainly seemed to get a great stretch from her curds – far better than I’ve been able to achieve using other methods! She also explained how to gently form the heated, stretched curds into balls that retain enough moisture to stay “tender”. It’s always fun to learn a new, better way of doing something 🙂
-
Namelus, that can holder looks great. If I could get hubby to help me build one. it could solve some of my issues with can goods.
Amy Dixon I too like the idea of that hot plate. I want to get another pressure cooker so I can keep 2 at a time going but I have to measure from top to bottom to make sure it fits under the hood of stove. Not a lot of clearance there. The hop plate would solve that problem and I could get a bigger pressure cooker.
Well no grandchildren today as they are off visiting and granddaughter is showing her husband around VA. He has never been to VA before. So she has taken him on a tour today. Though my youngest grandson came in for a couple hours after work as he just works at the corner from us.
So I was able to get a few things done today. Started off at Church this morning for the food ministry. We give out food to the needy every third thursday. After we got home, I fixed hubby something to eat and then I got busy with oven canning the flour I had been trying to get done the past 2 weeks. So now that is out of way.
It has been so rainy and today the wind blowing like crazy. So still can’t get to the windows to wash them yet. Planning the garden and trying to figure out where to put the green house. It is just a small one to start seeds in till time to transfer them to the garden. Was thinking about my clothes line. I know the lines do wear out and have had to replace them a couple of times. So I am putting clothes line on my list of things I need so I will have the extra line if I need to replace what is there now.
Made pepper steak for dinner tonight as hubby loves it. Had everything I needed already, so that was good. But when I went in freezer this morning to pull out round steak for it. I did notice it was the last one. So have to wait for it to go on sale again.
Mama Cando. Hope all goes well with getting your new hot water tank. Seems when you own your home it is always something that needs fixing. We just replaced air conditioner almost a month ago.
-
Bought a case of organic cauliflower on sale – 1/2 price. Will make a bunch of my cauliflower queso this weekend and freeze it in ice cube trays. It does well in the freezer. Will need to pick up more carrots tomorrow and I think I have enough of everything else.
Found a 1992 Mother Earth News with several harvest articles and a great article on huckleberries. They grow in the mountains around here and are quite popular.I learned a few tricks.
I’ve also been reading Living Terrors. Kind of makes me want to grab all my family and hide, but life doesn’t work that way.
The snow is rapidly disappearing so we’re dealing with “mud season” up here. Glad for the end of snow and cold weather- it was like someone threw a switch.
Doing my exercises in hopes of having good arm mobility again some day.
Little Sister- all those “things” you’re not getting done are only things – enjoy whatever family you can get. Very rarely do families all stay in the same place. So it’s really nice when you can be together. I’m not getting things done like I want either. Tiny cabin, two good sized dogs for a year (the “small horse” and her parent have left on another journey) and a shattered shoulder have certainly cramped my energy, but I feel a burst of wanting to do things. Not enough energy yet for everything but I’m getting there. My shoulder is healing and the sun is shining. There is hope!
The calendar says it is day two of spring. Enjoy whatever version of spring you have. And enjoy the birds.
-
Ain’t that the truth little sister!! If it isn’t one thing ,it’s another. AH the joys of home ownership LOL. On a happier note, my niece posted an update on my grand nephew. He was born with a genetic disease Osteoporosis. He had to have a bone marrow transplant at 7 months and is coming along as well as can be. He is sitting up on his own and scooting around on his butt and talking. She is in Boston with him for his transplant check up and will be seeing an ophthalmologist tomorrow. It seems the transplant maybe helping him see more than shadows. Bright light really bothers him now and niece is getting something to help him learn to put weight on his feet and legs.He spent almost a year flat on his back so he’s a bit behind physically with walking etc but his doctors are pleased that he is progressing a little faster than they thought he would.
-
Like you Columbia River, I’m WANTING to go and do…..but still not producing any sustainable energy. Tonite tho….felt just a little bit like ….normal? Hope so cuz have family visiting this weekend that I haven’t seen in decades. If they can get thru the Midwest flooding. That. Is. SOOOO bad! Buy your grain/flour/legumes now. Too much of our nation’s bread basket is under water BEFORE the snowmelt season begins. They’re losing a lot of grain as the round bins are shoved with the floodwaters. I re-tarred the bottom edge [where the metal meets the cement platform] of those bins on our farm every spring. Cuz they’ll leak and cause rot if you don’t. High winds or flood waters can case same motion to crack the seal….
I did an experiment with re-using my N95 masks. UNDERSTAND….you’d NEVER do this if you used masks to keep out bacteria/virus from disease. But for me, I’m too sensitive to particulate matter in bronchial tubes. So I’ve used these for our area’s persistent DUST. [sometimes wildfire smoke] Well these N95’s have the exhalation valves…..or I nearly black out trying to get enough air while I’m working and moving. Means they cost more $$…..so if I can wash them clean of dust …enough to use again I save! Well, it worked really well. They’re cup shaped and dried just fine. I’ll do same with at least two others and save $$. Right now….nary a dust mote floating out there with all this melting snow and soggy ground. 😀 Suits me fine.
OldMtWoman G’nite all
-
Mama Cando you might want to look at a instant hotater heater they are way more efficient than a tank. We use a brand called takagi they are expensive but over time they save on fuel just make sure water to them.is not hard as it messes with heating elements.
If you do have hard water getting a filter helps but ask as there is a cheap version and a more expensive the more expensive uses way less salt and pays for itself.
Also before the water intake to heater make a van der waal feild with magnets it increases the absorbtion of water and keeps any particulate suspended. You make them by buying 4 neomolydium magnets about half the size of a pencil a ranging the so all the poles align so all north on way all south another it means they all push apart. Then at the 4 compass points touching the inlet pipe tape them on using duct tape. These magnets will not last forever as condensation will erode them but will last for a decade.
-
namelus, thank you for the information. Will have to check that out. We fortunately do not have hard water but that could change in the future. The filter is that what they euphemistically call a water softener?. The Van Der Waal field sounds interesting.I’ll have to do some reading up on it. Thanks again.
-
-
Greetings, All
Amy Dixon: You will enjoy your new water heater. We got a new one in January and are really happy with it. We knew the replacement was coming soon, but the stove died first. Luck of the draw. The suggestion is to replace water heaters after only ten years (by the industry, of course) so you have been lucky. We too, have (had) cold water by the time it gets to our sink. Good thought there, let us know how it works out. We did not think about a booster of some kind. We cannot use an in-line heater because of the high calcium in the water. A heater around the piping might work. A water softener is out of the question while we live in the country. Too much salt added to the soil.
A note about placing the water heater – make sure it is up on blocks in case the basement floods!
Little Sister: First, celebrate and enjoy family while you can. I agree with Columbia River, the rest is just…things.
Consider this, instead of another electric burner for inside, get a camping stove for outside. You will be able to use it <span style=”text-decoration: line-through;”>when</span>, sorry, IF you lose electricity. A Camp Chef two-burner stove is about $100. It is portable and the burners are HOT. (Love pepper steak. I want to can it. Don’t know if possible, but I want to.)
Columbia River: Cauliflower queso. Vegan, right? Freezer? Sounds good!
Mama Cando: Are you sure it is Osteoporosis, and not Osteogenesis? Osteoporosis would be unusual for a baby. Whatever the real name is, Best wishes to them because it will be a challenge. Positive thoughts and patience for them.
Old Mt. Woman: Which N95 mask do you have?
Namelus: I will need to look up your Van der Waal Field. We have very hard water, so anything that removes the calcium is appreciated.
Woodsrunner: I have not been as active with Morse lately. Shame on me. I agree with you. Learn the small words and letter combinations. It will make it easier learning in context. I think our club presidents wants to try some Morse at Field Day in June.
I am canning the mushroom soup that I made two days ago. We had a small bowl along with a hamburger fried in butter and Worcestershire sauce. Tasty combination. I decided to put the mushroom “soup” in pint jars, because it is not a full meal. Plus, in a pint jar, I can use it for sauces in dishes or over meat in gravy. Cool. Plus, by adding a pint jar of dry beans to fill out the canner, I gradually build up that stock, too. Oops, I put 1 cup in the pint jars. It should have been ½ pint. Hmmm. Squashed beans.
I got the needed fabric so I can finish Hubby’s pajamas by adding the sleeves. I was being good and not looking around JoAnn’s; just the flannel and go. He facetiously said, “Don’t you need more yarn?” Then the clerk said, we have “Homespun on sale.” Uh, oh. That is what I need for a blanket for my niece – she chose it. I have been making them blankets when they announce their pregnancies; not a small one for the baby, but large ones for them to cuddle with baby. So, I got four skeins. I will need more, of course. No announcement yet, so I have time.
We have been so busy with family events that not much has been getting done here. Hubby has started to boil the box elder sap.
Sleight of hand. Last night we went out for dinner for second grandson’s 16<sup>th</sup> birthday. Afterwards, the entire family went to a well-known theater to see a play – it was our Christmas present. I noticed that when Grandson 2 handed out the tickets, he was noting the seat numbers. He gave Hubby #11, me #10, slid #9 to the bottom of the stack, and proceeded to hand out the rest. So, he CHOSE to sit next to me; big strong high school student loves his Grammy. A couple times during the play he put his head on my shoulder. Not an easy feat since he is a foot taller. Fun. Daughter suggested that we do this every year. After all we don’t really need things anymore at our age. Time with family is more important. Nice evening.
When the canner is done, I am off to find something to wear to next week’s wedding that still fits. Then, finish the PJs.
Don’t get stuck in the mud. Enjoy the mild weather.
Thank you, All.
-
Cinnamon Granny Sorry it’s Osteopetrosis (I think I spelled it right this time). His bone marrow was turning into bone and not producing the blood cells he needed, his bones were becoming brittle and he wasn’t getting the nutrition even though he was breast feeding really good. We all want to thank the donor for their generosity. Niece found out the match was 100%. The doctors were hoping for at least 95-98% match when the call went out for donors. I went to my doctor to get tested but I have Systemic Lupus, so they couldn’t use my marrow or my blood for that matter.
-
-
15th: Worked on cleaning up the flower beds and front lawn. I’m making a plan for a rain barrel out front, as well as a bee friendly plants and edibles as well.
16th: Worked on my daily chores and decluttering the junk rooms. Bought some more bulk food.
17th: meal planned for the week. Talked to several people at church about places hiring in our area.
18th: updated the DH resume as well as my own. Cleaned up the weeds from my backyard.
19th: went through the junk room some more and started an inventory list.
20th: spend the day working on my spiritual preps.
21st: Gave the car an oil change and a tune up. Had a meeting with the local CERT commander and went through the teams supplies. Continued on my inventory list. Sent in resumes to prospective jobs.
-
Mama Cando, Hope and pray your grandson continues to improve each day. Glad the bone marrow implant is working.
Things have been quiet today. Granddaughter and her husband hasn’t come over today but will be over either tomorrow or Sunday. They want us to all go out to dinner with them before going back to CA. Since he has never seen VA before, she is giving him a tour of some of the places around here. So I have been trying to do some Bible study. I guess as prepperfan3 put it. Working on my spiritual prepping.
Later this afternoon, hubby surprised me. He never wants to go anywhere much anymore. Used to go to the store with me all the time. But his walking has slowed him down so much. So he told me he wanted to go to Kroger store. I was surprised and wasn’t going to pass up his wanting to get out of the house. Didn’t buy much, but did pick up a few sale items. They had Smithfield bacon on sale for 2.99 a lb. It is usually about 6.99 a lb. So got 4 packs of it. The grandkids love bacon. We walked around that store for about 2 hours for hubby to get his walk in today as it was so windy and cooler. I don’t take him out on the colder days. Going to start him doing leg lifts. He hasn’t done them since he had the stoke and they had him do them for strength in legs. So he gets to start doing that along with walking as I can get him out of house. I really think he will start to feel better as he gets stronger again.
Well now off to Bible reading again. Had to stop for hubby’s outing and then supper and dishes to clean up. Take care all. Later
-
Hi, Ya’ll
A couple of things mentioned on the Forums have me thinking about Meat and Flour. I read what Namelus was saying about how animals are slaughtered. That coupled with sticker shock when I shopped for meat this week, made me think some more about limiting meat in my diet. I live in a rural area and I think if I just made the effort I probably could identify some sources for grain fed, antibiotic free pork, beef and chickens.
Secondly, the severe flooding in America’s bread basket is surely going to affect flour and other grain prices in the not too distant future. I bake bread for a hobby to give away, so can go through a bit of flour in fairly short order. Thinking maybe to add quite a bit more to my stash. I store in 5 gallon cans with mylar bags and those oxygen thingies and so far have not experienced any problems. Anybody have thoughts about this?
My sweet GD who is graduating this May from a major brick and mortar university came home for part of her Spring break. This is a girl who has been raised in a very conservative home, church and community. It’s amazing how so many of her attitudes have been skewed left in just three short years. I feel fairly confident once she gets out of that liberal hot-bed and starts dealing with life as an adult, she’ll probably come back around to more conservative common sense, traditional reasoning. She’s not way off in a ditch at all, but it’s interesting to listen to her thinking….actually she’s “parroting” her liberal professors. And for this parents spend tens of thousands of dollars. So proud of her, of course, as she has worked hard to graduate early with a good major and she’s behaved honorably in her private life.
Can’t remember if I mentioned my “homesteading” granddaughter was so excited when she was paid with three laying hens for babysitting the other day. She has three laying hens now but her chicken coup is set up for six hens. More eggs for a big family.
Spring is here, my first raised bed is now ready for planting and the seeds I started indoors have done well so I have plants ready to hit the ground. Doing the square foot gardening method which I think will be the perfect set up for me and the space I have available.
Really tired for some reason so will close with a big thank you to everyone for providing me such interesting reading material. Look forward to checking in everyday. Digital hugs and smiles your way…
-
Mama Cando: Yeah. That durn spell-check.It goes for that it wants to say and the most common words. (I have not heard of this condition. I am not a medical person, just someone with a lot of biology and physiology classes.) Hope the transfusion does the trick.
There is a lot of lupus in my family. It is a beast of an illness. Take care of yourself.
-
Making progress on house. To the point it’s becoming a reality. Trying to talk DH into going to the big city this weekend to buy some stuff I want that they don’t carry in town. Some things you just need to get what you want and builder is getting close to needing them
thanks for the tip on grains. I will be adding those to our Azure order along with several other things we’ve gotten low on and I hadn’t wanted to place a big order to try to deal with in cabin. But we’re getting closer to being out of cabin so I’m going to do it while the getting is good – that’s what prepping is all about, right?
DH and I stopped at the house on the way home from town. We really didn’t want to leave. The view is the same and marvelous (Columbia River basin- we are up high and can see for several miles) but the house is so wonderful now I just want to be in it. Progress. Builder is almost done putting shelves up in pantry and if the door is open at the right time of day sunshine comes from window on opposite side of house and all the way to outside pantry wall. Don’t want to leave the door open like that normally but it’s just so great to see how light and open the house is. (Picture a little heart symbol here).
Anyway most of my prepping right now is tied to the house project – except of course my case full of cauliflower. And yes vegan and freezable I think I put a link to the recipe on the January forum late in the month
Grandsons who love grandparents will often take a word of judicious advice from them when they won’t listen to parents. That is a tough age. Glad he has someone solid to “lean on”. :). There was a time when Grandma and I had a much better relationship than Mom and I.
-
-
Thank you little sister It is much appreciated. We have been praying and we have quite a few friends praying as well.
Cinnamon Granny, Yeah it’s a beast alright. They discovered it when I was 5 months along with Son 2.He was born at 7mths as there was an antibody passing the placenta and was starting to affect him. He’s almost 40 now with two kids of his own.So I regularly give thanks that he is doing so well. As for the grand nephew, my niece was told it’s a rare disease and most doctors don’t catch it so most babies don’t make it past their first year.So she is very lucky her pediatrician was smart enough to send them to Children’s in Boston for massive testing.
-
Cinnamon Grammy…..I have various types of face masks/respirators. I can use just pleated surgical masks to cut down on dust when I’m out near the road in dry months. The cup-shaped one I washed is 3M #8511 Particulate Respirator N95….has an exhalation valve in front. [one way valve–you can blow out but valve closes as you breathe in.]
I sent this type of mask to folks I know sort-of near an erupting volcano…..but please note: They were not in the range of the gases. Only the particulate matter. Gas are a whole ‘nother ball game!!!! They would only need if the wind was just strong from a particular direction. All were sold out in their area tho.
Agreed, Muffy about the drowned breadbasket. Mentioned that too. I [hope] have cousins visiting from the far eastern reaches of MN and IA. They aren’t farm folks but I aim to pick their brains about the situation anyway. Friend’s son reporting that flooding in eastern IA [Mississippi River] might be as bad as 1965. Baaaad. But along with grains/legumes grown in that whole region, is the livestock. IA is hog and cattle country. Assume Neb is same. ….so, I HOPE cousins got thru the Interstates all right. Hopefully hear in the morning.
More snow here….tho not a lot. A passing fancy before WINTER gives over? ……. LOL. ‘Fraid not. For our altitude, winter isn’t completely gone until…June? But some years it’s gone much earlier. {shrug}
OldMtWoman G’nite all
-
Old Mt. Woman: Wow, You just reminded me of the flood of 1965 – in St. Paul. My parents had a small 40-seat diner near the river.
It was spring break and I was looking forward to doing nothing. However, my parents had me working 40+ hours that week to help feed the flood relief workers. Since this was a family owned restaurant, I worked long days, and with no pay but tips. I just did what needed to be done. It gets to be teamwork and you learn to anticipate. I had no idea what was going on, since I was only 15. I was shocked when I finally saw how the normally calm river had swollen.
I remember the principal of our small church school asking if anyone had helped with the flood relief. I did not want to stand up because the restaurant was a “job” and I was “not volunteering.” But, since I did not get paid, and working was not planned, my friends made me stand up.
I was safe and dry. The flood workers then, and now, are not. They put themselves on the line to help others.
Thank you to all of you who have helped and are helping. Best wishes to those of you caught in flooding situations. May you all be safe.
-
More practice with the dehydrator. Did a batch of red potatoes. About 1/4 didn’t get blanched long enough, so they’re a lovely gray. I’ll know better next time.
Got one raised bed planted with garlic and onion. Got the hoop greenhouse on the other getting ready to put in lettuce and broccoli.
Been working on a dress for my little niece. Trying to keep up with her, she might be growing out of it before it’s made! Scored a lovely treadle machine too, but I’m not using that for this project. More learning required before I try that.
Been working on getting stronger myself, so I won’t keel over after walking only 10 minutes. Warm weather helps to get me out and about.
Guess I’ve gotten more done than I thought.
-
Been cleaning out and reorganizing a closet I keep my can goods in. All that food my daughter put in grandson’s car to take to the dump. She has lost her mind. I have now finished going through and getting it all put away. It had been sitting on the spare bed for over a week. So got it all sorted out and that is now a done job. Won’t be having to buy any canned tomatoes for a long time. Between her store bought ones and mine that I canned, I am good for another year. That was a lot. I think she bought all this food when Farm Fresh was closing it’s doors. But you don’t buy it even if it is 20 cents a can or whatever if you are not going to use it. Now to get dehydrator set up in dining room as that is the only place I have for it right now. Going to get those frozen veggies done as I have been trying to get to it for over 3 weeks. But a little at a time and I will be there. Need to get this stuff out of way as I have some projects I want to start on. Fun stuff for a change.
Almost time to start the garden. Weather is cold today but is warming up more each day. So hubby is getting ready to see if our 30 year old tiller will start this year. Fingers crossed.
-
So true littlesister about purchasing things you arent going to eat. I think the same can be said for survival tools. Some may purchase a cool knife or ax. But if you dont have the knowledge or the skill to use them….Though I can just picture some Rambo type living in the city all decked out with pack with MOLLE webbing and stuff hanging off of it.Hmmm you sir are asking to be mugged/killed/arrested.
Speaking of gray man. Yesterday I was in a waiting room and everyone was looking at their phone. Heads down completely unaware of their surroundings.
So my finger with the hand has to be in a splint for 1 hour 4 times a day so preps have been limited. Today scouring the aisles in a grocery store there was 1/2 price on gauze pads, tape and masks. Stocked up on all ( though there was only 1 box of masks left).
-
-
-
Cousins came. Met at local diner and talked and talked. Good family reunion, but short. We live so spread out..I hadn’t seen them since we were kids. Glad to reconnect! Forgot to ask about their trip thru the flooded plains……if they will be “fruited plains” this fall.
Came home and near collapsed. Took ALL outta me. Hmph! Sure be glad to get even my USUAL amount of stamina back. Very glad last nite’s snow melted by the time we got back.
OldMtWoman….gotta get sleep. G’nite all
-
Greetings All.
50 degrees here today. We took a walk on our property. Hubby was not happy to see additional damage from recent high winds. He gets exhausted just thinking about all of the work we need to do.
Osito Arelano: I posted the Mushroom Soup recipe in the Food Forum. We really enjoy it. I made this one with just vegetable broth so that the soup can be used for vegetarian dishes. We have no vegetarians in our family, including us, I just like to have options.
At the moment, Chicken Marsala is in the canner. I took chicken from the freezer that was dated well over a year ago. That vacuum sealer really does the trick. Since I stocked up on fresh mushrooms on the last trip to the store, we had plenty for both the soup and the marsala. The leftover chicken marsala is in four pint jars, with another four 1/2 pints full of mushrooms both topped off with more wine and chicken broth. I’ll need two jars, one of each, for a meal. I really like having meals on my shelves. I added green beans almandine and mashed potatoes (both beans and potatoes homegrown) for a delicious dinner. While the recipe is simple, pounding the chicken thin takes time. I will happily create some more.
Now I must clean up the kitchen after a few days of cooking and canning by putting canning equipment away. However, we are taking a family trip to a destination wedding and I must make cookies for my “boys”. Daughter and I were talking about what we could make for meals in the house we are renting. We decided on “egg muffins,” add some fruit and toast for a meal. Easy and quick to make if the ingredients are already prepared, 30 minutes to bake. So I fried up several onions, mushrooms, bacon, and will pre-cook some peppers and other ingredients and pack the spices. Protein for three teenage boys to keep them from “starving.” I know, I’m taking the store along with me. I always do. I’m prepared – at least food wise. I am taking 5 quarts of split pea soup with ham. How many do you think we will eat? We will have three teenagers and their parents plus three seniors.. Well 2 teenagers, one just turned 18. One quart is too much for just us how many will the family use? That is what I should plan for if they need to spend time with us.
Have you ever noticed how you sometimes and suddenly see things differently? I usually see empty shelves, devoid of certain stored food & supplies. I looked into my closet yesterday and “saw” several things that I wondered why I still had. I will get around to taking them out and donating. I am no longer a size 8 no matter how I look at it. I’ll save a few items so that if the SHTF I’ll have something to wear, but the rest are going. Or if, if, if, I get outside and do some work without replacing the calories. (yeah, right.)
I am going to take the advice given by several people and stock up on flour and other foods when I go to the store in two weeks. Get the breadbasket while we can.
I am ready to plant the garden, but the ground is still frozen and not ready for me. One of the things we found was that part of a fence is down and our blueberry bushes were eaten to the ground. They were new, but still, gone. So, special small fencing for them. The main garden fence has held with no obvious deer intrusion. I am expanding this year by three new beds – 3 by 17; plus more blueberries.
I need a place for the squash to roam. Does anyone have good advice about growing squash? (We got none last year.) I plant the cucumbers at the base of a chicken wire type dividing fence and use it as a trellis, but I don’t think the fence would hold up the acorn, butternut, and buttercup squashes. Ideas for a means to keep the squash in line?
I hope you all enjoyed your weekend. Enjoy the spring.
-
Well, I had energy for only one excursion to the barnyard today. Did evening feeding. Annoyed that MORE meltwater from the eastern ridge ending up in the horse shed….after we covered the last ice incursion with dirt. Tossed down some old hay to stick to the freezing water…provide some traction. 🙁 Well, we did have 18″ of snow.
On a more favorable report: Our creek is now open. Good cuz the electric wiring down the barn is corroded somewhere. Keeps tripping the circuit. Means no barnyard light…no poultry house lite….and no heater for the big livestock water tank. I did hit the red circuit button on the outlet down there….but I doubt that will solve anything. We need to walk the line and see where it’s got a problem. Everything, including us, is gettin’ old.
I hadn’t brought up my truck since the bombogenesis mega storm. The top parking area has been slowly but surely melting. But since the barnyard light is not going to be on….I wanted the truck and my BOB stuff it contains, secured UP HERE! {groaaan!} My beloved DH is SO not on the planet half the time. Zero awareness. When he drove the truck days ago, he did remember to put more oil in it. But he did NOT LOCK THE DRIVER’S DOOR! AAAARGH! Glad to have my truck and stuff safe up near house again…. Uff Tah!!! [but I don’t have to tell what MY AGING brain has done lately]….. {roll eyes}
Need to ride that wild horse of mine so my hips stop hurting.
OldMtWoman G’nite all
-
I am beginning to wonder if this bad weather will ever end. We cannot get our gardens started here as again it is pouring down raining and next 2 days we are going to have freezing temps.
Granddaughter will be heading back to CA on Wed. She will be here again tomorrow to spend time with us before heading to airport. Really hate to see her leave. But her job is now calling for her to please come back they need her. She’s been here for 2 weeks now, so guess she must head back.
So with grandchildren in and out for over 2 weeks I have not gotten a lot done but have enjoyed seeing all the kids again. When you live so far away, you really don’t get to spend the time you would like with them. We have another one that lives in Maryland that her husband is in Navy. Works naval hospital. Will be getting transfer papers and they may be stationed overseas this time. If they are it may be a 2 to 3 year stay. Not looking for that to happen. They will be limited as to how often they can come home.
-
We worked on the faulty electric circuit today. At one point we had yard light and one outlet socket working. DH replaced the plug-in parts and …… {sigh}…. now we have nothing working. He’d found rust in the bottom and plugging things into the bottom socket caused crackle/shorting. Need my brother…he installed this originally. Long long ago. Still need the barn yard light but as warm weather is here – mostly – the poultry light and water tank heater are unnecessary. Til next winter. [don’t want to BE here next winter]
Read several articles today, including Doom and Bloom re: dental issues. And Daisy’s about plans going sideways and accepting unwanted/unexpected reality quickly. NEED to get my BOB packed up again. In case of BO…I’d be scooping it up into a bag or box. It’s in a disorganized pile cuz need to complete something with my Katadyn filter, THEN pack it up right. My BOB is discomBOBulated, one might say. 😉 Need to move the winter sleeping bags, etc. back into my truck too. All those things we brought in….in case of losing power during mega-storm. Didn’t use but glad they were near to hand!! That will clear some walking area in cramped quarters here.
Having trouble getting my post-adrenaline self going again. Used so much to get thru the Mega-Storm and clean-up. But one pays-with-interest on an adrenaline loan!!! Still payin’
OldMtWoman G’nite all
-
For the past couple of days I have been putting my cooler temps clothes away. They need to go into plastic bins, cause I store them in the shed ( no closet space ) and the shed gets critters
Now that I have stocked up on first aid supplies, I needed a larger container. So I figured a duffle bag……um no
Square and rectangular boxes in a duffel was a mess. So much wasted space, and chaos.
Off to to find something with strong sides.
-
Littlesister – That’s the same reason I bought a Broil King Hi-Power single electric burner hot plate. I was living in a house in which there wasn’t enough space between the stovetop and the bottom of the microwave that was mounted above the stove, to accommodate the pressure canner I had already purchased! Now, that I’ve moved to a house with a glass-topped stove, I’m very glad I already have that Broil King hot plate 😉
Columbia River – I felt the very same way when I first read the book Living Terrors!
Mama Cando – I’m glad that your grand-nephew is progressing so well 🙂
OldMtWoman – You’re so right! We should definitely step up our purchases of grains and legumes at this point. I’ve been meaning to get more lentils as well as some spelt and hard & soft white wheat berries for my long-term storage pantry. Looks like now’s the time to do it. As to the N-95 masks, it’s great you’ve been able to clean and re-use them to protect yourself from dust and similar particles. If you haven’t already seen it, you might want to check out the research article that was published last Summer in the American Journal of Infection Control discussing the effect that 1 minute of irradiation with UV-C light had on N-95 masks that were deliberately contaminated with influenza virus. The results of the study were very interesting and showed that just a 1-minute exposure to the correct type of UV light could significantly reduce viable influenza viruses on the N-95 masks. The results varied depending on the model(s) of masks being tested. So, it seems as though, in a pinch, if you had to re-use N-95 masks in a pandemic influenza situation, treating the used masks with a good quality UV-C light wand might make it safer to re-use them (especially if you could switch out the contaminated straps for new straps or decontaminate the straps some other way, such as with disinfecting wipes, for example. Surprisingly, it appears that the straps were more difficult to disinfect with the UV-C light than were the facepieces of the masks! Smooth straps without any bumps or ridges on them were reportedly easier to decontaminate with the UV-C light). Of course, having enough masks to be able to use a fresh one each time and then discard it safely would be best. However, if your supply of N-95 masks (or of higher grade masks or respirator filters) was very low, this technique might be helpful. Here’s the name of that article and the webpage address for it: UltraViolet Germicidal Irradiation of N-95 Masks Contaminated with Influenza Virus, https://www dot ajicjournal dot org/article/S0196-6553%2818%2930140-8/fulltext If I read the study’s results correctly, it seems that two of the tested N-95 mask models that were among the easiest to decontaminate with the UV-C light were the 3M-1870 and the Moldex 1712.
-
Cinnamon Grammy – I think it was Mama Cando who was getting the water heater. The house I’m living in now already has one that seems to be working pretty well. Thanks for posting all the helpful information though! I’m saving a copy of it for future reference 🙂 As to using a propane campstove for outdoor cooking and canning, my understanding is that some brands of canners aren’t sturdy enough to withstand the high btus produced by that sort of stove. I guess the best thing to do is check with your canner’s manuacturer to see if it’s suitable for use on an outdoor campstove – or maybe get a campstove on which you can adjust the amount of btus emitted (if there are any like that?).
The past several days I’ve been helping a friend prepare for a big move to a new residence. I have also done a few prepping activities though. I watched more of the great video presentations from the Home Grown Food Summit (I loved the one about how to process oak acorns to use them in recipes), and drove down again to the apple products company’s outlet store to check on their used 55-gallon barrels. No luck finding a blue one this time either <sigh>. I then spent two days doing my usual monthly round of grocery shopping. In addition to my regular shopping, I was very happy to find great prices on some items to add to my storage pantry. Here are some of the best deals I found: 500 ml bottles of Avocado oil for $5 US a bottle, 4 lb boxes of Morton’s Canning and Pickling Salt for $0.80 US each, 12 oz. cans of Meyenberg Whole Goat’s Milk Powder for $1.25 US each (yeah!), 30 oz. jars of organic Coconut Oil for $4 US each, 13.4 oz. bottles of Ball Dill Pickle Mix for $0.75 US each, 16 oz. containers of coarse Sea Salt for $1.39 US each, and 3.33 oz. jars of Herb Ox Chicken Bouillon cubes for $1 US each 🙂
-
Greetings, All.
We are leaving in the morning for a “destination” wedding in a cold and snowy, not so lively small city. The couple loves the north shore of MN so that is where we are going. Anything for family. With that thought, I’ll be off the Internet for a few days. I’ll catch up next week.
Also on that vein, I am re-checking our car utility bag. Verifying batteries are charged, adding bird books, binoculars, etc., yarn for knitting on the three-hour drive. DH could not check the tire air pressure because he could not remove the cover. You know; the little things…
Hopefully, we will have at least one grandson with us on the drive; it is always more interesting that way.
Amy Dixon: you are correct about using a Camp Chef Stove. I have an All American canner, and it works just fine with the BTUs. However, the plastic handles got too hot because I was careless placing the canner and with the initial temperature. Diligence is required. DH uses the Camp Chef to boil down sap for syrup. I only really use it if we do not want the heat in the house during canning.
Old Mt. Woman: Good to know about the UV light. It reminds me of a scientific research station, about 10,000’ in elevation on Mauna Kea. They use UV light as their primary water disinfectant. The UV lights would be a good thing to have as a precaution.
Enjoy your week.
-
Cinnamon Grammy, Have a safe trip and enjoy yourselves. Three hours isn’t to bad. Maybe a stop or two to stretch legs.
My step granddaughter was leaving tomorrow to fly back to CA but now it will be Thursday instead. Flight got put on a delay. But gives us more time with her. With her living on the west coast and us on the east coast, It really makes it hard to spend the time with her we would like to spend. But it is what it is. We have several ways to keep in touch. But it’s not the same as having her here with us. Hubby can’t fly and with granddaughter working, they can only come down maybe twice a year. This trip was an emergency but still got to spend that time with her.
Really haven’t felt well today. Kinda like I might be coming down with a cold or something. I hope not. Started taking Zicam just in case. That bad cough is coming back as well, so taking care of that also.
Did some reading. Washed sheets and mopped floors. That is about all I have felt like doing and had to push myself to get that done. Need to feel better before granddaughter comes over in morning to spend the day. We are going to go through old pictures and just rekindle the early years. Then maybe will be going out for dinner.
-
Uv has gaps in killing cysts make it through, and it does nothing for chemical issues.
I have a steri pen uv light , and used it but since you should filter anyways seems like a.waste of space plus reliance. On batteries.and a.light rod, I feel this is a weakness prefer using go berkey I know.water is clean, from bio and alot of chemical agant and some heavy metals
-
Still working on my cauliflower queso. Not a lot of energy after a day at work. Got three batches done tonight. I’m guessing my case of cauliflower will get me 15 very full vitamix containers of queso and that’s a lot but it freezes so nicely
DH came in and said “smells like cooking” and I apologized for not having done more these past three months. He told me there’s lots of food in the freezer that I made and we’re doing fine.
So that’s my answer to why I prep. I don’t prep for the zombie apocalypse- I prep for life. Because you never know what life is going to bring you.
-
-
Well,Hot water heater going in Wednesday, so I did all the laundry Monday and today just in case water is off longer than expected. Have water stored. Had sons friend, our “contractor” 😉 come and measure for new windows and the door to the covered deck. He runs his own construction company and has done excellent work for us. They should help keeping the cold out this winter and they are the original ones on the house and really need to be replaced. They are now leaking air and fogging up between the two panes. Next thing on the “to-do” list is getting the stove. When we moved in I had just gotten an electric stove for Mothers Day so we had the 220 installed. As we still have the gas hook up, DH and I are looking at gas stoves now rather than an electric. It should help lighten the load on our standby if it’s needed.That and as we are getting older, we(DH)is having a bit of difficulty lifting the heavy pots, he almost dropped one on flat top the other day. He also believes that it will be more advantageous to put the gas in now rather than later IF we ever have to sell the house. Of course as I told DH, that will be when they haul me out feet first or I win the lottery and build my dream house, LOL.
-
-
Cinnamon Grammy – I hope you have a wonderful and safe trip! Thanks for the good tip about using an All American pressure canner with a Camp Chef stove.
Littlesister – Hope you’ll feel better soon 🙂
Namelus – I agree. I don’t think I’d entirely trust a UV-C light wand to disinfect water. However, I do want to save up and get a good quality UV-C light wand someday – Ideally one with a battery I can recharge using solar power to have on hand. I’d use it to disinfect surfaces in a sickroom, as well as in the kitchen and bathrooms. If needed in a SHTF situation, I’d use it to disinfect surgical instruments (Using the method Dr. Bones – Joe Alton, M.D., has described) and, potentially, to disinfect face masks and respirator filters for re-use if absolutely necessary.
Today I’m going to stay home, carry more of my grocery haul inside, and start keying in those new items on my food storage inventory list. So, a quiet day 😉
-
Columbia River, I know how it is to come home from work and have to prepare all that food at night. I have been there. work job from 8am to 6pm just to get home and see all that canning waiting for me. Hubby was retired so that helped as he had everything prepped and ready for me to get the canning done. I sometimes look back on those days and wonder where I got all that energy from. Not sure I could do it now. But retirement does make it easier.
One big reason I started prepping is because of my son in law. He was good for quiting a job because he got mad or didn’t like someone. He did that 3 times before he found a job he likes. He had the idea that he should start at top and then work way down. Doesn’t work that way. So during those times I was feeding that whole family. Him, my daughter and 3 children with youngest being an infant. Plus my daughter could not stay in one place for long. Living in a house was like 3 years and she was ready to move again. So the 2 oldest grandchildren would be pulled to different schools. I even had to buy school clothes and supplies for the kids. That was not cheap for 3 children. So after doing this for so long. I started prepping for hard times such as this as those were tough years. My daughter went to work and only changed jobs once. She got a good one. Her husband got the idea that if he quit his job again he was on his own and had his wife to deal with. So he has come a long way and staying with this last job. I threatened my daughter about moving around and pulling kiddos out of school to start in a new one. So I made it clear that she better land in this new house and keep kids in one school system. It worked and the youngest has been in the same school system from the start. The oldest changed schools 4 times and the middle one 3 times. It’s hard for children to have to pull up and start over with new friends all the time. Though I no longer an prepping to keep my kids afloat, I do still prep for hurricanes and what ever else happens. I have been known a time or two to help a neighbor out when their luck was down. Guess that is what it is all about.
-
Amy a.black light to see mess is better than black light, the uv light to be powerful enough to kill bacteria can melt your eye corneas.
For disinfecting masks you can get good cloth boil with bleach clean. There are new masks like https://www.vogmask.com/ that last for months and are washable with .3 micron size mesh. It’s good for bacteria but will fail on most viral filtering.
Link to what size standard particles are https://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/particle-sizes-d_934.html
.3 is hepa filter which is standard hospital filtration, beyond that is mainly for biolabs, military installations.
-
My goodness! Where has this month gone? Already the 27th and I’m no where close to my “get it done” goals. It seems with prepping, there’s always something to add to the list. Reading all your posts everyday always gets me to thinking about new things.
Anyhow, I’m ready for planting but the Old Farmer’s Almanac says I should wait until April 1 to put in the cool weather plants I started from seed indoors. And, I can supposedly plant my new spinach from seed directly into the ground. My raised bed is ready and I’ve made a trellis for the beans and tomatoes to climb on when it’s time to put them out, around mid April in my neck of the woods. Got my fingers crossed all will go well. 🙂 Gardening has certainly provided the motivation I need to get up and stay physically active. I feel responsible for keeping my plants alive!
Okay, did anyone else notice that the current administration has taken a significant step in addressing the possibility of an EMP? An executive order yesterday directing all Federal agencies to work together to better protect our infrastructure, especially the electric grid. Hmmmm….I had read there was an important draft document prepared by the Pentagon suggesting the need for more urgency in addressing vulnerabilities. I know it’s important to maintain balance and not get over into extremes; but, in my personal situation, I think I should spend a bit more time on figuring out how to remain connected with the outside world should electrical power be out for a significant amount of time.
I’m looking at those solar powered emergency radios thinking something like that might be a good thing to have. I’ve also looked at a number of youtubes discussing Faraday cages – a lot of which sort of goes over my head. Technical stuff is not my forte nor of particular interest, but somehow I think I should make a bigger effort to prepare in this area. Any of you other single ladies feel a bit iffy in thinking about how to communicate when there may be no phone service, or computer wifi, or smart phone isn’t working? Anybody reading this post have some suggestion for us? Should we ask Daisy to start a forum about communications. I know several of you talk about learning Morse code. Maybe Ham radio might be something to consider?
I did go to the Mennonite store today to stock up on some more all-purpose flour. I’ve also bought all the ingredients to make a powdered laundry detergent and I hope to get that mixed up tomorrow when my helper will be here.
Big e-hugs all around!!!
-
Namelus – Thank you for the information about those new, washable masks. I’ll look into them! If I get a UV-C light wand I will, of course, be very careful not to point it toward anyone’s eyes. I want to get one similar to the one demonstrated by Joe Alton, M.D. (“Doctor Bones”) in this YouTube video he made describing ways to sterilize medical instruments in the field: https://www dot youtube dot com/watch?v=skdaVhIIDrI The video is titled “Sterilization of Instruments: New Method”. If you haven’t already seen that video, you might want to check it out. In it he describes the results of a research study done by scientists working at a U.S. Army base. Those results were published in the December 2015 issue of the Journal of Wilderness and Environmental Medicine. By wiping medical instruments with Hibiclens and then passing a UV-C light wand within 4 inches of the instruments’ surfaces for just 45 seconds, the researchers found that 100% of the bacteria they had previously smeared on on those instruments were eliminated. The instruments could then either be used for medical procedures right away, or could be vacuum-sealed and stored for later use.
Muffy1938 – I worry about that too! In order to have a variety of methods of communication, I’ve stockpiled 3 of the older “Red Cross” radios made by Eton that can be either hand-cranked, powered by batteries, or charged by AC power. I also have a few of the relatively inexpensive BaoFeng BF-F9 and UV-82HP portable HAM radios, a battery-operated Grundig Yacht Boy 400 shortwave radio, an older model BayGen Freeplay hand-cranked shortwave radio, 2 pairs of Family Service Radios, and one handheld CB radio (I would like to eventually get a base camp CB radio to go with it). Once I finish making my DIY Faraday cage (To be made from a Behrens brand galvanized steel trash can lined with thin yoga mats cut to fit, with aluminum HVAC tape to seal the lid seams once the can is filled up), I plan to put one or two of each of those different types of radios into EMP-proof bags, place those filled bags in the “Faraday Cage” can and seal it up – just in case of an EMP from a high-altitude nuclear burst. As far as information on preparing for a possible EMP goes, I feel comfortable relying on the advice given by Dr. Arthur Bradley in his YouTube videos and his book Disaster Preparedness for EMP Attacks and Solar Storms (Expanded Edition). With his background as an electrical engineer for N.A.S.A., I believe he really knows what he’s talking about 🙂
-
Muffy, I did hear a little about the administration was going to start preparing for possible EMP. I guess better late than never. But instead of the left fighting with the right, they should have already been on this a long time ago. It will not be easy to repair the electric grid in the shape it is in. Really bad.
Also I agree we need to start learning all we can about preparing for a possible EMP. I do have a metal trash can that I have lined with cardboard. I have both solar and battery powered radio for emergency as well as both can be hand cranked to use. But that only gives you 30 to 45 minutes of use before having to crank it up. I did buy the EMP bags that I have put flashlights and the radios in as well as small battery chargers, and solar chargers. Each item is in one of those EMP bags and put in the metal trash can. I am thinking about getting another one as I have bought more of the solar chargers so I can charge my nook and other things. That will be in the can later. I do keep my nook and kindle. I do have the EMP bags that I do keep my nook and kindle in when I am not using them as a precaution. Another thing also is that I heard you can take a good grade of foil and wrap items in it but using like 3 layers of the foil to cover them. My nook I did this for but the kindle is in an EMP bag. I have been trying to learn more and more about what to do in this type of situation. I do know that those on city water and sewage will be in big trouble the water uses electric to pump the water where it needs to go as well as the sewage. So sewage can back up into your drains after awhile of flushing toilets and such. You need to have a back flow on the pipes leading out of house for sewage. I think we have one on ours but am going to check into this. I do know that if you live high enough up, it will take a lot longer before sewage seeps up into drains. This will not be good. Also natural gas. They have generators to keep that going but when they can’t get the fuel, the gas will be cut off as well. My one concern is winter time. Trying to keep house warm with fireplace. Cooking, I do have ways to cook but need to get that indoor cooker set up. Two things that I know of that will draw the wrong crowd to you is if they smell food cooking and a fire. So That also makes using a fireplace a bit risky living in a neighborhood. As far as communication the only things I can think of right now are a good set of walkie talkies and ham radios. My son in law does the ham radio and had been asked to help out when Franklin was flooded and no communication. So he helped out by using the ham radio as the electric was down for a long time. No cell towers were working in that area. So I kinda think we will lose the cell phone service though I have heard it said that you could text message if your cell phone is not effected by the EMP. But I can’t say that that will still work for sure. Yes this could be something for Daisy to dig into. Though I have been digging into it for a bit, It is complicated to learn this type of stuff. I did get an e-mail on something about an EMP whole house protector for this, but I have not had a chance to check into much. Will come back to that later when I find out if it is for real or not.
Granddaughter came in at 12:30 today and we spent the whole day with her. We had a great time. She is leaving in morning to go back to CA. We went out to eat at a seafood place. And came back to house and just enjoyed her company so much. We really hated to see her leave. Though she is planning a Sept. trip for a couple of weeks. This will be a trip of better conditions as this one was her grandmother’s funeral. It just seems so strange that you have all your grandchildren around you all the time as they are born and growing up and then they graduate high school, then off to college and move on to other states to find good jobs or in military and off to other places. kinda of makes you feel like you are going through the empty nest thing all over again from when your children grow up and leave home. But that is how life is and we all move on. Hubby and I would love to make that trip out to CA to visit our granddaughter but when her and her now husband got married is when we found out hubby would not be able to fly with his health issues. Also even a train ride 3000 miles away would have been to much for him. So our granddaughter is having an album made up with all the wedding photos for us. We have seen pictures on her website so the album will be a great keepsake for us. Our youngest grandchild will graduate high school in June and then he will be off to college but he is keeping it local. But after that we don’t know as he is going into cyber security and that is what my granddaughter and her husband do and why they live in CA. It is where the job took her.
Well it is getting late so off to get ready for bed. Long day tomorrow.
-
Still working on my queso.
Discovered a great website for vegan interests. veganinthefreezer dot com.
Also order a few used vegan freezer cookbooks. If I’m going to have them they should at least be useful. There are a lot of interesting dishes out there but I have to substitute this and that and the other. Want to see what someone has done with all the substitutes alteady figured out. Part of being prepared is using time well.
-
Littlesister – I hope the government will actually start doing something practical now to harden our electrical grid but I’m worried it will just be “all talk and no action” as it has been since the bi-partisan EMP Commission was first set-up in about 2001 by a Republican-controlled Congress and then was re-authorized in 2006 by a Democratic-controlled Congress. That Commission published a report back in 2008, and another in 2014, and a few more in 2017, recommending changes to harden the grid, etc., but, to the best of my knowledge, none of the Congresses during that time period (regardless of which party was in control) have voted any funding to actually get those changes made. From what I’ve read recently, it seems that, for some reason, the DOD stalled the release of some of those EMP Commission reports, and some major power companies tried to discourage people from taking the EMP threat seriously because the folks running those companies know how very expensive it will be for them to harden their infrastructure against EMPs. I’d love to think that will all change now but I’ll believe it when I see it <sigh>.
-
Amy, I am not going to get my hopes up. I have been doing research on EMP’s. Trying to figure out what I can do besides what I have already done. It will not be near enough. And besides that, solar is great but if you have several days of cloudy weather and snow as well. Those solar panels will not help. You would need some serious battery backup to cover those days the solar panels don’t get enough sun to charge batteries. I for one am not climbing on a roof to scrape snow of solar panels which is where a lot of them are placed. Would need to have a backup source and the only other thing I can think of is wind power which some neighborhoods will not let you have and I am not sure how geothermal works but want to look into it. I do know it is the best heat source you can get but is pricey. Worth it though over the long run. If this happens it will put us back in the 1800’s. You could count on riots and worse. No cars of the newer makes but maybe the older cars made before 1985 or maybe even 1995. But anything that requires computerized stuff in a car will fail. So we are in trouble there. There would be no food deliveries to stores, so you know what will happen there. Most stores carry only a 3 day supply of food and my understanding now is that they may only carry 1 to 2 days now. Not much in the way of a back up food in storage at the stores now. I have been looking into how I can harden my car. Have seen a couple of things such as an EMP cloth that you put over the whole car down to the ground but not sure if it would really work and they are very expensive. I really hope Trump can get something passed to harden the grid but the dems will block him coming and going because they want him to fail as a president. They are to busy trying to find a way to get him out of office and bring in socializem and a one world government to care about what happens to we the people. So he will have a fight on his hands unless he has a plan to move around the dems. What the dems want have failed in other countries. So they better think about what they are wishing for. They want more and more power at the expense of we the people. Our taxes will go way up leaving what is left of the middle class in the cold and the retired and poor will suffer the worse. This is the work of the dems and I will include some republicans in that rat hole. I just found out tonight that our ex-gov. of VA is planning to run for president in 2020. I wouldn’t vote for him if he was the last man standing. After what he did with the tunnels and bridges with the tolls. No one can afford to go across a bridge or through a tunnel now. The tolls just went up a month ago to almost $4.00 each way. If you depend on getting to work through those tunnels just add it up for a month then a year. They are working on one city for people to get some kind of a break but some of these people have had to pay upwards of 3000.00 due to past due payments because they could not afford to pay the bill. It is that bad. Thank you McCullough. I will not be voting for you.
Anyway aside from that rant. I will pull out what I have on EMP’s and try to get what I have posted so hopefully it will help others. At this point all we can do is pray about this and hope it doesn’t happen. But things are lining up to a point that I truly believe we are going to be in a war of some sort by the end of the year if not sooner. Keep your eye on Turkey, Russia and China. Not so sure about N. Korea yet as little kemmy has it out for Japan right now. But it remains to be seen. How in the world do you prep for things like this when you live smack in the middle of a military area and Wash. DC just 5 hours out. I figure when the bombs hit I am out of here anyway.
-
AmyD and others…..Interesting, the discussion on other methods of sterilizing for germs on masks, medical instruments, etc. I was only thinking of the dust issues…which use up my masks so quickly in the dry summer/fall months. Must have but $$$. But the expanded issue…. Thanks for introducing more ideas.
Cinnamon Grammy….hope you have a wonderful trip and wedding. Northern Minn …Boundary Waters is where DH and I did our honeymoon. Canoe camping. Had a great time [but purely stupid for him to try to quit smoking during that]. Ahem, we paddled back to the nearest civilization to get HIS supplies and have ice cream [me!]. Then back into the wilderness. 🙂 He finally did quit, BTW. 🙂 MINN was A LOOONG time ago. Lived near Duluth for a year….had so many weird things happen that folks renamed us “Murphy”!! Yes, there are bears and wolves. Beautiful. Love the ice buildup along the N. shore when wind bunches it up…that iridescent blue GLOWING in the sunshine. Possibly my favorite color.
LilSister…glad you had family time, despite the sad reason. Every opportunity to gather with loved ones is good.
Columbia River….prep cuz you never know what life will bring you. You said that one right!! Certainly doesn’t have to be a major event….especially when one is older or has health issues……[or has animals to care for…roll eyes! ] Sometimes it seems like my life events are so bizarre! And then another and another pile on top. DH and I are so physically strained right now, we’re just getting on however we can. Wish I had more things home canned. But just simply getting some food in us ….that’s a goal. Got plenty stored….but fixing does take energy. Hoping we can catch our breath soon. I’m still mostly flattened from all the snow/ice work during recent storms. But…doing what we can and working together.
Muffy….always glad to hear about your garden progress. And yes, I did note the EO about EMP preparedness. That would be a colossal mess – either by the sun or other. We’ve got some things stashed in hopefully adequate protection. Radio for gathering data. 2-ways for comms between DH and I. Few other things. JIC.
RE: Data. I HATE trying to plan things during crisis WITHOUT accurate data. Our community’s big fire evac was a mess….due to inadequate/inaccurate data. And that was with all the usual communications [radio/TV/etc] still working. But no one KNEW what would happen. Now there is auto-alerts to phones and email. Reverse 911 calls. Didn’t have those during our crisis. Bad data in the form of outdated maps was the likely cause of some of it getting even further out of control. [Oh, you mean people LIVE back there?]
Well, today DH and I got our barnyard light and the outlet WORKING! 😀 Yay! It’s realllly dark here without that …..adds security. However the extension cord to the big livestock tank heater….or the heater itself….or moisture in the connection [we think it might be that] still shorts out the new outlet. Pushing the red button fixes it, thankfully. Since creek is flowing, we don’t need the tank heater. Wrapped all that up for now. We’ll test the cords and the tank heater separately later to discover what’s what. But for now, poultry have light and the LED barn yard light is on!
Cross one task OFF the LIST…..
OldMtWoman G’nite all
-
-
I havent baked anything in ages,
SHTF dont care.
So I purchased flour (organic ). I dont have a full size oven and my mixer is packed away somewhere.
SHTF doesnt care about that either.
So off to find recipes that is doable with what I have. I may check the thrift stores and see if there are any bread machines around.
Told my OT about my first aid supplies purchases. Said when you have a cut or a burn, you cant run to Walmart or click on prime to get supplies. You need them now. Got them thinking.
-
Well, all grandchildren are back home with last one landing in CA an hour ago. Then get a call that another friend of mine is in hosp. with pneumonia and pleurisy, and her potassium was low. So checked on her today. This makes the sixth friend that has been in hosp. I really sucks to get old. Went and picked up the labs from our family doctor today as he did not call to tell us the whole story about our labs. Hubby is possible iron deficiency anemia. Don’t want to do anything till talk with his heart doctor soon. This could be minor internal bleeding or possible just iron and or vit. B 12 is very low. Doc. did a vit b12 check on me but not him. So stupid. Just don’t know what it is with doctors any longer. They didn’t used to put us off like this. So many people here are complaining about the doctors. Just glad I have medical degree under my belt.I may be retired and not in the field any longer but I can still read and understand labs. So Doctor will get a surprise next visit when we come in with labs in hand. Lots of questions.
So really didn’t do much today as far as prepping and here it is the end of March and I didn’t get as much as I wanted to do done. But with friends and a neighbor in hosp. and grandchildren in and out last 2 to 3 weeks. It has been just all put on hold. So maybe April will bring a better outcome. Got to get garden started. spring cleaning started again with getting all windows washed and curtains washed and hung up again. Then back to the decluttering and starting on getting the shed cleaned out and reorganized so I can find things.
As for prepping items: I have been making a list of things we need and looking at what I need to go through. I have meds such as cold meds, vits. and a lot of other things such as vet. antibiotics that I need to go through and check dates. As I throw out what is way out of date I will be making a list. Only thing is this time I am not so sure I want to replenish these till later as I don’t want to be pitching out the vits that have gone out of date. I only buy when they go on a good sale and buy one get one free deal. but they add up fast.
OldMtWoman, glad to know the weather is getting better out your way. And you have gotten the electric going again. I know I am ready for spring and I can feel it in the air. I am ready to get outside to work garden and flower beds now. Hoping for nice weather tomorrow.
Amy, I have several of the N95 mask that I got when working for doc. I am going to check them out to make sure all is ok as they have been in top of my closet for several years. I think there is about 100 of them. Should be ok though. I like the idea of being able to reuse them as I didn’t know you could do things to clean them like that. Great idea.
-
@Daisy ‘s blog featured a N95 SCARF …or gaiter [tube for around neck/draw up over nose-mouth]. {The links weren’t working, btw} I looked up the product a different way. I was VERY interested in that. The complaint was that it was for cold weather….and wildfire often happens in HOT weather. Getting dangerously overheated is a super problem for me ….so I’d love to see a light weight scarf with N95 capacity. Their website said these are washable. ???? For dust and other particulates but….wonder if there are special instructions if you’re avoiding The Plague?? But….I’m going to be watching this product and others that are similar. Wouldn’t chose ‘camo’ for a hide-in-the-woodwork color choice.
Today….I managed to feed us ….X3. And I plodded along with the dog on her walk. She traveled a lot more steps than I did [long retractable leash]. Just haven’t been feeling up to things but a bit better this evening. Now if I can wake up feeling like that…..
OldMtWoman G’nite all
-
Yea the scarf wont help those of us in the tropics. Though a sun hat with a gater…hmmmm I mean gaiter would work nice
So I found a bread machine at one of the thrift stores. Its still being sold retail, so its relatively new. Found an arm sling for $2, and small plastic file holders for receipts and index cards.
-
-
-
Namelus, that is so true. Seems they are watching everything we do and buy in the name of consumer marketing. If we use a charge card, debit card they keep a record of what you buy. I have been thinking of using cash for all my purchases. I do on somethings, but thinking on all things now. Cameras are everywhere now. Survenance at every store you go to. Can be a good thing and could be a bad thing later down the road. We have no privacy any longer.
-
Hey all! I’ve been quiet for a while, reading everyone’s posts every day but laying low. But I have a bit of good news to share– my on going batte with glaucoma meds? I’ve found one that is slowly working and that I can tolerate! I’ve been on pilocarpine for at least six weeks, maybe two months, and the pressure has dropped four points! Only two more to go to hit the number my doc wants me at. I see him again in seven weeks.
Daughter had a sweet baby boy Valentine’s Day. Not sure if I mentioned it or not. He was about a month early but the little tyke is already trying to scoot. He had a bit of an issue with jaundice but he’s okay now.
Littlesister, I hear you on using cash only. I think it’s a great idea if it’s doable. I’ve heard some stores have gone to credit/debit only– no cash no check. And Namelus? Sometimes I wear a mask in the city now when I go because of pollution. The fact that I helps conceal my face is extra gravy on the steak. 🙂
Now that my eye seems more stable, I’m back on the prep train again. Methinks things will only get weirder from here.
You all have a great weekend!
-
Yeah, Namelus. For that reason too. Since so many globally are now wearing masks for “air pollution” ….will it be the ‘new normal’? A pair of colored contact lenses….
Heard thunder today for the first time in months. Rain passed to the north tho. Just as well, we’re still sogged with snowmelt. Rockies are having unsettled weather again. “Unsettled” is the new password for ….we’re not sure but brace yourself. {roll eyes} I watch my altimeter. [aka: high altitude ‘barometer’]
Hey Corsaire…..Just In Case [JIC] …try out some tortilla recipes. In case your breadmaker doesn’t have electric. Tortillas are probably the easiest “bread” one can make….even a hot rock or fry pan in the hot sun.
As JIC small appliances, I list breadmaker, portable ice maker, rice cooker/soup heater, ?crockpot?, …..and a converter in vehicles that can run those A/C devices as long as you have gas…or you’re traveling [BO]. I have non-electric alternatives to all of those, of course. But if electric is available, they’d be my top ones to run.
OldMtWoman G’nite all
-
Rufus: glad to see you back and your eyes are doing much better. Congratulations on the new grandson.
It has been a warm one today. about 79, maybe 80’s. Hubby has been cold all afternoon and keeps turning the ceiling fans off. Can’t make him understand we have food in house and can’t let it get but so warm. So managed to keep house at 73 with fans running. I will be calling his heart doctor Monday as his labs shows he is anemic. We need to get to the bottom of this. Otherwise I am going to burn up this summer.
Have started getting the garden ready. We decided to go ahead and give it a go in hopes the rainy season doesn’t drown it out. Looking at better drainage. Should be ok with that. Hubby is outside now working on it.
Went to store and got some beef on sale. Top round steaks for 2.99 lb. they were thick. Cut 2 of them up for pepper steak and got 4 meals from them. the third one I cut in two for other things. That should hold us a while.
Grandson here, so catch you later.
-
-
Corsaire- congrats on the bread machine. If it didn’t come with a manual you can probably get one online (as I did for one of ours)
Best results for us are to measure by weight not by volume. DH has gone down to medium sized loaf as it fits in toaster better than the large loaf.
I am still working on queso- takes a lot of work to use up a case of cauliflower – next time I will be more judicious in taking advantage of a sale – especially when two days a week I am totally done in from physical therapy, but making progress. No pain no gain certainly applies to me right now.
Found a bunch of notebooks at thrift store half off and all different colors. Plan on using different colors to sort things.
Walked with a friend through a hard journey this past two weeks as her father was dying. I felt able to help her some as I had dealt with caring for dying parent.Not a easy skill to learn but it is part of life – or at least it was for me as we had also taken a dying grandparent into our home years ago.
Spring crocuses are up! Contractor has turned project back over to electrical guy for a bit but contractor will be back. I so want back into my “new” home!
May you each enjoy the newness of spring (and I know down South it’s approaching “too hot”) but up here there’s still snow lots of places. Amazing and we’re basically all in one country.
-
RufusJ…..so good to ‘see’ you again. Good to hear news on eye meds ….pressure going down! And new baby is past all that ‘born early’ scary stuff. 🙂
Doesn’t know if it’s way early Spring….or late “usual” Winter here. Roads so bad…the springs under the roads are bogging down [dirt/grit roads…no gravel imported] in all the usual places. It’s challenging to get thru sometimes. Had a young driver with a low sports car bottom out in front of our place today. I think he scraped off his muffler….from the sounds of it when he was finally able to drive off. Welll…..in THAT spot, you don’t GO THAT FAST, youngster! To be fair, it’s WAY worse than it looks, now that it’s kinda dried into rugged ridges.
I actually felt better today. Cooked up the rest of the pork….in different ways. Froze a couple. Ate a couple cooked with pineapple….with sweet potatoes today. 3 more on stand-by. But all needed to be cooked. Stuff gets behind when I’m not UP. Walked dog…..BRRRRRRRZAH! North WIND was blowing once we got around the hill. Hurried back around it’s sheltering mound quickly. Dog didn’t notice the difference. {roll eyes….picture: shivering me telling dog to HURRY YOUR BUSINESS!}
OldMtWoman G’nite all
-
OldMtWoman. I have an instant-pot. All in one pressure cooker, slow cooker, rice cooker and probably a few things I am forgetting. I was skeptical because of all the hype which seemed to be exaggerated if not down right fabricated. But I got one and its been wonderful.
Thanks for the tips Columbia River.
Today in the grog of the morning, the hot coffee missed the cup and ended up on my hand. Burn-Jel to the rescue. The stuff is awesome. Got rid of the pain fast.Just some slight redness now.
Past 2 days purging papers and organizing.Also researched storage tips for hot climates. My electric bill is high enough as it is, so dropping the whole house temp is not an option. I am considering getting a portable AC unit for one room. It would keep myself, the dog and the preps happy.
-
Just an FYI — heard on Northwest public radio that the potato crop usually in the ground end of February or first of March wasn’t in yet in most of Idaho, Oregon and Washington (I think 70% of US grown fries come from those three states) and as of the report midweek still snow on the fields. But the farmers who contract with the French fry companies have to pull the potatoes on a certain date and if the potatoes are smaller (as they probably will be with a month less growing time) then there just won’t be as many. So if you buy frozen french fries stock up now. Not sure what that will do to fast food prices or serving sizes or just regular potato prices (regular potatoes can stay in the ground longer than the french fry contract date)
Going to be an interesting grocery year.
-
Corsaire we had a small window unit that would cool just living room and kitchen. I do not do well in the heat so I would sleep on the sofa and it was worth every penny we spent on it. “Paid for itself” the first week. You won’t be sorry.
I made yogurt in my instant pot until we moved into cabin. Still use instant pot but yogurt is off my list right now.
Working on my Azure order and doing queso
-
Went to church this morning. We are starting something new. Every 5th Sunday, we are going to have breakfast and then Sunday school in the COC building. Today was first time doing it and we all had a really great time. Of course church service follows after. I am glad they are going to do this. It gives us all a chance to fellowship with each other more. We already have dinner every 4th Wed. So this is an added chance to fellowship.
Came home and fixed lunch for us, cleaned up kitchen and then just sat and did some reading before going back to church tonight. That is about all I did today. But was enough. Tomorrow I will have the house to myself for part of the day as hubby will be at market cooking collards. So plan on getting a lot done inside as weather will be cold and rainy. I for one am over this rain.
Corsaire, I have one of those instant pots that one of the kids gave me about a year ago and I have never used it yet. Guess I will have to pull it out and give it a try. Thanks for the reminder of an appliance I forgot about.
Did not know this about the potatoes. Only problem is I can’t buy anything else for freezer as it is now busting at the seems. Bought some top round steak for 2.99 yesterday as it has been upwards of 6.99 for so long. I came home and started cutting it up for beef stew and pepper steak, etc. So it filled what little space I had left. I need to start tomorrow doing some dehydrating of veggies and canning some beef stew. That will empty a lot of my freezer. Going to be a busy week.
-
Corsaire….if I had an instant pot, that would take the place of several others…I can see. So far, haven’t bought one. Mebbe when one or more of those appliances break down?
I’ve heard of more than one family who is not fixing their central cooling when it breaks down. Just getting A/C for bedrooms. Wouldn’t work for me in hot/humid climate, but I’m especially sensitive to drastically overheating. Currently not having ANY problem with overheating. Still using furnace and even pellet stove occasionally. Mountain climate IS great tho, for any stored foods, etc. Basement is pretty much same cool temperature year ’round.
OldMtWoman ….an uninspired day…
-
Columbia
These work, used to make in no power locations it drops temp about 10 degrees, made from 2 L bottles and a piece of cardboard or thin wood
-
Namelus that is very interesting. Will have to put on my DIY of things to try.
Corsaire, I pulled out my what I think is what you are talking about being an instant pot. Mine is called the Elite 10 qt. pressure cooker. haven’t used it in a year and had almost forgot about it till you posted about it. Hubby wanted pinto beans for dinner and I soaked them over night and then put in slow cooker. The beans were older beans and slow cooker didn’t cut it. So I pulled that pot out and finished them off in that. They came out very tender and really good.
OMW, we just put in a new whole house air conditioner about 3 weeks ago. Our bill for using it hasn’t really been that bad. About 200 on a couple of weeks of really hot weather. Window air conditioner is what I want to get for my shed. Then I can use a portion of it for stored things that I don’t want in the heat. It would have to be a very small one and I would need to run electric to the shed as well. But would be worth it.
-
I fed critters tonite while DH was doing errands in town. It was a pleasant nite…no wind and merely cool. Pond still frozen. Expect to see it begin to open soon. Talked to 2 of the younger generation. They’ve both had adventures but all was well. Neither happened to be flying today….when so many flights were delayed. Close tho.
Recorded some recipes …..dry mixes for gravy and such. Then you just add water. Makes things easier on the cook and no preservatives as in commercial mixes. Might try to put some of them together.
OldMtWoman G’nite all
-
Hi, everybody! April at last and Spring has definitely sprung where I live in TN…my handyman helped me plant my first raised bed this morning. I’m doing the square foot gardening method…perfect size for me and should produce more than enough. This bed I have put in the front yard (the only place I get full sun) and it’s 4′ X 8′ and 6″ deep. Handyman has also made a wire trellis along one of the 8′ sides for my indeterminate tomatoes, beans and cucumbers to grow up on. We planted the cool weather items I started from seed 6 weeks or so ago. Have my fingers crossed all will grow well. We may have another frost warning between now and April 15 which is our usual last frost date but I can cover everything so should be okay. I have dozens of extra plants to share so that makes me happy.
I’ve been using some of the veggies I dehydrated to see how the recipes work. I think I’m getting it figured out so hopefully can keep the dehydrated running everyday as our country gardens begin to produce. I think my plan is to go the dehydrating/canning route rather than freezing veggies. Haven’t quite figured out what to do about meat.
Mixed up laundry detergent yesterday using recipe I found….ended up with 2 gallons…as it only required 2 tablespoons per load, I have enough to last me a year as I ordinarily have only two loads a week and sometimes not even that.
My emergency medical bucket is full of lots of stuff I’ve bought. Now I just need to go through it and get it a bit better organized.
My BOB is ready along with a 72 hour food kit from Emergency Preparedness. I have a new emergency radio (solar or crank power) with NOAH weather warnings.
As I look back over the past four months when I first began to follow The Organic Prepper, I feel pretty good about my progress. There will always be more to do, but I think I could handle a EMP or grid-down situation fairly well especially now that the weather is a bit warmer.
All of you have given me so many things to think about and I pray blessings for all of you….if Daisy keeps this forum going, I’ll look forward to continuing to read your posts…
Baking bread today…yum
-
Wow, Muffy! That is so great! I love garden stories and you raised the seedlings yourself. You began all this in winter! Do you have any idea how far you have come???? 🙂
OK…story time: Breakfast was to be 2 fried eggs, pop-tube biscuits, and sausage with flour/milk added for gravy. I was in the midst of this when…beginning from the countertop near the fridge…. something went haywire. Either I dropped something and grabbed for it….or I bumped something and grabbed. But it began a chain reaction like toppling dominoes from that part of the counter…past the sink and around the corner to the stove. Mebbe four feet total. I just kept grabbing and missing. The GRANDE FINALE, after yanking my hands back to stop the process…. with my mouth dropping open…..was watching the metal spatula flying up into the air and twisting to land handle-side-down neatly in the macrame onion bag that hangs off a drawer knob. Tah dah…..
{does anyone else have my life????}
Nothing dire happened to breakfast except the cook. That utterly blew out my nervous system and DH had to help finish. I’ve spent the day mostly laying in bed reading….waiting for the “clanging bells and crashing cymbals” to quit going off in my nerves and brain. It’s getting some better by now, finally. Doesn’t bode well for any extreme Stuff-Hits-Fan scenarios, does it? There is sometimes, adrenaline override.
OldMtWoman Hmph and G’nite!
-
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.