Prep Genrl Weekly prep thread January 10-17

aviax2

Veteran Member
DH and I finally have 2 weekdays off again from childcare so today we went in to see our eye Dr. We both have been needing new glasses, hopefully they’ll be in soon. I need to get bloodwork done and get an appointment for a check up soon.

DH also went Monday afternoon and bought a ton of feed for the cows.
 

Bidadisndat

Contributing Member
New 3 x 6 metre (10' x 20') greenhouse delivered today. Now have to erect it.
As supplied, it's 2 metres (6'7") high but I'm going to put it up on double-stacked 50 x 200 mm (2" x 8") treated sleepers.
I did the same for my first greenhouse and it's been up and has handled quite a bit of extreme weather for going on two years.

Found two possums curled up inside the garage roller doors and having got them out (lot of hissing and growling from one) am installing bulkheads to prevent further invasions. Also building a couple of possum boxes to put up in a big gum tree at the far side of the house. We like Aussie possums, (which are quite different to American opossums,) but not inside the house.
 

SouthernBreeze

Has No Life - Lives on TB
We'll be doing a big shopping run, today. Stocking up on more dog and cat food, plus doggie treats. We've got a pretty good stock on all of that, but more is better. Cary is buying more chain saw chains for his two saws. He wants extras of extras, and has a chain saw blade sharpener. We heat solely with wood, so he is planning that out for the next few years by stocking up on necessities. Then, it will be on to the grocery store. I'm gonna be concentrating on more canned items and meat for the freezer this time. Hopefully, we'll have a successful trip.

Ya'll take care.....:)
 

Digger

Veteran Member
We downed 3 white oak trees for fire wood. I want to buy a smaller chainsaw for me. Hubby's is to big for me to handle easily. I need to be able to help him all I can. His back is wrecked. But he downed the trees. I limbed them. Then we cut it into logs and skidded it out with the tractor. We can take our time since we have wood for this year and next already.
 

SouthernBreeze

Has No Life - Lives on TB
We downed 3 white oak trees for fire wood. I want to buy a smaller chainsaw for me. Hubby's is to big for me to handle easily. I need to be able to help him all I can. His back is wrecked. But he downed the trees. I limbed them. Then we cut it into logs and skidded it out with the tractor. We can take our time since we have wood for this year and next already.

The last bad storm we had blow through, one of the neighbors down the road had 3 huge oak trees come down in their yard. They gave all 3 trees to Cary to cut for firewood. He's been working on those for about 3 months now, and still has a lot of firewood to get out of them. We already have 7 cords under roof, and he's added 3 more cords already out of those trees. I don't have any clue as to how many we will finish with, but Cary said that we already have enough to last at least 3 years, and that's if we have cold winters each year. So far, this one has been rather mild. Like everything we do, he keeps all of our firewood in a rotation cycle. I wish that I could help him. He's slow doing it all by himself, but I'm the one who has back issues, and can't help. He takes his time, and the neighbors aren't in a hurry to get them out of their way.
 

CaryC

Has No Life - Lives on TB
We downed 3 white oak trees for fire wood. I want to buy a smaller chainsaw for me. Hubby's is to big for me to handle easily. I need to be able to help him all I can. His back is wrecked. But he downed the trees. I limbed them. Then we cut it into logs and skidded it out with the tractor. We can take our time since we have wood for this year and next already.
Just for reference purposes:

Stihl makes an electric chain saw, meaning light. But also not meant for Red Woods either.

So if looking for a saw for limbing there is that.

Also another light saw is the Stihl 7' extension chain saw. Has like a 12" bar, and a strap so the weight is carried more on the shoulders than the arms. While made for cutting limbs on standing trees, the lower ones, can also be used for limbing a down tree.

There are a variety of other saws. The next IHMO would be the Stihl 18" bar. Not to heavy, great for limbing larger limbs. And can be a work horse, so long as you can work both sides of the tree. Which would give an effective reach of about 34 inches.
 

Digger

Veteran Member
We have a pole saw. But I want to be able to cut bigger limbs. Looking at a medium sized gas powered saw. Sorry your back is bad too. It can be miserable. Hubby had to retire early because of his.
 

nomifyle

TB Fanatic
We'll be doing a big shopping run, today. Stocking up on more dog and cat food, plus doggie treats. We've got a pretty good stock on all of that, but more is better. Cary is buying more chain saw chains for his two saws. He wants extras of extras, and has a chain saw blade sharpener. We heat solely with wood, so he is planning that out for the next few years by stocking up on necessities. Then, it will be on to the grocery store. I'm gonna be concentrating on more canned items and meat for the freezer this time. Hopefully, we'll have a successful trip.

Ya'll take care.....:)
DH has a chain saw sharpener also, and when I ordered the replacement blade for his saw mill I ordered two, I would have gotten more but they are $132 each.

I thought I was done with amazon but I had to order sulfer powder for mange on the goat, walmart did not have any in the local store.

We also heat with wood but not totally, the wood stove is not in the house proper, its in an added on room. It does a good job but does not reach our bedroom or the bathroom. Our furnace went out a few days ago and we ordered the part and it got here fairly quickly, but it was not the complete problem. So we called a repair person and he came withing an hour, what a blessing. We are way out in the woods and his charge for coming this far was only $15. And the repair was reasonable too. I signed a one year maintaince contract for servicing twice in a year, spring and fall. We have an old unit and the contract is cheaper than a new unit.

God is good all the time

Judy
 

SouthernBreeze

Has No Life - Lives on TB
DH has a chain saw sharpener also, and when I ordered the replacement blade for his saw mill I ordered two, I would have gotten more but they are $132 each.

I thought I was done with amazon but I had to order sulfer powder for mange on the goat, walmart did not have any in the local store.

We also heat with wood but not totally, the wood stove is not in the house proper, its in an added on room. It does a good job but does not reach our bedroom or the bathroom. Our furnace went out a few days ago and we ordered the part and it got here fairly quickly, but it was not the complete problem. So we called a repair person and he came withing an hour, what a blessing. We are way out in the woods and his charge for coming this far was only $15. And the repair was reasonable too. I signed a one year maintaince contract for servicing twice in a year, spring and fall. We have an old unit and the contract is cheaper than a new unit.

God is good all the time

Judy

Glad you finally got your furnace fixed!

Like I said, we heat solely with wood. We have only a 1000 sq ft house so it's not hard to heat. Everything is open like one giant room ( this is where the wood heater is located), except for the two bedrooms and bath. The wood heater even heats those, too. When it gets really cold, and I'm going to be doing several chores in the laundry room, we have our wood cook stove in there, and I fire it up just for added warmth. It's on the very back of the house. I also cook on it in a power outage. Another reason to have extra wood on hand each year.

We're finally back from our trip. Got everything on my list, except another corn broom. The one I'm using now is shot. I'll get it next trip. I bought 4 family packs of boneless pork chops, 4 1lb packs of ground beef, 2 5lb packs of ground beef, 2 large bags of boneless chicken breasts, 2 bacon, 2 packages of chicken fried steaks to begin restocking my freezer. I wanted some beef and pork roasts, but they were out of those. I placed everything in large freezer storage bags, then divided it all up, and placed each kind of meat into double bagged shopping bags with item and date. Trying to keep this freezer better organized this go around.

In the town we shop, they have built a new large store that will be similar to Walmart, called Hometown Market. It will be open the next time we go shopping, and I plan to check in there to see what all they have. I've never heard of them, before now, so don't have a clue who owns it. Anyone know?

Cary picked up 3 more chain saw chains and more oil for his chainsaws, and lots more food and treats for our cats and dog.

We'll be going to the big city on Wednesday to try and find me some new shoes or boots for winter, I've looked online, but since I'm so hard to fit, I'll have to try them on first. Cary needs to get an oil change for my car, too. We have gift cards from Christmas, and we want to spend those, also. Hobby Lobby for me, and The Carhartt Store for Cary.
 
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SouthernBreeze

Has No Life - Lives on TB
Just to let ya'll know. When Cary got up this morning, he wasn't feeling well. I checked his temp, and he doesn't have one, but he says he's freezing and has uncontrollable shakes. He is also vomiting a lot. His hands feel numb, too, according to him. That's his only symptoms for the time being. He's wearing a jacket, and I've got him rolled up in a blanket. He's asleep right now, Son is on his way with meds and an oximeter. Don't know if it's COVID or not. He doesn't want to go get tested, unless he begins to run a temp. I'm watching him closely.

Could you all please say a little prayer for us?
 

nomifyle

TB Fanatic
Just to let ya'll know. When Cary got up this morning, he wasn't feeling well. I checked his temp, and he doesn't have one, but he says he's freezing and has uncontrollable shakes. He is also vomiting a lot. His hands feel numb, too, according to him. That's his only symptoms for the time being. He's wearing a jacket, and I've got him rolled up in a blanket. He's asleep right now, Son is on his way with meds and an oximeter. Don't know if it's COVID or not. He doesn't want to go get tested, unless he begins to run a temp. I'm watching him closely.

Could you all please say a little prayer for us?
Praying for ya'll, you have been so careful too.

My DH isn't feeling up to par but I think its because of not getting enough sleep when the power was off and being cold.

God is good all the time

Judy
 

SouthernBreeze

Has No Life - Lives on TB
Praying for ya'll, you have been so careful too.

My DH isn't feeling up to par but I think its because of not getting enough sleep when the power was off and being cold.

God is good all the time

Judy

Yes, being very careful. Wearing masks every time we leave home, and practice social distancing with hand washing. The only time we've been around anyone without wearing masks are DS, DDIL, and her mom last Sunday.

Thanks for your prayers!
 

aviax2

Veteran Member
Just to let ya'll know. When Cary got up this morning, he wasn't feeling well. I checked his temp, and he doesn't have one, but he says he's freezing and has uncontrollable shakes. He is also vomiting a lot. His hands feel numb, too, according to him. That's his only symptoms for the time being. He's wearing a jacket, and I've got him rolled up in a blanket. He's asleep right now, Son is on his way with meds and an oximeter. Don't know if it's COVID or not. He doesn't want to go get tested, unless he begins to run a temp. I'm watching him closely.

Could you all please say a little prayer for us?
Prayers up.

Has he ate out recently? Several years ago my husband got food poisoning and thats exactly how he was (I don’t remember if his hands felt numb). It turned out he had had shrimp that hadn’t been handled properly. I’ve never seen him so sick before or since.
 
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coloradohermit

Veteran Member
Prayers up for Cary.

Monday I got my second shingles shot, so that's done. I did a few quick errands this morning. Got a little more cash at the ATM. Topped of the car gas tank. Got a few things at Safeway which was well stocked. I don't normally shop at Safeway because they're much pricier than Kroger, but they have a Starbucks and I was due for a fix. ;-)
 

SouthernBreeze

Has No Life - Lives on TB
Prayers up.

Has he ate out recently? Several years ago my husband got food poisoning and thats exactly how he was (I don’t remember if his hands felt numb). It turned out he had had shrimp that hadn’t been handled properly. I’ve never seen him so sick before or since.

No. We both ate the same thing last night. I made tacos.
 

WanderLore

Veteran Member
Got more cleaning and stuff put away done. Got stuff ready for homeschool hikers group meeting done and patches on. Its been snowing all day but half rain. Back porch cleaned. Not sure what else. Maybe do some baking with the boys.
 

20Gauge

TB Fanatic
My absentee neighbors, who I really like, had told me that they were retiring and moving back full time by the summer. Well they decided they didn't like the way things were looking, so they moved back last week! :) They're already going wide open getting their greenhouse ready, and he's been doing tractor work in our shared driveway.
Did they liquidate their other land holdings? Just curious.
 

Walrus

Veteran Member
Off to the medical clinic to get tested. Cary went from having no temp to 102 with blood O2 at 94.
Agreeing in prayer.

Good reaction to go as soon as you saw his condition change; hope you have access to a doctor who will give you hydrochloroquine and zithromycin. The combo worked well for my son. The bride and I take HCQ (200mg) for a once-a-week prophylactic.
 

Marseydoats

Veteran Member
Did they liquidate their other land holdings? Just curious.

They had moved away to care for her elderly relatives about six years ago. They inherited the house when they passed. It's for sale now. They were going to stay there until it sold for fear of looters or squatters. But they decided they didn't want to be in the big city.
They have a really nice little farm here and it's paid for. Wish I could say that...
 

nomifyle

TB Fanatic
I went to town to refill gas and diesel cans. DH had let the diesel get really low, hard head. And we used gas in our generator. I went to Dollar Tree to see if they had any of our allergy meds, they are often out and today was no different. But when they do have them I usually get at least 10 packages so I still have a supply, I just like to replace what we've used.

I also replaced some other things that I have used. Use two replace with 4. I wanted to go to walmart but I was tired (we had eaten chinese and that always makes me tired). I wanted to replace some of the smoked sausage we have used in the last however many months. I may make it over there in the next couple of days or not. I did go in the local grocery store (next to the chinese place) to get a bottle of mint oil. Its so wonderful for odors, the store limits to one, so I get one every time I'm in that town.

Dh is still not feeling well, no fever at all though. I think he's just worn out from all he's been doing this last week.

God is good all the time

Judy
 

Meemur

Voice on the Prairie / FJB!
I did the yearly linen closet inventory. I decided to spring for one more wool blanket for the guest bed (finished, non-itchy type) and just ordered it from Minnesota (hope it gets here) -- I have army blankets for the windows and for sleeping on the floor/ground.

Faribault Woolen Mill Co. | Blankets, Throws & Scarves Made in USA.

Another set of cotton sheets would be nice but not at the high prices I'm seeing, even for factory seconds. That's not as critical as one more guest blanket for winter.

Added: I'm still debating about one more set of towels: these will be factory seconds.

I know: first world problems. But if a hot war gets started, I won't be shopping at Target. I bought extra pillows and some bedding last March but I didn't get everything on the list due to finances.

In Iowa, there's spring/fall, summer, and winter bedding. Right now, it's flannel sheets and wool blanket time.
 
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summerthyme

Administrator
_______________
Was checking out seed packs from a small local supplier. They were almost empty. 20 heirloom string bean seeds? Maybe 30 or 40 smaller seeds in other packs? And they wanted $3.95 a pack?
Thats why i have been recommending the Ukrainian seed source... But just now I went to get their webpage and they're gone! Says they'll be down for maintenance and "back soon"... on December 11th. Darn!

They sold seeds in tiny Ziplock envelopes, with miniature information sheets in each one. But they were crammed full of seeds... over a thousand carrot seeds in one packet.

Their beans and peas weren't as great a deal... you'd do better buying by the pound ftom a decent American supplier. And they don't/ didn't carry any corn seed. But their packets end up below $1 each, even with shipping, because they give a discount for American dollars.

I'll keep an eye out and see if they come back up. Maybe they are as overwhelmed as everyone else.

Summerthyme
 

John Deere Girl

Veteran Member
I did the yearly linen closet inventory. I decided to spring for one more wool blanket for the guest bed (finished, non-itchy type) and just ordered it from Minnesota (hope it gets here) -- I have army blankets for the windows and for sleeping on the floor/ground.

Faribault Woolen Mill Co. | Blankets, Throws & Scarves Made in USA.

Another set of cotton sheets would be nice but not at the high prices I'm seeing, even for factory seconds. That's not as critical as one more guest blanket for winter.

Added: I'm still debating about one more set of towels: these will be factory seconds.

I know: first world problems. But if a hot war gets started, I won't be shopping at Target. I bought extra pillows and some bedding last March but I didn't get everything on the list due to finances.

In Iowa, there's spring/fall, summer, and winter bedding. Right now, it's flannel sheets and wool blanket time.
Amazon has really good sheets for under $30 a set.
 

Digger

Veteran Member
Southern breeze, keep a check on Carys blood pressure too. My hubby's dropped to 70s/40s. Thank God I checked it before giving him his blood pressure medication. He had the same type symptoms. His test was negative but his dr still thinks Covid was what he had. His blood pressure stayed low for 3-4 weeks. Low oxygen only lasted 2-3 days, but dropped into the upper 80s for a day or so. I took him to the emergency room. They gave him two bags of fluid and diagnosed food poisoning. Then sent him home. Vitals were no better than when he got there. But they did give him something for nausea. His regular dr had me call every morning for about a week to give them a report on how he was doing. I can't say enough how much we appreciate out dr clinic. It is small and privately owned.

Yesterday I checked to see if old, fat ladies bounce. Well, we don't. I am a little stiff today. My right hand is swollen where i caught myself with my fist. That wrist is stiff too. But nothing is broke. I wont be fist fighting anytime soon though. :lkick:
 

summerthyme

Administrator
_______________
Ouch, digger! If you can get some Arnica gel (walmart, GNC or Amazon) it will really help the soreness, and it actually helps bruises resolve faster.

Summerthyme
 

nomifyle

TB Fanatic
My DH is fine today, he was just worn out and need to rest, praise the lord.

Praying for Cary and Sheree.

God is good all the time

Judy
 

Meemur

Voice on the Prairie / FJB!
Amazon has really good sheets for under $30 a set.

Thanks! I'll keep that in mind. I'm going to the factory outlet mall this afternoon to see what I can pick up in person. I'm worried about shipping and next week. I took a chance on the woolen mill because it's up I-35, several hours away. It's shipping this morning, so it might get here OK.

And then I'm going x-coutry skiing! We finally have enough snow that they were able to get out and groom the trails first thing this morning!
 
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