Prep Genrl Weekly prep thread: December 11-17

[nomifyle]

We ordered all our seed this past summer. Enough to plant our whole yard, front, back, and sides if need be. Never know what the future will bring, so we wanted to make sure we had enough. As it stands right now, we still use several raised beds, and have a regular garden that takes up the back corner of our yard. We can increase the size of it any time we want. If I don't have enough garden space to grow what I want next Spring, Cary will increase the size. We've already laid in several years' worth of fertilizer, garden soil, manure, and I also compost.

We are getting flooding rains. It started late yesterday afternoon, through the night, and it's still coming down. We were spared any bad storms, but got a few rumbles of thunder, overnight. Flood watches and warnings are still ongoing. No more drip, drip, drip, either. LOL.

Cary's project for today is to get the bathtub drain fixed. He was cleaning out the drain, yesterday, and he broke the flipper thingie that opens and closes it. Now, he's got to tear into it to try and fix it. Thank God we have plenty of stoppers for the tub! I have no idea what all it will take to fix it, but I'm not buying a new bathtub. Our is one of those old cast iron tubs from yesteryear, and it will have to be broken into pieces to get it out, or either, knock out the whole outside wall in the bathroom to get it out all in one piece. A rubber stopper to keep water in the tub is a whole lot cheaper.

I love your kind of bathtub and I hate the kind of crap tubs that are put in mobile homes.

After katria ex and I lived in our camper parked next to our oldest son's gutted house in Chalmette. The bathing situation in the camper was tiny, so we got a pink tub, (like yours SB) that someone was throwing out. We put it in the bathroom of the house. Ex rigged up the water and my brother (God bless his soul) bought us a hot water heater. I gotta tell you I have not had such a wonderful tub since then. Did I say how much I dislike the garden type tub we have in our ancient mobile home. Its hard to get in and out of with my aging body. I actually, pretty much anyway, like the tub in my FEMA camper. However its a blessing to have what we have and I'm greatful to God for it.

We got some heavy rain but I think we were on the outskirts of the really bad weather. Its still drizzeling a little bit, but not much predicted for a couple of days or so. The rain has picked up enough for me to hear it and the goats have all run under the bus. They all need a bath badly.

We have to go back to the doctor and va for a check up on Friday and the weather will be sunshine, but in the 50's. Its in the 50's now, but fine in the house, I think the fire in the wood stove is dying down. DH's ear is looking good and he's had not pain pill since Saturday. He took them when he needed them but he will not let himself become dependent on them, me either.

My should pain is much less, I'm sure the NASID is helping my shoulder and my knee. I'm praying the I can get the umph to get up and get some things done. I still haven't gotten the commodity boxes in the house from the porch yet, although they are under cover.

Our goats are all fuzzy with their winter coats but still filthy from the rutting. My male goat, luke, seems to be getting over his diahreea, he did not want to take the pepto yesterday, but we got some in him, maybe it was enough.

Eggs are still plenty, getting at least a dozen a day.

 

[SouthernBreeze]

I love your kind of bathtub and I hate the kind of crap tubs that are put in mobile homes.

After katria ex and I lived in our camper parked next to our oldest son's gutted house in Chalmette. The bathing situation in the camper was tiny, so we got a pink tub, (like yours SB) that someone was throwing out. We put it in the bathroom of the house. Ex rigged up the water and my brother (God bless his soul) bought us a hot water heater. I gotta tell you I have not had such a wonderful tub since then. Did I say how much I dislike the garden type tub we have in our ancient mobile home. Its hard to get in and out of with my aging body. I actually, pretty much anyway, like the tub in my FEMA camper. However its a blessing to have what we have and I'm greatful to God for it.

We got some heavy rain but I think we were on the outskirts of the really bad weather. Its still drizzeling a little bit, but not much predicted for a couple of days or so. The rain has picked up enough for me to hear it and the goats have all run under the bus. They all need a bath badly.

We have to go back to the doctor and va for a check up on Friday and the weather will be sunshine, but in the 50's. Its in the 50's now, but fine in the house, I think the fire in the wood stove is dying down. DH's ear is looking good and he's had not pain pill since Saturday. He took them when he needed them but he will not let himself become dependent on them, me either.

My should pain is much less, I'm sure the NASID is helping my shoulder and my knee. I'm praying the I can get the umph to get up and get some things done. I still haven't gotten the commodity boxes in the house from the porch yet, although they are under cover.

Our goats are all fuzzy with their winter coats but still filthy from the rutting. My male goat, luke, seems to be getting over his diahreea, he did not want to take the pepto yesterday, but we got some in him, maybe it was enough.

Eggs are still plenty, getting at least a dozen a day.

I'm glad you made it through the storms ok. I kept a close watch on your area. Temps are dropping here, too. DS told us, yesterday, that snow was in our forecast for next week. I sure hope they miss that forecast!

Cary got the tub fixed, sorta, but we'll have to use a rubber stopper for it from now on. No big deal, and like I said, that's cheaper than going through the whole ordeal of replacing the tub. We hardly ever take a tub bath, anyway. We take showers.

My shoulder has almost healed, but I'm still feeling a small pain if I raise my arm over my head. I'm still doing the exercises off and on during the day. BP is still too high, so it looks like I'll have to take the BP med to get it back to normal, even though, I've tried other options without much success, even using the hibiscus tea and lots of garlic.

As soon as DS gets his property all fenced, he is building a chicken pen and run so he can start raising chickens. The pen is already built, but it needs tweaking a bit, and the chicken run has to be made. We're going to help with the feed, so we can get fresh eggs, too.

 

[nomifyle]

I just did a quick check on the price of eggs at my local wm. 4.20 for a dozen great value eggs. DH needs to get feed in the next few days but he will need help with the 50# bags because he limited to a 10# weight restriction. I've helped him in the past but he was still shouldering most of the load. I can barely slide a d 50# bag much less help empty it.

We are still getting up to 18 eggs a day. We have maybe six renegade chickens that will not stay in the chicken yard no matter what DH does to clip their wings and build the fences higher. No telling where they are laying and how much.

 

[nomifyle]

DH took his tractor to the barn and loaded a couple of sticks of wood at a time to the wood buckets on the scoop. He brought the tractor to the porch and I was able to off load off the tractor scoop onto the porch.

He is restricted to 10#s, its driving him crazy and killing my arm and back but I have to help bring in wood. Right now we are not using the furnace, just the wood stove and a couple of small electric heaters for him, one in the bedroom and one near his computer desk.

Christmas cards at church. They do kind of a sweet thing. They have labeled with names bags for people to put cards in. I haven't done Christmas cards in years, but I found an old box, no envelopes, but pretty nice cards for church. I can't say enough how much this church group is meaning to us old fogies. We have kept to ourselves too much.

 

[kyrsyan]

Absolutely bone weary tired today. Out of the house at the crack of dawn, was still late getting to hospital. Fortunately, I was wrong about the time, so I was 10 minutes early. Brought sewing to do but didn't get a single moment to do it. They were actually timely and efficient.

Son had a migraine and did not take the early wake up time well. He got meds but he hurt himself before they kicked in. And he was a bit stressed because there was a stranger at friend's house. In the end, he got two meds and calmed. He's currently burrowed under blankets at home, and with how quiet he is, I'd say he's taking a recovery nap.

I got to hit two thrift stores and a grocery store. I have two large pieces of 4 way stretch lycra from one. Popcorn tins and cloth napkins from the other. And had an interesting discussion with a lady from my grandmother's generation. She is currently teaching her daughter many of the skills she has, because COVID opened the daughter's eyes. The gentlelady's current goal is to teach her daughter to stop using most paper products. She's already taught her to garden and grow herbs. And canning. We had a lively discussion on using, and making, fabric versions of everything. She was intrigued by the idea of using old kids shirts cut into squares as "paper towels" for those messes that might actually result in the cloth being tossed. I told her that, like her, I have a massive stack of kitchen towels. But those cloth "paper towels" are specifically for messes that might damage the cloth or cause the cloth to need to be tossed. They also make good impromptu pot holders and napkins.

Then I got to hit the grocery store quick. That was about the end of my energy for the day. I did manage to pick up the frozen veg that I couldn't get earlier this month. And the van's tank is topped off in case the gas station is closed when I head over to see family for Christmas.

There is rotisserie chicken for dinner. And veggies. And then I think I'm crashing early.

Btw, the last thing you want to hear a tech say to a trainee is "Did you see that?" when they are in the middle of your EEG. I'm honestly hoping it was a gag. And I didn't know that the new trick they have with transcranial dopplers can actually reveal if there is a problem with blood flow, such as holes where holes don't belong or things that affect the flow.

 

[SouthernBreeze]

It is still pouring rain! If this keeps up, we're going to be locked in on top of this ridge. Creeks surround us all the way around the bottom of it, and they are overflowing. We will wait to see how bad it is tomorrow, before we decide to go into town.

I wasn't in the mood to cook, tonight. I baked a family pack of boneless pork chops last night (Cook once, eat twice), and we had plenty left for our supper, tonight. I just made a pot of potato salad and a pan of biscuits. That was it for us. I wasn't even hungry.

Cary loaded up our firewood rack in the house, and started a fire in the heater. Gonna be down to 39, tonight.

 

[hd5574]

So glad you all made through this storm been praying for you...it is heading for us.next ....might start before too long..tonight and tomorrow and tomorrow night..we are under a winter storm warning for an ice storm...we had a horrible one last January and had no power for 8 days...if we are very luck we just get a lot of rain ..our ground is soft from rain...but we are on the top of a ridge so we sit high...we have a generator that will get the water out of the well..and fuel stored..we will most likely be fine..

The power co is installing major poles and wires here so we lose phone and internet from time to time because of that..I guess that is so we will able charge all the electric vehicles...that nobody out has...and don't want ..or might be because of a solar farm..who knows

Went to Food Lion last night and Walmart today after dh got home...he came in early because parts are off and on.... and if it is ugly in the morning..he will stay home..we were able to get more dry cat food and another tarp for wood and a few fresh things..we needed..saw.. extra large eggs for about $3.46 a dozen..

No sooner did he get home and the guy we are getting firewood from called and had a cord of seasoned firewood to drop off....that makes 8 cords so far we are trying to get a total of 15 or 16 so we will about 3 yrs worth..plus the standing dead here at the house...he selling so inexpensively we can't resist...he selling all oak and a little bit of hickory to us for $150.. we do know him so cheaper to us....one place here is wanting $385 a cord delivered..all oak...he even brought a big bucket of kindling today.. totally unexpected....

 

[briches]

Does he have heat. .....and or grow lights..

Yes he does. Heat mats are used to get the seeds growing, and then he has grow lights on timers. This is his second year of doing this, and it’s working GREAT.

 

[bluelady]

I like Doc Martin too, but I can't get anything beyond the 4th or 5th season, so I quit recording it. I like british sitcoms, but not American ones.

We have hughes net so I'm seriously limited in what I can stream. We also have hughes net and its a big rip off, but there is nothing else. DH loves westerns, although we do not have the western channel. The inspiration channel plays mostly westerns, and lots of gunsmoke, we watch them over and over.

I've started turning the sound really low while I read. sometimes I listen to music, I like classical to read by. My ex turned me onto classical as I had had no exposure to it.

I bit the bullet and paid for a month of Acorn TV in order for us to binge watch the final season of Doc Martin. They will have a Christmas special on the 29th and that's in the month. Since we have it we've also started re-watching from the beginning; don't know if we'll finish.

Dh has Asperger's; they never come out & say the Doc has it but we both know he does...LOL!

Last year we got Chromecast for our tv so we can watch together anything that's on our phones. Recently I cancelled Hulu and Amazon Prime in order to save money, and bought the cheapest Roku so dh has plenty of free movies and TV shows. So the Acorn month was a splurge, but there aren't many shows that we *both* really enjoy watching.

 

[SouthernBreeze]

It was so good to wake up this morning to sunshine! It stopped raining just as we were getting ready for bed. For the first time in several days (I think it's been over a week) Cary and our dog got to walk our perimeter fence before bedtime without it raining.

The water should have receded some in the creeks down below us, so we're good to go with shopping, today. I've only got a few things to get, so I'll make a one stop shop at Walmart. I only need yogurt, eggs, bread, cheeses, fresh produce, fresh fruit, Cary's beer, and dog treats. That should bring our monthly total cost of groceries for us way down. We won't be shopping again, until after Jan. 1. I'm not replacing or stocking more for the pantry this time. I've got so much food put away that I'm thinking it might go bad, before I use it all. I need to take a break, and try to use some of it down, before adding more. That also includes my 2 chest freezers.

 

[Marseydoats]

It was so gray and nasty this morning that I overslept, and I still had to turn the barn lights on to see. We're already flooded and it's supposed to rain all day today as well. I have tried to go out twice and finish my chores but every time it starts pouring. I'm about half done... Puppy is mad because I wouldn't let her go with me. I took her to potty and brought her back in.
At least I got the truck to the garage to be worked on before it quit. I had made an appt. with my poor overworked mechanic and a bunch of other people just showed up in the meantime, one of whom left their car where he couldn't get anything in or out of the garage without moving it. I really don't need to go anywhere except the dump before next week, so hopefully he can get it fixed by then.
I guess I will work in the pantry today because it is too cold and nasty to be outside for very long. This is the time of year I want to move to Arizona.

 

[hd5574]

We are super lucky...we are 33 degrees with rain..yes rain...just west of us got ice....praying for all dealing with the ice trees snapping...power outages in cold weather... don't mind rain or snow....not fun sometimes but we can deal with it..plus it keeps water in our well....we are thankful for our well......but ice causes such a mess....

SB glad it stopped raining...

 

[nomifyle]

A bright 54 degrees and sun today. DH had to go to town to get two new tires. We had that low tire last week and found out the tire was pretty bad. So on the truck the spare went. Last night DH said he was uneasy about going to the doctor without a spare tire. so he is taking care of that right now.

We are hoping we get our SS checks on Friday before our usual Wednesday deposit. If I do then I'll get mine before Christmas if not then after. On the one hand it doesn't particularly matter for me, I'm was use to being paid once a month for years before I started ss, so I plan accordingly. There isn't much in my bank account but then I have my bank of seely.

We don't need any groceries, I went to wm the other day and picked up a few things so we are set. I bought a tropical trail mix that introduced me to dehydrated pineapple. And wow is it tasty. So I broke my pledge not to order anything in December and ordered some from Amazon. I will certainly ration it to make it last. I also ordered some dehydrated mango for DH, can't treat me without treating him too.

so church is doing a dirty santa at the Christmas party Sunday night. I bought a winter Beret from Amazon and it turned out to be wool and too tight on my head, I was going to return it but will instead use it for the dirty santa present. It really is nice so maybe someone will enjoy it. I have an older knit beret around here somewhere, I just need to find it. That's the story of my life, I just need to find it.

I brought all the wood buckets either in the house or by the front door. At the rate we are burning wood it might last until tomorrow. So DH needs to load up some more wood buckets and bring them in the tractor to the front porch so I can get them in. My tendancy is to use my right arm to move the buckets but since I have issues with it I have to remember to use my left.

its 58 outside and 76 in the house, I let the wood stove burn down cause I forgot to keep it going. The thermostat is set on 75 so it comes on from time to time but does not keep running. It feels good outside and I have on a sleeveless shirt.

i'm feeling pretty good today so I'm tackling some of my things that have badly fallen by the way side.

We needed more coffee from the pantry. What I took out is possibly the oldest coffee I have stored. The can said best by 4/21. I haven't opened it yet but it looks nothing creepy has gotten to the contents. The canister is dusty and may have had creepies crawling around on it so its all washed off. That's the folgers, the Community Coffee and Chicory in a vacuum sealed bag is still hard as a rock. I'm resting my back right now so I'll open them and mix them later. My pantry closet is a mess, I can hardly even get in it, so big clean up in there.

It feels good to feel like doing something, no matter how small amount it is.

 

[kyrsyan]

It is a beautiful, sunny, but cold day here. That's okay. I'll take the sunshine.

The challenge today was to do the new task, but not do it so fast that I made the boss feel stupid and slow. Because this was one of her tasks. Granted, one she hates, but still. The big differences are, one, I can do data entry really, really fast. And two, I can make Excel, or variants of it, sing. It might take me a few to set up the spreadsheets and formulas, but after that, it gives me everything as soon as I enter the data. (She hates spreadsheet programs.) It also helps that I have a double monitor setup due to a former job. But I can do this and not wound egos. And I'm pretty sure that there will be tasks upcoming that will kick me in the rear a bit. But she was still kind of thrown that I finished in 4 hours. And found some things that she needed to fix, which unfortunately tossed some more work onto her day.

I'm plotting safe desserts for both son and I. I finished adapting the recipes and added the items to the grocery cart. One is a frozen german chocolate pie recipe that my family has had for years. Mine will be without crust. His will have a GF Oreo cookie crust. I'm still working on pumpkin pie variants. Oh, and I worked out a variant, hopefully, for keto White Chocolate hot chocolate powder mix.

I'm about to approach family about changing up the holiday approach a bit. For the last few years, it's been visit Mom & Dad's house, then go to brother's house. Except son is on a migraine streak. Fortunately they are not being compounding migraines but they need daily treatment and the least little thing sends them over the top. So I think I'm going to ask that we just do the lunch time one at Mom & Dad's house, and then we will likely head home. Because we can't do overnight. And it's 3.5 hours each way. I'd rather do that when I'm not in pain and hurting. Although I just had a pop up thought about finding a hotel room near them for the night. That would make it so we aren't doing all that driving in one day. Going to have to think on that.

Dinner tonight is potluck. Son is getting fried rice. I think I'm doing sliced chicken sandwiches for me. He needs something that he considers comfort food. And he's a bit happy. Some of the safe candy canes showed up yesterday. And a color changing fiber optic lamp is very much being enjoyed. He wouldn't let me turn it off last night, and is a bit tired because of that. I think, next paycheck, I'm just going to get a batch of the hand held ones to keep here, in the van, at friend's house, etc. They seem to help him calm without riling him up like some of the tablet apps do. And he loves making the fibers dance. I'm also debating some of the LED glowsticks for him. He loves light and rhythm patterns.

 

[briches]

We are super lucky...we are 33 degrees with rain..yes rain...just west of us got ice....praying for all dealing with the ice trees snapping...power outages in cold weather... don't mind rain or snow....not fun sometimes but we can deal with it..plus it keeps water in our well....we are thankful for our well......but ice causes such a mess....

SB glad it stopped raining...

I was relieved it avoided us as well.

 

[kyrsyan]

Ugh. Just ugh.

FedEx got the packages here. And the delivery guy waited until I came out to pick them out, but down the street. Whatever.

Opened them. Three shirts sent in the wrong size. Not even going to go into the headache. They sent me 3 return labels for what fits in one small box. And, of course, want it to go back by FedEx, which has no local drop off points.

Ugh. I'm going to go watch Die Hard and sew now.

 

[briches]

Yesterday was a busy day - hospital pre op visit which went well. Surgery planned for Tuesday. I finished up the few small Christmas gifts I needed to buy.
While I was “in town”, I went into both Target and Walmart. I found some nice comfortable loungewear for after surgery, but was reminded of why I really love shopping online 99% of the time. Lol
I ran into Lidl while there and got some blocks of cheese for hubby to smoke. Their prices are now the same as Walmart (used to be much cheaper) - at least on the few items I was buying. I did find three jar candles that were marked down to 99 cents each. However, I dropped one walking in the house, and it shattered. Oops. I can’t pass up a good buy on good smelling candles.

It will be a busy day today. I have a lot to wrap up work wise to prepare for being out until January 23 (surgery), I need to pay bills/update budget, post office, and a trip to the bank. This weekend I will finish all wrapping that needs to be done.

 

[SouthernBreeze]

Gosh, I'm glad we're done with instore shopping, until after Jan.1! The crowd at Walmart, yesterday, was awful. Absolutely, no shortages of any kind, and pallets were out in the aisles. A dozen of large eggs had gone from $3.52 up to $4.19!!!! That's in just over a week. Cary texted our DS and told him that he needed to get that chicken pen up and running, NOW, LOL. By buying only what I needed, I was able to cut our normal shopping bill down to half of what I had been spending, which saved us that much on groceries for the month. I was happy.

Like I said, the store was crowded. While we were shopping, an alarm went off. It was so loud! Cary and I always know where the nearest exit is to us at any given point in the store, just a habit we have. Then, we saw a cop! Don't know what all of that was about, but we were two steps away from one of those exits when the alarm sounded. We just stayed right there, until we felt it was safe to resume our shopping. It sure gave us a scare, but Cary was armed, as usual.

It's another beautiful and sunny day today, but it's cold. High today is supposed to be 54, with below freezing temps, tonight. Only 49 for our high, tomorrow. At least, there is no rain in our forecast.

I got out 3 boxes of Rice a Roni from my freezer. I vacuum sealed them up in pint canning jars, after sitting out 2 days to thaw, and on the shelf they went. I did some cleaning in my kitchen pantry, so I had space for a few more jars. The kitchen pantry is the one I work out of on a daily basis. When it starts to get low on an item, I bring more in from the main pantry room. I didn't have room for these jars in the main pantry, so I had to put them in the kitchen pantry, but they are all dated so as not to use them any time soon. Once I get some free space in the main pantry, all the jars I have vacuum sealed will be moved to there. We're going to be eating down some of the food I have stored, without replacing it for a while.

I plan to make beef meatballs with gravy, mashed potatoes, purple hull peas (home canned by me), steamed Brussel sprouts with butter melted over them, and cornbread for our supper tonight. I had made a big batch of the meatballs, put half in the freezer to use later. Tonight, we finish them off.

 

[nomifyle]

There is a processor that donates venison to our church. They brought a bunch on Wednesday evening. The church offered us a 40# bag and we greatfully accepted it. That will help to make up for Dh not being able to hunt for now. He's gotten two smallish (no spots) females thus far, last year he didn't get any.

Today was DH's followup for his ear surgery. It was all fine and he's has no pain meds since Saturday, so that means he only took it for 5 days. His weight restriction has been somewhat lifted, the doctor just said to be reasonable. so he can bring in the stove wood. I didn't mind doing it though. Last night I moved all the wood on the porch to a for sure spot where it would not get wet.

The weather started out beautiful but turned gray and rainy. DH wanted to leave earlier than I did, although I didn't have to go. So I got ready and we left 4 hours early. We have to allow about two hours to be on time. I stayed in the truck the whole time except for once when I had to go to the bathroom. I was shocked when I got out of the truck that it was so cold and windy. I went straight to my chair when we got home and took a good nap.

 

[summerthyme]

Judy... I don't know your set up, but if you don't need to carry the stove wood up stairs, have you considered a 2 wheel cart or "dolly" to help? I think it's wonderful that he (and you, to a lesser extent) are still so active (use it or lose it!), but as you've just experienced, there are times when you can't lift much for awhile.

We have the wood here stacked out in the pavillion. (roof, but no walls), about 125 feet from where we need it for the stove. A dolly and ratchet strap makes it simple to being in the equivalent of several armloads in one trip. We also have a heavy duty canvas carrier with leather handles I made at DS's request for Christmas a few years ago ( I used one in the Lands End catalog for a model, and my Amish leather worker friend made the round leather handles, and let me use his heavy machines to sew the leather straps, and to make a triple layer hem)

But while he can easily carry 80# of wood in it, the rest of us don't want to stress our backs that much...

Glad your hubby is doing well!

Summerthyme

 

[kyrsyan]

Been a day. Good and meh. Christmas items are out of the attic. My son actually showed some signs of recognition of them. That's big. There was a light in his eye and a smile.

Some of the his candy canes arrived, both big and small. I may just have to add one or two to the tree each day for him to find.

And a few miles away, as the crow flies, there's an tanker overturned on the interstate. It has taken them over 20 hours to determine that it supposedly is not leaking. And a specialized team is headed in from Chatta to deal with it. So I find myself reminding myself where all the grab and go stuff is. Just in case. Because you don't close several miles of interstate for 24+ hours for harmless ingredients.

 

[Digger]

I still have not gotten around to butchering roosters. I have been selling hay. I am almost sold out. If the couple of people I have lined up really show, I will be out. I have all my sales on the back of an envelope. During the artic weather next week, I will do some of my book work. Today and tomorrow I hope to get to that rooster job.

I talked to my boss. He is sending me a contract to sign for another area I bid on. He also want me to bid on another area. We already drive past the area he wants a bid on as we do other contracts. This new area was under a different agency until now. I have been wanting more income. Once I get an area cleaned up, it stays cleaner. It is a good job for me. I can plan around the weather and how we feel.

We are expecting a little snow 2 days next week. But it is going to be bitterly cold near Christmas. Some days not even getting above freezing. That is well below average for our area.

We have not shopped much, just our local Harps. The $7.99 a pound strawberries are not on the produce shelves anymore. Lettuce is $2.29 or $2.49 a small head. Eggs are $4.98 a dozen for regular eggs. We are just replacing what we use at this point. Milk seems to be holding its price at Harps.

Today and tomorrow we will finish selling the hay, cull some roosters, and put plenty of wood on the porch. Have a good weekend everyone.

 

[ioujc]

If you could spare a prayer for me, I would greatly appreciate it.

I don't understand what is going on with me.....had horrible headaches for several weeks, but those have pretty much passed, but I am totally without strength.......all I want to do is SLEEP!!! At 70 years old, I cannot continue to do this, or I will lose the ability to do the things necessary to survive here. I have even had to FORCE myself to get off my butt and feed my animals for the past month......which is always been the priority and something I have enjoyed. The "EVIL" that continues to haunt me has brought on some of this. She has killed two of my rabbits, killed all of my chickens except for one, and has now been shooting Bailey's three month old puppies in the face. This is very depressing. I just don't get how she can hurt baby puppies??!!

It may be that I am depressed because of all this, but I had this to some extent last year also. I think in addition to my regular ordinary depression and PTSD, I am also seeing SAD (seasonal affective disorder) because of reduced sunlight. And being inside because of rain and cold most days is causing me to be VERY BORED!!

I am going to go up to the old house today and get my art stuff and some craft stuff so I have some relief from being bored......but I just wonder if I have enough energy and will to go up there. Also, have NOT been eating properly. Which is generally a priority for me. Need energy and willingness to move my BUTT!!!

Prayers would be GREATLY APPRECIATED!!

 

[philkar]

Oh how I missed all of you! Huge internet problems but repaired for now. Sounds as if everyone is getting tucked in for cold including us. Will have to finish harvesting broccoli, cauliflower, and brussel sprouts. Most of the cabbages are in root cellar for now. Strawberries and such are heavily mulched. BIL is going down quickly and was admitted yesterday with sepsis. We don't think he will be able to stay by himself when he returns. Life is about to change largely for us. Any prayers accepted. Praying for all of you.

 

[SouthernBreeze]

My prayers are going out for all who need them! Hugs for everyone!

 

[nomifyle]

Also praying for those in need.

ST: our porch has four steps. What DH does is he puts 5 gallon buckets on his tractor scoop, he had been filling them on the scoop but now he'll put the buckets filled on the scoop. He puts the tractor scoop next to the edge of the porch and the buckets can easily be moved to the porch. I doubt I'd be able to get him to change from buckets to something else, it works for us. He is very good at finding the best way for him to do things.

I'm not into driving the tractor, but I do have a wagon that i bought especially for transporting things around here. it has big tires making it easier to pull across the sand, we have sandy soil. So if necessary, I could learn to drive the tractor, or put two or three buckets of wood in my wagon and bring them to the house.

The steps and the small stoop came long before the porch did so they are recessed inward. Then about three years ago he built the porch and then last year he expanded it four more feet. When he built the first part he also built the roof 5 feet out from the porch, so its all under cover. I kind of liked having the ground level cover before he extended the porch, but what they hay it wasn't that important to me and he wanted to extend it. I found a small table with two chairs at a second hand store and they are on the porch, along with two nice patio chairs, and I have some folding camp chairs in case we have company, although that never happens

I found a bath tub seat out in the lean to, because its getting harder and harder to get into the tub, the other day I wrenched my arm. This seat was my mothers and its low and I can still have the feeling of a tub bath.

 

[summerthyme]

If you could spare a prayer for me, I would greatly appreciate it.

I don't understand what is going on with me.....had horrible headaches for several weeks, but those have pretty much passed, but I am totally without strength.......all I want to do is SLEEP!!! At 70 years old, I cannot continue to do this, or I will lose the ability to do the things necessary to survive here. I have even had to FORCE myself to get off my butt and feed my animals for the past month......which is always been the priority and something I have enjoyed. The "EVIL" that continues to haunt me has brought on some of this. She has killed two of my rabbits, killed all of my chickens except for one, and has now been shooting Bailey's three month old puppies in the face. This is very depressing. I just don't get how she can hurt baby puppies??!!

It may be that I am depressed because of all this, but I had this to some extent last year also. I think in addition to my regular ordinary depression and PTSD, I am also seeing SAD (seasonal affective disorder) because of reduced sunlight. And being inside because of rain and cold most days is causing me to be VERY BORED!!

I am going to go up to the old house today and get my art stuff and some craft stuff so I have some relief from being bored......but I just wonder if I have enough energy and will to go up there. Also, have NOT been eating properly. Which is generally a priority for me. Need energy and willingness to move my BUTT!!!

Prayers would be GREATLY APPRECIATED!!

Do you have a carbon monoxide detector? Depression is definitely a possibility, but I think there's something physical going on.

Honestly, you need to rethink your relatives' offer to join forces... I know, you feel they are too close to a major population center, but you are in a much more dangerous situation where you are, compared to the POTENTIAL for danger at their place! At your age and stage of life, you clearly aren't up to dealing with a psychopath, and since law enforcement is useless, you MUST consider a move,, for yours and your animal's sakes!

Still praying for you...

Summerthyme

 

[hd5574]

Praying for all of you...

we have been busy finding food for the new pup..and the barn cats...and storing up for them...

.plus this craziness with the landline and internet...we have dsl through Verizon..and it is the best we can get... for the money....we must have a landline or no internet...it is a package deal with them...and the most inexpensive we can get....plus we do have a landline if the cell phones go down...but lately it has been the other way around.....

We tried Hughes net and it is way more expensive and it sucks...worse than Verizon...They have come through and put in the fast internet..but they want $500 to connect you...then the cheapest is over $100. per month.. so we will just keep what we have.....I bet at those prices ...not so many signing up...it is rural... because we get mail from them all the time...

The electric company is replacing the power poles down the main road....I think that they are putting in a large solar farm down main road....from us and the new lines are needed to carry the amount of power they will generate....since the Verizon lines are on those poles... we get cut off from time to time..we can live with it..

When the holidays are over...will get back to canning stuff from the freezer..all decided that I will make larger pots of soups...have a couple of meals from them..... then can the remainder for some quick meals for the rest of the winter...
we are going to get very cold over Christmas...but we are ready for that...very one stay safe and warm

 

[ioujc]

Do you have a carbon monoxide detector? Depression is definitely a possibility, but I think there's something physical going on.

Honestly, you need to rethink your relatives' offer to join forces... I know, you feel they are too close to a major population center, but you are in a much more dangerous situation where you are, compared to the POTENTIAL for danger at their place! At your age and stage of life, you clearly aren't up to dealing with a psychopath, and since law enforcement is useless, you MUST consider a move,, for yours and your animal's sakes!

Still praying for you...

Summerthyme

You may actually be right Summerthyme. I have a carbon monoxide alarm, but don't have batteries in it......and I have smelled gas several times. I have also been reconsidering the move to Florida.....
my niece calls me every three or four days because she is frightened for me to be here.......

Guess an alarm doesn't do a dang bit of good if you don't use it!!!! DUH!!

 

[SouthernBreeze]

When I was at Walmart the other day, I saw something on the shelf that was new to me. It was Great Value Fajita Seasoned Beef Strips in a 12oz can. Has anyone tried these? I wonder if it is any good. I learned my lesson with buying up a lot of canned roast beef, before trying it. Not going to make the same mistake on this. I may have to buy a can just to see what it's like.

 

[aviax2]

Prayers up for all and yes, definitely for you ioujc.

I’m still struggling with fatigue and brain fog so I haven’t gotten much accomplished this week. DH and I did work on the upright freezer and emptied 3 shelves that were so packed and unorganized it was ridiculous. We went through it and pulled a few things that had to be tossed because they had gotten shoved to the back and things piled on top and… out of sight, out of mind. It was nice to be able to tell DH exactly where the hotdogs were yesterda LOL!

Still need to do the 2 lower freezer baskets that want to fall every time I pull one out to get something, I hate those things. I keep telling DH we really only should put light weight items in them but apparently it still hasn’t clicked! I’ve been looking at getting some plastic bins to use on the shelves to organize better but everything is so expensive and I just don’t want to bring more stuff into the house anyway so I’ve been looking around at things we already have and I think I can make it all work.

hd5574~ We finally got our landline fixed Thursday, it’s been out for over a week. We’ve been having trouble with Hughes this past week and even the Verizon hotspot on our cell phones. We don’t have many options where we are either.

DH has gone to get diesel for the farm and will be getting things ready over the next few days for the cold that’s coming in. We had two calves born yesterday and they seem to be doing well, not sure when more will arrive.

The Christmas shopping is done although there is one order that probably won’t get here until after Christmas but it’s for my adult daughters and they won’t mind. My grandsons are truly growing up *sniff* oldest boy asked for a new comforter for his bed and youngest asked for a lamp to go on the nightstand he asked his parents for! Little granddaughter is so much fun and way too easy to shop for.

 

[nomifyle]

New electric poles are going up around here, all around here. I wondered why but have never asked, I'll call the power company next week and see if I can get a straight answer.

 

[kyrsyan]

Alive and kicking. Been a hectic day.
Managed to deal with Sam's Club. And get to the thrift store on its last 50% sale weekend. Came home with a lot of fabric and other things.

Timing was with me on the rest. Picked up WW order, filled the gas tank, and the made it to the WW pharmacy 20 minutes away just before they closed for lunch. Couldn't get the needed grocery items there. And wasn't in the mood to deal woth possible pharmacy issues at a store we don't go to frequently.

Got home and have the piece work finished on the last gift to be sewn before next weekend. Hopefully I can finish that tomorrow. And make a basic pattern copy of the sleep sack.

A friend is running to one last store tomorrow me. The one year I don't have store bought uncured ham on hand is the one year family decides that will be the dinner. I checked the sites for all the local stores and found them at one store.

Current plan is to not leave house again until Xmas morning. Gas tank is full. There is work to do. And I am definitely done with peopling.

 

[briches]

Praying for all of you here.

Ioujc - please consider relocating. I echo what Summerthyme is saying. I know you don’t want to be too close to a large city, but your current situation doesn’t sound safe.

 

[Marseydoats]

New electric poles are going up around here, all around here. I wondered why but have never asked, I'll call the power company next week and see if I can get a straight answer.

Judy, they have to replace them after so many years. Our co-op usually puts in the new posts and then goes back and takes down the old ones. It takes them forever and they love to block traffic on the highway as long as they can. They are very unpopular with the natives.