I have been working on getting my yard winter ready. I am cutting back a lot of winter plants, cleaning out flower beds, and doing my best to be frugal as possible. I the economy is so good right now, I just know what goes up must come down.
This weeks preps check-in
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Today I went on a walk to find some horse hoof fungus. I think I found the right kind (I'm still new to this forest environment). I had a go at processing it for tinder using some youtube videos as a guide that involve boiling it in ash water and then bashing it with a stick. I will know how successful it is when it is dry.
Helped cut up and stack and all the small wood from a truly epic poplar on the property. Dead, but still a touch wet inside. If it dries out nice, we will use it in the maple syrup cooker this spring.
Ordered a tenpoint crossbow for a buddy who doesn't do things like use debit cards or go "online" lol. Also took him in town to pick up his hunting license and tags. Nice that in this county, he can phone in his measurements, not go to the station.
Scouted out a good spot to hunt some coyote, now we need to hunt some geese for bait carcasses.
Ordered a fiber optic front bead for the shotgun, the bead got broke off during the move down here.
Picked up a bunch of industrial size cans of beans and veggies for winter chili... Maybe with goose? Lol. Hopefully not with coyote.
Got some auto body work this weekend for a guy, and going to try to get a case combination hoe running, it's been sitting for a couple years, if I can get it going it will be the "tractor" for this side of the property, I can stop driving the other loader all the way around the property just to pull a small stump.
Ordered a tenpoint crossbow for a buddy who doesn't do things like use debit cards or go "online" lol. Also took him in town to pick up his hunting license and tags. Nice that in this county, he can phone in his measurements, not go to the station.
Scouted out a good spot to hunt some coyote, now we need to hunt some geese for bait carcasses.
Ordered a fiber optic front bead for the shotgun, the bead got broke off during the move down here.
Picked up a bunch of industrial size cans of beans and veggies for winter chili... Maybe with goose? Lol. Hopefully not with coyote.
Got some auto body work this weekend for a guy, and going to try to get a case combination hoe running, it's been sitting for a couple years, if I can get it going it will be the "tractor" for this side of the property, I can stop driving the other loader all the way around the property just to pull a small stump.
Got confirmation that my house has sold, so I leave in a little over a week to start looking for my 'small house big garden' place in the west of Scotland. Lots of final packing of small bits and running around to whittle down a mighty To Do list. I went up into the loft to retrieve the 2 or 3 unopened rolls of insulation that I thought were up there and found 11 rolls, which was nice, and I'm currently working on how best to pack demijohns for storage.
Please post pics (but not location of course) of your new place, I'm imagining a "small house big garden" property in Scotland, and in my mind its gorgeous.
Congrats on your move, always satisfying to get something you've been working hard for!
Edited to add: what the heck is a demijohn?
Congrats on your move, always satisfying to get something you've been working hard for!
Edited to add: what the heck is a demijohn?
Thanks, I will. The bits of Scotland I'm considering really are gorgeous, although the property will probably be no more than an acre, and perhaps as small as 500 sq. yards. I am, however, in the very lucky position to be able to buy outright with no mortgage, and might even consider buying land on which to build a small house.
A UK demijohn is a 4.5 litre / 1 gallon glass container for homebrew: https://www.brewstore.co.uk/glass-demijohn-45-litre. Mead and wine are on the menu for the new place
I got my 70 y/o dad to help with little projects around the place. He is a tinkerer extraordinaire. He hates being retired with nothing to do and loves having projects so I got him a key and he goes out the place when we aren't there to fiddle on anything he can find. Already reset the front door, fixed the locks, and resealed the door. He found 7 gallons of paint he didn't need and has threatened to take my mom out there to start her painting.
Met with the power people last Tuesday, still waiting on word on a $$ figure to hook up the place. (I'm still hoping for solar, haha, but electric will be easier if it's not too expensive to hook up).
Hubby's grandmother gave us a wall mounted propane radiant heater that will more than heat the place, along with a big propane tank (think 400gal), we just got to move it.
Oh, and there will be someone coming to look at the house we live in now on Tuesday. Eek!! If he decides to buy we should be pushing a move sooner than anticipated. Okay by me!!
Lastly, I have decided to discontinue college next semester. I may or may not pick it up later, but am leaning toward not. The degree came with too many things no longer in my priority. Hubby and I are okay with staying on a single income, living below our means, and he's pretty fond of me being able to take care of things because of the flexibility. My new 'job' after the move will be 'The Gardener', haha. Or 'Pooch Taker-Carer'. Or 'Master Money-Saver'. Or, or.. cook, cleaner, errand gal, bill payer, laundry master, canner, deal finder, (list goes on and on and on....)
Met with the power people last Tuesday, still waiting on word on a $$ figure to hook up the place. (I'm still hoping for solar, haha, but electric will be easier if it's not too expensive to hook up).
Hubby's grandmother gave us a wall mounted propane radiant heater that will more than heat the place, along with a big propane tank (think 400gal), we just got to move it.
Oh, and there will be someone coming to look at the house we live in now on Tuesday. Eek!! If he decides to buy we should be pushing a move sooner than anticipated. Okay by me!!
Lastly, I have decided to discontinue college next semester. I may or may not pick it up later, but am leaning toward not. The degree came with too many things no longer in my priority. Hubby and I are okay with staying on a single income, living below our means, and he's pretty fond of me being able to take care of things because of the flexibility. My new 'job' after the move will be 'The Gardener', haha. Or 'Pooch Taker-Carer'. Or 'Master Money-Saver'. Or, or.. cook, cleaner, errand gal, bill payer, laundry master, canner, deal finder, (list goes on and on and on....)
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That's basically what I do around here but add in a few more critters. It's amazing how busy you will be with no "real" job. I do work outside the home a couple days a week, but even then I sometimes feel overwhelmed with everything that needs to get accomplished between garden, which also includes the taking care of and preserving, home, critters. Then throw in a couple aging parents and grandkids. . . You'll find plenty to do. Going to warn you now, men sometimes forget everything you do throughout your day because they don't see it when they are gone. Sometimes hunny thinks I have magic fairies around that come in and help.
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We got the propane furnace and the AC installed in the new house, just have the heat pump left to install. Most of the electrical is done in the house and shop. Maybe tomorrow we'll get the wiring connected from the inverter to the house. The cabinets will be delivered on Monday and the snow plow should be here tomorrow.
Haven't done much but save money for paying the insurance bill. To work and home, that's it. The gun show I was looking forward to is now off the schedule for me. Darn. Paid to have the oil in the car changed, too cold outside for me, but I will change it again this summer myself. Been scouting around for a better paying job.
Things are going well here. Work is good and I’ve been able to save really well for a while now. I’m smart enough to know life has ups and downs, so saving for the downs is just part of the game. Still working on projects around here. Just built the door for the well house today and did some more work on the camper. I’m planning to take it out for the first trial run within the next couple weeks. I started to winterize it today, draining everything, but then decided against using antifreeze at the last minute. I decided to put a small electric heater in it to use when it drops below freezing. I want to use it some over the winter so don’t want to deal with the residual antifreeze in the systems. Glad I u tubed the winterizing stuff. Didn’t realize how much water stays in the water heater. Got it drained and cleaned the anode too.
Overall am content with everything prepping wise anyways. I just bought a lot of yard tools, like shovels, post hole diggers, pick axes, axes, etc. I got enough for all our vehicles, but had prepping in mind. You can never have enough yard hand tools that don’t require gas or electricity. Replaced the battery in my generator and ran it for 20mins today too. It’s really nice to be able to got to the store for things like that. I really do try to consider how things would be if we had to make do with what we have on hand. I believe we will see that day before too long.
Overall am content with everything prepping wise anyways. I just bought a lot of yard tools, like shovels, post hole diggers, pick axes, axes, etc. I got enough for all our vehicles, but had prepping in mind. You can never have enough yard hand tools that don’t require gas or electricity. Replaced the battery in my generator and ran it for 20mins today too. It’s really nice to be able to got to the store for things like that. I really do try to consider how things would be if we had to make do with what we have on hand. I believe we will see that day before too long.
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I finially got my Jeep back from the shop last week. The damage was a lot more extensive than was expected. Had to get a new winch bumper from ARB. It's actually a little nicer than the old one.
We picked up the grandbabies and brought them home for a few days. These visits are always too short.
I took them with me on the trap line a couple days. They love riding on the 4 wheeler with Grandpa. We stopped at a friend's ranch and looked at horses. I'm going to buy them a horse next summer. The kids are now 2 and 3 now so I think they'll be ready for their first horse by summer.
We picked up the grandbabies and brought them home for a few days. These visits are always too short.
I took them with me on the trap line a couple days. They love riding on the 4 wheeler with Grandpa. We stopped at a friend's ranch and looked at horses. I'm going to buy them a horse next summer. The kids are now 2 and 3 now so I think they'll be ready for their first horse by summer.
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I finially got my Jeep back from the shop last week. The damage was a lot more extensive than was expected. Had to get a new winch bumper from ARB. It's actually a little nicer than the old one.
We picked up the grandbabies and brought them home for a few days. These visits are always too short.
I took them with me on the trap line a couple days. They love riding on the 4 wheeler with Grandpa. We stopped at a friend's ranch and looked at horses. I'm going to buy them a horse next summer. The kids are now 2 and 3 now so I think they'll be ready for their first horse by summer.
We picked up the grandbabies and brought them home for a few days. These visits are always too short.
I took them with me on the trap line a couple days. They love riding on the 4 wheeler with Grandpa. We stopped at a friend's ranch and looked at horses. I'm going to buy them a horse next summer. The kids are now 2 and 3 now so I think they'll be ready for their first horse by summer.
Decided to test some of my fire starting tablets I keep in our fire starting kits in our go bags and vehicles, results were not promising. Every thing I have must be capable of igniting by spark and be reliable.
WetFire; I have about 100 tabs, most are over 5yrs old, out of 25 17 wouldn't start by spark 10 of them wouldn't even start with a direct flame even crumbling them didn't help, the packaging was sealed, they worked great for me in the first year but at almost a dollar a tab I scratched them of my list and trashed the one's over a year old, I'll finish the remainder for use at home.
TinderQuik; I have about 30 tabs left, these are 4yrs old, about a quarter wouldn't take a spark but did by flame and just barely at that, when new these easily taken a spark, not overly expensive but these were scratched from the list, rest of the stock gone in the garbage.
LiveFire; Have about 4, these still work great but with just one being about $20 today, these were also scratched from the list
Coghlan's Fire Stick; I have a whole case of these I purchased back in 1994, they took a spark without any issues and looking on Amazon they are only $4 for a bag of them still relatively cheap.
Conclusion:
No more of them over priced fancy tabs that don't offer long term storage (beyond 5 years) with the exception of LiveFire but not at $20 bucks, going back to the Fire Stick, I'll continue to use PJCBs for selective use, it's cheap and doesn't expire but can be messy. In our go bags (and vehicles) just keeping the Fire Stick and Fat Wood as a fuel source in the fire kits even if it means giving up some space and weight.
WetFire; I have about 100 tabs, most are over 5yrs old, out of 25 17 wouldn't start by spark 10 of them wouldn't even start with a direct flame even crumbling them didn't help, the packaging was sealed, they worked great for me in the first year but at almost a dollar a tab I scratched them of my list and trashed the one's over a year old, I'll finish the remainder for use at home.
TinderQuik; I have about 30 tabs left, these are 4yrs old, about a quarter wouldn't take a spark but did by flame and just barely at that, when new these easily taken a spark, not overly expensive but these were scratched from the list, rest of the stock gone in the garbage.
LiveFire; Have about 4, these still work great but with just one being about $20 today, these were also scratched from the list
Coghlan's Fire Stick; I have a whole case of these I purchased back in 1994, they took a spark without any issues and looking on Amazon they are only $4 for a bag of them still relatively cheap.
Conclusion:
No more of them over priced fancy tabs that don't offer long term storage (beyond 5 years) with the exception of LiveFire but not at $20 bucks, going back to the Fire Stick, I'll continue to use PJCBs for selective use, it's cheap and doesn't expire but can be messy. In our go bags (and vehicles) just keeping the Fire Stick and Fat Wood as a fuel source in the fire kits even if it means giving up some space and weight.
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That's good to know. Coghlan's waterproof matches are worthless. Most of them would not even light, and the two or three that did light went out almost immediately. I tried striking two together, and one lit briefly and went out. The other one was charred where it was touching the one that lit, but it never ignited.
After going through about a dozen matches, the striker on the side of the box disintegrated.
Stansport waterproof matches however were of very high quality.
After going through about a dozen matches, the striker on the side of the box disintegrated.
Stansport waterproof matches however were of very high quality.
That's good to know. Coghlan's waterproof matches are worthless. Most of them would not even light, and the two or three that did light went out almost immediately. I tried striking two together, and one lit briefly and went out. The other one was charred where it was touching the one that lit, but it never ignited.
After going through about a dozen matches, the striker on the side of the box disintegrated.
Stansport waterproof matches however were of very high quality.
I've used Coghlan's matches including there NATO approved matches and had bad luck even in dry periods.
Anymore I stock all my fire kits with one of these below. I never had an issue with them, not as cheap as Coghlan's but then again they aren't my everyday use.
UCO Stormproof, UCO Titan and Zippo Typhoon matches.
Out to see a friend in town, wandering around the shops as she looked for specific things and I peered at various items, including a nice wee hatchet.
She said: 'Other people look at candles and think, "Oh, those will make the dining-room table look nice." You look at them and think, "They'll keep me going during a blackout."' She's not wrong!
She said: 'Other people look at candles and think, "Oh, those will make the dining-room table look nice." You look at them and think, "They'll keep me going during a blackout."' She's not wrong!
The magnesium blocks work pretty well, but of course you need fuel for them to burn. They burn hot and have no expiration date at least.
Finished building the door and buttoning up the outside of the well house today. Been dragging my feet too long on that project. Hope to install a light in it tomorrow and it should be insulated enough for our mild winters for a 90w lamp to keep it from freezing. Also bought a small ceramic heater with a thermostat for the camper. I really don’t like the idea of putting nasty chemicals (antifreeze) in the water system. The heater was a simple fix that will only be used when the temps drop below 32degs. Not sure what I will do tomorrow, but will find some project to fill the day!
I have a few of them, originally issued to me in the Military and always in the fire box.
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I have several cases of the UCO Stormproof matches. They work really well. The stricker strip on the box doesn't last very long though, especially if it gets damp. Just be careful not to lose the stricker strips that come inside the box. I keep several boxes of these matches in all of my vehicles, ATV's, tractor and my EDC bag. As well as some wax and sawdust filled egg carton sections.
Thanks for the review Mav, that is much appreciated.
- Little car issues chipping away at me. The inside door drivers side handle broke. got a new one on ebay and put it in, brother had to help me get the panel off, there was a clip that the video did not address, I could have pulled on it for a week and it would not have budged, then 2 days later a headlamp out. So to the store and bought a pair, will replace both, that was another 37.00. When you have an older vehicle this the sort of stuff that is part of it. I keep reminding myself it is better than a 400 dollar car payment. The less I drive the better that car is on mileage per year, it is a 2001 and has 176. The body will rust off eventually, I will not stop driving it til the cost of repair outweighs the cost of newer vehicle.
Like you said, the cost of maintenance is always less than the cost of a new car. Eventually the car is just breaking down too often though and needs to be replaced. One of our employees had his transmission going out. Was about a three thousand dollar repair. He jumped right out and got a used car on a lot vs repairing the car. He was 14k in debt now, and the newer car broke down in the first couple weeks, needing a head job. The dealer wouldn’t fix it outright, but we’re graciou enough to sell him an aftermarket warranty, that was close to 2k, and redid his loan to cover it. Then he found out that it only covered half of the repair. So now he is over 16k in debt for a used car. That transmission is looking cheaper all the time. I talked with him about the Dave Ramsey advice on cars before all this, but he is 21 and had to learn the hard way. Come to think of it, I learned the hard way about a lot of things in my 20’s too....
By sheets of wet&dry fine sandpaper and cut them down in strips, it’s what I do and they work very well.
Went through my first aid kit and checked dates (all good) added a water proof pocket notepad and pencil in case I need to take notes on time, track supplies or whatever.
Restocked my fire kit because I have been using it camping a lot last year. I need a new giant ferro rod.
Loaded up a couple shotgun bandoliers I made years ago, the milspec elastic is still in nice shape. Now I can just grab and go.
I need to buy some slugs, then I can alternate slugs and shot.
Went through my bags, and I'm rethinking them.
Restocked my fire kit because I have been using it camping a lot last year. I need a new giant ferro rod.
Loaded up a couple shotgun bandoliers I made years ago, the milspec elastic is still in nice shape. Now I can just grab and go.
I need to buy some slugs, then I can alternate slugs and shot.
Went through my bags, and I'm rethinking them.
I’ve been a prepping bum today! Had a lot on my list but have pretty much blown it off and relaxed all day. Back to reality tomorrow. I have been thinking about all my projects, but didn’t get any further than that....
No prep done, still getting car going, replaced head lights to end up breaking a panel over the battery, because of course you have to remove the cover and remove the battery to get to the light, then the battery cable breaks and I can't get the battery to sit correctly because there is a flange that must be removed before it will go in and I don't have a tool to fit it. Can't wait to get out of this world because 99% of the time it sucks. BAck to this when I get off work today if it isn't raining.
