Good point about don’t forget to take care of yourself too. My wife has been ill for a long time and it’s easy to forget about your own well being.
This weeks preps check-in
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Hang in there! Early and contained is a good thing. Those surgeries are a lot better than they used to be. We’ll be praying for you both.
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Two years ago, I mentioned about some volunteer collards that sprang up in the back yard around my compost heap.
http://www.doomsdayprepperforums.com/index.php?threads/plant-identification.8173/
Last year they sprang up again, but the weather got hot before they were big enough to harvest and they bolted. So I let them go to seed and harvested the seeds and dried them.
Well a couple of weeks ago, I prepared a small garden and planted the seeds...and now they are growing! I wasn't sure how many would germinate and ended up planting way too many for the size garden I planted them in. So today while the weather was nice, I enlarged the garden. I'll transplant some in the newly prepared ground when they get larger.
Oh, any my daughter figured out how it must have happened: When I clean out the bird cage, I dump all the poop and scattered bird seed in the compost heap. Usually some greens pop up from the seed but don't live long. We're thinking there were some collard seeds in the birdseed.
http://www.doomsdayprepperforums.com/index.php?threads/plant-identification.8173/
Last year they sprang up again, but the weather got hot before they were big enough to harvest and they bolted. So I let them go to seed and harvested the seeds and dried them.
Well a couple of weeks ago, I prepared a small garden and planted the seeds...and now they are growing! I wasn't sure how many would germinate and ended up planting way too many for the size garden I planted them in. So today while the weather was nice, I enlarged the garden. I'll transplant some in the newly prepared ground when they get larger.
Oh, any my daughter figured out how it must have happened: When I clean out the bird cage, I dump all the poop and scattered bird seed in the compost heap. Usually some greens pop up from the seed but don't live long. We're thinking there were some collard seeds in the birdseed.
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If anyone else out there has ever collected coins, I got one that I’ve wanted for a long time! It’s a draped bust quarter. Needless to say, it cost a little more than a quarter now. I look at coin collecting as a fun savings account. It’s better than the measley interest a savings account pays at least. Of course if shtf, you can’t eat them but I figure they will still have some trade value. Probably better than paper cash.
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Congrats Brent, my oldest U.S. coin is a Seated Liberty half. But I have some foreign coins that were used as currency in the U.S. in the 1700s like Pieces of Eight and Lion Dollars (Dutch). My oldest coin is a Roman Denarius.
What a lot to take on at once. Wishing you all the best. I am glad you are a prepper. It doesn’t solve everything, but it does help some know you have your ducks in a row.
I’ve got some Roman coins that you would think would be valuable due to the age. US coins have been the most valuable for decades, even though not as rare in most cases. I think it’s cool to think about the history these coins have been through. One day I hope to complete a type set of the silver and copper US coins. Just one example of each type is still a tough thing to accomplish. Like I said earlier, it’s an interesting and tangible savings account.
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I like collecting coins too. I've got all of the US gold coins, except for the $3 coin. Got a lot of silver coins too. Back when I was little my grandfather was digging a foundation near an old house and he dug up a metal chest full of Morgan silver dollars. There were several thousand of them in that box. He decided to split them up with family. I still have my share.
I also collect US paper currency, mostly large size bills. It's been awhile since I've aquired anything new. It might be time to start looking for that $3 gold coin again....
Ebay gives a huge variety of options. You can compare prices and grades
Congratulations! That sounds huge! I have one I love that does about 8 quarts at a time. Sometimes I have to do 2 or 3 batches, but that is pretty infrequent. Hope you get many good things cooking soon!One 23-quart pressure canner is winging its way to me. Now I just need to convince my loved ones to give me canning jars as birthday/Yule presents
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Our heater was out. It was a dirty flame sensor ( never heard of it). We might look into getting our a/c air filter moved from our kitchen ceiling to the attic. The door to the filter always wants to come down. We have to secure it with postage tape. It’s a pain to change the filter. It will depend on how close they can get the filter to the attic door. Neither of us wants to go up in the attic for anything.
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I was looking into the history of the U.S. Dollar, and our first "official" dollar coin was the "Milled Spanish Dollar" (AKA Pieces of Eight) which was technically a Spanish Peso, a silver coin marked Eight Reales, minted in the Spanish colonies and widely available in the colonies thanks to piracy of the Spanish galleons transporting the coins to Spain.
When the U.S. "Dollar" was defined by law, they took a number of Spanish Milled Dollars in circulation, weighed them, and got the average weight, then defined a "Dollar" as containing the same quantity of silver. Milled Spanish Dollars remained legal tender, concurrent with U.S. Silver Dollars until the Coinage Act of 1857.
One Reale coins were called "bits." But One Reale coins were rare in the colonies because only Eight Reale coins were shipped to Spain, so you made change by cutting the Eight Reale coin in halves, quarters and eighths (bits). This is why a quarter is called "two bits" and it's also why the Spanish Milled Dollars were sometimes called "Pieces of Eight." Earlier Eight Reale coins were crudely hammer struck instead of milled and are the ones portrayed in pirates movies.
The reason they were called "Spanish Dollars" was because it was of similar size to an earlier coin used by the colonists, the Dutch Daalder, also known as the "Lion Dollar" which itself was called a Daalder because it was of similar size to the Austrian "thaler" which was a widespread standard for silver coins in Europe ("Daalder" is the Dutch translation of "Thaler", "Dollar" is the English translation of "Daalder")
Hammer Struck Peso (Pirate's Pieces of Eight)
Milled Peso (Spanish Milled Dollar or Pieces of Eight)
Daalder (Dutch Lion Dollar)
Austrian Thaler
Cheers, Doreena
I'll be poring over recipes once it arrives - and once I've got a cooker to use it on!I hope you're able to get it sorted out. Malfunctioning and awkwardly sited items are a right pain in the arse.
Really interesting bits of history Doc! Every coin has a unique story behind it and have always been fun to me to learn about. I used to have a pillar dollar, the second picture above. Nicknamed, as those are the pillars of Hercules. It was officially recognized as legal tender for the US before we started making our own coins.I was looking into the history of the U.S. Dollar, and our first "official" dollar coin was the "Milled Spanish Dollar" (AKA Pieces of Eight) which was technically a Spanish Peso, a silver coin marked Eight Reales, minted in the Spanish colonies and widely available in the colonies thanks to piracy of the Spanish galleons transporting the coins to Spain.
When the U.S. "Dollar" was defined by law, they took a number of Spanish Milled Dollars in circulation, weighed them, and got the average weight, then defined a "Dollar" as containing the same quantity of silver. Milled Spanish Dollars remained legal tender, concurrent with U.S. Silver Dollars until the Coinage Act of 1857.
One Reale coins were called "bits." But One Reale coins were rare in the colonies because only Eight Reale coins were shipped to Spain, so you made change by cutting the Eight Reale coin in halves, quarters and eighths (bits). This is why a quarter is called "two bits" and it's also why the Spanish Milled Dollars were sometimes called "Pieces of Eight." Earlier Eight Reale coins were crudely hammer struck instead of milled and are the ones portrayed in pirates movies.
The reason they were called "Spanish Dollars" was because it was of similar size to an earlier coin used by the colonists, the Dutch Daalder, also known as the "Lion Dollar" which itself was called a Daalder because it was of similar size to the Austrian "thaler" which was a widespread standard for silver coins in Europe ("Daalder" is the Dutch translation of "Thaler", "Dollar" is the English translation of "Daalder")
Hammer Struck Peso (Pirate's Pieces of Eight)
Milled Peso (Spanish Milled Dollar or Pieces of Eight)
Daalder (Dutch Lion Dollar)
Austrian Thaler
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All the way up to 1857 in fact.
Another bit of trivia...
That scroll and column? Became the symbol for the Dollar $
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I frequently ask for canning jars for birthday and Christmas. It is the one item that is always a given when my family has no clue what to get me and they know they will be used. I have quite a collection, but really I don't think you can ever have too many. I even store my dehydrated and freeze dried items in them now that I have an attachment to suck out air for my vacuum sealer.One 23-quart pressure canner is winging its way to me. Now I just need to convince my loved ones to give me canning jars as birthday/Yule presents
Ah, that gives me hope - thank you
They're quite pricey here in the UK, but building up my stock bit-by-bit (and gift-by-gift!) is the way forward.
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The promise of filled jars of goodies is definitely one way to go . . . Hunnys boss sent me a case of 1/2 pint jars when he heard Mayhaws were starting to come in season. I got the hint. Some people give you your jars back but he prepared, others do not. People I know well, I threaten bodily harm, just sayingAh, that gives me hope - thank you
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I stock up when there is a sale, even bought some from Walmart on line. They run about a US dollar apiece. I agree with Danil, you can never have too many!Ah, that gives me hope - thank you
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Around the holidays wallmart will have stacks of pint jars on sale for 5.00 a case. I’m stocked up for a good while.
We been prepping all week getting ready for the weather. Been snowing since last night, supposed to go through next weekend, we should be going into the single digit tonight into the early morning, this should be our pattern for the week. It's a very dry snow about the size or in between a 50c piece and a silver dollar, we put the chains on last night, pump houses are warm and the stables ready.
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About the same here too Mav. We had rain all day yesterday, which is very unusual at our elevation, then it turned to snow. We've gotten about a foot of new snow so far today, and snow is expected every day for another week. I managed to push the snow banks a little further off the road yesterday so I'll have room for this new snow.
Even now the cattle are struggling to get to water, the shelter of the timber and their feeding area. The trails they use through the snow are half way up their backs. They could start calving any time now too.
I put an extra propane tank down at the pump house in case the big tank runs out. Next week we're supposed to get down to single digits and below zero.
Just about every day of the year in the mountains is about prepping for something. In summer we prep for winter, and in winter we prep for the next storm.
Just been to see a property well out on the Rhinns with plenty of pros: 1 acre of good grass; snug house with an oak kitchen; 3 loose boxes for horses; big greenhouse; big workshed with bags of space for bikes and car, a boxing ring (!) that I can change into my weights room, a utility room and a woodwork store; about 400 yards from the sea and good for shore-fishing. It's well within my budget and I'm going to go again at the end of the week
Cons: no woods around to speak of, as it's all farming up there; I'd need a more robust vehicle as my wee car managed the track but might struggle with a heavy load; income might be a bit thin on the ground.
Cons: no woods around to speak of, as it's all farming up there; I'd need a more robust vehicle as my wee car managed the track but might struggle with a heavy load; income might be a bit thin on the ground.
Haven't gotten too much done around the new place lately. Darn car repairs taking all our extras lately. But did score some free cabinets. They may or may not replace the ones in the kitchen. If nothing else, will store then for future shop. Can always use cabinets.
Otherwise, just waiting til we have enough dough to get the electricity people to come connect us. Once we have some juice out there things will move much quicker.
Otherwise, just waiting til we have enough dough to get the electricity people to come connect us. Once we have some juice out there things will move much quicker.
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I found solid wood cabinets tossed out on the side of the road shortly after buying this place. We ended up putting them in hunny workshop. It's hard to pass up that kind of deal and who can't use more storage options.
One of our old pump house heaters stopped working, fired up an old kerosene heater to temporarily replace it, looks like we will be checking it every 4 hours and it has to be our furthest pump house
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Today we went to the BIG city for hunnys referral from his doctor. His cancer is at a 7 with a 1 - 10 scale with his type of cancer but it is a positive outlook since it is localized and surgery will be scheduled most likely 2-3 weeks from now. Tomorrow we are expecting a phone call from his assistant with the next step.
So far the biggest issue that we will need to deal with is that hunny will not be able to lift over 10 lbs for 3 weeks. That is no big deal to me. Hunnys concern was that I will have to do all the feeding twice a day. As hunnys doctor pointed out at the visit was your wife looks strong enough. . . . Hunny is a good man to have my well being in mind. We just brought home 6000 lbs of feed yesterday to get ready for this surgery coming up and will probably do a top off before it actually happens. We still need to get more hay rounds. I want one added the day before we leave for surgery. Hunny will need to be staying over night and I will be staying there in the chair right beside him. Critters will just have to eat hay for a couple days. . . . sure it will only be a couple feedings but it will be forever got then. There are other issues but those are just things we will have to deal with as it is happening.
As for granny, my brother in law says that he will be available to come stay with her a couple days until we come back into town,
So far the biggest issue that we will need to deal with is that hunny will not be able to lift over 10 lbs for 3 weeks. That is no big deal to me. Hunnys concern was that I will have to do all the feeding twice a day. As hunnys doctor pointed out at the visit was your wife looks strong enough. . . . Hunny is a good man to have my well being in mind. We just brought home 6000 lbs of feed yesterday to get ready for this surgery coming up and will probably do a top off before it actually happens. We still need to get more hay rounds. I want one added the day before we leave for surgery. Hunny will need to be staying over night and I will be staying there in the chair right beside him. Critters will just have to eat hay for a couple days. . . . sure it will only be a couple feedings but it will be forever got then. There are other issues but those are just things we will have to deal with as it is happening.
As for granny, my brother in law says that he will be available to come stay with her a couple days until we come back into town,
I work all the time now. It’s great financially but dosent leave much time for prepping! Such is life, you’re either poor with loads of time to relax and pursue hobbies or you’re making money and don’t have time to enjoy it! I guess there are worse problems to have. I’m going to do something really fun soon though. Don’t know what yet but soon....
