My hunch was right. Last weeks terrorist attack at UC Merced was just that, a terrorist attack. I was not surprised by the comments that came from the students though. The students were saying that they need to be more inclusive and make sure everyone is friendly to everyone else. They shouldn't have kicked him out of their study group. After all, if everyone was more friendly then the student who stabbed four people certainly wouldn't have done what he did. Right? Wrong!
The sheriff is still trying to state that it wasn't a terrorist attack. Why, because his parents and family are not radical so he couldn't possibly be? His family has apologized. They didn't know he was taken in by radical Islam. Unfortunately that doesn't mean it wasn't a terrorist attack. Let's go over a couple of facts, not the twist it so people don't worry. Faisal Mohammed carried an ISIS flag with him. He had a manifesto which stated that this was an attack and praised Allah. His plan was somewhat juvenile though. He wanted to use the petroleum jelly not for making a bomb but to grease the floor so people would slip. Easier to attack them I suppose. He also wanted to confront the police and try to take one of their weapons so he could use it.
What isn't known yet, at least by the public, is whether he was being directed by someone else or if he was doing this on his own. Isn't that was the terrorists are asking for? For people to strike on their own? They don't actually have to have an association with the terrorist group, just want to participate.
Individuals committing terrorist acts in this country has started. The biggest may have been the Boston Marathon bombing but I'm sure they are happening all the time. They just aren't being publicized as terror attacks. After all, most Americans want to put their head in the sand and pretend it's happening everywhere but here. If we don't pay attention then it's not really happening so we are all safe. Just as safe as those students and staff at UC Merced.
The other day I was doing some research and came across a vulgar website that was run by a "Christian" group who hated Jews and blacks and was pushing the same agenda as the radical Muslims. Those "Christians" aren't Christian just as the radical terrorist "Muslims" aren't Muslim. I just read that the man who killed the people in Kansas because he thought they were Jews (oops they were Christian!) has received the death penalty. Good.
Wednesday, November 11, 2015
Thursday, November 5, 2015
Extra people means less supplies and the knife attack at UC Merced
Last week we had a family and friend gathering at our home for the weekend. Some out-of-towners stayed with us, either sleeping on mats, extra beds, the couch, or in the trailer. Feeding 25-30 instead of 3 uses up a lot of supplies really quickly. I used 10 times as much food and supplies during that one 3-day weekend. Yes, that's equal to one month of food and supplies used up in 3 days.
While we plan to supply ourselves with food and household goods, and we daydream about having our family and friends join us when TSHTF, last weekend sure was a wakeup call! If you open your house to extra people, are they bringing a full range of supplies?
Future Spouse came out to California last weekend. FS was asking some of the relatives, especially those in Southern California, what they plan on doing to prepare for a disaster, even if it's an earthquake. The relatives gave responses such as they didn't need to do anything or they had a few days of food in the house. I think they are complacent because they've lived through many earthquakes and haven't ever really been affected.
FS is back in Colorado and now is planning on building my greenhouse. I made it very clear that I wanted one big enough to grow all the vegetables that we would need. I have never had to do intensive gardening as I've always had as much room for a garden as I wanted. It's a different way of thinking. I was asked how large of a building do I want. How should I know? As big as we can afford? I was told that there is a greenhouse building boom in Colorado right now. That's because they are being used for all the new pot farms.
FS is also planning on building a root cellar. I'm not sure if it's going to be built into the side of the hill or if it's going to be built like a storm cellar. I don't always know what FS has in mind. All I know is I'm pleased that FS is taking a proactive approach to the requirements needed for a full scale homestead. While FS is an avid hunter, it's good to prepare for a well rounded diet.
On a different note, the person at UC Merced that slashed four people with a knife prior to being shot and killed by the police was being identified yesterday as "a Californian". I knew there was something strange about that. The person's identity couldn't be made public until the next of kin were notified. Normally the news still says something about the person, just not their name. Why was this person being identified as "a Californian"? Illegal alien perhaps? No, it's because his name was Faisal Mohammed.
He was described by one of his victims as looking scared but at the same time looking like he was having fun and he was smiling as he was stabbing people. Now if this was just an attack by someone who was having an argument, he wouldn't have been looking like he was having fun and smiling. Perhaps he was following the orders of the Gaza Imam? I'm sure we will be told that he was just a lonely teenager who was unhappy because he didn't have a girlfriend.
I wrote the above paragraph during my lunch break at work today. Then I had to leave the office. On my drive I listened to the news conference put on by the university. They made it very clear this was not intended as a terrorist act. Yet, they said they have no idea because they couldn't find anything on social media nor through his family. So that rules it out? He had a backpack on him that the bomb squad had to neutralize. After doing so they were able to go through his pack to see what was in it. Zip-tie handcuffs, duct tape, and Vaseline and some other items. The sheriff said the Vaseline could have been used as a poor man's napalm. Really? Why would the sheriff say that in one sentence and a minute later say it's not terrorism? His dorm room was searched and they found his checklist of items needed to be included in the backpack. The only thing on the list that they didn't find in the backpack was a pair of scissors.
Due to privacy issues the neither school nor the sheriff can release the names of the victims. Now the contractor wasn't someone he planned on stabbing, the contractor walked in and interrupted the attack. But Mohammed did attack two students in his class and then stabbed a staff member in the back. It would be interesting to note what sex, race, and religion the victims were. I'm sure the results will be played down.
While we plan to supply ourselves with food and household goods, and we daydream about having our family and friends join us when TSHTF, last weekend sure was a wakeup call! If you open your house to extra people, are they bringing a full range of supplies?
Future Spouse came out to California last weekend. FS was asking some of the relatives, especially those in Southern California, what they plan on doing to prepare for a disaster, even if it's an earthquake. The relatives gave responses such as they didn't need to do anything or they had a few days of food in the house. I think they are complacent because they've lived through many earthquakes and haven't ever really been affected.
FS is back in Colorado and now is planning on building my greenhouse. I made it very clear that I wanted one big enough to grow all the vegetables that we would need. I have never had to do intensive gardening as I've always had as much room for a garden as I wanted. It's a different way of thinking. I was asked how large of a building do I want. How should I know? As big as we can afford? I was told that there is a greenhouse building boom in Colorado right now. That's because they are being used for all the new pot farms.
FS is also planning on building a root cellar. I'm not sure if it's going to be built into the side of the hill or if it's going to be built like a storm cellar. I don't always know what FS has in mind. All I know is I'm pleased that FS is taking a proactive approach to the requirements needed for a full scale homestead. While FS is an avid hunter, it's good to prepare for a well rounded diet.
On a different note, the person at UC Merced that slashed four people with a knife prior to being shot and killed by the police was being identified yesterday as "a Californian". I knew there was something strange about that. The person's identity couldn't be made public until the next of kin were notified. Normally the news still says something about the person, just not their name. Why was this person being identified as "a Californian"? Illegal alien perhaps? No, it's because his name was Faisal Mohammed.
He was described by one of his victims as looking scared but at the same time looking like he was having fun and he was smiling as he was stabbing people. Now if this was just an attack by someone who was having an argument, he wouldn't have been looking like he was having fun and smiling. Perhaps he was following the orders of the Gaza Imam? I'm sure we will be told that he was just a lonely teenager who was unhappy because he didn't have a girlfriend.
I wrote the above paragraph during my lunch break at work today. Then I had to leave the office. On my drive I listened to the news conference put on by the university. They made it very clear this was not intended as a terrorist act. Yet, they said they have no idea because they couldn't find anything on social media nor through his family. So that rules it out? He had a backpack on him that the bomb squad had to neutralize. After doing so they were able to go through his pack to see what was in it. Zip-tie handcuffs, duct tape, and Vaseline and some other items. The sheriff said the Vaseline could have been used as a poor man's napalm. Really? Why would the sheriff say that in one sentence and a minute later say it's not terrorism? His dorm room was searched and they found his checklist of items needed to be included in the backpack. The only thing on the list that they didn't find in the backpack was a pair of scissors.
Due to privacy issues the neither school nor the sheriff can release the names of the victims. Now the contractor wasn't someone he planned on stabbing, the contractor walked in and interrupted the attack. But Mohammed did attack two students in his class and then stabbed a staff member in the back. It would be interesting to note what sex, race, and religion the victims were. I'm sure the results will be played down.
Monday, October 12, 2015
Yard Clean Up - Preparing for Winter and Preparing to Move
I spoke with a realtor and was told to clean up the yard to make it presentable. In other words, make it look empty, sanitized, open. Never mind that I had cords and cords worth of firewood rounds. They weren't split, but they were cut to size. Much of it was eucalyptus which burns nice and hot. I also had oak plus other some other nicely burning wood. There was also the scrap wood pile. I did give some of that away so an acquaintance could build a shelter for her lamb. I have about 3/4 of a cord of wood that we will use for the winter. I'm sure if there's some wood in the shed the realtor won't have a fit about that.
Last Friday morning I had a 30 yard dumpster delivered to the house. When the guy delivered it he said that along with the rental price for the dumpster it's $50 a ton to dump it if it's mixed items but it's $60 to dump the entire 30 yard dumpster if it was all wood products. All wood products it will be! I started filling the dumpster on Friday and decided that since I was going to save so much money by not having to pay the $50 a ton that I'd hire someone to come and help load it. I have grandsons who could use extra money but they certainly don't work hard. Boy and Girl were at school. I called Labor Ready. I used them many years ago and at that time the price was $15 an hour. Now it's $20.99 per hour with a four hour minimum. They sent someone over within the hour but he was only able to work for five hours. Since I had to let him have a lunch break if he worked over 4, I knew I'd get 4 1/2 hour of work out of him. We filled over 20 yards in that time. OK, he filled 15 or 16 yards. I filled the other 4 or 5, maybe. I was home but also working from home that day, so I would do some office work and go out side for my break and load wood. I was able to get my eight hours of work in plus those few yards. I felt pretty good about that.
This same person came back yesterday morning and worked for another 3 hours. I paid him cash rather than going through the labor company and he earned $15 an hour rather than the $10 the company gave him. Saved me money and he got more. The dumpster was completely filled with wood product and there's still more in the yard. It is really frustrating to know that people want to buy a place that looks perfect and then they will just turn around and buy their own cords of wood. Stupid. Since he was here I picked up 15 bales of hay and had him stack it. I had to show him how I wanted it since he'd never done that job before. It's not hard as long as you can handle the 100-120 pound bales. You just have to offset them when you stack so they don't fall over. He was happy to learn a new skill and I didn't mind not having to deal with 3/4 ton of hay!
I'm off today for Columbus Day. It's the last time the company is giving this holiday. Starting next year they are giving MLK Day instead. Works for me! I'll take another holiday in January since I won't be with the company to get next October's holiday. It was really nice to be off during the week and the grandkids were in school.
Early this morning I had the dumpster picked up and emptied and then had it brought back. I still have stuff in the barn that I am getting rid of. It's cheaper to get rid of some of it and repurchase it used once we get to Colorado. Boy has decided that he wants to earn money so as soon as he got home from school today he went outside to do yard work and fill the dumpster. I went to check on him and he's not filling it right. You have to start at one end and work your way to the other. Otherwise it will be full of empty spaces, and we can use all the space there is. You want to get paid, do it right. It's a lesson he needs to learn now. There are so many people who think that just because they show up they should be paid. Or if they do the job but not right, they should be paid. According to our labor laws they have to be paid whether they do the job right or not. Show up, get paid. He needs to learn to do it right.
He gave me the excuse that he was just dumping it at the door end and once that area was full he was going to move it to where it was supposed to be. No. Do it right every time. You never know when you are going to have to stop and I don't want a pile at the wrong end when you leave. He had a little bit of attitude and told me that he was going to do it. Then about 30 minutes later he came in the house. Is it done? No, I have a splinter. See, you are stopping and you left it wrong. Let's get the splinter out but if you don't have it done right you don't get paid. Tough grandparent!
I moved the trailer into the front yard. We are having company at the end of the month and one is allergic to cats. This person usually sleeps in the trailer. So I'll get it cleaned up for the company before it's sold.
We are finally going to have a garage sale next weekend. I've always had sets of everything, especially because of owning the bugout place, the travel trailer, and our house. I'm selling the trailer because future spouse already has one. Bugout place is on the market so it's empty of my stuff. FS isn't quite as redundant as I am but we really could just pack a clothes bag (and the electric, with a hand crank, wheat grinder, and canning jars, and...we've got lots to bring!). Is anyone going to buy any of this stuff? I have no idea.
I was given a five gallon can of linseed oil - over $100 worth. Work was going to throw it away because it didn't have the right coding on it. I don't know what I'll do with five gallons but I knew what I wanted 1/2 gallon for. I put a nice coat of linseed oil on the oak floor in the dining room. It's a 40 year old oak plank floor. About twice a year I oil or wax it. Linseed oil is perfect for it. The rest of the year I wash it with a mop and Murphy's Oil Soap in a bucket of water. It's certainly not the way I treat the finished wood floors in the rest of the house! I have another 4 1/2 gallons of oil. The wood furniture is going to get coated. The floor is going to look great by the time the house is ready to sell!
I picked the last of the persimmons from the tree. The bees are desperate for food this year. They normally go after the persimmons once they are bright orange and starting to soften, around Thanksgiving. This time of year they are hard as a rock and green with a tint of light orange. This past week the bees ate them all, except four! I've never seen anything like it in the 15 years or so that I've had the persimmon tree.
We still have pears and apples on the trees. I wasn't going to can any more pears and I canned lots of apples. I may can some pears anyway. We had people over yesterday so I offered them pears. Take as many as you want. They took six. Take apples as well. They took four. That's not what I meant. Take 100!
Last Friday morning I had a 30 yard dumpster delivered to the house. When the guy delivered it he said that along with the rental price for the dumpster it's $50 a ton to dump it if it's mixed items but it's $60 to dump the entire 30 yard dumpster if it was all wood products. All wood products it will be! I started filling the dumpster on Friday and decided that since I was going to save so much money by not having to pay the $50 a ton that I'd hire someone to come and help load it. I have grandsons who could use extra money but they certainly don't work hard. Boy and Girl were at school. I called Labor Ready. I used them many years ago and at that time the price was $15 an hour. Now it's $20.99 per hour with a four hour minimum. They sent someone over within the hour but he was only able to work for five hours. Since I had to let him have a lunch break if he worked over 4, I knew I'd get 4 1/2 hour of work out of him. We filled over 20 yards in that time. OK, he filled 15 or 16 yards. I filled the other 4 or 5, maybe. I was home but also working from home that day, so I would do some office work and go out side for my break and load wood. I was able to get my eight hours of work in plus those few yards. I felt pretty good about that.
This same person came back yesterday morning and worked for another 3 hours. I paid him cash rather than going through the labor company and he earned $15 an hour rather than the $10 the company gave him. Saved me money and he got more. The dumpster was completely filled with wood product and there's still more in the yard. It is really frustrating to know that people want to buy a place that looks perfect and then they will just turn around and buy their own cords of wood. Stupid. Since he was here I picked up 15 bales of hay and had him stack it. I had to show him how I wanted it since he'd never done that job before. It's not hard as long as you can handle the 100-120 pound bales. You just have to offset them when you stack so they don't fall over. He was happy to learn a new skill and I didn't mind not having to deal with 3/4 ton of hay!
I'm off today for Columbus Day. It's the last time the company is giving this holiday. Starting next year they are giving MLK Day instead. Works for me! I'll take another holiday in January since I won't be with the company to get next October's holiday. It was really nice to be off during the week and the grandkids were in school.
Early this morning I had the dumpster picked up and emptied and then had it brought back. I still have stuff in the barn that I am getting rid of. It's cheaper to get rid of some of it and repurchase it used once we get to Colorado. Boy has decided that he wants to earn money so as soon as he got home from school today he went outside to do yard work and fill the dumpster. I went to check on him and he's not filling it right. You have to start at one end and work your way to the other. Otherwise it will be full of empty spaces, and we can use all the space there is. You want to get paid, do it right. It's a lesson he needs to learn now. There are so many people who think that just because they show up they should be paid. Or if they do the job but not right, they should be paid. According to our labor laws they have to be paid whether they do the job right or not. Show up, get paid. He needs to learn to do it right.
He gave me the excuse that he was just dumping it at the door end and once that area was full he was going to move it to where it was supposed to be. No. Do it right every time. You never know when you are going to have to stop and I don't want a pile at the wrong end when you leave. He had a little bit of attitude and told me that he was going to do it. Then about 30 minutes later he came in the house. Is it done? No, I have a splinter. See, you are stopping and you left it wrong. Let's get the splinter out but if you don't have it done right you don't get paid. Tough grandparent!
I moved the trailer into the front yard. We are having company at the end of the month and one is allergic to cats. This person usually sleeps in the trailer. So I'll get it cleaned up for the company before it's sold.
We are finally going to have a garage sale next weekend. I've always had sets of everything, especially because of owning the bugout place, the travel trailer, and our house. I'm selling the trailer because future spouse already has one. Bugout place is on the market so it's empty of my stuff. FS isn't quite as redundant as I am but we really could just pack a clothes bag (and the electric, with a hand crank, wheat grinder, and canning jars, and...we've got lots to bring!). Is anyone going to buy any of this stuff? I have no idea.
I was given a five gallon can of linseed oil - over $100 worth. Work was going to throw it away because it didn't have the right coding on it. I don't know what I'll do with five gallons but I knew what I wanted 1/2 gallon for. I put a nice coat of linseed oil on the oak floor in the dining room. It's a 40 year old oak plank floor. About twice a year I oil or wax it. Linseed oil is perfect for it. The rest of the year I wash it with a mop and Murphy's Oil Soap in a bucket of water. It's certainly not the way I treat the finished wood floors in the rest of the house! I have another 4 1/2 gallons of oil. The wood furniture is going to get coated. The floor is going to look great by the time the house is ready to sell!
I picked the last of the persimmons from the tree. The bees are desperate for food this year. They normally go after the persimmons once they are bright orange and starting to soften, around Thanksgiving. This time of year they are hard as a rock and green with a tint of light orange. This past week the bees ate them all, except four! I've never seen anything like it in the 15 years or so that I've had the persimmon tree.
We still have pears and apples on the trees. I wasn't going to can any more pears and I canned lots of apples. I may can some pears anyway. We had people over yesterday so I offered them pears. Take as many as you want. They took six. Take apples as well. They took four. That's not what I meant. Take 100!
Tuesday, October 6, 2015
Discontent
Interesting that my
last post I wrote about how brother analyzes evil in the world. Then not long after that I saw an article
that the DIA analyst reports were being changed and sugar coated prior to being
handed out to the important government officials. I guess the picture wasn’t rosy enough, so
it’s better to just make it all up. The
country is too interested in seeing who Trump is going to insult next or what
some tv star is wearing so that story didn’t last long on any news program. It
then popped up again just yesterday. I guess it was a slow political day. This topic worries me and brother can’t say
anything. I just remember that his wife
said he insists on them keeping lots of extra food.
Future Spouse’s son
passed away a last month. Obviously it’s
affecting FS. Makes me wish I lived
closer than 1500 miles away. I can hear
the improvement in FS’s mood each day, which is good. I
went to Oregon for FS’s son’s memorial service. I drove the 750 miles each way without
trouble. I didn’t get out of my hometown
until 5:30 in the evening so I ended up at the rest stop at the top of the
state. I had my weapon with me, as well as a full tank of gas (about 500 miles worth)
and a fully provisioned car. The plan
was to only be away from home for 2 ½ days, but I always have to plan for the
worst. Especially in this area, where
roads can be closed due to earthquakes or wildfires. Around 1 in the morning I folded the back
seat down and was able to sleep in the back of the Prius. I wouldn’t recommend it for two people, but
for just me, it worked fine.
Like California,
Oregon doesn’t recognize other state’s concealed handgun licenses so sleeping
on the California side was more comforting.
I was able to legally keep the weapon by my side while I was sleeping. I wouldn’t mind being the one to challenge that decision of
non-reciprocity, bringing it all the way to the Supreme Court, if I had an
attorney who wanted to volunteer their time.
Each year Congress puts forward a bill for federal constitutional
concealed carry reciprocity but it never goes anywhere. The Act of 2015’s latest action occurred on
2/12. It was read twice and sent to the
Committee on the Judiciary. This isn’t
new. Someone puts out this bill each
year and same old nothing happens.
While I was driving up
the 5 in Roseburg I was listening to local radio. They were talking about their wonderful
program for disenfranchised youth and how they are able to help them and keep
them in school, including college. And
once again there’s another school shooting. I don’t think their program is
working very well. Last night Girl was
singing praises about herself. She is
perfect just the way she is.
Really? She rarely does anything to help anyone other than herself. I don’t believe her D
average is perfect, and yes, I told her so.
She wants to be a forensic pathologist, at least this month. Darling Girl, you do know in order to do that
job you have to have a Masters or Doctorate. Ds aren’t going to cut it. Girl got suspended from school for tomorrow for calling a substitute teacher a name in her English class today. Yet, all she does is
complain that life isn’t fair. As long as she has it in her head that she is
perfect, the fault will lie with everyone else.
It is an attitude that breeds discontent. Like the shooter in Oregon who complained
that he had a lousy job, no life, no girlfriend, and was not successful, their
attitude is a big reason they have no life and no success.
FS’s son’s passing has
slowed down the new house building, as FS took a three week break. Now FS is trying to beat the weather, which
is coming quickly. We have the
electricity in, the well in, the road and house pad. FS is trying to get someone to come and help
set up the forms for the stem walls. In
this area it’s just about impossible to find people willing to work. It’s not that everyone is employed, it’s just
that they don’t want to work when
looking for a job. I don’t think FS will
be able to get the building framed with a roof on by the end of November, which
was the initial plan (or was it by the end of October?). If it can’t get built
until next spring that will be ok. It
will put off the next set of projects which is the chicken coop and garden, but
I am patient, after all, we aren’t moving to Colorado until next summer.
This past week I was
up in Washington State for a conference.
I was in the area described in The Road Home by Andrew Baze. It’s one of Boy’s favorite books so I spent a
lot of time thinking about what if scenarios while I was there. It wasn’t hard to daydream about this,
especially since my drive from Seattle airport (point A) to point B included rush hour traffic
getting out of the city plus a very slow stretch on Interstate 90. The state was conducting nightly blasting
along the side of the road, which meant closing the freeway for an hour or two
each evening. I could have gotten off a
few miles before the stoppage but I was hoping to beat the 6:00 road
closure. I didn’t. I sat on a closed freeway for an hour. But it
was a fun use of my imagination and made a good story to tell the grandkids.
While I was at my
conference interesting things were going on back at the office. After three months of company indecision and
the boss on leave, the boss was able to retire rather than get fired. Our section at work really hasn’t noticed any
difference having a supervisor there or not.
We believe his job entailed more than just supervising us, although we
don’t know what else he was supposed to do, nor do we see that anything has
been dropped. At least we haven’t gotten
any citations by the state or feds, so we must be doing something right.
Today I was asked by
someone if I had heard the latest work rumor of buy-outs if we retire or leave
the company. No I hadn’t heard. In January, supposedly they are going to be
asking for volunteers to leave or retire.
Two years ago the package was severance pay plus up to $10,000 for two
years of additional education. For my
age and so very few years of company seniority, I would receive almost six months of
pay! Just because one volunteers for the
buyout doesn’t mean the company will accept it from everyone who
volunteers. If they do conduct the
buy-out I will definitely put my name into the hat. After all, I'm leaving next summer anyway. I wouldn't mind leaving several months early but still get paid. Since it sounds too good to be true, either they won't be doing another company reduction or they will be but will decide that my position is too valuable and not give me the buy-out.
I’m buying a new
breeding goat from one of the FFA kids.
I bought a goat from her last year.
She does a really good job working with the goats and has produced some
very well behaved critters.
Unfortunately for me, I haven’t put in the same kind of time with our
baby goats and they are more on the wild side.
I’ll probably end up selling this years baby goats and well as next
spring babies. My plan is to move one buck
and four does with us to Colorado.
Boy and I read Curtain Fall and I read Lamp
Black, which was the second of The Gatekeeper series written by Kenneth
Cary. It’s an interesting combination of
massive volcanic eruption, earthquakes, and a not yet revealed surprise…a
nuclear explosion. The main character
has visions and is given help by his not yet born grandson. The visions and dreams confused Boy, who then
didn’t enjoy the book as much as he otherwise would have. Curtain
Fall takes place in three days (plus some flashbacks of previous
dreams). John, the husband/father, has a
vision plus he sees a quick news story that disappears after one airing. He
believes that a major natural disaster is going to happen soon. He decides to act immediately to bolster his
preps. Lamp Black is the second of the series. The ash starts to fall and chaos isn’t far
behind. The second book is a little more
graphic, although still mild. Boy hasn’t
read it, but his still young and mostly childish mind would be rather disturbed by some of the detail
(one woman is found bound to her bed naked and spread eagle, other women are
naked and tied up in a trailer used for men’s folly). The books
are supposed to be for ages 8-18. I
guess I’m just old fashioned because I wasn’t reading about naked ladies spread eagle when I
was eight. I’ve read reviews on the
third book and although the actual survival story line is good the main
character spends a little too much time on the supernatural side – including deciding
he doesn’t need a gun since he can foretell the future.
Since I like to pick apart the preparedness
part of books, I was able to overlook some of the grammar and misspelled words
(e.g. plane instead of plain) but I wasn’t happy about his comment on the
propane tank. The family had a little
more than half a tank of propane, I’d guessing around 300 gallons. The author then states that this will last a
couple of months if they are careful.
Really? In Texas? If they are
using the propane to cook and for a very short shower every few days but not
heating the house they should be able to make 300 gallons stretch for an entire
year. Perhaps the author hasn’t ever
used propane.
Wednesday, August 26, 2015
The past week
We
had a full weekend with several out of town relatives coming for a family
celebration. Brother who lives in Europe
and can’t really tell me what he does for a living came as well. There aren’t too many people under 50 who
aren’t on Facebook or aren’t found on a Google search. He is one of those people. Nothing.
His
wife, SIL, grew up in Appalachia in a pretty poor family. Sometimes she has to be reminded that she can
buy good food. She knows how to make
moonshine and her relatives brought bottles of it to their wedding. I was giving SIL a tour of our house since
she’s never been here. When we walked
into the home store I said it was my favorite room and it would probably be hers
too. She then made a comment about how
Brother requires that they have at least two years worth of food in their
home. She said they do but it’s hard
because they don’t have a specific room to store it all. They also grew a large
garden.
I
found her conversation really interesting because Brother always tries to say
things are fine and nobody should worry.
His job has to do with analyzing all the evil in the world yet he when
he talks to family and friends he downplays the evil in the world. I know he can’t give away secrets but he must
be worried if two years of food storage is their plan.
He
also said that he only has one more year overseas. After that they are coming back to the US to
stay and they need to figure out where they will be. He mentioned Colorado, which would make us
happy since that’s where we are going next year. About 20 years ago he worked at NORAD so I’m
sure there’s work for him back there again.
I
got a Facebook message from a realtor who said she may have a buyer for the
Bug-out place. She wanted to know if
I’ve picked out a realtor yet. I told
her I hadn’t because I was waiting until I was finished with the house. She is going to come up to the property on
Saturday morning and look at the place and give me a pitch on why I should
choose her. Her last name is an old
family name in the area where I work. I
thought she may be the wife of my coworker so I asked him. He said that she was married to his cousin
about 15 years ago. The marriage lasted
for less than one year and produced no children. She kept the last name. It makes me wonder if she did to try to drum
up new business.
The
boss is still off work. It’s been about
a month and no word as to whether he is getting fired or is coming back. It’s interesting because we really don’t miss
him. His boss (who works 5 hours from
our office) shows up each week for a day or two. Anything that’s come up he has been able to
deal with.
I finished reading the book that I won from
an Apartment Prepper give-away, A Time To Endure by Kyle Pratt.
It wasn’t great but it was not bad.
It’s ok for Boy and Girl as well.
It’s much less graphic than some of the books I’ve read and again makes
a teenager a hero. The shootout scene
with the teen and his girlfriend against the gang was farfetched, but boy liked
it because the teen made some mistakes but reasoned out his strategy. The main character is a few years older but
still on the young side. He has a lot of
integrity and is very sensible. Those
are good qualities for a main character that I like having the kids read
about. It’s the second of a series and I
haven’t read the first. Max in Colorado
Springs gave Boy Curtain Fall and Lamp Black written by Kenneth Cary. Boy is
half way through the first book and is enjoying it. I told him to hurry so I can read them
too. Girl said she wasn’t interested but
if Boy and I like them then she will want to read them to see what she is
missing.
I can’t believe the price of
eggs. I went to the store to shop for
the family gathering. No, I wasn’t
buying eggs. I just noticed the price as
I walked by. One dozen cost between
$4.75 and $6.99. For one dozen! In some places in the country I’ve been told
that egg prices are up because birds have died of disease. That’s not the case here. A couple of years ago a law was passed that
hens needed more room to be happy. The
farmers have cut the number of hens in half in order to provide additional cage
space. There are also a lot more who
have gone to free range. It’s just a lot
more expensive and makes my home grown eggs much cheaper!
While I know that I’m moving and I am very
happy about that, it is still an uncomfortable feeling to sell the bug-out
place. It’s also uncomfortable to not be
putting away more and more supplies.
While it’s nice to be saving a bunch of money right now by using up the
supplies, I sure will feel better once the new place is built and we’ll be able
to start stocking it. With the stock market going crazy this past week, I think
many people are on edge. I am a little but only because I've pretty much
stopped my prepping due to the upcoming move. I really could stay away
from all stores for the next year until our move, if I choose to do so.
That would mean no dairy until next spring since we dried up all the goats, but
we'd get through it fine. I haven't thought about putting money that
would normally be spent on preps into a separate account. I am
going to do that so when I get to Colorado I wouldn't be breaking the bank
when I go make a mass purchase of all the things I'm not buying this
year.
We
ended up canning 20 jars of applesauce.
I would normally can more but since we are moving I wanted to can just
enough for the year. Not canning a
several year supply is another thing that’s bothering me. I am getting impatient for my new home and
new garden.
Thursday, August 6, 2015
Girl's surprise
Today Girl turned 14. I hope this year is better because 13 was a terrible year. Girl is very musical and of her long list of gifts that she wanted, and most were absolutely never going to be given to her by me, I saw one item on the list that I thought would be great. She asked for a clarinet. Here at home we have a piano and accordion. I don't think the piano is going to make the move, and who, other than me enjoys accordion? She wanted a clarinet so I figured that would be a good gift.
I didn't want to buy a new one and I saw an ad for one that was being sold by someone who buys used instruments and repairs them to sell to school kids. Perfect. So he and I made a deal that we were going to meet at a McDonald's in V-town, about an hour from our home.
Yesterday Girl asked what we were doing for her birthday (other than her party on Saturday). I told her that we were going to V-town to have lunch at McDonald's with one of my childhood friends and her mother. Then I had to work for about 15 minutes another hour further away. Girl was not happy about having to eat lunch with Boy, and three old people, then sit in the car for several more hours. She wanted to hang out with her friends but I said no. She'd see them on Saturday.
I gave the clarinet seller a description of what we looked like and the vehicle we were driving. When we got there we sort of stalled in the parking lot looking for my friend. I noticed a person inside McDonald's staring out at us. The clarinet seller. I told the kids that I didn't see my friend's car so we were just going to go in and wait inside.
When we walked in I said to girl, "Look, that looks like a clarinet salesman. Let's see what he's selling." She's so gullible! We walked over and I said, "That is a beautiful clarinet. It is Girl's birthday and Girl, would you like the clarinet?" She said she would so the clarinet seller took it out of the case, put it together, and handed it to Girl. She started playing there in McDonald's. I sent the kids to a different table and I paid the man.
When I went over to our table Girl started quizzing me. What perfect timing to have a clarinet salesman sitting there at McDonald's in V-town an hour from home. Was that really a coincidence? I thought about my answer for a second. No, it was planned. Then I showed her the texts on my phone and told her that was why she couldn't send a text to one of her friends.
After lunch she serenaded us for the hour drive to where I had to work. It was nice. Tonight she told me that the older she gets the more she realizes that birthdays aren't really fun but they sure are nice. This is the best birthday that she can remember. Yes, I hope this year is a good year.
I didn't want to buy a new one and I saw an ad for one that was being sold by someone who buys used instruments and repairs them to sell to school kids. Perfect. So he and I made a deal that we were going to meet at a McDonald's in V-town, about an hour from our home.
Yesterday Girl asked what we were doing for her birthday (other than her party on Saturday). I told her that we were going to V-town to have lunch at McDonald's with one of my childhood friends and her mother. Then I had to work for about 15 minutes another hour further away. Girl was not happy about having to eat lunch with Boy, and three old people, then sit in the car for several more hours. She wanted to hang out with her friends but I said no. She'd see them on Saturday.
I gave the clarinet seller a description of what we looked like and the vehicle we were driving. When we got there we sort of stalled in the parking lot looking for my friend. I noticed a person inside McDonald's staring out at us. The clarinet seller. I told the kids that I didn't see my friend's car so we were just going to go in and wait inside.
When we walked in I said to girl, "Look, that looks like a clarinet salesman. Let's see what he's selling." She's so gullible! We walked over and I said, "That is a beautiful clarinet. It is Girl's birthday and Girl, would you like the clarinet?" She said she would so the clarinet seller took it out of the case, put it together, and handed it to Girl. She started playing there in McDonald's. I sent the kids to a different table and I paid the man.
When I went over to our table Girl started quizzing me. What perfect timing to have a clarinet salesman sitting there at McDonald's in V-town an hour from home. Was that really a coincidence? I thought about my answer for a second. No, it was planned. Then I showed her the texts on my phone and told her that was why she couldn't send a text to one of her friends.
After lunch she serenaded us for the hour drive to where I had to work. It was nice. Tonight she told me that the older she gets the more she realizes that birthdays aren't really fun but they sure are nice. This is the best birthday that she can remember. Yes, I hope this year is a good year.
Tuesday, August 4, 2015
Fitting Everything into the Schedule
What a title! I can't ever fit everything into the schedule. If there's free time then I have something to fill it with. Each weekend I make a list of about 20 things. I'm lucky if I accomplish half. But, I'm realistic and know that I won't actually finish it. I don't feel bad at the end of the weekend because of the unrealistic list. If I did then I'd cut down the list. After all, if you feel like you aren't accomplishing enough you become less motivated.
I think the less motivated part has happened to me lately on weekdays. I feel overwhelmed when I get home from work. It's still light out and not too hot so I should be taking advantage of the time and DO SOMETHING. Lately though, I come home, make dinner, and sit down and sort of read. Just sort of, because it's taking me forever to get through my book. That makes me feel bad because I won it from Apartment Prepper and I wanted to write a nice review. I will, just really late.
This week I decided to make a change. I'm not going to put off all my chores on to the weekend. I WILL accomplish something when I get home from work. It won't take up too much time and I'll still be able to end my evening reading.
Yesterday I stopped at Home Depot and picked up another gallon of paint. (After my typical 12 1/2 hour workday including commute, spending an hour running into the big city to pick up paint is an accomplishment!) Today I finished painting the mud room. I started the room on Sunday and would have finished except Girl helped roll out the walls and knocked over the paint can in the process. OK so knocking over the paint can didn't help... Tomorrow the coat hooks and shelf go back up on the wall.
Girl has been behaving very well the past couple of weeks. She is even being nice to her brother, in an almost 14 year old sister to 12 year old brother way. Why? Her birthday is coming up and she has planned a party for herself in town. I told her that she could invite 7 friends, plus herself, Boy, and me. She knows if she isn't good I will have no problem cancelling her party. Too bad she can't have a birthday every month or so!
Our division's new VP started today. This is the 3rd VP in my 2 1/2 years with the company. Our supervisor has been put on leave of absence for the past two weeks, as well. Who knows if he will get fired. The first one I had did. So glad I am no longer a supervisor!
Work was crazy today. I was told about a project over one year ago. About 2 months ago the company had a job walk so everyone involved would be on the same page. They are in a huge "rush" to get this done because it's mandated by the state regulators. At that time I found out that it wasn't my project, I was just supposed to provide support to the other specialist. Great! Then I was asked to actually take the lead because I had more knowledge on this topic. I've been asking for specific documentation since even before the job walk. Every week I get a different story about what their project is, which then changes what I need to accomplish. Last week I got what was supposed to be their final decision of how the project was going to take place. So, I again asked for a copy of their documentation. I can't do my work without including a copy of what they said. Just today at noon they finally emailed it to me. Then one person wanted to know if I could get my work completed either today or tomorrow. Sure, even though I had something else planned for tomorrow, I could start today and finish up my document by tomorrow. Then someone else emailed to say it has to be in the mail today. This was at 1:00! I only had 3 1/2 more hours to work and I didn't feel like working extra. Normally I say sure but my response was I'll try. Then I realized their documentation was flawed so I asked more questions. They got pissed and someone else sent me an email and asked if I wanted the original person to take over this project. Of course. After all, it was supposed to be that person's project and I was supposed to be the technical expert. It wasn't supposed to be dumped on me at the last minute. Anyway, our local post office closes at noon. Even if I had finished my part today it wouldn't have made it into the mail. I didn't see a copy of the other person's report tonight, so I wonder if it got done.
I have two fun days for work tomorrow and the next day. Tomorrow I have to go to a federal office to look at some of their documents. Oops, the company planned a project and I realized that part of the project is ok and the other part is would be breaking some federal regulations. So we are going to work out a deal. We will do the federal government's work at no charge to the government. They should like that. It's reasonable so probably not!
Then on Thursday Boy, Girl, and I are going to drive for two hours to get to another project. This project isn't mine to work on but it's at a facility that I'm responsible for so I need to do a double check. If I recall right, I saw something a little over a year ago there that wasn't documented. On the other hand, I keep thinking that maybe I'm imagining that I saw something and I really didn't. After all, if it's been inspected a dozen times and nobody else has noticed then does it exist? Perhaps I'm just that good at my job? We will see on Thursday!
The apples are almost ripe on the trees. They are very early this year. I will be doing a lot of canning. We only have two jars of applesauce, four jars of cinnamon apple slices, and three jars of apple syrup left from last year. That's pretty good planning. But now should I make double the jars of apples because I doubt I'll be wanting to can apples next year right before we move. If I make lots of applesauce the kids will be happy. One thing I do with the apple sauce is put it into the dehydrator (on plastic wrap) and make fruit rollups. I can add a tablespoon of any flavor jam to about a cup of applesauce and it will change the flavor. I like blackberry and the kids like strawberry rollups.
I think the pears are going to be about a month early also. That's too bad because we always have pears on the trees at Thanksgiving and I doubt they will still be on at the end of October if things progress like they are. But canning a bunch of pears will be good too, so I'm not complaining!
I think the less motivated part has happened to me lately on weekdays. I feel overwhelmed when I get home from work. It's still light out and not too hot so I should be taking advantage of the time and DO SOMETHING. Lately though, I come home, make dinner, and sit down and sort of read. Just sort of, because it's taking me forever to get through my book. That makes me feel bad because I won it from Apartment Prepper and I wanted to write a nice review. I will, just really late.
This week I decided to make a change. I'm not going to put off all my chores on to the weekend. I WILL accomplish something when I get home from work. It won't take up too much time and I'll still be able to end my evening reading.
Yesterday I stopped at Home Depot and picked up another gallon of paint. (After my typical 12 1/2 hour workday including commute, spending an hour running into the big city to pick up paint is an accomplishment!) Today I finished painting the mud room. I started the room on Sunday and would have finished except Girl helped roll out the walls and knocked over the paint can in the process. OK so knocking over the paint can didn't help... Tomorrow the coat hooks and shelf go back up on the wall.
Girl has been behaving very well the past couple of weeks. She is even being nice to her brother, in an almost 14 year old sister to 12 year old brother way. Why? Her birthday is coming up and she has planned a party for herself in town. I told her that she could invite 7 friends, plus herself, Boy, and me. She knows if she isn't good I will have no problem cancelling her party. Too bad she can't have a birthday every month or so!
Our division's new VP started today. This is the 3rd VP in my 2 1/2 years with the company. Our supervisor has been put on leave of absence for the past two weeks, as well. Who knows if he will get fired. The first one I had did. So glad I am no longer a supervisor!
Work was crazy today. I was told about a project over one year ago. About 2 months ago the company had a job walk so everyone involved would be on the same page. They are in a huge "rush" to get this done because it's mandated by the state regulators. At that time I found out that it wasn't my project, I was just supposed to provide support to the other specialist. Great! Then I was asked to actually take the lead because I had more knowledge on this topic. I've been asking for specific documentation since even before the job walk. Every week I get a different story about what their project is, which then changes what I need to accomplish. Last week I got what was supposed to be their final decision of how the project was going to take place. So, I again asked for a copy of their documentation. I can't do my work without including a copy of what they said. Just today at noon they finally emailed it to me. Then one person wanted to know if I could get my work completed either today or tomorrow. Sure, even though I had something else planned for tomorrow, I could start today and finish up my document by tomorrow. Then someone else emailed to say it has to be in the mail today. This was at 1:00! I only had 3 1/2 more hours to work and I didn't feel like working extra. Normally I say sure but my response was I'll try. Then I realized their documentation was flawed so I asked more questions. They got pissed and someone else sent me an email and asked if I wanted the original person to take over this project. Of course. After all, it was supposed to be that person's project and I was supposed to be the technical expert. It wasn't supposed to be dumped on me at the last minute. Anyway, our local post office closes at noon. Even if I had finished my part today it wouldn't have made it into the mail. I didn't see a copy of the other person's report tonight, so I wonder if it got done.
I have two fun days for work tomorrow and the next day. Tomorrow I have to go to a federal office to look at some of their documents. Oops, the company planned a project and I realized that part of the project is ok and the other part is would be breaking some federal regulations. So we are going to work out a deal. We will do the federal government's work at no charge to the government. They should like that. It's reasonable so probably not!
Then on Thursday Boy, Girl, and I are going to drive for two hours to get to another project. This project isn't mine to work on but it's at a facility that I'm responsible for so I need to do a double check. If I recall right, I saw something a little over a year ago there that wasn't documented. On the other hand, I keep thinking that maybe I'm imagining that I saw something and I really didn't. After all, if it's been inspected a dozen times and nobody else has noticed then does it exist? Perhaps I'm just that good at my job? We will see on Thursday!
The apples are almost ripe on the trees. They are very early this year. I will be doing a lot of canning. We only have two jars of applesauce, four jars of cinnamon apple slices, and three jars of apple syrup left from last year. That's pretty good planning. But now should I make double the jars of apples because I doubt I'll be wanting to can apples next year right before we move. If I make lots of applesauce the kids will be happy. One thing I do with the apple sauce is put it into the dehydrator (on plastic wrap) and make fruit rollups. I can add a tablespoon of any flavor jam to about a cup of applesauce and it will change the flavor. I like blackberry and the kids like strawberry rollups.
I think the pears are going to be about a month early also. That's too bad because we always have pears on the trees at Thanksgiving and I doubt they will still be on at the end of October if things progress like they are. But canning a bunch of pears will be good too, so I'm not complaining!
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