Brain Overload and no American Redoubt for me

Every once in a while I work so hard that my brain actually hurts at the end of the day.  Please no snide remarks about government workers not working...it's not that at all.  Well today is one of those days that I didn't get any breaks for more than a couple of minutes and each phone call or email message was urgent and something that I had to respond to instantly.  I never did make it out to the field.  That's for tomorrow as long as it doesn't start off like today!

I had one call where I had to explain why I had to do what I was doing for a certain project.  I like those...justify your job.  Only normally the person is totally obnoxious and they don't want to really listen.  This wasn't the case.  This person was part of a committee and the committee asked why I had to do what I had to do on their project and the person calling me didn't know how to respond.  All he knew was I had to go out and make an inspection and I only wanted to do it in good weather!  So I explained and he was satisfied.  He will be able to get the answer off to his other committee members and all will be happy.

It's interesting being a government employee in an era of hating government employees.  And my job especially is one that may need explaining.  The government does WHAT????  On the other hand, when I am in what I call "the wrong place at the wrong time" I've done things like being in charge of saving people's lives and property.  So it all works out. 

One of the things that I did mull over in my mind is this super push lately on the survivalblog site about moving to the American Redoubt.  You know: Idaho, Montana, the Dakotas, etc.  Sounds great other than it's COLD there and I don't like the cold.  I've been told by a friend of mine with plans to move to North Dakota that you can always hang out by the fire.  Sure but at some point you have to go outside to take care of the animals unless you live in one of those houses that has the barn attached - and it's heated!  No, I'll stay in the Great Central Valley.  I just want to make sure that I'm as prepared as can be in the location that I'm at.

I do have the bug-out place in the hills about an hour from here.  With the kids still doing their activities in the city moving an hour and a half from the city and then having to commute in two times per week for the kids and between two and five times per week for my job just doesn't make sense to me.  Perhaps when I retire when the kids are older I may think about permanently moving to the other property.  The only upside to moving there is that it's paid for and this place that I'm in now is not.  I'd be spending less money each month even with the added expense of the commute and building a decent house on that property when compared to the mortgage on this place.  But my time has value in that the time I spend in the garden and on the animals would be used for commuting. 

So I just keep working on this place here.  I make it as safe and secure as time and money allows.  Unfortunately, time and money are both sort of scarce! 

It's going to be cold once again tonight.  We have a freeze warning from midnight until nine tomorrow morning.  I'd better go out and check the trees to make sure the coverings I put on are secure just in case the wind picks up. 
 

Cold tonight and heating the outside air

Around here the temperature rarely goes into the 20s at night.  The record is in the low 20s and we average 21 days per year below freezing for the low.  Last night the forecast was that the temperature would dip below 32 for a full 8 hours and for five of those hours be 28 or below.  Around here, 28 is the magic number because citrus will die back if it's under that temperature.  The full size citrus trees will have some branches die and it will ruin the fruit if the fruit freezes but it won't kill the tree.  For the younger trees, a really cold night can kill the tree.  

There are several ways to protect the trees.  The large farms have wind machines that will stir up the air.  Some even hire helicopters to do the same thing.  You can use smudge pots in which you set afire to keep the area warm.  Some farmers run water.  Small operations will cover each individual tree.  That's what I usually do, cover each tree.

Because of the windstorm that we had on Thursday and Friday people who had trees covered lost the covers.  I didn't have the trees covered for that reason.  But this morning it was cold so in order to protect the trees I got up and turned on the water.  If you wait too long to get the water turned on the pipes freeze.  Not enough to burst them, just enough to block the water from coming to the house, or through the hose.  Usually this happens around 6:30 and will stay frozen until about 8 or 9.  Fortunately for me the water wasn't frozen.  I turned on two hoses and ran the water on the ground around the avocado and the three small citrus trees.  The rest of the citrus: lemon, grapefruit, orange, and kumquat were going to be fine.  The kumquat can withstand 28 degrees once the tree is established.  The orange is large enough that if there's some die-back it won't be a big deal, other than it's got a full crop of oranges on it and I'd hate to lose the oranges. The lemon and grapefruit are next to the chicken coop.  I'm figuring that there must be some heat coming from that!  Also, there are a couple water jugs in the coop so that will help keep the temperature up.

How does running water help things to not freeze?  The water that comes out of the well is 56 degrees.  In order for it to fall to 32 and freeze it has to lose 24 degrees of heat.  That heat will go out into the air so as the water cools the air heats.  All I need is for the air to stay above 28 degrees so running the water will instantly warm up the surrounding air.  After all, I'm turning the "heater" on to 56!  I can turn the water on earlier in the night, once it gets close to 32.  After all, the killer is if it's 28 for any length of time.    

If we aren't going to get any more winds then this week I'll get the trees wrapped. 

Today we did get some chores done.  The grand kids pulled out the rest of the weeds by the blueberries and raked the pine needles up from the next door neighbors front yard.  They then spread the needles around the blueberry plants.  We will be gathering up a lot more pine needles as I'd like to make one of the garden beds more acidic.  Plus, the more pine needles we put around the blueberries the less weeding we will have to do.

I transplanted three peppers into an indoor pot and also one tomato plant.  I'm not sure how well the tomato plant will do.  It's got a couple of little tomatoes on it so hopefully they will ripen up well and we can have fresh tomatoes all winter.  I pulled up all tomato plants because the freeze killed the plants off.  I was hoping to pull the tomato vines up and let the rest of the tomatoes ripen in the garage except they all died back from the freeze.  I was able to pick about a gallon of tomatoes that hadn't frozen and burst. 

The eggplants weren't completely killed off by the freeze but were looking pretty bad.  I pulled one out and replanted it.  We are going to try to grow it in the house over the winter.  If it works out, even if we don't get anything from it I'll transplant it into the ground in the spring to give us a jump start on the eggplant.  I picked about 2 dozen eggplants today.  I cut one up and boiled it with the spaghetti noodles.  It's a good way to get extra vegetables into the kids. 

Heading out and not getting chores done

We lost power yesterday for about a second.  Army daughter for several hours.  Some people in the city still haven't had their power restored but it should come on soon.  A couple people were interviewed on the morning news.  Most complained that they need their electricity.  One person said he just turned on the generator and has two lights on in the house and the refrigerator and freezer are up and running.  Smart but I'm not sure I'd want to advertise that I had a generator.  Some things are best not discussed in front of a viewing audience of half million people.  Of course, I don't know who the guy was so I'm not going to be one of the hordes of people going over asking him to put my stuff in his freezer or keeping in the back of my mind that this guy is the house to raid.

There was no damage at all to the bug-out place.  In fact, they didn't get any wind at all!  That's actually a good thing to know.  Each area has a different microclimate and for that location to not get wind when less than 20 miles away as the crow flies we are getting blown away is pretty remarkable. 

I have to go down south again.  I don't expect to be gone too long.  Just need to help out for a couple of days.  I got everything here ready for my absence.  Checked the animals water, gathered eggs, filled chicken feeders.  It's too cold for yip-yip to stay outside at night and she's too stupid to go into a sheltered area.  She's going to sons apartment for the time being.  Hopefully the grandsons won't terrorize her too much.  Big dog stays home.  I just put out a bunch of food and she's good.  She'd rather sleep in the house during the day since she's up all night on patrol but that's the way it goes.  Army daughter actually has to do Army things today so baby is here keeping me company while I do my chores and get ready to head out. 

I don't know if I'll get any chores done this weekend since I'm not sure when I'll return.  The number one item on the list is to transplant more of the asparagus (dig it up, divide it, and then replant along the fence line) and the berries.  Next weekend we are going to take a drive and butcher the chickens.  While we can do that on our own, I've always found it good practice to learn from someone else.  They can tell you what works for them and what doesn't and why.  

Blowing in the wind

In case you missed it, it's pretty windy in central and southern California today.  So windy that the 75 foot tall tree in oldest daughter's front yard blew down.  Fortunately it aimed right for the street and didn't hit anything.  The back of her house didn't fare as well.  A branch from the olive tree broke her bedroom window at 3:30 this morning.  Good thing she and her husband don't have their bed under the window.  Most Californians know that you don't place your bed under the window or below a picture, just in case there's an earthquake, or in this case the wind breaking tree limbs and throwing them through your window. 

We fared much better here at my house.  One of the sheds shed a portion of its roof.  I thought I had spare metal roofing but I forgot it was used up when building the addition to the chicken coop.  I can't buy any right now. It's too windy to get it home.

I haven't heard yet how the bug out place fared.  While I'm hoping they were spared from the high winds (in some places 100 mph) a part of me was hoping the whole house would be picked up off the foundation and tossed about.  I'm sure all's fine.

I brought the trailer over to oldest daughter's so they could buck up the tree and stack the limbs in the trailer.  Just last week they were helping a neighbor of theirs cut down some of the neighbors trees so they already had two of my three chainsaws.  That's good because their tree was blocking the road so they were able to get that part cleared before the neighborhood tried to get kids off to school.  Looking at the size of the tree I'm going to get several cords of wood out of the deal.  They have a fire place but they don't use it more than once or twice a year. 

Several people have stopped by their house and asked if they can have wood.  I suggested to son-in-law that instead of just giving it out to whomever drives by and asks, that he should suggest that they come out and help and then they can take whatever they help with.  It's not that I want it all for myself, but unless it's for someone who isn't capable of working for it, I'd rather they work for it rather than son-in-law work for it and give it to them.  Even if that means someone raking up the leaves or picking up the dirt clods that the tree flung around the yard as it was pulling its root ball out of the ground.  Son-in-law had to take the day off work to do this clean up, others shouldn't take advantage.

Army daughter has to go to school tonight.  Since she's leaving before her husband gets off work she dropped baby off here.  It took her almost an hour and a half to drive the 17 miles because the signals were out so each signal became a four-way stop sign.  At least it wasn't during commute time.  I'm sure it would have taken another hour! 

What if there weren't supplies to be picked up at the store for the repairs?  I could rig up something to keep oldest daughter's fence up.  I don't have any spare windows but we do have cardboard, heavy plastic, and duct tape.  Good thing I have chain saws.  And extra chain, fuel, and oil.  Son-in-law bent the bar on the smaller of the two saws.  He's going to pick up a new bar today, and some new chain while he's at it. 

I need more metal roofing material.  We have about 3000 square feet of barns and sheds under this type of roofing material.  I have the roofing screws and nails for it but no panels.  Some of the panels we have are the opaque white ones to let in light while others are the metal.  I like the opaque ones except they only last about five years while the others will last a lifetime if they don't get blown off.  Perhaps I should check to see if the rest of the roofing needs additional reinforcement.  Just not today when it's windy.

Home Security System

A year ago I wrote about my home security system.  Since we went from having a landline to no landline, I changed the type of system we have to one that runs on it's own cellular calling system. 
http://whatifitistoday.blogspot.com/2010/11/home-security-system.html  The system we have is better when it comes to contacting the alarm company quicker.  Also, if your system works by using the telephone line all someone has to do is cut the line before they enter your house.  Have you seen the phone line that comes into your house?  It's normally right outside the gate in your front yard somewhere.  It's easy to compromise your system.  Sure, it will still ring when someone breaks in but it won't send a call out to the monitoring people. 

But having the monitoring people know your every move has gotten me thinking.  Do I really want ADT or some local security company to know when I am home, when I am away, etc.?  If you set the alarm faithfully then the company knows your exact schedule probably better than you do!  This can be dangerous if they keep records, and I'm sure they do. 

Our system has the away mode, the at home mode, and the off position.  When you are away the alarm goes off when the door or window opens and also when there is movement in the house.  The movement alarm is often set to not go off with pet movements.  The at home mode allows movement within the house and will only go off when you go outside.  You can also set the system to bypass a door or window. 

We are going to change how we set the alarm system, just to mix things up with the security company.  Instead of setting the alarm in the away mode when we are out of the house we are also going to use the at home mode.  The at home mode will go off when a door or window opens, not when you have movement in the house.  I'm assuming that most people who are going to break in are going to push in the doors or pry open the windows.  If they break in that way then the alarm will still go off.  If they break the windows and climb in through the break then the alarm system won't catch that.  If I keep one of the doors bypassed but still locked (trying to figure out the least likely door the bad guys would enter through) then we can go in and out through that door yet it will look like we are there all the time. 

It's a risk that I'm taking but do I really want the alarm company to know when I'm leaving and returning?  Has anyone else thought of the alarm company or it's workers using the information for illicit use?   

Keeping clothed at night

Last year I found a few fleece blankets at the second hand store for a real cheap price.  They looked fairly new.  One was in a camo pattern.  It's no longer a blanket.  I made boy a pair of pajama bottoms tonight.  They aren't finished.  I need to take a pair of his pants out of his room tomorrow and measure the waist.  Then I'll be able to put in the elastic at the waistband.  This is a present for him so I couldn't just have him come in and get measurements taken.

About once a month the local fabric store sends me a flier with their latest sales.  The price of material was ridiculous for fleece.  On sale it was between five and eight dollars a yard.  On Sale!  This means a pair of pajama bottoms could cost around $10-15 for one pair.  If I wait until Target has their sweats go on sale I can get a pair of sweat pants and have a couple dollars left over.  Depending on whether the kid wears it out or outgrows it first, and whether there's someone to pass it down to will depend on which way is the best way to go.  (I'd rather wear nice fleece than sweats to bed. - Yeah, you can tell I'm single!)

In my case, by buying the blankets, I was able to make his bottoms for about two dollars.  They are thicker than what you'd buy at the store.  I will also be able to make the length just right, with a hem that can be let down if he grows.  I expect this pair to last for at least two winters. 

This blog tonight isn't really about my great sewing expertise.  I can, and have, made entire outfits for myself using just a needle and thread and no sewing machine.  For these projects the sewing machine comes in handy.  No, it's about keeping well clothed. 

Living in an area that doesn't get snow, and even the bug-out place doesn't get snow, we don't have to worry about subfreezing temperatures too often.  That isn't to say that we don't need warm clothes.  Around here the fog will chill you quicker than a cold sunny day.  But right now I'm thinking about sleeping clothes.  We wear them.  I don't know how many of you forget to put something on when you go to sleep. 

I remember the Northridge earthquake.  My sister was in college there and I was bringing a couple of my kids to her apartment in Northridge to spend a couple of days.  When was this trip planned?  The day of the earthquake.  We put the trip off for a day but that was it.  I brought the kids and left them there for a couple of days.  I didn't want them afraid of earthquakes.  I explained that the apartments that collapsed were the ones built over the underground parking garages.  The apartments on solid ground for the most part came out OK.  Now there was plenty of damage all around but since her apartment held up just fine I didn't see much of a problem with it.  Of course, I was only 10 minutes away by car since I was working in the area, and could get back into the city with out much problem if needed.  Even back then they all had "escape" bicycles and backpacks.  Why am I bringing up this story?  Because when the earthquake hit in the early morning most of her neighbors went running outside.  Naked.  While it sounds sort of funny, it wasn't for those who couldn't get back into their apartments.  Oops.  No clothes. 

The wood stove at our house doesn't heat the bedroom area only the living area.  I don't usually heat the house at night unless it's going to get down into the 30s at night.  The main reason isn't the cost of the propane, wanting to conserve, or anything like that - although I do not like paying the propane bill!  I don't like hearing the heater running while I'm trying to sleep.  I'd rather it didn't run.  I suppose it's good practice to not heat the house at night if TSHTF and I had to conserve my 400 gallons of propane for cooking or heating water (I would probably shut off the water heater since it's a propane hog!).  This means extra blankets on the bed and warm clothes to sleep in. 

We usually sleep in sweats or fleece.  Fleece is much more comfortable which is why I buy up lightly used fleece blankets.  Now if you buy childrens fleece PJ's from the store the material will be fire resistant.  If you buy fleece from the fabric store some will be fire resistant but most will not be.  The blankets probably aren't.  But so what.  The grand kids don't smoke in bed.  Neither do I.  I'm not worried about our cigarette ashes starting a fire.  (OK we don't smoke at all, I was just being funny.)  We don't use electric blankets so I don't see the need for the fire resistant material.   

It's easy to make PJ bottoms.  There are only two pieces.  The right side and the left side.  To make PJ bottoms you need to take your fabric, fold it in half, lay your pattern on the fabric and cut it out.  You sew up each leg (the seam is on the inner leg).  Then you turn one leg with the right side out and put it inside the other leg.  You then sew from the center front to the center back.  That's mainly it.  Three seams.  Then you turn over a bit of fabric at the waist and sew it.  A friend of mine doesn't use elastic at all.  She just puts in paracord and you pull it tight.  I'd rather use elastic and paracord.  The elastic keeps the pants up, the cord makes it adjustable.  Then you sew the hem to the right length.  (Girl doesn't like hers hemmed.  It just sort of rolls up at the bottom.) If you know the waist size and hem length the entire PJ bottoms can be completed in less than 1/2 hour from cutting out the fabric to finishing up the sewing.  What's my pattern?  Their last pair that's too old and ripped up to reuse.  I cut the pants along the seam and lay it out on top of the fabric.  I just add a few inches all the way around to get the next size or two larger.  I can also take some newspaper or butcher paper, tape the pieces together and cut out a paper pattern for the next time if I don't have an old pair to use as a guide.  Tonight I did have an old pair that is ready for the rag box.  

Why such detail about bottoms?  Easy.  If the SHTF, or if you just don't have anything appropriate to wear during cold weather you could easily make these.  Kids grow out of things when you least expect it.  You may not be able to run out to the store to pick up clothes for the kids.  You could just go to the store now and buy some in every size.  That way you'll be prepared.  Or realize that they don't take too long to make, even if you had to sew the seams by hand.  If you don't sew - LEARN. 
 

Cheese, towels, batteries (can't get any more miscellaneous than that)

My first order for freeze dried foods were shipped today.  I ordered a case of cheese.  Even though I learned how to can cheese, I still want a supply of freeze dried.  It will take up a lot less space, although the price was quite high.  I don't know the actual cost between the freeze dried cheese once it's rehydrated and fresh cheese.  I remember figuring out the the white meat chicken came out to about $7.00 per pound as rehydrated meat.  It's about $2.00-$3.00 per pound fresh.  So about three times the price of fresh food.  The shipment is supposed to arrive on Wednesday.  I'm going to open one of the cans up and leave the others sealed.  I ordered 1 Colby jack, 1 mozzarella, 2 cheddar, and 2 Monterey jack.  Which should I open?  Probably will open the cheddar.  Then we can have a taste test between the fresh, canned cheddar, and freeze dried cheddar.  I'll let you know the results.

Today at work I was given six battery adapters.  They make a AA battery fit into a C or D battery slot.  I'd never seen anything like it.  Since I have an unlimited supply of AA batteries this is something to use for items that take C or D batteries but I rarely use the item.  This way I don't have to keep a lot of C and D cells on hand, just the AA.  I'm not suggesting everyone goes out and buys these adapters and stops using C and D batteries.  Rather, it's for short term use items only.  Unless you buy cheap junky batteries, a D battery should have more power than a C and a C should have more power than a AA.  Therefore, if you are using the AA, it will provide the power but for a much shorter amount of time. 

This evening I spent time working on gifts for friends and family.  I'm decorating hand towels with Christmas fabric, Hanukkah fabric, and sports teams (not shown).  It's a really easy to make gift and doesn't take that long to put together, especially if you have left over material laying around.  I asked friends and family for their left over fabric.  Items such as these just take a strip about six inches wide and about 18 inches long.  That is stuff that's thrown away by other people as scrap. 


If you want to make a gift like this the best time to buy the towels in during the January white sales.  These towels shown are from Walmart.  Not on sale they cost $2.97.  On sale about $2.00-$2.50 each.  A package of iron on interfacing costs .95 and will make 8 - about .12 each.  You can make about 12 strips per yard of fabric.  The fabric, if you had to buy it at $4.00 per yard would cost .33 per strip.  Total each towel costs $3.42 if you pay full price for all the materials.  Using scraps and sale towels these average about $2.25 per towel.  I've made some for Thanksgiving, 4th of July, and other holidays and seasons.  It's a cheap, easy to make, useful gift.  OK, not really survivalist items but even in the darkest of days if you have simple little items such as these, it will make things better.

I haven't sewn the trim on yet, it's just pinned.  Tonight I got the strips cut out, interfacing ironed on, the strips pinned to the towels.  Tomorrow or the next night I will get them sewn on.

We finished up the Thanksgiving left overs.  Tomorrow I have to start cooking once again.  The kids have religious school tomorrow afternoon so maybe I'll throw a soup together for the crock pot before I go to work in the morning.