The Greenhouse

Although our structures aren't completed yet, the greenhouse is completed enough for me to use it.  As long as the sun shines the greenhouse warms up quickly.  It was in the mid 20s the other night and the greenhouse stayed in the 50s during the night and in the morning the temperature shot up so quickly that I had to open the windows. It will get over 120 inside, even if it's only 50 outside.  It's amazing, but with temperatures over 100 the plants won't pollinate the flowers. The greenhouse has heat in the floors, so if we get several days without sunshine we can heat it up, if needed. 

I've never grown anything in a greenhouse before.  I was an expert gardener while in California.  Anything I planted grew like crazy.  Fruits, vegetables...ok, not ornamentals.  If it didn't produce food I wasn't that great!  So now, I'm trying to figure out how to grow everything in buckets indoors.  I bought 70 quart muck buckets for the trees and 40 quart buckets for vegetables.  I drill half dozen 1" holes in the bottom.  Then I put in a layer of the weed cloth so the soil won't come out the bottom.  I also have some 5 gallon buckets and other containers that I'm using.  I like the 10 gallon ones better than the 5 gallon ones as the plants seem real crowded in the 5 gallon buckets.  The 10 gallon will be more stable for the plants such as tomatoes.  Right now they are sprawling all over and the 5 gallon container isn't heavy enough to stick cages in them to hold the plants upright. 

The potting soil makes a huge difference.  Our compost isn't ready yet so I've had to buy potting soil.  I've used organic soils and they seem to work well.  I had some leftover Miracle Grow that I'd bought from Sam's Club.  That seems to compact too much and the water ends up going down the sides of the buckets and not to the plant roots.  I have to make sure that I mound soil up at the sides so it provides a well for the water to go where it's supposed to go. 

We have tomatoes growing in the Miracle Grow soil.  As long as I water it right they are happy plants.  Tomatoes will self pollinate with a little air flowing, so I open windows on each side of the greenhouse to bring in a little breeze.  That and I have a small paintbrush that I dab from flower to flower. 

We have lettuce growing in small pots.  I have these pots set in a plastic bowl that's used to catch water so it doesn't spill all over.  I fill the bowl with water and the soil soaks up the water.  This makes it so the lettuce doesn't get knocked over as it would when watering from above.

The green bean plants look sickly.  I'm keeping one step ahead of whatever is trying to attack them and we are getting green beans.  I've never had anything attack my green beans in my outdoor gardens.  I think this is some sort of fungus because I've never seen any pests on them. 

Here, within the first few days, some of the plants were attacked by aphids.  How did the aphids find us?  I tried using soapy water to kill them but that just killed the pepper plant! Now I search the leaves and squish the little buggers.  I also bought a ten-pack of the sticky fly strips.  I bought a piece of yellow cardboard, cut it into strips and attached the sticky strips to the cardboard.  I put a nail through each one and put a homemade bug catcher into each bucket.  I've caught some bugs.

The best part of the greenhouse are the fruit trees.  I've got lemon, oranges, grapefruit, and tangerines growing at over 8000 feet elevation in Colorado! My lemon tree is getting ready to bloom.  I'll again use the opening the window method to bring in a bit of a breeze, plus I'll shake branches, and individually touch the blooms with the paintbrush.  I'd like to bring some flying bugs in that will help with the pollination, but I'll have to remove my sticky traps if I do so. 

I'll be planting more soon.  Right now I've got quite a few empty buckets.  I'm hoping to find some local compost to mix with the store bought stuff.  Otherwise it's gets to be expensive.  Our compost, made up mostly of goat manure and grass hay droppings should be ready next summer.  So should our outdoor garden. 

Using Your Food Preps

The local Walmart (local means 1 1/2 hours away) sell Auguson Farms dehydrated and freeze dried foods for cheaper than the company sells it on their own website.  Each time I go to that town I stop by and buy something to try.  Since our house still isn't done (maybe by next spring) I don't have much space for food storage.  I probably still have a year or two of food, but it's packed into the back of the shipping container and unavailable.  But if TSHTF it's there. (I do have a 4 foot wide shelf in the front of the shipping container that is crammed with food.)  So I try this new stuff.  They sell it in #10 cans and I've bought chili and black bean burger.  The black bean burger can says it makes 38 patties and it was under $11.50.  It's cheaper to buy this can than to buy the already made burgers that are in the freezer section of the grocery store.  It's got black beans, rice, peppers, and seasoning in the ingredients.  I made 4 burgers the other day.  Boy didn't like it because they were soggy in the middle.  I think that's my fault because I made them thick.  When cooking a regular burger I'll make them thick so the center is medium rare.  You can't do that with black bean burger because the center ends up soggy.  If I made them thinner it would have been better.  The taste was good.  This mix would also be good cooked up like ground beef and used in burritos. 

The other item I bought was the chili.  It was a bit more expensive than the black bean burger but still worth getting and using in our everyday food preparation.  The black bean burger gets soaked in hot water for about 15 minutes prior to making into patties.  I soaked it for about an hour because I was busy.  The beans came out tender.  The chili has different directions.  You don't soak the beans, you just cook it in boiling water for 15 minutes or so.  That's a lot of fuel to use so next time I'm going to try soaking the chili for a while before cooking.  We cut up some hot dogs and put them into the chili just for something extra.  The chili was ok.  But I'm used to good homemade chili! Boy really liked this chili. The open can of chili has a very strong smell, that can still be smelled through the plastic lid. Once the can is opened the chili needs to be put into a thick Ziplock bag and then put back into the can prior to being stored or your entire pantry is going to smell like chili seasoning.  Or you can put it into a glass jar to keep it from smelling up the place.  

I think it is important to use this type of food in your daily eating if you plan on using it in your food storage.  I don't use dried food every day, but I'd sure hate to have to go cold turkey from fresh or canned food, or restaurant food, or however you normally eat to dried food.  Both of these items are going to be part of our storage plan and I'll buy one of each can each time I hit that Walmart. 

Nothing done but settling into a routine

We are back in our trailer after having spent the winter at our friend’s guest house. We had internet access there.  At our house we have it but I didn’t have a place to set up the computer.  After all, there isn’t much wiggle room in a 19’ trailer!  Our house is not complete.  Still nothing is finished. We keep not passing inspections- electric and plumbing.  The inspector comes and points out one thing that needs to be fixed.  Then he leaves.  We fix it and the inspector comes back a week or two later.  That’s good but now here’s another item.  They can’t give us a complete list of what needs to be fixed.  It’s one at a time.  Job security for the inspector scum and because it’s new construction we are stuck having to deal with them. Unfortunately, this means more time and more money.  The plumbing inspector is coming back today.  Hopefully that will be a success as he has been easier to deal with than the electrical inspector.  We can’t finish anything or move into anything without these inspections passed.  I did move my computer into the bunkhouse and have it working, so sometimes I can get on line. I’m not supposed to be occupying any building, so the computer looks like it’s just on the shelf being stored. 

Same with the food supply.  A small trailer doesn’t hold much food.  I have a storage rack filled with food in the bunkhouse.  That’s allowed since it is being stored.  But with all the inspectors and workers traipsing in and out, I don’t like it so much in the open…but I don’t really have much choice here.  There’s no long-term buckets or anything that looks like I’m storing up food. I just comment that since it’s 100 miles to Costco I just have to stock up. I still do have food buckets and cans.  Some are stored in the barn, in a pile that just looks like junk, while the rest of it is in the shipping container with all my stuff that was brought here last year. 

Spouse hasn’t quite bought in on prepping and just tells people that I like to shop.  That’s not quite it.  I like to not run out of anything; not now, not during winter when the roads are bad, and not if things go sour.  Spouse gets that and any time a tool or something is needed we seem to have it on hand.  Spouse will come around.  When we were at Max’s Spouse asked Max about his food storage.  Max’s storage looks about what mine was when we were in the Great Central Valley.  It will look that way again some day! 

It snowed last week, the end of May.  In the Great Central Valley it was over 90. I’m still trying to get used to the weather.  Cool in the morning.  Nice until right after lunch.  Rain or snow in the afternoon.  Since the greenhouse isn’t done I have my plants growing in the bunkhouse.  I’ve started asparagus (seeds rather than roots is much cheaper!), tomatoes, onions, strawberries, blueberries, and salad greens.  I am trying to root apple and peach trees.  Spouse is hoping the greenhouse is finished soon.  If it had doors on each end then I’d be able to use it as it is, but since it doesn’t the goat would find my plants very tasty.  The place is so rocky that it’s impossible to even pound in t-posts.  You have to dig out the holes with a shovel and pull out all the rocks, or you use mechanized equipment. So the outside garden is not fenced!  Instead I’m picking out areas that I can plant my things that the goats, deer, and antelope won’t find.  I am putting the asparagus into a swale.  If I can keep the animals away for this first season they should survive just fine. 

Boy doesn’t realize how good of shape he is getting in.  If he wants to go visit a friend, he rides his bike.  He has one friend a mile away and another 7 miles away.  He’s also swimming a couple of times a week because I signed him up for lifeguard class.  He’s not old enough but the instructor is allowing him to participate, he just can’t get his certificate.  He has to ride his bike 30 minutes each way just to get to swimming.  If he frustrates me, I send him out for a run of 5 miles or so.  All of this at over 8000 feet elevation. 

I’ve been going out walking each day now that the weather is better.  I’ve gotten on Boy’s bike but walked it back the last half mile uphill because I was too tired.  That’s not saying much for my conditioning.  I feel like a lump after the winter.  But every day I walk, and I’ve started jogging a bit.  Can’t keep up with anyone, but it’s making me feel less sluggish.  Winter wasn’t so awful (after all, I lived through it!), and I’m sure I will get used to it and be more active next winter. 

Colorado Bound

Wow, it's been half a year since I posted.  I suppose when life gets topsy-turvy posting gets put aside.  I didn't have a computer that had internet.  I certainly wasn't going to try to type stuff on my cell phone nor was I going to use the library computers to post on my blog.  But now I have a computer/tablet that has a real keyboard, plus I have internet access.  So it's about time I get back into my blogging world.

Instead of work going through the layoffs in August as they originally stated, they did it in July.  And they gave us less than 24 hours notice that the process was going to happen.  I didn't know whether I would be laid off or not.  I was going to be told the next day. I had some very pressing work tasks that I wanted to finish, and thinking that the deadline was still weeks away, was able to relax and have lots of fun on my honeymoon.  But here it was, my first day back, I was preparing to leave work for the last time, maybe.  I spent that entire day cleaning out my office.  I walked home at lunch and drove the car back.  I then made a couple of trips from the office to home, taking all my books, office supplies (only mine, not what belonged to work), and everything else that was in my cubbie. 

I still had it in the back of my mind that they would possibly keep me.  After all, when this thing started, my boss said that of the 9 people in our group probably two would lose their jobs.  Everyone in my office joked that because I didn't care if I got laid off or stayed I'd probably end up staying. They were wrong.  At 8:30 in the morning I got the phone call at home that my position was terminated and they didn't want to put me into any other positions. (Two kept their jobs, two moved positions, five were laid off.)  Since I was living in company housing I was told that I could stay for up to three months if I wanted. Since school was going to start in a month we only stayed two weeks.  I figured that the kids should start off the school year at their new school.

Girl surprised me and asked if she could go live with her mom.  If it's ok with her mom, then yes.  Drug Daughter (DD) has been off of drugs for over a year and she was interested in having Girl live with her.  OK.  But Girl can't boomerang this.  The deal is she must stay the entire school year, although I'm the one legally responsible for Girl and if things aren't working out I would take her back.  We put her on a plane with one very large suitcase.  She is now in the American Redoubt and doing very well. 

Boy is still with me.  He wants nothing to do with DD.  I don't blame him, as he wants stability and can't be assured of that with her.  He's also lived with me for about 11 of his 14 years.  This is home.  He is enjoying his new school and has made new friends.  He's also getting along well with Step-parent, even though SP expects a lot more out of him than I did.  That's really a good thing.

So here we are in beautiful, cold (-6 this morning) Colorado.  It's quite a change from the beautiful, not cold Great Central Valley of California.  Our house is not yet complete.  Instead of some of it being ready by November, nothing is ready.  We were living in our little trailer, and not killing each other in the process. Yeah for us! That worked until the weather turned cold.  I put my foot down and said no.  Three in a 19 foot trailer (that's fully extended) is not going to work.  It's really a trailer for one. The shower is also the closet, so you have to take all the food and clothes out before you shower.  Max offered to let us come to his house and shower.  That would work but I needed a more permanent solution. 

Another friend of ours had a little guest house (not little, 2 bedroom, 2 bath) that we could use.  It's got wood stove  plus wall heaters in each bedroom.  We've been in it for three months.  We have 1 1/2 more, then they need their guest house back.  Our house will not be done by then.  We are also building a little bunkhouse.  It probably won't be done by then either.  We will be back into the trailer but I will have a better exterior set up (for food and other items).  The bunkhouse isn't allowed to have a wood stove, and although it can be heated with a couple little room heaters, the county won't sign it off for moving in until the main heat system in the main house is done.  That's because the heating system is interconnected between the main house, bunk house, and greenhouse.

We've been working on the heating system for the past two months.  The heating system company said that their price to install this main portion was $17,000.  We decided to do the install ourselves.  While it is taking several months rather than the week that they would have taken,  that's a lot of money to save! 

So how was the move?  Most of my stuff got moved by the moving van in May.  We still had to move the truck and utility trailer full of stuff.  We looked like the Beverly Hillbillies.  Three cats, dog, goat, food buckets, and several 55 gallon barrels filled with yard tools (why didn't I put them into the moving van???)  The trip was very eventful.  The main freeway had been closed for 4 hours but had opened to one lane when we hit the slowdown area about ten miles from the closure.  We had a full tank of gas but hungry bellies.  We ate granola bars and snack foods.  We saw the mile long line to get off the freeway at the one and only gas station.  No doubt the gas station ran out of gas but people didn't know that.  It took us about 10 hours to make it to Vegas, which is normally a 7 hour drive.  Unfortunately, by the time we got there it was very late (can't see us driving down the strip with a goat in the back) so we filled with gas, got some more food, and kept driving.  Then it started pouring.  A river of mud went across the freeway.  We drove through it.  We ended up stopping somewhere in Utah, pulling over on the side of the road around 3:00 in the morning.  We slept sitting up.  In the morning, we drove into some small town and I insisted on real food for breakfast.  The sun was shining and we stopped at an I-Hop.  Best breakfast ever! 

The second day of the trip went well.  At least until the last few hours.  It started to pour again.  But we made it to the house.  We were able to pull the trailer into the barn and get the truck covered too.  It was late so it was time for bed. 

In the morning I made a little pen for the goat.  She was also happy to get out and walk around after having been in the back of the trailer in the pouring rain for a couple of days.  She ended up getting sick but I was able to cure her with some shots of penicillin.

Some of the food buckets lids blew off in the wind and rain and ruined what was in those buckets.  Some other buckets ended up getting water in them (cracked lids) but I didn't realize it until quite a while later, when the buckets started to smell!  All in all, we made it to Colorado. 

Happy Independence Day

Hope everyone had a good Independence Day.  Around here fireworks were lit last night, on July 3^rd.  They are set over a lake and it’s supposed to be really beautiful.  Boy and Girl were really excited, that is until their friend’s mother came home and said that the parking is crazy at the lake and it was only 3 in the afternoon.  Then Boy and Girl didn’t want to go.  Today they wanted me to drive into the city to watch the fireworks.  No.  I’m not going to.  Yet, if we had gone the night before I’d have been more than willing to watch them twice.  Sometimes they forget that it’s the family experiencing things together that makes the memories.  And, there wouldn’t have been any traffic or parking or traffic issues because we would have parked and walked less than ½ mile, plus on our way out everyone else would be heading down the mountain and we would be heading up!  But instead I read a book and played cribbage.  

Today I read Boy and Girl the Declaration of Independence.  I do it every year.  Most people have no clue what that document is.  I think many confuse the Constitution with the Declaration.

Boy brought home a cribbage board from San Diego sister’s house although he didn’t know how to play.  I don’t know why I never taught them, so yesterday and today were their days to learn.  I have such fond memories of playing all kinds of games with my brothers and sisters and parents.  It was a great way to spend a rainy day.  Now I think that it would be a great way to spend time, if TSHTF or if it’s just a lousy day outside.  Boy had absolutely no interest.  Girl, on the other hand, gave it a try for a couple of games.  Then she wasn’t interested.  She was having fun but because she actually had to think when adding up the points, she decided that it wasn’t for her.  She would have had more fun if I just said you only get points for reaching 15, 31, or having the last card.  I wonder if Future Spouse likes to play cards?  Odd that I don’t know the answer to this.  I’ll find out soon enough!

Future Spouse had a surprise visit by one of our new neighbors.  Yes, blogging buddy Max came by the new house.  I wasn’t there.  I’m still in California but FS was there.  FS doesn’t quite understand how I met Max (I read his blog!) although I’ve tried to explain it.  We’ve communicated by email and blog for five years, and I’m a bit jealous that FS got to meet him in person first!  I was going to stop by last Christmas but the timing didn’t work out.  I have to wait, but not too much longer.  FS did get a picture of Max in front of my new house.  The house is looking good.  Max was too.

I have been experimenting with making my laundry detergent.  I had about 1 1/2 years worth of regular powered detergent but it’s now gone.  I have enough ingredients here to last me another year of making my own.  I’m mixing washing soda, borax, and either Fels-Naptha or Zote bar soap.  I’m also adding some new nice smelling blue pellets.  Those don’t do anything other than give it a nice smell.  The amount of smelly stuff that would normally be used in one load I’m adding to a month’s supply of homemade detergent.  The ingredients aren’t exact but it’s somewhere between 1 and 2 cups of washing soda, 1-2 cups of borax, and one bar of soap.  I have a stick blender that came with a blade/bowl attachment.  I cut the bar of soap up and then put it into the bowl.  The stick blender turns it into a fine powder.  I mix all the ingredients together and put it into a jar.  I could add this to boiling water and make gallons of liquid laundry detergent, but the powder is so fine that it dissolves just fine in cold or warm water.  I use about 1 or 2 tablespoons of powder, depending on how large of a load of clothes and how dirty they are.  But really, that’s all I’m using.  I’m not washing in a front loader, the machine here in our company housing is a 20 year old Maytag.

I’m getting excited about finally moving to Colorado.  I will know the first week of August whether I’m going to still be working or getting laid off.  The way the company lays people off is the week prior they set up a meeting with each individual in the group having the layoffs.  Even if they are keeping you, you still have your meeting.  If they are laying you off or transferring you to another location, your meeting is scheduled for about an hour but if they are keeping you, the meeting is 15 minutes.  So, one should be able to tell if they are laying you off or changing your work location if you look at the right calendar.  They want everyone to have their personal stuff out of the office the day before the meeting and all your work things brought to the office.  If they lay you off then you get walked out the door.  If you left anything at your desk (backpack, purse, lunch, it doesn’t matter) you don’t get to go back and get it.  You can call one of your coworkers and they can bring it out of the building.  It’s a brutal process if you aren’t expecting it.  But me, I hope they lay me off.  If they do, I’ll get some severance plus money for reeducation.  I’m looking forward to taking gardening and animal courses! I’d also like to get the move over with before school starts. 

I just learned about some seeds which can grow into a tree, a bush, or as a small plants that you can trim every month.  The plant is called Moringa.  It grows outdoors, and becomes a tree or bush, in areas that don't get as cold as where we are moving.  It's too bad I didn't know about this plant when we were in the Great Central Valley.  I would have grown it.  You can buy the seeds on-line with prices varying from $25 for one ounce of seed down to $10 for several ounces.  If it grows into a tree or bush then the seed pods have about 2.5 g of protein for every 3 1/2 ounces of pods.  You can cook the pods or eat them raw.  I can probably grow the bush in the greenhouse but you can also grow it like a bed of lettuce and cut the leaves and stems each month.  You can eat that raw or cook it.  That also contains protein, iron, calcium, and minerals.  It's considered a miracle food in some parts of the world.  

Best news is my wedding is coming up this Sunday afternoon.  I don’t mind planning and cooking but since we moved from our farm in the Great Central Valley I don’t really have a good place to hold the event close by that’s convenient for people.  I could have held it here in the company town in the mountains but most people are afraid of winding mountain roads and towns without shopping, hotels, or gas stations.  For some reason that’s preferred by most of FS and my relatives over blue skies, open views, trees, lakes and rivers.  So the wedding will take place in Southern California, with one of my sister’s hosting at her home.  She is also doing a lot of the planning and decorating, which she is good at.  The weather is supposed to top out at 79 that day.  

Big move is over but we are still in California...for now

The main move is over! The house sold and closed without any problems.  My stuff got loaded into the moving van and unloaded into the shipping container at the new house a few days later.  The moving van had to put the delivery off for a day because of snow but I didn’t get charged for it so it didn’t matter to me.  When I was packing a taped fluorescent green ribbon on the boxes that needed to be put into the shipping container last.  These items included my tool chest, small tools, hardware, the table saw, and other items that would be necessary for helping with the house building. 

Mostly the moving of items went smoothly.  One issue I had was that Salvation Army was scheduled to come pick up stuff and it happened to be on the same day as the moving van showed up.  So I put the SA pile in one corner of the garage and flagged it off so the movers wouldn’t accidently put it into the van.  In the house the SA was going to take the piano and the queen bed.  When they got here they changed their mind on the piano.  I wasn’t going to bring it with me so what was I supposed to do with it?  The new people didn’t want it, as I’d already offered it to them.  They already had a piano and didn’t want two!  I had a little fire pit that cost about $100.  I wasn’t going to take it with me and SA didn’t want it either.  One of the movers asked if he could have the fire pit and I said sure.  Enjoy!

I used Mayflower, yes I am purposefully advertising for them.  They were really good.  They gave me an estimate, which was a couple thousand dollars less than other name brand movers.  But they said that they would guarantee the price, which nobody else seemed to want to do.  Because I packed my own boxes, the other movers figured that I was hiding heavy stuff in boxes that was marked as stuffed animals or whatever.  I guess they couldn’t read the boxes that said “extra heavy” or maybe they thought those were really light.   But when I had Mayflower go over my stuff I told them the piano wasn’t going.  Neither was about 100 pieces of particle board shelving that went with the metal shelves in the garage and house.  I had figured that if I couldn’t stuff them all into my sister’s trailer then I’d just buy new pieces once I got there.  Particle board is really heavy so it would cost as much to get new as it would to ship the old. 

As I was trying to get SA to take the piano, I think they were too lazy to move it because there was about 10 feet of rocked driveway that they had to maneuver through.  Anyway, the Mayflower lead person said that they would take the piano for me.  They also said that there would be plenty of space in the moving van for the 50 or so pieces of particle board that didn’t fit into the trailer.  No extra charge.  I don’t know what they did with the piano.  I don’t care.  All I know is they added the shelving to the load and it didn’t cost me any extra even though it wasn’t on the original shipping list.  And, as far as I could tell, everything made it to Colorado in one piece!  Go Mayflower!

The kids schooling change went pretty smooth.  Boy wasn’t actually able to stay at his old school so he transferred to the local mountain school.  It’s a K-8 with less than 60 kids total.  Not bad for a California public school.  He was able to make a bunch of new friends and now that it’s summer vacation he has kids to hang out with during the day when I’m working.  Girl’s new school was also much smaller.  She went from a high school of 3,000 to about 400.  She wasn’t so lost in this new school. In fact, for her last 5 weeks of school I never got called once and she never got suspended or had detention. She made some friends, although none of them live in our new little town.  That school has kids that are so spread out, one of the friends Girl made lives 1 ½ hours away!  Girl decided that the 6 or 7 kids in our town that also went on the bus with her to the high school are all stupid and not worth her time.  This translates to those kids are all nice and respectful. Oh well.  She has been hiking and started running a little again. She has also played with some of the younger kids, so she’s keeping herself busy enough to not be getting into trouble.

Most of the kitchen things got moved.  This was my plan as we are half-way living off our stored food and using paper plates and cups and all non-electric appliances (other than the refrigerator and oven).  Unfortunately it doesn’t do me a lot of good to have several hundred pounds of wheat with me when the wheat grinder is in Colorado.  The Sun Oven is also in the shipping container.  But the garage is full of food as is the closet in my room.  The fishing gear all got shipped but I’ve rigged up a line and Boy has gone fishing a couple of times.  He can dig up a bug or worm to hook but hasn’t caught anything.  He is learning patience – sort of.

Our new home is coming along.  The bunkhouse is much more complete than the main house/barn structure.  But the main house is partially built.  The barn space is a big dried in area.  The greenhouse hasn’t been started yet but it should go up quickly once it gets started.  All three buildings are going to be heated by a large wood burning boiler with a propane backup. 

I have learned something about future spouse.  He wants everything to look really nice from the outside as well as the inside.  I’m more of a plain, non-showy person, on the outside.  I remember reading one of the Survivor’s series books and one of the characters has a trashy looking car (at least from the outside).  The inside is spotless and modern but it doesn’t give the impression that someone who has money is driving the car.  Our new home is truly massive and impressive.  Because the barn and house are one building it’s over 9,000 square feet (4,500 on each level).  It’s not good if you don’t want to stand out.  It’s going to have to have a real good defense system because it’s so visible.  The entire property has been fenced with barbed wire but that’s all we have so far. 

I am looking forward to our final move from California to Colorado.  It will either happen at the end of this summer or by the end of the year, depending on whether I keep my job or get laid off in August.  I’m hoping they lay me off.  It will be a little harder financially but I’d get a year’s head start on some of my projects that I’ve planned.  If I keep the job we’ll stay in California until the main house is done.  

It's Really Hard to Move When You are Well Prepared

I haven't posted in a very long time.  So much has been going on these past few months but tonight, I have found a few moments and post I shall! 
 
As I've been writing about our move for the past year, I can say that moving is not something that I ever want to do again.  Our farm has been sold, it actually sold in less than a month for almost the amount I wanted.  Our new house is not ready.  We've had a really hard time finding a builder.  It's either too difficult of a project for those who just put up square tract homes or it's not expensive enough for those who build custom homes.  We even had one builder tell us that he only builds multimillion dollar homes and ours isn't worth his time.  So what are we to do since our house is closing escrow at the beginning of May?  We have to go somewhere.  I was hoping to find a house to rent along the school bus route for Boy and Girl.  I want to keep them in their schools for the last 1 1/2 months of school.  I found one house and it was going to cost $3400 per month.  Not in my budget! 
 
Next week we are moving up into the mountains to be closer to my work but our stuff is going to Colorado.  Boy's school has said that if I bring him a day or two each week then he can home study the rest of the time.  Girl is going to change schools.  I'm sure the high school she goes to now will be happy to see her leave!  Things should be fine at the new school because she will be the new girl and instantly popular. 
 
With the house not ready, Future Spouse has ordered a 40' shipping container that had better get to the property before the moving van does!  San Diego sister lent me her 20' trailer, in which the tractor, gardening tools, t-posts, animal water troughs, and wood shelving has filled it to the brim.  But I haven't had the time off work to drive it the 17-20 hours each way out to the new property.  I'm hoping to maybe go over Memorial Day weekend, but that would pull the kids out of school so probably as soon as school gets out would be better.  She would like her trailer back soon as they use it a lot. The moving van is going to pick up most of our things next week.  The rest I will bring up to our new little house in the mountains by my work.  We aren't bringing much up there, just beds, the kitchen table, kitchen supplies, plus lots of food, cleaning supplies, everything that I'm not putting on the moving van, plus the dog and cats.  After the moving van goes I'll have two days to clear everything else off the property.  The weather is forecast to be good.
 
I'm sure I won't have to shop much once I'm there in our new temporary small house in the mountains by my work, which is good because the closest grocery store is 50 minutes away.  It's about the size of the store in our new Colorado town, which means it's good for picking up items here and there but not for full blown shopping.  To get to a chain grocery store is a drive of almost an hour and a half.
 
I brought most of my goats to the auction and got a good price for them.  I still have my buck and two does.  I may sell the buck and just keep the does.  I don't know.  I haven't figured out what I am doing with them yet.  A relative of one of my coworkers had said that I could house my goats at their house since they built a small shed.  This person just last week said that they wouldn't be able to house my goats because their shed is too small for their animals plus mine.  A friend of Future Spouse said that I could put my animals on his cattle ranch three hours away.  I'd need to spend time fencing that up, and I just don't have the time.  A coworker just bought some fencing from me and I promised a great deal on fencing panels in exchange for watching my goats.  I think we have a deal. 
 
I told the new owners of our farm that I was taking a lot of my 16' fence panels.  I would still keep most fencing here and if I hadn't pointed it out they may not have really noticed.  But you aren't supposed to take that stuff unless you disclose it first.  The coworker is going to get what he needs and then I'm going to store extra fence panels at his place.  Then I'll be able to bring those with me to Colorado when I bring the animals. 
 
I have so much stuff!  You pick a category of items and I have it.  In trying to figure out what to bring and what to sell or give away, I'm going strictly by replacement costs.   The moving van charges about fifty cents a pound.  Obviously my 40 pounds of salt (a lifetime's worth) isn't being put into the moving van.  On the other hand, my egg incubators weigh a couple pounds but cost $50 to replace.  They are packed.  Some things, like my 40 year old wooden boxed electric wheat grinder with a backup crank handle weighs a lot but it can't really be replaced with anything other than cheap plastic. It's packed.  So is the Sun Oven, and 200+ other boxes! 
 
Most of the food is not going onto the moving van.  Driving round trip in my truck will cost about $500.  I can put a lot of low value items into the truck and trailer (after this first trip carrying the tractor, garden, and animal supplies).  But added up, it's not low value!  Having a full house, garage, and barn, which held everything I need takes up a lot of space.  It's going to be interesting being up at the small house in the mountains by work.  I am already stressing because I won't have most of my preps with me.  But I will have more stuff than anyone else there (at least whose homes I've been in).  This week I've filled the garage shelves with food: canned meats, noodles, vegetables, and condiments of several gallons of vinegar, soy sauce, ketchup, and mustard.  I still have to bring up the buckets of flour, wheat, the "emergency food" buckets, and the cases of water.  Those will wait until I get the ok to put thing into the house rather than just filling the garage.  This small house is a short walk from a creek so water will not be in short supply.  Still, the cases of water bottles are coming with us.  I brought up 24 rolls of paper towels and 36 rolls of toilet paper.  Amazing that we still have 36 rolls of tp left!  I haven't bought any in several years.  Because of the big move, I've been trying to find that perfect balance between using up my preps and not feeling insecure because I've used my preps!

So how long are we going to be in the small town in the mountains by my work?  While FS and I are getting married in July, the grandkids and I are probably going to end up staying here in California until the fall.  They will probably start the next school year still here.  We are hoping the new house is ready by November so that's when we will make the final move.  Until then I will keep working and socking money away to help pay for our new home. 

After this big move next week I will be spending much more evening time on my computer reading what is going on in other people's lives and also learning more prepping skills.  I am really looking forward to that.  Boy is looking forward to getting to go fishing every day if he feels like it.  Girl is looking forward to not having farm chores to do. 

Underground Shooting Range

People make the comment all the time that gun regulations are only there for the law abiding citizens.  The criminals don't worry about the laws.  What's concerning are the gang members.  They are getting much more sophisticated in their training.  If you go to a local gym and look around you will see that gangs are there working out.  They know that you have to be physically fit to be able to outrun or just outlast your opponent.  Most "regular" people, including myself are not fit enough.  I use the excuse that I don't have enough time in the day.  That's true, but I can make more time.  Five or ten minute spurts can be done at anytime, even at work.  If the gangs are getting into better shape, we had better as well.

Gang members are also joining the military.  They are being taught fighting tactics as well as being given expert weapons training.  Gang members have been found on police forces and as prison guards.  Nothing like them building community!  While I live a half an hour outside a big city, the gang presence is pushing its way further into the countryside.

Just this week there was an interesting find here in the Great Central Valley, in a town about 45 minutes from here known for more gang members than not, an underground shooting range.  It made the news for about ten seconds. Someone dug a large hole (or a small tunnel) in their backyard, in the city.  The hole wasn't noticed by anyone. They covered the entrance with old mattresses to deaden the noise.  People thought that kids were playing with airsoft guns because the noise wasn't loud. There were no arrests for the shooting range.  No arrests for any felons in possession of guns.  Only one arrest for possession of drugs. This is the same little community where a man in his late 50s and his mother were out walking at 2 a.m. and he was shot and killed and she was injured.   Was the tip about the shooting range in retaliation for the shooting?  Who knows.  All I know is the gangs hold no value or respect for human life and they are spreading throughout the country.  Don't think they aren't!  Gang violence is a great indicator of what may become normal life for all, not just in those little pockets of larger cities. 

Fixing the eye infection and visiting/researching the new town

I did get to go to the property during Christmas break.  Unfortunately for me I ended up with an eye infection.   I wasn't sure if I had pink-eye, as I was near someone the previous day who had pink-eye, or if it was an irritation because I got a piece of sawdust in my eye.  Either way, my eyes were all gunked up and I was well blinded for a day. My vision was like I was looking though waxed paper.  Is this what glaucoma is like? Future Spouse has NO medications at home believing things can be healed naturally or you need a trip to the emergency room - there's no middle ground.  (This will change once I move in!) There was no Neosporin, no Benadryl, nothing, and it was Christmas and we were in the middle of nowhere, meaning no stores were open.  The next day we were back in the city.  I went to the local CVS and bought Benadryl, Claritin, and Neosporin.  Yes, you can put Neosporin into your eyes if you don't have the kind for eyes.  In two days my eyes cleared up.  Now if this was pink-eye and I didn't have any medication to put into my eyes, it would still clear up on it's on after a few weeks.  But having antihistamines and Neosporin made me much less miserable!

The property is in a beautiful location.  It's on the slope rather than in the valley.  It's higher elevation so we will have more snow that will stay on the ground longer than down in the valley.  The property overlooks the entire valley as well as the mountain range on the far side of the valley.  It has a great view, but that means that others have a great view of us.  In fact, coming over the pass to reach our valley provides a direct view of our slope.  Not private at all, but it can be fortified. 

I stopped at the local grocery store and was impressed with their selection of fruits and vegetables. I will shop there to help the local economy but absolutely never rely on that store to keep us supplied.  I could imagine the place running out of everything within a couple hours if everyone in town came in on the same day to buy a weeks worth of food.   I expect to do monthly shopping in the city an hour or so away.  I will immediately build up the food supply once we get there - number one priority even before all the boxes are unpacked.  (I'm figuring I'll be bringing 6 months worth with me.)      

I have been reading the local weekly paper for our new community.  In a county of under 5,000 people, the local paper is a good way to learn about people before you actually meet them.  Reading the letters to the editor one can figure out who is for self protection and who is for waiting for the authorities.  You can also figure out who wants to be self supporting and who wants the government to provide all their services.  They also have a section on police activity for the week: how many people were arrested, including their names and offenses, who got tickets and for what, where domestic disturbances are, burglaries, fights, everything gets listed. I am keeping the papers and will start mapping the locations soon.   

Fortunately for me Max in Colorado is vetting a lot of people to see if they would fit into his group.  I hope our family fits in with his, although if we don't, it will still be good to know that there is another group close by.  But he will know who not to include.  To me, that's as important as knowing who to include. 

I met one of our next door neighbors.  They are a nice younger retired couple but they certainly don't seem to be preppers.  They never spoke about putting in a garden come spring.  They gave me a tour of their home and they showed me the pantry.  It held a dozen cans of soup and about two dozen bottles of wine.  Not quite enough to sustain them.  This is their first winter on the property and it will be interesting to hear after winter is over about how often they had to leave during stormy weather to go get groceries. 



 

Dead chickens - dead bobcat

Getting ready to head out for over a week.  Boy and Girl are going to spend the time with their cousin in San Diego and I am going to head to Colorado. I'm looking forward to seeing first hand our new property.  However, it's not easy to go away for over a week when you have a bunch of animals.  The dog is going with Boy and Girl.  The cats, goats, sheep, and chickens are staying home. 

Boy did a good job today putting hay bales out for the goats and sheep.  Although there's grass and leaves to eat, if the weather is bad the animals will stay in the barn and go through at least two bales per week.  I'd rather put out extra bales for them in case we get delayed or they get extra hungry.  He also checked on the chickens and made sure their food bin was full.  All was good.

We got all our bags packed. The car is loaded and ready to head out in the morning.  All day I was telling the kids to eat whatever leftovers are in the refrigerator.  No making any new dishes.  Let's use up what's here.  After dinner I cleaned out the refrigerator of all the leftovers they didn't devour.  It all went into the chicken food bowl.  Boy, I need you to do one last chore for me.  Please bring this bowl out to the chickens. He asked if he could do it in the morning.  No. I know it's raining but go do it now.  He asked Girl if she wanted to go with him.  Of course not. 

Boy came running back into the house.  Bobcat in the chicken coop!  I went out and shot it.  Fortunately it only killed two chickens.  I'm not sure how the bobcat got into the coop.  I asked Boy if the coop was open or locked up when he went in.  He said it was locked up. Girl said that there was a hole in the fencing a while back but she fixed it.  I will try to figure it out in the light of day.  Hopefully it will be an easy fix since we are supposed to leave early. 

We told future spouse and FS wanted to know why I didn't have Boy shoot it.  Actually, the thought never crossed my mind.  That was a good suggestion, although I hope we don't have a repeat so that Boy gets the opportunity! 

Realtor sleeze-balls and starting to pack things

I have brought three realtors over to the house so far to ask several questions. None of these questions are out of the ordinary.  In fact, I would assume that they are the typical questions asked.  But three realtors gave me three very different answers. 

What are you going to do for me? The answers ranged from taking video, having its own YouTube channel, paying for up front posting on realtor sites, open houses, and lots of photos, to I'll tell you more once we sign the contract.   How are you going to market my house?  Same as above.

What repairs or changes need to be made to make the house more sellable?  This was really interesting.  I made the comment that Boy's room is going to have carpet put in as right now it's just the cement slab. One realtor said good idea and provided color suggestions.  Another said carpet both kids rooms.  The third said just leave it as is.  But, I countered, the crack in the slab, although it hasn't changed in 18 years makes the house not able to get a mortgage if the appraiser doesn't believe that it isn't an issue.  It won't take much to fill in the crack and put down carpet.  The realtor still said no I shouldn't spend the money.  Really?  And possibly lose a sale because some idiot appraiser can't tell the difference between a new crack and an old one?  How do I know they can't tell the difference?  Because several years ago I wanted to refinance and was told no because I had to hire a structural engineer to guarantee the repair.  I was also told to make the bathrooms look spotless and sparkling.  I spent the day before Thanksgiving regrouting my shower.  That was easy.  I also pulled two tiles that were buckling outside the kids shower and cleaned off the mortar and remortared them onto the wall.  Looks great. 

What needs to be packed up prior to putting the house on the market?  I sure didn't like walking even the realtors through the house for them to see the hidden closet with the safe or the home store with all our food.  Nobody said to pack up the home store.  One realtor wanted to show pictures of all the food and show how well prepared this house was.  No, I think showing all the fruit trees, garden, and barns, along with a fairly empty pantry is better for me.  Another said to pack up as much as possible and also to move out half the furniture.  That's what I'm going to try to do.

How much is the house worth?  This was really interesting.  All three asked how much I thought it was worth before they would tell me their opinion.  Well, the house down the street that is the same exact size as mine only they have a pool and the house is older sold for XX.  I think mine should sell for the same.  More because my house is more updated.  One of the realtors said that I should market it for $50k less and have people start a bidding war.  Sounds great if we had a really hot market. 
How's the market?  Slow...  Then who is going to create a bidding war?  Sounds more like they want the house to sell really fast at a much lower price.  They get their money faster.

What is the market like for sellers around here? Things priced right are selling for just about full price in a few months.  It has picked up a lot over the past few years. 

When should I put the house on the market? As soon as possible said one, in March said the second, and beginning of summer said the third.  I actually like the one who said as soon as possible.  He said that although there aren't as many buyers during the winter there aren't as many houses on the market either which means that my house can stand out.  And if it doesn't sell there's always spring and summer. 

So for now, I am trying to pack up stuff.  Did you know that if you buy boxes at U Haul you can return what you don't use?  Or in my case, a bundle of 25 boxes didn't have enough glue and had to be returned.  Not a problem as long as you return them to the U Haul you bought them from.  This meant driving past two U Hauls to get to the right one. I've packed around 30 boxes so far.  It hardly looks like I've made a dent in any room other than the family room and there it's because most of the bookshelves are empty.   I think we have around 200 feet of shelves throughout the house just for books.  I did go through them and give away a lot.  But we are keeping a lot as well.  Same with the games.  I got rid of as many as we are keeping.  Although the house still looks full, most of the drawers are much less cluttered or are completely empty. 

I packed my wheat grinder, water bath canners, pressure cooker, canning jars and lids, and all those items that I'm not going to use this year that have to do with food preservation. It's really strange to know that I won't be canning fruits and vegetables this year and that other than the citrus we won't be enjoying any of the other dozens of fruit trees.  

Trying to do any of this work while working full time is a real challenge.  On top of that, our weekends are full.  Every single weekend from now until the end of year we will be away from home at least one of the two days and some weekends both days.  Can't get much done that way.  But I do get to take a trip to Colorado to see future spouse and our new property.  That will be a great motivator to get things going in the house and get it on the market soon.  I think I will interview another realtor.

Putting in a winter garden and Girl problems again

I had a realtor come over the other day and he gave suggestions to make the outside of the house and garden look good.  He was pleased with the clean up that we did.  He wants me to take down the front pasture fencing to open the front yard up.  OK, about a week or two before the house goes on the market.  Next week the animals are going out to the front pasture to eat all the mulberry leaves that are falling to the ground.  They save me lots of time by taking care of this task and I don't have to feed them any hay while they are cleaning up the leaves and brush. 

The realtor thinks planting the garden will evoke someone looking at the house to be able to imagine the garden belonging to them.  I wasn't thinking about putting in a winter garden because I didn't want to spend any time on it, but after looking at my empty garden space I realized that I have to put in a winter garden.  Where I live a winter garden is easy - as long as the goats don't get out and eat it all.  I am going to put in broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, cabbage, and all those "winter" crops.  Once they are planted I really don't have to do anything to them.  I'll keep the weeds down to give it the glamorous look.  After all, when the house goes on the market it will all be about "staging".

Girl is still being challenging both at school and home. After she was suspended for three days the school took away her I-pad. Now she is on the old-fashioned books, paper, and pencil routine.  She is also no longer able to access Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Kik, and Twitter.  Because she is no longer occupied with the I-pad at home she is a bit more pleasant.  Just a bit.  She is doing her homework and reading again.  She still isn't helping with anything around the house or yard but at least the school attitude is better.  

Why do I write so much about the antics of Girl? Since my goal is to be self-sufficient as much as possible as well as to watch out for our safety when the SHTF as well as any time we leave our home, problems with family members have an impact on everything we do.  Even if it was a SHTF situation, she is still not an adult.  I can’t dump her on the street (although at times it crosses my mind).  I can’t pretend that her parents will somehow come to their senses and want to take back their obligation to raise their child.  She is still my responsibility.  How can I balance my preps with her actions?  She knows why we store things but she has an overwhelming need to do what she wants, no matter who it harms. 

So what is it this time with her?  I tell her that if she doesn’t keep her room clean then I will be happy to clean it.  I’m not really happy but it gives me the opportunity to go through everything.  Now I cleaned out her drawers just a few weeks ago.  Even with the house rule of only eating in the kitchen or dining room, she had eaten in her room and stashed 4 yogurt containers, a box of cake mix, 2 cans of beef stew, a container of frosting, a couple bottles of Gatorade.  She had a baggie filled with Ibuprofen, another with Tylenol, and another with aspirin.  Topping off my find was a container with over 100 pills.  There were about 15 different types of pills. She had gone into the medicine cabinet and taken some of everything she could find. 

I took all the pills back and put them back into the proper bottles.  (I was very tempted to get every type of laxative I could find and exchange her pills! Of course, she’d have gotten sick and I would have gone to jail!) I locked everything that was a prescription medication into the safe.  The rest of the medications are still in the cabinet.  I asked her why she had them.  She said that she wanted her own supply for when she needed them.  No, I have a bottle of the three main pills in the kitchen.  They are always available but you still need to ask before you help yourself.  Nobody needs a stash in the dresser drawer.  What about the container with mixed pills?  She said that she uses them to help her sleep.  What?  The doctor said if you can’t sleep then you should take a Benadryl.  For some reason Benadryl helps people sleep and is non-addictive.  I even offered that to her before.  I had also given her other tips if she can’t sleep – mainly get up and clean something.  You’ll be tired soon enough, and if you aren’t then at least something will have gotten cleaned.

Girl pulled her normal if I loved her then I’d let her have the pills.  No. Because I love you you cannot have the pills.  You cannot self-medicate.  She wanted to know why not since there’s no law saying she can’t.  I had to explain that it is against the law to use prescription medication in a way other than to who and what the doctor prescribed it.  She just complained that she doesn’t want to live with me anymore and that she wants to live with her friends parents because they would let her use whatever pills she wants. 

So with Girl constantly eating the preps and hiding what she eats, and now getting into the meds, I’m realizing that I have to keep things locked up from my own family, not just the roving masses.  I have to figure out how, in our next home I am going to arrange things so she can’t get into our preps.  While it’s normal to lock up dangerous items when you have little children around, it’s frustrating to have to do so for a fourteen year old.  At times she’s mature enough that she can really be counted on, but more often than not, her behavior is that of a temper tantrum throwing two year old.

UC Merced - It was a terrorist attack after all

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. 

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. 

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! 





   

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.