Random thoughts of the day and a little puzzle

OK first the puzzle part of today's post: Who is this guy on the left????? anyone? anyone?


This morning I visited with my parents for a few hours, coming home with the usual bag or box of things they feel that I need. Today the haul included a metal grater, (we wanted another one for grating soap bars), another 2 oil lamps, (mom can't use them in emergencies anymore since dad is on oxygen), an old book mom's had for years on Greek mythology, a nazi SA dagger that my great uncle brought home from WW2, and my great-grandfathers shaving mug, brush, and straight razor. I plan on using the mug and brush, but I still have to admit that a straight razor scares the hell outta me! I just think that my great-grandfather would be happier knowing I was using it rather than just setting it on a shelf.





Sometime when the weather starts to warm up, mom wants me to come help clean their attic and see if there is anything I may want. I'm not really looking forward to this since my parents are both notorious packrats, and there are boxes upon boxes of useless items tucked and stored away for no apparant reason. Dad wants me to take all of his fishing gear, which is great, other than the fact that there are probably 2 truckloads of it scattered throughout the house, along with most power and hand tools that he can no longer use. He still laughs about the gun cabinet when I look into it, saying that he'll either be buried with all of them, or have them "modified" for me before he dies.......todays big dad joke was the "snubnose .222 remington" I would someday inherit. Yea, his jokes are bad, but I laughed anyway. He knows I will baby each and every one, especially the Colt Frontier Scout and Marlin 39a Mountie...both my favorites since I was little. We talked about the "old days" when he and I hunted all the time, and told each other the same old hunting stories that we have for years. He mentioned that it's been years since he's had any good fresh game, and cooncidently Lisa was at home making some pheasant breasts. As much as I love the stuff, I saved one for dad, which she is dropping off to him as I type since she is going to her sister's 10 minutes from my folks. I hope he likes his surprise.





Around here, not a lot is going on other than more prepping and seed orders. Next week we are ordering ten 5 gallon food-grade buckets with lids, which we'll be filling with everything that we can. For now we'll use some for flour, sugar, and rice; but I have a long list of things that we buy in smaller quantities that I plan to buy in bulk now that we will have the buckets. I'm also looking into large or several small containers for water. I've seen clean 55 gallon drums, but they are quite expensive. For now I am going to get a few 5 gallon containers to put away, maybe 3 or 4 a month till I decide to get some drums. I figure with the loss of the $115 cable bill each month starting in a week, we can use that money (for now) to do more prep. I want as much on hand as possible now more than ever considering our economy and the still looming though of a layoff.








All of our seed orders are yet to go out, but the last from Seeds of Change will go out this week sometime. The order has been changed, added to, and changed again at least six times now, but I think that it's FINALLY ready to go. All of the seeds we have ordered are organic/heirloom varieties, which makes us both happy, plus I'm hoping that this year the local homesteading group I moderate can start our own seed exchange. We're trying several new things, as well as making a quite large herb garden which we hope to use to create our own spices and also medicinal herbs. We're both excited about this year's garden!





I made a decision on the chicken coop. For now, I'm going to use the 8x16 carport frame and cover it in chicken wire for their run. It's just over 8 feet tall, but I plan to cut it down to around 6 feet just to save on fencing. (I don't really want it any shorter, remember I'm 6'3" lol) I'll make a house to sit outside of it at one end, and a door at the other. We planned on something bigger and better, but again with the possibility of a layoff, I'm going as inexpensive yet functional as possible. I'm also going to go visit with my uncle next weekend and ask him about building another one at his place for meat birds. We just simply don't have any more room here, and he has the 8 acres that he doesn't use at all. I mentioned it last year and he said he would take care of them, so I want to ask again. It would be still fairly close (20 minutes), give him something to do, and I would give him all the chicken he would want. I talked to mom about it today, and she said she would even go over and help with them since she is less than 5 minutes away. We'll see how that one goes, all considering his answer and the cash on hand to build another house and run. If he says yes, I seriously thought about tossing a few pheasants into the mix, but that's just a random thought.

Tonight while Lisa is gone, I am FINALLY organizing all of my notes and folders. I have things written in books, pads, tucked away in files, stuffed in folders, and stacked on shelves; all on misc subjects; that desperately need organized. I have things on homesteading, chickens, preperations, food storage, homemade cleaner recipes, soap recipes, hide tanning, rabbit raising, and every imaginable subject that peaks my interest or that we use here at home. It's far beyond time that these countless pages of notes and pages are organized by subject matter and filed away. The kitchen table is cleaned off, the coffee is perculating, and the empty file folders are stacked and ready. Hopefully I can get them all condensed and seperated by the time the snow melts!!!!!!!! Wish me luck.


For those of you who tried to guess who the finely dressed young gentleman in the photo is................... It's none other than Ronnie James Dio (Elf-Black Sabbath-Rainbow-Dio-Heaven and Hell) circa 195? in his first band-Ronnie and the Redcaps. Ronnie still won't give his actual age, but the general guess is in the 65-67 range. Thanks for playing, and if you guessed correctly, you have won a years supply of corn husks, a slightly used Yugo-complete with donkey pulling attachment (you can't tell me you actually thought it still RAN!) , and any of the neighbors cats of your choice! (state and federal taxes apply and are paid by the winner) ..............c'mon, it's only 3 cents.............