I decided to re-post this from Dec 30th of last year. With the economy going the way it is, with me being layed off for so long, and all of us not knowing what the future holds, it just seems more relevant now than it did in December.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
After reading Farmergeeks response on his blog about the Boy Scout books, it somehow reminded me of my youth. Nope, I was never a scout, but I had always wanted to be one. I wanted to wear that uniform, I wanted to go on outings, have friends, and learn from them, but it never happened for several reasons. One, my parents never liked to drive anywhere other than work or to the store. Two, they could never have afforded anything I would have needed to be in the scouts. And three, dad always said they were wimps, lol, I imagine he couldnt get in either...grumpy old fart. Plus I was a very nervous kid..really withdrawn,shy, and afraid of everything. Hard to belive ain't it??? lol
While growing up, I never learned any of the wilderness survival skills in the scout books like making a shelter or tying knots, but I learned a lot from just living, even though at the time I didn't realize it. I learned to garden, I learned to shoot and hunt, I learned to fish, I learned how to preserve food, and I learned how to live on next to nothing. Times were hard at home, nearly my entire youth was spent from check to check by my parents barely making ends meet.At that time in the late 60's and early 70's, concrete guys just plain didnt work in the winter, so dad was always layed off.
To understand where I'm coming from, I'll go into a little detail:I grew up with my mom, dad, and sister on 3 acres in a small township in the same county I live in now. Our house was a 3 room basement home. NOT 3 bedrooms, 3 ROOMS...kitchen, living room, backroom, thats it. We slept in the same room as our parents on bunkbeds till I was about 12, when dad seperated the 2 rooms. Heat in the house was via an oil burning stove in the center of the living room,no ductwork, just radiant heat.(so even though we had our own room, we had to keep the door open when it was cold) We had well water attached to a kitchen sink and a washing machine, and that was all. We bathed in an old galvanized washtub with hot water from the sink. Our toilet was an indoor outhouse of sorts, inside a closet in the backroom. Basically just a frame with a seat and bucket underneath, with a matching real outhouse behind the old shed that was about 80 yards from the house.In the evenings after dark, dad carried that bucket to the outhouse, 365 days a year. We finally got a real bathroom with a tub, shower, and toilet when I was 15, so we (sis and I)thought we were rich. We had a black and white tv attached to a 25 foot antenna tower dad scrounged from a jobsite, with a grand total of 5 stations. (anyone else remember antenna rotors?) I believe I was around 18 or 19 when we got basic cable.I remember an old rotary phone in the house till around '85 as well. The flat tar roof leaked, the floor was almost always damp, the bare block walls cold, and the place always smelled of heating oil and Hoppes gun cleaner. (though I still love the smell of Hoppes, lol)
Food was always a big issue. During the warmer months, we ate what we deemed as "normal" food, though most was the cheapest cut available, and usually other things from the dented can bins at the local Sparkle Market. We busted our asses with a decent sized garden all summer, and I grew to hate it as a kid. I remember many days of pushing myself and my sister through green briar to pick blackberries, as well as wild grapes, so mom could make jellies and jams to can or freeze. (I still hate freezer jam though!) We never had any animals other than beagles, so our only meat source other than the store (when dad was working) was hunting. I can't begin to imagine how many meals we had that were duck, squirrel, or rabbit. At the time there were still pheasants in this part of Ohio, and we were always excited to bag one since it meant a good sized dinner. I think the worst time we had was one winter when dad and I set off hunting on Thanksgiving morning hoping to get a pheasant so we didn't have to have rabbit for dinner. Luckily we got one that day .
Funny how life works, isn't it? Most of my life I hated the way I grew up and resented my parents for making us live that way. We were "forced" to help around the house and garden. We had to use an outhouse when everyone else had a real bathroom. We had to watch an old b&w tv when the neighbors had color, remote control AND cable! All through my teens 20's,and early 30's, I pulled myself as far away from that life as I could, buying and doing everything I could, just because I could.
But here I sit, typing and thinking about all of this and realize something. I'm going back to that way of life on purpose. It makes me chuckle to think about it, but it also makes me kinda sad. I wasted all that time trying to ignore who/what I really am. It took me all this time to find myself, but I made it. Without my childhood, and without Lisa's encouragement I would never be where I am now.....make that-WE would never be where WE are now.Without going into any detail, she grew up ver similar in a house not much bigger with FOUR siblings...and I thought I had it tough! Sometimes I write in this blog like it's all me, but it's far from it. Lisa had taken every step right beside me the whole way,taking this incredible journey of lifestyle change that we are on.Though they'll never see this, thank you mom and dad for making me who I am today, and thank you Lisa for your love and encouragement. You are my guiding light down this path to self sufficiency.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Monday, August 24, 2009
Today the forecast calls for sunny and warm, a nice break from the wet and cloudy weather we've had off and on the the last week. I plan to spend most of the day outside, catching up a bit and generally cleaning up. I need to finish tilling the new herb bed, mow, weed the garden a bit, do some laundry, clean the chickenhouse,and just pick up things kinda laying around. I'm horrible for leaving garden tools out! lol Not a really busy day, and nothing really labor intensive, just a lot of little things that need done.
Yesterday we decided to take a day away from the house and go out shopping a bit. One of Lisa's co-workers told her about a store in a mall an hour away that had some bellydance skirts, so she wanted to just go look. For those that don't read Lisa's blog, she has been taking lessons once a week and working with a dvd every night. She's always loved to watch bellydancing, and finally decided to try it. The lessons are only $10 a week, so it's not really much of anything off the budget. She's feeling better, her knees aren't aching as much as they used to, and she is losing weight. She's happy about all of it, plus loving to learn something that has always intrigued her. I'm very proud of her.
Anywhoo.......we drove to this mall yesterday and found two stores that had some outfits. (did I mention that I *HATE* shopping malls?? I'd rather take a beating than go to a mall lol) We walked the whole place, and only one store caught my interest. It was just a t-shirt store, and I do love concert/band shirts. I looked around, saw a few I liked, but decided I didn't really need a $20 t-shirt right now. I decided that instead, I would look for a new hunting vest since squirrel season is right around the corner, and my old one finally fell apart. Dicks Sports carries huntin' stuff right? Well...at this particular one, their hunting clothes section consisted of camo raingear and a couple hats. There was also a chinamart attached to the mall, so I tried there as well. That was actually a joke. I have more in the basement than their entire outdoor section had. I suppose I shouldn't have expected to find much being in the Cleveland area, but I was still disappointed and kinda ticked off. We left the mall and headed for home.
Lisa decided she didn't want to go home yet since we haven't been out much since the layoff. We stopped on the way to this really big health/natural market that my sister worked at for years. That place was PACKED! We had no intenetions on buying anything, we just wanted to look at produce prices and at some of the more natural cleaners and such. Ummm...."organic" tomatos, 2 for $1??? I don't think so. "free range organic" ground beef for $8 a pound? You gotta be kidding me! All natural/eco friendly dish liquid for $7 a bottle????? Not a chance in .... There are some great products there, but the prices are just insane. But.....that doesn't stop the customers. I saw baskets and carts full of produce and other groceries, all smiling at the checkout line like they themselves are saving the planet from doom and destruction. I just had to laugh a bit, knowing that most of the same people have manicured lawns and flowerbeds that could easily grow the same produce for a fraction of the cost. I just can't imagine spending $100 a week on groceries there, it just boggles my mind. I guess that right now it's just the "trendy" thing to do. Lisa picked out a box of cereal to try, we got drinks, and the latest copy of Mother Earth News (our subscription ran out),and got the hell outta dodge.
Foolishly, I ran across the street and tried yet another Dicks and Chinamart, and both of course didn't have any vests. Dicks of course, had racks and racks of camo clothes for the upcoming deer season. Leafy camo, 3-D camo, scentblocker camo, fall camo, green camo....a sea of neverending camo. Not a one thing out for the average joe small game hunter at all.UGH!! I again got disgruntled and left. I finally decided to go past the house to a Gander Mountain store, surely THEY would have a vest. Well....they did. I wanted a plain old Carrhart hunting vest. No frills, no fancy camo, just a canvas vest with pockets and a game pouch. Of course, there weren't any. I did get one that was similar with some hunter orange on it, figuring I wouldn't find any others unless we headed further south or went to a store I knew of an hour and a half away. This one will do just fine. I got my vest, Lisa found 2 pair of jeans (buy1 get 2nd at 1/2 price) since she needed new ones, (down 2 sizes! Great job hun!) and we finally headed for home.
I wanted the vest because I plan on doing more small game hunting this year. I miss hunting as much as I used to,and I want something else to suppliment the freezer. I have no problem at all filling it with squirrel and rabbit, and *possibly* the occasional pheasant. I grew up on all of these as regular meals, so there is no reason not to now. I need to call my uncle and see if I can sight in my 22 rifle at his place, and go get a box of 20ga shells since somehow I don't have anything but 12's laying around. I WON'T use a 12ga for squirrel, thats just insane. That's like using a 30.06 to keep chipmunks out of the garden, lol. I remember the days back at the gunshop when guys would come in for shells to go Squirrel hunting...Winchester 3"XX copper plated 4 shot!! Their excuse was "them tall tree's". Funny, I didn't know Ohio had any 100 foot tall sicimore trees, hahaha. I can't imagine what was left of those squirrels after being blasted with those, wow. I never used anything beyond 20ga 6 shot for ANYTHING. Guess it takes all kinds....Hey! Maybe those guys were after that squirrel on the top of my page! hahahahahahahaha
At the request of someone who commented on my last entry,later tonight I'm going to work on a post of recipes. Not food recipes, but some for homemade cleaners. We haven't bought any cleaners or laundry detergent for quite some time, and all have worked well except for the latest one. It was for dishwashing liquid, and we're just not happy with it at all. We'll look for another recipe, but in the meantime, I'll post the ones we do use on a regular basis.
Yesterday we decided to take a day away from the house and go out shopping a bit. One of Lisa's co-workers told her about a store in a mall an hour away that had some bellydance skirts, so she wanted to just go look. For those that don't read Lisa's blog, she has been taking lessons once a week and working with a dvd every night. She's always loved to watch bellydancing, and finally decided to try it. The lessons are only $10 a week, so it's not really much of anything off the budget. She's feeling better, her knees aren't aching as much as they used to, and she is losing weight. She's happy about all of it, plus loving to learn something that has always intrigued her. I'm very proud of her.
Anywhoo.......we drove to this mall yesterday and found two stores that had some outfits. (did I mention that I *HATE* shopping malls?? I'd rather take a beating than go to a mall lol) We walked the whole place, and only one store caught my interest. It was just a t-shirt store, and I do love concert/band shirts. I looked around, saw a few I liked, but decided I didn't really need a $20 t-shirt right now. I decided that instead, I would look for a new hunting vest since squirrel season is right around the corner, and my old one finally fell apart. Dicks Sports carries huntin' stuff right? Well...at this particular one, their hunting clothes section consisted of camo raingear and a couple hats. There was also a chinamart attached to the mall, so I tried there as well. That was actually a joke. I have more in the basement than their entire outdoor section had. I suppose I shouldn't have expected to find much being in the Cleveland area, but I was still disappointed and kinda ticked off. We left the mall and headed for home.
Lisa decided she didn't want to go home yet since we haven't been out much since the layoff. We stopped on the way to this really big health/natural market that my sister worked at for years. That place was PACKED! We had no intenetions on buying anything, we just wanted to look at produce prices and at some of the more natural cleaners and such. Ummm...."organic" tomatos, 2 for $1??? I don't think so. "free range organic" ground beef for $8 a pound? You gotta be kidding me! All natural/eco friendly dish liquid for $7 a bottle????? Not a chance in .... There are some great products there, but the prices are just insane. But.....that doesn't stop the customers. I saw baskets and carts full of produce and other groceries, all smiling at the checkout line like they themselves are saving the planet from doom and destruction. I just had to laugh a bit, knowing that most of the same people have manicured lawns and flowerbeds that could easily grow the same produce for a fraction of the cost. I just can't imagine spending $100 a week on groceries there, it just boggles my mind. I guess that right now it's just the "trendy" thing to do. Lisa picked out a box of cereal to try, we got drinks, and the latest copy of Mother Earth News (our subscription ran out),and got the hell outta dodge.
Foolishly, I ran across the street and tried yet another Dicks and Chinamart, and both of course didn't have any vests. Dicks of course, had racks and racks of camo clothes for the upcoming deer season. Leafy camo, 3-D camo, scentblocker camo, fall camo, green camo....a sea of neverending camo. Not a one thing out for the average joe small game hunter at all.UGH!! I again got disgruntled and left. I finally decided to go past the house to a Gander Mountain store, surely THEY would have a vest. Well....they did. I wanted a plain old Carrhart hunting vest. No frills, no fancy camo, just a canvas vest with pockets and a game pouch. Of course, there weren't any. I did get one that was similar with some hunter orange on it, figuring I wouldn't find any others unless we headed further south or went to a store I knew of an hour and a half away. This one will do just fine. I got my vest, Lisa found 2 pair of jeans (buy1 get 2nd at 1/2 price) since she needed new ones, (down 2 sizes! Great job hun!) and we finally headed for home.
I wanted the vest because I plan on doing more small game hunting this year. I miss hunting as much as I used to,and I want something else to suppliment the freezer. I have no problem at all filling it with squirrel and rabbit, and *possibly* the occasional pheasant. I grew up on all of these as regular meals, so there is no reason not to now. I need to call my uncle and see if I can sight in my 22 rifle at his place, and go get a box of 20ga shells since somehow I don't have anything but 12's laying around. I WON'T use a 12ga for squirrel, thats just insane. That's like using a 30.06 to keep chipmunks out of the garden, lol. I remember the days back at the gunshop when guys would come in for shells to go Squirrel hunting...Winchester 3"XX copper plated 4 shot!! Their excuse was "them tall tree's". Funny, I didn't know Ohio had any 100 foot tall sicimore trees, hahaha. I can't imagine what was left of those squirrels after being blasted with those, wow. I never used anything beyond 20ga 6 shot for ANYTHING. Guess it takes all kinds....Hey! Maybe those guys were after that squirrel on the top of my page! hahahahahahahaha
At the request of someone who commented on my last entry,later tonight I'm going to work on a post of recipes. Not food recipes, but some for homemade cleaners. We haven't bought any cleaners or laundry detergent for quite some time, and all have worked well except for the latest one. It was for dishwashing liquid, and we're just not happy with it at all. We'll look for another recipe, but in the meantime, I'll post the ones we do use on a regular basis.
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Well there hasn't been much of anything blog-worthy going on the past few days. At first, it was just too hot and humid to do much outside, and now it's rained and stormed off and on for the last two. A storm rolled through last night late, and actually woke me up, which was really odd, NOTHING wakes me up, lol. No matter though, the garden can use the rain after 2 weeks of heat and dry.
On Monday, I filed for my last 2 weeks of unemployment benefits. Of course, they won't let you file for an extension the same day, so I had to do that on Tuesday. After all the forms were finished, and I clicked that "process claim" button, I got the typical "please allow 2-4 weeks for processing". I go about my day and figure I won't hear anything anytime soon. Low and behold, I get up Wednsday morning and see an e-mail from the state telling me I have a message on my inbox at the ODJFS website. Yep....approved in a day for another 20 weeks of benefits.
I'm honestly not sure how to take that. Of course, I'm happy that I have this to fall back on since there is no sign of work picking up anytime soon. But, does that show the speed, accuracy, and "gettin right on it" attitude of the unemployment office? Or does that just show that "yep, another pipefitter-might as well just give him what he needs"? I'm still shocked that it went through that fast. I'm thinkin' it just shows that they know the economy sucks, and that anyone in the construction trades are pretty much screwed right now. Ah well, now I have 'till the end of January, though that much time off is going to drive me even more insane than I am now after 6 months. I sure hope things change soon. Juggling bills is getting harder and harder.
On a lighter note, I have a dinner date tonight at 6:00 that I'm pretty excited about. As some might know, I was married before Lisa. That marraige was a big mistake, and ended rather ugly. When we had met, she had a 11 month old little girl. In the 6 years we were together, that little girl knew me as daddy. Her real father was barely in the picture, just usually on holidays so she wouldn't be with me. (he and I always hated each other) After the divorce, and after Lisa and I got together, some real SHTF with my ex, and I haven't seen her daughter in nearly 10 years.
Last Friday was her birthday, her 18th to be exact. I found her on Facebook and sent her a happy birthday message, not sure if I would get anything back. Well...I did. We exchanged a few messages, and then text messages last night on my cell phone. We're meeting for dinner tonight.
I'm very excited about seeing her, but I'm really nervous too. I don't quite know what to say yet. I don't know how to answer any questions she may have. I'm just going to have to play this one by ear, and take it as it comes. I told her last night in a text message that I was nervous aboout this, and she said she felt the same way. Maybe this is why I slept so light last night. I don't know what is going to happen, and I don't know what this dinner will lead to. I do want her back in my life, and hopefully now that she is 18, I can do so without involving her mother. We'll just have to see where this leads. Wish me luck folks, I'm gonna need it! LOL
On Monday, I filed for my last 2 weeks of unemployment benefits. Of course, they won't let you file for an extension the same day, so I had to do that on Tuesday. After all the forms were finished, and I clicked that "process claim" button, I got the typical "please allow 2-4 weeks for processing". I go about my day and figure I won't hear anything anytime soon. Low and behold, I get up Wednsday morning and see an e-mail from the state telling me I have a message on my inbox at the ODJFS website. Yep....approved in a day for another 20 weeks of benefits.
I'm honestly not sure how to take that. Of course, I'm happy that I have this to fall back on since there is no sign of work picking up anytime soon. But, does that show the speed, accuracy, and "gettin right on it" attitude of the unemployment office? Or does that just show that "yep, another pipefitter-might as well just give him what he needs"? I'm still shocked that it went through that fast. I'm thinkin' it just shows that they know the economy sucks, and that anyone in the construction trades are pretty much screwed right now. Ah well, now I have 'till the end of January, though that much time off is going to drive me even more insane than I am now after 6 months. I sure hope things change soon. Juggling bills is getting harder and harder.
On a lighter note, I have a dinner date tonight at 6:00 that I'm pretty excited about. As some might know, I was married before Lisa. That marraige was a big mistake, and ended rather ugly. When we had met, she had a 11 month old little girl. In the 6 years we were together, that little girl knew me as daddy. Her real father was barely in the picture, just usually on holidays so she wouldn't be with me. (he and I always hated each other) After the divorce, and after Lisa and I got together, some real SHTF with my ex, and I haven't seen her daughter in nearly 10 years.
Last Friday was her birthday, her 18th to be exact. I found her on Facebook and sent her a happy birthday message, not sure if I would get anything back. Well...I did. We exchanged a few messages, and then text messages last night on my cell phone. We're meeting for dinner tonight.
I'm very excited about seeing her, but I'm really nervous too. I don't quite know what to say yet. I don't know how to answer any questions she may have. I'm just going to have to play this one by ear, and take it as it comes. I told her last night in a text message that I was nervous aboout this, and she said she felt the same way. Maybe this is why I slept so light last night. I don't know what is going to happen, and I don't know what this dinner will lead to. I do want her back in my life, and hopefully now that she is 18, I can do so without involving her mother. We'll just have to see where this leads. Wish me luck folks, I'm gonna need it! LOL
Monday, August 17, 2009
hot hot hot
Yesterday and today were incredibly hot and humid, so we decided to spend the time inside with a canner, boiling water, and dehydrator all running at the same time...makes sense eh? hahaha
We had more greens beans out back and figured we would try some pickled since we've always heard about them but never tried any. Our cucumbers aren't doing so well, but a visit to a friends got me a surprise bag full to make more pickles too. I also had a good sized basket of peppers, so those needed done too. We even got the first good picking of sweet corn. The ears are small, but still delicious. The 29 1/2 pounds of onions were dry, so Lisa braided them together, and the rest went into the dehydrator. Soooo...........we had a lot to do.
The total from yesterday and today is:
6 qt freezer bags green pepper slices
9 pts dill pickles
3pts pickled beans
1pt pickled jalepenos (i wanted to try something different)
3 pts hot wax pepper slices
8pts jalepeno slices
28 ears sweet corn into freezer
2 quart sized bags dehydrated onions
Tonight I'll be doing beets and turnips, plus there is another dehydrator full of onions to bag when they're done.
Since we planted so many potatos this year, I've been trying to think of something for storage and came up with a simple bin with mesh sides for air circulation. All made from scrap wood in the garage, a handle I had, and mesh for outdoor scucco I scavenged from a jobsite dumpster. All I had to buy was a set of hinges. It's not pretty by any means, but hey, its going to be in the basement so who cares.
Tomorrow I'm taking a day away from the garden stuff and working on other projects. I need to work on the walk-in closet I built in the prep room, and turn it into a sort-of root cellar. I need to do a bit of caulking, cover the heat vent with sheet metal, make some sort of ventalation fan, and figure a way to vent it to the outside with pvc pipe. I'll be putting hooks in the ceiling for hanging the onions, building some sort of base to put full buckets on to avoid moisture, and move the camping gear back out into the main room. We're running out of room for food storage so fast, and this is the last place we have other than converting a closet in the spare bedroom. It'll be cooler than upstairs by far, and though it won't be as convienent, it will just be for bulk and root crop storage. I'm hoping that a little of this side-job money can go to more bulk food like sugar, oats,rice, and flour. We use a lot, it less expensive in bulk, and we do tend to prep quite a bit anyway. Besides, we still havent used all of those food grade buckets we ordered a few months ago...no sense in letting 'em sit around empty.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Catch up time
Today was a long hard day in the garden. This weather has been so cool and wet, I have let it sit with little attention. I was always told not to be in the garden when anything is wet, and I still follow that. So......yesterday and today have been big time catch up since the sun finally decided to show itself for 2 days in a row.
The dew hung around late again today, actually till after 10, so I had some other business to take care of. The buff orpington we bought as a chick 4 months ago didn't exactly grow up to be hen, so... off to the freezer with ya buddy. (I mean the happy chicken farm, Holly) He was just as big as the last one I cleaned, (I mean sent off to the happy chicken ranch), so it was a pretty good addition to the freezer. ( I mean addition to the happy chicken ranch where he can frolic in the sun with the other roosters we had) I did this one a little different, skinning rather than plucking, and I gotta say it was a LOT easier. ( I meant I took off his little chicken jacket, Holly)
After he was all finished, I headed for the garden to finish the weeding I started yesterday. Geeeez what a job that turned out to be. I did a bit more weeding in the 2 rows of potatos, and decided to pull a few to put in the house. I found a few good sized ones, then found this giant deformed monster 'tater. That thing weighed 3 pounds! I think if jabba the hut had a rubber ducky, it would look like this:
I pulled the last of the onions and set them out to dry, then re-sowed the last of the ones I had. Even if we just get some decent sized ones by the time cold weather gets here, I'll be happy. Tomorrow I am going to slice some and try them in the solar dehydrator.
I started in the green beans, working on the first double-row. There weren't many on them, so I pulled the plants as I picked beans. I got that row finished, and about halfway through the second row, and had another two 5 gallon buckets full. For now they are in a cool spot in the basement, until Lisa is able to can them tomorrow afternoon. I'll finish the rest of the 2nd row tomorrow, then we'll be pretty much done with beans for ourselves. The rest we'll give to friends or family....or save 'em for 2 weeks till the weddin'. Mmmmmmm green beans and groundhog gravy! hahahahahahahahahaha just kidding.
I got 5 more yellow squash, 6 more green peppers, 5 HUGE heads of broccoli, about 18 little roma tomatos, and 40 ears of sweet corn. Not a bad haul for a day, eh???
Of course, Austin can smell fresh potatos and tomatos a mile away, so here he is making some oh-so-ever subtle hints that he wants a yummy, lol. (remember Lisa's entry about the eyeballs?????)
Rune on the other hand, didn't care for corn silk, but the husk was a surprisingly fun toy.
The thornless blackberries are finally starting to ripen, so I managed to pick a small container full. We'll freeze some till we have enough to make jam......IF Lisa manages to save any. ( dont you dare ever say anything about me and strawberries again! LOL) These things grow HUGE. After 2 years working with them, I really recommend the Doyles berries you see in the back of magazines.
Tomorrow I'll finish weeding, finish picking beans, then anything else I manage to find. There are quite a bit of beets out there, so I'll bring in those red-death dirt tasting things for Lisa to can for herself. Sorry lol to me they taste like dirt. We did plant parsnips, but not a one came up. We've had turnips too, and there are more in the small greens bed that will be ready soon. That area needs another picking, then I'll probably pull whatever is left and re-sow fresh greens for some good fall salads.
I've pulled most of our friends row since he hasn't came back to do anything with it but once since he planted. Let me tell ya, I am totally amazed at the stalk/plant that comes off of a radish. Those things were well over 6 feet tall with little seed pods hanging all over them. I'll dry them in the sun and toss em on the burn pile rather than put them in the compost. I really dont want a few hundred radish seeds out there to spring up next season like the tomato's did this year. Which of course, we didn't pull, so there are around 20 rogue tomato plants mixed in with the potatos and beans. So now whenever they decide to all ripen, we'll have more tomatos than the local produce store. Ah well, we planned on more sauces this year anyway. The cabbages are heading pretty well, so it won't be long till I can start my first try at homemade saurkraut, yay!
Sometimes it still amazes me how much a 45x65 garden can produce. Every year we do a bit more, change a few things, and try something new. We plant more of what we both eat on a regular basis, and less of things that only one of us eats. Lisa has her compost flavored beets, and I have my hot peppers. We can more each year, and this year will definitly be a record setter. As of now, the canned count is:
40 quarts green beans
18 pints bread and butter pickles
10 pints hot peppers
This weekend there will be that much more in beans, more hungarian hot peppers, jalepeno peppers, beets, and dill pickles to can, along with freezing sweet corn and broccoli. (maybe Lisa will sing "choppin' brocc-o-lee" lol) I'll have to keep a good eye on the jar stock, since we'll be using quite a bit this weekend, more over the next few weeks, then even more when we're ready for grape jelly and more applesauce. My mom got us a small boxfull at a yardsale, and she's watching for more. We plan on starting to can more meat products like meatballs, chili, meatloaf, and a few others,so we'll need all the jars we can get. (preferably widemouth but we'll take what we can get) It's going to be a busy, busy year for canning
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Civil War reinactment
Today I took my uncle to the Civil War reinactment at Hale Farm and Village, the same one we went to last year. As I said yesterday, the weather ruined the plans to go yesterday, so we headed out today around 11:30. While the reinacment and all was fun, it was miserable outside. VERY hot and humid. The outdoor temp reading in the car when we left read 104. That is incredibly high for Ohio. Insane my hats stickint to my head hot.
In between talking to a vendor and going to watch the battle, we were stopped by some ladies to visit their tent. Low and behold, something that wasn't there last year....a brothel! Now of course we didn't get the usual brothel treatment, but we got cold towels on our necks, a cold glass of lemonade, and a back massage. It was fun, relaxing, and the tips go to the reinactors. I *HAD* to get a picture of this, lol. (No idea who the guy is on my left, he was just someone else who sat down for the treatment)
There are always lots of people set up to talk, to show off their collectables, to get people involved in groups and other reinactments, and of course plenty of vendors to visit. We walked around most of it, though we didn't visit the main part of the village and the church we intended to, it was just too hot to walk all of it. Butch got himself a cavalry hat that he wanted, and I got Lisa an old reproduction cookbook. We watched part of a small scurmish near the village and the main battle before leaving. I can imagine those guys in full dress were roasting out there in the field.
This Gatlin gun was built by a gunsmith in southern Ohio. (thats him in the suspenders with his head cut off, lol oops) It's built entirely on the origional plans and fully functional. The first picture is of it at his booth with some other origional rifles, and the second is when they actually fired it. He actually got the one from the old John Wayne movie "Rooster Cogburn" and completely restored it, since anyone that has seen the movie knows it fell off a boat and into a fast running river. The restored rifle was also the one that was in "The Last Samuri". What a great story, and piece of not only American history, but also Hollywood. Apparantly there is only one known origional Gatlin left in working order and it sets in a museum, but I forget where he said it was. This guy restores Civil War era rifles, and also occasionaly sells a few that he manages to get his hand on. Butch wants to give him one to restore and also wants to buy one. Soooo........it looks like one of these days I will be taking him on a ride.......a 3 hour ride to this guys shop.
In between talking to a vendor and going to watch the battle, we were stopped by some ladies to visit their tent. Low and behold, something that wasn't there last year....a brothel! Now of course we didn't get the usual brothel treatment, but we got cold towels on our necks, a cold glass of lemonade, and a back massage. It was fun, relaxing, and the tips go to the reinactors. I *HAD* to get a picture of this, lol. (No idea who the guy is on my left, he was just someone else who sat down for the treatment)
Below I'll just post some random pictures of the small skurmish and main battle. Enjoy!
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Work, economy, preps, pickles, and gunpowder
Today marks 6 months to the day that I got layed off from work. I search every single day on every job listing website that I know of, and there is nothing. I have seen ONE ad for work in my trade in this whole time, and it was from a guy I know who started his own business. This particlar person couldn't pay me enough to work for him. He's a liar, a thief, and always looking for a lawsuit to get rich quick. I'm sure his only reasons behind starting his own business were 1-so he didn't have to do the physical labor, and 2-to make more money. I wouldn't trust this guy any further than I could throw him.
I look through each and every ad, looking for something in my trade or something that I can and would do. One today was for a job packaging and shipping horse tack. Loading and unloading trucks, sorting and listing merchandise, keeping inventory, ordering, taking orders, etc.........all for $8 an hour. I talked to someone months ago about a job listing for a horse ranch. Feeding, cleaning stalls, building maintenance, mowing, fence repair, etc; for $9 an hour. I don't expect to make my usual over $20 an hour doing this kind of work, but what quality of employee are they going to get for that money, plus, how is anyone expected to live on that? I can flip burgers for that measly amount at the local BK.
TOday I got a call from an old co-worker that I keep in touch with from time to time. He was a field supervisor for a fairly large company that did not only sprinkler work, but plumbing, mechanical and HVAC. The company wasn't making the profit margin that they had in past years, so of course, being greedy owners as they all are, they took it out on the employees. Cornbread ( I gave him that nickname lol) had a $7 pay cut, and they took away his company van. This is the guy who has taken no more than 4 vacation days in the past 2 years. He was one of those gung-ho company men, but that didn't matter. He was salary and gladly worked 60 hours, getting paid for 40, with no complaints at all. Now he is at home recovering from a knee surgery, one that he held off on for 6 months because of work schedule even though he was told to do it ASAP. He's no longer the smiling faced company man that he was, he is unhappy and left feeling used and abused. Now that he isn't the star child of the company anymore, he's worried that he too may face the chopping block of a layoff that many of his co-workers have in the past 6-8 months. Add greedy people to the rotten economy and lack of construction work, and this is what happens. The little guy loses.
Everyone I know in the same trade is layed off now but a handfull of guys at the last company I worked for and one guy and the one I left last year. Everyone else that I know of chooses between out of state work or a layoff. The material houses are barely making it, and the fabrication places are down to skeleton crews. Fitters, welders, office people, and drivers are all in the same boat now. It's awful out there, and shows no sign of getting better anytime soon. Even buildings I have installed pipe in over the last 5 years are now sitting vacant. One large auto thermostat company lost their major contract to a chinese company not 2 years after we did a large warehouse and production facility addition. A large appliance company moved their plant to Mexico. A small freight expediting company that was booming not 2 years ago is now selling the building that I worked on that is not quite a year and a half old. A major book distributor lost their main contract to a foreign company, forcing them to close a 3 year old warehouse. A shopping mall that I did many retro-fits in is now closed. A big, giant, vacant 2 story shopping mall. It's not just us guys in construction, it's everywhere. The only places I know of that I have worked on that are doing well are the big ugly china-marts, but I won't go there in this blog. I wish I knew what to do, but I have no idea.
I've decided on a few things to try for extra income though. First I want to make a chicken coop and a chicken tractor and see if they sell. Those things are rediculously priced through catalogs and websites, and more and more I see people starting their own flocks of chickens around here. It's worth a try, and if by chance they don't sell, well...we can always use it as an excuse to get more birds or put some at my uncles or my folks place. Second, I'm going to make a few walking staffs and wands to try selling at the local pagan stores. It's not like I don't have an ample supply of wood, lol. The orchard next door is always losing something, plus I have some trees that need trimmed. Those staffs are selling for $40 and up, and the wands for $10 and up. They're flippin' sticks with some leather and pretty stones for gods sake! I can do that in my sleep. No I'm not going to make my fortune selling chicken houses or walking staffs, but any extra income would be beneficial, even *IF* I manage to find work. I have no problems taking someones money that wants to pay big bucks for a purdy stick, lol.
In other happenings, Lisa has been doing a lot of canning the past 2 days. Last night she canned another 21 quarts of green beans, taking the total so far to 40, and today she canned 18 pints of bread and butter pickles. There will be more to do tomorrow when we get more pickling spice, and I'm sure more later in the week when this sunny weather arrives. (make that IF it arrives) The pantry is starting to look full again, and in fact so full that I am going to have to convert the closet in the spare room to another pantry. We do have storage open downstairs in the prep supply room, but we'd both rather keep as much up here as possible. We'll just have to wait and see how it goes, we may have no choice. That room will be getting a major cleaning and overhaul this week, and I'll have to check some items that we have neglected keeping track of. (strike anywhere matches, propane fuel,batteries, etc) I did have a nice inventory sheet for all of those items, but I just got lazy and didn't mark off items as they were used. It's time to get re-organized in a big way. Winter is fast approaching, and I want everything ready for that always just-in-case cold weather power outage. I do have most things ready that I want, though I still haven't gotten that camp toilet that I wanted to. It's not a real necessity in our preps, but I would like to have one handy in case of emergency so I don't have to worry about using stored water for flushing a toilet. Plus, I still want to do some primitive camping sometime again, and that would be a bonus to have.
Tomrrow I am going to that civil war reinactment again with my uncle. We planned on today but the forecast called for storms, so we decided to try for tomorrow instead. We never got the storms, but it did rain off an on all day. Both of us want to see the people and the battle reinactment again, but not bad enough that we would stand in the rain to watch. Umbrella are out of the question because...well...its a guy thing. Umbrellas are teste shrinkers like golf clubs, mini vans and deck shoes where I come from. We'll just go tomorrow lol. I'll actually remember the camera this time and get some pics of the battle and the buildings, especially the church that I talked about in a post long ago.(the one my same uncle helped move to this location in the 60's) For now I am sitting in the scent of pickles, but tomorrow it's the scent of black powder.........oh yea!
I look through each and every ad, looking for something in my trade or something that I can and would do. One today was for a job packaging and shipping horse tack. Loading and unloading trucks, sorting and listing merchandise, keeping inventory, ordering, taking orders, etc.........all for $8 an hour. I talked to someone months ago about a job listing for a horse ranch. Feeding, cleaning stalls, building maintenance, mowing, fence repair, etc; for $9 an hour. I don't expect to make my usual over $20 an hour doing this kind of work, but what quality of employee are they going to get for that money, plus, how is anyone expected to live on that? I can flip burgers for that measly amount at the local BK.
TOday I got a call from an old co-worker that I keep in touch with from time to time. He was a field supervisor for a fairly large company that did not only sprinkler work, but plumbing, mechanical and HVAC. The company wasn't making the profit margin that they had in past years, so of course, being greedy owners as they all are, they took it out on the employees. Cornbread ( I gave him that nickname lol) had a $7 pay cut, and they took away his company van. This is the guy who has taken no more than 4 vacation days in the past 2 years. He was one of those gung-ho company men, but that didn't matter. He was salary and gladly worked 60 hours, getting paid for 40, with no complaints at all. Now he is at home recovering from a knee surgery, one that he held off on for 6 months because of work schedule even though he was told to do it ASAP. He's no longer the smiling faced company man that he was, he is unhappy and left feeling used and abused. Now that he isn't the star child of the company anymore, he's worried that he too may face the chopping block of a layoff that many of his co-workers have in the past 6-8 months. Add greedy people to the rotten economy and lack of construction work, and this is what happens. The little guy loses.
Everyone I know in the same trade is layed off now but a handfull of guys at the last company I worked for and one guy and the one I left last year. Everyone else that I know of chooses between out of state work or a layoff. The material houses are barely making it, and the fabrication places are down to skeleton crews. Fitters, welders, office people, and drivers are all in the same boat now. It's awful out there, and shows no sign of getting better anytime soon. Even buildings I have installed pipe in over the last 5 years are now sitting vacant. One large auto thermostat company lost their major contract to a chinese company not 2 years after we did a large warehouse and production facility addition. A large appliance company moved their plant to Mexico. A small freight expediting company that was booming not 2 years ago is now selling the building that I worked on that is not quite a year and a half old. A major book distributor lost their main contract to a foreign company, forcing them to close a 3 year old warehouse. A shopping mall that I did many retro-fits in is now closed. A big, giant, vacant 2 story shopping mall. It's not just us guys in construction, it's everywhere. The only places I know of that I have worked on that are doing well are the big ugly china-marts, but I won't go there in this blog. I wish I knew what to do, but I have no idea.
I've decided on a few things to try for extra income though. First I want to make a chicken coop and a chicken tractor and see if they sell. Those things are rediculously priced through catalogs and websites, and more and more I see people starting their own flocks of chickens around here. It's worth a try, and if by chance they don't sell, well...we can always use it as an excuse to get more birds or put some at my uncles or my folks place. Second, I'm going to make a few walking staffs and wands to try selling at the local pagan stores. It's not like I don't have an ample supply of wood, lol. The orchard next door is always losing something, plus I have some trees that need trimmed. Those staffs are selling for $40 and up, and the wands for $10 and up. They're flippin' sticks with some leather and pretty stones for gods sake! I can do that in my sleep. No I'm not going to make my fortune selling chicken houses or walking staffs, but any extra income would be beneficial, even *IF* I manage to find work. I have no problems taking someones money that wants to pay big bucks for a purdy stick, lol.
In other happenings, Lisa has been doing a lot of canning the past 2 days. Last night she canned another 21 quarts of green beans, taking the total so far to 40, and today she canned 18 pints of bread and butter pickles. There will be more to do tomorrow when we get more pickling spice, and I'm sure more later in the week when this sunny weather arrives. (make that IF it arrives) The pantry is starting to look full again, and in fact so full that I am going to have to convert the closet in the spare room to another pantry. We do have storage open downstairs in the prep supply room, but we'd both rather keep as much up here as possible. We'll just have to wait and see how it goes, we may have no choice. That room will be getting a major cleaning and overhaul this week, and I'll have to check some items that we have neglected keeping track of. (strike anywhere matches, propane fuel,batteries, etc) I did have a nice inventory sheet for all of those items, but I just got lazy and didn't mark off items as they were used. It's time to get re-organized in a big way. Winter is fast approaching, and I want everything ready for that always just-in-case cold weather power outage. I do have most things ready that I want, though I still haven't gotten that camp toilet that I wanted to. It's not a real necessity in our preps, but I would like to have one handy in case of emergency so I don't have to worry about using stored water for flushing a toilet. Plus, I still want to do some primitive camping sometime again, and that would be a bonus to have.
Tomrrow I am going to that civil war reinactment again with my uncle. We planned on today but the forecast called for storms, so we decided to try for tomorrow instead. We never got the storms, but it did rain off an on all day. Both of us want to see the people and the battle reinactment again, but not bad enough that we would stand in the rain to watch. Umbrella are out of the question because...well...its a guy thing. Umbrellas are teste shrinkers like golf clubs, mini vans and deck shoes where I come from. We'll just go tomorrow lol. I'll actually remember the camera this time and get some pics of the battle and the buildings, especially the church that I talked about in a post long ago.(the one my same uncle helped move to this location in the 60's) For now I am sitting in the scent of pickles, but tomorrow it's the scent of black powder.........oh yea!
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