What's everybody doing today?

Homesteading & Country Living Forum

Help Support Homesteading & Country Living Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Weedygarden said:
Mine came yesterday. Yay! I have three garden beds that need work. The holes are too large, but no problem. I went to the hardware store and bought a foot of hardware cloth with smaller openings, cut out a piece and have been using it to sift out the garlic. It is working great. I love how it sits on a 5 gallon bucket so nicely.

I have already found some pieces of glass, nails, and stones in the soil that I had sifted more than 20 years ago. I have some work ahead of me. In the first bed I am working on, I plan on planting asparagus after I amend the soil with a bunch of peat moss.
Click to expand...

Gold sieves fall into the category of "best thing since sliced bread". The 2 most common sizes of hardware cloth 1/4 and 1/2 inch. Preparing your garden beds anyway you like should be no problem.

I actually bought 5 different sized gold sieves but I was working many different kinds of soil/rock. I could stack several sieves on one bucket looking for gem stones and gold of different sizes. I knew a lady who made jewelry from blood quartz and other semi-precious stones but she only bought stones in specific sizes. Even if I didn't find gold at the end of a day I might have $25 in semi-precious stones to sell.
 
Last edited:
Peanut said:
Gold sieves fall into the category of "best thing since sliced bread". The 2 most common sizes of hardware cloth 1/4 and 1/2 inch. Preparing your garden beds anyway you like should be no problem.

I actually bought 5 different sized gold sieves but I was working many different kinds of soil/rock. I could stack several sieves on one bucket looking for gem stones and gold of different sizes. I knew a lady who made jewelry from blood quartz and other semi-precious stones but she only bought stones in specific sizes. Even if I didn't find gold at the end of a day I might have $25 in semi-precious stones to sell.
Click to expand...

Peanut after seeing what a lrge snake can get through we now almost always use 1/4 inch HW clothe.
 
I'm done for the day pretty much.
Tired.
Got a big headache coming on.
Trying to head off before it becomes a migraine.
Couldn't find Strawberry for a bit.
It was like she vanished"Poof" into thin air.
She was missing about 20 minutes.
I just sat down an bawled like a baby.
Her tie out wasn't broken.
She wasn't outside.
She wasn't in her favorite hiding place.
Nor was she in her kennel.
Law Enforcement is swarming this neighborhood again.
She wasn't coming when I called either.
And when I finally calm down this evening.
I will hug her like no tomorrow.
I have a big bay window that full of houseplants.
She sprawled out in among the houseplants sound asleep.
We haven't been sleeping well for about week, week half.
She was snoring loudly which is how I found her.
She knows she's not supposed to be on the bay window sill.
I have found her and the oldest grand daughter up there snoozing before I put houseplants up there to keep them off it.
It's about 3 foot off the ground, concrete floors. Accident waiting to happen.
 
Last edited:
MoBookworm1957 said:
I'm done for the day pretty much.
Tired.
Got a big headache coming on.
Trying to head off before it becomes a migraine.
Couldn't find Strawberry for a bit.
It was like she vanished"Poof" into thin air.
She was missing about 20 minutes.
I just sat down an bawled like a baby.
Her tie out wasn't broken.
She wasn't outside.
She wasn't in her favorite hiding place.
Nor was she in her kennel.
Law Enforcement is swarming this neighborhood again.
She wasn't coming when I called either.
Click to expand...

MoBook is Strawberry still missing? I sure hope not!
 
Peanut said:
Gold sieves fall into the category of "best thing since sliced bread". The 2 most common sizes of hardware cloth 1/4 and 1/2 inch. Preparing your garden beds anyway you like should be no problem.

I actually bought 5 different sized gold sieves but I was working many different kinds of soil/rock. I could stack several sieves on one bucket looking for gem stones and gold of different sizes. I knew a lady who made jewelry from blood quartz and other semi-precious stones but she only bought stones in specific sizes. Even if I didn't find gold at the end of a day I might have $25 in semi-precious stones to sell.
Click to expand...
I bought the green one. I considered buying more and I might in other sizes.
 
This afternoon we had heavy rains. Checked the mail and noticed the gutter overflowing.... got out the ladder and climbed on the roof to clean out all the trash screens on all the gutters and got the water flowing. Noticed the lightning and thought to myself, it's raining cats and dogs, thunder and lightning, and I am stand on top of the roof. Then it occurred to me, doesn't have sense to come in out of the rain.....
 
Couple more hrs and my day will be done.

Visiting the wife now.
Will go home and shower and go to bed in a bit.

Got everything done at home .
I was in here a couple months ago and now the wife has been 5 days and got a couple more to go ,we are tired of it .
IMG_20200812_174750653.jpg

Not fun.

Jim
 
phideaux said:
Couple more hrs and my day will be done.

Visiting the wife now.
Will go home and shower and go to bed in a bit.

Got everything done at home .
I was in here a couple months ago and now the wife has been 5 days and got a couple more to go ,we are tired of it .
View attachment 48220
Not fun.

Jim
Click to expand...
Sending so much love your way! Please let me know if we can do anything to help you guys out. Big gentle hugs still being sent!
 
Amish Heart said:
She'll be home before you know it, feeling better!
Click to expand...

I think your right.
Tommorow the urologist is going to do some surgery...not exactly sure what. With restricted visiting hours, I never get to see the doctors.

I felt that big hug @Double R . Back at you.

Thanks @Bacpacker , I'm wearing out the car . It's about 40 miles to the hospital.

Jim
 
phideaux said:
I think your right.
Tommorow the urologist is going to do some surgery...not exactly sure what. With restricted visiting hours, I never get to see the doctors.

I felt that big hug @Double R . Back at you.

Thanks @Bacpacker , I'm wearing out the car . It's about 40 miles to the hospital.

Jim
Click to expand...

So sorry she and you have to be dealing with this Jim. Hope the wife healing is soon and your getting enough rest. Be careful .:huggs: for you two.
 
Meerkat said:
So sorry she and you have to be dealing with this Jim. Hope the wife healing is soon and your getting enough rest. Be careful .:huggs: for you two.
Click to expand...

I gotta tell ya, yesterday morning , when she didn't think she was gonna make it to ER, and I had to wait on ambulance( that got lost) she scared the crap outta me.

I don't understand it , but seems both of us have more than our share of health problems.

But we always pull thru.
Thank the Lord.

Jim
 
Had a busy day meeting with cousins, going for ice cream, shopping for groceries, husband's doctor appointment, visiting with daughter. Now playing with the parrot. He had ice cream with us, and is sitting on a kleenex box, watching, "Hogan's Heroes", throwing pieces of kleenex and nuts that daughter is giving him. Missing calves were found. They wedged in the back door that was barely opened to our round top, and got stuck behind the hay. One went in and the other followed. They couldn't figure out how to back out. Cousin's grandson came by and found them, very thirsty, got them out. Baby turkey vulture still doing ok. Don't want to get too close, read that they can shoot the vomit of the dead stuff they ate up to 10 ft if they are nervous. Have a luncheon going on here tomorrow...need to get the place cleaned well, pick mom up from Menno Mannor, and get cooking. Making a taco bar for about 25.
 
phideaux said:
I gotta tell ya, yesterday morning , when she didn't think she was gonna make it to ER, and I had to wait on ambulance( that got lost) she scared the crap outta me.

I don't understand it , but seems both of us have more than our share of health problems.

But we always pull thru.
Thank the Lord.

Jim
Click to expand...

It sure has been a trying last several weeks for you two for sure.
 
Last edited:
Amish Heart said:
Had a busy day meeting with cousins, going for ice cream, shopping for groceries, husband's doctor appointment, visiting with daughter. Now playing with the parrot. He had ice cream with us, and is sitting on a kleenex box, watching, "Hogan's Heroes", throwing pieces of kleenex and nuts that daughter is giving him. Missing calves were found. They wedged in the back door that was barely opened to our round top, and got stuck behind the hay. One went in and the other followed. They couldn't figure out how to back out. Cousin's grandson came by and found them, very thirsty, got them out. Baby turkey vulture still doing ok. Don't want to get too close, read that they can shoot the vomit of the dead stuff they ate up to 10 ft if they are nervous. Have a luncheon going on here tomorrow...need to get the place cleaned well, pick mom up from Menno Mannor, and get cooking. Making a taco bar for about 25.
Click to expand...
It sounds like your Kansas life is full of activity with family and friends. It is a much safer place to be living. No matter what is coming, you are in a much better place in so many ways.
 
Pa made it through surgery. When coming out of anesthesia, he had a seizure about 3 min. so they left the trach tube in just in case. They are supposed to call Mom about 8pm. So will be another late night by the time we contact siblings and aunt and kids who are all waiting and praying. He was sedated but responsive and had use of both hands.
Jim- will keep you 2 in my prayers. Am still glad she is getting relief. Get some rest like BP said. Keep yourself well.
@Amish Heart that’s a lot to keep up with! Have an enjoyable day tomorrow.
 
UrbanHunter said:
As for MoBookworm1957's comment "My vegetarian niece sent me new recipe to try. It's an acquired taste. And I haven't acquired it yet." Vegetarian = NOT Happening here, I guess if you added a pound of burger it would be ok... :)

I believe in a balanced diet, Must alsways contain Meat and Potatoes.
Click to expand...

Dawn and I decided to try being a vegetarian for a month. We knew we couldn't manage being a vegan which is no meat products at all, including eggs and dairy; i.e. no mayonnaise, cheese, ice cream, etc. We had eaten at a couple of vegan restaurant and tried some vegan recipes; No.

But we do like to cook and try new things, and we were able to whip up some pretty good meals during the month without any kind of meat (including fish and chicken, which are, after all, meat). We ate a lot of beans for the protein, and did a lot of stir-fry with tofu, which we managed to get pretty good at. Tofu has no taste, so it's like a blank canvas for spicing and flavoring it the way we wanted to. We also ate a lot of carbs to fill us up, so we didn't lose much weight. All in all, it wasn't bad! So...

We started on two or three nights a week having chicken and/or fish (mostly tilapia), then a small pot roast, and gradually worked our way up to the nectar of the gods: BACON!!! WOO-HOO!!

So what was the outcome? Well, we can get by indefinitely on a vegetarian diet, although we might have to have a few supplements for critical amino acids and such. But meat and meat products just taste better!

The one thing to think about -- aside from any "moral" aspects of being a vegetarian, which I don't buy -- is that meat eaters use up about ten times as much nutrients as the veggies do, which could be bad news in a post-SHTF scenario. Think abouit it:it takes ten pounds of vegetation to create one pound of pig, goat, sheep, cow, or what-have you. That means, if you eat a pound of steak, you're "eating" the ten pounds of forage that the steer had to produce to give you that filet mignon. That also means a lot of land to grow the hay or alfalfa, a lot of water to feed the steer, and so on.

If I were going to be 'completely' self-sufficient (which I'm not), I don't have the acreage and irrigation for a steer or a couple of pigs, even though I have enough for my garden, twelve inches of precip per year in southern Idaho means I'd have to get irrigation for my pasture. So if there ever were a major breakdown of the infrastructure, it might be back to beans and tofu for Dawn and Duncan.

Ugh.
 
I didn't do much today... ran the generator for 15 minutes. Tackled the porch with the leaf blower, it looks much better. I like the fact my 50ft porch is a ground level slab but with several large oaks in the yard my porch becomes a trap for dirt, dust, grass clippings, leaves and twigs. I went on a fire ant killing spree afterwards, have to do that every month or so else they'll take over the yard.

A friend dropped by around supper time, they brought their own dinner, good thing since I hadn't planned to cook, just planned a sandwich with tomato on the side. Just watching "shark week" on the discover channel tonight.
 
I haven't checked in on this thread for a while. I just now finally tuned in (Wed night). Jim - I just now found out about Brenda. Wow! It sounds like she's finally on the mend though, after a really scary stretch - I am so happy to hear that. You guys are always in my prayers. A bit belated this time because I've only been quickly skimming threads for a few days and didn't check in on this one. I've been a little busy - my son just came out of surgery today as well.

Last weekend he came up for dinner and was complaining about his collarbone. He broke that two years ago and they put in metal plates to fix it. He's had nothing but trouble with it since day one. My wife took him into her office and drained some fluid out of his shoulder and carried it over to the lab. The bone was infected. So today the hardware was taken out and they started him on some heavy duty oral antibiotics. They may have to go for IV antibiotics and insertion of a PICC line, but they're going to try the oral first in hopes that will wipe out the infection. A PICC line will keep him out of work for six weeks (he just started a new job last week). While his bone is infected, he is not generally sick, so there is time to give the oral antibiotics a try before jumping directly to a PICC line.
 
Heads up for everyone taking antibiotics. It kills the good bacteria in your gut so make sure to take some probiotics afterwards. Gotta keep your gut in healthy condition ya know
 
Duncan said:
Dawn and I decided to try being a vegetarian for a month. We knew we couldn't manage being a vegan which is no meat products at all, including eggs and dairy; i.e. no mayonnaise, cheese, ice cream, etc. We had eaten at a couple of vegan restaurant and tried some vegan recipes; No.

But we do like to cook and try new things, and we were able to whip up some pretty good meals during the month without any kind of meat (including fish and chicken, which are, after all, meat). We ate a lot of beans for the protein, and did a lot of stir-fry with tofu, which we managed to get pretty good at. Tofu has no taste, so it's like a blank canvas for spicing and flavoring it the way we wanted to. We also ate a lot of carbs to fill us up, so we didn't lose much weight. All in all, it wasn't bad! So...

We started on two or three nights a week having chicken and/or fish (mostly tilapia), then a small pot roast, and gradually worked our way up to the nectar of the gods: BACON!!! WOO-HOO!!

So what was the outcome? Well, we can get by indefinitely on a vegetarian diet, although we might have to have a few supplements for critical amino acids and such. But meat and meat products just taste better!

The one thing to think about -- aside from any "moral" aspects of being a vegetarian, which I don't buy -- is that meat eaters use up about ten times as much nutrients as the veggies do, which could be bad news in a post-SHTF scenario. Think abouit it:it takes ten pounds of vegetation to create one pound of pig, goat, sheep, cow, or what-have you. That means, if you eat a pound of steak, you're "eating" the ten pounds of forage that the steer had to produce to give you that filet mignon. That also means a lot of land to grow the hay or alfalfa, a lot of water to feed the steer, and so on.

If I were going to be 'completely' self-sufficient (which I'm not), I don't have the acreage and irrigation for a steer or a couple of pigs, even though I have enough for my garden, twelve inches of precip per year in southern Idaho means I'd have to get irrigation for my pasture. So if there ever were a major breakdown of the infrastructure, it might be back to beans and tofu for Dawn and Duncan.

Ugh.
Click to expand...
With all due respect- the hay/alfalfa comment is a misnomer. I grew up on a ranch. Hay was fed only for a few months per year (depending on the year of course). The main source of forage was rocky desert unsuitable for any sort of crop production and no irritation. This is why you see folks with a goat or ox in third world counties. Also, you are only counting one side of the equation which is like only counting income and no debts or vice versa. Animals also give a good deal back to the land. ~just some food for thought.
 
The cows running on our property do well here half the year with not much added, except a bucket of grain every couple days and good water. That is, unless you're a dumb baby getting stuck in the roundtop, or pushing open the gate in a little corral and can't figure out how to get out. They don't back up. (Jodie and Addie). There are at least a dozen older ones, and they do just fine with the stuff growing here. And their poop is put to good use, and of course, their milk will be when they are older.
Baby chick jumped the brooder, kids left a side of the top grate open, got to the stairwell, and was our alarm clock today. Need to get ready for a luncheon. Out to dinner tonight with husband, it's our 37th anniversary.
 
Congrats Amish! You and yours have a wonderful dinner tonight!

We are approaching 36 years ourselves. August and September are always fun, we met on the third of August and got married on the 28th of September (same year), we celebrate both days. I give her a lot of Flak, we are miles apart in many things but we tend to balance each other out.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Back
Top