What's everybody doing today?

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UrbanHunter said:
Today is turning out to be a good day, I over slept; didn't get up till 06:30 told the wife that I was running late and she replies you'll get there on time :) I usually arrive on grocery day at the store by 06:00 so I thought her comment was funny. My grocery day was good, I was able to restock and actually increase our inventory of everything on the list. Of special note was I was able to the the less expensive version of my wife's juice (she uses it to wash down some medicine, and goes through about 3 bottles a week), I was able to finish getting our bread flour topped off (without paying too much), and I found 2 flats of my canned grapefruit.... They were still very low on cooking carrots (I ended up buying some organic's to fill the list). But I was very happy and I got it all done hitting 2 stores and getting home again in less than 2 hours. :)

The wife is worn out today she sewed late into the evening and finished current project, the el-cheapo machine worked well and will serve as a good back up to her good machine that costs 10X as much.
Here is the project she just finished:
View attachment 73127
For those folks out there that sew, here is a picture of the zipper, I've been told that some people find them difficult.

View attachment 73128
As for the machine that she finished the job with, I think that it is cheap (under $200), but it seems to do the job and handle thick fabric, so I would give it 3 stars and say that it would be a good starter machine for someone just getting started. Plus it was easy to thread the needle and the bobbin which sometimes can be a chore for new-bees.
View attachment 73129
The rest of the day will revolve around harvesting the garden, making a tray for solar panels, and moving my power box outside and connecting it to the portable 200 watt solar panels. I have made a way to have it power my growing station lights without having an extension cord pass through a door or window, so it can work without negatively impacting the house security.

Happy Friday,

Urban :)
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Yep. I find zippers a challenge. Her sewing is perfect. She is very good at sewing
snappy1 said:
Went to Walmart first thing for tires. Sat there over an hour before they told me they only had one that was the right size, not two. Sigh. Will go back later when I determine how to make sure they have the correct ones. Don't want to order online as I want to pay cash and not have to deposit it.
Coming up, I will walk dogs.
Do a video.
Bake sweet potato treats.
Hopefully varnish a walking stick--we will see how that goes.

Sigh, again. Ordering tires online. (Or not). Got a call back from Walmart that they now had (found) 2 tires. Went back to the tire center, waited a short time and was told they couldn't change them because the lug nuts were too tight. But they are the last ones who changed the tires. Sigh. Bought the tires and the car and tires are now at my mechanic's.
I did nothing on my list except get the tires. Another day, not another dollar.
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Do they not have some air powered wrench thingy to undo tight lug nuts?


This morning hubby and I volunteered at our church thrift store from 10-12. We were supposed to open at 0900 but we had torrential rain and we waited. The pastor was there but she sat in her car and worked in a sermon until the storm passed. After we hit home, hubby went for a hair cut and got a few things at WalMart. Right now he went to our towns annual fair and he’s getting us turkey legs for dinner. Potatoes are baking.

Tonight, hubby will be playing Dungeons and Dragons online with his son and grandson.

I made 10 cups of yogurt today for this coming week, strained my kefir and got a new batch going. Same with the kombucha.

Productive day.
 
winds-of-change said:
Yep. I find zippers a challenge. Her sewing is perfect. She is very good at sewing

Do they not have some air powered wrench thingy to undo tight lug nuts?


This morning hubby and I volunteered at our church thrift store from 10-12. We were supposed to open at 0900 but we had torrential rain and we waited. The pastor was there but she sat in her car and worked in a sermon until the storm passed. After we hit home, hubby went for a hair cut and got a few things at WalMart. Right now he went to our towns annual fair and he’s getting us turkey legs for dinner. Potatoes are baking.

Tonight, hubby will be playing Dungeons and Dragons online with his son and grandson.

I made 10 cups of yogurt today for this coming week, strained my kefir and got a new batch going. Same with the kombucha.

Productive day.
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My dh says they don't make any money changing the tires. Probably just didn't want to do it. My mechanic had no problem at all.
 
@winds-of-change, the wife has been sewing since she was 8 and made most of her dressed as a girl, she can make most anything... But, she needs a pattern to start from, she can alter it, but she needs the pattern, I have made a number of different patterns for her in the past and we make a good team.

She made all of the outfits in the picture except the boy's white shirt.
1633219576770.jpeg

I have a fleece camo hunting shirt she made me over 20 years ago and I still pull it out when the temps drop below freezing....


Today, I ended up winterizing 3 of my raised beds, pulled out the marigolds (first and last time I ever grow them), and planted some cold tolerant veggies. We are canning tomatoes today, I have run them through the V-strainer and now I just need to reduce the volume by half - I expect it will be tomorrow before it goes into a can.

My little power box is now hooked up to the temporary solar panels, I was hoping to cut the frames for a larger set, but got distracted. I am hoping that tomorrow I can cut and build the frames using the power box to run the saw.. That would be cool, using solar to build frames for solar.. ;)
 
Ran to the bank this morning and paid bills. On the way home we stopped to get some lumber to build the frame for the fodder rack. Even though lumber has not gone down a lot in price it was still cheaper than the alternatives I looked into. If the system needs to expand I'll look at the alternatives again.

I finally got the replacement parts for the hutch this last week. Out of the 4 parts 2 were still broken so K and I figured out how to make minor repairs. The bottom pan that was sent as a replacement was cracked so I ended up getting some plastic epoxy to try ad fix it. I would rather replace the plastic with a sheet metal pan but finding the sheet metal is hard right now. K is putting the hutch together so we can see if we want casters on the bottom before adding the does to their new home.

I am trying to purge a lot of the unneeded baby stuff we have and keep only the basics. Playpens were not used in pioneer days so why do I need one when I had my tubes tied?! So far it seems like no one is having babies. I think this year will be a low birth year.

Winter's eye is doing well. The antibiotics are really helping. 2 days and no more pus! I'll finish the course to make sure.
 
Loaded a truck load of stuff to take to our town hall for my nieces bridal shower the wife was putting on for her. Set up tables and chairs for 20 folks and unloaded. Took off to go pick up my aunt who was coming with her daughter, but cousin was expoused to covid at her job. I called her last night and she wasn't gonna make it, so I offered. She was so glad to get to go. Suprised my mom too. :cool:
Took a bunch of pics of everything. Then tore down and reloaded the stuff. Got home and unloaded. Finally flopped down on the couch and haven't moved much since.
Everybody had a good time.
 
I got up early yesterday morning and had breakfast. Intended to do something productive but felt awful. I was dizzy, stumbling, & needed to lie down. I slept until around 6pm when Mom woke me up and entered super b*** mode. First she wouldn't zip it when I was telling her I was getting up to come get something for her to eat, then she hung up on me abruptly. I got her food asked her why she hung up. She wouldn't speak to me and she made this bulldog face she does when she's mad. I ignored it and brought her food when it was done cooking. Brought her the food and the butter. She suddenly said she wasn't going to eat it. I told her I didn't care and she could put her own f***ing butter away. Went back to bed. She ate the food and probably had my brother put the butter away. I came out hours later (cat kept tapping my face and insisting I wake up). Got her something else to eat and she was a bit calmer but was mad about some online bills she was trying to pay. I suggested maybe they weren't updating since banks were closed and it was a weekend.

Monday we have to go to the insurance company bc she lost the cards for the truck that were mailed.

My head still doesn't feel great today and I'm having some arrhythmia. Not sure if it's the weather or what. My friend said he felt like garbage last night too. I wonder if it's the weather.

If I'm not feeling like I did yesterday, I'm going to try to be productive today. Kitchen isn't going to clean itself and my brother certainly isn't going to do it. He spilled trash on the floor when emptying the one trash can the other day and of course he can't be bothered to clean it up.... Sometimes I wish I would just have a massive stroke or heart attack in my sleep so I wouldn't have to deal with this crap. (Don't mind me, I tend to feel pretty down this time of year). I'll hug a cat and cheer myself up. My orange cat always comes when called so he's here to cuddle me now.
 
Looks like a nice place, Jim.

I've got a low-grade headache. Went to wash my hands and found the water wasn't running. Went out to check the pumps. Jet pump was humming. Cistern was empty. Belt on air compressor pump was broken. I went inside and shut the power off to the shed. Ugh. Now I need to find the replacement belt. I hope tractor supply carries them. Not sure where else to get them. Auto shops don't seem to have the right type (too thin). But I will have to see. I left a note for my brother in case he tries to wash his hands.

On the bright side, our spider in the bathroom is making a new web. My brother ate fruit while on the toilet and threw the core in the bathroom trash can so fruit flies have been amassing in the room. Hopefully our spider can catch some of them. I've been trying to chase them over to the web but they didn't get stuck in it. Older web had too many holes. Spider destroyed that one and was in the process of making a new one when I came in.

To add to my luck today, I went to drink some milk and it has gone sour. It's supposed to be good until tomorrow.
 
Last night we went down to the country club and watched the kids take pics for homecoming.
My daughter is a senior this year. I'm so glad they were able to do something. She is super involved, and is an ASB/leadership officer - she planned out homecoming to be outside so the school district would let it happen.

Never did get to the bulk food store. I think I will go tomorrow at 6 am. I just hate crowds.
Making a list today of what I need to stock up on bulk food wise and relaxing (as I didn't sleep well last night).
Harvested some bell peppers which I will turn into stuffed peppers for dinner.
 
Didn't sleep well and woke up feeling rough. Either I shut off my alarm in my sleep, or I forgot to set it, so I missed church. My daughter woke me up 10 minutes before church started and said, let's go. Yeah, ten minutes isn't going to cut it...she went without me. (Church is only a block and a half away, so it's no big deal for her to go on her own.) My blood glucose was way too high when I woke so getting that back in line has been my main job so far today. This afternoon we are going with Pops to visit Mom at the nursing home at 3:00 and we'll play cards. Then at six we've got a family dinner to celebrate September and October birthdays. Sounds like homestyle fried chicken is on the menu...😁
 
Glad you're settled Jim! Rest a few days... You've over done it of a month now... Rest, doctor peanut's orders.

Rainy outside, nothing going on. I ate a few persimmons this week, haven't had one in years. I sort of felt bad. I noticed a calf eating something around a tree that had never produced. Sure enough lots of persimmons. I'm pretty sure that calf lost his mother last month, poor little guy is hungry. I'll leave the rest for him to eat.

I pushed down several trees yesterday, all storm damaged, partially down anyway. A little dicey, a couple had widow makers 30ft up. I took the tractor up around the high field where the peach orchard used to be. I pushed up a few of the remaining stumps.

I also found a ladder and a tree stand some hunter had erected, 150yrds inside my property line. Going to make some calls and find out who put it there. The culprit probably figured the fence was the property line. It's not, there are 12acres in that holler that belongs to me that's not fenced.

There is a powerful antibiotic in this photo. Guesses? It's also a hemotoxin blocker. I've used it to successfully treat a snake bite.


Black cow weeds 4 a.JPG
 
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So, I went and got a new belt at O'Reilly's. Fortunately, the old one had markings to indicate what it was & they had one in stock. We put it on and I turned the power back on but could hear it wasn't running properly. Had to go all the way to the front and then around the house to the back to get to the shed to check. I could smell something burning before I got there. Could see the wheeled pump wasn't even trying to turn. Switch wasn't doing anything. So switch may have burned out or something else. Not sure. Bad smell was coming from the jet pump's direction but I didn't waste time looking. I hurried back inside to shut off the power. I hope the pump didn't burn up. Ugh. Knowing my luck they both burned up and its hard to find replacements for the wheeled one. Well service guy and my friend's numbers both went to voicemail. If I didn't still have stuff to do I'd take a nap and try to sleep off this headache. It's making me nauseous.
 
Peanut said:
Glad you're settled Jim! Rest a few days... You've over done it of a month now... Rest, doctor peanut's orders.

Rainy outside, nothing going on. I ate a few persimmons this week, haven't had one in years. I sort of felt bad. I noticed a calf eating something around a tree that had never produced. Sure enough lots of persimmons. I'm pretty sure that calf lost his mother last month, poor little guy is hungry. I'll leave the rest for him to eat.

I pushed down several trees yesterday, all storm damaged, partially down anyway. A little dicey, a couple had widow makers 30ft up. I took the tractor up around the high field where the peach orchard used to be. I pushed up a few of the remaining stumps.

I also found a ladder and a tree stand some hunter had erected, 150yrds inside my property line. Going to make some calls and find out who put it there. The culprit probably figured the fence was the property line. It's not, there are 12acres in that holler that belongs to me that's not fenced.

There is a powerful antibiotic in this photo. Guesses? It's also a hemotoxin blocker. I've used it to successfully treat a snake bite.


View attachment 73241
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Persimmons? Did not know that. Living in land of poisonous snakes, good to know.
 
Today we had church meetings and this morning I got the tomato sauce canned. I have green beans that we will can tonight, we have 1 more church meeting today and then I can focus on the canning. For lunch today we are having our first batch of "quick meals" chicken noodle soup with one can of green beans that didn't seal during the canning session last week. The wife has been having a tummy bug so we are hoping the chicken noodle soup will calm it a little.

After our church meeting today we discussed our situation, she feels that we must increase our long term stores, but we are torn between canned dehydrated basic foods or full meals, or a mix, we will pray on it and a solution will present itself.

We also talked about power and it got around to the generator vs the solar panels, when we discussed the generator's noise and thirst for fuel it becomes clear that it is not a long term solution, but the solar is expensive (at least for us)... I am aiming for something that can cover our daily basic needs without disclosing us...

We both feel that the next 2 years are going to be much worse that the last 2 so we are trying to cover our bases.... Need to double check my seed supplier...
 
Worked on our tree line again this morning, and got the reluctant grandkids to help. Moved all the brush and wood to the burn pile. Got the tomatoes and peppers picked, and will need to empty the dehydrator and refill. Caught the neighbor dog that came over yesterday and killed one of the guineas. She is tied to a shade tree out front with a bowl of water. When they notice her not around, maybe they'll come get her. A neighbor is hosting an ice cream social this evening for the locals so that will be fun. LIttle granddaughters mom and the boyfriend are visiting her here today, but so far they're visiting out front.
 
Actually got the closet cleaned yesterday, so that's out of the way.

Have two pounds of pinto beans and ham in the slow cooker. Makes good freezer meals!
Went to Sunday School and Church.
Walked dogs.
Going to make a no carb egg bake in a pan to slice instead of doing muffin pans.
Will also make jello and pudding.
Supposed to varnish a walking stick, but that may be put off.
 
I went to pick up some parts that my "Hermit Enabler" ordered from Amazon for me.
Delivery drivers can't seem to find rural addresses.
So I actually was in a town and a village today. I might need a week to recover:confused2: But I did say a bunch of money and avoided the City.
 
Finally finished my gravel backfill for the gazebo pad. About 30 yards of gravel. I can't seem to find anyone to do the pour that isn't booked until January. I am going to do it myself with a couple neighbors lending a hand. I am not great at it but I can make it flat and hard.
 
Ok, so I got my kid off to school and piddled around for a while this morning. I have to be in Mankato, Minnesota tomorrow at 5AM for work, it's 3 hours away. I decided I'd leave at 1AM so I laid down for a nap at 11AM this morning. Can anyone tell me why there is a #&$*! High School marching band outside my window at 11:30 in the morning? gaah
 
Spikedriver said:
Ok, so I got my kid off to school and piddled around for a while this morning. I have to be in Mankato, Minnesota tomorrow at 5AM for work, it's 3 hours away. I decided I'd leave at 1AM so I laid down for a nap at 11AM this morning. Can anyone tell me why there is a #&$*! High School marching band outside my window at 11:30 in the morning? gaah
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I don't think I could handle that - would drive me up the wall!

Do you do shifts in a row? I'm in the same boat as you, my workplace is 3 hours away, start at 5am and go til 5pm. But I typically do 6 days on, 8 off - and so I stay in my RV while there. It helps a bit.
 
DrJenner said:
I don't think I could handle that - would drive me up the wall!

Do you do shifts in a row? I'm in the same boat as you, my workplace is 3 hours away, start at 5am and go til 5pm. But I typically do 6 days on, 8 off - and so I stay in my RV while there. It helps a bit.
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I work 8, 10 hour days in a row and then get six days off. But my travel can be anywhere from Chicago to L.A., Milwaukee to Seattle, or almost anywhere in between...
 
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