2021-12 December 2021 Prep Journal and To-Do Lists

manygoatsnomore I am so sorry for the loss of TL! He did so much for you and taught you so much, I know that he will be greatly missed! It's good of you to support Mrs TL. I am sure that she is still in shock and will appreciate your help.

November update

1) Can beef when the cow "comes in". It goes to butcher on the 2nd. DONE
2) snow fence will have to go up Well, posts are in
3) change the furnace filter DONE - since I typed it I thought to do it, lol.
4) finish splitting woodpile Done
5) verify what I have for Christmas gifts, pick up anything else I need DONE
6) butcher meat birds (this might slide to Dec....they are "due" for butchering on Nov 29) DONE
7) can meat birds - if we butcher in Nov Working on this today
8) gun week at the end of the month, if DH gets a deer I will be canning deer in Nov and/or Dec. No Deer, yet

Doesn't seem too hard....unless all that meat shows up at once, lol.

ETA:
9) check how many empty caning jars I have. I know I have up-open cases....but need to verify sizes and quantity. DONE...DH says there is never enough...so still buying
10) still need more pallets. Still looking, but have enough for current needs

I can't believe it's already December! While the last couple of years since Covid hit seem to have crawled by day by day, it seems like the last few months have gone by in the blink of an eye. If I had known how much my life would change 2 weeks ago, I would have paid much more attention to each and every day before that.

On the prep front, I allowed myself to lean too much on Tom's help with projects instead of figuring out how to do then myself. Now I'm having to either figure things out or spread my requests for help across the rest of the neighbors.

The first thing I'm doing is paying $160+ to put an easy2start adaptation on my Stihl Wood Boss. My smaller Stihl is a tiny workhorse, but the bigger saw is more powerful, has a bigger gas tank and does the job much faster. My drawback with it is that I just can't physically pull start it. Tom used to actually run over and start it for me, usually after a few rounds of golf. I just feel silly asking anyone else to do that! So, the local Stihl shop is going to make a little (okay, a lot) more money off of me. It's worth the money to me to have a saw I can use.

I'm also going to ask if they work on Husqvarna saws. I saw one there Tuesday, so I'm going to see if they can tune mine up so that it starts and runs nicely (it goes neither at the moment). I want to use it with my Alaskan mill, since it's much heavier than the Stihl, and harder to use in the woods. Its bar is also longer, so that's a plus. Some of my logs are pretty big.

feather asked something along the lines of why we prep.

I prep to avoid having to pay premium prices for groceries and to know that I'm always going to be able to feed my family and friends.

I prep to make sure that we will be warm and dry if the power is out, and able to cook that food.

I prep to make sure we have water to flush the toilets, and potable water to drink, for cooking, and for washing the dishes and our clothes.

I prep to make sure things like TP shortages do not affect us.

I prep to make sure we have an alternative power source and the means to can up the contents of our freezers should the grid go down for longer than a few days.

I prep to make sure we have all we need to remain at home, sheltering in place, should one of the mutations of Covid prove able to evade the vaccine and be more lethal than Delta or Omicron, or should another virus crop up, as it will someday.

I prep to have a comfortable life, no matter what happens, and a place to welcome my neighbors and friends to join us for dinner and dominoes when it's safe to do so.

I prep because I hate to be bored on days when working outside isn't possible, so I have an extensive library, plus board games, cards, jigsaw puzzles and puzzle books and a to-do list of repairs needed that can be done inside, like putting together my shelves for the barn and shipping container, or rebuilding all the window screens. Heaven forbid I should run out of fun stuff and have to clean house, lol!

I prep financially, so that my retirement fund will last my lifetime and leave a nest egg for Abby's use beyond my death. Being financially prudent means that when a major expense comes along, or an exceptional bargain, I have the funds to pay for it. Financial preparedness gives me peace while the stock market takes a plunge, because I know I can ride out anything short of complete economic collapse lasting years, and that I have ways to make what money I might need during that time. It evens out life's bumps, such as $4/gallon gas. Frugality is a fun challenge for me, rather than a feeling of deprivation.

I guess I could just say that prepping gives me peace of mind and security that no matter what happens, we will be okay.

Yum, chicken! You did a great job on your list again in November. 😀👍 Unlike me, you actually DO what's on the list, lol. 🙄 I've always thought making the list was an achievement, in and of itself, heehee. DOING it, now that's just a bonus. 😉

manygoatsnomore, I woke up and you were on my mind. I was thinking about how you were doing since TL died and how you are managing.

I saw how gas in bismarck nd was down to $2.99 US/US gallon. I don't know how the prices are out by you.

You are in my thoughts and prayers, and I find you are amazing in all the work you are doing to keep things going on your homestead.

useless, I've tried a lot of different things, but I'm afraid years of abusing my knees is catching up with me. The nurse from my doctor's office just called with the results of my thyroid test (no changes in dose, as I'd known from looked at the results on line last night), and I took the opportunity to ask if she would put in a note for my doctor about the cortisone shot or a referral if she doesn't want to do it herself.

feather, thank you. I'm trying hard to stay busy, as it helps quite a lot.

I tried to start my larger Stihl saw today, and I DID IT!!! 😁🎶🎉🤸‍♀️ Actually, I did it twice. It died while I was carrying it out to the woods, so I had to start it again. It's still not a pull it once and it goes kind of thing, but at least I can use it without having to ask someone else to start it for me. That is very freeing. AND, it saved me over $160 that I was going to spend on that easy start system. 😁

I've cut up almost all of the dead trees I felled earlier in the week, so when I go back out, I'll take down a few more or keep working on other already downed trees. Hopefully, my saw will continue to start for me, but if not, I still have my "baby" saw.

manygoatsnomore, Wow! Your gas IS high. Ours is 2.89 locally. What a nice thing for your friends to say about helping you. Community is everything.

How do you transport the wood you cut in the woods to your shed?

midtnmama and Ohio Dreamer, yeah, our gas is always really high out here on the left coast. At least we aren't as high as California or Alaska! I'm not sure what makes fuel so much more expensive here - it can't be ALL road taxes. 🙄

Midtnmama, I have been using a 2 wheeled wheelbarrow to bring the cut rounds from woods to sheds. I try to get Abby to do most of the trundling back and forth with it while I'm either cutting wood or stacking limbs, but I do some of it, too. The plan was to get the lawn tractor working so I could just haul wood in the little trailer that fits it, and we were nearly finished with that project when Tom passed. If I hadn't had to wait on a bearing to come in, it would have been working now. Sigh. 😪

We are working on teaching Ember Pup to stay in the orchard or stay home...she has learned to climb over the part of the fence with chicken wire on it. She can hook her toes into the wire and climb out, the little dickens!

We need to reinforce and increase the height of the fence all the way around anyway, as she's 10 months old now, and at some point, she will be coming into heat. I've been in contact with the breeder we got her from, both to get her date of birth (Feb 3rd, my youngest granddaughter's birthday) and to find out who might have an unrelated male when it comes time to breed her. I would like a litter from her before we spay her, and want to keep one or two of the puppies to help her with guard duty. She was able to supply me the phone number of the breeder she bought her male from, and said that gal has several lines to breed from. What she couldn't give me was the NAME of the breeder - it was in her phone under the name of her dog, not the breeder, lol!

Russell, the Muttley Wonder's getting pretty old, and he deserves his retirement. It's taken him a while, but he has finally bonded with Ember enough to play with her and stay close, but he still takes some alone time when she gets too bouncy for him.

It's funny,because he was pretty jealous of her at first, and now, SHE is jealous of him, lol. If I'm paying him attention, she tries to crowd in between us, like she's telling him that I'm hers! She doesn't get away with that kind of behavior, though. I was HIS, first, after all!

I didn't get much of anything done today...had trouble falling asleep last night (and again tonight), then overslept this morning, puttered around inside too long, and then had bell choir practice, so I didn't get anything done outside.

I did sell 3 dozen eggs at bells and picked up my pain meds at the pharmacy afterward, and I did laundry and housework, so the day wasn't a total loss.

If the rain stays away, maybe I can start my big saw again tomorrow. 🤞