2022-01 January Prep Journal and To-Do Lists

I'm planning for today's anticipated weather. It's 76 degrees on January 1. It smells and feels like tornado weather. Tons of wind now, but when it gets eerie and quiet and a greenish sky--I get worried.

I set up chairs in the basement unfinished bathroom and swept in the event we spend a lot of time there tonight. There are candles/lighter there and we have charged the flashlights. I told dh today we need another rechargeable light/flashlight. The storms may hit at dinner, so planning for no electricity or taking snacks to the basement. Shoes will be on, bicycle helmets ready. Heard a rumor that Jim Cantore is nearby. That's bad news, if so.

Yikes, midtnmama! Safety and calmer weather, I hope.

I'm prepping to keep ahead of our heating needs, and to stay warm, safe, healthy and happy no matter what life brings. It's been a cold, snowy week, rare for December in the PacNW, and I'm thankful for every bit of heat our woodstove puts out.

I will continue to cut, split and stack firewood under cover, so that we stay several years ahead on dry, seasoned wood. If I have another health problem, I want Abby to be able to keep us warm. She doesn't use the chainsaw, so I need to have wood cut, even if she has to do the splitting or hauling. She helps now with bringing wood to the woodshed area and helping keep the stove filled.

I need to keep bringing home hay during good weather so that we have plenty on hand during bad. That means going after hay again at least once this month. It's supposed to warm up and start raining again, so I will have to hope for dry weather at some point.

feather I live alone so I have meals in the freezer that I can heat up if I don't feel well. Mostly stews type things from where I cook for 6 and freeze the rest. Would that work for Mr Feather? As you said practice heating up the meals when it's not an emergency.

Why do we prep? Weather. Yesterday it was 73* and overnight we will get 5-8 inches of snow. That may not sound like a lot to all of you winter experts, but around here that is enough to close roads and schools for a couple of days. Mountain roads are difficult in this weather.

Hahaha, too funny! At least Abby can and does cook. 😁

Ohio Dreamer, lol on back burner projects being there so long that they burned up...I know the feeling!

adinwnc, weather is always a big part of why I prep. Today, it started warming up, but the winds were blowing, and if we were 1000 ft higher in elevation, we would have been getting heavy snow again.

The wind today evidently took down power lines east of us, causing the downed lines to catch fire and taking out the power to 850 homes, including ours. It was only out for a few hours before repairs were made, and it was during daylight hours, so no need to worry about starting up the generator.

We have a lot of battery powered and solar powered lights on hand, as well as plenty of kerosene lamps and extra kerosene, plus a ton of candles, so if the outage had continued into the night, we wouldn't be sitting in the dark. I had just brought in plenty of wood and the woodstove was burning brightly, so our house was warm. Hot drinks and reheated soups could be made easily on the woodstove, and if I had wanted to cook something more substantial, the camp stove was another option. I had just charged both my phone and my tablet, so I could listen to audiobooks that I have downloaded just for that reason.

I spent the short outage texting with Mrs TL and working fill in puzzle books, listening to an audiobook, and watching the wind blow our trees around.

Ember was lying in front of the stove, drying her fur, luxuriating in life as a pampered house pooch, as opposed to her LSG duties, lol. Whenever I walked through the room, she rolled on her back and presented her tummy for rubs. She's not what you call a "tough bitch". 🙄 When it came time for her to go outside for night patrol, you should have seen the look on her face..."you want me to do what? But it's RAINING out there!" Hmm, spoiled much? 😏☺

Good morning! Temps have dropped nicely, about 25F out there when I got up at 4. I hope all that mud is finally freezing.

Going to run and get a yard of mulch today then dump it on the mud in the chicken run. I'm starting to get eggs that are so dirty you can't see their color at all!! I stepped in there to water yesterday and my foot sunk in a good inch. I can't imagine the chickens like it any more than I do.

My TSC cat food arrived on the 11th, and my dog food says it's arriving tomorrow, but tracking shows it just leaving Phoenix, AZ! At least it's on the way.

I finally got my root canal and crown done today, although I have to go back next month for a replacement crown next month, as a chip popped off the crown as it was being seated today. As long as I can chew with this one, I'll count it as another dental prep checked off.

I also took them the info on my implant, and if they can get the right equipment to attach a replacement crown to it, I'll have to have it done here, much as I HATE to give even more money to that creepy dentist that broke my jaw (he owns the practice). I think it's just a fancy screwdriver that's needed. It will still be a while before I can get the work done.

Lastly, I was given another prescription for antibiotics for the same tooth that was infected last month. It still seems to have a low grade infection in it, and I can't afford another root canal and crown quite yet. Evidently, there's not enough tooth left to fill it again.

I'm still working on my long term project to turn my downed trees into lumber and firewood. Yesterday, I cut up the rest of the last tree I took down, limbed more downed trees, and worked on stacking branches so I can safely cut up those trees. So much easier when you're not tripping over random branches!

Tomorrow is Abby's birthday, and I'm hoping to get back from our town trip with enough time to play in the woods before dark. When did she get so old?

adinwnc, I agree with Ohio Dreamer, that's a big deal storm, but it beats ice, which is what I heard a few days ago they were predicting for your neck of the woods. I really hope you keep power and internet so you can let us know how you're doing. It sounds like you're well prepared.

Do you have a way to heat food and water? Gas stove? That's one thing I wish I had. I keep saying that when it comes time to replace my electric cook stove, I'm buying a propane stove, even though it means quite an expense to plumb it for the propane tank, etc. However, my electric stove keeps chugging along and may well outlive me, lol!

In the meantime, I have a small propane campstove and a heavier duty one if I need to can up the contents of the freezers. I can cook and heat water on the woodstove, too. The last time the power went out, I put the teapot and a pan of soup on the woodstove, set up my battery and solar powered lights, ready for dark, and was just starting to listen to an audiobook on my phone...when the lights popped back on! Just goes to show, the more prepared you are, the less you need it! 🤣

Anyway, stay safe and warm, and check in when you can. Oh, and remember that if you slide down a hill, you're gonna have to walk back up! 😉

I'm still working on the firewood and woods clean up...probably will be for all of 2022. 😏 At this point, I'm stacking firewood between 2 trees and covering the top of the pile with feed sacks to keep the rain off. At some point, I'll move it all to a woodshed, but since this stuff is still pretty green, it can season where it is for a while. If I run low on seasoned wood, there are still standing dead trees to cut.

I have another 3 trees that I've cut into firewood down to the point where I can start cutting log lengths. I bought myself the rails for my Alaskan mill for Christmas, so at some point, I need to try it out. I'll either have to bend way over to cut lumber, or impose on a neighbor to move logs to a good cutting area for me.

I forgot to fill my antibiotic prescription, and my gum below that bad tooth is starting to swell and ache. 🤒 Time to dig out the back up supply of antibiotics and start dosing myself. Better to use the older meds first and replace them with the newer ones when I fill this script Tuesday anyway.

Abby is actually talking about what kind of chicks she wants to get this Spring. She's not a huge fan of chicks in the house, so I'm surprised to hear her talking about Buff Orpingtons and Blue Sapphires(?)! I noticed Wilco is already setting up their chick area, so it won't be long.

Ohio Dreamer, that's a lot of wipes.
I looked into getting a 5 gallon food grade bucket with a honey gate to dispense the honey more quickly into smaller jugs. It's between 25-30 dollars and I'm not sure it is worth it, or just get through it with a little more mess. Our 60 lbs of honey is warm and not crystallized.

Our weather is just cold, not much snow on the ground. It's supposed to get down to really cold on Sunday, so any running around will have to be on other days.

mr feather didn't cook any meals or heat any up when I asked the last time. I don't think he thinks he'll ever have to, at times, then on other times he helps make things, once in a while makes a recipe of something if I'm too busy.

We still didn't get the wool blankets I wanted to get, so that is in the future. One for upstairs, one for downstairs, and one for the truck or car.

manygoatsnomore, I don't get tired of listening to you talk about the wood splitting, falling trees, stacking, seasoning it.....when I read it, I feel like I've actually accomplished something (when I haven't lol).

I saw the cabinfever, wool blanket link. The army ones, some are felted..some have other fibers, that is the kind I'll get for the truck/car. The woven ones with a high total % of wool those for the family room and bedroom. I'm looking on FB marketplace, and plan to look this summer too. He had said they found them at estate sales and other, for used. I just have to look at them in person to know if I'll be happy with them.

We moved the 60 lbs of honey into jugs. It took 2 hours, and it was sticky and sweet. I had to wash my hands at least 40 times. We just washed the jugs down and they went into the downstairs pantry. Bucket washed w/lid, new food grade bucket. There were a lot of dishes, wash the floor, all the utensils, funnels. We also made a funnel from a 2 liter bottle, I wish we had thought of that before buying funnels, it worked GREAT. *tightwad tip* The size between a canning funnel and the narrow kitchen ones, are the spout on the 2 liter bottles!

FYI...even up here is the "snowy north"....17-24 inches in one storm is a HUGE deal!!
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Go ahead.... Tell me about the "snowy north".....

With 7 of 10 days of the extended forecast showing snow, our temps are stable and barometer is still relatively high and stable.. So I'm not expecting much to change until one of these quantities change..

Otherwise just chugging along with winter..