Weekly round-up

Well, another week is done. Can't say that I got much accomplished. But nevertheless, it has been interesting.

First, the garden. It has been growing like crazy!

The two tomato plants are as tall as I am, and just loaded with small green tomatoes. Our plants are so large and so loaded with fruit that they overwhelmed the trellis I had them tied to, shoving it almost completely flat. I had to prop it up to keep the plants off the ground. We should be harvesting quite a few fairly soon, now that the non-stop rain seems to have finally gone away, and the sun and the heat can start them ripening. We did manage to harvest two small ripe ones a couple days ago. The Debster swears they are the best-tasting tomatoes she has had since she was a child, helping her dad pick them from their garden. Personally, I don't like tomatoes, but the Debster is more "normal" than I, so I grow them for her. And, maybe next year if I put in more than two plants, I can try making my own spaghetti sauce and stuff, which I do like. But that is for next year's blogs. Moving on ---

Two more large cucumbers here, ready to harvest. You can barely see the second one hiding below the one on top. They are now sitting on the kitchen counter, waiting for the Debster. Like the tomatoes, she loves cucumbers and I detest them. Yes, I know, I am weird!

Here are two of many small zucchini that we are watching. They have a ways to go yet, but hopefully the one plant will, in the long run, yield between 8 and 12 of them. I don't care for them raw, or even cooked in large chunks, but grated into zucchini bread and stews and stuff, they're OK.

The green pepper plant has one small fruit still growing. Going to be disappointed if that is the only one we get.  The romaine lettuce, rosemary, chives, and green onions are toast, smothered by the cukes and the zuchinni. The spinach is struggling as well. Some of the basil has fought its way through the jungle and continues to grow. 

Even if we don't get a ton of produce from this year's garden, I am "harvesting" a lot of lessons that I can apply next year. So, as in most things in life, even a "total failure", which this is not, can be a positive thing if I learn from my mistakes.

Our new puppy, Gidget, is now almost 15 weeks old. She has learned to scamper up the stairs like an old pro. Going back down them is still a bit of a problem, but she is getting better. She only falls on her nose every third step or so now. By next week I expect she'll be running down them like it was never an issue. So much fun raising a really young puppy. I haven't done this in many many years, and had forgotten how much fun it could be.

We are having vehicle problems. A few weeks ago, we had to put our 2000 S-10 Blazer in the shop; it was running horribly. No power, "service engine light", and most concerning, a bad knock in the engine. With 260,000 miles on that engine, I feared the worst. Yep, engine was shot. We thought about buying a used car, but any decent used car would cost anywhere from $4,500 on up. Which we don't have, and I refuse to go into debt. 

So I talked to Terry, the owner of the shop, who is a long-time friend of the family, about options. Rebuilding the original engine would have cost well over $2,500, and replacing it with even a rebuilt engine, not to mention a completely new one, would have cost as much as a good car. We decided to go with replacing the engine with a used one. This was done, to the tune of about $1,900 parts and labor, which we did have although it wiped out most of our savings. It did come with a 30 day warranty. The engine had 146,000 miles on it.

We got the Blazer back. For a few days, it seemed OK, other than a problem with a fuel evaporation sensor, which we got fixed. So, we took it to the park two weeks ago. Uh oh! Oil pressure bottomed out to zero! That was NOT good. Parked, let it cool a few minutes, checked the oil. It was quite low. I put oil in, and the pressure came back up. Still lower than normal, but acceptable for the moment.

As we were pulling into our driveway, the pressure went down to zero again, every time the engine dropped into idle speed. The next day, I nursed it the couple miles back to the shop. We still haven't got it back yet. Terry is making sounds about maybe having to replace the engine, and the place he got it from doesn't have a replacement on hand at the moment. I am not happy, and the Debster is semi-furious. Right now, we are forced into a wait-and-see-what-happens mode.

In addition to the car troubles, we got a letter from the IRS this week. Due to Obamacare issues, we owe them over $2,400, which must be paid in three weeks. No idea where we are going to get that money. A friend of the Debster's has offered us an interest-free personal loan with very generous repayment terms, but, like I said, I hate going into debt, especially to a very dear friend. Guess we will try to work out some kind of payment plan with the Feds.

I'm not going to get into details about my problems at work, but suffice it to say that I have to take a 3-day unpaid "vacation". My own fault, completely. But still, it comes at just the WRONG time! Losing that large of a chunk of pay is really an issue right now ...

On the positive side, the Debster's health keeps improving. Her legs are really doing well, and she is getting around pretty darned well. She still goes for exercise therapy twice a week, and it is doing wonders for her. You go, girl!

Did you all notice that photo in my blog a couple weeks ago, roasting hot dogs with my nephew? 

Do you see that gut on me? That is just plain disgusting! No wonder my back and feet hurt all the time, and that I am "pre-diabetic", and have high blood pressure, and have so many other issues. I have obviously known that I have gotten really fat, but I guess it didn't strike me as such a big issue (pun intended) until I saw this picture. I MUST do something about this, or it will eventually kill me. Literally.

So, a couple days ago, I started the Adkins diet. I did this once before, 12 or 13 years ago, and lost almost 90 pounds. Then, I did what so many others did. I went off the diet and resumed my old eating habits. I gained that 90 back, with plenty more to boot. Took time, but ... here I am, morbidly obese again. So, back to the diet, with even greater reason to stick to healthy eating habits and lifestyle.

And, beginning Tuesday, I am going to start a course of physical therapy at the place where the Debster goes. Even if my insurance doesn't cover it, it only costs $5 per session, 2 or 3 times per week. A therapist will evaluate me in detail, and set a course of supervised exercises and probably also diet. So though progress will be slow, it should be steady, and maybe a picture like this next year will show a much-different man. 

Well, that's enough for now. 

God bless you all!
Ron, and the Debster

Health and weight loss

So many things going on, it's been hard to decide what to write about. With the onset of winter weather, the rioting and nonsense related to the Ferguson, MO mess in August died down a great deal. But I can't help wondering what will happen once warm weather returns. Might be an "interesting" spring & summer. 

The Debster is doing better and better. She is driving again, for the first time in almost a year. Hooray! And, as she becomes more and more mobile, her self-confidence and attitude about herself have started perking up. Triple-hooray!

My own issues remain. The leg has pretty much healed up, but the other problems still exist. The hematologist has had me undergoing a weekly phlebotomy (blood-draw) to get my hemoglobin count down. I normally don't have a problem with needle-sticks, but those things they use for drawing off entire units of blood aren't needles, they are more like sharpened hollow pencils. At least that's what it feels like going into the bend of my elbow.

The metformin that the doctor has me on to help control my blood sugar was rough on me, to begin with. The literature warned of the side effects, and they weren't kidding. For the first week or so, I was afraid to get more than a few steps away from the bathroom. Wow. Sure am glad that has faded away.

One positive is that because of the changes I've had to make to my diet, I have begun to lose weight. As of about 2 weeks ago, I had lost 6 pounds, and I'm pretty sure that I've lost a few more since then. I don't have a scale at home, though. Just going by the one in the doctor's office. I refuse to obsess over this. I know that I need to lose a LOT of weight. Really. A LOT. Like about one hundred thirty pounds, at least. One fifty wouldn't be out of bounds. But, thinking in terms of those kinds of numbers is guaranteed to only cause despair. So, my goal is to lose FIVE pounds. Once that is gone, then ANOTHER five pounds. It is much easier to think in those terms.

At this point, systematic exercise is difficult for me. I am so heavy that it doesn't take much at all to get me out of breath and my heart pounding. But I know that as the weight comes down, I'll be able to do a little more, and then yet a little more, and so on. And, as the exercise rate increases, so will the weight loss. That is a spiral that is the opposite of vicious! I will say, that even when I was young and fit, systematic exercise bored me to tears. I tended to keep fit by normal but strenuous physical activity, like hiking, wood-cutting, running up and down stairs instead of walking, playing sports, stuff like that. And I suspect the same will happen now. Just looking at a barbell makes me want to run the other way, but I have been eyeing my shovel and spade and garden space a lot lately. That kind of thing.

There were other things I wanted to talk about, like the garden I want to put in, my desire to get into woodworking using only hand-tools, getting ready for the fishing season, and so on. But this has gone on long enough; I'll save those for another time.

God Bless!
Ron (and the Debster)

Update on The Debster, and cousin Crazy George goes off-grid

I thought this was worth a chuckle ...

Well, the Debster has been home for a couple of days now, and life is settling back into some semblance of normalcy. She is still pretty limited in what she can do, but is improving daily. She gets up and down the stairs from the bedroom fairly well, and is doing her prescribed exercises with only a little bit of prodding from "the management of this torture chamber", meaning me. Her incision is healing nicely. She is normally a very slow healer, so that is VERY good news. And she has begun to cut back on the pain meds, also great news. One other thing that I really hope to see happen is that as the pain recedes and she gets some normal motion back, she will be able to work on strengthening herself all around. She has been in so much pain for so long, and hence virtually an invalid, that she has allowed her muscle strength to atrophy to an alarming extent. This is going to be a long process, but I hope that by the end of the year, after the other knee has been replaced, it will speed up quickly.

I received a letter the other day from my cousin Crazy George.

Hey Ronbo! [I'll explain that later]

Well, Patsy and I finally did it! We bought a spread near [name of town redacted]. You been yammerin about self-sufficiency and going off the grid for so long that we decided you just might be right.

 We have about 100 acres. It's kind of hilly, par for the course here in the Missouri Ozarks, too rocky to be great farmland. Most of it is wooded, but there are a couple of acres fairly level and clear, with a nice sized spring-fed crick running through it.

The nearest town is about 5 miles away, and our property is about a mile down a dirt road off the county road. The closest "neighbor" is about a mile away. There are NO utilities run out here at all.

This is a stock photo of a 1971 Airstream similar to George's.
He doesn't allow photos of his. Or of anything, for that matter. Kinda paranoid.

For the moment, we are living in our Airstream camper. We haven't decided what we are going to do about a permanent abode, but we are leaning towards building a log cabin. There is no shortage of building material, that's for sure!

There is a small outbuilding that hasn't fallen down yet. I'm going to do some repairs on it, and use it to house our garden tractor and our ATV. 

We had the crick tested, and the water has no chemical pollution. So I am going to put up a 500-gallon cistern, and a generator-powered pump from the crick to keep it filled. A good charcoal filtration system should take care of other remaining impurities. Eventually we will have to figure out a better water supply; that generator uses a lot of diesel fuel. Even adapting it to run on waste oil, and bio-diesel which I will be able to make myself, it is not economical enough to be a long-term solution.

I need to run into town and pick up some supplies, so I'll be mailing this from there. Give me a call. Although I don't have cell service out here, you can leave a message and I'll be able to get it when I get to town.

Hope to see you out here visiting soon.
George

Well, I have to go as well. Time to get the Debster up, get her breakfast, and finish the laundry. More to follow soon.

God bless!
Ron

"Prepping": fantasy vs reality

I have been reading and thinking a lot, lately, about "prepping". You know, the fad sweeping the country that has people buying guns and ammo in bulk, storing food and water in every possible nook and cranny, taking classes in herbal medicine, foraging for food, guerrilla warfare, seed-to-seed gardening, raising chickens and rabbits in back yards, and who-knows-what-all.

Some of what they are saying, I agree with whole-heartedly. Many years ago, I did my time as a Boy Scout, where the official motto is "Be Prepared" and where we were trained in all sorts of basic outdoor survival techniques and activities. (From what I understand, the Scouts these days are more urban-oriented, but that's OK, because that's where most kids live anyway, especially the ones that can benefit most from the program.)

A few years ago, severe storms knocked out power in a lot of areas around Saint Louis, and many homes were without electricity for up to 10 days. Though we lost our power, we were fortunate in that it was back on in just a few hours. But my mother-in-law's house was down for over a week; she stayed with us until things got back to normal. I remember the Great Blizzard in the early 80's, that had our area grid-locked for about a week. And we all know that it is proverbial around here, that just a hint of snow in the forecast will cause store shelves to be stripped of bread and milk almost instantaneously. Then there are the tornadoes that we are subject to every year. Other parts of the country have to deal, on a semi-regular basis, with floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, blizzards, tornadoes, just about every natural disaster imaginable.

Some are predicting wide-spread economic meltdowns, even civil and/or guerrilla war in our streets and countryside. That, I think, though in theory possible, is a tad far-fetched. But, you never know, I guess.

So yes, it behooves everyone to think about, and prepare for, the almost-certain eventuality of being "off the grid" for at least a short period of time at least once or twice in their lives.

But what, exactly, will this REALLY entail? Realistically speaking, running off to the woods with your trusty "bug-out bag" and living off the land while the country goes to hell in a handbasket, is pure macho fantasy. I predict that if people actually attempt this, most if not all will come running home to mamma pretty quickly, if they survive. As much wild game and edible wild plants as there may be, most areas would be hunted out and picked clean in a relatively short time. 

Those that own acreage in remote areas, and have a decent cabin built and vegetable gardens and livestock will do better, of course. They actually would stand a good chance of making it through the emergency, provided they aren't over-run by starving mobs or government troops or hordes of zombies. Or some combination of the three. But even that is not a realistic possibility for the majority of people. There simply isn't enough land available for it, and most wouldn't know what to do if they had it anyway.

So, where do I stand on this? Well, let's consider where we are starting from. Dear wife and I are in our mid-50's. Neither of us is in top physical condition. Her knees are so arthritic that she can barely walk, and she has other medical conditions as well. I am overweight and have high blood pressure and a touch of arthritis myself. So the "bug-out-bag" scenario is a non-starter for us, even if such a thing were truly viable for anyone, which I doubt. We do not own any land out in the middle of nowhere, and would be hard-pressed, money-wise, to be able to buy any. So, unless some things change drastically, we are pretty much stuck with staying where we are and riding it out. "Bugging-in", I guess you could call it.

So what should she and I be doing to "Be Prepared"? The first order of business is to get healthier. That should be easier for me than for her; most of my physical problems stem from being overweight and smoking too much. Both of those conditions can be remedied, and I have begun to work on them, Trying to lose weight and cutting back on the smoking with the goal of eventually quitting completely. I can also begin a regime of exercise to build muscle and stamina.

I put in a small vegetable garden this past year, but it did not turn out well. Good news is that I learned a lot from my mistakes, and so next year I think it will be much more productive. Growing as much of our own food in the small space available will be a help. It is healthier than store-bought, would give us a big psychological boost, and would save us money that can go towards other things. Plus would give me, and maybe Dear Wife also, some much-needed exercise.

We also need to implement a systematic plan to store a variety of basic long-shelf-life foods, toiletries, first-aid supplies, candles, all sorts of things that would be needed if the grid does go down. We also need to think about the possible need for self- and home-defense. More on these things next time.

God bless you,

Ron

PS: Heard another good joke:

Wife tells her husband, "Stop and buy a carton of milk. If they have avocados, buy six."
When he arrived home, his wife asked why he bought six cartons of milk.
He replied,

...wait for it ...

...wait for it...


"They had avocados."