Another week is done

Well, another week has gone without much to show for it. This is getting to be just a tad bit ridiculous. I really have to get off my butt.

The rains have pretty much stopped, and now the normal sweltering heat and humidity has blasted its way in. Welcome to St. Louis in the summer. Not a fun place to be if you don't like sweating like a pig and air-conditioning bills that are sky-high.

It's official. Got the bill from the IRS. Wow. And all thanks to Obamacare. I'm trying very hard not to say things that I shouldn't about our so-called president and congress. But it ain't easy right now.

Been watching "Alone" on the History Channel. Have become almost addicted to it!

The little garden is producing pretty well now.

Deb picked this pepper and tomato a couple days ago

And I picked these tomatoes and cukes yesterday

I can't wait to get a real full-size garden in next year. I'm thinking three 4'x8' beds. One would be about eight tomatoes and various squash in round cages, with maybe some pole beans and onion sets scattered between them. A second one would be smaller vegetables such as peppers, onions, beets, and kohlrabi, and a third with salad greens and smaller vegetables like carrots, radishes, and the like.

That would pretty much use up the available space in our small yard, and give us plenty to both eat fresh and to preserve for later use.

At some point, I'm also thinking of planting things like blueberries and rasberries along the fence lines.

Finished my involuntary time off work and went back Thursday night, only to get clobbered with a horrible toothache that was so bad I had to leave early. This has been a reoccuring thing for months. At first the dentist just prescribed antibiotics for the gum infection, but this time said I had to come in. So yesterday I saw him. One molar has a bad cavity below the gum line and has to come out. But that has to wait until the infection gets knocked back. So, yet another round of antibiotics and this time vicodin to take care of the immense pain until the antibiotics really take hold. I was in such pain that I had to double the dose of vicodin, which meant that it was at such a level that I couldn't safely drive. So I lost another night of work. Right now it is under control. I hope it stays that way, so I can work tonight. This is going to be a real killer on the paycheck!

Oh joy. I have jury duty the first week of August. Was originally scheduled for it in June but was able to get it postponed. But not this time. So I'll be missing work AGAIN soon. There's just no let up.

Here is a post I put on Facebook recently:

Our nation, our Western culture, is going to hell in a handbasket. To find the beginning of the slide down that slope would be a difficult task, akin to the legendary searches for the headwaters of the Nile. The rise of liberal theology a century ago? The sexual revolution of the 60's? Roe v. Wade in 1973? Pick your poison, the journey has been a long one, but it has accelerated tremendously the last 10 or 15 years, and now seems to have reached the level of an unstoppable avalanche.

We rant and rave about our recent "evil" presidents and politicians, yet we forget that if God had not allowed it, none of them would have been elected. In short, God elected Bill Clinton, George W Bush, and Barack Obama. He just allows us to think WE did <smile>. Why? Why has God chosen to put such people in such important positions? :People, from our local town councils to the White House, that more and more and more are actively seeking to undermine, indeed to eliminate, Him from our national consciousness.

An analogy may be found in Scripture, in Gen 15, when God chose to allow the Israelites to suffer for 400 years. Why? Because the iniquity of the Amorites was not yet complete. God allowed the Amorites to reach the final level of sinfulness before He unleashed His wrath on them.

We are under the judgement of God, my friends. His wrath is going to be unveiled in a great big way, sooner or later. There is NOTHING we can do to stop that. Nor should we even try. What we SHOULD do, indeed what we MUST do, is for all of us faithful followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, to individually and corporately fall on our faces and repent! Repent of our self-indulgence lifestyles, our ignoring the spiritual plight of our family members, our neighbors, our friends, out nation.

We MUST put aside all the worldly encumbrances that hold us back and weigh us down. The time-wasting frivolous pursuits. The constant "keeping up with the Jones'". Mind-wasting crap like American Idol and soap operas and silliness of all kinds.

We MUST stop letting our lives go to waste! Get out there! Live for the Lord as if your life depends on it, for it really does. As if your child's soul depends on it, for it really does! As if your friend's soul depends on it, for it really does!

Heaven will NOT rejoice over that new fishing boat. Or over your latest tattoo. Or over any of the worldly pleasures we indulge in. Scripture only mentions Heaven rejoicing over ONE thing, and that is when the Son of God is glorified by the saving of souls! The angels throw a party whenever a sinner repents and turns to the Lord to be saved.

I look back on my life and I weep. I weep for all the years I've lost that could have, should have, been devoted to the work of the Lord, but were wasted on frivolous nonsense. NO MORE! I'm done with that! It's far past time to get it together and get about His business, in whatever way He chooses to lead me.

Who will join me? Who will seek to become, as Noah in the days leading up to the Flood, "preachers of righteousness"?

On a lighter note:

That's it for this week, folks. 

God bless you all!

Ron and the Debster

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

Weekly round-up

I know, it has been a few weeks since I have posted, but I really need to post more often. There is almost always SOMETHING going on that I could write about. So, if nothing else, I'm going to try to post at least a weekly update of what happened during the week.

So, although this is a "weekly" update, this first time out will be actually a monthly update.

Well, as I mentioned in a previous post, we lost out dog Stempy to cancer back in early May. Daisy, the youngest of our dogs, took his loss very hard. Her playmate suddenly disappeared, and she searched and searched and cried and cried, and then just moped around. Poor thing! We felt so sorry for her, because we were going through the same thing.

Pam to the rescue! My eldest niece called me out of the clear blue towards the end of May. She had this little itty bitty pupy that needed a home, and thought of us. She brought her by the house, and we fell in love with her.

"Gidget" joined our family on May 25. She was only about 7 weeks old; she was born March 31. Weighed maybe 8 ounces or so. Part fox terrier, part chihuahua, part who-knows-what-else. Mostly white, with black head and ears and a couple of black spots on her back. And BIG ears standing straight up. Fox terrier heritage, I believe, showing up there. And so tiny!

Gidget with the Debster, the day after she joined us

We had hoped that an energetic puppy would rejuvenate Daisy, but for the first few days, it was a little touchy. Neither Daisy nor Chelsea wanted anything to do with this little thing, and our cat just stared at her with a "WTH?" expression.

Well, eventually Daisy warmed up to her, and they have become pretty tight. Daisy is back to her playful self again.

Here is a YouTube video of Daisy and Gidget playing in our back yard last week. 

(Sorry, I haven't figured out how to insert a thumbnail image.)

Our garden has gone insane!

We have been harvesting Romaine lettuce, spinach, green onions, and herbs for several weeks already. Just as well, because with all the rain we've gotten the last couple weeks, the tomatoes, cucumber, and zucchini plants have completely overtaken everything else. I'm trying to keep them tied up, but they have still completely smothered the remaining lettuce and onions, and are threatening the pepper plant, spinach, and the herbs.

I harvested one large cucumber earlier this week, and several more will be ready soon, as will some of the zucchini. The tomatoes are loaded down with smallish green fruit, so we should be able to start harvesting them in a week or two.

Well, if nothing else, I have learned some valuable lessons about planning the layout of the garden that I can apply next year when I expand to two full size 4'x8' beds. The tomatoes and squash-type plants will each be completely enclosed in separate cages about 20" in diameter, and the smaller plants will be kept farther away from them. And I think the herbs will be in individual containers rather than the main beds. Live and learn!

Haven't done much at all lately with genealogy. Too many other things have kept my interest. My interest in prepping has led me to re-discover my love of the outdoors, especially bushcraft and survivalism. My personal health issues and physical limitations will limit the extent of what I will be able to actually do. Long backpacking trips are out of the question, at least for the foreseeable future, for example. 

But I can still do some things. Day-trips are always possible, and camping for extended periods as long as I camp near the car and stay reasonably close to the camp and don't try to do too much at once. 

As the weather gets hotter and muggier, I probably won't be doing much. So for now I will concentrate on collecting and maintaining a decent collection of gear, and practicing various skills that I can do mostly at home. Then, when cooler weather returns, I'll be out and about a lot!

This is a Morakniv Mora Classic #3 sheath knife, and a copy of Dave Canterbury's first book. They were very early birthday gifts from the Debster! Gotta love that gal o' mine! She has little interest in the type of camping and outdoors activities that I prefer, but she is very supportive of me anyway. I really don't deserve this wonderful woman. But God has seen fit to put us together, and so I must be the best man I can be, for her if for no other reason.

Well, that's enough for now. We'll talk again soon.

God bless you all!

Ron, and the Debster

Growing free vegetables!

The Debster & I have seen this kind of thing posted on Facebook many times, and decided to try it.

l-r: celery after about 10 days; celery after about 5 days, Romaine after about 3 days

We had finished a bunch of celery, and instead of tossing the "butt" into the compost bin, the Debster put it in a glass coffee mug with some water, and sat it in the kitchen window.

It started growing almost immediately. After about ten days, it is about eight inches tall with a full root system!

We started another, and after just a few days it is already about 3 inches tall.

So, just for giggles, we tried it with the butt end of a bunch of Romaine lettuce. It worked! In fact, it is growing faster than the celery.

These will be going into the garden in the next day or so.

How about that. Free vegetables!

(The kitchen window gets very little sun; if it was a south-facing window that actually got real sun, they would probably have done much better. Perhaps we need to set up a small area with a grow-light on some sort of timer? Hmmm ... something to think about.)

God bless
Ron & the Debster

Backyard salad greens

My back yard is not a golf course. There is grass, but it is a distinct minority. More weeds than grass. And I like it that way.

No, it's not "pretty". But it's not boring, either. And, after some time spent browsing the Internet the other night, I found that I have a treasure trove of nutritional greens, just waiting to be picked and eaten. Some of them I knew about from my Boy Scout days (back when dinosaurs wandered the earth), some of them new to me. Since I don't bother with fertilizers or insecticides, they are safe to consume once they have been thoroughly washed in clear water.

Broad-leafed plantain. Clover, both leaves and flowers. Dandelion greens and flowers. Lambs' quarters (sounds so much better than pigweed). Chickweed (who knew?). And of all things, newer leaves from the maple tree. Just five minutes work gave me a good selection to work with. 

If I had looked into this a couple of weeks ago, I could also have had a huge pile of maple seeds to munch on. But the ones that are still left on the ground have gotten a little bitter. (Supposedly, boiling them in one or two changes of water would take away the bitterness, but that's just too much work for the small amount that the rabbits and squirrels haven't yet got hold of.)

Sorry the pic is a little blurry.

I didn't realize it until after I ate the salad, and it was too late to retake the picture.

So, I made a small salad with some of what I picked, with some cooked and crumbled bacon, shredded cheese, and a light vinaigrette dressing. Not only was it tasty, it was chock full of vitamins and minerals that are NOT found in that silly boring iceberg lettuce that is the mainstay of most "civilized" salads. In fact, just as good if not better than the expensive "spring mix" that is found in the store, and it didn't cost me a dime.

I have had one more "backyard salad" since then, and still have a little left over that I'm going to try boiling and adding a little butter and salt, or perhaps a little lemon juice. They're supposed to be pretty good that way, also. Kind of like spinach or kale.

Nice to know that the uncultivated part of my yard can supply me with salads and greens most of the year, at absolutely no cost to me.

For the more "civilized" garden that I am trying, it's going crazy. We've had an unusual amount of rain lately, which has helped. I've only had to water it twice. The tomatoes are starting to show flowers, and everything is "jumping joints" as the Debster puts it. Should be able to start harvesting some spinach and Romaine lettuce leaves and a few of the herbs pretty soon. Also need to get the tomatoes and squash plants on a trellis before they get much bigger.

That's enough for today. As always, thanks for reading!

Don't forget to use the email subscribe tool at the top left of this article so that you don't miss out on one of my brilliant little essays! <grin!>

God bless

Ron (and the Debster)

This year's garden is planted!

A friend posted this to my Facebook page recently, and I couldn't resist sharing it.

Ya see, I was raised right by my father. One is to root for two baseball teams. First and foremost, for our beloved Cardinals. Second, for whoever is playing the Cubs. Hee hee!

I did it! I did it! Finally got a garden in!

I have this really bad habit of dreaming of a big project, and then when I am unable to get it off the ground, just letting go completely.

Well, this year I resisted the urge to think about a big garden, and wind up with nothing. I went with a small garden, a test garden if you want to call it that. A little over four foot square.

I knew I wanted a raised bed rather than ground level, for two reasons. It is easier on my chronically aching back. And, my yard soil is so bad, mostly clay, typical of the Saint Louis area.

So, day before yesterday, I picked a spot near the house that gets a fair amount of sun. The existing plant life needed to go; I didn't want the grass and weeds to work their way up through the new layer of soil and causing problems. So, I thought, briefly, of getting out the hoe and shovel and digging all the grass and weeds out, down to bare dirt. Then I realized that wasn't necessary. The grass had recently been mowed and was still fairly short. Covering it with cardboard would kill it yet still allow for water to drain through.

I had a large corrugated cardboard box that was ready to be recycled, so I opened it up flat, and it was just the right size. I laid it flat on top of the grass, and poked a few holes in it to facilitate drainage and allow earthworms to work their way up into the raised bed. Next, I needed to make the sides of the bed. I didn't have any 2"x8" lumber around, but I did have some concrete blocks. So I used those instead.

Daisy, of course, has to supervise my efforts.

You notice that the cardboard extends past the end of the bed. I'm going to leave it like that. If this works out, I plan on extending it to a full 4'x8' bed next year, and so the cardboard will already be in place.

I had a couple of 40-lb bags of topsoil handy, so I dumped those in. There was also a big bucket of potting mix salvaged from various planters that only had dead things in them. (The Debster's thumb is even browner than mine.) That got tossed in, after I cleaned out the old roots and stuff. Finally, I added three two-cubic foot bags of garden soil mix from the local big-box hardware store. That filled everything up just right. I raked it smooth and called it a day.

Yesterday morning, when I got home from my midnight shift job, I saw the dirt had been dug in and messed up sometime during the night. I'm fairly sure one of our dogs did the deed, although the Debster said that it wasn't them. She said she let them out once or twice during the night (Stempy's meds make him go often and a lot), and she didn't see them go to the dirt. But I know my dogs, and I know that the Debster didn't have a good view of the planting bed from her vantage point near the back door. Not to mention it was a dark night with poor visibility. So who knows?

Anyway, yesterday morning, the Debster had a dentist appointment and Stempy had a vet appointment. On the way home, we stopped and picked up some plants. I got busy.

All told, in this small-ish bed, I have two tomato plants, four Romaine lettuces, a zucchini, a green bell pepper, a cucumber, half a dozen spinach plants, a couple dozen red onion sets, three sweet basil plants, two rosemary, and a clump of onion chives. There is room for more. I will probably add garlic chives and some more onion sets this weekend. (We eat a LOT of onions!)

If I can figure a way to keep the pesky rabbits away from my little garden, we should be able to harvest a little produce later this year. And this fall, if everything goes right, I'll replace the blocks with a 4'x8' wooden box, and add more topsoil to fill it up. The blocks will probably then go into a firepit that I'm kinda sorta planning. But that's for another post later on.

Well, that's enough for today. As always, thanks for reading, and please feel free to share this with anyone that you think might be even remotely interested!

God bless!
Ron, and the Debster

Our food supply is killing us

Couldn't help myself; I thought this was hilarious!

The Debster is doing great. She is transitioning from the walker to a cane, and has regained most of the flexibility in her new knee. Her pain level has diminished a great deal also.

Now, for the "meat" of this post:

Bluntly put, our food supply is killing us. This is from a Federal Government website:

While the American food supply is among the safest in the world, the Federal government estimates that there are about 48 million cases of foodborne illness annually—the equivalent of sickening 1 in 6 Americans each year. And each year these illnesses result in an estimated 128,000 hospitalizations and 3,000 deaths.

The US Dept. of Agriculture, responsible for inspection of meat and poultry, and the Food and Drug Administration, responsible for inspection of all other kinds of food, actually inspect only a tiny percent of the food that we buy.

Much of our food is produced on huge factory farms, and the number of traditional family farms dwindles more and more every year.

The vast majority of our seafood is imported from Asia. Tilapia, shrimp, catfish, and many other types are grown in huge fish farms all across Asia. These farms are NOT subject to the standards and limits applied to US suppliers, and often utilize known carcinogenic chemicals and additives. They are usually severely overcrowded and thoroughly unhygienic. 

Proposed laws and regulations attempting to stem the flow of tainted foods from foreign sources are usually gutted or even killed by legislators that are fearful to anger a trading "partner". 

Inside the US, large-scale food producers often go for years without seeing an inspector. And if a producer is determined to be producing tainted foods, there are few consequences. The worst that they will usually get is a sternly worded letter. 

What can you and I do to protect ourselves?

First and foremost, grow as much as possible for yourself. Even apartment dwellers can grow some foods using container gardening methods. Even a small yard usually has room for a garden, and techniques such as Square Foot Gardening can maximize output from a small garden.

(Stock photo from Google Images)

Even urban areas in the city will often allow for at least a few chickens, rabbits, and the like, although you would obviously want to check your local regulations. 

Very few people, even those on large rural homesteads, will be able to grow EVERYTHING they need, and will have to purchase some foods. As much as possible, buy from local farmers markets or even directly from the farmers. If you must buy from a supermarket, talk to the produce manager. Even large national chain-stores often use local suppliers for much of their produce and so forth.

Be picky about the meat and dairy products you buy. One good option is to patronize a local butcher. Make sure the meat he is selling is chemical- and antibiotic-free. You can save a great deal of money by buying a quarter or even half a cow. The up-front cost is obviously high, but the per-pound cost is significantly less than small packages. Perhaps splitting the purchase with a friend or few will enable you to exercise this great deal.

Make sure you follow safe handling practices. ALWAYS wash your fruit and produce, even if the package says "Pre-washed and ready to eat". 

Make sure your foods are thoroughly cooked, especially eggs, poultry, and pork.

Leftovers should be promptly packaged and refrigerated, not left sitting out for hours.

There is much that you can do to protect yourself from botulism, e. coli, listeriosis, salmonella, and many other types of food poisoning. Don't count on the government to do it for you, unless you actually enjoy playing Russian Roulette.

God bless,
Ron and Deb

Cell phones and gardens.

Somebody posted this on Facebook. Kind of funny.

At my age, 54, I remember when phones were these clunky black things that were wired to the wall, and the headset had a coiled cord that would occasionally get tangled, and to call someone you had to literally turn the dial seven times.

Then, along came the push-button "tone" phone. Then, a real revolution, the cordless phone. The base was still hardwired, but the handset was cordless and could be carried around the house, and even out into the yard.
The cellular phone was the big revolution. The bag phone was a clunky thing. I never had one but a couple of my friends did, and they thought it was the greatest thing since sliced bread! 

The earlier self-contained cellulars were approximately the size of a brick, and about as heavy. I did have one of those.
Fast forward to today. We continue to call them "phones", or "smart phones", but in truth, they are not really phones anymore. They are miniature computers that have a cellular phone function. It seems like everyone has one now. And we can't figure out how we ever lived without them.
But maybe we should. As wonderful as those things are, all the stuff we can do with them, they have a real dark side, that isn't spoken of very much. They are easily tracked and their location pin-pointed to a precise location. Early cell phones could be triangulated by which towers they pinged, but the best a tracker could do was pin-point a neighborhood. All the new phones, however, have GPS tracking built into them, that allows them to be pin-point located to within a few feet, in real-time.
And we have heard so much about the NSA spying on our phones. It is a scary world out there, and getting scarier by the minute. Big Brother is watching you!

Have been thinking about my garden, and how I want to do it this year. I think I am going to do a raised-bed version, with concrete blocks around it. The raised bed will have the tomatoes, squash, zucchini, peppers, onions, and so forth. And the holes in the blocks will have various herbs, and perhaps some flowers. 

It is a little late now for this year, but I have also thinking about ways to start seeds. I have thought of a way to utilize cardboard toilet-paper tubes as seed pots. And, I have been looking at those plastic containers that contain the strawberries that the Debster buys during the off-season. They hold two pounds, and are a convenient size. Black plastic with a clear lid. Can't help but think they would make decent miniature green-houses for those seed-pots. I think I'll start stocking up on this stuff, and see what happens.

Another project, that I will be working on soon, involves stuffing those little cat food cans, or tuna fish cans, with paraffin-soaked cardboard, to be stored and used as emergency stoves. Will have to experiment a bit. And I doubt they will be good for anything extensive, but in an emergency situation would probably be great for at least heating canned soups and such. Watch for more on this in the near future.

Until next time
God Bless
Ron

Saying hello to 2014, and a sad goodbye to a great cousin.

I haven't been posting much, obviously. Sorry about that, folks. I fully intend to be more consistent from now on.

We're starting off the new year with a sad note, unfortunately. My cousin, Vernon Buske of Alhambra, Illinois, passed away Wednesday afternoon (January 1) while taking a nap. He was 81 years young. Vern was a fabulous guy. Full of fun and stories and laughter. He will be sorely missed.

There are so many things that I want to accomplish this year.

1. Expand my garden as much as I can, considering the limited space and lack of exposure to full sun. I figure I can do better than last year, though. 

2. Completely re-vamp the basement storage room to allow for more food storage and better organization.

3. Finally finish that downstairs bedroom closet that the Debster has been after me to do.

4. Become more consistent in church attendance. It was easy to fall out of the habit, especially when I began working straight midnights. 

5. Work on losing weight and becoming healthier. With a fully-equipped YMCA just a quarter-mile from my house, this should be a slam-dunk, if I can just get off my lazy butt.

6. Do more of my own auto maintenance. I used to do almost all of it, but have gotten into the habit the last few years of taking them into the shop for even simple things like oil changes. Boo hiss!!

7. Last, but by no means least, be a better husband. My wife is the greatest treasure I have on earth, and I could, and should, do a better job of treating her that way. I'm not really a jerk, but there is always room for improvement!

There are a lot of other things floating around in my head, but no point in getting too ambitious. I know me too well to do that.

God bless you all!

"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."