There Be Rain Here or Warm and Blooming

Yes, in fact we did get rain off and on for the past week. I know for others they have way too much with the floods and all that have devastated areas. But we were very very dry after a winter with hardly any snow.

We finally got potatoes planted not all put at least 4 rows of them. We still have more things that need planted.

 Grandson Logan graduated High School. Under him on the left is his older brother and on the right his cousin Gavin.

I have even managed to bake a few things in the wood stove, like bread.

Our lilacs bloomed this last week. Also the tulips and the narcissus.

An Early Spring?

Yes it is an early spring for us. It spit snow on us this past Saturday and only had one night of frost in a week. We have been getting some rain here and there this past week and we REALLY needed it. 

We have a raised bed box replaced around the asparagus bed. We still have the spring tilling to do to get the garden in.

The next thing was a nice thing, we brought down the old kitchen cabinet we found nailed to a wall in the barn. I have been putting old things I have found buried in the ground on the bottom shelf.

Then the Electric Co. came and took down the tree that was leaning over the power line and Dh got it cut up and we cleaned up the area and took the wood up to the barn area to dry for next year.

Dh took the tractor and even out the ground in both lean-tos so we could get the gravel in them.

 He also started clearing the area where the metal building is going to go.

 Then the gravel came.

In-between things we worked on the old wood cook stove, I was hand sanding but it was taking forever so dh took pity on me and used a wire wheel and the drill :) We had to drill out the dampers for the wood box and son dh Jr. helped with that as he and the two teens were here from Sunday night to a couple of hours ago.

I cooked supper yesterday of chicken cacciatore, noodles and biscuits on and in the cook stove. Works super.

 Dh and dh Jr. worked on the big dead tree out by our back fence line for about 3 hours.

Last but not least our apple tree bloomed this week. It doesn't look like the frost last week bothered it :).

Last of the snow maybe?

We may have seen the last of the snow for the year. This was a 4 or 5 days ago.

Since then we have even had daffodils popping out.

The tree trimmer from the electric company came in to start on one of our trees that is leaning towards the lines. He said he would be back with the big truck to take that top part off.

he also took down some of the branches that were overhanging the lines to the house and found a big part of that mountain maple is rotten. :( We are hoping we can take the rotten part off without taking all of the tree down. It really helps shade the house in the summer. 

Hubby started to get it cleared out of our yard. Something extra to do of course. There is also a whole lot of big branches around that back pine to take care of.

And of course my almost two decades wash machine died this past Saturday. Today I had to hand wash a few things and dh helped wring them out and hang them up. You can only go so long without washing under things. We have a new wash machine coming but it will be two weeks or more. I was shocked at the prices they are now, eeeeek.

Good thing we don't have to pay for it all at once or I would be washing clothes by hand all summer.

We got more beans taken out of the dry pods a couple days ago to. These are the yellow eyes I did last week.

The corn is a done deal also. :) I have some Indian sweet corn in the bucket as well.

So much to be done

Sheesh, didn't mean to be away for so long, If it wasn't one thing it was another.

Here are a couple of pics from last week.

I also noticed we were low on some things I normally keep extras of, Semi sweet Chocolate chips for one :). I know not REAL important but good to have around.

I have also noticed at this time of year we go through a lot of tissue, between colds and allergies it goes fast. So each time we shop I pick up 3 boxes. I was only doing that about once a month and it kept us up by 4 boxes.

Yeah handkerchiefs do the job, I grew up using nothing put them in times of colds and etc. but as long as I am able to pick some up it makes life easier. Yes spoiled, just like loving hot showers.

I have been looking on the Paleo foods and some of it really looks interesting and better for me with the health problems I have but don't know how well hubby with like some of them. Some of this cooking like Paleo I see I have already done some of for many years. More or less how I was taught to cook. But I got away from much of it.

Okay I am off to fix a toy. All take care.

It Rained :)

The weekend went well. Ours starts on Fridays. It was a busy one as usual. Dh cleaned part of the chicken coop out. (his back didn't like that.) But having the tractor helped. At least it didn't have to be wheelbarrowed off. And also fill the feed barrels.

The wood rack had to be filled also.
We did bills, then went to town to mail things off and do a bit of shopping along with picking up granddaughter K before heading home.

Saturday a bit of rain came in. K and grandpa played bubbles for a bit in between bringing down his motorcycle from the barn to get it on the battery charger and other Saturday work.

Doing the bubble stump.

It sprinkled mostly and more towards the end of the afternoon. Dh had meetings and I watched K until her mom picked her up. I wasn't feeling real well so I didn't go to tonights meetings so I could go tomorrow.

Her mom Ka is ill, she just can't seem to get rid of a deep cough and all over not feeling well. Her jaw has started to hurt when she coughs, headaches etc.

Around 10 PM it really started to rain hard. Thank goodness.

Homemade Honey Mustard at this site or Food.com: http://www.mylifeasamrs.com/2010/03/outback-honey-mustard.html

Outback Honey Mustard

Source: Food.com

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups of Mayonnaise- the REAL stuff (she used Hellman's)
1/4 cup of Grey Poupon Dijon Mustard (do not substitute any other type of mustard)
1/2 a cup of Honey

Directions:

Mix it all together. 

Praying for rain and storage items.

Weather peeps say 50% chance of rain today and 60% tonight, we hope it does rain. It has been a dry winter for us. Not the wet one like was predicted. WE NEED MOISTURE. Our creek is already starting to slow down to almost nothing and that is way too early.

Our building comes in May and hubby has been looking over the blueprints, the end of April will be the time to have good weather as he has to do the footers and other concrete work to have it cure before he starts to build on it.

Here is the link to what they are: http://www.futurebuildings.com/?utm_source=adcenter&utm_medium=cpc&fs_ppc_ext=1110

  This is more or less what it will looks like inside.

It will be so great to have the tractor inside that instead of in my outdoor kitchen :). Maybe we can get the kitchen finished this summer also when that building is all done.

We also have the kitchen and bathroom floors to do. That means moving everything out of the kitchen and taking out everything in the bathroom as that floor needs lowered. The former people just kept adding layers to the floor. 
(He has been talking about starting these this coming weekend.)

Since the Mission is being postponed as Dh's new calling in the Church takes precedence, we are thinking of getting a couple of steers so we don't run out of meat. Plus I miss having animals, funny huh.

We are talking about going down to lower AZ to visit our daughter, son in law K and the grands, but it will have to wait until he retires in April. We are trying to figure out when to fit it in. We really miss them, as we haven't seen them in over 9 yrs. The grands in Ohio it will be 10 yrs this summer :(. 
We don't even get to see the ones around here as often as we like either. Everyone is sooooo busy, work, sick, activities etc. etc. and thats us also not just them.

Son S and daughter in law Jess bought a travel trailer for going around to the different towns for the kids ball games and etc as last yr they said they spent way too much on motel rooms taking the daughter M to her games and tournaments. I don't blame them one bit. This way they will have it for lots of other things for years to come and it will more than pay for itself.
There will be times that they have all 6 children with them and they will more than need the room.

Forgotten About or Barter Items

This thing is driving me crazy, it just won't go in right :(. Sorry

   1. Candles

     Garden tools 

1. Fly swatters
2. Insect repellant
3. Insect spray
4. Rat & mouse poison
5. Rodent traps
6. Scissors
7. Needles
8. Straight pins
9. Safety pins
10. Buttons
11. Thread
12. Elastic
13. Material
14. Dry beans
15. Rice
16. Noodles
17. Flour
18. Spices such as cinnamon, cloves, allspice, sage, parsley etc.
19. Cooking Oil
20. Coffee filters (all kinds of uses)
21. Pepper
22. Sugar
23. Salt
24. Hand crank or manual can openers
25. Canned food – any type
26. Wooden, strike anywhere matches
27. Old newspapers
28. Wax for fire-starting
29. Large cotton balls with soaked in petroleum jelly (also for starting fires)
30. Bleach (or freshly made pool shock)
31. Baby wipes (Note:  these can be used to clean face, hands, arm pits, groin in case there is no water. If dried out, pour in a cup of water into container)
32. Cocoa
33. Baking Soda
34. Coloring books & crayons
35. Scrap paper
36. Pencils
37. Ballpoint pens
38. Copy paper
39. Lined notebook paper
40. Tooth paste
41. Toothbrushes
42. Dental floss
43. Combs
44. Hair brushes
45. Disposable razors
46. Nail clippers and files
47. Feminine products
48. Toilet paper
49. Hair pins and bands
50. Batteries all sizes
51. Matches
52. Lighters
53. Aluminum foil
54. Baggies all sizes
55. Plastic sheeting
56. Socks – all sizes & colors
57. Shoe laces
58. Reading glasses
59. Garbage bags (can’t have too many)
60. Brooms
61. Dust pans
62. Clothes pins
63. Clothes lines
64. Garbage cans
65. Dryer Lint (to use as fire starter)
66. Rope of any type
67. Honey
68. Hard candy
69. Popcorn
70. Kool-aid
71. Tang
72. Ibuprofen, Tylenol, and aspirin
73. Children’s pain relievers
74. Essential oils
75. Cough syrup and other cold medicines
76. Vicks vapor rub
77. Eye drops
78. Band aids
79. Laxatives
80. Lip balm or chapstick
81. Axes
82. Saw
83. Nails, nuts, bolts, & screws
84. Heirloom garden seeds
85. Fresh garden produce and herbs
86. Herb plants
87. Hand garden tools
88. Two cycle oil
89. Automotive oil and air filters
90. Charcoal
91. Paperback books, adult and children’s books
92. Plastic tarps
93. Duct tape
94. Homemade laundry detergent recipe and products or store bought
95. (Fels naphtha bar soap
96. Washing/laundry soda, for laundry recipe)
97. Regular soaps of your choice

100. Borax (for cleaning and deters some insects)

101. Oxyclean

102. Potting soil

103. Garden compost

104. Garden fertilizer

105. Plastic tubs & containers, 5 gallon buckets and large flower pots make great growing containers (can be 1 gallon buckets and on up. I.E ice cream buckets even.)

 Add or delete from this list as you need to.

I took out coffee, tobacco, tobacco seeds and things like that.

This mainly comes from this site, I added a few of my own thoughts. They have some great ideas.

http://www.backdoorsurvival.com/101-low-cost-items-to-barter-if-the-shtf

Snowless Feb. So Far

It has been a more or less warm Feb. for us. Some hard freezes at night but 40's and 50's F. during the day. The Jet stream has been above us and kept us in a high. But the rest of the country is getting the cold and snow, but after all it is winter. Snow and cold used to be very, very normal for the midwest and the east coast.

Granddaughter Cede's Cheer leading squad took fifth in the state of Washington. She is the one they throw. They would have done better BUT the school insists the team doesn't need a Captain,  so no one is the head and this keeps them from coordinating their moves better. I go HUH. It really hurts the team. I think it's pretty dumb but what do I know?

Laundry is going, the chickens are opened for the day and figured I would come do an update in here. 

We got all our shots and only have one or two things to finish up at the Doc.'s and  paper work for our mission and then it can be handed in.

Dear hubby wasn't feeling well this past weekend and K was disappointed that papa couldn't play. We really miss the other grandchildren but hopefully the next few months we will stop getting every illness that comes down the pike. Hard to visit when you're ill and don't want to share what you have with others.

I got to take a few pictures yesterday when we went out to collect the mail, as hubby didn't work yesterday with Presidents Day. Good thing we did it in the morning as he wasn't feeling well again in the afternoon. :(

Thought:
Time to go over your first aid supplies and make sure anything you have used has been or you will replace them as soon as possible. The red Cross web site has a pretty good list. I added a bit to it for my hand out at Church.

Anatomy of a First Aid Kit

A well-stocked first aid kit is a handy thing to have. To be prepared for emergencies:

From the Red Cross

• Keep a first aid kit in your home and in your car.
• Carry a first aid kit with you or know where you can find one.
• Find out the location of first aid kits where you work.

First aid kits come in many shapes and sizes. You can purchase one from the Red Cross Store or your local American Red Cross chapter. Your local drug store may sell them. You can also make your own. Some kits are designed for specific activities, such as hiking, camping or boating.

Whether you buy a first aid kit or put one together, make sure it has all the items you may need:

• Include any personal items such as medications and emergency phone numbers or other items your health-care provider may suggest.
• Check the kit regularly.
• Make sure the flashlight batteries work.
• Check expiration dates and replace any used or out-of-date contents.

The Red Cross recommends that all first aid kits for a family of four include the following:

• 2 absorbent compress dressings (5 x 9 inches)
• 25 adhesive bandages (assorted sizes)
• 1 adhesive cloth tape (10 yards x 1 inch)
• 5 antibiotic ointment packets (approximately 1 gram)
• 5 antiseptic wipe packets
• 2 packets of aspirin (81 mg each) or what works for you.
• 1 blanket (space blanket)
• 1 breathing barrier (with one-way valve)
• 1 instant cold compress
• 2 pair of nonlatex gloves (size: large)
• 2 hydrocortisone ointment packets (approximately 1 gram each)
• Scissors
• 1 roller bandage (3 inches wide)
• 1 roller bandage (4 inches wide)
• 5 sterile gauze pads (3 x 3 inches)
• 5 sterile gauze pads (4 x 4 inches)
• Oral thermometer (non-mercury/nonglass)
• 2 triangular bandages
• Tweezers
• First aid instruction booklet

Beprepared.com also sells these in a backpack.

You might also what to include a dental kit.