2018 NOVEMBER Update

Started the new thread.

Husband and I both got our annual dental cleaning. He needs a root canal and a crown, I'm fine. It is important to keep teeth healthy, because unhealthy teeth can lead to heart problems.

We finally broke down because our cell phone company offered a deal. Bought another cell phone, even though they don't really work out here, even with wifi connection. When Husband is out and about, he now has a way to communicate in case of emergency. With diabetes and taking blood thinners, it's just a necessary precaution.

Bought another pair of quick dry cargo pants for me - they're for summer, but I'll put them away until then.

I cut the sleeves off several new-to-me shirts and made them 3/4 sleeves. A lot of women's clothing is moving to this skinny arm sleeve that I cannot stand. I'm a regular size, not overweight, and am a size 8-10, which is a medium shirt. But it seems the sleeves on most clothing today is made for children. Very tight, and in some shirts, I cannot even get my arms through the bottom half! So I've taken to cutting off and hemming sleeves so I'll not get stuck in my clothes! I do arm exercises daily to keep flab away, I wonder if the slight muscles of my arms is bigger than normal? Regardless, I generally have to cut sleeves off the shirts. That said, the long underwear shirts fit fine.

We tossed what was left of our canned, very first, older food just because we now have learned better ways of food storage. So now, we are restocking the LTS with canned goods again, just enough for emergencies of the non-cooking kind. It was actually difficult to find canned goods that didn't have the pop-tops! Had to buy some off-brands. I plan to rotate better, so we'll find out if they are any good.

Wife and I went to Save A Lot and picked up all the items they had on sale. Rotated the last of the gasoline, I'm now good for another 2 years.

We stopped at a garage sale on the way home and the wife bought one of those manual sweepers that has the rollers (brushes) on the bottom and you just push it back and forth to sweep the rugs, I remember my grandmothers having them. I picked up some odd sized sheet metal screws and a wood wedge.

Also had my teeth picked at and cleaned by the dentist on Thursday, all is well, can still chew meat, I'm not ready for baby food yet.

Husband's crown was put in...oh, my...the bill...holy cow, I should've become a dentist! But Husband''s taken care of for the year dental-wise.

I'm sewing commissions again - now that people know I sew, they're asking. As long as I'm paid properly, I'm fine with it.

Did the grocery shopping today - restocked what we used and stocked up on canned goods for the LTS.

The temps are in the teens and Husband started the wood stove this evening.

Every time we've been going into town we've been filling the gas tanks in the vehicles - winter weather is coming and we want to be prepared for emergencies.

Well, shoveled snow this morning, about 2 inches and still snowing. Went to Dollar Tree and restocked some of our OTC's. Also stopped at Dollar General and picked up a bunch of the Knorrs rice meals, buy 3 get one free, plus had a $5.00 off coupon if you spent $25.00. Those Knorrs rice meals last forever, we try to get the ones that have the vegetables in them.

Took the wife to lunch at Hoss's to celebrate my birthday, 243 years old, November 10, 1775, Marine Corps birthday.

Happy Veterans Day to all you Vets out there, Semper FI.

They're calling for 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch of freezing rain starting in the morning and up to 8 inches of snow through Friday morning, so I finished loading up the back porch with firewood, put the scraper blade on the tractor and filled it up with diesel fuel.

Started the generators and filled them up with gas, checked the battery banks and hooked them up to the solar panels to get a full charge. I'm sure we'll loose power sometime tomorrow, for how long, nobody knows.

They already cancelled school for tomorrow, so the wife went over to bring 3 of the grandkids over for the night and day tomorrow. At least they can bring in the firewood for me and help feed the cows and chickens.

rick1 wrote:They're calling for 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch of freezing rain starting in the morning and up to 8 inches of snow through Friday morning, so I finished loading up the back porch with firewood, put the scraper blade on the tractor and filled it up with diesel fuel.

Started the generators and filled them up with gas, checked the battery banks and hooked them up to the solar panels to get a full charge. I'm sure we'll loose power sometime tomorrow, for how long, nobody knows.

They already cancelled school for tomorrow, so the wife went over to bring 3 of the grandkids over for the night and day tomorrow. At least they can bring in the firewood for me and help feed the cows and chickens.

Well, we got it, freezing rain, sleet, 8 inches of snow, the whole mess PLUS we got the grandkids again today (no school).

Aw, the little buggers are working their butts off for me, not really. Plowed the lane out plus the neighbors lane. The kids are shoveling the sidewalk, they helped feed the chickens and put some more firewood on the back porch, while I dealt with the cows.

We did lose power for about 3 hours around supper time last night, lit the kerosene lamps and hooked up one of the battery banks so the little ones could watch TV.

All in all, they're having a good time and so am I. The 2 granddaughters are little saints but that grandson is a hand full.

Horrible weather, here, as well. At least 7 inches. Then it got wet & heavy. I made a huge pot of stew, while hubby & son kept up with the snowfall with the snowblower & shovels.

We had a full house, with the usual 4+1 of us (the +1 is our daughter's fiance who is here ALL the time) and our daughter brought home her office-mate for an overnight. She lives an hour away, and knowing it was going to be bad & they probably weren't going to get out of work early, she packed a bag to stay with us. It was nice. Made it festive, like a holiday with the extra noise in the house.

The leaves are still on some of our trees. They haven't finished dropping yet. So, this morning the snow is covered in leaves that fell from the weight of the snow. Strange to see.

Baby carrots went on sale .49 a pound so I bought 12lb. I get 2 pints per pound. Wife and figure we can't but them in a can for that.

I canned 24 pints today I may have to buy just a few more this week

Picked up my Augason Farms order at Walmart today, I got their morning Moo milk, 4 regular and 2 of the chocolate. Paid $85.24 thru Walmart versus $119.99 from Augason Farms, saved $34.74.

Stocked the back porch with firewood while the wife gets the turkey ready for me to put in the oven at about 5 a.m. tomorrow morning, all 23 pounds of bird. Two of the kids and their families are showing up to sponge some food off us, I'm looking forward to it, especially the grandkids.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone

I wish our Walmart sold Augason   Sam's club doesn't sell it either

ReadyMom wrote:I wish our Walmart sold Augason   Sam's club doesn't sell it either

ReadyMom, the Walmart store itself does not sell it, you order it online at walmart.com, key in Augason Farms, and pick what you want, place your order and have it delivered either to yourself or to you local store.  Always check to see if it is cheaper through Walmart or from Augason Farms itself. Free shipping if over $49.99.

I always have it delivered to the store, just in case it is damaged.

P.S. You can order through Walmart.com other survival food/items from other companies. Sometimes they have Honeyville, Emergency Essentials, etc.. 95% of all my LTS, I order through Walmart (cheaper) plus free shipping.

Thanks! I'll have to have a look, then!

We went to get the niece and grandniece Monday the 12th with snow on the roads. It was slow traveling, but we were careful, lot of accidents on the road.

Had a week with her and the baby, and then my girls were coming, and niece decided to stay for T-Day since her husband had to work.

Everyone's leaving tomorrow.

We ate turkey until no one wanted any more, so we'll dehydrate the rest and freeze it for future soups and stews.

Let the stove go out because we had some warm days, but we'll probably stoke it tomorrow as the temps are going down again.

Husband invested in some new flashlights since ours keep disappearing. We loaded up the cars with 2 each.

Dealt with a minor failure of our main sump pump discharge hose. I put a back flow preventer on it probably 7 or 8 years ago now, but its rubberized so it's just clamped onto the sections of PVC pipe...I think folks can see where this is going.
Heard a strange noise the other night when the sump pump discharged, so I popped downstairs to see it had slipped and water had sprayed around the area...was easy enough to loosen the clamp, put things back and tighten everything back up.
Very fortunate that everything in that area was either stored in plastic buckets or ziplock bags, so I just had to wipe things down and let the dehumidifier work on any remaining moisture...and especially lucky that it happened when I was home!
Great reminder that LTS need full protection from the elements.