CrabGrassAcres

I live with 19 goats who are ALWAYS up to no goodness. I don't find it possible to ignore ANYTHING.

Definitely a worthy goal and a needed skill.

Six gal buckets are taller and easier to stand up from.

A standard toilet seat can be adapted by unscrewing the blocks under the seat and turning them sideways so they fit the rim.

Don't use those plastic Walmart bags they put your stuff in at checkout. They will burst at the worst possible moment. Tall kitchen can bags are cheap and sturdy enough for an emergency toilet. If it is going to be longer than a few days, get sawdust and ditch the plastic bag.

That is not a good place for the toilet paper.

Kitty litter is heavy. Pine shavings work well to control the odor and are lighter.

We presently use a bedside commode chair over a bucket. Doesn't tip and is comfortable. I plan to build a toilet on this order:

www.milkwood.net/2011/04/18/compost-toilet-specifics-the-bins/

I'll be glad to get out of this mobile home. Found a big pile of snake scat in the bathroom. Didn't see the culprit and hope it is not still hangin round.

Squirrels, bunnies, several lizards I haven't bothered to learn, ribbon snakes, cotton mouth, timber rattler, wood rat, copperhead, rat snakes, fire ants, blister beetles, dung beetles, june bugs, big head ants, leaf cutter ants, rhino beetle, grasshoppers....

I wish my chickens would eat ant larvae.

I've had trouble with losing a post when I added a url to it. Sometimes it posts the url and not what I wrote and sometimes the other way around.

If a person is asymptomatic for a disease but is a carrier and catches something like a chest cold that causes them to cough or sneeze, the plague bacteria will be spread along with the cold virus.

How about this:

 

The marmot (Marmota himalayana) is the main host of Y. pestis in Qinghai Province. Plague-infected marmots are more easily captured by hunters. When persons hunt and butcher marmots without any effective protection, Y. pestis can be transmitted through tiny wounds in the skin, by bites of infected fleas, or by the respiratory route. Asymptomatic plague infection in marmot hunters might be explained by prophylactic use of antimicrobial drugs. Most hunters usually take sulfamethoxazole or tetracycline as a prophylactic measure. Even if the hunters were infected with Y. pestis, they would likely not develop symptomatic plague. However, if the antimicrobial drugs are not effective or hunters do not use prophylaxis, symptomatic reported human cases of plague in infections will occur. Most Qinghai Province were caused by hunting or butchering marmots, as shown by a recent outbreak of plague in October 2004 in Qinghai, in which 19 cases were reported and 8 persons died (M. Li et al., unpub, data).

 

http://the-medical-dictionary.com/yersinia_pestis_article_5.htm

It is very possible that someone in the States, even in Colorado, that was hunting prairie dogs and was on antibiotics for something else, could get infected, then go into an asymptomatic carrier state and spread the stuff all over the place.

At it's height, the black death seems to have become particularly virulent. People would be fine in the morning and dead by evening. At first it was spread by fleas on rats and caused very painful, enlarged lymph nodes. I read that the plague came after most of the cats had been killed by people suspecting them of witchcraft. I don't know if this is true. I also read that the plague was spread rapidly due to people crowding into cities following the loss of their farms when the bankers were destroying the economy of Europe. Certainly being in crowded conditions will increase the spread of any disease. Once the disease begin to spread thru the air, it moved rapidly thru populations.

How many people could be exposed to a deadly disease spreading thru the air if a person who was ill with it, coughing and sneezing and touching things, went thru a busy place like Denver International Airport, Chicago O'hare, or JFK airport? It would be possible for ONE individual to go thru all three in a day, perhaps contaminating hundreds if not thousands. If that person then died without anyone knowing what was wrong, or perhaps worse, took a course of antibiotics without being tested, thus leaving no trace, It would be entirely within the realm of possibility to go into a full scale major epidemic within days. (I'm going to find myself a couch to hide behind. Mt Rider might be contagious! LOL)

Not really trying to scare anybody needlessly, but I've read posts where people have said they would go into seclusion when they heard of a major epidemic. You may not have that much warning. People may suddenly start dropping all over with no clear idea of the source of the contagion. In Defoe's book about the Plague, he said that most of the survivors had laid in a supply of food and necessities and stayed in voluntary quarantine till the danger was over. Are you going to want to make that last supply run to get the stuff you forgot? Hope you wouldn't go out just for luxury items! Can you make do with what is in the house till the all clear is sounded?

Blood work for potassium and magnesium aren't really useful as both move into and out of tissues. Magnesium will deplete seriously in total body amount before it shows as a low blood level. Potassium is sometimes a problem, but mostly if you are taking diuretics or vomiting a lot.

Don't push too hard against the fatigue. Take all the naps your body wants, but do start getting the vitamin and mineral supplements on board.

Try taking dolomite (magnesium and calcium) for the leg and foot problems. A magnesium deficiency can cause many of your symptoms, so I'd try to correct that first.

When I butchered the pig several months ago I ended up sticking most of the meat into the freezer in large trash bags because I had to at least try to keep the house decent for showing. Now I'm trying to grind up the meat and flatten it in zip lock bags so that hopefully I can get it all into the small new freezer. It uses less power and the big one is 14 yrs old and makes funny noises. Trying to get the load lightened too, for the move. Anyhow, I've been at it all day except for breaks to let the processor and myself cool off. Nowhere close to done. I'll have to dig more out of the freezer to thaw for tomorrow.

I'll be praying for you. Sounds like you have a lot to whine about.

OH MY GOODNESS!!!

Glad you are ok!

Is there a radiator repair shop near you? They can test the gauge. Might not cost too much. You can ask.

My inner child got hold of a blow torch.

Best luck I've had is to tuck soft cotton clothes under my breasts to absorb sweat. Avoid polyester like the plague and only use cotton bras and undies. I'm very sensitive to latex so can't tolerate elastic. Look for women's boxer shorts in cotton. They are long legged so you don't have elastic in the groin area.

So where is the pic? We wanna see!

Shows how the kids made a simple and cheap cart and trained their wether to pull it.

If you cultivate black soldier fly larvae the medium will attract pest flies to lay their eggs and the BSFL will eat the other larvae. BSFs will not generally go into houses and don't seem to be attracted to food like pest flies. BSFL are excellent poultry feed.

Window and door screens are the best defense!

I remember as a child that the neighborhood grannies would sew a few cotton balls to the outside of the screen door. When I asked Granny Tut (not my granny) why, she said it kept the flies from getting in when you opened the door. I have no idea if it works though.

Try cooking the lentils and puree a cup full to go in the soup. Keep it at that level till everyone is used to it then add more.

So sorry, hon. Aren't you glad you don't have to live in her skin? I have toxic family too. I try to forgive and move on. Not always easy and I've fought many a battle over it in prayer.

I found 25$ but they want my SSN to claim it and I don't give that out without very good reason.

Ann, soil sulfur is cheap and lowers pH, but frankly, I think you'd be better off doing some kind of hydroponics than trying to amend that soil. You can use compost tea to fertilize hydroponics.