kappydell

Scraper! I save all the odd bits for soups...

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"stinkin' thinkin"

I love that expression. Right along with the ID ten-T malfunction (you know....ID10T). Im adopting both those expressions.... they crack me up!

Potatoes keep in a root cellar type set up (cool, damp, dark) for up to 6 months in my experience. They might sprout a bit toward the end, but you just cut 'em away. Potatoes weren't made to be 'pretty'.

Well, the finances have cleared up a bit - I was able to get a personal loan from my credit union to take care of the financial havoc caused by moving, and get things running smoothly again. The auction folks will come get the items that I want to sell so that is less work for my friend/family. Although I would love to keep my husbands collections, my space does not allow it. I am so happy he got to enjoy his things, and now it is someone else's turn. The auction folks say it will bring in some $$. Even that old push reel style lawn mower is a collectible(!). So the bow is coming up on this old storm-tossed tugboat, and things are looking up. Thank you for the support I needed so badly in an "what the Sam Hill am I gonna do?" moment. (Who the heck was Sam Hill? I never did ask my mom, who used that expression.)

I just googled it....the things I learn around here....There is a story sometimes told (for example in Edwin Mitchell’s Encyclopedia of American Politics in 1946) that one Colonel Samuel Hill of Guilford, Connecticut, would often run for political office at some point in the early nineteenth century but always without success. Hence, “to run like Sam Hill” or “go like Sam Hill”. The problem is that nobody has found any trace of this monumentally unsuccessful candidate.

On the other hand, an article in the New England Magazine in December 1889 entitled Two Centuries and a Half in Guilford Connecticut mentioned that, “Between 1727 and 1752 Mr. Sam. Hill represented Guilford in forty-three out of forty-nine sessions of the Legislature, and when he was gathered to his fathers, his son Nathaniel reigned in his stead” and a footnote queried whether this might be the source of the “popular Connecticut adjuration to ‘Give ‘em Sam Hill’?” So the tale has long legs.

The expression has been known since the late 1830s. Despite the story, it seems to be no more than a personalised euphemism for “hell”.

Oh yes, hand tools! My father once told me he preferred to work with hand tools instead of all the noisy electrical ones (he was a carpenter) and I now know why - it is so much more soothing and pleasurable to make things without the racket! and have my own hand tool collection. All the hardward guys look odd when I ask if they still carry breast drills (always good for a chuckle) but I am still looking for a new one.

I was my husbands caregiver, too. Some things he expecially appreciated: a small micro and low (easier to get to) freezer so he could get out and makE snacks on his own. Room for the wheelchair so he could 'scoot' along using his feet from place to place. I am learning from experience that walkers need a wider turn radius, too. A large white board for writing and a bulletin board for a calendar (losing track of time and what day it is are common when one has no job or such to 'anchor' one's time sense)was a thing he appreciated, once I convincd him it helped organize things for me, too (he was afraid it meant he was losing his memory). I could write on it any upcoming appointments, and even "today is tuesday, remember, tomorrow is your doctor's appointment, rain is expected today and tomorrow" and such things noted on the board helped him to orient on bad days. (I liked it too, it put all the info in one place - calendar, tacked up doctor's business cards, etc.) The lowered counters also one or two work stations (counters with no cabinets below, kind of like a built in desk and wide enough for a wheelchair) and such are precious aids to independence, making it possible to do so many more things. I would have had one work station with a built-in cutting board for working with sharp things (cooking knives) or tools (screwdrivers) that might slip. If you can find a copy of a little book, "Aids to Make You Able: Self Help Devices and Ideas for the Disabled" (ww.alibris.com) or "Disabled Villge Children" by Hesperian.org (they have downloads for free) they have soooo many DIY things for making life more accessible. They were inspiring, too; many of our outdoor 'disabled par-course' items were inspired by them. (His physical therapist was amazed at what we had done.) It is wise of you to plan ahead and make things safer for your parents, and a very precious gift as well. You will always remember and treasure the extra time you have together.

sometimes, I swear, those docs cam make you crazy! But I am oddly heartened by the knowledge that it is not as bad as it could have been. That poor other woman. Im still keeping all of you in my prayers.

Now I feel better about teaching about canning in my preppers group. I was told it was the most attended meeting thay had so far, and we only covered water bath canning and rouched on pressure canning. I wanted to show them that canning was not difficult, mysterious, etc. I also brought samples of pickled cabbage and three-bean salad I had WB canned. I lost track of how many times I repeated "that is not recommended by the USDA" and referred them to the Blue Book. I got many complements though.

Later I will do a class on 'easy dehydrating' stressing dehydrating of store bought foods that do not need blanching (frozen foods) and (yes) yogurt drops. I will of course include recipes for those foods' use since I am a firm believer in handouts making for a popular class. Next on the agenda after that? Some of the other women and I want to do a foraging wild foods class.

congratulations! may I call you Doc Crazy? It has a special ring....

My prayers are with you and your family for strength and acceptance whatever happens, if not a cure. Grandma sounds like she is one special lady and very brave.

Well here I am again. Feeling useless as all get out, even though my brain tells me it is not so. I am moving at last from my old house, it was packed to the rafters with things I had saved, and now I am forced into desperately sorting and selling, and donating things I'd much rather keep. That part is bad enough; but due to my hip and being on a walker, I can't help with the moving. My friend and my family members have been killing themselves moving my stuff; now the budget is shot to heck and I can't even pay my bills. I never felt so bad in my life - worthless, crippled up and worst of all, a burden to my friend and family. I try not to let them see me cry. I dont have time for it between calling my creditors and working out payment plants, and scrounging money to pay even those things. I cant go on relief- I make too much money; but it is gone practically before I get it from paying one backed up bill or another. Tomorrow I will call the credit union (they say my credit is top rate) and see if I can get a loan to help out. But I still am fighting this feeling of being a useless burden. How I wish the drs would quit stalling and fix this d**m HIP!!!! Im afraid it will be so damaged by the time they get to me it will be unfixable. And no, I cant even blame medicare....I have the best insurance from my former job, pays for everything. I don't understant why all the foot dragging now. Oh well, thanks for the opportunity to vent.

Did you know...that if you get an ink stain on your clothes (even gels!) just remove the clothing and spray it with Aqua Net hairspray (or some other cheapy hairspray) and it will immediately begin to "run". Just rinse quickly and lay it on your washer for your next load!

Rubbin alcohol will remove ink from vinyl, too.

You could develop a sudden love of viney plants on trellises to help hide the deck a bit. Depending on how high the deck is, you can use similar trellises or train plants up a lattice wall to hide what is underneath, even if it is 'only' a shade-deck. I did this with a friend about 10 yrs ago and now it is all the rage around here (the shade deck under the sunny one). Unfortunately, trailer parks are not known for their privacy, nor their residents for minding their own business. And since you are renting the spot, you cant dig a moat or put up an electric fence (chuckle ruefully).

You need to discern whether neighbors who strike up conversations with you are a) friendly, merely nosy, or c) fishing for more information so they can steal your stuff. That comment about you working together sounds like fishing to me, but I am a suspicious person. Even if it is mere nosiness, try to keep answers non-commital. It is hard, but talk about sports or the weather, gas or grocery prices, what you heard on the news (that is a good one), or anything except your personal life, you presonal opinions, or personal plans unless know you can trust that person absolutely, plus their friends. (People talk about things to other 'trusted' friends, then it spreads to others, and the next thing you know a burglar comes a calling). I did this for many years, and even joked about being a "hermit" to those who kept wondering (hinting out loud) why they never saw or heard from me much and told their (questionable) friends that I was unfriendly. I was not unfriendly, I just didnt trust their big mouths and inability to keep anything to themselves. So I just told them I got 'peopled out' and needed my alone time. It helps if you say a friendly 'hello' 'looks like rain' while you keep walking purposefully. It makes them think you are too busy to talk, rather than being secretive. Those who are merely nosy can be placated with such things. Those that are fishing for information can be joked with (usually) to turn their attention to other things. Only a few die hards had to be told that I did not discuss personal items except to my spouse (or psychiatrist, or mother, if you prefer). Then I would bring up the hermit jokes. (You know, "the nice thing about being a hermit, is that you can wear comfy clothes, sleep in and ignore the phone"...and the like. Another popular joke for telling people to back off with the questions, is the one about "i could tell you, but then i'd have to kill you"....said jokingly.)

The fence is a good idea, even if it does not hide as much as you would like. What it does do is clearly mark the boundaries between public land and private land, and make it clear when someone is trespassing and can be dealt with more severely than someone who can claim that they merely blundered into your yard. (Isnt it incredible how 'stupid' people claim to be when they are trying to get out of taking responsibility for their actions?)For privacy from above, a big umbrella is nice and looks natural, but watch out for windy conditions, or you may end up with an expensive kite!

I do not know if concealed carry is an option for you. Now don't get excited, I do not necessarily mean a firearm; in my state concealed carry includes stun guns, tasers and the like. You should not let anyone know you have one, just keep it hidden 'just in case'. It does much to make you feel less like a victim in your own home. Certainly carry and store it safely and securely (a small gun safe for when you are not carrying it) and never, ever, EVER, let anyone know you have it. There are those unsavory types who just look on it as one more thing to steal, worth money and the risks of taking it away from you, maybe using it on you in the process. Proceed with caution if you choose the armed route. If someone in your family circle drinks, or has anger problems, or other emotional issues, the weapon may well be unfeasible for you to have around them. Discuss with your husband a verbal signal word that he can use to let you know it is him wandering around the house in the dark, rather than an intruder. Spouses have been accidentally shot.

It is very unsettling to live in a place where you do not feel safe, and which requires constant security precautions. It is also hard, and you have my sincere sympathy that it is necessary. But it must be done until you can get to a more secure home. It is hard to explain to the children in such a way that they do not tell other acquaintences (they do not have the ability to discern as clearly as an adult just who is safe to talk to) so it is perhaps better to just not tell them you have security issues. If you treat it matter of factly, they will simply assume it is the way everybody lives, and hopefully won't have any 'interesting' information to 'share' at school during discussion times other than their new toy or a family outing.

Keep your chin up, and keep up your precautions. Its worth it. Hopefully, someone can think of more things to help you live in the wolf pack.

I was traveling to a work unit meeting (I was a state trooper at the time). Our HQ put out the info that a plane had crashed the Towers, that it was apparently an act of terrorism. When I got to the HQ we all watched TV and saw the 2nd plane hit; then heard the info on the other planes' fates. I remember going home that day thinking that they had picked on the wrong country, because Americans do not cower in terror, we fight back against such international bullies. I also remember wishing Reagan was president again (they were afraid of him!)

After that we all got back to work with a heightened eye for potential terrorist acts. When people came up to me and thanked me for being a police officer, I told them it was an honor. Our training also became more military in nature, and we certainly took it all more seriously.

Hey, now wait a minnit! I have canned cabbage, and though it gets stronger tasting, if you dislike it, all you have to do is rinse and re-heat in fresh water to tame it down. Id add drain it again, then fry it with the bacon to flavor it. It also makes swell pickled cabbage aka 'canned coleslaw' (fat free, of course). Now broccoli or cauliflower, they turn brown AND strong flavored. I freeze or dehydrate those.

Mrs Grieve's Herbal is available (free) on line. A relatively (at least in the 20th century!) english herbal, excellent and has recipes here and there.

The libraries usually have several. Look for one that is fairly recent. You might also see if they carry the magazine 'Herbs for Health' for the most recent research info.

you can burn any fat for light, once you learn how. remember 'little house on the prarie' books? in one, Ma makes a button lamp, which burns lard, axle grease, or what have you. I have made workable lamps for burning crisco, used motor oil (smoky and stinky, though), and old corn oil, just for laughs, and I'm thinking about doing a class for my preppers group on fat lamps. "Oil" lamp means more than one would think....

lumabeam, bless you! so many of us were brats as children (I was a stubborn little cuss) but it is not too late, ever to start learning self sufficiency. Not all of us were so lucky to have been immersed in a self-reliant family who passed it down. Im sure your Great-Aunt Helen would be smiling at you now and cheering on your efforts to learn self reliance skills. Dont fret about your husband not understanding your sense of urgency, many of us have less enthusiastic spouses and families. Some even think we are crazy. My husband did not know I was prepping way back for Y2K until 2 weeks before it arrived, and he saw something on the news about what would happen if all the computers went down. He asked me if we could handle that kind of emergency, or if we needed to 'buy some things'. Then when I showed him 6 months of supplies, he said he thought that was 'just fine' and became a little more interested. After Y2K was a no-show he agreed to maintain and increase the storage because he liked the self reliance idea. But he never was 'into' it and did not like to talk about it because, frankly, it scared him to think about 'the end of the world' as he put it. Oh well, I'd rather be ready and have nothing happen, than the other way around!

After you have been prepping a while, you will find that you are saving money by doing things yourself, and that sometimes helps the family rationize it to themselves. Just roll the savings back into preps. Many, many of us were silent preppers, squeezing a few pennies out of grocery budgets to buy a few extra pounds of beans or rice to 'put aside' and checking out all manner of odd library books for 'our hobbies' that just happened to be prep skills. My husband asked why I learned to make soap, for example; I told him because it sounded like fun! (It was.) Dont fret that nobody seems to see things the same way you do. We can be your support group on-line, and you can learn a lot, for we love to help one another. If you are very fortunate, there might be a prep group near you, and you can attend meetings and network with others. That is nice, but always remember, there are a lot of us out here, you just can't see us because we don't talk about it to strangers either. You can sometimes find another prep-minded person and recognize them by their interest in old timey skills. Women who can, sew, and raise gardens tend to be prep-minded, even if they do not call themselves that. Many do not know they are preppers, thinking that preppers are gun-totin', shoot-first, snake-eatin' hermits that are a little crazy and might go psycho in a hearbeat. No matter what they choose to call themselves, they are still like-minded folks you can find and network with. I for one would like to find a hunter who would share game in exchange for something I know.

Meanwhile, you are doing the right thing, and everybody thinks they are way behind. Yep, all of us have things we wish we would/could/should do, and for one reason or another we can't/won't/don't. Go easy on yourself, and keep plugging along at a manageable pace and as you level of self reliance increases, so will your peace of mind. Nobody gets it ALL done, but that is OK, it gives us something to barter for in the future!

Keep up the good work!

they are an old gimmick. i recall them from early 70s, my mother said she heard about them in the 30s. A better 'survival' type thin is planting the potato peels, rather than the shole potato, cut up. You peel them thick, plant them a little more shallow. Then you can eat some of the 'seed' potatoes if you have a notion. Ive talked to those that have done this, but never tried it myself. Maybe in the spring, just for an experiment.

Im going to talk to a bunch of people about EASY dehydrating; you know, the stuff that does not have to be blanched or handled a lot before you actually dry it, with an eye to getting more folks into it. I already know about deyhdrating frozen or canned foods; making leather from apple sauce plus what have you; dehydrating soups and stews (and leftovers); and know of a few things that do not require blanching. Anybody got some extra ideas for me? I'm thinking about putting together some 'soup in a jar' type things to whet their imagination.

I had good feedback and interest on my talk and demonstration on water bath canning, except I got a lot of ribbing over my frequent use of the statement "not recommended by the USDA" when answering questions....and I was surprised that so many of my 'students' were men!

oooh! ooooh! Im jumping up and down! Congrats, Robbie!

I made a quick run to Lehmans today. It's the only place I can find Clear Jel around here. Picked up a few other things I can't find locally too. I found a cake rack thing that will fit in the bottom of my canner for small jars. I can also use it as a second layer rack. Darn, I should have picked up two. One for the bottom and one for the middle. I wasn't thinking. Then I found a small canner. It will be the perfect size for small jars. It's smaller than a regular canner but bigger than a soup kettle. It does have a rack in it though. Also, some pickle crisp that I can't find up here.

 

What really struck me was the license plates on some of the cars in the parking lot. It's not unusual to see them from all over the place on Thurs.-Sat. but rare on a Monday even during vacation time. I saw, Iowa, Montana, Vermont, Florida and New Mexico. Also one from Ontario. Maybe people are starting to stock up or maybe I'm just looking for signs that really aren't there.

 

I stopped off at a Super Walmart (a huge one) on the way back home. I've never seen so many Ball canning jars on display in my life! This Walmart is different than the ones we have around me. It's so big. It's hard to describe the floor arrangement but in the houseware area they have a big empty square space where they have seasonal things. It was full of quart and pint canning jars stacked about 5 foot tall and probably 8 foot X 8 foot square, but I'm not good with measurments. One for pints and another one for quarts. They had a short aisle full of Mrs. Wages canning mixes and the other side of the aisle was full of canning jar lids. I was amazed at all of those jars!

On the canning rack idea...find yourself a cake pan that fits inside your canner, drill some holes in the bottom to allow for liquid circulation, and voila! - a canning rack. Use upside down on the bottom of the canner, either way as a divider-rack. Finding a cake pan to fit my canner was much easier than finding more racks!

I found the florets rehydrated best if cut fairly small. The stems got rather 'woody' and i had to peel them, then chop and dehydrate. They reconstituted well then, but they obviously were not as 'green'.

Scrubbie Lady, you just reminded me of the onions I missed one fall when I dug them. They actually overwintered underground, and when I dug up the garden for spring planting, I was blessed by the nicest, sweetest onions you ever saw!

Zone 7B! Im jealous. Zone 4 here. But I still put in a fall garden. Plant crops that bolt in warm weather - lettuce, spinach, beets, rhubarb, peas. Then add crops that like cool weather, like all the cole crops. Radishes are a quickie catch crop that like cool weather. I especially love kale - even in my zone, it gets sweeter after it frosts. I can usually pick it well into November, in mild years into December. Greens tolerate cooler weathers. Even in zone 4 you can plant cool weather crops. Oh yes, Bok-choy is also a cool weather lover, as are onions and potatoes.