The WE2's

From Philbe...did you hand her your tent, camp stove, and some canned goods! LOL Soooo funny, and soooo typical of youth. I raised two, one of each kind! LOL

Mountain Man checked out "Living Well on a Shoestring" (from the penny-pinching editors of Yankee magazine)...WOW! Very reader friendly with it's short, direct and inspirational format.

Neither of us enjoy sharp cheddar...BUT we absolutely love the flavored types (garlic & onion, parmesan & chives etc.) and find them in the smaller sized, which for us is ok. We do have a case of canned cheese that's off limits for consumption right now, as is canned butter! LOL I've made butter and cheese from whole milk but we don't have a cow or goat so have chosen to use the canned types. Dairy products will be the hardest to find in a poop situation.

Mountain Man checked out a book from our library..."Living Well on a Shoestring" from the penny-pinching editors of Yankee magazine. You can't believe all the neat stuff in it and it's truly "reader friendly"! Just short paragraphs etc., of different things people can do to save their dollars and/or stretch them.

Which states are you talking about? I am in Missouri. From Philbe...Missourian also.

Wednesday evening...may I praise the Lord!!!??? Mountain Man and I went over to the homestead so he could load some tools into his truck...going to lay a laminate floor for a client...and I went to the house to say hi to Mom. When I opened the door, the smell of gas nearly knocked me down. MM went hunting but couldn't find any leaks so we immediately called gas company. They came with a "sniffer" and found a copper gas pipe in the basement had somehow cracked and was leaking gas! They repaired it so all is well. This could have been a VERY tragic happening for myself, Mountain Man, my mom, my son, and all of their beloved pets! Again, I just gotta PTL!!!

From Philbe...I soooo hope it comes through quickly for you! My late husband and I fought 2 years for his disability (he had a brain tumor) before he rec'd it...but, they made it retroactive so it paid alot of bills and put a down payment on this "ancient" house I'm currently in...but...now, after 30 years, it's paid for! My son is currently awaiting his approval, he has diabetes, fractured back, and PTSD. Hang in there!

Son was quite gracious in returning my former office pc to me when our "big one" did a crash. Got his laptop being worked on for alot less than it will cost us to buy a new windows system for MM's big pc. So...we did have a blessing today!

After using the duct tape, run another "bead" around with the tape turned outside, so if any insects try to cross they get "stuck". Check often and replace the "barrier" tape. I would also consider setting glue pads around the basement area to arrest any mice or bugs.

Wednesday...dreary day. Even Abby is playing lazy-daizy! Hey...does anybody around here reside in the central 4 midwest states? Just curious.

Found several that I can identify with, but alot I don't. I don't: You skip the headlines in the Sunday paper and head straight for the sales inserts. There's a coupon organizer in your purse or car (extra credit if it includes a calculator). You've washed (or seriously considered washing) tin foil to use it a second time. The chocolate milk you were served as a kid was heavily diluted with regular milk. Your family holds a contest to guess how much money is in the change jar every six months. A little mold on bread or cheese doesn't cause you to immediately toss it. You know the technique for properly canning food....because I don't know how...yet. Negotiating the price of a used car inspires a sense of adventure and thrill. You know the secret magic that's contained in every bottle of furniture scratch cover. You can calculate any product's price-per-ounce in mere seconds. Your dryer sheets have three times the life expectancy of other people's. You cut open toothpaste tubes to get at the last bit of product. The rest I am guilty as charged, at least partially! LOL

From Philbe...I want MM to build mine with hoops also, and using plastic milar, but I also want him to use something like chicken wire over the top of the plastic to help keep plastic from "ballooning" if any wind would get under it, and also to re-direct any hail somewhat. Don't know of anyone necessarily, or even books, but that's what I want. I'll be watching the answers here for sure!!!

Tuesday...with reluctance, told son we were going to have to reclaim our other pc ... I know he's got a long face, but we just can't keep using our little notebook like a desktop unit. it's only for emergencies & for when we're traveling. It's not for powering 4-1 printer, fax, copy & scan machines etc. Plus...this tiny keyboard and tiny screen make it really difficult for us who are amongst the "over the hill" gang! LOL He's got most of his business taken care of now, and what he needs to take care of he'll have to go the library...it's free. Or he can try to barter out his laptop for an up and running system. We offered to throw in an older fax machine and some hard drives Mountain Man kept when he did some scraping earlier this year. We're just not in a financial position to foot the pc bill for him. The "homestead" has been eating our lunch...we've got two occupants in two apartments, and neither are paying rent! Mom's in the lower apt., son's in the upper. How did we get into this fix? GOT TO get this antique we're liivng in SOLD!!! But...gotta get the "little house on the hill" finished before we can move into it! As I mentioned once here...ever feel like you're taking care of everybody but yourself!? Guess I'd better stop my whining...just sounding off where there's some people who understand...

I watched the video some time ago, it quite interesting.. Told Mountain Man about it, saying I'd like to try a patch this coming season. He seems to think it's only a covering around the plantings...but I didn't get that impression because he "struck the hard ground" in the video to illustrate the imposibility of it growing much if anything. Did I miss something? We have wood chips readily available in our area. Copied short cut and will go watch again! Again, very interesting!

How about hiding bills in a sanitary napkin box! LOL Maybe coins in a bag of beans? Just remember...every man's trash is another man's treasure! And a thief will always take the path of least resistence...meaning they won't really "hunt"...they'll just do a pitch and dump inside your property and see what comes to the surface, what's readily seen after turning things over, what's obviously perfect for hiding things. Just think...where would YOU look?

From Philbe: You're absolutely right about not underestimating a thief! We had one of our properties broken into and they stole both of our metal detectors...after using them (I guess ) against us, inside the house looking for metal etc. And yes, they absolutely play havoc turning things inside out, upside down and every which way but loose! BUT...we had some vials of gold nuggets hidden in a "certain" place...would have been obvious if they hadn't been looking for things hidden! LOL Anyway...guess being in glass vials helped them escape the detectors...???

Monday...we're already into some near freeze nights, so all garden veggies are gone. Turned over the Mels Mix in our SQFT garden squares and will cover them with heavy black milar...to smother any future weeds that might be tempted, to encourage earth worms, and to keep birds etc. out of it. Mountain Man will return to some work projects for a couple of clients and I hear the laundry calling out to "wash whites!" By the way...I tried the laundry mix with Dawn and absolutely do NOT like it, especially for my whites. Guess I'll use it up on fragile washings (which I don't have much of) for sweaters or ??? Have a great Monday friends...and we're looking forward to our next "bug out" and especially our annual camp out for Thanksgiving. Still trying to find a solution for a new desktop pc.

Pulled the last handful of purpose onions and chopped them up into 2 small plastic container, one for the scallions and one for the greens...will do nicely with my hashbrowns for breakfast! Worked at our "little house" and took w/u air conditioners out of the windows, put silver bubble wrap insulation over the windows and set the furnace on 50. Took down dog panels and stored them...don't want to cause somebody to sin by taking them this winter when we can't get there as often. Had a break in once and they trashed the inside of the house & stole our 2 metal detectors. Keeping what we have IS pinching pennies!!! LOL

From Philbe...how do you "squirrel away" onions and garlic? Like you we go through ALOT of potatoes and onions! And YES...the powdered suger donuts joke sent me on a laughing frenzy!!! When I first started reading the reply post, I have to admit...I thought she was going to suggest perhaps something was open! ROTFL!!!

Sunday...desktop is going to have to have either a new reinstall or a new hard drive...grrrr! Only purchased 5 months ago but not under warranty, bought a re-build w/new parts. Took Abby for her vet check to renew her flea/tick meds and heartworm meds. She's now a 10 month old, 70 pound lab/aussie! Headed out shortly to stop by "homestead" and pick up my last bucket of ripened tomatoes, then to the "little house" to do some more work to get it ready for us this spring (I hope) and get this "occupy" house sold. Yesterday stopped by area Dutch store and picked up 4 big bags of dehydrated sliced potatoes and 2 large bags of diced potatoes, then re-sealed them with food saver & oxygen absorbers and sealed them in my "little white buckets" ... a few in each bucket. Figured it's easier (right now) to just buy the potatoes already dehydrated. I boil alot of fresh potatoes for my freezers for everyday use. Everybody have a wonderful Sunday!

They worked soooo hard to make their meals taste so good! Sure glad we don't have to worry about all those ashes. They'd probably play havoc on sinus' or for people with upper resperitory (?) problems. My mom had to stop using fireplace because of allergy, COPD, and asthma. Still...love to read and look! Thanks!!!

Boiled down another 5 lbs. of potatoes ... had some for supper (fries) with our Swai fish with corn-ochra-tomatoes. Continuing to use notebook pc until we decide what to do about our desktop's crash. Son is using our older pc...really feel selfish to ask him for it. Guess we'll make do with notebook for awhile...pinch!

I love that song of praise! I love to open my Bible, and just "sing" the verses...whatever they may be. Brings such peace. Don't be surprised if the "world" hates you...they hated our Savior too! But...you've got some mighty loving friends around here!

Just about as peaceful picture as one could want! I love those kinds of "shots" ... WONDERFUL!

How many of you keep Cous Cous and cook it? How about sharing some recipes with me! I've cooked it several ways but would like other recipes too. It's just so quick!