The WE2's

Got some more "freebies" from local pantry. Several cases of small cans of sliced and water packed water chestnuts and sprouts. Yum, yum, used a can in my soup chowder yesterday! Also a case or two of water chestnuts with pineapple chunks. Tasted pretty good on salad! Then another local source "just happened" to have tons of bread, bagels, etc...from a Panera store. Guess when their breads don't turn out just right they donate them. Who cares if a nice fat loaf of bread is a little too brown or a little lop sided or bagels have too many sesame seeds etc. on them! Me stocked up! You can bet your sweet tooty I'm a happy camper!

So glad to see other's extending encouragement. When my first husband passed on after 42 yrs. of marriage, I felt like depression had hold of both of my ankles and was dragging me deeper and deeper. Then one morning in my quiet time, God gave me a vision of my first husband gazing into the cloudy image that I knew was Jesus, with such a wide smile on his face. Then the image of Jesus pointed to this huge field with all the toys (cars, tools, woodworking etc., and other loves of first husband) and spoke to him these words..."GO PLAY!" It truly gave me a peace that passes all understanding...for "in my house are many mansions...I go to prepare a place for you". You'll walk this out girlfriend...and remember one thing! The power of God to hang onto you is greater than your power to hang on to Him! As a former post said..."this too shall pass". I can see great hapiness for the life God has ahead of you! You've probably been a giver all your life so now it's time for you to learn to receive.

Watching tv last night and Abby's "mattress" is at the foot of the coffee table, in front of our tv (had to make room for her) and suddenly she popped up, growled, and then gave her "alert" bark. When I said "what is it?" She alerted again, so we got up and she headed for the back door. When we got to the last back entry (we have 2), flipped on the porch light (from sensor to manual) opened the door to let her out FIRST (which is something we normally don't do...for obedience sake), we were very impressed to note that she was notifying us that the wind (or a cat?) had dumped over our trash can. Not bad for a 9 month old pup! We congratulated her enormously for doing a good job. That's EXACTLY why we adopted her from her rescued momma & 8 littermates...we wanted an alert dog. Now...we've got to figure out a hand signal for "show me" since we're trying to teach her sign language along with verbal commands. (oops...wanted to mention that the reason we were so impressed is that she heard it over the tv!)

Did you know...Garlic oil is a wonderful antibiotic. I keep a squeeze bottle in my frig (cooking quality) as well as bottles of gel caps in my medicine cabinet and storage, and have used it numerous times as a treatment for my own ears, as a precaution. Used it also on my new hubby when he had a bit of an ear ache. Just passing my own experience along with the use of garlic oil.

Added several bottles of "garlic gel caps" to my OTC's. When my late husband complained of an ear ache, I looked and found his ear to be flame red and swollen almost shut...had a badly infected ear, I pierced a caplet with a needle, squeezed the oil into his ear canal (yes it stinks!) and put a piece of cotton in it. Within a couple of hours the pain was gone and next morning ear was back to normal. Garlic oil is a wonderful antibiotic. I keep a squeeze bottle in my frig (cooking quality) as well as the gel caps in my medicine cabinet, and have used it numerous times as a treatment for my own ears, as a precaution. Used it also on my new hubby when he had a bit of an ear ache. Just passing my own experience along with the use of garlic oil.

2012 garden...done...yep, pretty much (frown). Still have so many green tomatoes turning. Being a dehydrator...I've always got an eye peeled for frozen foods on sale. Have a peaceful winter Dee!

Regarding re-vacume sealing jars just to add more...I would feel quite safe doing it. IF I'm going to continue using the dehydrated food, I'd just put the lid on and put it in my frig...just did that today with a jar of celery/carrot mix when I made some chicken barley soup. I don't use oxygen absorbers in my vacume sealed jars...only in my food saver bagged items. Looks like you've got some very pretty dehydrated stuff!!!

Thanks for the info...I've put in my share getting the upstairs apartment fixed up at our "homestead" so our son will have a "soft landing" as he tumbles through being jobless and headed for a divorce, and relocating from several states away. Mom lives in lower unit. I've been up and down stairs very similar to these about 20 times a day for almost a week! Huff, huff, huff and more huff!Again, thanks!

It's wonderful when two people can make it work for 50 years! Congratulations!!!!

How many of you know how to convert a water heater (fake) into a safe?

Hey friends...can somebody tell me (so I can tell hubby) how to convert a water heater into a safe? It's mentioned here and when I told him, he was very serious in wanting to know!

You'll know you're a survivalist if...you're in a discount grocery chain and the couple in front of you have two carts jammed full of what looks like prepper stuff and you say "I'll bet they're preppers...but keep your mouth shut!". and...you read about converting the water heater to a safe and go running to the bathroom where you're hubby is and "yell...did you know!" and he asked "how?"

Hmmm...must keep mice and bugs out of fabrics or we'll be "holy" people!

Prayers that availeth much...

You all are absolutely FUNNY! Had a friend tell me once that she took her contact lens out and could still see! She began jumping up and down praising God because she "was healed"...only to find out shortly that she had put a new lens over her older one. Phoooey!

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!

WoW...what a useful forum!!! Did you know...that you can pour Coke (not Pepsi or any other kind) on tar stains, throw them in the wash, and pour the rest of the liter of Coke into your washer and it works wonders! Gotta get to it soon though!

I think I'd be on the list to shove a shotgun in his belly and ask to go bring the sheriff and let the sheriff ask the questions! Then he'd know you had one sidekick that meant business...your shotgun!

All those who suffer...at home and abroad. "Father, in our Savior's name...we speak their names to You and ask for safe passage wherever they may be in YOUR world. Their names are written on the palm of Your hand, and not one sparrow goes un-noticed to Your watchful eye! Amen!"

We really didn't have much trouble w/Abby. She was 6 wks old (9 lbs.) when we adopted her from a home rescue farm, wrapped her in a towel and carted her a few miles in my arms until we found a tractor supply store. Went in (hubby carried her) and bought a pet taxi and put it in back of van. She rode the rest of the way home in that. Then that night we took the top off, put her towel in it, and set in on the floor on my side of the bed. Then set the alarm for every hour on the hour and packed her tiny butt outside to do her biz. Has no problems with separation anxiety to we are grateful, since for the most part she's with us 24/7 (we're empty nesters and pretty much retired). She's been in a canoe with us, on the fireing range with us, tractor pulls, camps with us in our travel trailer...you name it. You're very blessed to have a little guy that just watches you from the window. Abby would be in ALL kinds of trouble if we left her alone in the house. She's truly a "Lab Brat" in the strictest sense! She can skin the label off a water bottle with her front teeth faster than you can wink! They told us in her puppy class...being labrador retriever is a wonderful breed...being australian shepherd is a wonderful breed. Mix them together and we had a puppy on crack! They told us "she needed you two". Just rattling on and on, but you know how us "doggy people" can be!

What kinda pup ya got?

Gofish...! What a terrible thing to happen! How will you ever survive such a thing! LOL

Just wondering...today, when we had the news on about our embassy etc., I don't know if Abby sensed something or what, but she literally "wallered" us to the limit of our patience! When hubby left to do some work for a client, she stayed laid right on top of my feet and even tried to crawl up in my lap (she's 60+ pounds!). Told hubby..."she seems to sense some sort of unrest. Do you suppose she senses it over the tv?" Have any of you ever encountered such a behavior? She's 9 months old now, so we're still learning her temperament.

I get same message...

I'm a dehydrating fan...and I keep plenty of canned broth to spritz anything I'd need to re-hydrate, and we also have our Berkey to purify water. Fortunately we live in a state that has lots and lots of public water areas (lakes, streams, ponds etc.) so finding water isn't a problem. We also have eight, 55 gallon water barrels for catching water from the metal roof on our homestead property. My sis cans, and is quite experienced at it, but she has a full basement for storage. I just prefer to dehydrate for storage and simplicity. I think you'll find fans of both around these forums!