Watcha doing today?

[snapshotmiki]

I hope you feel better soon @themartianchick!

 

Already walked with Bo.
Went to Dollar General for sale day.
Next, I will plant tomato starts, spinach and some Surinam Cherry seeds.
Then, fire up the grill!

[Mt_Rider]

Ugh.  Due to the weather forecast, we traveled a ways to get a horse ride for me yesterday.  Unfortunately, I had muscle spasms all night.  ???  The horse was fine; Not a wide horse....a bit strong in the motion she put me in but that's usually a good thing????    I tried Flexeril and added Nuprin in the night.  Eventually put some arnica gel on R hip.....slept a bit more.  Was overly hot then chilly then hot.  That's been happening but it sure doesn't help the sleep.  Woke up shivering under all the blankets and gave up.  Looked outside -  

 

Forecast on this 27th day of April said : snow.  Well yeah but.....it's POURING down snow!  Trees are heavy.  Always on alert to lose electric in the heavy snow. 

 

Yesterday one more bit of preparedness arrived.  DH had no idea why I wanted an alcohol stove until he got to fiddling with it last nite.  He's the one who didn't have any HOT water for coffee last May during our 3 day blackout.  So he got really excited about the solution to that problem.  I'm sure a few more alcohol bottles will be arriving shortly.     We made hot water rather quickly.  This one folds down to 2 flat things and the actual container of alcohol.  Yep....taking care of the last thing we needed for INSIDE heating of water, at least.  Have camping food that needs hot water poured into the packaging to make a 2 person meal.  That's WAY head of the game last year.     

 

And today is one of those days where power outage is imminent.  But not a done deal.    Whatever, we're set better now.

 

  ....may have to nap today.  Achy and Sore...which is unusual enough to wonder if I'm getting sick or something?  No time for that!!    No time for that!  I've got sorting and organizing to do!!!!!! 

 

MtRider  ...   

 

 

[Jeepers]

@Littlesister Pace yourself with that knee and shoulder. Don't want another flair up or be set back.  

[Jeepers]

@Mt_Rider Dang, sorry you still aren't feeling well. Get better soon. You have places to go and people to see. 

 

Don't worry too much about power outages. Now that you have your power bank, the power should stay on. Kinda like if you want rain, go wash your car. Or now that I have an ample supply of meds, I haven't had a UTI. Not that I'm hoping for one. Just saying...

 

The alcohol stove sounds very interesting to me. I'd like more details, when you feel better. 

[Littlesister]

Mt. Rider, hope you feel better soon. Your trip is coming up fast. You need to take it easy and stay well. 

I stacked 5 wheelbarrows of wood earlier.  I could have done more but that rack is now almost totally full but decided to quit. Wood is heavy and I didn't want to push it. I have 2 more racks and I'm starting to think my GS is right. I might need to buy 1 or 2 more racks to finish stacking that wood. But will see after he gets the last 2 set up and we get those filled up. 

 

Yes, Jeepers I behaved and stopped before I started to strain myself. Thank you for thinking of my knee and shoulder issue. 

 

Back in the house now working on some things. DD wanted me to come to GD's house, but I declined as she really doesn't see her near as much as I do living in a different state. They are coming here tomorrow. So, I will see them before going back to Carolina. GS is off tomorrow so he will get to see his parents this time around also. 

 

Went to Harris Teeter to pick up my Vit. D prescription. It is 50mcg and I hope it works. they look like over the counter ones. I forgot what the prescription ones really look like as it has been a long while since I needed it. But I was on 50,000 units and this is only 50. So will see what happens. Hopefully it will get my levels back up. 

[Jeepers]

My Rx Vitamin D-3 is 5,000 units and is a powdered capsule form.

[Mt_Rider]

Well....it snowed hard all day.  Pouring straight down.  Sun is trying to peek out now.  Heavy wet stuff.  Slides off the car easy!  NOT sliding off the 15 steps easy with 8" before I swept the first time.  I did the stairs and car.  DH went down to let birds out of the duckhouse but not on the pond today.  Snowing so hard you had to sweep your way up or down the steps.   Had to move part of my Maui sorting pile so we could start the pellet stove.  Felt cold/chill and that warms things up. 

 

A nap would have been a good idea but the sleepy didn't hit until now....and that's a bit late ...would set back sleeping tonite.   

 

So I'll keep struggling til closer to a bedtime and hope to sleep as I normally do.  Not sure what was wrong last nite.  We did have to drive a long distance for the horse ride.  But if I'd get that stiff/sore on that....what's a whole day/night hanging out with airplanes and airports gonna do.  Oye. 

 

Wow, Little Sister!  Seems like you got a lot of wood hauling/stacking done with your knee/shoulder problem.  Go carefully .....but if the swelling can go down,, you'll move better.   

 

Jeepers:  Amazon link.  Made in China  They make the tiny wood burning ones too but we have grills for outside cooking.  We needed something for inside - nasty days like today if we lose power for heating water/etc.  Heated up a small pan of water quickly.  Remember anyone:  Alcohol is okay for INDOORS because it burns clean.  HOWEVER that also means that it's hard to SEE THE FLAME!  Make sure it's snuffed out with an included tool for doing that.  Then there is the regular screw-on leak-proof cap too. 

 

Ha!  Finally found the link to what we bought:  boils water in 8 min

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01GRMMKKM?m=A1V3FYXGEOXN6V&tag=tomtopb-20

 

This is informative ...even shows very homemade stoves....which I've been meaning to make; saved a few cans; never got it done.  Plus I wanted the sturdy stand cuz I'm just a wee bit hyper about pot tipping/fire-in-unwanted-places/& all that!! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pexDNx5LtdM

 

As you'll see on Amazon, there are a zillion different types of wood and/or alcohol stoves - tiny for backpacking.   Wood won't work inside, of course.  Then there are the option of Sterno cans and their structures to set the pans over the Sterno containers.  That also looks like a safe idea.  Sterno has been around forever and uses the solidified alcohol.  No spill.  Might be good for shaky hands?  Anyway     DH is quite pleased to be assured of hot coffee - even if it's instant - during outages. 

 

MtRider    (mine is tea or cocoa)

[Jeepers]

Thanks for the info. I need to do better about alternative food cooking or heating up. Made in China. Pfft, what isn't. At this point I'm glad just to be able to get something I need. Or can afford. 

[Mother]

2 hours ago, Littlesister said:

But I was on 50,000 units and this is only 50. So will see what happens. Hopefully it will get my levels back up. 

50mcg is 2000 IU but you are taking it every day, right?  That’s 14,000 a week but I’m surprised he gave you a prescription for that amount as that is pretty standard OTC doses.  It is what DH is taking.  The RX ones I’ve been given in the past were always 50,000 8u but that was once a week.  So approximately 7,000 IU a day.  Because my levels are so low my doctor wants me taking 10,000 IU a day for a few months then we will test again. She is concerned for overdose which I doubt will happen.  I react to that much with worsening pain so she has me working my way up.  Did your doctor tell you your numbers?  Usually the amount is dictated to by the levels.  

[Becca_Anne]

I've been looking at dual fuel butane and propane stoves they seem pretty affordable and can be used inside, so thinking I'll pick one up. I used to have a camping stove but I think I gave it to my SIL before we moved. Also want to pick up some bags of charcoal to store to use outside on our grill. This house came with a grill like the kinds you see at public parks, so I thought that would be good as a backup. 

 

Today I went to a wildlife refuge with my friend about an hour away. We saw eagles and redwing blackbirds, Canada geese, and a water moccasin! Thankfully it stayed away from where we were but that was a surprise. 

[Jeepers]

Funny you mentioned eagles. I've been watching the live cam of a pair of eagles in Iowa. I've followed the eggs hatching up until now. The two babies are fascinating to watch. They have weathered wind storms, rain and hail and snow storms. I can't tell the mom from the dad but both have been very good parents. 

 

You can keep the snake though. Shudder. 

[Littlesister]

Mother, I was taking 5000 OTC a day. It did nothing.  The RX I picked up look like nothing more than OTC ones. He is having me take the 50mcg daily. over 6 months ago I was taken 2000 mcg daily with no change in my D levels. So here I am waiting to see what happens 5 months from now. That is if I haven't already found another primary care by then. I am getting really serious about dropping this doctor. 

 

Becca Anne, I bet that was a lot of fun at the wildlife refuge.  

I have a lot of different ways to cook and need to gather them all in one spot to see what I have. I know a couple of them are butane.  

[Littlesister]

I stacked 5 cart loads of wood this afternoon.  I am thinking maybe 2 more loads will finish filling up that one wood bin and then the other 2, I hope GS will get set up for me tomorrow. Then I can get that job done and move on.  GS came home and tried on his new pants that came today. One pair I will have to take in at the waist a bit but not much. The other pair he tried on and won't take off now. Then he decided he wanted spaghetti tonight. It's almost 11 pm and he wants me to fix it. So now he is in the kitchen eating. Hope he cleans it up and puts things away. 

 

Mother, I used to be on 50,000 units of Vit. D years ago. Different doctor. Not sure about this one. 

[Mt_Rider]

Great day, Becca Anne.............           ....until you got to the moccasin!   Glad he didn't want to get up close and personal!

 

MtRider  Yiiish!  I abhor snakes!  {toes curled up} 

 

 

[Littlesister]

Yeah, I don't do snakes.  Though we have had the black snakes slivering around here at times. Though they eat mice and such. Good snakes but keep them away from me. 

 

GS did clean up last night after eating his spaghetti. At least that was just from a jar and cooking the noodles. It was easy, but I don't cook that time of night. All that food in fridge and he wants spaghetti. 

 

Waiting for DD and her DH to call as they are coming over today before heading back home. She only has a baby squirrel to tend with for the wildlife and bought it with her. I guess just having one squirrel was doable for a road trip. 

Not sure what time they will get here. But I figure around noon. She's still trying to get her baby time in. She doesn't see the baby as much as I do so I wouldn't go over to GD's house yesterday even though DD wanted me to. That drive is too far with my knee anyway. I didn't want to stir the pot with that knee and start it hurting again. I am starting to notice a difference from that injection now. 

[Littlesister]

DD and SIL are on the way back home now. GS almost has another rack finished so I can start stacking wood again. DD said I am crazy. Told her I only paid for 2 cords, and they threw in a third one for free. I wasn't going to turn that down. And when they are home freezing, I will be all warm and toasty by my wood stove. SIL is drooling because he really wants a wood stove, but she again is now putting her foot down to a no go. Thought for a while she was going to let him put one in. 

The grandkids did get a lot packed up yesterday. So that was good. Just under 2 weeks to go. So, I am sure DD and SIL will be back down again soon. 

[Midnightmom]

18 hours ago, Becca_Anne said:

I've been looking at dual fuel butane and propane stoves they seem pretty affordable and can be used inside, so thinking I'll pick one up. I used to have a camping stove but I think I gave it to my SIL before we moved. Also want to pick up some bags of charcoal to store to use outside on our grill. This house came with a grill like the kinds you see at public parks, so I thought that would be good as a backup. 

 

I have one. The butane is hard to find, but we have a "Chef's Store" here and they carry it in 3 packs. 

 

https://www.chefstore.com/

[Jeepers]

@Midnightmom. What is that little countertop stove Rose Red uses? That looks pretty nice and convenient. It might be for convection pans though. 

 

I have a small Coleman stove that I got when K-Mart went out of business. I don't remember what kind of fuel it uses now. I never messed with it.    I had some of those little green canisters where you can refill them with propane. They all lost their propane. 

 

BTW, GS has a pet snake. Lionel. I act like I'm not afraid of it. But I am. 

[Midnightmom]

1 hour ago, Jeepers said:

What is that little countertop stove Rose Red uses? That looks pretty nice and convenient. It might be for convection pans though. 

 

I went to her "Amazon Store" and found the link to the stove she uses: https://a.co/d/302J2KB

 

 

 

 

 

This is the link from her website in case you want to "throw some money" her way: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09HMZH8Z6?ie=UTF8&th=1&linkCode=sl1&tag=roseredhome05-20&linkId=ba7da5294339eb0f51d66259698c0e70&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl

[Becca_Anne]

Thanks Midnightmom!  The cannisters are pretty easily available on Amazon and I'm probably more likely to use the propane but I like having options  

Yes MtRider not fond of snakes either, but my friend has a serious phobia of them, so of course that is what showed up. I seriously have never seen a snake once any time I've gone to a park so it was a surprise and I was very glad we were far enough away that the snake couldn't easily get to us.

Littlesister glad you have all that wood you'll be in great shape next winter.

Jeepers I love watching eagles we had so many in The Dalles on the Columbia I could see them out my window all the time. It was a treat to see them here too.

 

Today I didn't accomplish much except to go shopping at Walmart. It's my husband's birthday so I baked a cake and that's all I really got done other than laundry

[Littlesister]

That stove looks like the one I have. I have others also but this one for sure. 

 

DD and SIL will be back in town week after next and the following week. We are going to the Bazaar on one of those weekends. I think it is in about 3 weeks. We are going to help GD as her DH has duty right after they move into the new house. Bad timing. But it is what it is. 

 

Went back to Food Lion to get another Boston butt. So now I have the 4 I needed to can. Tomorrow I will be canning those up. This is like when I was trying to get 10lbs of hamburger and had to keep going back to get it. Took 2 stores to get that. And no hamburger in the Food Lion as they had a sign up saying the machine was broke down and they can't grind meat for hamburger. Glad I wasn't getting any hamburger. GS said that yesterday when he went to work there was hardly any meat in there. He works at a different Food Lion than the one I go to. Don't know why it was so low on meat. I know the beef has been scarce for a while. Not much to choose from and now the pork is getting that way. But usually there is a lot of chicken. Maybe it will be restocked when he goes in tomorrow. 

[Jeepers]

Happy Birthday MR. Becca-Anne. 

 

Thanks for the link @Midnightmom  I put it in my wish list. I don't mind if she gets a kick back. It costs me nothing and I do enjoy her channel.  

 

I'm going to seriously start canning meat soon. I have plenty of veggies now. I would like some pints of potatoes but might have to wait til I get to Indy where I can use my kitchen stool. I don't know how long I can stand at my kitchen sink peeling potatoes here. And I have no home canned meat. 

 

They finally got all of my BP's meds in. When I came home from picking them up, there was a bird looking in my window. Thank God it wasn't a woodpecker! I don't know what it was. At first glance I thought it was a baby robin because it had a red breast. But when it turned its head I saw that the head was blue. Really pretty little bird. I got a picture but...still can't post. When ever I get computer/internet synchronized, look out for pictures.  

 

 

It was a male Eastern Bluebird. So pretty. 

 

Edited April 29 by Jeepers
Looked up the bird.

[Necie]

I like snakes. 🐍 Not enough to keep one for a pet. But when the grandkids find one, they yell for me to catch it so that they can pet it... then we wash our hands really good. Boy, snakes do STINK though!! 

 

Let’s see... I’m wayyyy behind. 
 

Friday I did some yard saling. Got a couple things for market, but not much. Got a couple games for at the cabin—giant Jenga and Cinderella— and some hotdog/marshmallow sticks. Got a WM bag FULL of cookie cutters.  One of my *things*. I need to dump all my cookie cutters on the dining room floor and sort out any doubles to take to market. I have an INSANE amount. I also got a big white tub for planting potatoes in—$3. And a wild game cookbook. I’m sure I’m forgetting stuff. 
I went to check on the cute little wood stove. The dude wasn’t in his building (12:05–lunch), but the stove was sitting there. All good. I’ll check back in a couple weeks. Then to Shipshewana to plug in the electric for the building. Lights work!! 😀

 

Yesterday was EXTREMELY windy. So much so, that it was hard to think. I moved the 9 big tubs to a new spot and planted potatoes (yes— I bought more!). That was about it. Sat and crocheted. It sucked being inside cuz it was mid-70’s out, but the wind was just brutal.

 

Today- went to DS2 and DDIL’s to take DGS(7) and DGD(5) their birthday presents. Focus was on camping. Got them each new camp chairs and the new *go-bags* (backpacks) with goodies in them. They LOVED the bags!! They put them on and took their whistle/compass outside and kept hiding and blowing the whistle so that we could find them. 

Got home and worked in the yard and garden. Windy, but not as bad as yesterday. Temps near 80. 
 

Not sure what’s up for tomorrow. Might rain. If not, I might try to straighten up my van. DS2 and DGD(13) are coming down. Tuesday, market starts!! 

 

and 

Necie

[snapshotmiki]

I hope that Market goes well for you, @Necie!

Glad that your meds are all in @Jeepers!

 

Going to walk, shortly.
Do laundry.
Go through recipes.
Stake up the snapdragons on Peanut's grave.
Have a couple of drawers that need to be cleaned out and reorganized.

[Littlesister]

Beautiful day outside again today.  May go outside this afternoon and stack more wood. 

Canning the Boston butts since early this morning. Lots of work and for me hard to cut up with my hands but it's done.  Need to head out to Evans Farm later this week and see if they have anything yet. Thinking it is still too early but will see what they have. 

Shoulder a bit ackey now so giving it a rest. Cutting up meat doesn't help that issue. But must get done.  After this I will be slowing down on all meat. I have plenty to hold me for a long while now.  I would like to find some fresh tuna to can though as well as salmon.