Today kinda made up for yesterday. No my old monitor didn't suddenly start working again but everything else came together quite nicely if I may say so even though it started out possibly being really bad.
You see my first chore of the day was to take back an item I purchased while Christmas shopping Monday night. I hate taking items back to stores but something was wrong with it and I couldn't figure it out. Turns out either the screw was stripped out on it or just not big enough but they actually let me exchange the item and I only had to waste a gallon of gas and an hour of my time.
Believe me I was expecting worse.
Once I got back home I really got things accomplished. I cut down some more weed trees from the area I had let the sheep eat down this Summer. That bit of ground is now ready to be plowed and tilled for the new Squash and Pumpkin patch next Spring. I dug about 20 foot of trench in front of the barn through layers of gravel with my trusty shovel and pickaxe.
After 100 years or more of people dumping gravel in front of the barn what has happened is the drive in front of the door is now about a foot higher than the barn floor. When it rains heavily all that water has been rushing into the barn so I routinely have to dig out a trench to re-direct the run off. What I need to do is hire another bobcat and have the whole drive scrapped down with new gravel put in but for now I need that cash for other things so I dig a trench every year.
After that it was crawling under the porch to rescue the most stupidest dog that was ever born. The wife named the dog Trixie but I call her brain stem. Why? Because that was all she was born with. She is an old rescue dog that's about 15 years old now and seriously senile. You cannot let her roam free or she will end up three counties away with no clue how she got there. She also always finds her way under the porch with her tie out wrapped around a support beam about 100 times.
After I rescued her and got her back inside I boarded up her access point.
Then I had to unload about 500 pounds of laminate flooring from my Mother's truck. She is seriously crazy if she thinks I am installing all that. Cleaned out the wood furnace, gathered up all the trash and took the dumpster to the road and finished cleaning and straightening up the shop AND put away all the bee stuff AND inventoried all of it.
Ya know I see folks bad mouthing a prepper blogs a lot about them writing what's for dinner and when they had a bowel movement. Hell I even throw a pot shot out myself about fluff and recipes blogs. Yet it occurred to me today that for those of us who are truly living the self sustaining life, or trying to, rather than just buying whatever preps our government check allows us each month and saying "ooooo shiney" most of what we do is mundane chores, maintenance and ditch digging.
It certainly ain't all puppies and AR 15's now is it?
It's dirty, boring, back breaking manual labor but it brings the satisfaction on knowing we did it all ourselves at the end of the day.
Beats calling a professional every other month I guess.
Keep Prepping Everyone!!!
You are oh-so-right! The To-Do list around the farm is never ending, but knowing how to do it is what makes us prepared, right? And the more we do for ourselves now, the less adjusting we'll need to do later!
ReplyDeleteAnon - Yes knowing how to do it and what little details need to be done is the most important part.of prepping I believe. We will be doing and surviving while the others are trying to read the directions...
DeleteIf I do have to call some expert to work on something, I watch them the whole time to see how to do their job. A lot of the time it seems that they don't know how to do it either and have to figure it out. It is mostly boring repetitive work, lots of problem solving and figuring out a plan B or C.
ReplyDeleteSf - Good smart thinking there. I do the same thing and have also noted much of it seems to be on the fly at times. I think half the battle is really knowing all the little quirks to the thing more than actual learned skills.
DeleteTotally agree with you PP. Mundane life sometimes gets in the way of all those other exciting prep chores.
ReplyDeleteDFW - OMG yes they do. It's 100 mundane chores for every exciting project I get to do.
DeleteThere is something seriously satisfying about doing or building something by one's lonesome, or even with help. It means so much more than paying someone else to do it.
ReplyDeleteRp - Yes it does!!!
DeleteIt is about the mundane chores. I have to say I do feel more accomplished when I get a long list of chores done. I'm pooped at the end of the day, but it's nice to see things in order. Don't get me wrong, we also really like to get a major project completed on occasion.
ReplyDeleteIzzy - Yes to both. It just seems after a while of getting the wonderful projects finished you end up spending more time ont he chores. Which I guess makes sense.
DeleteI watched the men build my barn addition so I picked up some hints on the finer details. When I get ready to build another one somewhere on my property I will be a little wiser. I like watching a true professional work, I always learn something new.
ReplyDeleteSD - No denying that. Although what I get out of it more than anything else is some tool I don't have and need :(
DeleteI agree about the boring chores, but they're what keep the place running. Also if my mind can wonder thats when I come up with all my crazy schemes!
ReplyDelete