PP's bad day. It actually started out pretty good. It was payday and I quickly noticed all this extra work I been needing to do for the new vehicle deliveries made a big difference. It was almost up to a normal pre-Scamdemic level. To top the morning off I also did not have any new deliveries coming in yet this morning and I did not get my first (two) pre-delivery notifications until almost noon. Coming in from Michigan and Kentucky respectively.
I can almost assure you that means Sunday night or early Monday morning deliveries as if they were scheduled for pickup there at noon or later on a Friday they wont be getting em to me fast. Sometimes they surprise me but it is pretty rare. They like their weekends off usually.
So I saw my break and spent the next four hours splitting firewood and filled my trailer. I took a fair number of rest breaks too I must admit. Should be enough to last through this up coming rain/cold and maybe snow snap in the forecast. It also may give me a chance to start cutting up at least one of the trees I have down already as well. Got to move the goats to do that though as they are too curious for their own good when I am around, even with the loud chainsaw noise they keep fishing for treats like little beggars.
I hafta admit I have not done much splitting over the last three years and even though I kept my splitter serviced it has been a long time since I was not only in charge of loading and carrying but standing there and running the hydraulics too. It's this last part that almost killed me. I am just not use to standing there and running that arm at such an awkward height. I also decided to split as long as possible and standing there slightly bent over for about three hours really did me in. By the time I stopped, when the trailer got so full most new additions were falling on the ground I realized I had over done it a bit.
Maybe I should have eased into the old 100% splitting gig a bit slower lol. Running the splitter has been my son's job for the last 10 years or so. I didn't even think standing there at a lower height would become so uncomfortable. I have split some on my own since my Son moved but never more than an hour or so at a time.
After getting the trailer moved I quickly realized I needed to take a break for a bit so I took the opportunity to place an order for some new Tobacco seeds. I have grown tobacco as a companion crop to my Tomatoes for years but always used the seeds inside the dried pods to replant each year. This year however I could not find the pods from last year. I still don't know what I did with them so I am starting over I guess.
Some how my debit card got bungled up and when I stopped to get gas later I got charged three times. The bank fixed it automatically but then declined my card until I reviewed what they had done. Made our dinner out check paying kinda exciting as I didn't know my card was temporarily useless. Luckily the Wife had her card (which is a miracle to be honest). We need to start carrying cash some again but my bank closed the local branch so I been just going no cash mostly unless I raid my home stash before leaving. So I hobbled home a destitute limping beggar with a declined card and an aching back all the way home. Only to find out my wood stove coals had all burned out so I had to start over again.
Getting Old sucks!!
At least I got my Tobacco seeds ordered.
Keep Prepping Everyone!!!!
PP, I regularly carry cash now in a way I have not always. More and more, having it in hand makes things a great deal easier.
ReplyDeleteTB - I carry cash if I go very far away but that rarely happens these days and I always make sure I have at least a half tank of gas before leaving the little town 2 miles from me. I do keep an emergency stash at the Small-Hold in case the banks close up and the card stop working but leaving the local area is rare for me anymore except going to work which is about a 20 mile commute.
Deletehave read that tobacco mosaic kills tomatoes
ReplyDeleteyou have them as companions!
is the literature i have red wrong?!
deb- I have never seen any disease spread but other than late blight on my Tomatoes I can't remember ever having any noticeable disease on them yet. I say companion but all they do is attract the worms BUT the tobacco I used to grow with em would attract the horn worms better than the Tomato plants would and having the large leaves made it actually easier to notice them before they did any real damage. I always found I got better yields and over all less worm damage when I had a row of tobacco plants nearby.
DeleteOh man. I will NEED a regular progress report on that tobacco crop, PP. i would be on that like ugly on an ape myself if our climate allowed for it.
ReplyDeleteWhat kind of tobacco will you grow? For cigarettes? Or for pipes and cigars?
Put me down for one bale this instant, PP!!! At my usual enormous discount, of course.... ;)
Filthie - It has been years since I bought tobacco seeds cause I always just saved s few of the seed pods and had countless volunteers but I must have covered over the area with mulch and somehow managed to end my line which for the life of me I cannot remember the name of. So I ordered a Virginia No. 15 which is suppose to be a cigarette and pipe/cigar filler. I have grown my original type for years and even dried it once but I have never cured it. Maybe I should look into that but I never grow that much of it to be able to create a large enough amount to get it to ferment properly.
DeleteI keep a century note in the Jeep and the car. I also keep aother hundred in my EDC bag. Sure, it's there in case the SHTF and the debit card stops working, but this little prep has saved me a number of time when the grey matter under the grey hair didn't remind me to grab my wallet before heading into town!
ReplyDeleteMy shoulder will no longer put up with me chopping firewood... This could be taken as either a good or bad thing...
Pete - I used to keep emergency cash on me and then the Wife decided she was an emergency :) and needed a bail out a few times. Truth is though I just stop going anywhere far enough a way that it no longer seemed necessary.
DeleteIf I had to split firewood by hand or cut it to length too I would be just doing a length or two a day all year long at best. Kinda like if I had to shear all the sheep myself. Six sheep would take me thirteen says to shear - One a day with a rest day inbetween :)
I hate it when the coals go out and you have to build a new fire.
ReplyDelete