FAP'd Again

Probably one of the ONLY things I regret about moving out to the country is unavailability of decent affordable internet service. If anyone doesn't remember, let me once again jog your memory. WILDBLUE SUCKS.  Hey, I just had to say it again.  Not only is the customer assistance some of the worst I've ever dealt with, account information is something a 4th grader might have done a better job putting together,  the service itself is spotty, slow and has a usage cap that is laughable.  Yet again, since last week I have been FAP'd.  For those unfamiliar with the term FAP is their term for Fair Access Policy.  The only word in there that actually means what it means is Policy.  I have found nothing at all Fair at all about their "Access".  What it really means is that "We think you used more bandwidth than we think is fair so we are going to slow your service down so as to make it almost impossible for you to get on the internet.   So until sometime in the future when we feel you have brought your usage down to some mystery level that we will refuse to share with you, consider yourself in timeout."  ARGGGggggggghhhhhh!!!!
   So in my unending quest for another way to connect to the outside world I may have found an answer.  There is a rural company in this part of BFE aka NE Rural Oklahoma that has some towers in the area.  I'm currently waiting to have them come out and see if we might be able to acquire a signal from them.  If so, I have used this type service in the past and it was great. Cheaper and more reliable than what we have now and NO DATA CAP!  Of course the only drawback is the installation cost.  I'm still trying to figure that part out but maybe... just maybe.... with some jiggling of a few bills I could make it happen.  The only thing I'm hating at the moment is that it's going to cost a $20 trip charge to find out if it's even feasible.  And then there is the cost of equipment that we will need, but until they come out we won't know what those charges will be. 
We've been busy here on our little Hillside Haven .  Spring has begun to peek out and things are greening up.  Lot's of work being done and plenty more to do.  I promise to get some pictures up soon and get ya'll caught up on things around here!

Contest Winners Announced!

First of all I would like to say thanks to all of you who entered The Internet Preppers Store Grand Opening Contest.  And my thanks to Chad for giving everyone the opportunity to play.  The Internet Prepper Store has some good prices and free shipping on many of their items.  I am happy (and just a day late) to announce the winners of The Internet Preppers Grand Opening GiveAWay!!  The first prize of one #10 can of freeze-dried/dehydrated fruit or vegetable of your choice goes to..... PoisonIvie!!  The second place winner of a Super Survival CD chock full of excellent information is craftycountrymama!!!!    Please shoot me a message at Scifichicks@yahoo.com with your email address and we will get your prizes off to you.  If I don't hear from the winners by Wednesday, I'll be forced to choose another winner. Again, Thanks to The Internet Prepper for making this giveaway possible and congratulations to the winners.

This and That Thursday

    I woke up this morning to the sound of rain on the roof and a little chill in the air.  So of course I did what anyone would do under the circumstances.  I pulled the covers tighter and went back to sleep for awhile! 
    The wind has been blowing here for days now.  Not just those light breezes of springtime either. I'm talking 40 mph winds.  I keep telling myself it won't last, that it will be over soon.  It might just be me, but I can't stand heavy winds.  Growing up on the Texas coast there was always wind.  Always.  It was actually one of the reasons that I decided to move away from the coast way back then.  Of course, getting away from home and spreading my wings so to speak had more to do with it, but I digress.  It seems that once again I am living in a wind tunnel.  The first clue should have been last year when many of my plants that weren't staked were growing with a definite "slant" towards the north!  Or Maybe that old Broadway tune should have been a tip-off. "Oklahoma, where the wind comes sweepin' down the plains"    They don't write lyrics like that for nothing.  Yeah, it's like that!  Yet again I am reminded that the man upstairs has a wicked sense of humor. 
   I've been wanting to get some planting done but with the winds blowing like they have been its hard to actually put them in the ground and get them covered before they get blown away.  Do you know how tiny lettuce and carrot seeds are??  LOL!!   We still haven't got the potato's in either and I hope we haven't waited to late.  The spot we wanted to put them is ready now and it just needs to dry up enough to plant them.  Most everything else is already in the ground. The cole weather stuff I mean. 
    I made some wonderful banana bread yesterday and am sitting here now with a hot cup of coffee and enjoying a slice.  I was reading somewhere the other day about using banana bread to make french toast.  That just sounds wonderful to me and I think I'm going to at least give it a go!
   Speaking of french toast ( ok follow along here ) the chickens are doing great in their new home.  We are getting 3-4 eggs a day from the girls and we are all happy with that for now. 
   If you haven't signed up for the Grand Opening Contest GiveAWay for your chance at a #10 can of your choice of ANY of the fruits or vegetables from Internet Prepper you need to get on it.  There are two prizes so your odds of winning are twice as good.  Second place will receive a Survival CD chock full of excellent information. The contest ends tomorrow at Midnight!  All you have to do is hit the "Follow" button then click HERE and leave me a comment.  If you are already a follower, just leave me a comment saying so.  Good Luck and thanks again to my sponsor Internet Prepper for the great prizes!

Super Tuesday

As they say in Chicago...  Vote early, Vote Often!


P.S. Don't forget to enter the Give A Way!!!

Cool Giveaway!!

I'd like to welcome The Internet Prepper to the blog.  He's A US Air Force veteran, a prepper and a fellow Texan!  He's started a new business site which sells grain mills, grains, freeze-dried,  and pre-packaged foods as well as some survival items. Most of his products ship free too!   OPSEC is respected and information will NEVER be shared.  The store is still growing but there are already some great things there! 
   Now here's the big news!!!  To Celebrate the Grand Opening of the Internet Prepper Store we are doing a GIVEAWAY!!!!!  I just love free stuff....     First prize is a #10 can of your choice of any of the fruits or vegetables on his site!! Chad was kind enough to send me a sample of the raspberries so I can tell you this... These things are GOOD.
  And if that's not awesome enough.... yep!  There is a Second place prize as well!!!   The second place winnner will receive a  Survival/ Preparedness Library CD.  This CD is jam packed with great information! 
   The contest rules are simple.  If you aren't following the blog already, hit the join button and leave me a comment.  If you already follow the blog just leave me a comment anyway.  Oh, and if ya don't mind... please go on over to check out the Internet Prepper store. If you use the "code" bacon and eggs he'll be happy to take 10% off your orders too!   The contest will end  Friday night March 9th at midnight!  Good Luck to everyone!

Garden Work

It still may be February but spring is definitely in the air around here. We have been working every day trying to get the garden ready for planting.  As this is the first time the ground has been tilled and planted there is much to be done.  Mars has tilled the rows and we've pulled out grass and tilled and repeated.  The soil test came back and our ph is good but could use a little boost in nitrogen and phosphorus.
  We are lucky to have access to the neighbors horse manure pile.  So Sunday morning Mars got up and went down and picked up a couple of truckloads. The great thing is that he was able to get the manure that had been there for several years.  Hopefully it won't be too full of viable weed seeds.  I guess we are going to find out soon enough.  So the day was spent spreading poop and tilling it in and raking it out again.

  Right now we are working on building up the rows and pulling out what weeds we can find. I figure the more we can get out of there now the better off we will be later on.  My back is killing me but I know it will be worth it when its all done.  We are kind of working against the clock right now.  Lots of stuff that I want to get in the ground in the next two weeks and the drip irrigation isn't  in yet.  Heck, it hasn't even got here yet. I'm waiting for the UPS truck to show up today though!! 
  I did get the small beds planted this weekend though.  Two and a half beds of onion sets, a few broccoli plants, some carrots and some leaf lettuce.  Check out this cool idea.  I cut small rings from a toilet paper roll to mark the new plants. It really makes them easy to spot.

  Then to keep the cat and dogs out Mars put up a hotwire around the bottom of the beds.  MissKitty has an awful habit of following me out in the garden and walking between my legs and all in the beds trying to get me to pet her.  I'm guessing she found out the hard way about the hotwire.  I was in there the very next day and she was on the outside of the fence meowing at me but she wasn't about to come in.  I guess it works! Boy was she ticked off!

    I've got some plants started in my homemade peat pots and have them in the baggies.  Again I got a little bit of a late start but I have high hopes.  I made the peat pots out of toilet paper rolls and use MMPaints "baggie method". 

  I wish I had done that sooner since the first seeds I started really didn't do all that well.  I'm afraid we are going to have to buy most of our tomato plants this year.  But live and learn. It's all part of the learning process.  I've been working on a planting calendar too.  I'm one of those folks that has to have things written down to remember it.  

  We are a little later than I wanted to be getting the potato's in but we are still within the "window" on them so I'm hoping that will turn out.  Again, this is a first so there's bound to be a learning curve.  This is one reason I think folks should put their skills in action.  You can't just read about something and think that when SHTF you will be able to jump out there and do it. Reading and doing are two totally different things. You actually need to DO it before hand. Same thing goes for all skills.  There's always a learning curve and you want to be on the right side of it.

It's Coming, Are you Ready?

I've been sick the past few days and have yet again neglecting blogging.  I haven't even felt like sitting at the computer to read. Besides, other than the blogs I love to follow, all I can see in the news makes me even sicker.  We are coming into troubling times and if you aren't getting ready for them or don't see the need to.... all I can say is "Good Luck".   Cause you are goin' to need it!

 Lots of folks in this country are already starting to feel the pinch. It's getting harder and harder to make that paycheck go as far as it used to.  If you think things are tough now, I suggest you buckle up tight and hang on folks. The rising price of gas in this country is getting ready to skyrocket and with it will come the rise of most if not all commodities.  Of course our "Commander" in Chief is telling us there is nothing he can do about it, there is no "magic pixie dust or magic wand" (his words not mine) and that it will be a LONG time before we may see prices go down.  Yeah, ok...  What I get from that is that gas ISN'T going down and we might as well suck it up and deal with it.

When gas prices rise that dramatically you can be sure that the price of everything that is not locally produced is going to rise.  The cost to transport things across the country will naturally be passed on to us.  Food, clothing, household goods etc...  You name it.  It's got to go up. 

If there is anyway in the world possible I would suggest that you start spending every dime that you can possibly squeeze out and start doubling your prepping efforts. Fill up the "holes" in your preps while you can still afford to.  If you aren't a prepper, well.... you might wanna hurry up and start.  Things are getting ready to get real hairy in this country and if you aren't ready then you are going to miss the bus.  Shoot you won't even be able to afford a ticket....
                               ~~~~~~  Hey ... I'm Just Sayin' ...  ~~~~~~

Finally, back!

On one hand I feel that I should apologize for not checking in this past week. On the other hand I was so busy that things couldn't be helped.  I suppose you could call this an update on the progress of our little slice of "heaven".  At this point I'm thinking that any and all things I'm getting ready to tell you is almost "bragging".  It's been one hell of a good week. 

 The weather is the only thing that hasn't been co-operating.  Dreary cloudless skies that spit out cold wet precipitation regularly.  I know we need the rain. Boy do I know we do, but things need to dry out enough for us to get the fertilizer (horse poo) worked into the soil.  The forecast looks good though and we just need a few days of sun and we should be good to work the garden.  Anyway.... it's coming on time to plant around here and I'm getting "itchy".  I know that this year is probably going to be a learning experience and the soil needs to be "conditioned" but I still have some pretty high hopes for a good garden season.  LOL Mars says that if we plant all that we have planned - something is bound to come up!  Now THAT is a positive attitude!

I have news! Really big news! (well for us it is anyway)  We are now officially raising chickens.  Sweet, yes?  I don't know what kind they are but I'm prone to guess barnyard mutts, courtesy of our neighbors.  He's been telling us that when we are ready he'll be more than happy to give us a few chickens.  Well, finally, last night was the night.  After a wonderful cookout of some awesome Mexican food (authentic bwt) we went out to the barn and proceeded to do some chicken rustling!  We had taken a cage down to transport them in and before long we had our very own chickens.  Now, I might remind you that part of the "deal" with the chickens was that we would take a couple of roosters off his hands.  I took him literally at "a couple" and we came home with two pretty roosters and 4 hens.  Of course he was quick to tell me that we could have more roosters whenever we want them.  They don't butcher anything down there so there seems to be quite a few plump roosters that might need a "hot bath".  LOL

Anyway.... we brought them home and they settled in pretty well.  They have been free range chickens till now, so they weren't real happy about the pen. They were looking for an escape hatch.... I'm sure they will settle in soon though. Its not like chickens have very much grey matter! 
This morning when I went out to feed them I just had to stand there looking and grinning. We finally  actually have our own chickens.  Out of our "plan" for our little set up this is a real big deal.  That makes 2/3's of our livestock in the barn, so to speak. Coming soon... Goats!  
Anyway.... There have been several other big things ( to us) happening around the homestead and I promise to try and post more frequently.  We've just seemed to be on the road alot this past week, which isn't really what either of us like, but what with getting ready for the chickens to come to their new home and grocery shopping and working on the things around here  and ... and... Yeah, you know what I mean!  

I have lots of things to share with you guys and a cool give-away coming up soon to so stay tuned....
Oh, and anyone want to venture to guess what kind of chickens these are?  I'm clueless.  BUT I know one thing.... one of them left us a pretty green tinged (kinda) egg this morning. Can you believe it????   Our first EGG!!!!  I'm a danged chicken farmer now!! :D

                                  ~~~~~~  Hey ... I'm Just Sayin'  .... ~~~~~~

Greenhouse Space Saver DIY

I think I have come across one of the most clever and inexpensive ideas I've seen in years. You have to check this out!!! 

 Coach House Crafting on a budget: Greenhouse space saver plus milk carton recycle

Isn't that cool???? Inexpensive and most anyone could do it. I could start plants in it or even use it to grow my herbs in!  Hmmm... I'm going to have to show this one to Mars and see if we can rustle up some wood for one.

                         ~~~~~~  Hey  ... I'm Just Sayin ...  ~~~~~~

Snow Day!

Winter had shown up again.  I am still so new to snow that I haven't lost my love for it.  It also helps of course that here we don't really get much of it and it doesn't really last all that long.  On the other hand, I am about to go stir crazy being in the RV.  I'm starting to miss the sunshine yet I know that in a few short weeks spring will be here.  

The poor Lilly's and daffodils are a bit confused.  

But you have to admit that there is something beautiful about a snowy day, sunshine or no sunshine!  

Once again I am reminded why I wanted to move far enough north to be able to enjoy ALL the seasons.  And still far enough south to enjoy them without freezing to death! LOL!!

As you can see, we only got a couple of inches this time around.  No roads closed and we are able to come and go.  Not like I really want to go anywhere though.  Going into town is still not very high on my list of things I like to do these days!

Anyway, after my last couple of posts, I thought I would "lighten up" just a bit.  The world is becoming a scary place and I'm just happy that we have found a little bit of peace and quiet to turn to.

                                  ~~~~~~  Hey ... I'm Just Sayin' ...  ~~~~~~