The List

Feinstein's attempt to ban over 150 types of  semi-auto is so outrageously over the top that it has little chance of passing in the Senate, much less the House.  I'm always's suspicious of things that are huge stories on the MSM.  It most always is a coverup ment to distract you from an even bigger story that they'd rather you not be aware of. (Like Bengazi maybe?)   I know, some of you are going to say I've wandered back down that conspiracy trail again.  To be honest?  I've wandered so far down the rabbit hole that there is no turning back. 

I figure what Feinstein and the gun grabbers really want is to see is an eventual compromise of some sort.  They get... say... half of what they are looking to do.  A tactical move on their part.  If they can get even some of what they want, then they have won.  They want a national registry so bad they can almost smell the gun powder.  What gun powder is that?  That would be the tracking and sales limits of our ammunition.  They also want to put online ammo sites out of business.  They want it all, of course, but will settle for any concessions made, as that means they have their foot in the proverbial door.  Once firmly planted there, they can move on to the next item on their agenda.  They want our guns folks.  That's the bottom line. 

We cannot let this happen, we can't afford to give an inch, because as we know you give them an inch and they will take a mile.  I personally don't think this particular bill has a chance in hell of passing as it stands.  I think they know that. They are looking for that foothold that will allow them to crawl right up into our personal space.  

Have a look at "The List"      My old Marlin 22 rifle is on that list. I'm betting those of you who own guns will find them on this list as well.  My grandaddy gave me that gun and I'm damn sure going to keep it. 
                           Hey.... I'm just sayin' ...
 

Winter Days Wanderings

The days are starting to get a little longer.  Which means that even though we are still in the midst of winter, spring is around the corner. It amazes me how quickly time seems to pass these days.  One day it's the dead of winter and the next thing you know it will be spring.  Of course living in Oklahoma sometimes that could happen twice in the same week.  ;o)

I've finally got my seed inventory done. I have no idea why it took me so long to sit down and do it.  I'm happy to say that I don't really have a whole bunch of "holes" there this year.  Herbs on the other hand are a totally different story.  I'd really like to have a dedicated herb garden. It's something I've been wanting to do for a long long time.  And of course having been looking through the seed catalogs, my wish list is long.  I have most of the basic cooking herb seed.  Sweet Basil, Cilantro, Greek Oregano, Rosemary, Thyme, Parsley and Sage. That's a good start I suppose.  I planted chives last year so I'm hoping they'll winter well and we can have fresh chives again. I think I'm going to start some more of them too.  I'd like to have some dried chives in my spice cabinet.

I got tomato seeds started today.  I've tried a new DIY seed starter tray with them.  I'll take some pictures and show ya'll how to make a great seed tray complete with watering trays on the cheap! (I'm charging the batteries AGAIN for the camera)  It seems to work well so we'll see.   I still need to get peppers, broccoli and cabbage started tomorrow. I'm going to try my hand (one more time) to get some cauliflower started.  I've not had much luck with it the past two years and I'm not sure why or what I might be doing wrong.  I can get them started just fine, they just don't "do"  anything.

That's about all I've got for now.  I've been keeping busy around the place but it's a winter sort of busy.  I've been trying to figure out just how many jars of vegetables I should be aiming for.  But in the end I guess it all comes down to what all grows. I'm still trying to find some time to work on my first afghan.  It's still a work in progress.  I'm still loving the Kindle Fire.  I've found a couple of awesome places to to be able to search for hundreds of free books offered daily.  I really really like this one that someone left in comments a few days ago.  Its called Ereader IQ. It's got a customizable search engine that works great. Pretty cool!!

Mars is working on an awesome project right now.  I'm taking pictures as it comes along and you can bet I'll share it all with you guys when it's done.  I can barely contain my excitement!!  This is a good one....

Prepping Vs Homesteading

I've noticed a shift in our lives since finding a place to grow roots.  For years this has been our dream.  To have a little place in the country where we could pretty much do as we pleased. Grow stuff, raise some critters. Now that we are here and settled in, our focus is naturally on what needs to be done to "build" on the homestead.

 I'm finding that my thoughts on prepping are finally evolving along with the progress we are making.  It just seems natural to focus more on the homesteading now. My friend MDR (Modern Day Redneck) has had me thinking about this since the first time I heard him talking about it. It's been stuck in my head for awhile now.  Thanks man!

 LOL Why is it that now I feel like I should stand up and introduce myself??   "Hi, my name is Sci and I'm a rookie homesteader". 

There is still so much for me to learn. ( Learning stuff counts as prepping for the future)  For example I need to really learn a bunch more about seed saving this year.  I really didn't focus on this last year. I was to busy learning how the heck I was going to put up a hundred pounds of tomato's along with all the other goodies.  Not that I'm complaining, I'm not. It was a good learning experience actually and next spring will go more smoothly. I've got a brand new propane stove that puts out some serious btu's. (Thanks Mom!) It is a beautiful thing when you can get the canner water boiling in just a few minutes! What a time saver it's going to be!  I've just about got all the makings for a  outdoor canning kitchen.

 You see?  I'm not saying that we don't still prep, but that prepping is a natural part of trying to get our little homestead to work for us. I don't know that we will ever be totally self sufficient but we will do the best we can.  And you know what? That's ok too.  There is always something to do around here.

  I haven't really been blogging much lately because
a)I figured I'd probably bore you to death and
 b)  Things move more slowly on the homestead than in the big city.
 Especially in the winter. They also tend to repeat themselves every day.  You know, like tending to the chickens, feeding and watering various critters, meals, housework, you know... life....   






P.S. kymber has a great post up over at the Framboise Manor about how she adapted the recipe for One Year of Food Storage Under $300.  Shoot, she did even better on the price too!!  Go check it out, you might pick up a real useful tip or two!

Lists?

I love lists.  I think I'd be totally lost without them.  I've got all sorts... Lists of big things and little things. Lists with goals, ideas, and dreams. Lists of movies to order for our nightly Netflix fix. Lists of lists. Lists of books I'd like to read. They are in notebooks, on the computer, on the backs of envelopes, the blank sides of junk mail.... nothing that has a blank spot on it is safe from being sucked into service.

 And we can't forget the To Do List.  That one is tricky. Things on the To Do List move alot.  Some come and go often while others don't seem to move much at all. I hate those.  They are my reminders that there was a reason they made it to the To Do List in the first place!  Marking something off a list makes me feel great.  I know it's done and then I can move on.  I don't know why but I like seeing things crossed off a list. Even better than that is to be able to toss one in the trash.

So, since we are once again being spanked by WildBlue Sucks for exceeding our bandwidth limits I find that I'd rather be getting something done rather than wait  for slower than dial-up speeds to load a page. It's annoying at best.  So with winter here it  seems to be a good time to get all those annoying things that have been on my "To Do" list for awhile.  You know....stuff like cleaning behind the freezer, cleaning out the fridge, generally trying to take back my house from the dust bunnies.  They may be winning....

I've started on my first crocheted afghan.  A dear friend sent me a box of yarn she'd found at a yard sale this summer. (Thank you MissB!)  I'll have to take pictures when there's actually something to show you. My grandmother used to crochet all the time and she tried to teach us girls.  I never really was interested back then.  So since I can't go get Gran to show me how anymore I decided to teach myself. The internet is a great place to learn.  I've made a couple of hats that came out all right so I figured since I had all this yarn I would try working an afghan.  I'm still knitting a little too.  I've got a scarf on the needles right now.  I found a really cool pattern for some kitchen curtains that I'd love to try to work.  Of course I don't have the yarn for that yet. It's on one of the lists I have around here. 

I also guess I have a confession to make.  My Mom and my s-Dad sent Mars a Kindle Fire for Christmas.  He didn't really seem very interested in it. Something about "real books" he said.  I said to myself "Self?"  Self said "Huh?"  "That sure is a cool gift and I sure hate not seeing it being used".  So I started messing around with it.  I've had a Kindle reader on my computer for awhile so I had at least an idea of where to start.  Well, I think I'm hooked now.  I've read more in the past week than I have in the past three months.  I just love it. Of course we don't have wi-fi here at the house since the router took a dive last year.  That kind of cuts out using the net on it here at the house. BUT when I go into town I just hop on a wi-fi connection and download what I want.  Pretty cool! 

Mars is working on an idea for a smallish greenhouse.  It would be awesome to have a place to start seeds that really need a head start in the spring.  I'd like to be able to start ALL our own tomato and peppers this year.  It didn't really work out as well as I had hoped last year. I ended up buying some plants to supplement the ones that didn't really make it.  They just needed more light I think.  Anyway, a greenhouse will be an awesome addition around here.  The hardest part will be to figure out how to heat it.  I'm leaving all that to Mars.

So that's about it around here this past week or so.  I've been doing a bunch of baking. Cookies, cakes, breads.... I love this time of year because its not to hot to bake!!  I've been thinking about pulling out the big ol' pot and making a batch of spaghetti sauce to can.  Mars really isn't wild about spaghetti sauce but I love it.  So I was thinking that since I still have all those tomato's in the freezer I might just whip up a potful and then can them in pint jars.  That way I could have a quick lunch or dinner if I wanted.  Toss on some pasta and open a jar.  Yep... I just might have to do that.