Time For A Blogging Break

 

Time For A Blogging Break-

Things have been winding down for me for quite a while, in the blogging realm of things. I've always loved reading and then I also really learned to enjoy writing. I've been blogging for quite a while and I've never made any money off of it, which is fine. I was never one of those people who wanted to monetize my social media to make big bucks, especially in the early days. The 13 years of blogging has left lots on my blog for people to peruse if they want to. I'm just not feeling really inspired to write much right now. In general- my back is healing up well, that is good, and one of our chickens layed the first egg since last Autumn!

The snow has melted here with record highs, almost 67° last week. We're getting some of the rain from the moisture stream in California. 

On the other side of things- my spiritual side is calling and so I am going to be going a little bit more inside. At some point I may be little bit more external and write.  I don't know if that'll make sense to people but it makes sense to me. I find that spiritual growth for me seems to come in waves and cycles. It was interesting after seeing the series from HBO His Dark Materials DVDs from the library (10 stars!) it got me interested in The I Ching again. Funny how things work out that way sometimes. 

Otherwise everything is doing really well here and I'm looking forward to Spring. I may get three new pullets to expand our little flock since I have two who will be laying. Debbie, God bless her, is still with us but not laying (for the last year). I frankly don't know how she's hanging on but animals can be quite inspiring. The Vet last spring made it sound like she would be expiring soon. That was almost a year ago! I've given her extra TLC this winter by lifting her up onto the perch at the end of the day so she can be up there with her friends. She's still cleaning herself,  eating and moving around. I think some animals don't have a belief system about death, so they just keep putting one foot in front of another until they decide not to anymore. Time will tell with her. Otherwise we'll still be here and I may throw in a post now and again. Explore some older posts and will still be on Instagram, link on the side bar. THANKS FOR ALL YOUR SUPPORT!!!

 

 

More Snow & The New Year, Recovery, My DNA Results!

 

More Snow & The New Year-

***Update! We got over 5" yesterday, a near record!*** If you followed this blog at all you know I love snow! Living in the high desert we don't always get very much, but it varies year to year. We had a couple of small snowfalls  maybe an inch, but it melted. Then we got into some record high temp weather in December where it was almost 47°! Last week we finally had a good snow of 2 inches. Really beautiful! I had intentionally left a few holiday decor items on the deck so that it might look nice if it snowed and we got lucky, the bulbs are solar lights-

 

We got another 2 inches this last weekend which stayed due to the cold weather. We did get another inch overnight last night, it warmed up and some of it did melt. That mountains are really getting hammered which is good for the snow pack, tourists and the ski season. More on the way if you check the map. This is definitely winter winter winter. I've been putting extra food out for the chickens, some snacks and things since they don't go outside much to keep them occupied. More snow expected the next several days, first "BLIZZARD" warning in years -

 

 

I am loving it! The city's been staying on top of the roads pretty well so not too bad going to work. Loved doing Christmas/winter/Yule decorating my "buffet" I created last year- 

 

My favorite new purchase was this little tree, it lights up. I put in in my big Ikea crock and looks perfect!

My Trader Joe's bulb garden has done amazing (as usual)!

We spent Christmas morning with our family and had a quiet New Year's. Happy New Year to all! PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF THIS BLOG FONT IS TOO BIG? THANKS!

Recovery- 

I didn't know what exactly to do a photo of so I decided to add this since the Acupuncture has been so helpful! I have been back in the office for about a week, all going well. Since most insurances don't cover acupuncture much at all (if any)  I'm very fortunate that Boise has an Acupuncture Co-op! Kind of a sliding fee scale kind of thing once established as a patient. The acupuncturist I work with is really awesome I must say. I've been seeing her every two weeks and I noticed it really helped with the inflammation and healing. I also worked with my long-term Chiropractor as she did some really really minute adjustments (not on the surgical site)  but around it. My low back, separate from where the surgery was done, took a beating with being in bed so much and not moving around. After the first adjustment I walked out and I was actually upright completely with little pain. All in all everything is going super well, only been eight weeks and I'm about 98% recovered! Pain-free and all of the tingling in my legs is pretty much gone except on rare occasions. Very perfect outcome with lots of prayers involved. Great way to start the new year! 

My DNA Results!

Dave did a great job, for my December birthday/combo Christmas present- a DNA test from Ancestry. I had already done our family trees there. It was funny I always had loved Scandinavian culture and it turns out I'm part Scandinavian! And much more so than I ever would have guessed. Turns out my mother was 25% Scandinavian, as well as a large portion of Northern British, much of which apparently was settled by the Vikings. I was sort of aware of this migration, but not much. Anyway it's been really exciting to see. I guess there's a reason I've always gravitated toward Scandinavian culture, etc. Since I was a very young child when I first read about the Laplanders now known as the Sami (I think) I was fascinated by the Far North. I already knew about the Austrian/Czech side but never heard any family member mention any Swedish/Danish/Norwegian!  More DNA details here, interesting and a few potential family members popped up, probably won't contact, time will tell-

 

Thinking Outside The Box About Retirement- Five Ways to Prep for Retirement That Don't Include a Bank Account

 

Thinking Outside The Box About Retirement- Five Ways to Prep for Retirement That Don't Include a Bank Account -

When I am thinking about when I can "retire" I think about a lot of things besides money. When I saw this blog post, by one of my favorite bloggers, I knew I had to share it!!! Please read and let me know what you think? She sums it all up quite nicely. Thanks Wendy!!!  Five Ways to Prep for Retirement that Don't Include a Bank Account    (link fixed)

Winter Reflections, My Dietary Shift

Winter Reflections-

Sometimes I just get the blahs in the winter. Maybe it's the shorter days and we had one of our "inversions" this month. Very cold and gray with the stagnant air hanging in the valley. Luckily they didn't last too long! December was busy- right after our anniversary was Thanksgiving, then my birthday, then daughter's birthday, then grandson's, then Christmas! I bought gifts starting in the summer and stashed them. Great way to save $! Our grand kids get plenty of plastic toy gifts from others, so I load up on books and art supplies for them. Lovely flowers bloomed this year in time for Christmas Eve! We had a nice lunch buffet at my house with my two daughters and their children. With freezing rain in the forecast we moved it forward into the afternoon instead of evening. Sadly our one daughter who lives in Oregon was not able to make it since the highways were closed with a terrible ice storm, better to be safe at home. 

 

Dave's gift of a new French butter keeper, made by a local artist in McCall (I picked it out)- 

We've had a lot of medical stuff going on the last several months. Not much time for blogging! Dave had an eye injury, with a horrible ER experience. Short version- they never had an eye Dr. see him or even get a call to one. We were able to call the eye Dr. on call at Dave's eye clinic on a Sunday and he opened up his clinic and saw Dave. What a miracle! We got a good diagnosis and he was treated and recovered.  Dave also had a chronic ankle injury for a few years, wearing a boot for months really slowed him down. He's doing PT now and sounds like he can get a full recovery. I've had chronic leg pain for months, did diagnostics and luckily seems to be ergonomics at work. My chair was cutting off circulation from what I can tell. I elevated my feet and started acupuncture. Getting improvement already! In the fall I went thru some cardiac issues, had a procedure and finally came out the other side. Changing meds was quite the drama. After weeks things finally calmed down! I'm feeling fine now and stable. I am grateful for the excellent medical care I received and my insurance. We weren't able to spend Christmas with our daughter living in Oregon. There were several ice storms and the highways were closed. We told her we missed her but better to stay home and be safe! We did some Facetime with our other daughters and family here for a Christmas Eve early dinner. We got hit with freezing rain too later in the evening, so we changed dinner to late lunch. We loved seeing our three grandchildren! Youngest redhead is walking, and the two six year olds are super fun! So glad we live in the area!!!

I'm very grateful for my family, especially Dave's support thru my cardiac issues.

 

 

My Dietary Shift-

With all the stress of medical issues I was eating way too much junk food. That caught up with me when I had my labs done in November. My doctor mentioned looking at starting the Mediterranean Diet style of eating. I heard about that before but didn't know quite as much as I do now. I've started it and I'm feeling better already. It is much more plant-based than I realized. While I'm not going vegan meat is used a lot less. Dave and I are both very dairy sensitive so we're not eating tons of dairy/cheeses. I got some really good information from this website, and he also has some good YouTube videos. I found this nice assortment of recipes 20 Mediterranean Diet Recipes  I LOVED this video by Greek chef Diane Kockilas Flavors of Greek Ikarian Longevity  Ikaria,Greece is a "Blue Zone" where people live very long, healthy lives. If interested she has some great other videos, very easy to watch!

 

A good video overview  Blue Diet for 90 Days Results  with great info!

 

Preparedness 20.0/ Independence Days Challenge, Orwell's Truth, New Furry Member of The Family

 

Preparedness 20.0/ Independence Days Challenge-

We woke up to 21° this morning! The ground is still frozen pretty hard. We had a few really warm days and all the snow is gone in the yard finally. It's going to be in the 50's this week. Spring is around the corner! I was feeling bad for the chickens yesterday that the ground is too hard for them to dig through. There was an incident Friday were one of our very passive hens started attacting two of the others. Very vicious, never saw anything like that. After doing some research I saw that boredom can be one of the causes of this. I started thinking that the ground was frozen so long they didn't really have a lot of digging to get into. Luckily Dave was able to turn some of the garden soil to give them something to go through. So far everything is calm again. I also realized that with the construction Friday, noise and vibration right in front of our house, it may have caused her to really stress. So here's what we've been up to-  

1. Plant Something-

Too early for outdoors! Will be starting seeds soon indoors in our grow light rack. Just ordered some fave tomato seeds, lots of other from last year. Will start veggies, herbs and flowers. 

 

2. Harvest Something-

Lots of eggs, that means more bread pudding in the future! Herbs in the yard are frozen.

 

3. Preserve/Store Something-

Working on replenishing the freezers. We did an inventory of both freezers this weekend. Nice to have it all written down.  

 

4. Manage Reserves- Get a Good Deal/Barter/Stock Up/Prep-

What I bought this week: chicken quarters, $1.30 lb. decent price, organic grape jam clearance, organic flour, ditto some organic cereals, herbal supplements. I finally found some Ricola sore throat/cough drops (family size) bought four bags, bulk herbs, sneakers for both of us. I'm watching sales/discounts closely. Please stock up now, if you're not already! There are rumblings of an American trucker convoy. If so there will be even more disruptions to the supply chain!  Buy what you can where you can, think ethnic stores, outlets, bulk grocery stores, etc. Get used to thinking outside the box as far as what you're used to eating, versus what you may be able to find. Get creative, and barter, etc.  

 

5. Eat the Food- Try New Foods/Recipe-

Made French style Baked Eggs. Have lots of home frozen homegrown peaches/apples. Will start making some cobblers. Will work on more frozen meats, but keeping some in reserve. 

 

6. Build Community Food Systems-

Not this year so far, need to wit until spring for farmer's markets. 

 

7. Recycle/Re-Use-

Dave pulled part of our front fence out, as road construction has started here. They're finally adding sidewalks to the whole street! Afterwards we can install the panel again-

Extra panel under tree

Made more donations, clothing and household items. Found a fun wooden holiday item, $3.00 at a thrift store today and a small snow man lamp-

8. Skill Up-

Had to update my tax withholdings. After I changed jobs I didn't realize the 2019 tax code changed, and didn't have enough withheld, ouch. Luckily can change for this year. 

 9. Regenerate What is Lost/Salvage Something-

I asked Dave several times to add another shelf to our little cabinet-

He had a spare stair riser and worked perfect! Free upgrade!!! Easy to see what's in there and relocated some stuff-

Bonnie's scratching post/perch needed some love, the lower carpet on the post was shot. We removed and I hot glued new sisal to the bottom and rubbed on some catnip. She loves it!

Orwell's Truth-

I read 1984 so long ago I don't remember when. George Orwell's novel, which I highly recommend, is one of the world's most famous books. 1984 is like a deep dive into the psychology of power and how the ways that manipulations of language/history/the press can be used as tools of control. I was reading some of his quotes recently these, really grabbed me-

Freedom is the right to tell people what they do not want to hear

Sometimes the first duty of intelligent men is the restatement of the obvious

The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history

We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it

Good ideas.... 

New Furry Member of  Family-

Recently one of our daughters move to another state. Because it was during a really bad snowstorm we suggested that she leave her cat here with us. It was a good move as she drove thru one of the worst snow storms we've had in quite a while. We knew that there would be a little bit of hissing involved with our new furry friend getting used to Anya our Empress of the house. Anya is a super mellow cat, 11 years old and really curious. Our new furry friend Bonnie had been through some jostling around with the move. Luckily we had her kitty scratching post perch in the spare bedroom for the first week with cat box, food and water. We let her out when we were home, to supervise, to make sure the cats along okay. It took a little bit of time but now both cats are really enjoying each other's company, chasing each other up and down the hall. It's great for Anya because she's older and now she's more active! Bonnie has a really sweet disposition, very affectionate and likes to be held. Anya is more likes to lay on a blanket on your lap, but not a lap cat really. I think that was from her former owners. We will be keeping her for a few more months until our daughter can pick her up, but depending on how things go she may wind up staying here permanently. She's really enjoying the house and loves looking out the windows and watching the birds! She's been a great addition to our furry and feathered family. Her cat post needed some work and so I decided to fix it with some sisal that I had left over from a project. The bottom part of the carpeting was pretty well torn up so I removed it, and replace it with some fresh sisal with lots of lots of hot glue. Looks great!

Sickness & Shortages, Teaching Kids A Good Work Ethic, Eggs and More Eggs!

 

Sickness & Shortages-

It was 7 degrees a few mornings ago! Cold and clear, nice change from the inversion in the valley. Cold dirty air for the last two weeks on and off, yuck. Luckily we had a little bit of wind blow through. I got a yucky bug but I'm feeling much better. I woke up on a Wednesday in the middle of the night with the worst sore throat of my life. I called in sick the next day and felt really terrible, luckily I had lots of things on hand! I've always kept a good supply of homeopathic remedies oh, cough drops, pain meds Tylenol, etcetera. I still felt pretty icky the next day so I went to my doctor's office and got a strep test and the C Test both of which were negative. My doctor was checking my ears he said- oh you have an ear infection, then checked the other ear- oh this ear is infected too! He sent me home with a prescription for antibiotics which I dropped off at the pharmacy. I felt pretty lousy and Dave was out of town that weekend unfortunately. I thought I'd pick the RX up the next morning, but decided to go back that evening and pick them up. I called the pharmacy and it turned out instead of being open for 24 hours they had closed at 8 p.m. recording said "due to a severe staffing shortage". Bummer for me. I picked up my horse pills the next day and got started. Luckily I was off that Saturday, Sunday and Monday. That gave me three more full days to just stay home and rest. The interesting thing about shortages was this-  in the last week and a half I have gone to three different pharmacies and two grocery stores, (different chains), they were completely sold out of every single cough drop on the market, shocker. I know it's cold and flu season, but you never think something simple like cough drops is going to run out. I was able to find a few small bags of Ricola, my favorite brand, and grab those. Sadly I may have to resort to actually buying some off of Amazon, which is pretty funny on a certain level. You always think of something minor like cough drops as being readily available. Just a good reminder that we're not in Kansas anymore Toto. Make sure and buy what you need ahead of time and don't wait until you need it. Luckily I had plenty on hand for when I was actually sick, I was just trying to replenish my stock. I also had lots of chicken noodle soup on hand, soft foods, etc. It's easy to stash some cans of soup and other items, not very expensive and take up little space.

Teaching Kids A Good Work Ethic-

Dave and I were driving by his old employer's building today and it got me thinking. When our kids were about 10-13 my husband's boss was trying to get a small area weeded in their corporate yard. He couldn't really find a gardener that would tackle such a small project. There was basically a big weedy strip by their parking lot. I told Dave- why don't you tell him that I will come with our three kids if they will pay us and we will weed it. He asked his boss's boss said sure! Now it was summer and extremely hot, about 100 degrees. So we got there, took several hours, each of the kids made $10 an hour. They were hot and sweaty and filthy when we finished. We stopped and got ice cream on the way home, set up their little pool in the backyard, they all took a dip and cooled off. They also earned some money! Now it would be really easy to just not to have paid them, but I think working in blistering heat, doing a good job and getting paid was a really good lesson. All three of my adult girls have really great work ethic now. This is the kind of stuff people need to be teaching their kids instead of having them stuck in front of devices. If kids don't contribute to their family helping with chores, etc. as part of the group,  never may never have a chance to work for somebody else when young. Even a small one-time job they they can learn about the value of doing a good job for the sake of it, and also doing a good job for other people.

white egg not in shot

Eggs, Eggs and More Eggs!

Our eggs are back in production! We had only been getting about 1 egg per day for quite a while. One of our hens is a brown leghorn and she's the only one who lays white eggs. We haven't gotten an egg out of her for four months or so and all of a sudden we got a white egg. Since then the last couple days we've been getting three eggs per day! I'm so proud of my girls they made it through the winter and are  ramping up production. I celebrated by making my favorite chocolate bread pudding using a full 10 eggs! 

This is another reason why more and more people, given the current state of the economy and access to food, should really get chickens. As long as they're willing to take care of them appropriately and have the correct space it's a really great investment. And they pull weeds and eat bugs in the garden! Selling or bartering extra eggs is always nice to be able to do. Enjoy! 

Preparedness 18.0/Storage Containers, Instagram Deletes Gardening Info

 

Preparedness 18.0/Storage Containers-

Winter is still here! No more snow, but cold temps. We took down the Christmas decor last week. We still have up some winter decor, like these-

kitchen window

coffee table with new wood tray I bought

side table

Snowmen and winter fun will stay out for a few more weeks. So, here's some ideas that you might find useful! Onto the practical things in life............

If you're just getting started with preparedness I thought I'd go over some easy, inexpensive/free ideas for storing foods and other items. Some people think you have to go out and buy a bunch of stuff to start a food pantry or food storage area. Pinterest is full of really gorgeous pantries that waste a lot of space and cost a lot of money to set up. From a practical standpoint you don't have to have a fancy-schmancy looking pantry to be prepared! Here's some ideas for some inexpensive/free storage containers you can use for getting more prepared. You can check out your local thrift store and yard sales for containers! Why buy new when you can get used, keep them out of the landfill and store your foods! Here's some ideas!!!

Glass jars, see above. Almost everybody buys things that occasionally are in glass jars and they are perfect for recycling for storage! Just wash them make sure they're dry and fill with all kinds of things like beans, pasta, Etc. For some foods you can use O2 absorbers. 

Baskets, they're great, whether wicker, plastic, wire, or metal, all can be used to store lots of things- 

Extra 1st aid and supplements basket

Extra meds

wire baskets with veggies

Bins and boxes. Leftover cardboard boxes are great for storing things in especially if they're smaller. Canning jar boxes are great! You can not only store your empty canning jars but because but you can stack them easily. You can cut down the edges and customize and make it work in your space. Plastic bins and totes work well also-

condiments

pastas

Vacuum sealed bag. I have one of these machines and they work great! While I primarily use these for the freezer I do occasionally use them for dry goods like nuts. They're a little bit of an investment initially but I noticed that they have completely eliminated any freezer burn on meats and things. I have frozen some for up to a year with no damage.

Plastic Ziploc bags. These come in handy if you have things that you want to store in a more flat way, like bags of chop nuts that you want to freeze. Put them in a ziploc bag, get out as much air as you can, roll them up, label and put in your freezer. Ditto to lay on the shelfs. 

Totes.  Like this leftover cat food one. I will clean, sanitize and line with food grade plastic, don't want our people food to smell like the cat's! 

Instagram Deletes Gardening Info -

I know that social media is clamping down on things for a variety of reasons. I won't get into the motivations. I was reading an email from Melissa from Instagram Melissa K. Norris Modern Homesteading  The email/post was about how to grow one year's worth food for your family. I love her blog, Youtube channel, she's got lots of great info. I saw the post flip up on an email and on Instagram and I thought I'd to check it out. Later I went to find it and it was gone. A little later she posted that (Facebook-owned) Instagram, had actually deleted it, including in her archives. Needless to say I was pretty shocked, to think that growing food for your family would be some kind of subversive activity! This is a really great reminder about how much to trust social media. Freedom of speech is our first right for a reason. What could possibly offend somebody wanting to grow food for their family? Maybe it's not about offending somebody maybe it's about controlling information. Buyer beware. Here's a new link with great new info on her blog!  How to Plan A Medicinal Herb Garden

Big Snow! Birthday Ikea Trip/ Holiday Decor Downsizing, Preparedness & RX Shortages

 

Big Snow!

Our first big winter storm is arriving! Woke up to about 1/2" of snow and 21 degrees this morning. We're talking lots of feet of snow in the mountains in the next week. This is our first really big snow storm to hit. I've seen there's more weather problems up in Canada and Washington, sad. We usually get snow November/December, but it varies every year. So far nothing big down here in the valley, but look at the forecast! 

Birthday Ikea Trip/ Holiday Decor Downsizing-

It's that time of year! I started putting up our winter decor about a week ago since I like to take a break after Thanksgiving. I also had my birthday! I won't say which one, but a BIG one. I like doing something fun since I never had a birthday parties as a kid. I always got combination birthday and Christmas gifts, what a bummer. Dave and I did a one-day birthday drive to Salt Lake City Ikea so I could buy some holiday goodies for my birthday present. I did about 95% of the driving, perfect weather. I know it may seem crazy but I've wanted to buy some of their winter decor, and you can't buy it online. We never go to the Portland Ikea for family visits in winter. So we went! We never got a vacation this year or last year, so we didn't feel guilty. Just gas, a couple meals, and shopping. They were out of a few things but I got most of the fun holiday items-

Finally a Dala horse! And a Tomten with deer (ceramic)

Fox and tree candle holder, ceramic too 

I really wanted their 3-piece glass mushroom set, but were out. I found one on eBay for a bit more, I was thrilled! Three sizes, heavy glass with heavy clips-

 Red and white mushrooms were said to be the basis for Santa's hat! 

I added to my display, I love the nature look with the greenery-

Bigger shot here-

Also from eBay, an Ikea LED mini candelabra, battery operated, $10.00-

I stocked up on their amazing whole grain/Rye crackers, cookies and a little Swedish cheese. Got a mistletoe table runner, some mini star lights and some stocking stuffers. I really love Scandinavian folk art and natural types of holiday decorations. So there's a sneak peek of what we have out. Our Christmas decor will be coming out this weekend! 

Dining room farm window

Kitchen window, thrifted new prim snowman

Dining room

Living room

Entryway Gingerbread theme

Living room window

I moved my Jul decor to the living room this year! 

Holiday Decor Downsizing: 

Phase two was letting go of some winter  decor. I decided I wanted to get rid of at least one or two chunks. I always start off with putting winter decor out first. Then I add Christmas things a week or two later. First thing I did with the winter stuff was spread it out and open the totes which created quite the mess! Then I started going through things that I really love versus things that I was ready to let go of. Since a lot of my holiday decor was thrifted there wasn't a huge amount of financial investment. I looked at what do I really love, how much storage do we have, etc. I wound up emptying out one complete tote and donating all of it. Next phase will be going through all the Christmas stuff. The biggest part of that is our artificial tree, wrapping paper, ditto. The rest is tree decorations and tabletop things. Over time I'm liking something less cluttered looking, although my style might be more cluttered than other people's. That's okay. I think decorating for winter is my favorite thing because I've always loved snow! Probably from growing up in Southern California where I didn't really see any except way up in the Sierra mountains.

Preparedness & RX Shortages-

What's new here for preparedness. I have noticed some distinct shortages in the grocery stores and escalating prices. I saw some bell peppers for a $1.75 each, instant noodles ramen type of foods completely off of all the shelves. This was in a Walmart Market. I see our gas prices here are going down a bit which is good. I was happy to see the Walmart Market did have some canned Keystone meat on hand. I picked up a couple cans of chicken. Keystone meat comes really really highly recommended, it's affordable only meet in a lightly salted Brian no other flavors and big chunks. Still getting a few eggs here and they're usually about one a day, glad I had some frozen! When we were getting four per day in the summer I decided to start freezing them. I did also buy some sprouting seeds in case the quality and price of greens gets really exorbitant. I have noticed some quality issues with some things like romaine and spinach . Not sure if it's from the trucking shortage? I also found a nice deal on a bread proofing basket (Ikea) with a cloth cover-

I also bought an Ikea knife sharpener, has a well for water to wet the sharpening stones-

As for RX shortages- I'm hearing this from some of my medical employers insurance  members, more RX's are getting more backordered. This is a sobering list from Drugs.com Drug Shortages, what's scary is it's so long, and growing. Wondering how are you doing in your neck of the woods as far as availability of foods and products, prices? 

Our house

Coop's ready too!