Welcome - Join - Thank You

I wanted to take this opportunity to welcome John D. Wheeler.  Thank you for joining my blog.  Hey Blogger friends, check out John’s blogs, Going Upslope and The Long Ascent, you won’t be disappointed.  Glad to have you following my blog, please sit back and enjoy the ride.

*Clip Art from Amazing – Animations.com

Easy Way To Cook Corn

We held off a couple of days and today we finally cooked microwaved the corn.  I used the technique posted on Duke’s blog, Down Range Report; http://downrangereport.blogspot.com/2012/06/neat-trick-cooking-corn.html

I took two corn ears still in their husks, placed them in the microwave, set the timer for 8 minutes (4 minutes if you’re only microwaving 1 ear), and pressed the start button.  When finished, take corn out with hot pads, cut the end off and shake the open end of the husk over a plate and voila, your corn will pop out totally cooked and without any silk…..

The end result; I shook the corn husks over the plate more than 3 or 4 times, the corn came out clean and hot.  Bulldog Man and I came across just two or three strings of silk while eating.   Would I cook my corn this way again, sure.  Why you ask????  Because to cook the corn by steaming it or boiling it, the kitchen heats up and I really don’t want to heat the house any more than it is with the extreme temperatures outside.

Don't look at my messy storage!!!  See the corn is cooking :-)

Cut the ends of the cobb off

Perfectly cooked corn, yum!!!

Can You Say Cooper Head?

Let me tell you about the little excitement I had today.  First, I picked up the trash that blew in and cut the grass on the property.  I could only complete the sides and the front of the yard; it was just too hot to continue on with the heavy work.  I will have to complete the back yard tomorrow or over the weekend.  Now for the excitement; I went into my garden, over to where my potatoes were planted in the middle of a bamboo surrounding.  I lifted the bamboo surrounding up, started pulling on the straw and lifting out potatoes when all of a sudden a copper head snake (baby 9 – 12 inches long) slithered next to my hand.  I jumped, looked for the shovel to kill the bastard, and I was too late.  He slithered over to the next bamboo surrounding where my sweet potatoes were growing in straw. I thought to myself, crap…..now I need to lift this bamboo surrounding up carefully to make sure not to get bit.  While I’m looking for this snake, I go ahead and harvest my sweet potatoes.  There was no sign of the snake; he went into the ground to stay cool.  He must have sensed I was ready to kill him!  Now, when going in the garden I’m going to have to wear my large rubber boots and thick jeans until I can find the little bastard.  Speaking of harvest, I pulled up all of my sweet potatoes and roasted some tonight with parsnips (from the farmer’s market) and carrots (from my garden), a little olive oil, salt, and pepper.  OMG…..there is nothing better than fresh vegetables roasted from your own garden.  Next year, I will have to plant tons of sweet potatoes.  

Since turning 50 years of age, I’ve decided I’m going to start taking care of myself a little bit better and make my health a priority.  I made a phone call and set up my yearly physical with my general physician.  My appointment was last week.  My doctor listened to my complaints, checked me over, filled a new prescription for water retention, completed the order for blood withdrawal, and made sure I received all of my referrals to (4) specialized doctors to address existing problems/issues.  Now I need to open up a calendar and write down all of the scheduled appointments for the next several months.  One of my appointments was with an orthopedic surgeon to address severe hip pain I’ve been experiencing for 2 years now.  After several x-rays, and a physical exam, I’ve learned that I have bursitis in the bursa sac on the hip.  I also have osteoarthritis (which I pretty much knew I had) in my hips and lower spine and a bone spur where the hip and pelvis meet.  My prognoses, I’m getting old, LOL!!!!!  I am scheduled to do several months of physical therapy to ease the pain and help reduce the inflammation.  Then it’s back to the orthopedic surgeon to identify if a needle (cortisone) placed into my bursa sac or will surgery be required.   On a good note, I’m using this little compact machine called a TENS unit for nerve/muscle stimulation on the hip.   After hip recovery, I will be able to keep this TENS unit (I have plans to add it to my first aid bag, I would have never thought to add one of these to my first aid bag).

So tell me, have you seen a snake lately? 

Short and Sweet

Today is an extremely hot and muggy day, temperatures reached 106 degrees.  This is a day where if you had absolutely anything that had to be done outside, you did it in the morning or later in the evening after the sun goes down.  My post today is going to be short and sweet.  I’m over heated and tired!!!!

Over the weekend, I put up my homemade bird bath (borrowed…oops, I mean copied Kymber’s idea).  I also moved the bird feeder next to the bird bath. 

I haven’t really done anything special with my tomatoes other than provide them with plenty of water and some calcium and magnesium.  They’re growing like weeds; I’m so excited and can’t wait for a major harvest J

The other update to my garden; the peppers have produced blossoms.  It’s been 2 months and I thought they were on the verge of dying. The leaves shriveled up and turned brown.  I pretty much gave up on the green peppers; when I looked today, I have blossoms. 

Thank You Jeff and Freedom

What is the symbol of America?

It’s the Bald Eagle! 

The eagle symbolizes so much to so many, “Freedom”. I’m going to tell you a little about a special bald eagle named Freedom, but first let me introduce a friend, Jeff Guidry.  He’s the author of a book, “An Eagle Named Freedom, A True Story of Remarkable Friendship”.   This book touched my heart.  I was at a place in my life where I was looking for answers to questions.  I was experiencing many changes in my life. I met a wonderful man… (Bulldog Man), a good friend of mine had passed away from non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma; I sold my house, and moved from one state to another without having a job to go to. All of these changes along with a few that I won’t mention occurred over a period of a couple of years.  Because there were so many changes, I felt empty (alone, even though I wasn’t) and needed to have something to hold on to.  One day, I opened an e-mail from a friend.  The e-mail had an attachment of a video. The video segment was about an injured eagle and the man who rescued it.  I watched the video; of course it brought tears to my eyes, it also gave me a sense of calm.  I was intrigued. So intrigued, I had to get the book. 

The book is about Jeff Guidry, a volunteer at the Sarvey Wildlife Center, and his experiences with the animals and other employees at the center.  He befriends this injured eagle, and refuses to give up on this injured bird, although the bird is near death.  Daily he walks, feeds, and works with the bald eagle until she is healed.  The eagle has a name, her name is Freedom. The story doesn’t stop there; it takes you through another life event.  This one is of Jeff; he’s diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.  He goes through the painful treatment and the fight for his life. He returns to Sarvey Wildlife Center to be with Freedom.  This special bald eagle gives Jeff spiritual purpose; to fight, to live.  Talk about a story going full circle.  After reading, “An Eagle Named Freedom, A True Story of Remarkable Friendship” I took it upon myself to contact Jeff Guidry through Facebook to let him know how much his story meant to me.  To this day, I remain friends with Jeff on Facebook, and look forward to new pictures and comments on his Facebook page about Freedom, and the other animals in his life.

Jeff and Freedom



Jeff, Freedom and Jack

Emergency Radio - Carrot Harvest - Dinner

 We’ve been looking for an emergency radio with shortwave reception. Bulldog Man came across the Kaito, KA009R 4 Way Powered Emergency Crank Radio with Shortwave Antenna T1 to add to our preparedness gear (great for camping, during storms, bug out, etc...).  The radio has a 10 band world receiver, long range AM receiver, aviation band, NOAA weather band, TV1/TV2 channels, high sensitivity FM band, 4 shortwave bands, super bright led flashlight, with cell phone charging capabilities.  The radio can be powered by Dynamo crank, solar panel, AC/DC adapter, AA batteries or 110V electric power.  It’s a great deal (we picked up one), and can be purchased at http://www.campingsurvival.com for the sale price of $34.96.

I harvested half of our carrots this afternoon from the above ground garden box to provide additional space for more growth. I took the harvested carrots, cleaned them up and placed them in the steamer as part of tonight’s dinner.  The main course was another vegetable, the potato (not from the garden). The potatoes were scrubbed and then baked in the oven on a cookie sheet with olive oil rubbed on the exterior.  The baking sheet and potatoes were covered with tin foil, this allows the bottoms to become hard and crunchy (we like to eat the skin). Several options were made available to place on the baked potatoes.  They were butter, sour cream, cottage cheese, cheese, broccoli, mushroom, onions and bacon.  The meal was very good, a little healthy and maybe not, LOL……..

  

  

What was for dinner at your house?

Join - Thank You - Welcome

I wanted to take this opportunity to welcome “K”.  Thank you for joining my blog.  Hey Blogger friends, check out ‘’K’s blog Planning And Foresight, you won’t be disappointed.  Glad to have you following my blog, please sit back and enjoy the ride.

*Clip art from Amazing-Animations.com

Happy Father's Day

To all wonderful male friends I have in person and on Blogger, Happy Father’s Day.

To my husband, Bulldog Man…..Happy Father’s Day Babe!  Thank you for being a wonderful father to our children, taking care of me and fighting for our freedom.  Thank you for your service. I love you!  Now that you’ve had your coffee and breakfast, are you ready for my honeys do list this morning? J

To my father, Happy Father’s Day Dad! Thank you for being the best Father a daughter could ever ask for.  Thank you for raising me strong and bull headed woman. I’m so proud of you for all that you done for our country, thank you for our freedoms and service.  I love you Dad!

*Art work provided by Bing.com

Dinner With Friends, Mylar Bags, Food Saver Packets, Flea/Antique Market Finds

On Friday, we had some friends of ours from the church come over for dinner and visit.  I made some homemade bread, lasagna and cake.  My girlfriend and husband brought some salad, dressing, beer from Belgium and Sangria.  We all had a blast exchanging stories and reminiscing.

Bulldog Man and I ordered some Mylar bags (Metalized Foil Bucket Liner) and food saver packets ($12.99 for pack of 50) from Nitro-Pak.com.  This site was recommended by James Wesley, Rawles.  We didn’t order the sealer because of the cost. We decided to use my hair straightener iron, its produces the heat needed to seal our food bags and it only cost me $28.00.  I’m all for cutting corners as long as you get the same result.

I picked up two oil lanterns and a hand held mixer today at the Flea/Antique Market.  Everything is in working order, just needs a little cleaning.  Both of these items have been checked off of my prepping list.

Right now, I’m waiting for the temperatures to cool a little so I can go out and work on the property.  It was just too darn hot this afternoon to do anything outside.

What are you doing this weekend?

BD - Garden Updates - Bird Bath - Peach Jam - Guar Gum

Today has turned out to be a beautiful day.  The sun is trying to peak out amongst the clouds.  We had some rain, not much though.  My husband surprised me for my birthday with a Kindle Fire, my son, a beautiful necklace and this afternoon the door bell rang and there was a special delivery of roses from my sister and parents.  I told everyone not to do anything.  I am however, looking forward to going out to eat tonight, we are planning on getting BBQ.  It’s been a while since we’ve had good old fashioned brisket, corn, Cole slaw……………and it just sounds good.  Especially, when I don’t have to cook ….hehehehehe!!!!

Garden/Property Updates:

The corn has really taken off since we had that bad storm. Remember when the storm and winds caused our corn to lay flat down on the ground, requiring Bulldog Man and I to create support?  Well lookie ….lookie, we have several red-headed women (I mean corn) standing up and looking prettyJ . 

The celery planted in pots has bolted and gone to seed.  Time to pull the seeds and dry them for next year’s planting.

The ginger that came home with my son (you know the one; the company he works for was going to toss out).  Well it apparently likes its new home.  It has produced flowers and now new leafs and branches.

The avocado was transplanted into its own bucket and apparently it loves its new home too.   The leaves just look so strong and hearty, almost like a maple/oak tree.

My Roma tomatoes have taken off, and started producing tomatoes. Hopefully the little green fruit will turn into large vibrant red tomatoes.

Bulldog Man saved a part of a tree trunk we cut down weeks ago.  I figured I would borrow the bird bath idea from one of my Sweet Blogger Friends, Kymber. When I went into town, I purchased a deep plate for $1.00 from The Dollar Tree store.  This weekend sometime, I will be putting the entire contraption together and moving my old bird feeder relatively close to the homemade bird bath.

I picked up a 1/2 bushel of peaches from the local Farmers Market the other day and made peach jam.  I used Cindy Burke’s recipe from the Culinate.com website.  The jam came out very tasty and really good.  http://www.culinate.com/recipes/collections/Contributors/cindy_burke/peach_preserves

Guar Gum (is created from the guar bean. It’s husked, milled and screened) used specifically as a thickener (8 times better than actual corn starch) and considered a hot commodity.  The price of the Guar Gum has and will continue to go up in price dramatically.  This product is typically used to thicken food products like ice cream, cheese, and baked goods (which will increase the dough size) in commercial food products. Guar Gum is also found in many medications and cosmetics. Here’s the kicker, prices for this product are rising.  The reason, companies like Halliburton have found a way to use Guar Gum to help process hydraulic fracturing. Because of the high demand for Guar Gum by Halliburton and other drilling companies, the price of Guar Gum has gone up, depleting availability of the product, which in turn changes the price of the product.  Halliburton stated; “they experienced a loss in their profits for the second quarter because of the price increase of purchasing Guar Gum”.  Yep, and this is where the old terms “supply” and “demand” come into factor.  Not enough of the product produced for everyone’s needs naturally causes a rise in the prices!!!!  What did I do?  I went out and bought enough Guar Gum to last me a lifetime, lol…….nah, really…I bought enough to last a long time.

Enough Said!

My son, Tank sent this picture to me in an e-mail and thought I would get a kick out of it.

Welcome - Join - Thank You

I wanted to take this opportunity to welcome Katidids.  Thank you for joining my blog.  Hey Blogger friends, check out Katidids blogs Katidids  and Katidids Hand Knits and More!, you won’t be disappointed. Katidids is learning to become self reliant.  She loves to knit, make handmade and homemade items, and gardening. Glad to have you following my blog, please sit back and enjoy the ride.

Join - Thank You - Welcome

I wanted to take this opportunity to welcome Natalia.  Thank you for joining my blog.  Hey Blogger friends, check out Natalia’s blogs Prep Utility Vehicle  and Bigger Families; Faces From the Past , you won’t be disappointed. Natalia likes photography, vintage photo’s and books.  Glad to have you following my blog, please sit back and enjoy the ride.

*Clip Art provided by Amazing-Animated.com

Compost - Property Work

Last night Bulldog Man put together an above ground compost container for me.  We wanted to go this route to prevent rodents and snakes from deciding to visit and stick around while the compost decays.  When the compost container was up and ready for vegetable scraps, I went into the house and brought out a sealed bucket of vegetable scraps I had been compiling for the last week.  I opened the bucket to dump the vegetable scraps and wanted to gag.  The smell of rotten vegetables death hit me and I thought I was going to throw up (the vegetable scraps had sat in the closed warm bucket for a week).  I hurried up and closed the compost lid and OMG……you could still smell it.  I decided to put a little straw in the compost to help soak up the vegetable juice and let it sit over night.  Today we added manure to the compost and moved the compost container into the garden away from the house (due to the smell).

Funny story, I remember as a kid, barefoot, running a bucket of vegetable scraps out to the compost in Crestview, Florida.  Now the compost was on the ground in the far back of the yard.  As I got to the compost pile and started dumping the vegetable scraps, I felt this movement under my bare feet.  Guess what I was standing on?  A very large rattle snake!!!!!  I screamed and ran back toward the house.  My Mom came out wanting to know what was wrong, I couldn’t speak, and I was white as a ghost.  She went over toward the compost pile and realized why I screamed and ran back toward the house.  Mom immediately grabbed a shovel from the side of the house and went after that darn rattle snake.  The snake made its way out to the side road.  As Mom was trying to chop its head off a car was driving by.  It slammed its breaks on and ran over the snake 5 times before the little bastard turned into road killJ.   I never went outside to the compost barefoot and without a shovel again.  So the moral of this story is no compost pile on the ground for me!!!!!

This morning, I worked on the yard cutting the grass (again!), weed whacking, weeding, and picking up trash that had blown in on the property.  Bulldog Man and Tank worked in the garage going through and getting rid of things we no longer need.  Putting up shelves, and organizing the garage. Bulldog Man plans on making a shelf to put up the gas containers off the garage floor.  We took a little time out today to grab a brief nap in the prime heat of the day.  This evening, I’m doing some laundry and I will be going out into the garden to see what needs watering and fixing because of the wind.  Heck, I may even plant some seeds.

Rain - Canned G Beans - Flash Freeze Veggies - Update Neurologist

With all of this rain, I’m surprised my garden boxes have not floated away.  When the rain finally stopped for several minutes today, I went out to check on the garden boxes and they’re safe and haven’t floated away.  Then I checked on my garden pots.  They were okay; however, one pot had mushrooms.  It’s a shame the mushrooms were poisonous; I could have made a meal off of them.  I love mushrooms. Check this out; they grew approximately 5 – 6 inches tall.

For the past three days it’s been raining.  I’ve stayed in most of the time doing things around the inside of the house.  Canning several jars of green beans, flash freezing yellow squash and spinach.

The rain finally stopped, I’m hoping it stays this way for several days so things can dry out.   Just about the time when the grass will need to be cut again (oh goodie)…...Sense any sarcasm?

We have a disappointing update to Bulldog Man’s appointment with the neurologist.  The doctor, I won’t mention names, had the personality of a two-toed sloth.  He mumbled continuously to himself when my husband was explaining all of his symptoms. Then his response to my husband’s symptoms, “yep the headaches you’ve been having are migraines”. The doctor proceeded to prescribe an anti-seizure medication, the response from Bulldog Man, “oh boy….. “Another pill, I can cram down my _________ throat”.  This medication is to be taken before bed nightly to prevent the migraines from starting. The doctor did the “poke test”.  He didn’t like the fact that Bulldog Man didn’t score 100%, but never did explain any of it.  He doctor’s response; “come back in three months and we will evaluate you then”.  Why don’t you just say, here’s your bill, now pack your sh_ _ and get out!!!! …….  Stay tuned, in 3 months, for the continuation of the neurology saga.

Welcome - Join - Thank You

I wanted to take this opportunity to welcome Duke.  Thank you for joining my blog.  Hey Blogger friends, check out Duke’s blog Down Range Report, you won’t be disappointed. Duke likes machinery, working on old cars, trucks, motorcycles and guns.  Glad to have you following my blog, please sit back and enjoy the ride.

Changing The Color Of Your World - Coca Cola - Storms

When it’s time to bug out and lay low, do you really want to find yourself in bright colored clothing?  Wearing bright colored clothing only reveals your location and can potentially make you a target. As part of OPSEC, I would make sure to change into clothing less obvious.  You want to blend in to your surroundings.  Wear natural tones like browns, tans, blacks, greens, rust, or even white depending on your bug out location and the time of year (based on seasons).  To do this, it may require changing the color of clothing.  I’m not saying you need to go out and buy everything camouflaged because this could be extremely expensive.  What I am saying is go buy and keep on hand several bottles or packets of color dye.  These can be picked up at usually any grocery store, drug store, and even a convenience store.  They’re relatively in- expensive.  The dyes come in a multitude of colors.  You can even color your clothes in different combinations of colors.  Have some colored clothing on hand for preparation when you bug out. 

You can use this dye to help color additional items around your home or bug out site, like curtains or items that have faded.  It’s just a thought…..what’s your thoughts on using colored dye?

Coca Cola…….I have not had Coca Cola in years.  The other day, I went into town to a Mexican market to pick up some spices and came across Coca Cola processed in Mexico.  Now the Mexican Coca Cola is processed with real sugar, unlike those processed in the United States.  So of course I had to pick up a few bottles as a treat for the family and poor Beans missed out.  He was just sitting next to the empty bottle looking for his Coca Cola….. J

More storms rolling into our area of Oklahoma.  Check out the wall clouds rolling in above my head and the movement which could have formed into tornadoes.  Luckily for me, the temperatures were a little too cold for a tornado to form over my head (so cool, it gave me goose bumps).    Have a great evening everyone and for those Okies--be careful out there, storms will be with us tonight, through tomorrow.



Birds eating bread and bird seed before the storm hits





Wall cloud moving in at a rapid speed



Storm moving right over us, below are 2 videos showing circular movement and so dropping clouds