LONG HIBERNATION

As I write this we are once again in a deep freeze. Outside temperature at 11 am Monday, 3/16 is 17 degrees. Today we are wearing heavy coats, but by Friday we will be wearing shorts. From mukluks to sandals in five days. That is March in Missouri!!

It has been a long, cold winter. However, we have not had the number of deep freezes we are accustomed to. This is the third one and we don't see anymore in the long-range forecast.

I managed to finish the repairs to the buckled floor. We now have a solid floor to walk on, although the pieces did not match up as nice as the first time.

I've not done much except cut and split wood for us to stay warm.

I noticed from my last posting the end of January that I did not share any pix of the completed watershed that I wrote about. How I pulled that off is beyond me, but I did. Anywho, here are two photos of the opening to the tanks. The propane heater is visible in the bottom right  and the plexiglas window is visible on the left of the closed doors below.

There have been three times when I had to take the tractor out to remove a tree or trees fallen across the road. This was the largest of the group. 

This one fell on a Thursday morning after I had left for the office at the church. Gracie usually comes in about 1:30 to set up with our music leader. There was no way she was going to get out with this in the road.

That picture is looking back into our drive as I came back.

We no longer have to drive back and forth to Stockton to take care of the other place. We sold it to a young couple back in January for about $50k less than market value. They were glad to get it. It is their first home and a baby is on the way. His parents live across the highway, so his mother is excited to have the new baby so close.

I had one of the generators break down and had to take it in for repair.

Brought in some straw bales for Gracie to set up for her elderberry starts. They have survived two freezes and are doing well with new growth on all.

We took a look at our fruit orchard the other day, and there were new buds on all and flowers on the plum tree. We don't know how last night's freeze will affect the trees. Someone posted a meme on Facebook this morning which said "RIP Peaches in Missouri." Probably so. We certainly enjoyed the ones we got last year from the initial planting. Letting the tree grow another year before fruit just might be a good thing.

Since we were stuck inside so much, I was able to finish and publish my book. It is causing quite a stir, which is something I like. I like it when I know I have hit a nerve and people have to think.

Last week we had some good warm weather, so I was able to begin work on our clothes closets. That kind of work requires that the doors be open as I go in an out with materials and tools. It is incomplete because I need to use the framing to line up my closet on the other side. When done, we will have a "separated" bedroom, instead of being open all the way to the front door. You are looking at the backside of her unit which shows the framing and the interior lining with cedar boards.

Lastly, Gracie has been wanting a utility vehicle to get around the property. We have some acreage to the north of the house that is difficult to access and is open to the possibility of squatters. When I went to pick up my generator I noticed he had some on the lot for repair. I asked if he ever had any to sell. Two hours later he had found this beauty. It is a 2012 Polaris Ranger 800. Bought it for $7500. Gracie is grinning from ear to ear. I like it when I can make her happy. 

Until next time, do your work, live, laugh and love.

WINTER FUN

As most of you have seen, winter did not arrive slowly this year. 

It came in like gangbusters and hit us upside the head with a baseball bat!

It has definitely put our little homesteading experiment out here in southwest Missouri to the test.

The water shed has been completed with insulation and exterior walls. There is room enough under the main water line and the tanks for a portable propane heater. I don’t need to turn the heater on until the temps reach about 27°. That keeps the interior temperature just a little above the freezing mark.

I cut a hole in one of the doors and covered it with ¼ inch Plexiglas so I could look inside without opening the door. This is especially useful at night.

Because I have no way of knowing how much propane I have (except with a fresh 20# bottle), I need to keep a check on it. At night, since I get up with “old man’s affliction” about every hour to an hour and a half, I go outside to check on the heater.

That hasn’t been a problem until this storm hit.

We only got about 4 inches of snow, but the temps are hovering around 0 or below. That means when I get up, I have to put on my boots and a jacket to go out to check. That helps to get me fully awake so that when I come back in, it takes at least a half-hour to get back to sleep.

Last night (1/26/26) the propane was gone when I checked at 3:30am. I don’t know how long it had been out, but the temp inside the shed was 20° and the main water line was frozen.

I changed the tank for a fresh one and lit the heater to full blast. Gracie had water when she got up around 5am. Whew!!

That is not the only place we have been tested.

Last night the gas ran out for the cook stove, which is also fed with a 20# tank. No problem. I had three full bottles ready.

Problem.

Still couldn’t get gas.

Checking on the freezing possibilities of propane, we learned that the regulator can ice up if the pressure gets too low and cold.

That bottle sits outside on the ground. It was sitting in the 4 inches of snow and the line to the house was extremely stiff.

So Gracie was not able to follow her normal morning routine. She had to rely on the wood cook stove which we use for heat inside the cabin. We’ve been able to keep fairly comfortable even though we have had to bundle up inside.

She managed to get everything done, but in a somewhat slower fashion. Also, I was able to make my coffee in the percolator on the wood stove.

There is a good side to all of this besides just what we are learning.

Gracie had planned to bake today with the propane stove. Instead, she had to try the oven in the wood stove.

I’ve been eating some delicious chocolate-chip cookies.

Until next time, stay safe, stay warm, laugh and love the one you’re with.

CHRISTMAS

MERRY CHRISTMAS 

FROM OUR HOUSE TO YOURS. 

Even though we have no neighbors within a half mile, and although we have no traffic by our house, we still like to decorate for the season.

CRAZY TIMES

Homesteading requires constant attention and diligence. Let something slide just a little and then things begin to pile up to create a big wall of overwhelm.

We put our house in town on the market and found a buyer. Therefore we had to get busy moving things out and into storage. That is what we've been doing the past four weeks.

In the meantime, Mother Nature decided we needed an unexpected early freeze. I wasn't ready for a freeze. I did everything I could to keep the water flowing, but I failed. Lines froze.

Thankfully, nothing broke.

I've now been busy trying to protect our water source of the two IBC's.

I'm sort of guessing as I go as to how to make everything fit together.
I've done enough construction in my time to be able to fumble my way through it and create a decent space. 

The only plans I have are in my head. That seems to work, but I always come up against something for which I hadn't planned.

For instance, I wanted to keep the space inside the shed as small as possible for heating. In order to get the two 4x4's attached to the house securely, I wanted to use a wall stud. That ended up bringing the sides in a little more closely than I wanted. As a result, getting the foamboard insulation in was quite a challenge. I ended up having to piece the boards together rather than use the full 4x8 sheets I had.

I went with the foam board, because I had some left from the greenhouse I never finished at the house in town. The roof and three sides are now insulated. 

Today was somewhat cool with a slight breeze. Inside the space of this three-sided shed the tempereature was noticeably warmer. May have been just the absence of the breeze, but it felt good to know that what I'm dong will pay off when I complete the shed add a heat source.

Obviously, I still have work to do on the shed. I need to frame in the front and provide an access to everything. I am toying with the idea of a sliding barn door, but I'm not sure I can make that work to provide enough room for this big fella to gain access to the interior. We'll see.

Supposedly, we are in for a hard freeze: more than three days below 20 in the night. That is predicted for the second week in December. If nothing interferes, I should be able to have this ready for the event. Of course, this IS Missouri, and we have learned to not anticipate weather more than 30 minutes in advance.

I'll let you know how it all works out.

Until then, do your work, play hard and love the one you're with.

HEATHEN NO MORE

We have moved closer to being a civilized couple this past weekend. We now have an indoor shower. I couldn't get the picture without the overhead light being on, so the glare is a little distracting.

The wood is western red cedar installed with a bevel lap. I coated the boards once they were in with two coats of linseed oil. The corners and bottom edge are caulked with a clear silicone.

The shower pan is 4'x3', which is a little less than half the size of the outdoor shower we have used for the past three years.

The outdoor shower was definitely nice on warm or hot days, and we will probably move back out there for the summer months. On days when the temps were below 80 and the wind was blowing, Gracie would get chilled. So she wanted me to get this in NOW!

I spent all day Saturday getting everything installed and running. Here's the part no one will believe. Normally, when I do any plumbing, there are multiple trips to the store to get all the right parts. I installed the shower with ONLY ONE TRIP to the store. And it all works well. No leaks.

The outdoor shower used a 3gpm diaphragm pump. We would normally use about 7 gallons of water for a shower. The new shower uses a 1.6gpm diaphragm pump. The amount of water and pressure seemed the same to me. I can't measure how much we use with the new pump, because I am drawing from the two IBC's with 550 gallons between them. I can't see the drop in the water level and I have no way to measure like I did with the outdoor 55 gallon drum. All things being equal, it would seem that we will use less water per shower than before.

The white box is the heater unit. I used the one pictured here and moved it inside. Making all the necessary connections is relatively easy and straightforward. The wooden floor here would get slick and need an occassional scrubbing. 

Having the sun shine into the stall made it really nice, especially if there was a breeze. Sometimes the sun would be at an angle that warmed the towel before drying off. Really nice.

My next major project is to build a "house" for those two IBC's to protect from freezing. I have already measured for the propane heater which needs to be in there, and I think there will be enough room. Building a door which will meet our needs of access to the containers will be a challenge.

However, the part I have not yet solved is the roof. If you look at the photo of the two containers, you can see the downspout from the gutter which is used to fill the IBCs. Building a roof which will allow for the downspout without leaving a gaping hole will be tough because of its location.

Hopefully, I will be able to show you a completed project next time.

Until then, do your work, play hard and love the ones you're with.

 

MAKING HEADWAY

There were some unexpcted hiccups this week, but we have made significant progress in getting things done. While I am doing all the construction things that need to be done, Gracie is busy making our little slice of Paradise beautiful. I make it functional, she makes it pretty.

She worked hard today putting all this together. I'll show you the result first. 

There were some flower pots around the little space, but she wanted it to be something more. She first covered the grass with brown paper from packages we had received from Amazon. After getting the paper wet to hold it down, she then spread dirt on top of the paper. Then she removed what she wanted from the flower pots and put them in the ground. They are not really visible in this photo. Everything was then covered with mulch.

When I went out to see it, the middle was empty--waiting for me to move a large blue pot. However, I wanted the bubbler bird bath in that spot and she allowed me that contribution.

We now have a very attractive front-porch-garden filled with flowers and herbs.

My project goal for the week was to get the system in place for indoor laundry and shower, which was a multi-step process. Since the ground was not level, I had to bring in some gravel on which to set the cinder blocks. That was a long and involved process for me. While trying to set the IBC, I accidently moved one of the stacks of blocks into a tilted position. Fortunately, I didn't kick it all the way over, so I was able to lift up on the container and reset the stack of blocks in one move.

Due to poor planning on my end, the two IBC's are far apart because of the house drain's location directly underneath the downspout for water collection. You can see how far apart they are in this pic. The distance between the two gate valves is 70 inches--2 inches shy of 6 feet. After getting it set up, I had to prop the pvc pipe, because the weight of the water within the pipe was causing a strain on the connections. One inadvertent bump and I was concerned that the system would collapse.

The 12-volt DC water pump arrived Tuesday and I went to work getting it hooked up. As of this writing there is still a tiny drip when the pump is on, but I will hopefully get that fixed with a new hose when it comes in Tuesday the 25th.

Looking down on the floor to the right of the laundry tub, you can see the 12-volt battery that powers the pump, which is directly underneath the tub next to the back right leg.

One of the IBC's was our water source for the past two years. We battled with algae build-up until we learned to wrap the tank in black plastic.
That stopped the algae growth. Freezing temps were the next foe to be defeated. I bought a small propane heater and put it inside the little shed for those times when it was below freezing. It worked great on its lowest setting.

However, during the very last week of its necessary function it caught fire. I wasn't here, but Gracie reacted quickly and got the fire out.

I removed the IBC from the little shed to get the two-tank system mentioned previously. I was able to empty it of the concrete blocks and other miscellaneous things. I then went to work to turn it into a shed for our garden tools. This is the result.

Y'all would've laughed at us if you had seen us with the two IBC's set up for their first rain. We were sitting on the porch when the rain began as just a sprinkle. When it finally started coming down, we both jumped up to look over at the downspout to see if it was working. The water was gushing through and we both laughed giddily. We had a half-inch of rain and collected 150 gallons of water from a 34x28 roof! We were ecstatic. Just the week before, I had to go to a water point to fill one of the IBC's, because we were below 100gallons of usable water.

We are both happy with the results of our work this week despite the car breaking down and needing a new transmission. We thank the Lord each day for the strength we have been given to be able to do these things at this age.

Until next time, do your work, play hard and love the one you are with.

LUMBER SYSTEM

NOTE--I had said I would try to publish weekly and here it is a month has gone by since my last posting. Can you forgive me? If I have an excuse, I don't know what it is. 😓

In this not-so-simple simple life there are things that we learn along the way that we may not have practiced too well beforehand. One of those things fits into the idea of systems which I menttioned in the last issue.

Most of us involved in this life called homesteading have been forced to develop a DIY mentality (if that was not already the case). We have to learn many aspects of the small farm, animal husbandry, machine repair and maintenance, growing and preserving food, woodworking and the like.

Learning to have the systems in place as mentioned last time is an enormous time-saver.

With the cost of lumber sky-rocketing the past few years, it is no longer wise to simply chuck the ends of cut-offs into the fire. Of course, we do that with anything less than a foot long; but anything longer than that can be saved for a future project.

The problem comes in "how to save and store all those pieces." Regardless of the size of your workshop--corner of the garage or a separate building--leftover pieces of wood begin to take up valuable space.

I've seen rolling carts with separate bins for these pieces, but that seemed to be mainly for fine woodworking. Regardless, it just wouldn't be practical for me with so much stock lumber.

I needed a wood rack, which I built inside the lean-to on the back of the deer-shack-turned-shop. You probably have to enlarge the photo to see it, but the end of each piece has a number on it that I put with a Sharpie.

That number is the approximate size in length of the board. I stacked them according to width, ie, the 1x4s on top of each other, then the 1x6s, 1x8s, etc.

The number helps save the time of inspecting each piece to see if it is long enough for the need of the moment. For instance, this morning I needed two pieces of 1x4 at least 28 inches long. I went to this stack, found a piece marked 29 and a piece marked 32. I removed them from the stack and made the cuts necessary for the project. Easy-peasy.

If this one idea is a help to you, please let me know in the comments. Also, if you have a different system, everyone who reads this would like to know, so leave a comment about your system.

Thanks.

Until next time, do your work, enjoy your life, play hard and love the one you are with.