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Post by feralferret on Oct 25, 2023 3:38:55 GMT -6
We picked our fall crop of turnip greens and mustard greens this past Sunday. Got enough for a big batch for eating at a couple of meals for three people.
It looks like a hard freeze coming Friday night/Saturday morning with several days of lows below freezing. Even a chance of snow Sunday. Looks like I'll have to pick the rest Friday.
Just a few small green tomatoes left. I'll have to pick them and the peppers. There are a few jalapenos , only a couple of cayenne peppers, and a big bunch of tabasco peppers on those two plants. They are loaded and did the best of the three types of pepper.
I might till the garden area the second week of November, weather permitting. Then again I may not since we are going to be moving and selling the house before the end of the year. No telling if whoever buys the house will want to bother with a garden. Where we are moving, I will have to select the area and till it for a garden if at all possible before the ground freezes too hard. I'm not holding my breath on getting that done.
On the plus side, it will be in a fairly small town instead of a large democrat run city where they cater to BLM and Antifa. I do not want to be in Kansas City as the election approaches. Too much risk of violence.
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Post by papaof2 on Oct 25, 2023 4:03:49 GMT -6
Sounds like a good move.
If not for the closeness of medical providers, I'd like to be much further out: room for as much garden as the two of us can manage (maybe 3 or 4 rows, if that much - my back is not up to much rototiller work in one day), space for as many solar panels as I can scrounge (probably on ground mounts so they're easy to clean and those ground mounts on 8" wheels and with earth auger anchors so it can be moved seasonally, if needed), more rainwater storage (500 to 1000 gallons) - the 275 gallon totes can be found for free and they're not hard for two people to move when empty. Be nice to have a small, year-round stream for water-driven electric power. A single 12 volt alternator delivering 15 amps continuously is 24 hours * 15 amps = 360 amp hours or 24 hours * 15 amps * 13 volts = 4680 watt hours each day. That might not sound like much power, but it could run the fridge and the blower on the gas furnace for half a day. Very nice fallback when the sun isn't shining
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Post by feralferret on Oct 25, 2023 4:19:32 GMT -6
The town where we are moving has a decent hospital and several medical providers. We are moving in with our daughter and youngest son. The son initially moved down to help her out with her kids after her last divorce. The kids are now grown and out of the house. Our daughter is an RN with a Masters in nursing. She taught nursing last year, but decided that she prefers hands on to teaching. She recently started a new job in a nearby town working for the VA at a VA nursing home. She worked at the local hospital for several years before spending a year teaching, so she knows which local doctors are good and which ones to avoid.
With our health issues and age (wife is 82) this will make things easier. Cheaper too since the Bidenflation has really cut into our fixed income. My eBay sales are way off this year because of that too. I have my work cut out for me as Mr. Fixit, but the son can help provide the muscle and mobility that I lack. I supply the knowledge and experience.
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Post by papaof2 on Oct 25, 2023 5:38:19 GMT -6
Sounds good.
Our kids don't have room for us and we'd be in Democrat-controlled territory (I know for certain that one kid and spouse are hard-core Democraps; not sure about the other kid and spouse but one works for a state university so you know the odds...).
I'm still the "knowledge & experience" person but it's usually for our somewhat younger neighbors. One was very unhappy when she bumped into a free-standing wood jewelry case and knocked it over hard enough to break off one leg. I fitted the pieces back together with glue, added some L-brackets on the back side of the leg, held those things together with wood screws in pre-drilled holes and painted it in "hammered bronze" spray paint that was almost a perfect match for the original wood finish. She was thrilled to have it back - apparently getting things fixed has become rare... (More likely, she staggered into - but that's another story and her significant other is often my "other hands" as I've discovered downed limbs moved to the tree line at the the back of their property before I got out of the house to do something about them, but he does walk the dog several times a day so he would be out much earlier than I am.)
He asked if I had any Ryobi tools and I told him yes: 40 volt string trimmer that works better than the Troy-Bilt gas trimmer I had been using previously and 18 volt Ryobi drill/drivers and 5 1/4" circular saw. He handed me a Ryobi 10", 18 volt chain saw and said "I got this at an auction. Check it out. If it works, keep it for me until I need it." I checked it and it works. It needed oil in the chain oil reservoir and probably needs the chain oiled and adjusted and maybe sharpened (have a sharpener) but those things are for when I feel like standing long enough to do some repair and some testing (don't stand for very long most days - long enough to stir up and scramble eggs is sometimes a pain trigger - but I'm working on which days I'm likely to be able to do how much and sometimes using Rx meds in advance of expending effort I may regret later. The pressure wash crew will be here to do the painted portions of the house today and this time they want the wooden swing on the screened porch taken down. I medicated with Rx pain med 90 minutes in advance and then got the swing down with minimum pain during and after the process so that worked this time. Need to go move the better half's vehicle before the pressure wash crew gets here. We're using that side of the garage to store that swing, the chair cushions and other things taken off the screened porch. Her SUV is on the driveway under the motion sensor lights (one of them solar-charged and always operational) and I'll go out just before daylight to move it to the lower driveway (comes around to the basement - lots of features in this house that make things easy for old people ;-)
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Post by feralferret on Oct 25, 2023 21:24:27 GMT -6
Youngest son is conservative with a prepper mindset. Daughter has gender confused daughter and her older son is queer and no longer associates with any of the family. She is conservative in a few ways and woke in others. All agree that politics are off limits for discussion in her house. She is not anti-gun at least and carries for self defense. She has health issues related to her lupus.
The son is on disability for mental health issues. His alcoholic father, combined with long time substance abuse issues, did a number on him. He has been off of the drugs now for about 15 years. Finally got straight after a few years in prison. Kept his nose clean while on parole and was released early. Still behaving. Pretty heavily medicated on prescription drugs, but fairly functional. He does volunteer work for an animal rescue several days a week.
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Post by papaof2 on Oct 26, 2023 9:49:26 GMT -6
Many animals are easier to deal with than humans...
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Post by feralferret on Oct 26, 2023 23:39:22 GMT -6
That's why I like most dogs better than most people.
My wife is helping out at the shelter once or twice a week when she is there. She is too unsteady on her feet to walk most of the dogs, but she is able to change out the water in the enclosures. I suspect that I also will be spending some time there helping out. They are really short handed, but do an outstanding job of caring for the animals. Their vet also does vaccinations, etc, really cheap for those who are unable to afford city vet prices. The also partner with a large no kill shelter in Kansas City and swap animals back and forth if one or the other runs out of space.
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