We woke up to a cold morning today. The thermometer outside says it is 36 degrees. I had better go out and harvest the few remaining vegetables out in the garden when it warms up a little. I left a few carrots, leeks and green peppers still growing out there. We can't afford to let any food go to waste these days.
I had to go outside to make coffee and dang near froze my backside off. I am going to have to move my cooking to the garage. Cold air and wind is more than my old body can take any more. I think we are going to have to start using the kerosene heater at night starting tonight. If we do I can make coffee on it in the mornings.
I been serving mainly one pot meals to conserve on the amount of water I need to use to wash dishes. By using my cast iron pans to make bread and cornbread all I have to do is wipe them out with a paper towel when I clean them. Breakfasts have been pancakes, eggs, oatmeal and cream of wheat. Thank goodness we had gotten 6 hens about 2 months before the grid was taken down. Dinners have been soups, stews and chili along with cornbread, bread or crackers.
With out the tv to keep us up on the happenings in the world the days all seem to run together now. Its easy to forget what day it is. I have been able to keep track by marking each day off on the calendar. Thanks goodness I have a two year calendar that starts next year so I will be able to do it for at least two more years. I think I would go nuts if I didn't know what day it was.
After breakfast consisting of oatmeal with strawberries I dehydrated back in the spring it warmed up enough for me to go out to the garden and pick the rest of the vegetables. I went first to where the carrots and leeks were planted. They were gone! Everyone of them! I look over to where the peppers are growing. Those were gone to! I knew it wasn't an animal because no animal would have taken all of them. Some one had come over the gate during the night and taken them all. That is all it could have been. How else would they all be gone?
I decided I had better check on the chickens and let them out of the coop for awhile. When I got to the door of the coop I could see that someone had tried to pry the lock off but they didn't quite make it. Something must have scared them off before they finished. Today son and I will be doing something to protect the chickens. We will need to do the same for the pair of rabbits we had gotten recently. They are going to be our main source of meat and eggs and we can't afford to lose them. I do have a lot of store bought and home canned meat stored up but we still need fresh meat once in awhile and we need the eggs. I can't bake cornbread and other baked goods with out eggs.
John and I talked over how to best protect the livestock. The coop is attached to the garage so son and I are going to build a small cage inside the garage next to the coop and then make a small door from one to the other just big enough for the chickens to use. I will be able to lock the door from inside the garage so no one can reach through and grab the chickens.
We will move the rabbit hutch inside the garage to. I can place big totes under the hutch to catch their droppings and dump them in the compost bin every day. Then because the garage just has a key lock on it I am going to take one of the big padlocks I had stored up on and out it on the steel door of the garage. I will also be adding one to the rails of the big door to make sure no one can open that door. Its a good thing I can still charge the drill batteries when the generator is on because I am going to really need that drill today.
We still have not heard from our daughter or her family. We are really worried about them. If we don't hear from them soon I am afraid we never will.
I had to go outside to make coffee and dang near froze my backside off. I am going to have to move my cooking to the garage. Cold air and wind is more than my old body can take any more. I think we are going to have to start using the kerosene heater at night starting tonight. If we do I can make coffee on it in the mornings.
I been serving mainly one pot meals to conserve on the amount of water I need to use to wash dishes. By using my cast iron pans to make bread and cornbread all I have to do is wipe them out with a paper towel when I clean them. Breakfasts have been pancakes, eggs, oatmeal and cream of wheat. Thank goodness we had gotten 6 hens about 2 months before the grid was taken down. Dinners have been soups, stews and chili along with cornbread, bread or crackers.
With out the tv to keep us up on the happenings in the world the days all seem to run together now. Its easy to forget what day it is. I have been able to keep track by marking each day off on the calendar. Thanks goodness I have a two year calendar that starts next year so I will be able to do it for at least two more years. I think I would go nuts if I didn't know what day it was.
After breakfast consisting of oatmeal with strawberries I dehydrated back in the spring it warmed up enough for me to go out to the garden and pick the rest of the vegetables. I went first to where the carrots and leeks were planted. They were gone! Everyone of them! I look over to where the peppers are growing. Those were gone to! I knew it wasn't an animal because no animal would have taken all of them. Some one had come over the gate during the night and taken them all. That is all it could have been. How else would they all be gone?
I decided I had better check on the chickens and let them out of the coop for awhile. When I got to the door of the coop I could see that someone had tried to pry the lock off but they didn't quite make it. Something must have scared them off before they finished. Today son and I will be doing something to protect the chickens. We will need to do the same for the pair of rabbits we had gotten recently. They are going to be our main source of meat and eggs and we can't afford to lose them. I do have a lot of store bought and home canned meat stored up but we still need fresh meat once in awhile and we need the eggs. I can't bake cornbread and other baked goods with out eggs.
John and I talked over how to best protect the livestock. The coop is attached to the garage so son and I are going to build a small cage inside the garage next to the coop and then make a small door from one to the other just big enough for the chickens to use. I will be able to lock the door from inside the garage so no one can reach through and grab the chickens.
We will move the rabbit hutch inside the garage to. I can place big totes under the hutch to catch their droppings and dump them in the compost bin every day. Then because the garage just has a key lock on it I am going to take one of the big padlocks I had stored up on and out it on the steel door of the garage. I will also be adding one to the rails of the big door to make sure no one can open that door. Its a good thing I can still charge the drill batteries when the generator is on because I am going to really need that drill today.
We still have not heard from our daughter or her family. We are really worried about them. If we don't hear from them soon I am afraid we never will.