Can You Sleep At Night?

I ran this story about two years ago, but with all of the natural and man made troubles through out the world, I feel it is worth asking ourselves this question again. 

A farmer needed an extra hand to help on his farm. One young man came to interview for the job. "What are your qualifications?" the farmer asked. "I can sleep when the wind blows," the young man said. This simple reply confused the farmer, but he was desperate for help and the young man was hired.

The young man was a diligent worker through the harvest season, but the farmer still questioned his answer.

Autumn ended and the first cold storm of winter came late one night. The farmer panicked as the winds began to blow. Calling the young man for help, the farmer grabbed his coat and pulled heavy boots on his feet. He was disappointed to find the young man asleep in bed at a time like this. Grudgingly he ventured out alone planning to shuffle all of the animals in the barn and then fix that last hole in the roof. He mumbled about the young man sleeping and was sure all the farm equipment was left standing in the field, collecting rust from the snow.

However, when the farmer reached the barn all the animals were tucked safely inside. In fact, clean hay had already been set out for the new day. Not a single hole could be found in the roof, and the tractor was parked perfectly in the shed.

"Who could have done it?" the farmer wondered. And then, he realized what the young man's answer meant, 

"I can sleep when the wind blows."

Tire Gardening . . . More Adventures!

MY GOAL !

I was delighted yesterday to see how easy it was to cut the side wall from a tire.  It only took about 5 minutes per tire . . . THEN I went for one of the bigger tires.  Did you know that in the big ole' tires, the steel belt goes all the way form the tread to the bead that is against the actual rim?  Not funny!

I noticed a difference when I drill the pilot hole to put the jig saw blade in.  The blade wouldn't fit, so I drilled a second one on the edge and made it longer.  Then I started to saw away, or so I thought.  I had to push that saw a lot harder and it went very slow.  Then the smoke started  sneaking out of where I was trying to cut . . . . . aw nice, burnt rubber .  . every one's favorite . . .  P-U!

I finally took the blade out, grabbed it with the fingers of my other hand . . . OUCH . .  that baby was HOT!  The good news is that I now realize that my numb finger has more feeling in it than I thought.  I took a look and saw little sparkly things in the rubber of where I had managed to force the blade through.  Ah ha moment here.  The steel belt went farther than I had realized.  So it was time to drill lots of exploratory holes.  They all did the same thing, in all of the tires that I have left to cut.

This morning I took my third little grandson and he helped me pick out some saws all blade that are hardened to cut through metal and just as soon as it stops raining out there, I will go and try one of those .. .  or see if I can sweet talk my main squeeze into doing it.  It is only about 63 degrees here today, after having several weeks of over 80 and even 2-3 days of going over 90 degrees.  All of us desert rats are going into a little shock here.

In the meantime, here are some pics of my first, successful, attempts at this new gardening adventures!




I just used an ordinary 1/4" drill bit to make the hole for the jig saw blade.












Using the blade with the larger teeth for metal cutting went around an average sized tire for a passenger car in about 5 minutes.  There was no belt in the side wall.








Wah La!!  Ready to be cleaned up and filled with a good garden mix!














The next tire was a large pick up tire with a steel belt up the entire sidewall.  When you drill the pilot hole in the side wall, it will kind of catch as it goes through the steel belt.  You will hear the wire break.  If you hear that, see if you know someone with a saws all if you don't have one.  I found the hardened blades made for metal at Home Depot.  I have also seen them at Lowe's, so they shouldn't be too hard to find.  Using those in the saws all, it took about 10 minutes to cut the side wall out.  the saws all takes more hand strength to hang on to but don't let that scare you gals off from getting this done if you need to.

The metal cutting blade for the jig saw didn't have the hardened blade and the teeth were worn almost all the way off by the time I had cut about 12"-14"in that steel belt.  Lesson learned.  Good blades pay for themselves.

Tomorrow is Sunday, so this project will be completed on Monday.  "See" you then!!

FIRST TIRE GARDEN IN THE FAMILY

My kids beat me to the draw.  I am proud of them for doing that.

I understand that it was pretty hard to cut straight with all the vibrating from the saws-all.  Though it looks pretty good to me!  


Mine isn't working right now, so I will be using a jig saw. . . . or maybe my husband will be able to get the saws-all going . . . and he, like my son, has stronger hands so will be able to help me . . . . I hope?

Economy . . . Ideas on How to Survive It

My Piggy Bank after I filled my gas tank

I have been thinking a lot about the economy since I was filling my gas tank the other day at  $3.45 / gallon of gas.  I know, many others are paying much more already, but it is sending me into a little bit of shock.   I used to fill my tank for that amount!

I was in college during the "Energy Crises" of the 70's.  I had my suspicions during the holidays.  I spent each day trying to fill my mother's tank while she drove the other car so she wouldn't have to.  Got lots of needlework and reading done over that Christmas Break.  When I got home, my roommate from Canada told me about all the reports up there showing all of our harbors clogged with oil barges that no one would unload, so I knew I was right.

Well, I now more than suspect that we are being manipulated again, for the good of only "Heaven know who".

My daughter's fave story
when she was little.. because it
reminded her of me

I do NOT believe in scare tactics.  I feel they are counter productive and even harmful.  I do believe in using good sense and taking action however.

So I am working my saggy old bottom (oops, too much info, sorry) to the bone doing what I have been talking to death for several years.  I will be gathering more ideas and sharing them as I go along.

It is time to use ALL of our resources to build a way to be as self sufficient as possible.  

• Use our imaginations.  
• Pray for guidance of how to best use your resource.  YES, I did say pray.  I have found many answers to dilemmas through prayer.  If you are a meditater, meditate.  What ever way you choose, use it.
• Talk to the funny old geezer up the street from you.  Ask what people did in the depression . . .  you either will find it pretty depressing or pretty inspiring.  If they just depress you, be polite and find someone who had an imagination.  My poor father had such a tale of woe, my father-in-law became a wonderful gardener.  Guess who actually went hungry at that time.  You decide what who you want to be like.
• Look at your finances. I mean to really LOOK.  Go through it & ask your self,  "Do I really need that?",   everything that doesn't sustain life and keep a roof over your head.  Not make it prettier roof, just one that gives you shelter and a refuge from the outside world.
• If you just HAVE to go to Disneyland this year, hope you enjoy it. . .  as you are going to the store and grind your teeth over the price for the rest of the year.
• Think of fun things to do as a family, at home or near by.

Have I turned you completely off to my ideas? Hope not. I have lived on such meager means and survived them, without incurring any debt.  We have great memories ( now they are great) and we did't have to take nearly as long to recover after financial reversals.

On Friday I will be posting the pictures of our tire gardens.  They will show how to cut the sides out, fill them with proper garden soil, all the how's and why's I can find and share with you!

Other grow boxes have been put in as well that I will share with you.  Amazing what can be scrounged.  

Just think of it as recycling!

NEW YEAR, NEW BEGINNING

• I do NOT make New Year's Resolutions.  I have found that I am normal and make unrealistic goals, too many.  That is the way to set a person up for total and complete failure and then they can find all time lows when they "beat" themselves up for "failing".

• I doubt that I am the only one who has been doing a little extra (OK, tons!) cleaning with the intention of setting my house in order, literally and "biblically".    Something about taking down holiday decorations just makes a soul want clean and clutter free!

• I made the mistake of accumulating too much food storage too quickly and lost my living room for about three years.  I had been using it as a kind of warehouse while refurbishing other rooms, one at a time. It was just the room we all walked through to get to the rest of the house  ;-D 
• To make things worse, I stacked bulk food storage in one, then two back corners behind the stacks of furniture, etc.  I was gathering extra to help each of my children's families get started.  I jumped into all of this without a good plan, just felt like it was important to gather food while my husband's income would support it.  We felt sure that leaner times were coming.   It was good to gather the food, let me make that clear,  I just needed a better and more complete plan.  Time proved we right about the net take home pay. We are grateful for the guidance we were given and that we felt enough urgency to heed it.

Loooong story not quite so long, I had 4 mice get into the house when the weather turned cold, they had a hay day so I lost some of the foods that had not been stored away, had such chaos surrounding me that it was almost paralyzing, and just lost control of pretty much everything.

1. All of the foods have been packaged for long term preservation and now I am inventorying, and creating a chart to track it's use and replacement and creating a little more storing capability that is out of the way but has easy access.
2. I will be sharing all of this as I go along.  Some will be by reposting old posts, by sharing links to great information and by new posts.
3. Due to the anticipated in reduction in my husband's reduced net take home pay and easier access,  we are using our storage more.  I plan to share new ideas as I come up with them or will share the links to other sites when I find ideas that help me.  

Cheating . . . .. Reposting as I Reorganize.

Life has been just too hectic!  I have been trying to reorganize and get back to posting, even have a slew of pictures . . . some of which are in the camera that has been missing for a couple of months now.  Hoping my almost two year old grandson didn't toss it into the trash when I wasn't looking . . . his favorite past time lately.  If he did, I guess it will be a big lesson learned.

Cynthia Layne Photography:
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1535885607&v=photos

In the middle of all this, my daughter had a double surprise. No not twins.  A little one snuck in on them about 6 months earlier than they had planned (no one wants to be PG in southern AZ in the summer)  and after 3 little boys, they had a girl.  

After some big scares and major surgery, our little miracle (doctor's words) is home and doing well.  Life is not exactly back to normal, but we are grateful for what we have!!  

Pic taken 3 days before our tiny miss landed in the NICU.  

So as I am going through to start our family Thanksgiving dinner, I will bring the recipes up to the top to share them.

These are all made from my pantry to keep the $$ down and nothing has the evil little substances that set my grand kids on their ears and Nanny/Papa's nerves on edge  . . . . .

Cornbread Dressing or Stuffing

OK . . . . I know this is ridiculously late, but hopefully it will be helpful sometime during the holiday season. I made my own dressing/stuffing this year. Not by buying the mix at the store and adding the broth, eggs, and other goodies, I made it all from scratch. OK I cheated one time. I had some baguette loaves in the freezer and cut some of those up to for the bread in my dressing. I did make my own cornbread with the seasonings, etc. in it. Had to chase my hubby off a couple of times while it was drying out in the oven, so it must have been pretty tasty. OK I

confess, it snitched too, it was tasty!

1. First I made regular cornbread with some 2. Added flavors. I also added a couple of teaspoons of chicken broth powder. Since that is salty, I eliminated the salt in this batch.  I had to look poultry seasoning on the internet because I was out of it. It is mainly sage with marjoram, thyme and a dash of pepper and cloves. I skipped the cloves. 3. To tell if your cornbread is done or not, check to see if it has pulled away from the sides of the pan slightly. It should also have the cracks that you see here. This is a double batch spread out in a cookie sheet to dry more quickly for making the dressing.

4. Break the cornbread and set back into the warm oven let it dry out. You can cut or break it into what ever size you want for your dressing. I guess I did it this way because that is how my dad always did it. Next time I will just let it cool and then dice it up. 5. I used some left over baguettes for the bread. Cut or break it up as you did the cornbread. 6. Now for the really tasty stuff. Dice onions and celery, saute in butter or I used olive oil.

This year I also added some scrambled some sausage and chopped some craisins (dried cranberries) at my daughter's request. They did add some great flavor. I mixed all of this together, covered it tightly, put in the back of the fridge a couple of days before Thanksgiving. On the big day, I just had to beat a couple of eggs, add the chicken and turkey broth and toss it into the oven for half an hour. Great little time saver!

HELP! I'm a Ditzy Old Lady . . . With Good Intentions!!

I don't know why, but I am having the hardest time getting pictures and text organized in my posts right now.

I am working on several posts that keep getting jumbled.  As soon as I figure things out there will be more.

I am also working on a site that will be more organized and easier to find what might be of interest to you.

Please hang in there, it should get better soon and I am trying lots of new ideas and ways to used food storage.

I am also needing to drop the last 30 lbs. so that  I can faze out some to the too many medications that I take every day.  As I de-fat and health-itize my favorite foods, I will be sharing those ideas with you.  Using food storage of course.