John F Dean

This is certainly drivel.

Many years ago I was working with a juvenile who got into trouble with the legal system.  He had a problem; he loved to break glass. You know …like the windows on your car…or the windows on your house.   Oddly, although I thought the kid had a lot of positive attributes, many of his victims wanted him dead …..and dead through exceptionally painful methods.  I saw positives because the only crimes he had ever committed involved breaking glass.

Anyway, one of my employees had an epiphany.  He landed the kid a job at a recycling center…running the glass crusher.   Thankfully, the judge thought it was brilliant, because in this state there are laws about minors running machinery.  The judge addressed the legal issues, and the kid was “sentenced” to operate the glass crusher under supervision.  The kid thought he had gone to heaven.

Of course, he has a few years on him now. I just checked up on him.  He has no legal issues on record and runs a small company.

Trick question.   Flooding is common in my area.  My property is not subject to flooding. We are on a hill.  There is a real possibility of me ending up on an island.  If so, most likely there will be 9 households on that island…give or take a couple.   There are  four roads that connect me with civilization. I have seen 3 of 4 flooded and impassible. The fourth as passible but exciting.

Hi Thekla,

I see winter as a danger, but this summer’s we also saw an extended period of 100+ degree weather.  I could see some excitement coming from that direction as well.  

Hi Carla,

I suspect you hit upon one area that separates Regular Preppers from homesteaders.  We have to consider food, water, and medication for the livestock.  I am in the process of reducing/eliminating the livestock I do have.   After I made my post, I took a Quick Look at a couple of Prepper sites.  I noticed that while there was a concern  about water for drinking. Water for bathing and cleaning was not really addressed.

I just landed on a Prepper thread on Permies.  While I am not into Prepping, I do see where it has a place.  This is especially so for those up us who live relatively remotely and are up in years.  What if we are in a position where we cannot or have difficulty getting off our homestead for a few weeks or months?  What measures can we take to be reasonably prepared?

Seldom do they see the inside of a fridge.  Very much like salt and pepper, they sit on the island within easy reach.

In defense of the male species, I regularly cut my wife’s hair.  She insists I do a better job than the beautician.  Of course, I only know one way to style her hair.  The most difficult part is getting the back even. I manage, but it is a pain.

I do not walk my dogs. I do make a point of not letting them outside together.  I made that mistake once. They turned into 12 years old boys and spent hours running through the fields.

My shelter pup knows the property boundaries and honors them.  There was a learning curve her first year. As long as she is not teamed up with our old dog, she is fine,

Our old dog generally lacks the energy to travel more than 50 feet from our back door.   There are two notable exceptions. We are located behind a cemetery…which is located next to a country church.  The first, is that if the church is having any function that involves food, he invites himself.  The second is funerals. He will quietly sit beside the grieving family during the graveside service.  He is a known fixture to the point that if he does not attend, I will be asked if he is OK.

I would not plant dwarf fruit trees. I would go with full sized only.