J. Syme

Evie McDonald wrote:

J. Syme wrote:If you enjoy drawing, take a sketch pad or maybe a book to read to the local dog park and sit on a bench, a dog will find you and brighten your day, as a bonus they usually drag along their owner for a brief chat. 4-H has a great volunteer program in your county. Helping kids learn life skills is very rewarding. When I get the winter blues, doing physical activities helps, splitting wood, moving heavy objects, hiking, building fences.  Hang in there you just need to mix up your routine a bit to find something better for your soul. john

Hey John,
Thanks for the reply it actually got me thinking and kinda perked me up a bit. 😊
That dog park suggestion is spot on, and honestly, I laughed picturing it. I’ve got an old sketchbook gathering dust somewhere, so maybe I’ll dig it out, throw it in the truck with a thermos of coffee, and head down to the one in town this weekend. Dogs don’t judge, right? And yeah, the owners usually end up chatting for a minute or two nothing forced, just “Hey, he likes you!” or whatever. It’s been ages since I’ve done something that simple and low-stakes. Might be exactly what I need to shake off the quiet.
On 4-H, I checked the county site after you mentioned it last time turns out they’ve got a decent program going, especially with the livestock and gardening stuff. I used to help out with the fair back when my niece was little, so it feels familiar. Helping the kids with their projects could be good for me too; there’s something satisfying about seeing them figure things out and get excited. I’ll probably email the extension office this week and see what they need.
And the winter thing… ugh, you nailed it. I’ve been splitting wood like crazy lately just to stay busy nothing beats that thwack and the way your shoulders burn after a good stack. Hiking’s tougher when the trails ice over, but even a short walk up the ridge clears my head a little. Fences need fixing too; I’ve got a couple leaning bad after the last storm. It’s all stuff that keeps me moving, and yeah, it helps more than sitting inside staring at the walls.
You sound like you’ve got this mountain life figured out in a real, no-BS way. It’s nice hearing from someone who actually lives it instead of just the usual “move to the city!” advice. If you don’t mind, I’d love to hear more about your setup up there what you do to beat the long dark evenings, or if you’ve got any favorite trails/chores that keep you sane. PMs would be easier for that kinda back-and-forth without clogging the thread. Up to you, no pressure.
Appreciate the nudge, seriously. Feels good to chat with someone who gets it.
Take care,

In the early 1980's I went to Loch Lomond with my brother to drop off our Nana with her childhood friend. brother and I toured via Britt rail and bicycle Glasgow   Edinburgh, then up east coast and around to the Isle of Sky & beyond. I have many fond memories of camping thru Scotland. so yes i understand the pull to greener fields. yet as i sit My best view is where I'm at now. i look at each day as a rare blessing. we live in interesting times with wonderful opportunities for bettering ourselves thru taking advantage of easy access to historical wisdom of the ages. I struggle with balancing time reading, teaching, nurturing myself and those around me to become slightly beter that their yesterday.  It takes effort and discipline to stay on the path, luckily i have wife and kids to remind me when i stray too far off the path. i pray you find peace/purpose  in your path soon. keep looking for the signs and follow them to a new adventure hopefully with a life partner that shares your yearning for something better than the day before. as for my setup I'm a short bicycle ride to Amish country, were surrounded by useful folks, live on 25+ acres with daughters on 25 & 65+ acres near by.. day job is one traffic light away and doesn't wear me out. if i ever win the lotto i might take up farming full time until the money runs out but that's another story.

Rinse for using containers over and over again procedure.  so many years in military and highly regulated industries has me thinking that a triple rinse is what you need to be sure contaminates are no longer a concern.  well that may be the case for sending a hazardous waste containers out for recycle but well I'm interested in making sure the glass milk jug is ready for other use without wasting further sterilization efforts.  so as to not waste well water, nor highly co-vetted heated well water nor needlessly introducing chemicals to the process, i would like to know what standard practices you do?  

My normal is to add 10% volume of container fresh water to jug, shake violently, dump add 5% volume and shake again, dump. then 10% and shake crazy random motions to get any left over spots and dump then figure it's clean enough for putting anything of value into the container for use...

what I would like to know am I lacking soap, bleach, vinegar, or some other step necessary to get a reasonable clean without introducing "bad stuff" to my septic system. granted I can travel to rural Mexico and drink the water without any ill effects, so my tolerance for stray pathogens may not be a realistic matrix for the rest of my family to be safe...   what are all of you doing to reasonably clean containers to prepare them for food storage?

Do you regularly do projects with other folks? As for me, father in law, son in law & my neighbor luckily have the same style, so it was easy to pick colors for maximum interchangeability.  Around here the most popular is green. It's not the best but good for doing light fixes at neighbors houses.  Next most likely to find is yellow where folks use tools in a slightly harsher environment.  Red is for folks that don't care what neighbors have. I have both green & red.

https://www.bitaddress.org/
make a few paper wallets,
transfer like $50 worth of bitcoin to each style
make at least 2 copies (write a name on them so you know which is which)
fold paper so private key is not showing
store in fireproof spot

Primary source is a well, other sources are gutters to rain barrels, and a spring fed 2 acre lake. Well needs 240v AC to operate, has un filtered/ no softener piped to outdoor hydrants & water softener & filters for general indoor use. The lake & rain barrels are for gardening, wildlife & such.

If you enjoy drawing, take a sketch pad or maybe a book to read to the local dog park and sit on a bench, a dog will find you and brighten your day, as a bonus they usually drag along their owner for a brief chat. 4-H has a great volunteer program in your county. Helping kids learn life skills is very rewarding. When I get the winter blues, doing physical activities helps, splitting wood, moving heavy objects, hiking, building fences.  Hang in there you just need to mix up your routine a bit to find something better for your soul. john

search Youtube for air lift pumps, or tiger air lift pump for examples. Basically you take long water up hose and attach a 2-3 foot pvc pipe with end cap on it with some stilts on its side to let water in (large sediment rock filter pickup tube). The long water hose needs to be long enough to get to bottom of well and have an air line running along side it.  On the top half of the pvc pipe, above where the water intake slits, you will need to pipe the air line into the side of the pvc pipe. The airline makes bubbles inside the column of water in the long water pipe creating upward current. The current is eventually enough to raise the water to the surface. This system it quite tolerant of sediment and particulate that normally chews up standard submersible well pumps. note the water coming out the top will at first be quite muddy and full of bubbles because the pump usually stirs up the bottom of the well when started up. normal use for this system is in areas that wells are not real clean and the water is pumped into a non pressurized holding tank, like an open livestock water tank. these pumps are not as energy efficient as standard pumps but durable in harsh conditions.

my setup for a sump area is an 8" ball float on a vertical threaded metal rod running thru a plastic pipe. The plastic pipe is the guide for the float rod controller setup. The plastic guide pipe is clamped in place so it doesn't wiggle.  Near the top of the threaded rod a large washer (about 4 inches diameter is held in place with nuts) as the water level goes up and down the washer rises up and down. When water is near top of tank the washer hits a proximity switch which turns on the sump pump. As the water level goes down the washer bottoms out hitting a switch that turns the pump off. Yes a clever person could rig up similar system with cheaper common house 3 way light switches, but i used commercial switches As for making sure the system doesn't over flow the cistern rig up a float switch in the cistern to only power the well when level is low. I like to keep the electricity out of the water all together so you don't have to rely on water tight fittings/barriers.

about 15years ago, cousins of mine ran missionary hospitals in Sierra Leone area used 1980's land rover 2.5  non turbo diesel and also had a Toyota land cruiser of similar age in gasoline. parts were easier to find since locals had them and they proved to be resilient to the environment. be aware of your surroundings while making roadside repairs cousin had a strange feeling while changing a tire and turned to find a lion sneaking up on him. he and his wife decided to wait in the car until the lion left later that evening. best advice I can give to you is see what the locals are driving (not the rich folk) because they will know what is frugal to maintain in the area. the small Toyota pickups were becoming popular about the time they were rotating back to USA.

Jane Meyers wrote:I like the idea 0f the bucket trap. I wonder if the mice have to climb up the outside of the bucket to get to the plank it seems that they could climb up the inside to get out just as easily to get out.  What am I missing? JCT

The mice bucket filled with 4" water makes them drown. The bucket with bird seed on bottom keeps them fed till you walk them to another location. I place my bucket next to a place where mouse can easily walk a short board to the top...  
You can place ramp with small snacks on it to encourage mice traffic to the magical bucket relocater device...

Hope this helps you find home for wayward mice