Rest

I'm resting the rest of the week. The injuries have gotten the best of me. How many of us have enough people to cover their chores. Can you survive if your chores don't get done for 6 months.??

How do your crops get planted if your legs are broke.

Darkness

I tried going 5 days with no manufactured lighting.

I made candles with deer fat; disgusting smell. Living in the woods and having no lights is way more challenging than I thought. I suggest everyone buy those crank up flashlights. I'm getting 15 hopefully they will last 15 years.

Trudging along

Tonight's hot showerWorked on inside of the windows today and got the door st . Still have to fill in above the door. Did more work on the little storage shed/deer stand. I may actually finish that task tomorrow. Got the giant tire moved to lot 1 and the 2 cans of composting pooh as well . I keep letting them get too full. The worms were added to them today so they will be compost next spring. Good for asparagus and tomatoes and basil.also did some clean up. Tomorrow is supposed to be nice like today. So it should be a good work day. Tonight's hot shower was well earned.

Ha ha

The first coat of paint is on the cabin. 2 coats of sealant on the porch and the stairs and n the outside table. Also one coat of sealant on what is known as the Texas stand. Checked the property markers today and got them marked so we can see them easier. Also tried to move stuff from the old cabin to the new cabin I was not successful. The giant tractor tire is way too heavy for this old man. Moved a few other things garden tools and such and did a little general cleanup. Still going to relax tomorrow and get back to work on Saturday.

Tired

Starting to wind down. Should have the first coat of barn red on the entire cabin today and a second coat of sealant on the porch. I still have to insulate the North Gable and put

the outer board on. That should be done next week I hope. Two windows and a door will be installed later this week or early next week depending on weather. I don't know if I will purchase the second door before the end of summer. I will be going home in mid-November and will then spend the winter trying to recuperate and plan for our cabin completion next summer. This has been quite an experience a lot more work than I expected and a lot harder than I ever imagined. I do not suggest anybody try this alone. If you are going to have a bug out location that includes buildings and not campers then get your act together get your gear together get your friends together and get it done. Have a great day.

&:@;"/:;)&?!!!-/Paint

Started the second coat today. Doing the East wall first because its the highest and hardest. Half done with it , I want some lunch.

Paint

Got the primer on in the sealant on the the deck and the table on the deck. Early in the afternoon on Sunday so I am going to change clothes and go fishing. Actually hate painting in the east wall is so high off the ground because of the hill it was very uncomfortable being on the ladder all day yesterday. Today I just had to do the sealant on the deck and the deck table framing and stairs. With all the work this is been so far painting is what I hate the most.

Gettin there

More painting

The cabin walls are now Primed. Will wait 48 hours before mor painting so the stuff has time to cure.again this was more work than I imagined because of the need for the Ladder. Everything so far has been tougher than I planned. I'm glad I cheated and used a chainsaw for the clearing work. 

Folks , if building a location is in your plans U really need help getting it done. I think a BOL is needed for many city/ suburb dwellers but if you've  got family that lives in the country; turn them into Prepping Allies. Because my way to do this sucks.

Learning

Can U guess what has been the most important lesson so far this summer ? 

Time. It takes a lot more time and energy to build without help and major powere tools than I could imagine.if U plan to seek a survival retreat or shelter-in-place be prepared to work 16 hours a day just to squire food and provide security and do repairs. That's in good weather. When winter comes and you need more firewood or U have to grind more grain, are U tough enough???

Working

Trying to frame the gables and start the painting. Also the never- ending tree clearing. Cutting trees down is easy, cleaning them up and cutting them up ; sucks. It's cold this morning 38 , and I am wearing boots and long pants . 

Muddy day.

To muddy and wet to get much done today. Cleaned up the porch. Built new workbench inside the cabin and hung up some tools. Cleared some brush this afternoon. Chopped up some downed trees with the saw.  Now I get to make wood piles with all the cut wood. Yay. I did frame for one AC unit and need to frame for the other one tomorrow. We will have AC. When we get to hot and have access to fuel.

Stupid paint

Started painting around windows and door spaces yesterday. When using water based paint and U only have 24 hours before it might rain; don't paint. 

I will work on the stairs and railings tomorrow if the rain quits. I am not going to try any more painting until I have 48 hours of dry in the near future. 

Babies

How to handle a baby in a BOL. Going to cloth diapers and breast feeding. How many cloth diapers do we need?? Should Mom breast feed for 1 or 2 years.? These are interesting/ challenging questions. 

I will get back to work on closing in the cabin next week. I think I'm pretty well recovered from the exhaustion and heart trouble. I have to close in the high and low eves. Then caulk and prime everything, Yay. Then windows and doors, more Yay.

Most would consider getting help to be great but on this project I have had to redo a lot of things the Help Did. Good intentions little skill. This slows me down and my inability to do some things like I used too has caused me to redo many of the things I've done.

My niece had a baby boy this afternoon.

That is great. She and he are doing well. I get to take care of my Great niece for a couple days . She is seven and tons of laughs.

May all of you have a say as nice as this .

Camping time

Boots

There was a redwing boot company van out here in the Tinytown today. I went down to the truck ,I bought three pairs of boots. How many pairs of boots is a good number one we're expecting long-term goof up in the world. I now have three pairs of high quality very cold weather boots three brand-new pairs of heavy leather workboots four pairs of summerweight boots that I got back in the Desert Storm three of those pairs are brand-new and have never been worn.. I have had trouble convincing the Empress that she too needs good workboots and good rubber boots besides sneakers. How do you convince women to buy shoes they don't want?. I never thought there was such a thing as shoes they don't want. I must be an idiot.

Pain management

Working out all the problems of being bugged out is brought to my attention pain management. I suffer from something called cluster headaches. They are very debilitating and the pain is just downright amazing .They normally only occur for a couple of months of year and I have meds for them. What do you do when the meds aren't available. Normally these headaches come between the months of January and June that has been the cycle for the last 18 years before that they would happen anytime they wanted ,well with a recent heart attack issue and my exhaustion level. I have seem to have activated them again. So now I am out here dealing with these headaches and no meds. What are you going to do for your chronic conditions or even acute conditions that may occur if you do not have access to a 24 hour pharmacy.

Resting again

If anyone has ideas on how to build a really nice stone fireplace that functions also as an oven I would appreciate them I do not want a big one. I am visiting my niece is here in Wichita and I am taking a rest helping with mowing the grass in little housecleaning as she is due to have the baby on the seventh which is next Monday. I am also processing the two deer that my nephew shot last weekend. Lots of cutting bagging and grinding. I'm having a good time in when I get back I have a camp out for our local prepping group at Fall River lake. That should be interesting as I will get to meet new people. I started the group in June and it has grown to 67 people so far. I'm hoping at least half come to the camp out. We will have Emergency shelter building demonstrations and fire making demonstrations.