Clark Griswold and Other Holiday Cheer

Well November has come and almost gone so that only means one thing.... my favorite holiday! I have already seen some houses decorated in the festive joy of lights outside and Christmas trees in the living room windows. I actual was so enthralled with one house's display two nights ago that I passed the road leading to our neighborhood. All of this brings me to my buddy Clark. I can say that he's a kindred spirit in a way. I love to decorate the outside of the house and yard. I get a kick out of it because I know young kids like seeing the holiday lights and dream for December 25th. There will be no lighting the eaves of this house though as the roof pitch is about a 7 on 12. I have gotten smarter with age in some aspects and the thought of falling off of the roof is not very appealing. I will probably do the front porch, bushes in front, and lay lights in the yard. I have done the yard lighting before and it provides an alternative to the whole house scheme and looks cool to boot!
Now The Wife has an obsession with The Big Guy. I don't know what her Santa count is up (80?) to but I know it's a lot. She does a great job on the inside and this past weekend we got a few pieces from the thrift stores to add to our collection. Tree will be had this Saturday for the main room and she has her separate Gone With the Wind and Military trees. Santas will be everywhere! Maybe I should get fat too just in case?
The discussion has been going back and forth on whether we want to go north right after Christmas to visit and I am finally to the point of just staying home and having a quiet time with just us. I travel so much for my job now that the idea of traveling during that time is so unappealing. I just want to relax and watch the continual airing of A Christmas Story all day. Great movie, right up there with The Muppet Christmas Carol (a personal favorite.) I have seen previews to A Christmas Story 2 but it does not look appealing. I think we'll skip it.
We pretty much have the gifts needed picked out waiting for their purchase. Got to get some nuts and eggnog. And I may have a surprise for everyone this year :)
I'll get some pictures this weekend of the holiday congress at our home for you. Until then, remember to check all of the bulbs!

2013 Garden

Well, I finally have sat down and made out my seed list for the year of 2013. A work in progress for sure but pretty close to what I want.

Items in this color are new for me.

Tomatoes
Mortgage Lifer
German Johnson
Beefsteak
Large Red Cherry
Abe Lincoln
Amish Paste
Katja
Kosovo
Cherokee Purple


Peppers
California Wonder
Yolo Wonder

Peas
Sugar Ann Snap

Squash
Early Prolific Straightneck
Dark Green Zucchini

Carrot
Scarlet Nantes

Cucumber
Marketmore 76
Boston Pickling Improved

Misc.
Utah 52-70 Tall Improved Celery
Red Creole Onion
Texas Early Grano Onion
Yukon Gold Potato (I'll get these tubers from the big box store)

I did some searching last night and made this list primarily from a company called Sustainable Seed Company. They deal with heirloom seeds only so if I have half a mind I'll be able to save some from these crops for the following year. They also carry Safety Seed Packages if you're in to the Prepping thing. Maybe not a bad idea.  I have noticed a lot of the seed companies have started carrying these.

The standard plethora of herbs will be planted as well. Basil, Oregano, and Chives to name a few. I also have my packages of flower seeds I got at $0.10 a piece. And I have an idea about my cracking vegetables. I believe they have been getting too much sun. My beds are in an open field with no shade whatsoever. This year I will build a trellis over the beds to see if that will help. I also need to get a small building up near the beds so I don't have to trek stuff back and forth. And my cold frame construction has to start. A lot to do so it's good to plan now.

Watching Alaska; The Last Frontier right now. Decent show. I like seeing the landscapes. Maybe move there so day. Off to eat some ice cream and veg.

Happy

Thanksgiving from us to You.

We left the house Tuesday afternoon and headed to our destination with hopes in our hearts. Spent the night in a hotel. Left that morning to where we needed to be and with anticipation waited for our delivery. Not today we were told. Delayed! Ahhhh! Booked another hotel room and waited again.


It was definitely cold this morning, this day of Thanksgiving, but shared our warmth with others in the same situation.

Finally a sign.

Mother got the first hug, then the Grandparents.

Youngest boy got in too.

Turn in rifles and other gear.

The MUST picture by his banner that his girlfriend worked all night on!

And.......

The Oldest Boy is home from deployment from 'that' place.

Home

We haven't had turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, or anything. Our meal was McDonald's on the way home. Maybe we'll have something tomorrow.

Thanksgiving. We have a lot to be thankful this year. We're all together.

Hope you kids have a happy one too.

Next Year I Plan to Do.....

Well, this is something I have given a lot of thought about lately. We've settled in fairly well here at the homestead and now have a good handle on this house's energy usage (read: bills) plus other costs associated with keeping it up. So my plans for next year are,
1. Go through the entire house and see where we can insulate more. Insulation is the best money you can spend on your home in my opinion. Spend some up front but it pays dividends for a long, long time.
2. Programmable thermostat. I bought one and already have it programmed for the heating and cooling on the house. I need to change the settings a little more to make it more efficient for our needs but not to the point of huddling under blankets in the winter and sweating in the summer. Happy medium you would say. There are two bad parts to this house; the main living room and The Wife's bedroom have vaulted ceilings which are a pain to maintain a decent temperature in. This will hopefully change for one though but more on that another time.
3. Gutters. Why are gutters all of a sudden options on a house? Anyway I plan on installing a few sections of gutters so as to capture some rain water to use for the gardens. I can get some cheap barrels around town for next to nothing. Lowering the water bill.
4. Energy- efficient bulbs. These do help a lot and last a lot longer than the regular incandescent bulbs.
5. Greater variety on the garden and pay closer attention to it. I gets hard to watch it when I travel so much but I need to buckle down and stay on top of it. I am also going to try some direct planting in the ground to see if I can get anything to grow in this soil, maybe even by adding some dirt. I have a good idea on seed list but that's another post.
6. Tighter household budget. A big definite this coming year. Would like to stay more on top of this as well.

There are some more ideas and things I'd like to get accomplished next year. What brought this on? I picked up a copy of Mother Earth News today and did a brief skim through it it at lunch. Main headline- Guide to Self- Reliance and Country Skills, Winter 2012 issue. A lot of good ideas in it for sure. Plan on a good read this weekend.

Well, that's it for now. Exciting post coming up soon. Until then start planning! 

Secessioning, Prepping, and ing

OK. So now the petitions are circulating from at last count 22 states wanting secession from the United States of America, my state included. Really. Do they think this would turn out well? I made a big blurb about it on FB earlier and I will not bore you with it now. Let's just say that in my normal smart- ass way I think it is a waste of time. If you feel that bad about they way things are going, Mexico or Canada. Either way and you'll be happier. So will I.

Which brings me to prepping. New season starts this week and as part of my blurb I added the prepping theme into my post. What the hell, I'll put the post at the bottom. And if you haven't seen this show, check it out.

Gardening. Took some pictures of the garden today. Lettuce doing real good, more than we can eat actually. Had The Boy pick the remaining peppers so I can cut them up and freeze them when I get back in town. The red cabbage is growing albeit slowly as is the broccoli. All of the plants got a good freeze on them so time to pull out the remaining stuff except the cabbage and broccoli. Shoot, I also picked some carrots today. Not many as they didn't really seed right but they are good.

Mole-ing. I have a nice surprise for my resident moles. I looked for the poison worms by Tomcat but they don't ship or sell in NC I guess. So it is off to a more inhumane way to rid myself of these things. Let's just say it has spikes. I crushed down a lot of tunnels today to see which ones are active then I'll set it up.  They are doing a number on our yard. 

Election-ing. Now that the mess of electing our nation's leader is over I hope we move forward (and yes, I voted for him.) I am a Democrat but I am a very conservative Democrat. Probably a moderate Republican can also describe me but my Dad would turn over in his grave if he knew I switched sides. Never voted straight party ticket, never will. So now it is up to our congressional leaders to do their job, which is to work for us. I don't agree with everything President Obama has done and hopefully everyone up there can get their heads together and work this out with him. Just tired of the nonsense. 

Here's my famous/infamous FB post if you want to read it. Until next time get prepping kids. 

Now, we have all seen and/or heard about these petitions from numerous states wanting to secede/withdraw from the United States of America and start their own government. Here's mine from NC- https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/peacefully-grant-state-north-carolina-withdraw-united-states-and-create-its-own-new-government/rx1KDYTs 
OK, so you want to leave the USA and start The Independent Republic of North Carolina? Do the people "signing" these petitions actually know what the end result would be? Here in TIRoNC the "Government" can barely get out of it's own way and can't be trusted with the money they receive in the first place. Granted we do have a large number of military bases here so we should be safe for a while, available land for farming and livestock, we are starting to frack the hell out of the ground so hopefully natural gas will be plentiful (forget the regulations please; those get in the way), technology centers everywhere a

nd research parks out the wazzoo, and a diversified workforce with talents beyond recognition. I now see may taxes in the mid 40% range from now on, gasoline going to $15.00 a gallon, groceries rising by about 50%, my insurance disappearing since I won't be able to pay it, and my friends leaving to go to The USA! From 1950 to 1991 NC averages 14 tornadoes a year, and in that time frame there have been 12 hurricanes. Looks like I was low on my tax estimate. Good ole USA won't be helping us now. Or would it be an aid package? Hmmmm. Watched several episodes of Doomsday Preppers last night. Thought these people were a little on the crazy side but now I am starting to see their logic. I'm not going to be trying to save the family from solar flares, economic collapse (close though), the US Government taking my guns (which they might now), nuclear weapons or another rogue government trying to take us over (again which they might now since SC has their own petition.) I'm going to try to save the family from the people signing these petitions. Now I have to get a damn passport. And a word to the people of SC............ stay out!

Veterans Day

 

 

Vietnam, Afghanistan, Korea.

Thanks.

Winter's Coming.......

You know it is, there's no way around it. When I was a young lad I loved going outside in the snow, sleigh riding all day, snowball fights, and just plain goofing off. Anymore, if it hits 50 we're in blankets or our Snuggies on the couch.  After seeing some of the pictures from my old home state, I am somewhat glad I am where I am now.

That's a picture of the WV Turnpike. Pain in the Ass road to drive anyway but no way I'd want to be there now. And I'm always kidding The Wife that we are going to retire to Alaska. I suppose if you lived there you'd get used to it. I'm kidding. 

Now if it snows here where we live now, look out! Pandemonium (had to Google that word) will ensue. Being from the northern climes we can drive in snowy conditions but the southern folk can't at all. Plus the highway departments aren't really equipped to deal with anything more than a couple of inches. More than that call off work because you're not getting there. For days. When I first hired in to the company I work for, a couple of the other project managers told me that the year before they were coming back from a job site when a freak ice storm hit. They were stranded on the highway for 6 hours before getting out and walking to a friends house, kids had to stay overnight at their schools, and the city basically shut down for 4 days. 

So winter is coming. Last year it was pretty mild but I think we're going to get hit several times this year. Time for that generator! We know Sandy has made a mess of things up north so hopes for everyone up there! It's coming kids!

On the vehicle front. So The Wife and I voted this past Saturday morning to get that out of the way and I say afterwards "Let's go down to that Ford dealership and take a look around before I head to Raleigh and trailer that POS back to the house. Your car's transmission feels like it is going to go, the Neon is down and The Oldest Boy is taking the truck. We need to do something." So down we go looking around the lot. Sat in a Taurus, but from outwards appearances it seems big until you get inside (we are back seat people as The Youngest Boy is 6'-2" at 14 so we have to take him into consideration on the vehicle purchase) and then it was cramped. Same for the Escape. Then we looked at the new Fusion. Nice. Roomy. So we talked to the sales guy for a few minutes before I had to leave to get the previously- mentioned POS. We told him we'd be back. Well, first of all we didn't go back. After I got the Neon taken care of we cruised down to another dealership to take a look at some opposing vehicles to get a better idea of what's out there. Steered The Wife away from the Mini Vans (Lame) so we tried out a Charger. Nice. Then a Chrysler 200. Nice but not as nice as the Charger. Then for shits and giggles we tried a Dodge Ram 1500 crew cab. Really Nice. Quiet, roomy, big, mean looking......

But we ended up with the Charger. You didn't think I'd get the truck? It also had a BIG price tag! This thing is roomy, has a cool key fob thingy that I always play with, and The Wife likes it which is the main thing. It costs money but we'll drive the wheels off of it before we look again. The Taurus has 147,000 miles on it so come on! And The Oldest Boy now tells me he's not taking my truck, he's buying his own car. So I get to keep my truck and all is well. We'll give him the Taurus to use as a trade in on whatever he wants. 

On a sadder note a young boy was hit by a van not more than 2 miles from our house trying to get on the school bus in the morning. He went to the same school as The Youngest Boy. The family had no means to pay for his funeral so a fund was set up to help the family cover these costs. An initial goal was $7,000.00 which, believe it or not, is the basic cost of a funeral. I posted the link on FB and had several of my friends donate as well as us. http://www.indiegogo.com/adamkempf?c=home The $7,000.00 was surpassed within a day and a half so any more contributions are being setup for other families that are in the same situation. It is called The Adam Kempf Memorial Fund http://www.indiegogo.com/AdamKempfMemorial. We can only imagine the family's grief during this time, to lose a son at such a young age. Donate if you can. 

:(