Homestead time.

Finally am not in limbo an able to share my life again. For a good long while I had to be very mum about things because we were trying to get moves in place and ready on our time frame rather than due to the choices of others.

We are now the happy owners of over 20 acres in North East Washington State. We are within spitting distance of the canadian border. We have pasture and timber. We are withing a few hunderd yards of a large lake. We have a pond. The house is smaller and one story making things much easier on me. We are finally able to really homestead. Grow and raise and make and be. I get to put my knowledge to use. I get to improve my health. I get to get back to writing. My girls are in schools with only 400 kids. The nearest town where they go to school has a population of 3000. It's awesome. So look forward to some posts on my new chapter. I plan to explore so much. Making my own soaps and body products due to my chem sensitivity, growing a garden, canning it all, hunting more, shooting more. Very excited.

The Steel Anniversary!

We are about to celebrate our 11th anniversary. Very weird to realize it has been so long. I love him more every day. He spoils me rotten. We have been very lucky to grow together rather than apart as we have gone through our 20's and are entering our 30's. Anyway the gift this year is Steel. I asked for a collapsible baton and a fixed-blade knife. Yeah I  have become that woman. Luckily JW thinks it is hot hehe. Now I am trying to figure out what to get him. He wants a new bi-pod but I like doing fun things too. I want something unique. Survival minded. Ideas? He never reads this so no worries there. Come on y'all help a girl out.

Nifty app!

So my lovely smart phone ate it. The water bath contributed but it was being finicky anyway. So on to replacing it. Had to download all my apps again. While meandering in app land I discovered the U.S. Survival guide app. Same nifty guide now on my phone. Knots. Poisons. First Aid. Soooo cool.

So if you are a geek like me what apps do you adore? Find any that help in your survival prep/ gun love?

Making a list and checking it twice!

Okay. My guy is a hard worker. When we are in prep he works 50 a week. When he is tunneling he can work a whole lot more. We have had years where he was lucky to have 10 days total off the entire year. As this job is behind I imagine that will be the case here soon. So unless he is in a frame of mind where he isn't recovering from the work I leave him be on discussing bigger things. This past weekend he was cleaning. He does that when I have been especially sick. This included reorganizing his side of our bedroom. (I swear aliens move in, I stay far far away.) He also repacked his gobag. This gave me the perfect opening to say that I would like to add bags for all of us, discuss a family meeting place out of the city, and I think a get home bag for him is in order. Once again I was surprised to learn he had pretty much everything in his truck to get home except a decent gun and the reason for that is his project is such as it is that weapons are prohibited and vehicles are searched. Other items are prohibited as well. I didn't know that. You learn every day right. So we are planning out our bags. Woohoo.

I have also come to a bit of a realization. Yes I am slow on some of these at times. My FMS has me on 2 meds currently. Part of the problem for most with FMS is sleep. We don't. If we do we don't do it deeply enough to get that good healing sleep. I went to the doctor to discuss my recent after camping flare and my sleep. My usual plan had been Tylenol PM several nights a week. Can't be healthy. I wanted to see what I could do to improve my sleep medicinally that wouldn't completely knock me out. I need to be able to get up because Monkey still wakes sometimes. She had no idea. So I had Hubby pick up a "natural" sleep pill. It is a blend of herbs and such that are all supposed to help induce sleep. They do nothing for me so far. But it did get me thinking. I need to keep this search up. When SHTF I need ways to help with my sleep and my pain without meds. Gracie actually uses an oil and thinks it might help me. That would be something to look into using and making myself. I would also like to know how to help my husband with his pain. I have a pretty good herbal medicine book but I think I need a couple more. Some specific to pain and FMS, a book on making my own oils, a book with pictures to help with identification of herbs.

I have also decided that since I can't realistically stockpile food here as this is a horrid location if SHTF I want to look into seed storage. Now that the boys have told me a where I can plan to that and store things I know we can grow there. Also considering looking at an acre in that area. Just a small plot for simple storage purposes maybe. Prices are very low right now so it might be something to think about.


What have you found necessary in a gobag with children? Planning for Hubby and I is one thing and there are obvious needs for the girls that we would carry but what special needs might they have? I welcome your thoughts!

My Mountain Man Is Planning Away!

Recently the opportunity arose for us to purchase a Weekend Warrior FT 2200 in fabulous condition and 3 Suzuki Quads. A friend hit hard times and needed money fast and we had been discussing buying at least a pair of quads and the trailer to pull them for a while so it looked to be a good thing for all. So we got our ducks in a row and made sure it fit into the current budget. We pay a lot extra on our 2 debt items: Home and Auto, so it was something we were able to do much to mine and Hubby's surprise. (We have spent so much time on the building of credit and our personal survival stuff that I guess we never actually thought about a day when the hard work would pay off.) Anyway so Hubby and BIL go to pick up the purchases and bring them home and we have encountered an unforeseen issue. When we were buying I asked BIL what he figured weight was and his estimate was well within my tow range. HAHAHAHA....... Boys were a lot low on the weight so neither Hubby or my 4x4 have the tow strength needed. BIL has the capacity and with a little suspension help will pull it with ease so we will beef up his 3/4 ton. In my logical female way I threw out the thought. Since Our plan never really called for the big trailer but merely a cargo trailer why not sell it and buy the trailer we had planned. However once Hubby saw the WW and all its trimmings he decided it was much better in a SHTF moment. Kitchen, bathroom, and enough sleeping and storage space for a small family plus the mobility to flee. So the Plan it kit out BIL for now and the new save pile will be to upgrade either his or my truck so if and when we can tow it ourselves. If the worse were to happen my rig could get it there, it would just kill my rig to do it. I see his point, lol.

Emergency car kit

I went to a church meeting years ago where a woman was talking about what to put in an emergency car kit. I tend to believe this woman knows more about what is necessary then most, she survived a week trapped in her car in a blizzard. When she was found, her rescuer admitted they were no longer looking for a live person. She talked about what she had that helped her survive and what she wishedshe had that could have made a difference. So here is a list of things she keeps in each and every vehicle she and her family owns:

FIRST AID (very basic)
------------
BANDAID 25 ct $2.79
SOAP $1.29
ASPRIN 36 ct $3.99

MATCHES (WATERPROOF) $0.65
POCKET KNIFE OR UTILITY $1.65
FLASHLIGHT AND BATTERIES $1.76
SAFETY PIN $0.35
NEEDLE, THREAD AND BUTTON $2.00

TOILET PAPER 4 pack $1.89

SOLAR BLANKET (84x52) $1.99
HANDWARMERS 2 pack $2.31
RAIN PONCHO $1.39


FOOD SEALED
---------------

HARD CANDY $1.79
CRACKERS $2.50
JERKY 8 pack $3.99
GRANOLA BARS 10 pack $2.89
CANS WITH POP TOP 12 pack $2.50
WATER BAGS 2 gallon $3.85

CANDLE 5 pack $2.31

GARBAGE BAGS 30 pack $2.29
DRY SOCKS 5 pack $4.99
FOOD STORAGE BAGS 75 count $2.29


POSSIBLE ADD-INS
---------------------

JUMPER CABLES $7.70
DUCT TAPE $1.65
12 HOUR LIGHT STICKS $1.99
ICE PACK $0.80
METAL WHISTLE $0.99
TOW ROPE $ 1.65

MOST OF THESE PRICES WERE FOUND AT IPREPARE.COM
(Gracie in: this was also 7 years ago so prices have most likely changed, but I thought they still gave a rough idea.)

It seemed like a good idea at first

So yesterday Hubby and I went for a hike. Without the kids, there didn't seem to be a reason to attend the parade, small carnival or fireworks. We were feeling a bit sorry for ourselves so we decided to spend the day secluded in the mountains. We packed our backpacks will all the necessities plus a few things we didn't think we would need but you never know. One of those items was a raincoat for each of us.
We hiked for three hours up the canyon stopping on occasion to catch our breath or eat something. We were attempting to find a lake that was supposed to be at the top of the canyon. When we got to the top of the canyon, there was a sheer rock face with a beautiful waterfall. We were trying to decide if we were tired enough to turn back or if we wanted to go ahead and keep going over the rocks in hopes that the lake was there. The weather quickly decided for us. We were in a stand of trees when the thunder and lightning started. We turned around and started down. It was apparent we were going to need the raincoats so we stopped and put them on just as the rain started. We kept on traveling keeping an eye out for a rock overhang we could sit under just in case things got worse.
Things got worse. Soon the rain turned to hail. We found a shallow rock overhang that protected us from the ice, but poured water over us and quickly soaked our pants and shoes. We decided that wasn't a good idea and ran down the trail looking for something better. Soon the hail got BIG and I know we have a few bruises from it today. The average ball of ice was the size of a marble but some were bigger. Hubby and I were running as fast as we dared down the now slippery trail. Our poor dog was whining and yelping running as close to us as he could hoping we could protect him from the hail. We never did find anywhere to get out of the weather and just decided to get down the mountain as quickly as possible.
What took us 3 hours to hike on the way up, we traveled in one hour on the way down. 30 minutes of this we were pelted relentlessly with giant hailstones. The rest of the way we were walking through cold, icy slush that had formed on the trail. We ran along side the trail as much as possible but there were places we had no choice. Half way down the mountain we stopped to wash the rocks and mud out of our shoes and for Hubby to wring out his socks. By this time my feet were bleeding from wearing my wet sandals.
When we were almost back to the trailhead, I slipped and muttered a calm "Oh s%#*" as I tumbled head first into a wild rose bush. Hubby gave me a hand and we made our way, wet and cold to the jeep.
What started out as a nice hike turned into a real problem really fast. If we hadn't had our raincoats, we would have been in real trouble.

3 yr old survivor

This 3 yr old boy slipped away from his parents and wandered alone in the forest for 2 days. Searchers didn't think they would find him alive. What a tough little boy. Kids are so resiliant they almost scare me at times. He said he was on his way to see Grandma.