Taking a Break...

 to let my sewing machine cool down.  Just kidding, but it has been in nearly constant use for a few days.  Each of my six grands has a 'Grandma Made' rag type quilt, as does the first great grand.  So it is only fitting that the second great grand has one too.  It should be finished in a day or so.  There are also several quilt tops that need to be finished and turned into usable, warm quilts.  I hear the winter promises to be long and cold.

I have also taken a break from canning and dehydrating, mainly because I simply have no space left in my little apartment to stack any more food in jars without being in danger of tripping over them.  However, I am still stacking foods like rice and oatmeal and pasta.  And I am filling in gaps in my medicine chest.

I suppose I could go on another rant, but there are so many things happening right now that it might be hard to pick one.  I think I will just keep an eye on what is happening and continue to get ready for when the insanity comes to my town.  As far as I can tell, there is no stopping the left from working overtime to tear our country apart.  I can't stop them.  But I can do my best to be ready for them.

Until then, I will enjoy the sunny fall day, continue to sew like crazy and pray while doing so.

Pray and prepare, my friends.  Pray and prepare.

PS...

I just took the time to watch 'Appalacian Homestead with Patara.'  In this video, she says what the rest of us are thinking.  It is well worth your time.

Farmers! Veterans! Elderly! Abused! Used! Displaced! - YouTube

  

Coming Up For Air

 Contrary to popular belief, I haven't fallen off the edge of the earth.  I have just been busy.

Ten lbs. of onions have been dried.  My son stopped at a small Farmer's Market on the other side of town and brought me a few carrots, cucumbers and tomatoes.  I sliced the cukes, sprinkled them with coarse salt and dehydrated them.  I had done this once before and liked the flavor of them as a snack.

I still have the carrots and plan to shred them to use in making a few loaves of carrot bread.  Haven't decided to use the recipe that calls for raisins or the one that has crushed pineapple.  I am leaning toward the one with pineapple.

The tomatoes were a delight.  It has been a long time since I had home grown tomatoes.  They reminded me of a time as a young girl when Dad and I would grab a salt shaker from the kitchen and head for the tomato patch in the garden to eat our fill of fresh tomatoes.  One of the simple pleasures in life is a tomato sandwich for lunch.

My groceries will be delivered tomorrow.  So far I have received everything I have ordered, but not always the brand ordered.  The choices are becoming limited as far as brands go.  I am having to cut back on the size of my orders due to skyrocketing prices.  Frozen chicken breast has gone from a little over $3 per pound to over $5 per pound.  My delivery guy tells me about a few bare shelves that once held items I don't buy.  I am grateful to have shelves full of home canned meat that was put up well before inflation hit us so hard.

I believe those who have ignored what is happening around us are going to have a much tougher time as the food shortages increase and prices continue to climb.  Especially those like me who can no longer plant a garden or raise meat animals.  If they are just now realizing what we have known all along, they are nearly out of time and it will be way more expensive to buy the food they need.  

I am off to work on finishing a quilt for my new Great Grand.  I want to get as much done on that as possible before my groceries arrive.  The order includes a boneless ham to dice and can in half pint jars for adding to dishes like scalloped potatoes or to use as sandwich meat, and potatoes and celery to dehydrate.

It would be so easy to say "I told you so" to those who haven't prepared, but as tempting as that might be, I think they could use prayer more than ridicule.  Continue to prepare.  Continue to pray.  Keep on stacking. 

Get It Done

 Does anyone else feel the need to get things done before our world falls apart? 

I am not in panic mode just yet.  But I feel as though if I don't do what needs to be done, it could very well be too late.  

I have onions in the dehydrator to be followed with dehydrating cooked rice to make instant rice.  

The pieces for my great grandson's quilt are cut out and pinned together, ready to sew.

I have acquired enough canning jars to clean out my freezer and can as much as possible before freezer burn sets in and before storms cut off our electricity as they sometimes do.  We have thunderstorms summer and fall and blizzards in the winter, both of which have been known to knock out the power.  Thankfully, tornado season is nearly over without much damage.

I try to keep up here but I can make no promises.  Those in the side bar are better at posting regularly  than I am.  Sorry.  That is just the way it is.  When a person moves at the speed of a turtle, it takes time to do what needs doing.

Keep stacking it high and work on those chores you have been putting off.  I really do hope I am wrong and soon we will be frolicking through fields of daisies.  But I have my doubts.  So I work as hard as I can.

Keep preparing.  Keep praying.  We need all the help we can get.   

Busy

 Today was a busy day.  My groceries were delivered this afternoon.  Part of the order was frozen vegetables.  Carrots and corn are in the dehydrators.  Tomorrow green beans and mixed vegetables will follow.  After that there are 10 lbs. of onions to dry.

9 lbs. of chicken breast are thawing to be canned tomorrow.  9 lbs. of hamburger will follow.

I was able to get 2 cases of pint jars this time.  A year ago the jars would have cost me under $10 per case.  Today I paid $18 per case.

A year ago my entire order would have been under $150.  My bill today was $352.

Looks like I am going to have to cut back on my food orders if I want to pay my rent.

And that is precisely what those in DC - the ones who don't give a rodent's behind about the people who put them there and who pay their salaries - want.

Well, guess what.  I will not slow down.  I will not give in or give up.  I will find ways to keep preparing anyway.  We didn't get to be this old by being stupid.

Brandon and Company - stick that in your pipe and smoke it.

Take time...

to stop and smell the roses or the coffee or whatever pleases you.

Everywhere we look, we see warnings about what the 'elite' are doing to gain complete control over the rest of us.  And they seem to be doing just that.  High gas prices.  Rising grocery prices.  Shortages of products needed by farmers to provide the rest of us with food.  Hoards of illegal aliens washing over our borders like a tidal wave.  The list is endless.

Many of us who are preparing to keep our families fed during whatever disaster or plandemic happens next, are feeling like time is running out.  And we are wearing ourselves out doing everything possible to stay afloat.  This can lead to burnout or feeling like our efforts are not enough to make a difference.  And here is where taking time for rose and coffee sniffing comes in.

We need to take time to enjoy whatever makes us happy.  In my case, a morning spent with a daughter, a granddaughter and a couple of great grands provided me with enough 'happy' to last a while.

My grocery delivery this coming Thursday includes chicken breast and hamburger to be frozen until I can find enough jars to can it. And a variety of frozen vegetables to dehydrate. But until then, I am thoroughly enjoying myself with sewing a quilt for the young gentleman with all that dark hair. :)

We have enough bad stuff going on. And we will keep on doing our best for our families.  But now and then, we need to take time to enjoy whatever makes us happy.  Sometimes we get so wrapped up in preparing that we forget we still have lives to live.

Those who keep trying to make us miserable are going to hate the fact that even after they do their dirty deeds, we are still happy in our faith, our families and with life in general.

Go sniff a rose.

Let the Stacking Continue

 Everywhere I look - particularly on the preparedness and homesteading YouTube channels - the main theme is to continue stacking food and supplies to the rafters.  I don't pay too much attention to the ones who spend time trying to sell me freeze dried food or to the ones peddling the gear they say I can not live without.  I have no notion of being the next Rambo.  Nor do I have the funds to buy over priced food.

So what I do is figure out what I need to feed my family and what I need to take care of emergencies.

Canning jars are still scarce, but the guy who delivers my groceries every two weeks has promised to bring me jars when available.  So before prices go much higher, I am buying frozen chicken breast, hamburger and ham to freeze now and can later.  A variety of frozen vegetables are on the list for dehydrating, along with onions, carrots and potatoes.  Each grocery order includes staples like sugar, flour, pasta, rice, oatmeal, tuna, Spam, and a variety of canned foods, depending on what is on sale that week.

Contrary to popular belief, it is possible to build up a food storage pantry without completely wrecking the budget.  We are living in perilous times and it doesn't look like things will change any time soon.  

If you believe that nothing bad will ever happen and even if it does, it won't happen in your back yard, you are delusional.  And if you believe the government will help you in times of trouble, you are sadly mistaken.  Who do you suppose is responsible for the state of affairs in our country today.

If you can, buy food.  History has shown that starvation has killed millions of people.  In case you have forgotten, here is a reminder.

"How Much is Enough? The Seige of Leningrad."

Keep prepping.  Keep praying.  We are on our own.

No You Are Not!

 I have been busy.  What was once my bedroom is now a store room for my food storage and supplies.  And it was an unorganized mess.  And because it was an unorganized mess, I found I was ordering more of some items I needed and not enough of others.  And at the rate grocery prices are increasing, I just can not afford to spend needlessly.

Due to physical limitations, it has taken me a considerable amount of time to set things to rights, but most everything is now in containers or on shelves, sorted and labeled.  I now know that I need to get another 25 lbs. of rice and that I have enough cans of tomatoes for now.

I still need to do some organizing of the large shelves that hold my home canned foods.  I have three sets of shelves, each about 6 ft. high, 4 ft. wide and 2 ft. deep - six shelves on each unit.  Two units are in my store room and one unit is in my living room.  All are full of food in jars.

Here is where the title of this post comes in.

Many of you know that I have home health care nurses that come to my home three days a week to do what is necessary to keep my lower legs as healthy as possible.  At one time I was hospitalized for two weeks due to open sores and draining fluid on my lower legs.  Thanks to the nurses, that problem has not reoccurred.

I usually have one nurse to deal with, but lately a second nurse arrives on Wednesdays, to give the regular one a break, I suppose. This past Wednesday a nurse arrived that I had never seen before.  When she finished her duties, she got up to leave.

The store room door is close to the entry-exit door in my kitchen.  I keep the store room door shut so visitors, with the exception of family, can not see what I have in that room.  When I saw the nurse was reaching for the store room door, I told her she needed to use the other door.  But instead of stopping, she went ahead, opened the store room door, took a good look around and said, "Oh my!  You sure do have a lot of food in here.  If things get bad, I'm just going to come here."  To which I replied, "NO YOU ARE NOT!!"

I am completely amazed at how many people, at least in my area, are completely clueless as to what is happening around them.  And the mindset that others will be happy to take care of them when they are too lazy to prepare for themselves, is astonishing.

There was a time when I thought that I would help people other than my family, but that time has past.  The question has to be, which one of my grandchildren should I let go hungry in order to feed someone who couldn't be bothered to do for themselves. Not gonna happen.

Prepare.  Pray.  If you are paying attention, you know it is getting worse every day.  And we are on our own.