Mmm...Beaver Butt!

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Frosty morning, smoke billowing out of our pipe.

Figured out a little bug today. Since I have a computer with Internet Explorer 8, which is outdated, that is why I have not been able to use the "compose" part of Blogger. I have had to write the last few posts in HTML mode. Luckily, I know that language.

Thinking outside the box, I decided to give Blogger a try in my trusty Firefox browser. Low and behold, it works perfectly. Go figure, almighty Google (owner of Blogger) has screwed itself with it's own browser.

But anyway...


So, something new on the blog here. Might not interest many of the usual crowd (are you three still reading?) but it is teaching me a thing or two so I thought I would include it here. It's called Eating Healthy.

I know, I know. B.O.R.I.N.G...right? But, if most of  you are preppers, survivalists, homesteaders, farmers and the like, this is important stuff. As you MAY have noticed in some of my YouTube videos, I'm a rather LARGE guy. At 6'3" I have been weighing in at 290lbs for a few years now.

Do I like being this big? Of course not. But like many others out there, I've just kind of...given up. With the constant stress of full time school, full time family and full time work (and I should add full time debt because it is a huge source of stress) I just finally felt like the excuse of not having enough time to devote to health was valid. Sprinkle in a little guilt if I spent time away from family at the gym and I just didn't want to do it at all.

Until now.

I care about my family and my future. I want to live a long, healthy life and enjoy grandchildren and great-grandchildren so I've decided to make a change. Some of this is brought on by the discomforting inability to breathe after a simple short walk. Some of it due to comments or actions by people close to me (like a guy that keeps poking me in the belly as if to say "Dude, that thing is huge!) But for the most part, the change I am making is due to two things:

1) a really great friend who is helping me learn how to eat properly

and

2) I am finally in an environment where I can eat healthy.

Let me explain just a little. You're all intelligent people so I won't babble too much on this but...

We all know greasy, fried food is bad. We all know high fructose corn syrup and sweets can cause diabetes. Yet, we eat it. Mostly for convenience. Working the night shift for the past 8+ years has been my excuse for eating fast food every night. Well, there's nothing open at 3am besides greasy fast food joints, right? Or Circle K. So for years, I indulged in burgers and fries, tacos and burritos, you get the picture. Oh, and Dr Pepper by the gallons.

So now, with the help of a good friend of mine 1000 miles away and my new job which has a terrific cafeteria and a plethora of options, I'm taking it one meal at a time and getting healthy. I take a picture of every breakfast and lunch and send it to my friend via text message (with a picture). I describe what I am eating and he drills down about how bad it all is. Seriously. What I thought wasn't so bad, man. He's opening my eyes to stuff I didn't even think about.

As I've begun to learn things about food, glycemic index, GMO and raw foods, I thought maybe some of you could benefit. But since it's not the usual homesteading topic, I'll simply drop a blurb on here that I posted something new and link to it on a side page of this blog. Like I did my Farm Critters topic. The first one is live, read it on the Eating Healthy page. It's good information albeit NOT from professionals and is sprinkled with humor between to buddies.

Because, after all, if we're serious about getting prepared for the trouble that certainly seems to be heading our way thanks to our government leaders, we not only need to be prepared with food, water, medicine, weapons, and the like...but we also need to be in good enough shape to handle day to day activities like chopping wood, hunting game, household chores, outdoor chores and just plain playing around with our children.

Hope it helps.

~OJD

Gear for the Trip

Posts like this always remind me to keep the essentials on hand. A few things worth having around: a portable camp stove, a durable cooler, and a compact first aid kit.

Our First Country Problem: Rodents Attacked Our Food Storage

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Rodent damage to our Hard White Wheat bags.

Having lived in the city for the last 21 years, we have had to deal with ants, roaches, spiders, and noisy crickets. Never once did we have to deal with a rodent problem and likewise never had to defend our plentiful food storage.

In 2010, we constantly bought as much food storage as we could afford. I was working the equivalent of two jobs and we were lucky enough to pack away a year's worth of food for our family of eight. That was no small accomplishment.

We proudly displayed it on our kitchen loft for many months until a SurvivalBlog article got me to thinking "Maybe I shouldn't make this public knowledge." Some strategically placed cutouts turned our kitchen loft into a nice hidden cache. I found work lockers to be another great place to store additional food and put up a good 30-40 cans of soup there.

Another food storage casualty.

So our food storage had been safe...until now. When we packed up our food storage to relocate to northern Arizona, I made a great score in finding a DAILY discarding of big, wide meat boxes from our local Walmart butcher. These boxes held a ton, had nice notches for handles on the sides and were very sturdy. Before I returned from my Oklahoma journey, Wifey had packed 117 boxes with the help of the girls.

The food storage we bought in #10 cans was still in it's original boxing. The rest of our food storage was packed in mylar bags with oxygen eaters courtesy of our local LDS Cannery.  We packed hundreds of these mylar bags in boxes from Walmart and lugged them north. Little did I know, field mice were on standby, waiting for our arrival...and the handy little handle holes on the side of each box meant INSTANT ACCESS for our new friends.

They got several rice bags.

I also didn't know that mice would chew right through our cardboard boxes to get to our powdered milk.  Even the mylar bags proved no barrier for their little nibblers. We discovered tragedy today when we were looking through boxes for handles to add to the little girls' clubhouse wall. There they were, plain as day...mouse turds, all over the inside of the box.

As we began moving boxes away from the wall, the horror became more clear. They had chewed through the cardboard on several boxes and contents were spilled out onto the floor. We've been here three weeks and today we pulled 21 mylar bags aside that had holes in the bags.

So we spent half of our Sunday, which was very enjoyable up to this point, taking food storage out of cardboard boxes and putting them into home depot buckets and plastic boxes with secure lids.

Our question now is: "What do we do with the damaged items?" Do we have to throw it away? Some bags have such small holes in them that it seems hardly large enough to squeeze a rice grain through it. Having worked so hard to save up the money AND bag it all ourselves, I'm hoping somebody can tell me how to save this stuff. I guess the worst case scenario would be to feed it to chickens, once we get some more.

Besides the rice, we also lost:

All these bags have tiny little holes in them ranging from the large ones I imaged at the top of this post to little bitty holes only big enough for one grain of rice to slip through. So, are any of these salvageable? Should we dump them out and sift it for rodent feces to see if the bag got contaminated? Can we make the powdered milk and boil it or something to make it safe to drink?

I hope it's not all wasted.

~OJD

Preparedness Gear Worth Having

Posts like this always remind me to keep the essentials on hand. A few things worth having around: a hand-crank emergency radio, a battery jump starter pack, and an emergency food supply bucket.

Our First Winter in Northern Arizona

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Finished Halloween decorations today.

I have been REALLY looking forward to a cold winter. For a few months, I thought it was going to be a cold Oklahoma winter. Instead, we're going to enjoy a snowy white winter in northern Arizona. I...can't...wait!

It is already getting pretty chilly in the evenings. I still sneak a few windows open before bedtime to cool the bedroom off. Of course, as soon as Wifey figures it out, she lets out a harumpf and promptly closes them.

Jade, our German Shepherd, is enjoying the new home the most. Back in the Valley, she was cooped up in a standard issue, cookie cutter neighborhood backyard.  Now, she has 2.5 acres to run crazy on.  As I right this, she is on the back acreage pouncing through the tall native grass playing with our neighbor's dog. I think he's a Basinji judging by the curly-Q tail and coat he is wearing. Did I mention he has a shock collar around his neck? Yup, it shocks him whenever he gets too close to his fence. His owner buried a hot wire just under the dirt to deter him from...doing exactly what he is doing now. I'm guessing there is a hole in the fence AND an area of no hot wire. But they are having a blast and I enjoy watching them play.

R to L: firewood & kids' clubhouse, fire pit, garage.

This property is a dream come true. It has just enough of the major projects done to give us a running start. The three car garage is fully insulated but not dry walled. Wifey has already started converting the extra room on the end of the garage into her craft room. I mean, why not, the walls were already painted pink.

There's a fire pit in place and we've used it several times already. There are log rounds ready to be split and I stacked a full rack of wood that was already split by the previous tenants. I spent a few hours last Sunday splitting some wood. I REALLY enjoyed it. I picked up an old double-edged axe from an antique store in Oklahoma during my stay out there. It needs to be sharpened for sure but it works. I actually look forward to cutting more. Something tells me I better hurry up before there's snow on the ground.

I chose to stack the wood by the kids' clubhouse (another bonus left here by the owners)  because I'm pretty sure that I read somewhere that if you stack it next to the house, I would be inviting termites to the house. I need to dig through some boxes and find a sturdy tarp to cover the wood. We've received an unusually large (so I'm told) amount of rain in the past month. I'll need to get in the habit of keep the wood dry.

Coop from the outside.

To my disappointment, a previous tenant took the wood stove with them. There's an area in the livingroom that has tile on the floor and wall where the stove once stood. The stove pipe hole in the roof is covered by a flat flange cover. Maybe someday I'll be able to afford a wood stove of my own. For now, we'll be using natural gas to heat the house. We're holding out to see how long we can go without turning on the heater.

Inside the coop. Recently had six hens.

My bedroom is pretty darn chilly when I wake up in the morning. But a nice, hot shower warms up the room quickly and serves as a nice way to wake up on a chilly day. The views out my bedroom window are heavenly. Thick pine scattered about the state forest land behind me and an eagle's view of the valley south of us. It's a catch 22 really. We're used to the blackout curtains I used while working graveyard shifts for all those years. It would look like midnight in my room at noon time. This early after moving in, we haven't put curtains up yet. Wifey and I have talked about the calming effect of the blackout curtains but we're not so sure we want to give up the views for it.

I've got to find out if we can get some starter chicks this late in the year. The owners came and picked up their six hens about four days ago. I watched Jade circle that coop for two weeks and she never got in once. We weren't so lucky at our previous residence (Jade killed the last three hens). I'd like to put ten chicks in there. When Jade is chained up, we could let them free range like the owners did. But they also did just fine for 2.5 weeks holed up in the coop. Having fresh eggs is nice...or so I hear. I didn't get any of them but Wifey and the girls did.

There's so much to talk about that I could keep writing but...it's almost dinner time! Wifey is making homemade nachos with hamburger, cheese, sour cream and jalapenoes. MMMMmmmm!

Life is good.

~OJD

Gear for the Trip

Posts like this always remind me to keep the essentials on hand. A few things worth having around: a portable camp stove, a durable cooler, and a compact first aid kit.

Moving Households = No Fun!

As an Amazon Associate, Orange Jeep Dad earns from qualifying purchases. This post may contain affiliate links.

As of last Saturday, ALL of our belongings are officially ON our property. Have we gone through even half the boxes yet? Not even close. Our new (new to us) three car garage is 90% full of boxes and other miscellaneous items.

I have taken some videos at our new home but haven't had time to process them. There's videos of our six chickens with some nice egg collecting and a quick video of my attempting to lasso our German Shepherd who keeps getting free of her colar. I'll have to post from home as the Blogger Composer doesn't appear to be letting me access the WYIWIG editor. I am typing this in the HTML page which is a huge pain in the butt if you know html.

My apologies for the lack of posts lately. I'm adjusting to working days after years (like ten years) of working the overnight shift. Also, when folks leave me comments, it used to get forwarded to my cell phone. That appears to have stopped for some reason. A good friend (Hi Allison!) notified me that there were comments here that I was unaware of. More good news: Wifey has asked to start blogging on here too. She'll be able to add great content on all the cool stuff she does around the homestead.

Take care all. Be back soon.

~OJD

Tools for the Project

Posts like this always remind me to keep the essentials on hand. A few things worth having around: a cordless drill set, heavy-duty work gloves, and a tool storage organizer.

Words Cannot Describe

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We are really enjoying the pine country in northern Arizona. We have been leaving the front French doors wide open most of the evening while we enjoy the company of family. Last night was no different. We slept with all the windows open to allow the cool breeze to flow through the house.


Our little rental house was high up on a hill in the mountains of Flagstaff, Arizona. The nights were calm and lightly breezy. There seemed to always be a constant wind blowing through this little sleepy town. This night was no different.

That is until I awoke around 2 a.m. to the most gosh awful smell I have ever smelled. After several minutes of bewilderment, I finally realized the awful stench permeating my bedroom was that of a skunk. The smell was so dense I could taste it. My stomach began to churn. I glanced over at Wifey and to my surprise, she was sound asleep.

I got up and checked the entire house and found 8 out of 10 windows were indeed open. The smell was strongest in my bedroom telling me that the varmint must be right outside my window. It was so overwhelming I could almost lose my dinner right there. I walked around and closed all the windows.

Upon waking the next morning, I asked Wifey if she noticed anything last night to which she replied: "Like what?"

OJD

Everyday Essentials

Posts like this always remind me to keep the essentials on hand. A few things worth having around: a set of storage bins, a daily planner, and a durable tote bag.

The Bourne Identity and HoJo

Our clan has grown by seven now.

Things are still happening at lightening speed. A day doesn't go by that I don't scratch down some blog post ideas and then, before I know it, two days have gone by and I have a scratch pad full of unwritten posts.

So, I'm up north staying at a HoJo while I muster through my first week on the new job. Just finished Day One of Orientation and glad it's over. You know how boring orientation seminars can be. All the plan changes and uncontrollable events lately have taken their toll on me in different ways.

For starters, when I got to my destination up here in the high country, I happily pulled into my "resort" for an expected comforting night of sleep. I thought I was being smart trading our timeshare week in Sedona for a place near my work while we wait for our move-in date (coming this weekend). After a cheerful greeting from the night desk clerk, I found to my dismay that I had booked this week...next year.

Yep. 2014. I suddenly found myself in need of a hotel at midnight on a Sunday night. With a trailer full of household crap waiting to be put into storage, I now had to figure out where I was going to sleep for the next week while I started my new job. Luckily, the helpful desk clerk called the HoJo down the street and negotiated me a nice price ($50/night). After calling the timeshare exchange company and requesting my booking fee refunded (I tried to charm my way into a stay at the same resort, didn't work), I will only be out about $50 when it's all over so not too bad...I guess.

Tired momma...

So, obviously, I was focused on something else when I reserved my room for this week. Nevertheless, it's working out so far.

CPS conducted their home visit at my house today. Our church stepped up and became involved. A friend of Wifey's stayed by her side for the visit. According to Wifey, they asked basic questions, quickly glanced into each bedroom and interviewed each child (including the 4 year old). Sounds to me like Wifey went into a bedroom and all six girls stayed together for the interrogation in the livingroom (nice move, honey!). I like that much more than little ones being interrogated alone with CPS. The whole thing was less than half an hour or so.

That chapter should be closed now and we can focus on moving. We will be requesting copies of all documentation from both CPS and the school. For the rest of the week, I guess Wifey and the girls will just focus on packing clothes to wear for the first week up north until we get everything unpacked.

I didn't get to blog about Sister's Sweet 16 birthday nor The Queen's 13th birthday but let the record show that they both had a great time and as parents, we didn't let current events prevent us from helping the girls enjoy their birthdays. Oh, and our German Shepherd had seven puppies Saturday night too. That was the first time Wifey and I experienced animal birth up close. And of course, I video taped the whole thing :-)

So I'm going to kick back and celebrate my first day in Management by watching the Bourne Trilogy in the local Howard Johnson's hotel. If I get bored, maybe I'll go hunt down a good 'ol Sonic rootbeer float.

~OJD

CPS Returns

Just a quick update to report on current events. CPS showed up at the girls' high school today. They interviewed all three girls individually and interviewed Sis twice. We were alerted by their presence thanks to one of our girls sending a text message.

Wifey headed over to the elementary school to pick up the little girls just in case CPS decided to head over there. There has been no sign of CPS at the elementary school... yet.

Wifey withdrew all three high schoolers today.  We spoke in depth about home schooling with k12.com last night.  We are one step closer to home schooling the teenagers.  Believe it or not,  they don't want to be home schooled... they say.  But,  they also don't realize that every time they report to us about something ridiculous that happened at their school, they are making the case even stronger to keep them home.

Like today,  Wifey and I were informed that teachers are becoming more strict about letting students use the restrooms during class because "someone"  is smearing blood and feces on the bathroom walls.

What the...? Ugh.

Anyway,  the big girls are pulled out.  School officials were even MORE apologetic today than during our meeting Tuesday.  They swore nobody contacted CPS today.  I believe it.  CPS is just now responding to the school's call last week.

I finally called the school nurse myself and asked her for her side of the story.  It was completely different than Administration's story.  I think they threw her under the bus.  She kept saying "I'm just a CNA,  not a nurse"  like it wasn't even her Scope of Practice to call the authorities.  She said that,  as a foster parent herself who had delt with CPS,  she concluded Sis was NOT  abused and that was why she excused herself from the whole situation early on.

I'd she lying? Who knows.  Bottom line,  we aren't going back to that school. But now,  CPS is coming to my house Monday night to inspect our house and (my guess)  to interview the three little girls.

The worst part : I'll already be up north.  Monday is my first day of my new job.  Wifey has to handle the CPS interrogation herself.  My friend Mr Detective,  who specializes in Child Abuse crimes,  is coming over tonight to talk to us. I'm going to see if he can be here when the visit occurs.

This sucks.  Any advice or words of encouragement greatly appreciated right now.

OJD