Apocalyptic Homesteading (Day 1235)

28 days ago

Hello Everyone!

A very stormy night, More electrical and septic research, Overstretching the limited funds & More packing less chatter!

Alright, I am starting the writing routine slightly early this evening even though I kind of want to keep zoning out, sipping espresso... and letting the events of the day sink in. As I mentioned the other week... I have begun to really enjoy (perhaps too much) the brief window of time between when I wrap up my late day chores... and before I begin the writing... because I have a hard time focusing afterwards.

Last night I had a heck of a time falling asleep... and kept intermittently waking back up again every thirty-odd minutes (for a few hours) before finally drifting all the way off. Then not all that long afterwards... a big thunderstorm blew through and whoa it rumbled so much that it kept shaking the cabin... and sending my boy dog into a panic... which of course meant that he kept pawing me awake.

I also had a bunch of rather wacky dreams along the way... so all in all it was far from being the kind of rest that I was hoping for. I have no idea how much actual sleep that I got... but I did manage to get up around the same time that I have been getting up at for the last few weeks now.

Per usual, I dove into my Hive engagement routine before moving on to doing some other stuff online. The main things that I looked into today were more of the electric and septic codes and regulations along with what all constitutes 'agricultural use' as far as land goes... and how all three of those topics relate to each other.

Not to get too lost on that topic but after consulting an electrician in the area... it seems like I might have a bit of wiggle room with getting the electric service turned on without a septic system... by getting what is called an 'RV pole' installed. Basically, it is very similar to getting what is called a 'temp pole' (which is used for new construction) but it is specifically meant for recreational vehicles.

I am still not one hundred percent sure that doing things that way will work... but as soon as I have more funds to work with I am going to file for (and pay the fees on) getting a new 'electric service account' setup with the electric company there. Since I really have no idea how much any of that is going to cost (aside from the fees) and because the deposit can be pretty steep... I am going to Power Down my own (and my Mom's) Hive and hope for the best.

Having electricity will be the thing (other than storage) that really 'makes or breaks' my stay at the new site... so if it is at all possible to get service established I need to run with it no matter the cost. Heck, just getting all the camping gear (and other odds and ends that I will need) has drained my own limited resources... and at the moment the financial aspect of things is really stressing me out... especially so given how much I will still need to come up with to get a shed, dog fencing and who knows what else!

I am at least getting all my ducks in a row with that stuff... and hopefully will not be going into the scenario either half-cocked, under-geared or both! Things are undoubtedly already going to be difficult enough with 'winding up in a tent again' so in my mind everything that I can do now (to be prepared) will hopefully make the transition (of going from a cozy cabin to a tent) a wee bit less painful.

Anyways, I got outdoors rather early this afternoon... and scrubbed down that lumber more in an effort to get it cleaner than it was yesterday. All the heavy rain seemed to have helped a good bit with that... because it was nowhere near as dirty as it was after I gave it that initial cleaning the other day.

As soon as that was done, I began feeling like I should spend some time working on stuff in that other tent (the one with my off grid gear) so I hiked over to it... and began the dirty process of sorting through it all. Mainly, I focused on pulling more containers out of it (to get rained on) but I also organized some of it (by grouping things together) and I also threw some more rodent damaged stuff away.

Eventually working in the dusty grime in that tent started to get to me... so I hiked back over to the shop tent... and began the tedious process of emptying out some of my toolboxes. For the most part the toolboxes were already rather well organized... but the outside of them was absolutely filthy... and my main objective was to get them all washed.

I had initially hoped that just spraying the toolboxes down with water would do the trick... but after they dried out I realized that was not the case at all. To get them as clean as possible I wound up scrubbing them with bleach water... and in so doing I found where a bunch of 'dirt daubers' had made nests in them and jetted them out with water when I did the final rinse.

During the entire pack down process I have been very conscious of the pests that I am dealing with... and doing my best to limit taking any of them with me. The process has been far from perfect (given that not all my containers seal well) but at least I do not have to worry about the items stored in the buckets!

Well, I think that I am going to wrap this up by saying that 'it was a productive day' and leave it at that. I hope that everyone is doing well. Ta ta for now.