Apocalyptic Homesteading (Day 1266)

Hello Everyone!

Plenty of storming weather, Taking a real day off, A rainy month ahead & Keeping my plans loose!

Alright, I am running about twenty-eight minutes behind schedule with my writing routine this evening. I kind of want to keep putting off starting until I am feeling more awake... but alas here I am.

Last night I zonked out relatively early compared to the previous few nights... because I was feeling rather wiped out after all the day's activities. This morning I even managed to wake up pretty early... but drifted back off to sleep for a bit before waking a second time and brewing some espresso.

My entire sleep schedule has been a little odd over the last few weeks... but at least I am getting enough rest each night and not feeling super haggard or anything. Upon waking this morning though... I was feeling quite achy all over and I was more than a little relieved that it was pouring rain... and looking like it would continue to do so for the entire day.

All of which meant that I could just stay indoors, take as many naps as I felt like taking... and not stress over not being as 'productive' as I could be with the packing related tasks. In short it is hard to feel motivated to tackle dealing with so much gross stuff (with the vermin waste) each day... and although I have been trudging along with it all... the idea of having a day off was quite nice.

I know that I recently took all those days off in a row when I was letting my leg heal... but that was not quite the same given that I was dealing with an injury, managing pain and dealing with a lot of discomfort. Today though, I did my best not to think about the injury, the packing, the moving or setting things up at the new place... which yeah seems like all I think about of late.

At one point late in the afternoon the thundering stopped, the sun came out and the rain ceased... so I tried to get outdoors to do my routine chores... but alas it started raining again immediately. I cannot say that I was all that disappointed in things turning out that way... because I went right back inside, kicked my boots off, laid down... and promptly fell asleep.

Anyways, like I was saying in yesterday's entry there is a lot of rainy weather in the forecast ahead... and I am going to have to focus on working around said weather in order to get everything packed down in time. The only 'bright side' to all the rain... is that I will at least be able to work in the attic without it being blistering hot up there.

I am still unsure on what the heck that I am going to use to pack everything in... but I have been considering making some boxes with some of the lumber that I have been painting. They would not necessarily be the 'lightest' boxes but at least they will stack together well... and possibly be able to be repurposed for other uses at the new place.

Another thing that I keep mulling over is whether or not I should try to use all that lumber to build a small A-frame structure... that I can quickly assemble once I get moved. I am not picturing anything overly elaborate... but it would be easy to make four triangles that I can stand erect, cover with plywood on the outside (and some plywood on the floor) to make for a super easy shelter.

If I wind up doing something like that it would make for a good dog house (or shed) later on... and not be intended for use as a long term shelter... but it sure would be better than sleeping in a tent. The main thing that holds me back on implementing that particular idea... is that I really have no idea what the terrain is like at the spot that I will be camping at... and thus do not want to commit myself to any one course of action.

The more that I have thought about what the best approach is going to be to get myself into a real shelter before the winter... the more that I like the idea of either building some kind of root cellar or an underground dwelling. Once again I am just unsure if I will have the kind of trees that would be useful in constructing an underground building of any type... or if I will be able to afford all the heavy plastic (and pond liner) that I would need to make it be impervious to water.

As I have said numerous times before there are just so many 'unknown variables' with the new land... that it is really tricky to have a solid plan going into this next phase of my life. Sure, I can come up with lots of 'maybes' and 'ifs' but overall I would like to know what the heck that I am going to be up against... so that I can begin the planning aspect of things now while I still have a bunch of creature comforts.

Having done the whole 'starting from scratch' thing so many times now... I just know that it is really hard to focus (or even think clearly) when dealing with the elements, camping in a tent and having to do a gazillion things each day... just to maintain the scenario. Then there is also all the building of infrastructure (like fencing, paths, a water supply and such) that will need to be done in my free time... which yeah will make for some long tiring days!

Since I do not have much of a 'solid' plan going forward... I have been doing my best to not only get all my gear in tiptop shape... but also familiarize myself with the location of everything. I still have yet to get everything into the kind of 'kits' that I like to have everything in... but at this point I have most of the containers for said kits cleaned out... and a good idea of what all to pack in them.

Basically, I am trying to do everything that I can to not just wind up with a shed crammed full of stuff... that I will have to perpetually dig through to find what I need. I also want to be able to have just the bare minimum of what I will need at the campsite itself all kitted up... so that I am not hauling anything extra downhill to it.

Well, I have rambled on enough for this entry... and am going to get on with the editing and posting portion of my evening. I hope that everyone is doing well. Ta ta for now.

I cannot wait to test my micro hydro turbine array at the new land!

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Cheers! & Hive On!

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