Apocalyptic Homesteading (Day 418)
Hello Everyone!
Apocalyptic Homesteading Day 418!
Breaking patterns, Termite prevention, There be stumps, An unnoticed flat area in the bush & Watching the weather
I wound up waking up a few hours earlier this morning than when I have been getting up so I guess that is progress as far as getting my sleep cycle back on track goes. No matter what... I have to break the cycle somehow because it is in no way helping my overall mood, morale and attitude let alone my productivity. Last night I even forced myself to lay down early but I got back up again a total of three times before finally being able to drift off to sleep. Once again I also had a bunch of wacky dreams so even the rest that I got was not all that sound or anything. As with most disruptions to my routines I just keep hoping that it will pass and I can get back to feeling rested more often and less 'ragged around the edges' which is the best way that I can describe how I have been feeling.
Anyway, after doing my usual morning chores I finally got several termite prevention devices installed in the ground under and near the cabin, the solar shack and the deck. I have been putting off doing it for quite some time now and it felt good to get it done. It was a pain in the butt digging with a small trowel under the solar shack and the deck given how densely packed the clay and soil is but I eventually got the holes deep enough to accommodate the devices. Since the cabin is fully skirted (and I did not want to get into creating a hatch nor removing any skirting) I settled for putting two of the devices up against the skirting and well under the protective eaves of the roof. Those two went in super easy with the aid of a handheld boring tool and I had more trouble getting the clay out of the tool afterwards than digging the holes themselves!
Later in the day I went on another hike which more or less amounted to wandering around in some easily accessible areas and looking at both the standing dead pine trees as well as a bunch of the ones laying on the ground. One pretty cool thing that I noticed is that adjacent to the 'communal area' (which is not all that flat) there is a big flat area in the woods that would not take all that much effort to clear out and make usable. I have no idea how I missed noticing it before but it might be because there is a little outbuilding in front of it and I just never ventured into that particular area to give it a good looking over. Most of that area is bumpy and littered with fallen pines (resulting in me ignoring it altogether) so that might have contributed to me not seeing it before.
All throughout the day the temperature kept steadily dropping outside and although I managed to stay rather busy I found myself repeatedly retreating indoors where it was nice and warm. So far I have still been getting by on only occasionally running the recirculating oil heater. I do not know if I mentioned it before but I have been using it on a very low setting and using the fan mode (of the wall mounted window unit air-conditioner) to move the air around inside the cabin. The more that I think about using the propane heater inside the more that I realize it would probably make it way too hot so I am glad that the recirculating oil heater has been working out so well. Also like I said a few days ago, not having all that 'wet heat' (from the propane) makes a big difference as far as quality of life goes and its probably healthier to boot.
On a different note, I am unsure if I mentioned that some time ago I dug out all the chicken coop winterizing stuff (mainly tarps and an old blanket) and got the coop wrapped for the winter. It is the same thing that I did last year when they were roosting in the big dog kennel but this time the coop is up off the ground and that little bit of airflow sure does make a massive difference. The coop's floor is made with that thick kennel fencing and with the way the screwed in sticks cover it the waste buildup has been way less. Overall the chickens seem much happier than last winter. They are staying nice and warm (with plenty of fresh air) even when it is a night like this where the temperatures are going to plunge below freezing and I cover the entrance with a flap of the tarp. It is awesome because they are laying eggs, sitting on them and looking super healthy.
It is unrelated but Bob Backwards (Bob's exiled brother) is a bird I would never let have 'free reign' unless there was something like vermin that it could be used to dispatch. I am just saying he is a fierce little critter and well deserves to have 'backwards' in his name. Nonetheless he is quite vigilant and from his isolation he does well at watching over the other birds and the dog yard all hours of the day and night. I never saw the dogs sleep so soundly any time of day as when that rooster began watching the dog yard. Having other watchful critters than dogs goes a long way and the dogs get that much more early warning when something is amiss. When I make a new coop for the other chickens I am thinking to make an area for that mean rooster. For me to get tired of being attacked by something is ridiculous but in the end that rooster kicked my butt and I had to give him his own pen. Oddly enough, I like him the most.
As nice as that setup is I think that I am going to upgrade their coop soon and give them their own yard. I am thinking to put them outside the dog yard itself but use a gate so I can let them inside when needed. One thing is for sure and that is if I am ever going to have any grass in the dog yard... the chickens have to be somewhere else until the grass gets well-established. They have done a good job of scratching the dog yard up, fertilizing it, controlling pests, deterring vermin, and doing a number of things for the situation as far as impact and mitigation... but that phase of things is accomplished and over the coming spring I want to heavily seed the area and cover it with straw. I think that if I am smart about it (maybe) four bales of shredded straw would cover the entire hillside so a heavy coverage would take a little less than twice that.
With the termite bait installed I can now remove all the stumps that I have been baiting the termites with and dispose of them in the fire-pit. Clearing this area of the shade sure made the termites way less present and I have seen only minimal sign of them so far. Having plenty of sun helps because not far away (thirty meters) the pines create so much shade (and food via fallen branches or dead trees in their entirety) that it creates the perfect habitat for the termites and they devour everything including some kinds of pressure-treated lumber! There are also the logs that I need to section up (that are in sunny areas) which so far look pretty pest free and lack the kind of rot that would make them useless as all but firewood. They may well still be good enough to build with but without cutting into them there is no way to tell. For garden stakes, raised beds or water-breaks they would do just fine as they are but unless I mill them into boards I would not use them for anything structural given how long they have been in the weather.
This entry is taking longer than usual and I will undoubtedly meander. I dunno about everyone else but I always find myself sort of 'glued to the weather' and no matter what else is going on I check the dang weather almost every three hours when I know something is brewing. Then as something approaches closer it gets to every hour or so, then every forty-five minutes and then its just mad-clicking and refreshing.. hoping I get enough signal to see on radar what the heck is going on. Connectivity is difficult to start with and getting it in real-time is important in that kind of scenario. The HAM radios that I have can always receive the weather via NOAA (providing real-time alerts for my area is key) but the radio has to be on (which it is an hour close to direct severe weather) and I have to be listening but seeing it visually on radar is also important in the hope of seeing the larger picture. Its tricky at times but a good cellular repeater (or two) goes along way towards boosting the cellular connectivity even if HAM is ultra reliable.
Some of us (like myself) apparently overindulge in this 'paying attention' to our surroundings and not just with the weather. I think a lot of folks in this day and age sort of hyper-focus on one thing or another, examining it, and then others they also have the same behavior... yet somehow different and whoa after that yup everything is all out there for all of us to see... which is embarrassing... all apologies folks everyone maybe means well... and who the heck knows from there... but oops we are actually in it together so what can be done about it... a lot. We can be kind, we can be understanding and we can be together because what the fuck... we are in peril if we cannot be together... what else do we have? We have love. Cheers! I hope that everyone is doing well and has a good day/night and I will undoubtedly do the same. This will be interesting to edit to say the least.
