The Fantastica Chronicles (Day 387)
Hello Everyone!
A brief introduction: Hi I am Jacob.
TL;DR: There is no tl;dr because you should have more patience and attention span than a gnat on a high wind.
The Fantastica Chronicles Day 387!
Sorting Out Winter Heating, Rambling About Winter, Chicken Coop Care & Some Peace Of Mind
It was downright chilly this morning and although I woke up many times I also returned to sleep many times and did not fully rouse myself until almost eleven o'clock and even by then it was still chilly in the shade of the woods and there was more of a breeze than there has been for quite some time which made things feel even chillier once I went outdoors.
As much as I knew that fall was coming that sort of brisk cold snap reminded me just how much that I really need to get my shit together for the coming cold weather season. I generally look forward to the coming downtime but this year I am actually sort of dreading its arrival because there is so much that I want to get done beforehand. It sure will be nice to at some point relax and just do more artistic and entertainment endeavors (along with planning for the coming year) but I really want to begin it this year with a clear conscience that I did as much as I could during the warmer months and not have any lingering unfulfilled goals or unfinished projects.
I know that it is probably a bad idea but I have been considering changing up my routine and working some throughout the winter (aside from doing my daily chores) and just taking some downtime during the late spring. What I am envisioning is to get some downtime early in the winter, then do a month or more of outdoor work, take some more downtime at the ass end of winter and into the spring. It is kind of the routine that I did this past winter and I really like how it worked out because by the time that autumn arrived (today in this hemisphere) I do not feel burned out at all and actually feel a bit invigorated to wrap up the year as well as a long list of projects and goals. As wacky as it is I have a good bit of peace of mind and a strong sense of well-being so that is pretty damn nice.
Today I got all my propane tanks filled except for the one that I have hooked up to the outdoor stove so I am good to go on propane to meet my winter needs. The only way that I will not have enough is if there is some freak weather here and below freezing temperatures occur a lot more frequently than they did last year. I actually got eight of my tanks filled and one tank to replace a full one someone let me borrow last spring when we got a late cold snap. Technically last winter (and into the spring) I was averaging about a month to six weeks of heating from a twenty pound propane tank... so with eight full tanks I could withstand a really cold winter and maybe even make it into late spring and still have fuel. Basically as the old saying goes 'I am loaded for bear' but at least one of those tanks I want to use with my on-demand water heater so minus that one (if I get forty-five days per twenty pounds of propane) I think that I have three hundred and fifteen days of heat. That would be the max under optimal conditions all winter but it never quite works out that way and there are times when I use a lot more fuel a lot faster because of prolonged below freezing conditions or just really cold high winds. One thing that feels really awesome is at least I know that I will not freeze this winter which has given me a massive boost to my peace of mind and alleviated this neurotic feeling that has been very hard to shake!
On a different note, last night I totally forgot to close the chicken coop door and this morning when I went to let the chickens out they were already out and roaming around the dog yard. That is the second time in the last week or so that has happened and I have been lucky this far that nothing came along and ate any of them both times now and especially since last night my big dog stayed indoors and thus the chickens were left unguarded. They tend to rest high up in their coop upon one of the perch poles that I have in there so that might be a factor as to why nothing has gotten them yet! I need to be more vigilant with keeping the door shut and perhaps even set a daily alarm that reminds me to shut the door. Most of the wild critters avoid the little area in the woods that I occupy because of the dogs and their scent but you never know when some brazen predator might take its chances and try to get a chicken.
Anyway, aside from all that jazz I do not have much else to report other than I feel like I am getting prepared for not so much winter but for some intense survival mission where everything sort of hangs in the balance and how well I have my shit together and how much situational awareness that I maintain and how I cope with complex (and simple) problems will determine whether I can 'make it through' whatever the fuck is coming down the proverbial pipe at me. I can only really compare the feeling that I have to one where I am standing on a beach and watching a massive wave form halfway to the horizon and above that wave is the nastiest lightning storm that I have ever seen and it is all barreling at me and I can only hope that the small life raft that I have can weather the approaching turbulence long enough for me to at the very least enjoy the ride. Hell mayhaps I will even be able to help others along the way.
Well, I guess that is about it for now and yeah editing this will be a mess but I guess that by now I am getting better at it. I hope that everyone is doing well and has a nice day/night.
More about me: I have been doing property caretaking (land stewardship) for many years (decades) and live a rather simple life with my dogs doing what most folks would consider to be an 'alternative minimalist lifestyle' but what I often just think of as a low-impact lifestyle where I get to homestead and spend the majority of my time alone with my dogs in the woods doing projects in the warmer months and taking some downtime during the colder months.
A little over three years ago I began sharing the adventures (misadventures) of my life via writing, videos, pictures and the occasional podcasts and although my intention was to simply share my life with some friends it undoubtedly grew into much more than that over the years and now I find myself doing what equates to a full-time job just 'sharing my life' which is not even all that glamorous or anything but hey folks seem to enjoy it so I just keep doing it!
The way that the Fantastica Chronicles came about is that I was living at another place when I started chronicling and sharing my days but eventually I wound up moving to a new place. The new place is a homestead named 'Fantastica' so I started with 'Day 1' upon my arrival here and just kept documenting my days much like I had done for the previous nine hundred and fifty-seven days at the last place that I lived.
I have mostly done that 'documenting' at Fantastica exclusively with words (and pictures) opting not to do the videos because as I learned at the last place, sharing videos over an intermittent and slow internet connection is horribly time consuming and what I often think of as an 'ulcer inducing' experience. All that said, I opted for simplicity with the documentation and have no real regrets for doing so.
The way that I look at it is that I give it all my best each day and while some stuff I write is better than others I think that for the most part I do a pretty good job at doing what I am doing which is simply 'sharing my life' as candidly as I possibly can and whatever folks get (or do not get) from it there is always the satisfaction of me doing what I set out to do... which is to simply share my life.
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https://peakd.com/hive/@jacobpeacock/hive-survival-guide-sixth-edition