18 October, 2014 - Trailer Kits, Broken Refrigerators, Child's Play and more ...

A typical week in October for us would be ...?   I don't have a clue what typical is!  We do more cooking over the wood heating stove simply because it's in use more hours of the day and we run it hotter since the evenings and mornings are colder.  There's also an urgency on getting the wood in and putting the garden to bed.   But there is more to life as well.  We still take walks in the woods and do things for fun in addition to trying out new things on the homestead.  We also took a day "off" and drove down to the hot springs next to the Flathead Indian Reservation to soak in the pools there.  It's a natural hot spring that's been developed over the years and is now privately owned. They have three pools. The upper one is hottest.  You can't stay in it too long or you'll get overheated.  The second pool right under the first one is like a hot bath.  It's very comfortable even though it's on the hot side temperature wise.  Both of those pools have a strong sulfur smell.  The lower pool is a regular swimming pool with warm water.  That's the one Scott likes best.  He doesn't like the upper pools and says they're too hot and he doesn't want to get "cooked."  We finished the day with a meal at IHOP then headed for home.  It's nice to see gasoline prices edging back down a bit.

This week Susan tried out some baking rings.  These are supposed to be used for rolls, buns, biscuits, etc. to make them nice and round with smooth sides.  Our first experiment was with biscuits.

Fresh out of the oven now and it's too bad you can't transmit smells over the internet because these smell wonderful!  The rings worked okay but will probably be used more when Susan makes home made hamburger buns and English Muffins.

Scott needed a bath and like most three-year-old boys he likes playing in the water.  We combined the two for him one chilly morning.  This is an early photo.  As time passed there was more water being splashed out and more toys in the tub.  It sometimes takes little boys over an hour to take a bath in this manner.

 

Susan taking a break from writing.  The cold mornings give us a good excuse to get some morning writing time in.

We came home from town last week to find out that our refrigerator had quit.  So ... we had some things to get done in a hurry to save the contents.  Fortunately, in this instance, the cold nights helped.

You can get the full story on the broken fridge by going to my Grit Magazine blog at Steven Gregersen, Grit Blog or to Susan's Poverty Prepping Blog at Poverty Prepping (go to the post for October 13).

We try to get out for some decent exercise and woods roaming is good exercise!  This is on timber company land southwest of our cabin.  They logged it a couple of years ago.  We were planning on going up to where I was cutting firewood on state land but decided to postpone that since it was beginning to get dark.  We took a different (longer) route home.  We had the dog with us so we didn't see much in the way of wildlife.

 

This is the time of year for Shaggy Mane and Bolete mushrooms.  The woods are filled with Boletes but the Shaggy Manes (above) are a little less common.

We purchased a small trailer (kit?) from Harbor Freight Tools.  There are a lot of pieces in one of these!

The first step is assembling the frame for the front half. 

Next you put the tongue together and install it.  This is a tilt bed trailer.  I'll disable the "tilt" feature.  They weaken the trailer and rattle too much going down the road.

Both halves put together and the axle installed.

I had the trailer folded in half here.  Scott loved being a part of this.

He made the rounds ensuring that I had tightened all of the bolts and nuts!

Now he's getting ready to do some welding!  (Well, watch me do it anyway!)

I welded junctions where cross members were bolted to the frame.  It will make the frame a little stiffer and hopefully make it stronger and last longer.

After I finished it Scott was pretending to weld also.  Too bad a photo can't capture the welding sounds he was making.

 

This trailer is the folding model rated at 1195 pounds cargo weight. We would have preferred the trailer rated at 1720 pounds but they didn't have a complete one in stock.  We called the store and they said they had one but when we got there they couldn't find all of the parts.  We purchased this one then when we got home found out it was missing one box containing all of the bolts and stake pockets.  The store manager went above and beyond the call by Fed-Ex-ing the box to us at our home so we wouldn't have to make the trip back to the store (in Missoula - 180 miles each way). 

 

Susan is in the process of painting it black.  When she's finished I'll put the wheels and lights on it then we'll finish the bed portion.  This year it will just be a basic, open-topped, box.  We'll have to cover it's contents with a tarp.  While we're in Nevada this winter we'll put a top on it so that we can do away with the tarp and keep the contents more secure.

As always, Odie is keeping track of everyone and everything. 

Scott and grandma playing with trucks in the sand (around the tetherball).  This is Scott's favorite place to play.  He has a sand box but for some reason prefers it here.

More wood ready for splitting.  This was cut on our property so I didn't worry to much about stacking it tightly.  At the time of this writing I have most of this load split and stacked.

 

Susan is uploading another food preservation book.  This one covers vegetables, grains and beans.  It will join the other food preservation books she has published.  She will probably combine all three into one volume sometime in the near future.  There'll be more information on her Poverty Prepping Blog.  Her new book should be live on Kindle in the next 48 hours.  The print version takes a little longer to clear all the hurdles but should be available by the end of the week.

 

 

 

New Book Out

I have a new book in print title The Greenhorn's Guide to Chainsaws and Firewood Cutting.  It's available in print form or Kindle versions at: http://amzn.to/17m3O3C.

This book is for the person who is new at or just now entertaining the thought of cutting their own firewood. In fact, (if you haven't already!) don’t even purchase a chain saw until after you’ve read the first chapter because that’s where I tell you what to look for to get the saw that’s best for you. After that, there will be chapters on using your saw safely and effectively, a chapter on properly maintaining your saw and another chapter on sharpening the chain so it cuts like it did when it was new (in some instances it will cut better!) After learning about chainsaws and how to use them we’ll go on to chapters about which wood makes the best firewood and how (and why!) to season green wood properly. From there we’ll look at splitting firewood (including “problem” wood with knots or twisted grain), and the tools you’ll need to accomplish that. Safety is stressed throughout.

All through the book I’ll keep an eye on expenses. There’s a big difference between the equipment requirements of the professional woodcutter or logger compared to the homeowner just getting a few cords for the fireplace every year. Likewise I’ll bring up options for the more diminutive woodcutters among us. After all, not everyone is a testosterone driven, Paul Bunyan wannabe!

Keep in mind that this is the beginner’s course in woodcutting. I’ll tell you some ways to spot problem trees and then advise you to leave them to professionals. I have no desire to delve into the more advance techniques of woodcutting. Sawing on trees can be very dangerous work. Leave the risky trees to professionals until you’ve had a lot of experience and training. By the time you’re that good you’ll have the wisdom and knowledge you need to tackle the big jobs.

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23 Feb - 3 Mar, 2013 - Exploring, Food Drying, Hot Springs, and Wind!

Time to make a new post!  My rib has finally healed enough that we've been out doing more things.  We spent a couple of days driving some of the 4wd trails in the area.  This one was closest so we used it first.  

The Echo Canyon Trail (4wd trail) winds through some canyons on the way to Lake Mead.  There wasn't much need of four-wheel-drive unless you got careless in the sand but it was a nice drive seeing some different scenery.

We turned around near the lake (and the end of the trail) when we came upon a herd of wild burros.  We didn't want to push them farther down the canyon so we turned around here.

After the Echo Canyon Trail we headed up the Boatman's Cove Trail.  We didn't get too far before it began getting dark so we turned around and headed for the highway.  We refilled the Cherokee with gasoline and drove to the end of it the next day.  This was a naturally formed "castle" with a really cool cave that we saw along the trail.

 

Okay, maybe it wasn't as big as I let on!  We drove to the end at the lake then spent some time hiking and climbing around on the rocks.  We did need 4wd in a few places on this trail.

 



Susan saw a good sale on mixed vegetables so she used some for supper then dried the rest.  Scott is helping spread them out!

We didn't have any drying screens so Susan used cookie sheets. (Day one.)

Day Two!

We picked up some decent firewood on our explorations but it was still too large for the stove in the camper so Scott and I whittled the first piece down to size.  He insisted on helping so we cut it up using three-inch strokes on the saw.  It took awhile but he felt about six feet tall when we were done.

Wal Mart had these wash tubs on sale so we bought one for Scott to play in and for laundry.

We bought him this blow-up plane that's meant to be used in the water.  He got the hang of it on dry land then ...

Tried a water landing.  I think he needs a bigger tub.

We've been working on potty training again so we got him some "pull-ups."  I wasn't aware that they also make good hats.

We washed clothes in the laundry at Overton and strung them up to dry at camp.

 

In typical fashion the wind came up before they were all dry.

We bought a deep cast iron skillet at an "estate" sale.  When we got there it had become a (very small!) "antique" sale and this was the only thing we found that we wanted.  It was annoying to us because we drove quite a ways to the sale and it wasn't even close to how it was presented in the paper.

 

 

Susan made cinnamon biscuits one morning for breakfast.  Scott, of course, wanted to help so Susan let him spread some of the cinnamon sauce.

She finished the job and got ready to roll them up.

All ready for the oven!  I was going to take some pictures after they were ready and frosted but we ate them too quick.

When we travel we use a small charger plugged into the cigarette lighter to charge up phones, Nooks, Kindles, computers, etc.

We bought a set of cheap jumper cables to lengthen the wires for the trolling motor.  That way we can put the battery farther forward to keep more of the weight up front and away from the back.  It was cheaper to buy new jumper cables than to buy the same length of 10 gauge wire.

We also bought a pair of aluminum oars and plastic oarlocks.  I got plastic oarlocks hoping that they'll be quieter than steel.  The aluminum oars will hopefully last longer than wood oars.  These can be taken apart for transport.  Susan said if I got the hang of rowing it she'd let me take it out on the water next.  Unfortunately, about the time I got the last bolt tightened the wind came up and we went from calm water to whitecaps in about 15 minutes.  Have I ever mentioned that the wind can be kind of impressive around here?

 

We drove over to look at Hoover Dam while we were in Las Vegas last time.  It was okay but didn't look as impressive as the dams at Hungry Horse and Libby Montana.  (I might be just a little prejudiced though!)

Yesterday we drove over to some hot springs at Ash Springs.  It was crowded but there was plenty of room for everyone.  We spent several hours basking in the warm water while Scott played.  We'll be going again but will try to make it during the week instead of the weekend.