Apocalyptic Homesteading (Day 1151)

Hello Everyone!

Writing early, A sunny chilly day, More jelly roll mushrooms, Plenty of hiking & A quick fix for the well!

Alright, it is a few hours after sunrise... and just for the heck of it... I am going to try writing first thing in the morning today... instead of during my usual time around sunset. I do not exactly have a good reason for doing so... or even a bad reason for that matter... but am feeling like I should do it... so here I am.

I did not get the greatest rest last night... because immediately after getting my last entry posted... I took a nap and I think that the sun had not even set over the horizon by then. So, to say it was a wee bit early... would undoubtedly be an understatement. Although I slept well... I woke up a few hours later to find that I was nowhere near tired enough to fall back asleep again... and it was very late in the evening before I could successfully do so.

Throughout the evening the wind continued to pick up... and it was blowing so hard... that I swear that I could hear the needles on the pine trees making a massive 'swishing' sound as the trees swayed back and forth in the heavy gusts. The temperature also continued to drop throughout the evening... and every time that I opened the door to let the dogs in or out... I would get blasted in the face by the cold air... and had to keep a firm grip on the door handle to keep it from getting wrenched out of my hand.

At least all that bad weather (including the high winds) has cleared out now and it is a very sunny day. Even though there is still a 'lake wind advisory' until later this afternoon... I have yet to notice more than a light (but very chilly) breeze blowing on the few occasions that I have been outdoors.

Perhaps if the conditions continue to improve I can have a fire at some point today... but I am really unsure if I am willing to commit myself to tending a fire in such chilly conditions. Tomorrow may well be a better day for such activities... and from the looks of things it will either have to be one of those two days... because the day after tomorrow more bad weather is forecast to blow in... and bring with it more thunderstorms and rain.

Okay, I fizzled out on writing earlier... and switched to doing my 'Hive engagement' routine instead before the hour grew too much later. Which of course is one of those things... that I am still unsure about actually wanting to cement into my daily routines... but at least I am giving it a fair chance.

Later in the day I bundled up in some warm clothes... and set about getting all the fallen branches picked up from around the shelter site... and got the bulk of them stacked by the fire-pit. I also made a small pile of them right outside the main gate... but decided to leave them there until there are more of them after the next round of stormy weather... which should arrive over the next few days.

While I was picking those branches up, I found a bunch of them that had jelly roll mushrooms on them... but many of them looked like the frost had gotten them and had thus shriveled up as they are prone to do. There was also a bunch of extremely fresh ones... that must have popped up over night... because they lacked any of the usual hallmarks of having endured freezing temperatures.

It was hard not to munch down on a bunch of them like I did last time... given how yummy that they are... but I noticed before (when I did eat a bunch of them) that I had a hard time falling asleep later. I dunno if they were to blame for the sleeplessness... but I decided that given all my difficulties with sleep lately... that it was not worth taking the chance. I did eat a few though and whoa they were delicious!

After finishing up all that jazz, I hiked around the property and cleared all the fallen branches from the road... but honestly there was not that many of them at all and they were all rather small. I did notice one medium sized pine that had fallen near the road... and since it was already a 'standing dead' tree it had broken up into some rather small pieces... that I will probably collect with the wagon at some point.

Not long after hiking around, I noticed that the water system at first began losing pressure... and then quit working altogether... so I hiked across the property again to where the well is to see what the heck was wrong with it. Apparently the plastic bag that was covering the pressure switch got blown away by the wind... and then the heavy downpour caused a bunch of sand to get lodged inside the switch's housing.

Thankfully it was an easy fix... because all that it took was removing the housing cover, shaking it out and tapping on the switch components until enough sand fell out for the 'points' to be clear of sand... and be able to make a clean connection again. It really was not the greatest fix because there is still a good bit of sand in it... but it at least works and I went ahead and covered the switch with a tote that I found nearby just for good measure.

Most likely I will use some compressed air to clean it out tomorrow... but I was done with hiking around for the day and called it good enough. The entire well head really needs a proper enclosure around it... but that is a project that is entirely outside my control.

Well, that is all the effort I am willing to commit to this entry. I hope that folks are doing alright, are in good health and above all else... thinking for themselves!