Apocalyptic Homesteading (Day 1170)

Hello Everyone!

A sunny day, Visiting civilization is weird, Doing the junk shuffle & Dog food considerations!

Alright, I am running a bit on the later side of my writing routine's timeframe this evening... but overall am more or less on time. I did however fail to get a late day picture... but thankfully I took 'extra' pictures yesterday so one of them will have to do.

Having just gotten back from going on a rather lengthy supply run... my mind is still a bit all over the place... so bear with me as I spell things out here. It was a good (and much needed) trip... but whoa I think that the longer I do the hermiting thing... the more overwhelming visiting 'civilization' becomes!

Anyways, the weather almost improved some today but it was hard to gauge because the day before felt way colder because of all the wind... but today the temperature itself was lower in general. It was quite sunny though... and I gotta admit that it sure was nice compared to all the recent gloomy cloud cover that we have had here.

Honestly, the day was a bit wonky because I once again had a heck of a time falling asleep... and wound up sleeping in for much of the morning... regardless of waking up several times along the way. I also got a bit surprised by having a ride available today (to do my monthly supply run) because I was initially just trying to schedule it for the next day or two.

Going into town always means that I need to get a bath first... which of course meant that I had to get all my socks out of the tub, pump the water out... and this time actually scrub it all out given how dirty the socks were and the grime they left behind. On the bright side though, I was able to throw all the socks back into the tub (for their second soak) while the water was still hot after I took a bath.

I actually did not take the bath until right before I went on the supply run... and spent the bulk of the afternoon doing some routine chores. I also took a few hikes around the place... and continued my efforts on getting some of the 'junk' consolidated together... which all in all is something I am trying to work on at least once a day while the winter weather lasts and the snakes are still in their brumation period.

Today's junk cleanup effort was mainly a scouting mission... to see what all it would take to dismantle an old outdoor shower setup located in the woods. I did however get the two propane tanks stored near it moved... which is something that I should have done a long time ago but it kept slipping my mind.

I have yet to decide on what to do with all the plumbing parts once I get everything dismantled... but I have been leaning towards the idea of either incorporating them into my current tub setup... or creating a new area just for the shower and maybe the tub as well. Although I kind of like how convenient the current tub scenario is... it was also the only flat piece of ground that I could utilize near the hot water supply line... and changing things around would be kind of nice.

On a different note. The reason that my supply run was a bit more extended than usual was because I was trying out a new place to get dog food from... which also has a number of other things that I need to get like straw, lidded barrels... and various kinds of live poultry. Having looked through some of their merchandise online... I thought that I knew what I was in for... but whoa I flat out had 'sticker shock' when it came to the dog food prices.

I have no idea why the prices were so high (aside from inflation I guess) but I was wanting to get three fifty pound bags of dog food... and wound up getting only one instead. I did briefly consider getting at least two bags (even at the high price) but since it was a new kind of food... I did not want to get stuck with a bunch of it in case the dogs do not like it... or if it just does not do them well in general.

All of it got me to thinking about making my own dog food again... but at this point I need to run the numbers on all the ingredients... and see just what kind of 'savings' (minus the labor and propane for cooking) that I would actually wind up with. I am however feeling rather tempted to buy some large sacks of potatoes that are intended for planting (because they are much cheaper) and ordering a few fifty pound bags of rice... and use them as the 'base' for the dog food.

What I have been considering doing with the dog food is making very large batches of it... and then freezing it all in daily portions... that I can thaw out each day for their meals. It might also be worth doing things that way and start mixing the homemade stuff with the store bought kibble... just to make it all stretch further... so we will see how that works out... and like I said 'if' it is really worth it cost-wise.

Well, my brain is still all over the place... so I am going to call this entry 'good enough' and get on with the editing and posting portion of things. I hope that everyone is doing well... and doing their best to make the world a better place... no matter how small or large their efforts are in that regard. Ta ta for now.