Apocalyptic Homesteading (Day 1201)

Hello Everyone!

Getting my routines on track, The more I clean the more I can pack, Washing the socks, A supply run & The new boots rock!

Alright, I am close enough to being on time with my writing routine... that it is no big deal... so that is nice. Getting my timing dialed back in the previous few days feels like an achievement... given everything that has been going on.

Somehow, I feel like I have navigated things well enough... and now I am not only doing well... I am getting things packed down, have picked a destination and have lined up some help with the actual move. Although I can be a skilled navigator in high stress situations... I feel like this time around... that it was more... that things just fell into place.

I even fell asleep last night right around the same time that I did the night before... and regardless of that impromptu nap whit writing last nigh... I slept super soundly until just before dawn. The only thing that kept me from getting up and about at that point was that the air was quite chilly... and I was entirely too cozy with the dogs snuggled up to me.

After another hour or two of sleep I got up again... and this time I set the espresso to brewing... and settled in to begin my morning with some real focus. However, I did not dive too much into my Hive engagement routine all that heavily... due to some early morning correspondences that needed attending to.

Once all that stuff reached a lull (and I was done piddling around on the computer) I got outdoors... and began knocking out my usual chores before doing what I could towards the packing scenario. Since I had a supply run scheduled for later in the day I did not want to get too dirty... because I would have to take a bath before venturing into town... but I did get a good bit achieved regardless.

I also got all my socks (that I had soaked in hot bleach water twice now) all hung up on the dog yard fence... where I then spared them down with some high pressure water. It is amazing that those socks have any 'white' left to them at all (given how much I have been hand-washing them) but that is just how it goes... and I never expect them to be more than 'sterilized' as I like to call it!

Later in the day, I sort of slacked off a bit while my ride rescheduled a couple of times for slightly later in the day... and during that time I went on a couple hikes... and got a few more odds and ends done that needed attending to. The main thing that I was excited about on this supply run was getting more food... and whoa waiting around a couple 'extra' hours before I could get to the store... involved a heck of a lot of 'clock watching' on my part.

The store was rather underwhelming this time around... because although they had almost everything in excess of the things that they were missing the last time that I went... this time they were missing a bunch of the stuff that they happened to have on my previous trip! As I have said before, it is always really 'hit or miss' when shopping there... but thankfully there is just enough (no matter what) that I can stock up on something worthwhile.

Aside from food and coffee... I also got stocked up on all my other necessities along with getting a bunch of fish oil capsules for the dogs. I also got more cleaning supplies which is something that I had to get a good bit of... given how much stuff that I want to get clean.

This time around (on my supply run) I even called ahead to a small diner near the grocery store... and ordered not one but two of their largest burger meals (that come with a side of fries) that basically are three times more food as to what I would get at a fast food place... and all at five bucks a meal! After everything that I have been going through, doing and dealing with of late... I thought a nice treat was in order... and whoa it sure did the trick!

It was also a nice boost to my morale which (even with the land deal nearly done) has been wobbling a lot lately... and I can tell that although I want it to get better... I am also scared to have it 'become' better... just in case I get hit with a curve ball before I can get moved. Do not get me wrong because my morale has been improving tremendously as the good news has poured in... but it is also all a bit overwhelming... which makes it hard to gauge whether it is my morale improving or simply my overall mood improving.

Either way, I think that anything I can do (like taking hikes) that can help get my morale completely out of the dumps... is going to be worth it and during the next month I plan on listening to lots of music... and getting in lots of long days packing everything down. I think that if I 'get into a groove' with it all... that by sometime in mid April... I can have the bulk of things dismantled, packed away in containers and consolidated... for loading everything into a truck come the following month.

Sure, if I was 'under fire' to get things packed downed and moved super fast I could make a mad dash at it... and do it inside of a week (or even days with help) but with the longer timeline I get the chance to sort of 'repack' both the gear... and maybe more importantly my mind. That way when I start fresh at the new site... it will feel more like a real 'fresh start' instead of a slow motion train wreck.

Anyways, I also got my new boots today... as well as that sulfur ointment that I have been wanting to get to treat the mites with in between the sulfur lime dip treatments. My new flee medicine arrived also so before things start truly warming up for the season... I am going to get very aggressive with the pestilence control.

The boots themselves have a more narrow sole and toe... but the overall build is nice... and they fit my feet much better than my old boots did. I would not say that they are as 'sure footed' as those wide sole Wetlands boots... but they sure make up for that with comfort, agility... and to some degree even nimbleness.

As with any new model boot... we will see how it holds up over time... but even the thickness of the sole (and its construction) makes them look even better for shovel work than the other model. The extra weight of the boots does not seem like much of an issue either... because they fit so snugly that just having them on is not that noticeable.

Another thing that I instantly noticed with them, is that there is no fabric on the calves of the boots... which is super cool given how much dealing with brush and thorny things always got hung up on the other kind of boots. I really do not ever want to test the snake-proof aspect of them... but I have no doubt that it would stop not just snakes... but a lot of other things that the other ones would not like nails and such.

Okay, I could go on about the boots in great detail... but am not going to... suffice it to say that after only wearing them for an hour or so (late in the day) I am very pleased with them. I guess that the big test will be how they break in and if during the warmer months they are too hot on my feet... but for now I am already quite impressed by the quality and engineering.

Well, on that note... I am going to wrap this up and try to eat the last remnants of my second 'treat' meal. I hope that everyone is doing well... and not perpetuating their own patterns in such a way that it hinders them from seeing them as patterns in the first place. Ta ta for now.

The first caterpillar that I have seen this year.

The new boots!

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