April '26 Newsletter

 I do not remember if I sent this newsletter out....so here it is! I'm slowly getting my act back together!!

 

It's Clearing Time!!

Hi Gang!

This was the view looking into the "orchard" area of the property about a week ago. The clear area is what I was able to get to/thru with the little tractor mower we have here. And it was quite a bit of work to get that far! But it was a start.

 

But this is the same view now! And I don't hesitate to say that most of that
land you now see has not seen the sun for several decades!! There is still a lot to get cleared but it is a very good start!!

 

 

And when I say we have a ways to go yet, I'm very serious!! One of the main
projects that comes with clearing land is being able to burn the brush!

 

 

 That is the big pile that is next to the area that is where I will be building my cabin! And that pile is just growing each week it seems! The other side of the area is where the last tree went down in a storm. I've been working slowly on getting the area cleared, the wood cut to "stove" lengths and a "brush pile" going on that side of the area! 

 

The real issue right now, besides being in the way and a mosquito heaven and maybe attraction to yellow jackets and other not wanted critters...we are under a burn ban from now through October 31st!! So we can't burn anything until November 1st!! But...it does look like the chipper that was in the little metal storage building that the tree fell on has survived! Except for a bit of denting on the top of the feed chute it looks like it has not damaged on the bottom where the engine and chipping blades are! So I'm very hopeful that it will run and I can "chip" my way through a lot of these brush piles!

 

 

Just a couple of short videos of end of the day for two days! One the work done with the excavator and one of a tired me in Lily!!  LOL!

                                                                                                     (ooppsss,,,forgot that I had the mic clipped on!!)

 

A lot of the "dirt" here has not seen the sun for several decades!! And hopefully we will have a lot of "dirt" uncovered over the next few months!!

 

That's about all for today. It has been a full week and quite a bit has gotten done. We are supposedly going to have rain the coming week...maybe 3-5 days of it on and off. And we really do need rain this year! The whole state of Alabama is in drought basically. So we hope for some decent rain amounts                                             ...but not flood levels!

 

I hope this finds everyone well. So....

Be Safe, Travel Easy, Go To The Woods & Stay in Preparedness Mode!!

 

C'ya.... Ray🐸  &  Rosie 🐶

Still clearing stuff!

 The tree is officially down all the way!

And it has given a lot of firewood already....

 

But there still quite a bit of clearing & stacking to be done....

 

Not to mention the amount of splitting that will have to be done!! But the worst of it is over with and now comes the "ugh" part of the job! 

And my little handheld chainsaw have been hard at it the past 2 days. And the little saw has been a real trooper!

 

The next part of the job is more clearing and stacking...And....burning the brush piles I keep making! Lol 

So that covers the past 2 days! Oh.....

Today was also Rosie's spa day! 

She is all clean,

smells purty, and, 

looks almost like the terrier she is! 🐶

 

 

Tomorrow more of the same! I went and priced wood today....That was an eyeopener for me! It has been quite a few years since I last bought lumber.....Good Lord! It is ridiculous! Soooo....It might be a couple of months before I get to settle into my cabin! 🙁

But it will happen all in good time!

Hope this finds everybody healthy & living in the Preparedness Mode!

Until our next visit....

Be Safe, Travel Easy, Go To The Woods (At least a little bit) & Keep In Preparedness Mode Always!!

C'ya, Frog🐸 & Rosie🐶

 

And so.....

As of Tuesday end of the day...... 

   As of Wednesday when I got up.....

 

 

 

 

 

Folks, the "pessimistic realist" in me is really telling me that worse things are coming as far as our being able to afford to "live relatively comfortably". 

I am just taking each day as they come...and usually end up saying "Wow, isn't that just amazing!"  I mean how can you not be just amazed and overjoyed when you see this...... Cease Fire in Middle East

And then you run across this news breaking headline.....  "Frog Embryo Smuggling"! I mean, hell, THAT will change the outlook of the whole of society! Of which I really do not have a lot of hope for!

Anyway....Good Morning Gang! Was 47* here this morning. Fairly blue skies. Low 70's for a high and back into the mid 80's by next week. AND...no rain in the forecast pretty much for the rest of April! Does not bode well for this summer and what I think is looking like a very dry, hot and drought ridden summer! Maybe we will get our rain in May!!

I hope everyone has a great day and is healthy!

                                                Frog 🐸 & Rosie 🐶

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Are YOU in preparedness mode?? Might want to think about it!

 

 

Have you been listening to the news...if you are able to find TRUTH in news reporting anywhere now-a-days. Folks, there is a major happening going on right now, and it is only getting deeper!

If you are not up to speed with all that is happening in the "Iran Conflict" you might want to think about maybe trying to get some honest information and....putting something back for what could be a very trying few months. If not longer than just a few months. 

WTI (West Texas Intermediate) oil hit $115/bbl today. As I write this it has dropped back down to $96.78. The real issue is that with all the infrastructure damage done to the oil production capabilities of that area, it will/can take weeks or even months to actually get the oil flowing out of the area!

And so the price of fuel keeps going up...for the time being at least. Today, in N Alabama, as I drove around, gas here is $3.79-3.99 per gallon. Diesel is much higher...and trucks that being all the goodies and groceries to the stores....run on diesel. And as the price goes up, so do our prices at the register. And there are so many countries that are actually running out of fuel, mandating odd/even driving days, the amount of gas that you can buy, cutting work days/hours, remote working, etc, etc.

 

Have you put back gas for your generator? Hopefully you have at least a small one.

 

And do not forget that it takes approximately 1 gal minimum daily for each person for water needed by the body.

 

 

Do you have extra propane for just in case you need to cook outdoors if the grid does take a big hit and the power goes on the fritz?

 

Folks, for years I have told folks when asked where my political/emotional stance is...my response is.....

I am a pessimistic realist 

I am a very strongly committed person to try to look at what is all happening in today's world...or country with hopefully open eyes and that I'm ready to do my best to make sure my family has a chance to come thru all the issues of the day. 

I just had the feeling that I needed to put out some thoughts on today. And I'm sure that there will be folks that will drop off the follower list. And so be it. But folks, everyone needs to look around and see what is going on.  If you look below the smoke screen being propagated in the media....what you see will not be "fun". It will be scary. 

Be Safe, Travel Easy, Go To The Woods....and Be In Preparedness Mode!

 Ray 🐸 & Rosie 🐶

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Weather is just Nuts!

Good morning from the "Lilypad Homestead in Progress"! 😉🐸🐶

The temperatures here have been on a bungee cord basically! The lo temps have bounced from mid-forties to high's in the upper 70s to low's 80s. Between the temp swings and the pollen in the air....my sinuses and seemingly Rosie's....have been in an uproar for the past  +/- 2 weeks! 

 

 I have "completely" settled on my plans for a cabin that is 10'X10'. Have just about gotten the concrete area cleared for the beginning of putting a floor down.

 

I found a guy on YouTube that I have actually started to follow. He apparently was in the home construction business and has started a "channel" where he shares his skills and ideas. The series I'm watching right now makes me feel like I could very possibly construct  the cabin myself! And that is just short of a miracle in itself!! 😜 When you have a chance and think you want to do some "building" yourself, check him out....

@JessedoesDIY  

His main tools are a circular saw, a power drill, level, tape! It is really amazing! So check him out sometime!

 

This week I will be working on a couple of videos for those of you that follow me. Nothing real fancy...but hopefully of interest to you. They are of interest to me and I want to share some things with you.

We as humans will rarely if ever agree on everything. That is just a fact that has to be accepted. And I know there are folks that will probably hear one thing that I talk about and promptly "uncheck" me from their list of links to take looks at! And so be it! It will disappoint me, but that is just a fact of life!

 

About time to get out of the house and get to doing something. And the WiFi connection seems to either be SLOW or just messed up, so I'm hoping that this will save and also upload sometime soon! Going to let it sit here and see if after a while it will "update" and save!! Oh, how I have such a gigantic "love/hate relationship" with technology!! 

 

So for now, I hope you have a great day and stay healthy and in a preparedness mode!!

 

C'ya - Frog 🐸 & Rosie 🐶

Do You, Would You, Could You??

Just a quick HI! And a song that I truly love!!

 

Slow & Sure?? lol

 Good morning! As I keep saying....A body in motion stays in motion! My motion is just not as fast as I like....but just have to accept it!!

So this morning I did a little more clearing where the cabin will go. 10x10 spot on actually pretty good condition concrete....that I didn't even realize was here!

 

 As you can see, little steps each day. As a gent that I keep up with says....don't wait until your "ready", you will never be ready unless you have pretty deep pockets!

And to me, the satisfaction comes from doing all I can with what it have!

 

I also finally setup my outdoor kitchen area! Just like camping but a bit more simi-permanant! 😉

The tape shows 10'. It would be an easy clear if not for all the roots!

And some of the roots from the trees are beasts!

But slow progress is being made! Each day is a small step in completion!

 

Hope this finds everyone in good health, in a good place & keeping in preparedness mode!!

 

Until next update .... Be Safe, Travel Easy, Go To The Woods & remember - Preparedness!

 

C'ya . Frog & Rosie   🐸🐕 

 

 

Settling In!!

 

Hi Folks! And welcome back! And settle in to follow Frog as I build my "tiny cabin/house"!

I have curbed my travels quite a lot. It is time to not be on the road as much! Between the cost of fuel, Lily's age (and mine) and the general condition of our current society...I'm just tired of dealing with a lot of it. And the overall cost of just daily living has almost gotten out of hand! 

So I'm parked on the kids land, have drawn up plans, chasing prices for lumber currently...and waiting for some decent weather!!! Which I am hopeful will start arriving in the next couple of weeks! But this is Alabama spring...in the last 36 hours we had a daily high of 72* at midnight Monday. By 8am it was 40*, it was snowing at 10:30am, sleeting at 12:45pm and sunny at 3:30pm!! You have to keep a sense of humor when you live here as far as the weather is concerned!!

We're in the 20's the next 2 mornings, highs in the upper 40s and Sunday we could have high temps of 80!

Anyway...I just wanted to get rid of the cobwebs from not doing much video over the past few months and also to let you know what is going on with Travels with Frog!

Hope you like the video! 

It has been a busy 3-5 days or so!! 😉

The weekend started out last Thursday! Josceline and the cheer group had an exhibition for Zee's at the Glencoe HS Gymnasium. The girls, both the littles and Josceline's group did very well!

 Friday was a fairly quiet day! Did some coloring, reading, cleaned up in and around my spot some. So overall a very pleasant day here on the homestead!

Saturday was another good day...quiet, reading, a little coloring, etc. Then around 2100 (9pm) a front of rain and storms started moving in. At around 2130 (9:30pm) there was a hellish straight line wind blow thru...and another of the big pecan trees came down! That tree was about 35 feet away from me and Lily! Thankfully it came out of the NW blowing towards the SE! Which was perfect for the tree to go down almost parallel to us! But let me tell you...it was LOUD! Loud to the point that I instinctively ducked here inside of Lily! LOL! It almost sounded like a cannon going off! 💣

 

 

Luckily, it did not get the chicken coops (neither of them), and missed the pigs....but the horse & burro no longer have a cooling shed!! 

But there is quite a bit if other damage on the property. Quite a bit of fencing will have to be redone, of course the cooling shed will have to be rebuilt, the chicken run is still "intact" as far as it comes to keeping the chickens in. But about 30% of it has to be rebuilt to include a large part of the over-fencing that keeps the hawks out!

 

So in actuality, we came thru it with no "loss of life"! 😉 But there is a lot of repair work to now be done. Not to mention the downed tree and the other couple that took a beating from it! So there will be quite a bit of chainsaw activity over the next couple of weeks.

And all of the past couple of days is in the midst of my trying to finish getting my plans finished for the cabin and deciding just what wood I will need for it...and a door, couple or 3 windows, flooring, roofing, etc, etc!!  LOL!

 

 

And as I am writing this the next line of rain & t'storms is slowly coming in. It has just began to rain! 

So the removal of the tree that was left standing with the big other tree's limb hanging directly over the pigs is now no longer a threat!! So the pigs are safe....for now!!! 😉😎 As the thunder is now rumbling in also!!

 

 OH....and Saturday afternoon was also Josceline's B'day party!! An ancient, wise (one of these days) 13 years!! And I actually did get pictures!!

 

 So it has been a full 3-5 days! And not to take a break and relax, listen to some shortwave radio, color some & just chill!!

Hope this finds everyone well and always staying in a preparedness mode! I do not know what all is coming down the line, but right now all I can say is be ready for ANYTHING!  Be it weather, economics, civil, politics...actually, there is so much going on right now, all I can say is watch you back!!

Til next time...Be Safe, Travel Easy, Go to the Woods &......

                                       Stay in Preparedness Mode!!

C'ya Next Time..... Frog🐸 & Rosie🐶