Cabin coming along & Eye doctor visit

Yesterday was a full day! Don't remember if I mentioned that I woke up last... Friday, Saturday??.... and almost couldn't see out of left eye. By Sunday morning it was totally "dark".  So I guess between getting started on the cabin and not seeing out of left eye...very interesting past few days!

I didn't get to help a whole lot! My eldest daughter "abducted" me and off to Birmingham I went! And after a 4+ hour visit to the Callahan Eye Clinic ER I know that I have some version of "Retinitis Pigmentosa". As the doctor said, "it's sorta a 3rd cousin to Macular Degeneration but starts around the outside edges and moves in?! Anyway, what I have is a separation of the retina from the wall of the eye. But it is not detached, it is still attached to the eye, but is "floating" on fluid under the retina, mine caused by a seepage of blood.

Got a shot on the eye, good possibility it will not do much. But there is still the possibility that my body will reabsorb the blood,etc and some vision could possibly come back. Dr Rowsey spent a long time with me looking at the eye. In fact, had 3 doctors looking in my eye. Rowsey told me in his time practicing he had only seen this type of...."edition?"...less than 10 times. And when I asked if it was unusual to happen overnight he said no, but this was a rather extreme result. 

Soooo....got new glasses ordered yesterday...now for both eyes but really just the right! LOL! They should be here in a week...and of course I am going from reading glasses to bifocals!!  😂😉

Now back to the cabin!! I am so excited to see it go up. The floor base got 2 full coats of deck paint so as to make sure if it did rain it would be sealed.  The panels and framing for the cabin have been surprisingly accurate in their cutting and placement of holes. Even Cary was surprised, and quite happy with those two things!

Cary is so worried I won't be pleased with this once it is up and I'm in it. The side walls are maybe an inch shorter than I am tall (gravity keeps pulling me down!  Heheheh). But at least 3/4 of the space between

the walls, which is where I will be standing and walking, are I think an over average of 3-4 inches taller than I am. And after living in Lily for 4 years it already has the feel of "spaciousness" that I have not lived in for, actually, a long time! Even my little motorhomes did not have a very "open" feeling about them! 

This will be an ongoing project for several months but that is good! It will keep me occupied and will ease the "discomfort" of not being on the road on a daily basis!  😀  I have to be honest...I miss the road! I've been on the road for soooo many years that it has almost become a part of my "being"! But...as the years click by and I slowly wear out...it is a good thing to have a place to lay my head down and know it will be there each night!!

It has basically turned into a family project. The kids seem to be having a blast helping dad with it and it is a good experience for them. You need to know that a person can be self-sufficient in today's world and that it really needs to be an imperative that we can do things for ourselves. And helping others is a reward in itself!

 I'm not a lot of help with the cabin going up, I'm slowly learning (admitting?) what age does to & on us and helping with what I'm able. So I am in the process of starting the plans for my area and how to lay it out. Cabin first, make sure it is sealed, then get solar figured out and installed. Then bed, kitchen, shower, water! LOL! Have to shore up where the little wood burning stove will go. Also have to make final decisions on windows (at least a couple), the A/C for cooling, couple of tiny ceiling fans, etc,etc!!

I am still hopeful that the World and us will settle down, but it is not looking to good! Our "leaders" are...well...I won't go into that right now. Let me just say like I always do...I just do not have a lot of hope for our society in it's current condition and direction. So please be in a preparedness mode ALL the time and think about what you will do IF the SHTF! What will you do if in 5-8 weeks there is no fuel for the cars and trucks? What would you be able to do if you got hit by a flood, tornado, etc.?? Always be prepared!

Until next update and/or next video update.....Be Safe, Travel Easy, Go to the Woods often if possible....and live the preparedness mode!!

C'ya - Frog🐸 & 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🐶

 

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 🐶

 

 

 

 

 

 

Preparedness! Are You Ready?

 Good Morning Folks! We're still in Alabama...and will probably be here for a while...as in for the foreseeable future! 

 I finally got around to getting the camper 95% emptied out and closed up for the time being. I'll be moving it over to an area to "store" it until a trip out to the forest for a few weeks. The reason for the closing of the camper and moving it is because this spot is where I will be building my "cabin" - or tiny house if you prefer! 😉 

 

I have lived in small spaces actually the majority of my life and still do! Only during the military time of my life I had always had small bedrooms. I'll dig up some pics of all the places I have pics of where "home" was over the years. And when you consider that I "lived" in a semi for over 12 years and have now been in either under 21ft motorhomes or in a van, I really am most comfortable in a small space. AND...the Carlson genes also have a weak point! If there is a flat surface, well, we tend to

make sure that it is covered with something! 😉 This genetic "flaw" is also kept partially in check be limiting the space we live in! LOL! I was doing the same thing n the camper! But I am now back in "purge mode"! It is amazing that in just a few months how much stuff can be gathered around us!

 As you can also see from the pic that I am in preparedness mode to a fairly high degree. The two storage cabinets are basically a pantry. The two milk crates are canned meats or veggies. Heheheh...the 3 small brown boxes are citronella mosquito coils, green spray can tops are mosquito spray (the mosquitoes in Alabama are quite nasty and have an attitude...they are already coming out!) and the box on the bottom middle under the coils is .... of course .... toilet paper!!!  LMAO!  Always think preparedness!! There are things in the tubs that are about to go thru a purge, and some of the things you an see will also go thru the purge!!

 I am finally working on a "Preparedness Series" of both blog posts and a video series. I guess you could say that I am becoming rather passionate about being prepared for anything that could disrupt our daily lives! Folks tend to think that being prepared for weather "happenings" is what you need to think about, as in major storms. And natural disasters is a large part of being prepared. BUT...man made disasters are also in that picture....economic, political, family.....there are many different faces to "disaster"! To be in a proper prepared mindset you have to think outside the box!

We are entering the the time of the year when weather disasters are fore front, especially when you live in the zone I'm in...Tornado Alley! But  this affects a small percentage of the populace. If you don't keep up with the news, at least one or two times each week, then you need to. To be honest, legacy media gives us a very sanitized version of the news. I hear things several days or a week before they appear on news feeds...and they usually do not give the whole story for quite a while after that. 

 Enough of that rabbit trail! Just look around you and think about how long you would be able to have a "normal" daily life if you had no electricity, no cell phone, no internet, maybe no water in the tap. If you really sit down and think about it, from a realistic point of view....you might go thru an unsettling thought time!

I regress! So many thoughts and points that run thru my head to share...time to get busy on my projects!

Don't forget, my website will be no more as of March 6, 2026. So everything will be put out through this blog, YouTube channel and Patreon site.  😉

Until next time.... Be Safe, Travel Easy, Go To The Woods & Think Preparedness!!

C'ya - Frog & Rosie 🐸🐶