Monday, November 11, 2024

Getting things done.

 Today started out early. We headed down to the new build. We had work to do. In the refrigerator upstairs, in a fridge drawer was a quartered deer. Tim likes to give them a day or two to cool and age. He skinned the deer and then quartered it, and we carried them wrapped in brown paper shopping bags from the garage to the house to put them in the fridge. The fridge is empty for the most part. It holds milk for the kittens, and makings for sandwiches, and drinks. The freezer contains 12 pounds of butter that I bought a couple months ago when it was on sale for $1.59. An extra loaf of bread for those sandwiches. 

Oh. And pickles. 

He took out a shelf and we stacked the quarters in their bags into the drawer. 

This was Saturday night. Sunday, we went to visit my nephew and his wife. Today, we got up and headed down to cut up venison. 

We have a stainless steel counter top for a work surface. I disinfected everything and then we went to work. We cleaned the meat, one quarter at a time, making sure all hair was removed. Each with our own knives, we worked side by side trimming away any gristle or fat, dropping the waste into a box on the floor between us. 

Tim was anxious to use his new meat saw. He'd bought it last fall, and assembled it in the basement. It was right next to the work counter. He cut the meat into steaks and roasts, and handed them to me. I put them in ziplock bags and labeled them. They were vacuumed sealed like so: (Hmmmmm...after the fact, I noted that the mad genius can't spell. Gave me a giggle.) 


Just that quick, the meat is freezer ready.

We cleaned and disinfected all of our equipment, and that was that. Tim hauled the scraps outside away from the house and into the woods for whatever predator, be they winged or furred, that might want to help themselves. 

We were done before 1 PM. 

Tim wanted to run to Corry. It was a good idea. We needed more sanitizer, and more paper towels. On the way, we talked about what is coming. While we don't know, it seems sensible to be ready for whatever it might be. I've always noticed in my life that if I prepare for the worst, it doesn't happen. 

We've decided that we need to get our dishwasher now, rather than later. We will get the flooring for the kitchen and livingroom too. Those two purchases are really the last things we need to buy to make the house livable. We have the rest of the supplies bought and waiting. 

I also said, "You know, while we are at Walmart, I'd like to pick up some stuff to make a double batch of laundry soap. A five gallon bucket of that will last us a couple years. By then, we should have a better idea of what's going to happen. Tim agreed that was a good idea. 

He also thought we should pick up various beans and rice. He said, "We could get some five gallon buckets and store the bags inside. They can be stacked on the floor in your new pantry." 

Yes. Yes, they could, and I can pick up large bags of split peas, lentils, pinto beans, navy beans, rice one at a time, while I grocery shop.

We made sensible plans, not panicky, not emotional. Just sensible. Things that we should do. Things that we shouldn't do. We wanted to go to Erie to see Lou Gramm as our Christmas gift to each other, but at $94 a ticket (plus the inevitable fees...) we decided that now was just not the right time to be spending that kind of money. 

We got our five gallon buckets with sealing lids for $4.97 at a warehouse/overstock store called 'Simple Dick'. Tonight, Tim went back out hunting. I stayed home. I grated Fels Naptha soap for my laundry soap. I grate mine using a cheese grater, and then added the 4 lb boxes of borax and washing soda. I always use the Oxyclean as well. An hour of work. Two years of laundry soap for about $45, not counting the bucket. I scoop the powder out, one mason jar at a time to set at the washing machine and keep the rest of it sealed up in a dry place. The thing to remember about this soap is that you use a heaping tablespoon for your washload, two if it is a large load or an especially dirty load. This stuff will last you. 

It's probably a false sense of security, but it makes me feel better to be doing something


Any of you sensible Canadians want to step up?





Laughs are still free, right? 

Turn off your volume for this because her voice is annoying, and she snorts when she laughs. 

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1DhYNRZmVj/

55 comments:

  1. I want your recipe for the laundry soap!
    Jean

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    1. If you click on the link "I grated Fels Naptha Soapp for my laundry soap", it brings it up. But basically, for a single batch, it's 3 bars of Fels Naptha, 1 four pound box of borax, 1 four pound box of laundry soda. I always toss in a box of oxyclean as well. I add 10 drops of essential oil. Today, I used lemon. I think she uses 20 drops. I don't like a lot of scent.

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  2. Support Canadian here, reporting for duty.

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    1. Oh yay!!!!! Another box ticked.

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  3. Yep, this Kansan has been reading all of the blogger buddies info from Canada, so I'll claim them for support Canadians. Getting through the next four years will be one thing, but will little Trumpy Dumpties want to be Prez next? Think I need to go gather some rice and beans too. Linda in Kansas

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    1. I think it's sensible. I saw a couple people at a store today. Their cart was SUPER loaded with boxes and boxes of processed food. I didn't take stock there, but I saw a lot of macaroni and cheese. I whispered to Tim, 'They're stockpiling'. I know that some people are afraid. I wouldn't describe what we're doing as 'fear based'. Just a case of planning ahead.

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  4. It sounds like you are preparing for the Apocalypse...surely it won't get that bad??? Will it?

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    1. Elon Musk has been appointed to take charge of the economy. Before the election was even held, he was telling people that Americans needed to prepare for a period of financial hardship as social programs and programs identified as 'waste' were slashed from the budget. He also predicted a stock market crash if tRUMP begins his deportation program, and implements tariffs. We are looking at this with a clear eye and a practical head. We collect social security, both of us, a system we paid into all of our lives. If he cuts that, it will be quite a financial hardship for us, but we are luckier than most.

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  5. My nightmare would be a ghost that operated a vacuum cleaner.😊

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    1. LOL. I forgot about your pet peeve! Maybe you can convince your ghost to stick with dusting and mopping!

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  6. There is nothing like a good laugh to raise the spirits.

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  7. I don't blame you for going into siege mode. I would, too.

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    1. I don't know that we're in siege mode, exactly. We're definitely in sensible mode. If we can see a way to reduce future expenses now, we're doing it.

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  8. Well it definitely is siege mode, be careful you don't get lumbered with all those pulses to eat Debby. Life has a funny way of turning things round.

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    1. Thelma! You need to get back here and explain what that means!!! I've worked out 'lumbered'. I am guessing that it means to be burdened or weighed down. Pulses to eat? What does that mean. Don't you leave me hanging, sistah!

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    2. I figured out what you are saying. I have never heard legumes referred to that way.

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    3. Well I suppose there are several words for everything Debby. Pulses is definitely right word for dried stuff such as lentils. I could recommend the cookery book with all this stuff but it is vegetarian ;)

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  9. I think hunkering down is an American phrase and it seems like you have supplies to hunker down, along with shooting a critter or two. Just no gas or diesel storage. Ya need some tanks.

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    1. We have our own natural gas well on the property. If heating costs go crazy, we're going to move into the unfinished house sooner rather than later. We don't need diesel. I'd hate to have a gas tank on site, but if Tim sees this, he'll think it is a dandy idea.

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  10. Glen lets his venison age for quite awhile in a big ice chest that he keeps putting fresh ice on.
    You guys have it going on for sure.

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    1. Tim has always wanted a meat saw. We have done it by hand when the kids were growing up, but that's quite a process. When deer processing runs between $70-105 for commercial processing, more if you want sausage and specialty meats made, well...that adds quite a bit to the cost of that 'free' venison. Tim estimates that if he fills his tags, that meat saw will have paid for itself this year. He's well pleased with it.

      Some years it is cold enough to let the meat hang to age it. It is not that cold here.

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    2. Glen used to get his deer processed but now he and our son-in-law do it. They don't have a meat saw though.

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  11. You are just about prepared for the apocalypse. Remember, we are not that far away from you. 😀

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    1. You laugh, AC, but when the migrants begin heading to your border, will you let us in?

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  12. I've never heard about making laundry soap but I have been known to horde beans. I've got about a five years supply of dried beans in my basement. They are thoroughly dried and stored in lidded canning jars. I'll take some of them now and then and boil them for a few minutes and soak overnight before pressure canning them the following day and those are our ready to heat and serve stash.

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    1. There's a canning group. They can everything. One of their tips was putting dried beans in mason jars with water, and then putting them in the canner. Supposedly they soften during the canning process. You only have to open the jar and add it to whatever you are making.

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    2. Another support Canadian here for you. My late husband always did the vacuuming, so the first thing I did after he passed away was buy a robot vac and named it Jimmy. My ghost works very well, I love him. Gigi

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    3. Aw...that is a sweet story. I do have to say your ghost is Northsider Dave's worst night mare.

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    4. Debby, I can beans like that. Easy as can be.

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  13. I've never been one to stock pile and I just can't imagine doing it. That's not my habit but it sounds like you have always done this so I can understand that it is your habit. We are all so different in some ways but so alike in others.

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    1. We haven't really intentionally stock piled before. I always snickered at people who did. I know a woman who complained mightily about people stockpiling and her frustration at not being able to shop normally. This from a woman with three freezers in her garage. She's probably still using toilet paper from the covid years. So no. I don't get that. But I guess that I am now, so I don't know what that is saying about myself.

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  14. Another Good old Canadian stepping up for you. and this one even knows some French. Do you really see it getting that bad. I have toilet paper if needed... Barb

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    1. LOL. I haven't begun the great tp hoarding, so I'm going to guess that it isn't going to get that bad. I guess we both see it as 'uncertainty', and not as 'apocalyptic'. We don't know what's going to happen. When the billionaire who's suddenly running the show say that Americans need to brace for rough times, economically, well...we just don't think it's prudent to ignore him.

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  15. I'm going to to check out your laundry soap recipe. Does it work well with hard water?
    Support Canadian available here:)
    The cheapest butter I've found here in the past year is $5/pound.

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    1. I am not even sure what happened...just one day I went to the store and saw it priced at $1.59. So I bought six pounds. I texted my sister and asked her if she wanted me to pick up a half dozen boxes. Christmas is coming! She said yes...but then decided she didn't want it because it was unsalted. So that is how I came to have 12 boxes of butter in my freezer.

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    2. Oh...the laundry soap. Um. I'm going to say yes. We didn't have hard water in the woods, and we don't in town, but my sister does and she has always made her own detergent.

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  16. We like to keep a good stock for us (there are only two of us) here, dried and canned foods, it seams sense to keep things in.

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    1. I think where people are getting a little confused is the difference between preserving and stockpiling. Hunters bring home a large quantity of meat, which needs to be preserved. In our case, we freeze it. When you have a garden or buy produce during season, once again, you're getting it in large quantities, which again requires you to preserve it. Stockpiling, to me, means going to the grocery store and stocking up. That's different I think. That being said, I guess I was a stockpiler. When all the kids were home, I did one major grocery shop at the beginning of the month. We had storage in the basement and we used that food to make meals for the month. We never bought food with an eye towards years into the future though. Until now. And as several have pointed out, we might be ridiculous. It's okay. I hope we are.

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  17. Well, I hate to admit it, Canadians are highly over rated. We have our own very nasty political groups. However, we know where you're coming from. We know that we will be influenced and could be influenced very negatively. We're in tis together.

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    1. It seems, really, that selfish and ugly politics has infiltrated the world. And that is sad, isn't it?

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  18. Good teamwork...I may be vegetarian myself, but you did a good job there.
    Having a good well stocked larder is common sense at any time but especially now..but so many houses are built with no larder...no utility room....

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  19. I have always wanted a pantry, and am pleased to have one.

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  20. I remember my mom being jealous when she saw that our house had a real pantry! And I really love it- I buy dry and canned thin bulk when I see a good deal, and freeze lots of food too. We’re fortunate that we don’t have to worry too much about the possibility of even more increased food prices, but it’s still good to be prepared! Re. support… I’m not Canadian, and I’ve lived in New York for 34 years now- but I’m still a citizen of Norway! So I’ll let you know when I’m starting to round up people I’ll take with me when we escape… which I’m seriously considering lately. ..😳Xo, Rigmor

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    1. I love my pantry. I've always wanted one. It really frees up quite a bit of kitchen cupboard space and counter tops.

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  21. I feel that we learned during our first term with this regime where we were locked in our houses and grocery shelves were empty. I had to run for bread and milk today and picked up several pounds of macaroni, spaghetti, noodles and rice. I also picked up 5 pounds of butter for the freezer. We have a quarter beef coming in January and I froze a lot of veggies this summer.
    We still need 2 trips to get the rest of our bathroom remodeling supplies and I am really thinking I will pull the trigger on a new stove. Last time I bought a lot of dried milk and never used it. We are very fortunate that north of us is a city with a dairy and last time they setup curbside pickup for milk and the other necessity - ice cream! South of us is an area that does commercial vegetable farming and they came up with a curbside mixed box of veggies. My only worry there is I know they had issues last time with enough labor to pick the vegetables and with more targeting of migrants - not sure who will be doing that. . .

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    1. There really is a lot of wait and see to this. He's putting together a pretty jaw dropping cabinet, isn't he. None of his choices bode well for the future of this country.

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  22. This is so much easier than my straw method. LOL!

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    1. It is. I just fill my sink. And it doesn't take long to do at all. Then you use the sink water to give your plants a good watering.

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  23. I have so many friends replacing 20 year old appliances by year's end! I was a child of Depression parents. My mom shopped food sales, and put up a year's supply of veggies from the garden. Fortunately we had a fruit cellar to hold it all. I went with her once to an excellent yarn sale. It took two carts to hold her purchases. We were in the checkout line, chatting away, and a tsk tsking woman mentioned the absurdity of the quantity of yarn in the carts. "We are getting it before the hoarders do," Mom said, and we kept on chatting.

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  24. How interesting. I didn't realize people were stocking up in anticipation of Trump. That's really thinking ahead! I can't imagine things are going to change THAT much, but I guess you never know. (Brexit, which is my only comparison, didn't alter our daily lives much -- the only period of scarcity we encountered was during the Pandemic. And that was mainly toilet paper!)

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    1. I'm not seeing a lot of it at the grocery store, not yet. I see appliances and the like being purchased. It was a shock to see the shopping cart filled to over flowing like that though...and all of it 'instant foods', prepackaged microwaveable stuff.

      Back in COVID, my daughter said something that they needed to buy toilet paper. I gave her an unopened 12 pack. Tim said nothing at the time, but later he was FURIOUS. I couldn't understand it. I said, "Gees, Tim. We will just buy another." He said, "You have fun finding some to buy. And if you don't find it, I'm going to be wiping my ass on your favorite nightgown!" (Like I said, he was quite upset.) I told him he was being ridiculous. Let me just say here that we were on our last roll when I was finally able to find toilet paper. Never seen anything like it. I hid my nightgown.

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  25. We are usually always stocked up, but maybe I should buy some rice. Got pasta and beans. Sugar and flour and coffee would be nice but I don't know where I would put it all.

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    1. I store my vacuum packed bags of coffee upstairs in the freezer. I've got 8 lbs of coffee bags tossed up there. That will last me the year. Coffee is an import, and so I do fully expect to see the prices of that jump.

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I'm glad you're here!

The Old Fellas

It seems as if our snow is done, at least for this round. Tim went up to go hunting. He got another deer, so he's pretty pleased. Do we ...