SHRINKFLATION: I actually noticed it

 Even though I rarely shop "normal" stores like supermarkets and bigbox stores, instead preferring thrift, salvage (Ross, TJ, Grocery Outlet), and other options, I have noticed shrinkflation.

I check the clearance food aisles at Ross and TJ and I shop Grocery Outlet for groceries.  You'd be surprised what you find at Ross and TJ.  Like whole bean coffee.  I figure decent coffee for 5$/lb is doable for me.   Since I shop based on price per volume, I always check the amount listed on the package and in the case of bagged produce, I weigh the bags as there is quite a bit of variation.

Coffee is the case in point.  A while back, years?, I noticed that what looked like a 1lb bag listed 12oz as the weight.  That would be 3/4llb, not 1lb.  NOPE.  $3.75 is max for 12oz.   It has to be a full lb.  That is getting rare.  

This weekend at one of the discount/salvage stores I noticed 11oz bags of coffee beans.  Since I am shopping where merchandise goes to die, this must have arrived on "normal" store shelves months ago  Do let me know!

I await the 10oz of coffee beans in the 1lb size bag.  Cripes.

In June, didn't go in July, I found 2lb bags of coffee beans at Grocery Outlet for $9.99 so that met the 5$/lb price point.  I don't worry too much about the blend or roast at that price.  I do avoid flavored types. These almost always cost more and so far have never been the only option.

With prices going up, I bought a brick of "dollar store" type coffee.  It is well under the 5$/lb rate even in an 8oz, or is it 6?, size. We'll see if it is drinkable.

TP is another one.  I buy a regionally sourced off-brand.  It is under 5$ for 24 rolls.  Not fancy, soft, scented, lotioned, etc.  JUST TP.  I haven't bought any in a few months as I can store 2 packs at that size (thanks dead camper fridge that is still mouseproof!) so haven't looked at it of late.  I should keep the size label portion of the current pack and date it so in the future I can see if my TP rolls are shrinking.  At one point I calculated price per square foot but it was a lot of calculating.  I am rethinking "family cloths" (wipe rags) and rotating in newspaper now and then at least for #1s.   The savings is real now.  We'll see...

I went for 5gallon buckets at various hardware stores now and didn't buy any.  7-8$ per bucket.  Last time I bought them they were $3.50ish per bucket.   So, I did not buy any new buckets.  I am going to sort through what I have and glue up some of the old ones with glue I have.  Those that are beyond gluing but still bucket-like, will get the tool-toting duty.  Those that are glued and water tight can be non-potable water toting type tasks.  Glued but not water tight can haul dirt-like things.  Those that are still in good shape will get rotated in to laundry and other duties I consider high-end.

As for Shrinkflation with buckets...some of the "5-gallon" buckets are 4 gallon!  This is fine, but ends up with a non-standard height or lid size and mess up my system.  Also, less hauling/storage capacity for the price.

Suck It Pinterest...My Egg Storage is WAY Cuter Than All the Ideas on Pinterest

AND I made it for free.
The only "new" bits are the screws and they will get reused on the next project.  I had run out of decent used screws with normal head (too many hex heads, square heads, various sizes...couldn't keep up with bits).  So, I bought a cheapo box of philips head wood screws about 1 1/2 inches long.  Made the door with them.

I had been storing my eggs in an old egg carton or two.  Red rubber band on the one that is "ready to go" and a blue rubber band on the carton that is "building up".  It didn't work well because I don't have anywhere to set egg cartons.  So they were in a grocery basket hanging off my loft ladder.  But that basket ALSO had to hold groceries like fruit and veg, often heavy.  Annoying.  And the cartons wear out.

I saw one of these on a youtube and wanted to make it:



But, that was hard and I can't be bothered.  So, I thought about what I had on hand that I could use.

When I found a batch of eggs while doing another project with friends, I had an old mini muffin tin sitting around outside. It had been part of a bee feeder I'd cobbled up, and was then part of the apparatus keeping chickens out from under the shed.  I turned it up and put the eggs in it for temporary storage...it worked great and looked cute.

So, I took the muffin tin in (tested the eggs...all were plenty fresh enough to eat so I boiled them up and brought them to work for lunches that week) and sure enough, it fit pretty well between 2 studs in the shed (heh heh...studs).  I found an old plant stake, a 1x2, and cut it to length.  While doing all this, I found another mini muffin tin, same width.

In total I have 21 muffin-egg holder holes.  One tin is 9 muffins and one is 12.  They are old and I got them at thrift at least 4 years ago.  I usually won't spend over a dollar for a baking item so that is probably the original price to me.

The plant stake, I have no idea.  I got a big bundle years ago and use and reuse them until they get too weak to pound in the ground, then they are scrap lumber for propping things closed or propping up chicken wire fencing that is starting to bulge.  Maybe it cost a dollar originally.

Box of 250 screws was about 8$. I used 8.  You can do that math if you want.

The impact driver was free from Fred's stash of tools. 
The bits...I got a box of 10 for 12$ (nice magnetic ones) or so and have been using this one for about a month!  Must be better metal than the ones I used to buy because I'd strip those out quite a bit faster.

I guess it is a 3$ egg holder but I think we need to amortize that over the previous lives of the items involved and the future lives of some of them like the screws and the bit which will no doubt be reused.

It is pretty cute though.  Here's the big reveal.








































Sher said I should get out more...she is mean to me.

If You Build It, They Will Come

God I hate that movie!  

But, that crappy line is apparently true.

Coop 3.0 was barely settling in with the 3 red hens (ha!) when I got a call from the friend who gave me 2 of the red ones, Brittany and Suzanne (the chickens, not the friend, the friend is Cindy and human), had 11 hens given to her because the owner felt that the hens "bicker too much."...Uh...they are chickens.  Chickens are persnickety assholes.   Like most of the women in my family (sorry, but you know it's true).   Cindy has a full flock of heavy layers who don't eat much and these 11 weren't worth integrating to the big group, apparently.

Anyway, she called to see if I wanted more.  Given the size of Coop 3.0 and my unwillingness to build Coop 4.0 so soon, I said "no more than 3."
Cindy picked the 3 specialty breed hens and brought them over.

Here are the chickens. 

The reddish ones I've had for few weeks.  Others are new and very different.

Porky and Pearl

Porky is a Barred Rock (the black and white one).  She's big boned...actually, she's a fat ass.  Pearl is a Leghorn and quite shiny with an oddly large bosom just like Foghorn Leghorn in the cartoons.

Brittany and Suzanne with Porky and Pearl.

Brittany and Suzanne are "Novogen" breed.  A cross between Rhode Island reds and Leghorns.  They are super tame and lay HUGE brown eggs.  Porky, I think, also lays brown eggs.  Pearl is the only one laying white.  

Brittany is a scrawny red-neck runaway.  Suzanne is a follower who wants you to think she's tough, but she's not.

T-Bone giving the camera the stank eye, and Prudence looking put out behind her.

T-Bone came from the community garden in Worley.  All the rest are from my friend Cindy who is the bomb.  T-Bone was a runner who spent her days escaping the chicken run and digging up the garden.  I don't have a chicken run so she saves that escape time and spends it in the garden...digging shit up.  T-Bone is tough.  10 minutes after I let her out of the transport cage on my property, she had a mouthful of Brittany's feathers.   10 minutes after the 3 new chickens (Porky, Pearl and Prudence) arrived, she had a mouthful of Pru's feathers.  Suzanne just follows T-Bone around all day and gets panicky if she loses sight of T-Bone...basically Suzanne is T-Bone's bitch.

Prudence (Pru) is an Ameraucana big, and prissy (hence "Prudence").  

Pru lays BIG pale blue eggs that are a bit on the green side.

They were laying in the laying boxes, but today, no one could be bothered, apparently.  So I got one egg from the floor and covered in poo!  Jerks.  Tomorrow they will have to stay in the coop until there are eggs...at least 5 (they don't all lay every day...I think 5 eggs per week per bird is pretty good).  They will have plenty of food and water.  And it's a big coop and there is a giant storm tomorrow so I'm sure they will all be in there most of the day anyway.  When it rains they either sit under a table I have outside or go back in the coop.

UPDATE:  I actually wrote this last week.  The hens lay more in the coop now, but not entirely.  We may need more prison days (not full days...) to encourage them to lay in the coop.  Today (for real today) Pru spent HOURS just sitting in a nesting box not laying an egg.  What the hell?  The original 3 were busy sitting under the table I got out of a dumpster a few years ago:

Waiting for Concrete

That's a play on "Waiting for Godot"...spoiler alert:  Godot NEVER arrives.

The concrete was supposed to be today but is delayed for WEATHER!  YA! I TOLD the builderman that the hill is a slip-n-slide when wet.  Concrete trucks are heavy.  The hill is steep. And now we are in the rainy season.

Of course, we can't go back in time.  Supposedly the concrete comes tomorrow. 

It will take 3 loads.  I can't believe there is room for that much concrete given how much rebar is in the slab

It's 12" max spacing, often closer.  

 It is drilled into a little footing dealy and the brackets for the post-n-beam structure are bolted into that and will be set in the concrete (grade beam and slab are a mono-pour).  The builderman added the little footing deal to allow bolting in the brackets rather than wet-setting them.  It also allowed the OSB you can see on the side of the photo with visqueen over it.  That's holding back the sloped gravel called out in the plans.  Gravel doesn't just hold a slope during  pour no matter what the engineer draws. 

It will be fun to watch.

In the Beginning Was the Hole, and the Hole Was Good (also...a moose)

Well, the hole wasn't really the beginning.  There was the planning, the paying, the paying more, the engineering, the permit, permit renewal, other permits...and before that buying land.  Before that saving for land and looking for land, and before that...  you get the idea.

So, here we are.  Last Tuesday evening the builder man (not an actual redneck Santa, but he could pass for one) staked out the location for the build.  It ended up further uphill than originally planned.   That will help with drainage, but I sacrifice a bit of water pressure because the cistern is also uphill, but less so now.

Then on Sunday morning "early" (9:14am isn't "early" in my book...it's "10ish" in my book but I am widely known to have a stick up my butt about time) the equipment was delivered at the bottom of the hill and the trucks left.  I had a radio show to do at 2pm so at noon, after building a super rad rooster coop which may be featured in a later blog post, and a bunch of other stuff, I cleaned up, washed my incredibly sweaty filthy hair, and headed in to town for the show.  As I'm driving south, I see a builder truck heading north...to my place.  Dang it.  But it's all staked out and what was I going to do anyway?  There was no back-up DJ for the show so off I went.

3 hours later, driving home, I meet 2 builder trucks heading back to town.  Damn!  But I am greeted with this at my place:

That's right, I am now the proud owner of a big ass hole.  Probably will be bigger and deeper by tonight.  I will try to run home mid-day and check it out.  It's right where the stakes are so, that's good.

And now...the moose!  It's a yearling male the must have been recently booted from his mom's place.  That happens about now as the new calves are being born.  The yearling males are idiots and make bad housing choices.  He and I about bumped noses by my driveway and creek...we were both occupied with other thoughts.

I looked up to see a moose, way too close headed straight toward me.  Not a tree to hide behind and in the creek which was close, he would be much more coordinated than me.  They don't see so well to the front so I figured that was my best bet.  I waved my arms around and screamed like a wee girl and it ran UPHILL away from cover, back toward the creek cover, back up hill...idiot.  A mature female or male would have just trotted over and stomped me to death. 

NOW I am not walking around my place texting.  I pay attention.

The Builder Has Landed

Apparently, there will be some construction at my place this summer.

Stealth footage recorded a builder with his tiny minion placing stakes:

The minion is extra stealthy and wasn't caught on camera, but you can see his detritus...the paint can.

10 ways to save $10 a Week!

If you do all of them, you'll save 100$ a week. 5200$ a year.

If you do half of them, 50$ a week. 2600$ a year.

A half assed job at all of them, also 2600$ a year.

A half assed job at half of them...still 1300$ a year.

These aren't in any order and are because I'm doing a frugal touch-up and rereading The Tightwad Gazette. I don't know how many of these I can do but I'm going to try.

1) Make 2 homemade coffees instead of buying 2 fancy coffees per week.

Assuming $5.25 and a tip per fancy coffee, you could even use those spendy pod or cup thingies for the coffee.

I am already using my thrift purchased travel french press stainless steel mugs and a thrift purchased thermos of hot water (heated upon the butane burner I found for free in a former apartment like 3 years ago and using the cheapest butane I can get my hands on)

To cut that EVEN MORE, I asked for coffee for my birthday and my favorite Aunt...well, one of my favorite aunts...sent not the 1 lb I asked for, but 2 full lbs AND several little fancy roast samplers that I can get 3-5 cups from. Nice. I figure that's 3 months of coffee. After that I still have an lb of chicory blend coffee I bought for 6$ in Louisiana (I was there for work) as a gift for someone but ended up not needing. So there is a few more weeks of coffee.

AND I need to cut back to just one cup per day. More than that gives me hot flashes anyway. I do make a 2^nd cup from the same grounds. It's not good, but I don't want to waste the last of the caffeine.

2) Cut out 1 restaurant work-lunch per week. 

 It's hard to get a restaurant lunch with a beverage for under 10$. In the past few weeks I've been invited to work lunches repeatedly.  I go because people expect me to be minimally social.  The trouble is, it costs $$.  The other trouble is, I eat too much and get fat and salty and tired and have hot flashes. I guess that's several troubles.

I am retrenching personally on this one.  I texted the colleague who most likes to do lunch, and knows the VERY best lunch spots.   I suggested that since I need to save $$ AND the delicious food was undermining my health goals and making me sweaty...we should meet up in the conference room with salads or whatever. Perhaps we could share lunch preparation.  We've tried to help each other in the past with cutting sugar content in the diets so this is someone sympathetic to at least the health part of the equation.   It's much cheaper to even buy bag of salad and some fancy tuna than to go out.

3) Cut 100 miles of driving.  

For reals.  At the current price of gas, a 50 mile round trip is costing me about 5$.   Actually a bit more. I drive 25 miles each way to work.   That's not very cuttable. I use my car for work during the week and am “on call” from the office to field sites so can't really share rides with people unless they want to not know what time they will be home at night. I could cut one trip to town (25 miles each way) and try to consolidate work trips each week. I can also walk more once I get to town for errands. This one is a challenge in the summer when I'm called out more. But, worth a try.

4) Cut food waste by eating what I have and eating all of what I buy.

Food waste….On the “Dollar Stretcher” website there has been a forum called Food Waste Friday where those who choose to participate can post what they wasted each week. Despite my efforts, I still chuck some of the fresh food I buy. Convenience foods tend to get fully consumed, but cost more. Buying fresh or at least not convenience and eating all of it would save the most money. Making the effort! It doesn't take much waste to add up to 10$. Since I try to spend 200$ a month on groceries, 40$ (4 weeks at 10$) is 20% of the budget! That's worth the effort and will more than offset any extra groceries needed by not going out to lunch.

5) Shop in my stuff before I shop at the store. 

 I have more often than I wish to admit bought a duplicate of an item that I already own, just because I forgot I had it. So, before I buy a clothing item, I will go through the clothing back stock and really see if I need the exact item or if something will work just as well. E.g. today I say a nice raincoat at thrift (5$), but thinking through it, I have a rubber rain coat (also from thrift) that works fine. Just doesn't look fabulous. Ultimately, not worth another 5$ to me to have a nicer looking less rubbery raincoat that might not be all that waterproof.

I've also bought medical supplies when I already HAD that medical supply (bandaids, elastic wraps, creams, etc). So, a few weeks ago I went through the box in storage marked “meds” and got out the aspirin I'd forgotten I had. I was out of aspiring at the homestead. I also went through the first aid kits at home and in the vehicles and made sure the stock was evenly distributed instead of all the bandages in one case and none in the other. This way, hopefully, everything will get used up at a fairly steady rate.

I periodically go through my clothes to see what really isn't getting used and can be donated, chucked, recycled, or in several instances...put back into circulation. E.g. I have too many pairs of lovely knee high wool skiing sox. I can't store them all in the homestead. So some are in storage. When the ones in full rotation get tatty, I try to remember to go through the stored winter clothes before buying new socks. In trying on all my pants to see what did/didn't work I found that one pair that I hadn't worn in a while, was actually presentable and fit reasonably well. They aren't my favorite pants, but no reason not to wear them. An old pair of work pants is just too big, but also pretty tattered so may be turned into a set of pouches with the waist band and belt loops still attached so I can use it when gardening to carry pin flags, seeds, tools, etc.

6) Cut back on entertainment expenses. 

 Mine are pretty well cut, but there is always more to be done!

I used to do a movie a week at 5$ (2^nd run theater...1st run theaters are too expensive to even be considered). This year, I bought a 10 movie pass for 50$, which is a better deal than it sounds since their basic movie rate went up to 7$. I was also buying the 1$ popcorn. I can skip the popcorn. The 10 prepaid movies means I can see how many movies I want to spend on this year, it's already spent, and prioritize which ones I go to.

I get most movies from the library. I rent a few from the local video co-op. I will be cutting back on co-op movie rentals.

I also rarely spend on books anymore (says the woman who spent 20$ on a plant guide this morning….more on that anon). I get them from the library. Even audio books. Library. With interlibrary loan I can get pretty much anything. Today I asked about a book I wanted but could not find in the system. The librarian put in a “purchase request” for the book. If they don't buy it, they will look further afield to interlibrary loan it. If I find I check a book out over and over, I put it on the list for things to find used, at thrift, or ask for when it's gift time (holidays, birthdays). Just this year I got multiple books I'd been coveting (including a different plant guide than the one I bought) as gifts.

I don't go out to clubs or bars so that saves but that means it's also a spot I can't cut from the entertainment budget...already cut to 0.

Radio: don't under estimate it. I listen most days to get the weather and news. I don't have internet at my place or a smart phone. The radio is the basic info stream. No TV on the premises (movies watched on the laptop). One day I couldn't get the weather I wanted on the radio so I called information...that's a thing we used to use all the time and DOES cost a buck or so, and got the number for the local national weather service office. Sure enough they have a phone line where you can get the weather forecast for your area. NICE!! No need for a TV and cable to watch the weather channel. I programmed the number in the phone so it's a one-time cost for information.

7) Review car insurance coverages.

I recently did this and saved over 400$ per year. I had full coverage on one vehicle, including rental car. This made sense when I had one vehicle given how dependent I am on it (life choice that costs $$ but one I made with my eyes open). I would need a rental vehicle. NOW that vehicle is worth much less and I have a 2^nd vehicle. I don't need the rental. Should I decide to make a long distance road trip, I will look into adding the rental coverage back in. You can do that. You can also suspend the insurance on the vehicle you aren't driving at the moment. I don't have the attention span to turn the insurance on and off depending on which rig I'm driving on a day, and often drive both in one day for different tasks. So, cutting insurance made sense. See what you can personally tolerate and see if you can cut back. Also, compare companies. That's my next step.

8) Use the discounts or coupons that you have AND that you need. 

 I won't use a coupon for an item I wasn't buying anyway. I won't go somewhere or buy something just to get the discount. I keep a list of what I need or choose to buy, then watch for a coupon or discount that will apply to that.

Today, I knew I had a 10$ off customer appreciation coupon for a local hardware store. It was good yesterday and today only. Yesterday I wasn't going to be in town and gas to town and back is about 5$ so ...not worth a specific drive to use the coupon. TODAY I was in town for multiple errands and tasks. I took my list to the hardware store. It included the above mentioned plant guide (it is specific to local native species and I am trying to restore native species on my property). I also needed a ground tamper and had compared prices during other trips to hardware stores. This store had one in stock and at the same price as elsewhere. So, the cost of the book and the tool met the minimum amount to use the 10$ coupon which maximized the value of the coupon. I went in, spun the wheel for a free gift (which turned out to be a free sample of dog treats...I don't have a dog but I can use them as bait in traps), grabbed the two items I had already identified as the best things to buy there with the coupon, and hit the check out. Then it was off to the next errand.

9) Keep a list and keep it on you. 

 I have a master list of things I need or want and have chosen to buy. I don't go to stores without it. This morning I had to get out of the car and go back up the hill to the homestead on foot (no driveway up there...too expensive) to get the list. No point in going to town to do errands without the list.

With the list, I can go to thrift stores and yard sales I may pass, and see if things on the list are available for cheap. Just yesterday I stopped by a yardsale and found a ground squirrel trap! That was on the list. I have a ground squirrel problem and have chosen not to poison them. The trap was 5$ at the yard sale. In full working condition. I looked online and new it would be 56$. I would never spend that much. I'd suffer with squirrels. For 5$ I will try it and if it doesn't work the way I like, I can resell it or trade it for something else.

At the farmers market and grocery stores today (walking from one to the other to save on the gas noted above) I carried the list and got things at the best price without duplicating or having to go back and return something when I found it cheaper elsewhere. TP at the co-op. There is cheaper TP but the co-op TP is one roll in paper, not 4 or 36 in plastic. I have limited storage and store things in tins. I can store 3 or 4 rolls, not 36. I also don't like to buy things in plastic if I can avoid it. I wanted stevia sodas this week as I get off the sweet restaurant food. Those are cheaper at a grocery store. As was mint tea. There was a 3^rd grocery store. That one has the best “discontinued” or “discounted” food rack and the cheapest allergy stuff that was on my list. It is also near the recycling center with the free book bin. I got a free book and next time I'm through I will drop off a free book I'm done with.

10) Free stuff! 

 I love those little free libraries and the free book bin at the recycling center. I use them. A few times I year I actually find books on my list. That's always a treat. Sometimes I find awesome antique books like the vest pocket dictionary from the early 1900s that I have now been using for more than a year. It's tiny and handy and antique and free. I've found a few books from a home designer that I admire and have used ideas from them in designing my next home. The free book bin also yielded a honey cookbook that I've been using and may pass on if I ever stop using it. Today, I got a multi-cassette audio book about how to be a winner...I can't wait to find out how I can be a winner. The brand new used pickup has a cassette player.

At the community garden, in exchange for helping them while I learn new things, I am given greens and a few eggs. That's a win-win-win. They get help. I get educated. I get food.

Next to the community garden is a 2^nd harvest food distribution center. The manager there is happy if we take pallets. Many pallets. I do take pallets when I need them. I try to remember to drive that brand new used pick up that day and load up on the pallets I can use.

At work, people open lots of boxes of stuff. Big boxes. When I'm setting up new garden beds or smothering thistle thickets, I take boxes. Leave them in the rain a day or two and the tape and other plastic peels right off. Then they go down where needed, often held in place with pallets that haven't been used on their assigned project yet.

Beware of free stuff with strings. If it's new and free, you may be the product. I don't sign up for free stuff on the internet if it requires my contact info. That means someone is selling my contact info and/or trying to sell me crap for NOT free. I hate that.

I don't take free things I don't also need.

Today at the library I used the free seed exchange. I took 6 asparagus seeds. I could have taken enough seed to grow a market garden feeding dozens of people, but I don't need that much. I want to see if I can start asparagus in a newly tilled up garden bed. 6 seeds should give me an idea about that.

SWARM!!!!

Last weekend my bees swarmed!! I saw them go.  I had stared at the hives at about 8am.  No bees were out.  I thought maybe they were dead or had all left.  But really, 5 hives.  What are the odds they would ALL bugger off the same time?

At 10am or so I walked by again.  There were bees everywhere.  EVERYWHERE.  I heard a hum.  A LOUD hum.  Bees were pouring out of the hive of carniolans.  The hive I had split a few weeks ago.  Both that hive the the nuc I made from had looked plenty strong. Apparently they were.

Then I noticed at a buttload of bees were all apparently trying to eat about 5 flowers on the ninebark bush 10 feet from the hive.  I thought "That looks like a swarm."  Then it hit me.  IT WAS a swarm.  DUH.  It was my first time.  I was a swarm virgin.

Nice of them to wait until I was home and walking around.  Had it been a weekday, I wouldn't have been there and would have lost them all.

I went to the ninebark and sure enough, a beard of bees hanging off a branch.



































I literally dropped what I was doing (had to go hunting for various tools after the swarm was dealt with) and ran get my bee stuff and figure out a new home.
I had an extra hive body, a top and inner cover and a couple of crap bottoms that I was going to make better one of these days...oops. 

Anyway, I put it all together and put in frames (note to self: next time put the frames in AFTER the bees). It's up on a pallet.  Didn't have bricks or blocks but perhaps one of these days.

I grabbed a rubber tub with a lid and headed to the swarm.  I shook the bee-jezuz out of the branch and many many bees fell into the box.  I laid the lid on gently and took them to the new hive, quite a ways from the old hive and facing away from the beeyard.  I want them to feel like they really moved.

I went back to the tree and there was a smaller beard on the
branch.  Must not have gotten the queen.  The 3rd trip back to check there was a tiny bee beard so I broke the branch off into the tub and took it all to the new hive.  I did one more trip just to be sure.

I fed them but didn't have a feeder I liked so I put sugar and warm water in a quart jar, put a few holes in the lid, then up ended it on an over turned muffin tin.  Worked just fine.
















I didn't have any drawn comb to give them so put in empty frames of foundation.

Then I went to relax, hydrate (it was hot as blazes and I had to wear the bee hat. Didn't bother with gloves), and look up what to do about a swarm in my bee reference book.  I pretty much nailed it.  I have had some classes so I wasn't flying totally blind.  The book said that a swarm is all prepped to draw comb so it is the best time to set up bees in a box of empty foundation if one must do that.  Good to know.

They weren't all that interested in the sugar syrup so that is probably a sign they have plenty of real food out there.

White Trash Craftery™ Part Deux: Hummingbird Feeder

"Deux" is Paris talk for "2"


So, I was spending a day INSIDE (inside the wee shome) because I was sick of humanity.  More so than usual even.

I decided to watch movies, listen to the radio, talk on the phone with carefully selected others, and do crafts.

Crafts.  Tiny shed home.  I used what I had.

Supplies:
A left over jar with a sturdy screw on lid

Turns out I LOATHE caviar.  It tastes like salty fish slime.  But it was on sale and I wanted to try something new...and it was in a cool tiny jar that would be handy for something.

A used bottle with a sturdy screw on lid.  It looks like I used a wine bottle but it was actually filled with stevia sweetened sparkling apple juice.  Also, on sale.  It cost less than the jar of nasty salty fish slime.  I will be keeping an eye out at the recycling center for cool bottles and jars.

A coat hanger (wire).
Duct tape (optional)
A bit of glue or silicon sealant (probably optional)


Tools needed:
Leatherman
Scissors (optional, you could just use the knife on the leatherman or your teeth).

Step 1: Wash the jar and the bottle very well, but don't bother picking the label off the bottle unless you want to.

Step 2: Use the screw top of the bottle to make a circle more or less in the center of the jar lid.
Use the olde tyme bottle can opener thingy on the leatherman to cut a cross from the center of that circle to not quite the edge of the circle.  You want the bottle top to hold the jar lid onto the bottle.
Use the needle nose pliers thingy on the leatherman to tear off these little tabs you just made, still trying to stay inside the circle you drew.  The pliers can be used to fold back, toward the inside of the jar, and pinch the sharp bits from tearing the metal.

Step 3: use the tiny screw driver or punch thingy on the leatherman to make little holes about 1/8inch in diameter around the lid.  I made 4 holes.  A couple were a tad big but that can be corrected later with the duct tape.  Punch the holes from the outside toward the inside so you aren't creating little hummingbird beak stabbers.

Step 4: use the rasp thingy on the leatherman to mash down and smooth out any sharp bits on the jar lid.  When you can run your finger over it and not get cut, it's probably good enough.

Step 5: Use whatever portion of the leatherman works to make a biggish hole in the top of the bottle lid.  Smooth off any sharp bits as above.

Now it gets complicated:

Step 6:  Push the jar lid over the top of the bottle threads.  You want the top of the jar lid "up" when the bottle is upside down.  Once you get it part way on the threads, start screwing on the bottle lid to push the jar lid along firmly.

Step 7: you can put a little ring of glue or silicone around the seam between the jar lid and the bottle lid if you want.

Step 8:  Screw on the bottom of the jar and admire your work.

Step 9:  Use various parts of the leatherman to twist a wire coat hangar around the bottle so you can hang your contraption up, jar at the bottom, rear end of the bottle facing the sky. (Duh)

Step 10: Optional decorative crafty bit!  Find some random British flag duct tape you forgot you had (how do I lose things in that tiny space?), use scissors, the knife thingy on the leatherman, or your teeth, to get rid bits out of the tape and apply these to the jar lid, keeping the  holes open.  I strategically placed some of the tape to smallify the holes that were a bit large.

And Voila:

Mix up some hummingbird food and you are in business!
Unscrew the jar from its lid, use a funnel to fill the bottle.  If you take the bottle lid on and off you will loosen up the jar-lid-bottle-lid joint that is crucial to the White Trash Craftery™ Hummingbird Feeder longevity.
















There was a rufous hummingbird at the feeder within an hour or so of hanging it up.  Perhaps sooner since I was elsewhere on the estate for a bit.

Take that MotherFlicker!...White Trash Craftery™

No, a FLICKER.  The bird.  The bird that is destroying me wee shed.

It, or they, has/ve been pecking holes in the cabin for a while.  I covered the first batch of holes with the bits of metal I had on hand...muffin tins from the thrift store.  That looks sort of cute actually:

THEN the stupid motherflicker (I'm assuming it's a parent trying to bring home the bacon/beetles to wee ones), moved to another side of the cabin and spread out the damage.

I was out of muffin tins.  Didn't want to move to loaf pans.  Or baking sheets.

I thought perhaps SHARP would be a benefit.

I had a couple of #10 cans from the recycling center that I'd had plans for.  Plans that were never executed.  So I though perhaps I could use the tin snips to cut strips from those and hang them (White Trash Craftery Rule #1: use what you have).  As I am cutting up the first can, I figured out that hanging 10 strips from the eaves would be complicated and I would never get around to it  (White Trash Craftery Rule #2: plan for your inherent laziness).  The remaining can got flattened out.  The seams on the sides cut off.  Then I cut it as though making a garland out of a sheet of paper. I couldn't find a diagram of this on the internet so I made one for you special.  Just like the actual product, the cut lines (shown in green) are unevenly spaced and crooked.  I'm not bothering with neat work for a stupid motherflicker.












Once you make the cuts, you just pull the ends apart...voila, instant sharp jaggedy metal garland for free!

It was definitely sharp.  I wouldn't stand on it to bang my face into a wall, but I'm not a flicker.  
To put it up, I started a nail through each end, stood on a slippery metal cooler on the weakening boards of my shabby stoop, and tried not to let anything hit my eyes (the safety glasses were clear down in the car...like a quarter mile away (White Trash Craftery Rule #3: Safety is secondary)).

Here it is:

It's blocking the view of the worst holes but you can see a smaller one above the Flicker-B-Gone™ garland and how it has been stripping a few of the battens on my board-n-batten siding.  As it happened, the #10 can had a coppery inside and a silvery outside so this turned out to be more interesting looking than I'd planned.

Of course when the wind blew I was awoken in the night by a mysterious metal rattling sound.
I think that means the Flicker-B-Gone can also be labeled as Wind Chimes.

I'm thinking that putting a few of these along the top of the fence between me and the rest stop might deter ne'er-do-well types.  That makes it both a "Flicker-B-Gone™ " and a "F...er-B-Gone™ ."  With a side of Wind Chimes.

Farewell My Culvert-bine

Ok, that title sucked but have you tried to rhyme or pun with "culvert"?  I could have gone with "pipe" as in "Ceci N'Est Pas Une Pipe" but that was even less accessible and would have required a Magritte type illustration.
 


It's also not true because the pipe is still there. It just doesn't work that well anymore.  Water goes through.  It also goes BESIDE and possibly underneath.  That is like super not good.  For reals.  There is also a large chunk of dirt and rock that went...presumably...through the pipe.  Or beside.  Given the conservation of matter, it went somewhere.  That is not the real issue.  The real issue is that the dirt and rock is NOT where it was: The upstream end of the aforementioned culvert.  It eroded out all the way to a tire track in the two tracks that I refer to as "my road."  That's not good.  It's too wet to drive on for the moment, but even when it's dryer, I don't think I will be trusting this.  More dirt and rock could fall and the tire follow those, and the subaru will be stuck. 

It is time to squeeze the budget and buy some new pipe.  I don't even know where to get that shit.  oh well.

2017! Off to a Good Start

Because I live in a freaking Christmas card...which is funny because I don't even do Christmas, but "Solstice Card" isn't a "meme."

Here is a recent pic:

Cool!  Those are the trees by the creek.

Here is the homesite from the road where I park:

These are the beehives with my white trash windbreak:















I do love pallets.  They are backed with thrift store window blinds that were meant for a different task (not windows though).
You can see I've dug out the wee doorways in the bottom of the hives.  That way the bees have ventilation.  There is another door under the lid that you can't see.  You can see how much snow.  And honestly, that is two snows ago.  The mounds on top are even taller.  Instructions are to leave the snow on as it insulates the hives.  The bees are eating their way up through honey in the 2nd big box.  The top box, which is smaller, is holding dry sugar for them to eat when they run out of honey.  I hope it lasts! I have more sugar and some "bee candy" (basically sugar made into patties) to put in there as soon as the outdoor temp is 50F or higher.  It just has to hit that for one day and I throw in more sugar as fast as I can.  I have heard them buzzing a bit a few days ago so hopefully they still are hanging in there.


The parking situation.  Even days like this when I cave in and spend the night in town (due to COLD), I try to go buy and shovel.  And shovel.  And shovel.  Thank goodness I've been working out or I would be immobile now.

It was pretty funny yesterday.  I was shoveling a few inches of snow, after I went ahead and parked on it.  A nice young man stopped his truck across the road and ran over.  He asked if I needed help digging my car out of that hole (again...that is a few snows after this pic was taken).  I explained that I actually park in this hole and was just putting on my snowshoes to get up to the homestead.  He looked around for a while...presumably searching for a house.  Here's a hint:  There isn't one!  HA!  I said, "I've made some unique life choices and this is where I live.  Thank you very much for your offer."  I wonder if it was a story he found worth telling...

This is a picture of the highway to work.  That's Plummer Butte in the distance.  It is super pretty here when it snows.  

And finally: A look to the ESE from the shed:
















You can see the bee yard windbreak, the big tree with the shower room and living room under it.  Just to the left of the big tree you can make out the shape of the camper...or as I like to call it, "my 2nd home."   ...two homes and 36 acres owned outright...and yet...I count as "homeless."  Only in America.

2016...goodbye and good riddance

2016 is a year that will live in infamy.  For me anyway.  Bit up and down.  Too much down.

Simplicity and frugality-wise, it wasn't terrible.  I managed to re-supply my savings enough to think about getting the real cabin started in 2017.

And thank goodness, and frugality, I had enough savings to do what needed to be done during some rough times.

Starting last December, ok, end of 2015, but it rolled right on through the new year so I'm lumping it all into 2016.  Why ruin 2 years?

Last December, I lost two people.  First a really good old friend passed away suddenly.  She was younger than me.  I didn't stay to help her family because I was heading back to the folks to visit my father.  He had the "big C"...no, not that one, cancer.  It was bad.  Really bad.  He died.  But at least I had the cash in savings to help my friend's family and to go back for the visit over the holidays and the vacation time to stay through the end times and the memorial.

Then, 11 days later, Gramma falls and breaks a hip.  Frankly, I think the hip broke, and then she fell.
I didn't go home immediately.  I already had another trip planned for Feb to help with my father's stuff.  Instead, helped pack up Gramma's apartment as she had to move to a nursing home. I got to visit her and Mom and the rest which was good.

In June my godson graduated college which was/is AWESOME!  SOOOO proud of him (he got out with very little debt..yeay him!!!).  I went for the graduation, helped with a move.  Then he and I took a celebratory road trip back to the family homesite for my father's memorial.  Drove Idaho to Iowa, and back.  We thought we could take a leisurely tour on the way back to Idaho, but alas, he GOT A JOB!  Yeay him!!!!!   So, we booked.  The graduation and trip were the highlight of 2016.  And again, glad I had saved up and could do this.

In Sept, another trip to Iowa.  Flew out and an Aunt (a very young fun one) and I drove a moving van back to Idaho with my stuff and a couple of her things out of Gram's apartment.  Got to visit Gram again.  And Mom and the rest.  The trip with the moving van went really well until the end.  The end SUCKED.  But the company and the scenery were excellent. Thanks Aunt!

Alas, a few weeks after I got back, a person I had worked with and who filled the role of uncle or grampa for me, passed away.

Next Gramma died.  She had decided it was time and that there would be NO memorial or funeral or anything.  Nothing.  She did want my sister and I to take a vacation with Mom.  So we went.  It was great and once again I was glad I had saved up and had the money to do this for Gram. (We all paid our own way so actually: yeay all of us.)

Finally, I got word that a friend from college had passed suddenly.  He was almost exactly my age.  I miss him. 

That's enough now.  Just one more day of 2016 to go. 

More on the good stuff:
The graduation and road trips were great!

The vacation with Mom and my sister was fabulous.  We love Vancouver BC.

And I love my wee shed cabin thing!  It is a BIT tough to keep warm when it is below 10degs F, and windy.   The rest of the time it is awesome.

I splurged and spent 20$ on a sled!  RETAIL and NEW.  Very unlike me but I had enough screwing around looking at thrift stores and the snow wasn't going to last forever.  I have been sledding and snow shoeing on my land.  That is now my favorite thing.

The solar got fixed and the well works!  I spent a bit to get the good electricians out, but now it works.  That was worth it.

And I got bees!!!!!

Utility Sled...Money Well Spent

So, I need to move many straw bales.  I've been moving them by hand and with a wheelbarrow.

Why do I need to move them?  I'm stuffing them in the erosion problem and spreading them over the bare dirt that will run down the hill this winter without some help.   When one's land is made of snot (actually, it's mostly clay.  Clay and live gopher meat), one must try to keep it in place.  It needs some organic matter.

So, I got a bunch of straw bales.  Chopped straw is used on erosion issues.

I don't have a picture of the bales stuffed in the erosion issue.  The "erosion issue" is also known as "the path of the water line from the well head many hundreds of yards up the hill to the storage tank."  With the top of the tank also just being bare clay dirt that turns into runny snot.  The waterline path was an actual river all last winter and spring and eroded into a mini-canyon with depths varying from 2 inches to 2 feet, width from about 4 inches to nearly a foot.  Cripes.  SO.  I thought long and hard and decided if everyone else puts a few bales crosswise, I will also put a few bales crosswise to the problem, and a whole bunch more stuffed down IN the problem.  Then, I plant them with whatever seeds I can get my hands on.

The bales I got are not organic.  One only has so much money and time and I appreciate the farmer letting me know what the main herbicide is.  No broad leaf type things will grow.  BUT the bales will double as thistle killer so that could be handy.  I will try to get organic next time.  For now I am working with what I have.

Anyway, moving them by hand, carrying, turned out to be OK when they were dry.  At least OK for the first dozen and if I wasn't going far.  It's hard on the back.  And the butt.  I started using the wheelbarrow which was much better, but required that I carefully place the bale to avoid tipping it over AND that I balance the thing on the way to where it went.  Still, a good option for part of the job.

Removing all of the lifting seemed like a better idea.  So I got a utility sled:

It is "Otter" brand.  I haven't tried others.   It's made to move stuff around.  I measured the interior below the curve on the leading edge.  It is just big enough for 1 bale.  If I got one big enough for 2 bales, I'd try to do more weight than I could handle.

Here it is with a bale in it.

Works great.  The bales were stacked so I could put the sled by the side of the pile, pull a bale over the edge so it fell in.  Then I pull it with the included rope (which is crap but when it breaks I'll find something better), to where it goes.  Tip the whole thing over and go get the next one. 

I had all the bales stuffed in the path of the erosion issue so I was spreading some out around the bare earth.  I cut the strings off and raked the straw over the exposed ground, which had some seed on it.

As for the bales in the erosion issue.  I've added "nitrogen" to almost all of them now (yes, pee).  I also spread rye grass seed and whatever other random seed on them.  They are also sprouting lots of wheat.  WHATEVER.  All biomass is good.

As I was raking this straw about over the bare spots, it was covering clover and rye grass and winter pea seed.  It was also upsetting the odd gopher.  A group of vehicles on the highway were treated to the site of an old woman with a garden rake madly slamming it randomly and wildly into the ground.  Had they been closer, they could have seen that I was trying to impale a gopher.  So much for my karma.  Though I'm pretty sure he escaped unscathed.

The Importance of a Wee Break

Some lovely friends needed farm sitting!  YEAY!  They get a break and I get a break.  They have land as well, but with a "real" house that is a work in progress.  They also have livestock.

While they are off, actually about 30 min drive from my place, I'm up here, 90+ min from my place, sitting at their place.  They are camping and I get to be in a house with plumbing (plumbing with parts missing, see above "work in progress"). We all get a break.

Caring for livestock, sheep, horses, dogs, chickens, and cats, just for a weekend reminds me that livestock are a lifestyle choice.  Fence, shelter, feed, water, and minding.  I think for me the "minding" component would be the toughest.  I like to travel.  I like to know that if I need/want to stay elsewhere for the night, I can.  The bees will be fine.

While I'm enjoying their house, I also get to really see what I"m missing in my home.  I'm missing having a proper kitchen.  I don't mean one with ALL the modcons, but a stove I can just turn on and cook in more than one pan would be super.  I almost have that.  I've actually used the fridge a bit, but just for fun...cold brew and some overnight oats. Convenient but not important to me (but I must say...those oats were fine, more on them later).

I'm also having a netflix binge and will be glad to get away from TV when I leave.  It's fun for a while, but I don't want/need to watch every episode of "Chopped" in a row.  I did see some inspiring documentaries, but again, I can get those from the library if I want to watch them when I'm not here. 

Getting away also let me rethink my next cabin plan. I got too tied to one idea that was making the whole plan less comfortable.  On the drive, and knowing I didn't have any work tasks with me, I was able to think back through my varied plans and go back to the best one.  The one that I drew and thought "I would love to come home to that."  It shows off the kitchen, keeps the main entry as its own event.  It makes it slightly harder to put a summer kitchen in, but not much.  The overworked recent plan madeit awkward to enter the house every time.  So, back to the other one and let my personal architect (hi Jon!) work his magic with the summer kitchen.  The older plan also makes room for the solar equipment (batteries, inverter, etc) in a utility area rather than intruding on the living room . Those need to be in a closet, batteries preferable outside so they are fully vented. The inverter makes noise and clicks and has a light.  I'm in love with the dark.  The electronic lights at the farm sitting situation, as few as there are, still impinge on the dark.  I want DARK. 

I'm glad these friends have what they like and are making it more so.  And weall respect each others' choices about what we like.  None of us would impose the choices on another of us. (same with my other friend who has a new home: Hi Ange!!!).  Her home is different and perfect for her.  What we both have in common is that we come home and say "I can't believe I get to live here."  Yeay us.

So, the "work in progress" bit.  The place I'm farm sitting is an old unarchitected home.  My friends are redoing itasthey go.  Mostly it's great, but the adhoc bathrooms need updating.  So the old homestead house now has a beautiful bath with a repainted clawfoot tub, wood tongue and groove paneling on the walls, a toto toilet (low flush, easy on the septic), and some lovely primitive benches for the soaps and towels and whatnot.  The sink isn't in yet, but the tiles are placed to be grouted into a mosaic.  Very pretty.  They found towel racks, a light fixture, and toilet paper holder made of pipe.  Looks perfect and clean and goes with the house.

I think they will appreciate my future kitchen made of old table leaves and iron shelf supports and enamelware table portions.  They like eclectic and interesting too.