The end of the old year, the beginning of the new...

I hope everyone had a great Christmas.  Other than working on mine it was great.  It has been years since I have been able to spend it with the family.

I was surprised that our tree didn't end up like the one to the left.  We had the 'boys' in the house and they like to explore.

This year has been a wild and bumpy ride.  There have been huge changes with the family situation but all is well in that department.

The wife, kiddos and critters are now back on the homestead in Eastern Texas.  I have to say that when we moved everyone back down there, it felt like 'home'.  I am still working for now up here in Oklahoma until we get a few things taken care of.  Since I work 6 on 3 off I will be going home on my days off.  The way I see it right now its more or less like when I was driving over the road and was home every week or two.  Eventually, withing the next 6 months or so I plan on finding something a little closer to home so I can stay there.

I hope everyone has a great New Year!!

A White Christmas?

I will let my friend to the right keep the snow if he wants it.  In my line of work it just makes working outside that much more 'fun' lol.

So how many are hoping for a White Christmas?  I have tried to look at the extended forecasts but it seems to change every day.

I swear, the 'voodoo witch-doctor forecasters' as I affectionately call them can't seem to get it nailed down.

There are times when the Farmers Almanac is a lot more accurate, not to mention the old timers in your area.
This Christmas looks like it will be a very good one for the family this year.  I know the boys can't wait to open gifts, they have been asking each day if they can just open 'one' gift.  To say they are excited is an understatement lol.

So how has your Christmas been shaping up?

Round 2......

Well this weekend was a lot of fun.  We had family and friends down for Thanksgiving and a Wedding on Saturday.

I have to say it did get interesting for a little while.  I got called out on a job at 11 pm the night before which put me in jeopardy in not getting back in time.  Where I work I technically don't go on days off til 8 am in the morning so I had to go out.  The company was good though and they got a relief driver out to where I was at as soon as he was available so I was able to rush back in time to get ready.

We had a late Thanksgiving lunch, then afterwards a short and sweet to the point wedding.

The reason the title above says Round 2 is that this is the second time Jennifer and I have gotten married to each other.  We were married the first time, (in Vegas which was interesting) in 2001.  Unfortunately we went our separate ways a few years later, but I think we both had some growing we had to do.  We both agree that we don't ever want to go through anything like this again so we are stuck with each other lol.

We are a pretty good fit for each other, she is very independent, loves to garden and just comes up with all sorts of cool little projects to do around the house.  She loves to play in the dirt but can get all prettied up in no time flat.  We both want to be more self sufficient in life and now we can help each other work towards that.

Well that's all for now, chat with everyone later.

The dentist trip.....

I kinda know how the guy over to the right feels there lol.

I have a confession to make, I hate going to the dentist.  For some reason they scare the heck out of me, always have.

Well I'll admit I haven't taken care of my teeth like I should.  Also the military 'took care' of me with their dentists a few times when I had to deploy so that didn't help matters much.  Well as it turns out I was better off overall for the health of my mouth to remove all of the bad teeth from my upper, and get a partial denture done on the bottom.

I went in last Thursday and had them pulled.  To say that was an experience is saying the very least.  I walked out of the office swollen, sore, and with my first set of full uppers and partial bottom dentures.

I can safely say that I wouldn't want to wish this on anyone.  I have basically been on a liquid/soft food diet since getting them.  I will be doing that for at least another 2-3 weeks to make sure my gums have healed up before I can use any type of adhesive on the uppers so I can have a little force while chewing.

That is another experience, trying to chew with these in.  It's like my dentist told me, think of it like its a prosthetic, because it really is.  You have to basically relearn how to chew, and yes speaking too.  By the time I get my final set in 6 months, I should have everything down.  Also my final set will be half the size and thickness the ones I currently have are so that should prove interesting on how that adjustment will go.

So here is another thing to think about.  If there was TEOTWAWKI event, what will you do about taking care of your teeth?  Trust me it's a pretty big thing as some of you I'm sure know.  If you need teeth pulled I know how much fun it is with a deadening agent so there is little pain but what if there are no pain killers?  One thing I now wonder is what will I have to do since I have dentures?  These are things that have to be considered now.

Just a few questions to ponder for everyone.

Tiny Homes.....

On Facebook I had recently found a pretty cool page over there.  It is called Tiny House Design and they show all sorts of houses that people have designed with a wide variety of items.

The one in the picture above caught my eye as someone took a piece of corrugated pipe and made a small house from it.  It looks like a one room house, maybe something for those guests you have over?

Its pretty cool to see the ideas that everyone comes up with.  It gives you all sorts of ideas on how to re-purpose items that you see laying around.

A slow change in the population...

For the longest time anyone that even thought about being prepared for any bad times was considered like the guy to the left there.  A little nuts, off his rocker...the black sheep.  Oh wait that kinda sounds like me but  I digress lol.

Here recently I have been reading more articles such as this one I have linked.

The 'movement' if you want to call it that has been steadily gaining steam and a little more mainstream.  Are there areas or populations that will still think you are nuts?  Of course there are, there always will be but overall from what I can tell more people are wanting to be prepared for the 'bad times'.

I also want to believe that more people are looking back and going back to their 'roots'.  50 years ago, heck 30 years ago having a store of food was common for quite a few people.  As a child I have many memories of canning out of the family garden, processing chickens, hogs and cattle.  I know myself, I am striving to regain those skills that have not been practiced in years.  I also remember we only made a trip to the grocery store for major food items maybe once a month.  You kept a nice supply of food on hand.

I think in the more rural areas of the country, where your food and self sustaining people live, they are quietly preparing so that they can weather anything that comes their way.  The only major change I see from our forefathers from 50 years ago is that more are prepping in regard to a more severe situation, ie no power, no law enforcement to speak of, things of that nature.

This doesn't mean that you drop your OPSEC and talk openly to everyone you know about what you are doing.  You still need to be careful in that regard, but, you might be finding more like minded people now than before that you can share and exchange information with.

Cooler weather ahead....

Sometimes its the simple little things in life that can excite you like our friend here to the left.

Well the fall weather has finally arrived and I have discovered that what few winter clothes I have are still in storage lol.

I went out on one of our jobs when the temperature was in the mid 30's and quickly figured out I needed to repack my 'work' bag.

My work bag has 3 changes of clothes, toiletries, (baby wipes etc) and a nice little food stash.  You never know how long a person will be stuck out on one of our job sites, or bounce from one to another.  The job can definitely give you plenty of hours that's for sure lol.

I have to admit I have tried to ignore what our 'government' has been doing in the last few weeks because it all just completely ticks me off.  Other than a few up there that are trying to bring things to like and change things it is just the same status quo.  When you pay close attention there isn't a bit of difference between either parties 'Carrier Politicians'.  They like to vote things in for 'the common good' but if you notice they exempt themselves from it.  If its so good why do they do that?  To me that's a monster warning sign saying that its not as good as they like us to believe.  Enough about politics though.

I am excited about getting things together this winter so we can have a spring garden.  It has been a very long time since I have worked any type of garden but I look forward to it.