Apocalyptic Homesteading (Day 1284)

Hello Everyone!

The hen lives, Hoses that kink are lame, More washing of stuff, Fashioning a brush handle & Driveway progress!

Alright, I am running about an hour and thirty-four minutes behind schedule with my writing routine... because I spent all my time between sunset and now taking care of some correspondences. For what it is worth, on the evenings that happens I feel way less guilty about running late... than when I am behind schedule for 'no good' reason besides me mismanaging my time.

It has really been quite the long day and although I would love to spell everything out here... I will most likely keep this entry brief given that I am already pretty tired... and want to get to sleep at a reasonable hour. I also still need to squeeze in eating some dinner tonight... but I have learned the hard way not to eat before (or during the writing) because otherwise I get way too lethargic.

Last night, I got to sleep around the same time that I have been falling asleep the last several nights... which is nice considering that my sleep schedule is at least a consistent one. Several times throughout the night (even when I was trying to fall asleep) I had to resist the urge to check on Esmeralda... but my 'better sense' told me that not disturbing her was best.

This morning when I woke up, I immediately went and checked on her... and once again gave her a bunch of water by dipping my finger in her water container and then holding it up to her beak. Since she drank the water more readily than she did last night... I went ahead and rigged up a water bottle (that has a nipple) for her so that she does not have to move to get to it.

Apparently she was quite thirsty because as soon as I got the bottle situated (inside the grocery bag that I used as a hanger for it) she started drinking from it like crazy. Overall, she seemed to have improved a lot overnight... but she is still unable to stand... has her head drawn back... and has her feathers puffed out as if it were cold outside.

After attending to the ill hen, I dove into washing stuff for the move with real gusto... and finally switched out the 'fabric' water hose (that constantly kinks) for another hose that does not kink every time that I move it around. I have no idea why it did not occur to me to do that sooner... because for weeks on end now I have been struggling with that other hose kinking every time that I use it.

I swear that after my little 'aha' moment (with changing the hose) it seemed like getting everything else washed was not going to be near as much of a hassle as I thought that it would be. Oddly enough, that one little minor annoyance had been happening so much that I had just accepted it as the norm... and committed myself to dealing with the aggravation when I totally did not need to be doing so.

Anyways, one of the main things that I wanted to achieve today was getting all the dishes washed that have been 'soaking' for who knows how many weeks now. They were assuredly another of those things that I was avoiding doing... and getting them all rinsed off... and set out to dry made me feel like I had achieved way more than I actually did.

The other thing that I was dreading doing was washing out that large wheeled trash can that I mentioned in yesterday's entry. Letting it sit overnight with some bleach water in it sure helped break up most of the crud on the bottom... but I lacked a long handled brush to scrub it out with... and really disliked the idea of crawling inside of it to get it clean.

Since I have several nice bristle brush heads... but somehow lost all my handles for them over the years... I decided to try to fabricate one that was much stiffer than that flimsy handle that I made when I cleaned out the IBC tote. This time I decided to use one of my black locust sticks... and all it took was cutting the end into a wedge shape... screwing the wooden brush head on... trimming off the excess... and then sinking a deck screw into the end of it (to flare the handle) so it would not come loose when I started scrubbing with it.

That whole project came out really well... and I now have a very long handled scrub brush that I can also use when it comes time to scrub all the algae and dirt off the shop tent. It of course worked well to scrub that trash can out... and I think that if I wash it a few more times I will even be able to get rid of all the rodent waste 'residue' that is on it!

On a different note. Late this afternoon I gave the fella that is going to put in the driveway in for me a call... and we decided that putting in those smaller culverts (like I wanted to do) was probably a bad idea... because we were not going to put enough rock (or fill dirt) over them to ensure they would not get crushed. We briefly discussed putting in a larger culvert... but again the price point was just too high to fit my meager budget.

Another factor with it all is that when the electrician put the power pole in a few days ago... his skid steer almost got stuck right where the driveway is going in and he wound up using the old driveway... which off course meant that he mucked up the grassy flat spot where I want to put the shed. All of which is fine because I had told him about the scenario... and informed him 'to do whatever he had to do' to get the heavy machinery in there... even if it meant destroying that flat area.

Long story short me and the driveway fella decided that the best approach would be to get twenty tons of crusher run instead of ten... pour the driveway a little thicker than we originally planned on... and then use the remainder to cover the flat spot where the shed will go along with the area where the driveway meets the flat spot. Basically, I will wind up with a nice flat pad for the shed... and a large enough gravel area in front of it to park the moving truck and unload at.

Well, I am losing focus here rather quickly and best wrap this up and get on with my evening. I hope that everyone is doing well. Ta ta for now.