Guest post from Scoutinlife

John and I have traded guest posts on our respective blogs.
I have known him online for a few years now since we are members of a couple shared forums.
You can see a link to his blog in the right hand column.

********************************************************

What To Do With Fireplace Ashes

Depending on where you live, a wood fireplace or stove can be a
*relatively* great option for heating and quite economical;
particularly if you're fortunate enough to have easy access to a to a
woodlot to supply your fire wood needs..

The ashes left behind from a wood fire are also a valuable and
versatile by-product don't just throw them away indiscriminately;
here's some great uses for your ash!Use appropriate caution, spot test
etc.

1.Spread them on an icy patch in the walk or driveway?
2. If you have chickens put it in their dusting area to keep mites off of them.
3. Wood ash has potash and other minerals in it, but it will make the
soil more alkaline.
4.Don't forget the compost pile. You can dump them there, along with
droppings, leaf cuttings, hair cuttings, the vacuum cleaner bag
dumpings, old table scraps (except meat or fatty, cheese, dairy) grass
clippings, bone meal, blood meal and/or fertilizer. Get good soil from
old junk.
5.If you're so inclined to make your on soap you can leech them with
water to make lye.
6. Do you grow any raspberries? They *love* woodash!

Ash contains potash (potassium carbonate), phosphate, iron, manganese,
boron, copper and zinc and can be quite beneficial as a natural
fertilizer... sometimes. Wood ash increases the pH or alkalinity of
soil, so use sparingly.

Thanksgiving (A day late)

I have been thinking about Thanksgiving all week. It is like a memorial day to God.
I have been reminded all week about the story in Joshua 3-4 about the crossing of the Jordan river into the promised land. If you read the story the Jordan was flooded and the priests were to carry the ark and walk into the waters. As they did that the waters were parted "and all the Israelites passed over on dry ground"(3:17)

When they had passed God told Joshua to get 12 men(one from each tribe) and collect 12 stones from the bed of the Jordan. They set them up where they would camp for a memorial so the future generations could know what happened at that place. When we reflect on Thanksgiving it is a perfect time to teach our children what happen in our history. Like maybe why the pilgrims were here in the first place. We are thankful to our God and our creator for allowing us a place of freedom.

In 4:9 you see Joshua set up 12 stones in the Jordan where the priests had stood holding the waters back while carrying the ark. These are thanksgiving memorials each of us carry and can reflect on that others do not see, but are there nonetheless. God knows our hearts and knows if we are truly thankful to him or just going through the motions.

So what are you thankful for?
Will you take some time to thank God for it?

Still clinging to my God and my guns,
Randy

how to make a $.25 shotshell reloader

The most recent issue of Backwoodsman magazine has an article on making a $.25 shotshell reloader.
Since .410 ammo costs almost $10 a box I figured I could make one for it.



#1 is a spike that fits the primer hole used for decapping (it is sitting in it's storage hole)

#2 is a counter bored hole that the shell sits in while you drive out the primer I added the second hole below #2 so the primer would fall out. I think it should have been farther down since the wood holding the shell is kinda thin.

#3 a dowel with a shell on it where you tap in the new primer

#4 is a hole to hold the shell while you build the load.

The dowel to the right is for tamping down the components of the load as you build it. I also used it as a punch to tap in the primer.

The only problem is I missed the primer on the first shell and bulged out the brass trying to drive out the primer.

Still clinging to my God and my guns
Randy

New article on squirrel hunting

I wrote an article for a publisher at Helium about squirrel hunting.
The article was written to specs for this publication but was not the one picked out of the 25 or so submissions.
So it is now on Helium for all to see.
LINK
The specs limited the words and told what areas to cover.
Got to keep trying.

Still clinging to my God and my guns
Randy

$23 a week oh my!

A recent article in the Toledo Blade lamented the plight of food stamp recipients that got only $23 a week per person for food. The challenge was for the reporters to try to live on that amount for a week and see what it was like. Our food budget is $100 a week or $20 per person, we would get a $3 increase.

Tanya and I were talking last night on the way to church about how to cut back on more expenses since we spend more every month that I make.(our tithe is non negotiable) We have been dipping into savings for a few years now. The only variable we have is our food budget which is already below food stamp level. At this level Tanya even manages to buy lots of organic and health food store stuff.

If we were to get food stamps we would qualify for around $600/mo but we would have to get rid of all our savings to do that, because we saved too much money in the past(before we were on the homestead). So it looks like we will try to spend even less on food. Next summer is going to be more intensive food production. We were really lax this year. A lot of that had to do with Tanya's allergies, she couldn't work in the garden hardly at all and forget canning tomatoes.

Our friends raise rabbits and I've wanted to try a grass based rabbit operation so I may get a trio this spring.
Going to have to get some bees too. I know a couple people who have hives so hopefully I can get some help.
The fruit trees are going to get priority this year also all the correct organic techniques applied on time.
I am going to make up a farm calendar so I know what I am supposed to be doing and when I'm supposed to do it. Our library has a great book on organic gardening that has each plant listed separately and it tells you exactly what to do at what time of year. I can't remember the name but I will post it when I get it out again.

Wish me perseverance,
Randy

survival pet peeve

Pardon me while climb up on one of my favorite soap boxes.
When you are putting together your survival supplies be sure and add some traps and snares.
Many "experts" tell you not to rely on hunting alone for your sustenance should TEOTWAWKI happen.
Which is good advice, but then they will go on and tell you to add some snares to your supplies.

Snares are well and good if you know how to use them. But you should also have a good collection of steel traps to go with them. Snares are disposable steep traps are more or less permanent. True you can buy a lot of snare material for what a steel trap will cost but the ratio isn't that great when you figure in how long they will last and how many animals you can catch with them. It just irks me that an otherwise prepared person can be so close minded.

The other thing that really bothers me is someone buying a few snares and thinking they are good to go.
I want to know how many hours they have put in the field trapping or snaring. How much fur has this so called expert put up? I have said before trapping is an art. One that takes a pretty darn long time to become proficient at and a lifetime to master. It would be the same as a man buying an AR15 with all the bells and whistles, 30 magazines and 2500 rounds of ammo and locking it all up in his gun safe and thinking he was well armed.

If you think you will use trapping as a food source or maybe even an income source TEOTWAWKI, I encourage you to buy a trapping license and put up some fur. Fur trapping will teach you how animals move in the wild and by learning to avoid catching certain non-target animals now, you have the knowledge you need to target those animals if you need them for food in the future.

Fur trapping is a great dry run for providing for your family in a time of need. It is a skill set that fewer and fewer people every year learn. Fur could also be a means of exchange if the system really tanks and having your trapping kit and skills to use it in place will put you far ahead of the game.

Now get out there and catch something,

Randy

Guest blog post

I was fortunate enough to post a guest post on Scoutinlife's blog.
Check it out.
The link is at the bottom on the right under my favorite blogs.

Still clinging to my God and my guns
Randy

Saturday wind and rain

Here it is Saturday.
The wind is blowing hard from the NE and it is raining with the possibility of changing to snow this afternoon or tomorrow.
I don't think I will be wood cutting today.

We lost another chicken this week. We are down to three Americauna's and one Silver laced wyandot .
Two of the wyandot's have kicked off.
Four chickens sure go through food slower than 50. But they haven't started laying yet, any time now would be good.

I'm going to write today.
I have to work on an article on squirrel hunting for Helium.
Another blog post and an article I hope to submit to Backwoodsman magazine.

Be sure to hit the poll on the right side of the page.
I added a couple blogs I like also.

Still clinging to my God and my guns
Randy

Finding my voice

I have added a poll to the right side of the blog.
It is asking you what you want to see here on this blog.
Please vote!!!

Still clinging to my God and my guns
Randy

Geographic equality act

I noticed in Ohio B.O. only won 19 of 88 counties but took the state by a large margin.
I also hear all the time about the liberal politicians in the city making bad policy for us country folk.
We need a grass roots movement to bring geographic equality to this country. Something like each county being represented in state government. Then we could get the state electoral procedure changed to reflect county wishes.
It can all be done on the state level. The problem will be getting it through a system that is population controlled. But still us poor disenfranchised rural folk should be able to make the masses see we are worth their sympathy.
Just some random thoughts.

Still clinging to my God and my guns
Randy

Coyote trapping

I wrote a very general article on coyote trapping. LINK
If I write enough of these things it would be pretty easy to put out a trapping book.
About $15 covering just about everything I know. Well we'll see what happens.

More firewood today.
I cut three pickup loads of red oak last weekend.
I left the last load in the truck and fed the furnace from it. I have about 1/3 of it left.
I cut most of the smaller stuff off of the main trunks laying down in the woods.
I will use the tractor to pull the trunks up to the house for cutting the bigger stuff.
When dad brings his big saw over he can zip through them without too much problem.

Last year we had fun trying to pull some of the really big ones up with the tractor.
One big one kept pulling the front wheels of the tractor up in the air. So we hooked my sister Annette's Nissan truck to the front of the tractor with a tow strap just to hold it down.
Tanya got a hilarious video of it on our cell phone.

Still haven't gotten all my corn in.
It's dark by the time I get home from work. Gonna have to pay the kids to do it.

Still clinging to my God and my guns
Randy

Amerika has a bad case of B.O.

Amerika awoke yesterday morning to find itself afflicted with a case of B.O.
We elected the most liberal socialist if not ever, then in a long time. I do say" we" since I am still an American, but I feel the divide being wedged farther open.

I read quotes like "Now the healing can begin". Where do these people come from?
By putting a socialist liberal in office we have alienated the conservative base of this country.
Without the conservative base of this country you wouldn't have anyone to pay all the new taxes so that the big O can pay for my gas and mortgage.

All I know is that B.O. is a blatant liar. He say's he will give 95% of Americans a tax cut. But 33% of Americans already don't pay taxes because they don't make enough . I am one of them, so I went to one of his web sites that calculate my tax cut under the B.O. plan. It told me I would pay $2300 or so less in taxes. A downright lie.

He believes in trickle up economics where you give the poor money and it will help the economy.
It doesn't work like that. Reagan had it right with trickle down economics but the liberals always cut into his plan and made it not work. Clinton got the benefit of Reagan's policies, he rode the dot com bubble all the way up. Bush got the benefit of Clinton's .

With trickle up the poor will spend but who will invest in business and new technology and research? Not the business owners with the increased profit, since you have taxed any new profit to give it to the poor.
The only industries that would benefit are those vice industries that the poor put so much of their hard earned money into like tobacco companies and breweries. Hey maybe that's why they are poor.

And taxing oil company profits? Is the guy an idiot?
That will just raise the price of gas.

Socialist liberals need to get over their jealousy of the rich. That's all it is plain and simple. The poor have envy (covet) of what the rich have and they find politicians that will promised to spread the wealth around. With no justification whatsoever other than they think you shouldn't be able to keep what is yours.

They are saying "suck it up and work together" The time to work together was when it was a divided government . Now that the liberals are in power is the time to work against them.
The republicans blew it 8 years ago. They gave in to the liberals way too much when they had control of everything. They also were very corrupt. They have been thrown out because they didn't stand up when it counted.

BUT how insane is it for this country to put into power the party who runs a congress with only 10% or so approval rating? B.O. has the power to mesmerize.

B.O. is even being called the Antichrist in some circles.
I will reserve judgment on that case.

The bible tells us we need to pray for our leaders because God put them in power.
Even the Antichrist will come to power because God wills it.
I will pray for B.O.
I may not like it but I will do it.
I will continue to cling to my God and my guns.

Rant off,
Randy

Today is the big day

Go vote!!
If you haven't already.
I'm heading out in a few minutes.
Don't complain about the candidates and all that junk, just do it.
If you have to just vote for an issue or a judge.

Get ready for riots.
Win or lose you will need to be careful in the next few days.
I remember Ohio State winning the national championship a couple years ago.
Columbus had riots and they won!! what will happen across the nation?
Just be careful and more alert of your surroundings.

Take care and go vote
Randy

Added:
I just got back....
What a crazy place. I think everyone is voting.
Of course the machine wasn't working and we had to put our ballots in a cardboard box.