Gun give away.

      We have all had relative's die and watched the free fall fighting over what was the deceased left behind. I could make a list and hope my wife got everything to who I want to get it. But I have choose to give my guns out before I pass away.  This way there is no hurt feeling ,confusion or mistakes made.

      The first gun I gave to my nephew was an H and R pardoner 20 ga.  for his son when he got older . I gave my brother my Belgium made Browning16ga he broke down in tears when he opened the case and saw it. I have a single shot 22 Glenfield 10  I am putting a red dot sight on for 2 of the grandkids to learn with. Plus a model 25 ,7 shot is getting the same sight for another grandson. I still have a good many more to give to the kids . What I m trying to do is have the gun in good shape and ammo for it when I give it to them. 

    The first of the week Harry at Self Sufficient Mountain Living. had a link for 8mm in striper clips from AIM. I ordered 5 boxes of them (they look like new) but are date 11/53 .  I doubt I could shoot my 8 mm Mauser in the shape I'm in  it would break my shoulder . Wal mart is 39.95 plus tax for a box of 20 I got 75 in stripers for 45.17 tax shipping and all. Just to give away!

     I have other things besides my guns I am finding homes for. The more I get done the less the wife will have to worry with.

I lost my Jeep

        I posted back in June I had bought a 2005 jeep liberty it has been a good one. A little to good. My wife's car had the starter short out because it has a leaking valve cover gasket. Oil in an electric motor is not good. Neither is an expensive part but its a Mitsubishi spider with a 3.0 engine. It's a bitch to work on .The starter is behind the Exhaust manifold and catalytic converter with 2 heat shields . I have a guy that says he will put the parts on for 200$ but he doesn't know when he can get over here and do it.
    While her car is broke my wife has been driving "the" jeep. I noticed last week its gone from "My" jeep to "the" jeep. Today I asked her if she would budget 100$ next month out of her check to help fix her car. She said sure no problem if I needed the money but she was happy with "HER JEEP". S0 in 6 weeks its gone from  "My" to "The" and has become "Her" JEEP.  I guess I am going to be the old fart in a convertible sports car now. I can't seem to hang on to a jeep .

    

Painted the trim on the house.

        A couple of weeks ago I bought a quart of white paint to touch up my little camper. Well I gave the wood 2 coats and still had plenty left. In front of my house I have a ledge on each side with the old style concrete planters. Like Grandma had at her house.

    Mine had been painted in the past but were looking ruff. So I took them down and emptied the dirt and gave them 2 coats of paint. When I put them back on the ledge I saw how chipped and faded the trim was on the front of the house had become. So I got a gallon of bright white to do the trim.

   I took the water hose and put on one of the old brass nozzles so I could blast off all the flaking paint last weekend. This weekend  I jumped back  to it and painted the trim. When I finished I am pleased. If it last 20+ years like it did before I will be happy(and also long dead). The house was painted in 83 by the former Owner in oil on the cedar   but white latex trimmed. The oil based red still looks good and now the trim is fresh.   It looked like this all over when I started.

  finished 

   Me and the wife got froggy and cleaned up the Porch I filled my truck bed with crap that had accumulated. Still got a ways to go before its as we want but a good start. We still want to paint the steps and floor a grey but that's for later.

Lunch and a movie with my Wife.

     Yesterday after the eye doctor me and the wife  went to lunch at Captain D's  and then the movie.  Now we enjoyed our selves till I pointed out  how pathetic we have become . It took a doctors visit to get us out of the house to eat lunch on senior day at a cheap restaurant  and go to the movies using free tickets my daughter gets using her movie pass membership.

      Ok my wife vision is back to 20/20 so she has to drive  you see I have  ONE major rule while in a vehicle . One person drives all others keep there mouth shut about it. My wife couldn't keep her mouth shut about my driving or yours ,  so I let her drive.

     Captain D's was normal but  2 meals and drinks for 10.98 made it almost good.  

     The movie we went to see was  "I Can Only Imagine "  if you haven't seen or heard about it here is its trailer .

    We have been doing dinner and a movie every week or so. Its a good reason to get out of the house and it doesn't cost that much. My daughter has a movie pass membership and she gets a ticket on Friday for a movie then turns it in for an advance ticket on say Wednesday then does it again on Sunday . We get 2 tickets to the movie for free. A movie pass membership is only 105$ year .That's the cost of 8 movie's. If you can find 2 decent movies a month to see it is a bargain.

Happy Valintine's Day

       My  Wife has had a ruff year taking care of and putting up with me and my illness . I use this for a screen picture this time of year I stole it from Phil's blog many years ago.

     

    I tell my wife in my mind she looks as good as this pic to me. She says she loves my lying ass but I need my eyes checked and to talk to a shrink . I know what she thinks of when she imagines me .

     I guess it could be worst. I still love her !!!!

Prepparing for illness

     Ok this is not a poor pitiful me post . I feel good about the future but there are some hard decisions that will be coming in the future. I understand I will have to face one or more things surgery, chemo, radiation or a combo of all 3.

      Now I run my house the old way, I am head Jackass!! I pay the bills do the shopping earn the funds, make most the important decisions .I do listen to everyone's points of view on stuff but since I pay for or have to do the work I have veto power. With the possibility of me being down for a time I have to prepare the wife and family to take over some things they have no clues about.

    Most of us that read prepper blogs are Alfa personalities and have never considered if something happens to us will our loved ones be able to take over our jobs. In my case it will be illness taking me out of daily chores, income, spending management. Not only have I been sheltering the wife I have found she doesn't want the responsibility shifted to her. I tried to talk to her and it was a stone wall if she wont accept it, it wont happen. She will be getting a crash course in household management over the next 2 weeks. I love my wife but her money skills suck plus her shopping skills can net us 2 meals and junk food for 100$ a trip.

      It will be an interesting next 2 weeks . In the morning I have to go for Labs, X rays, CT scans, at 8 o'clock on the way back I have to pick up 350$ worth of wiring and electrical conduit for my daughters. after lunch I will stub it in from the pole. Thursday I see the ENT about doing the biopsy then meet the electrician to pay for permit and him to connect what I stubbed in. Sunday my step son will do the rest of the plumbing and gas for me and her place will be ready to move in.

    Hopefully the next week I will have a break between doctor visits. I need to install an exterior electrical load center on my sons house the old one has been gutted and wiring cut. It will be about 12 hours work but will allow him to move in after a few other odds and ends he can do.

 

     Preparing my family to move forward while I am down is as much for me as them. The kids moving out was delayed because of me feeling bad then the holidays now its time to get them set. The wife has become a couch potato the last few years and that's my fault. Once she is up to speed I will rest easier .

 

    Thinking about preparing for being out as leader and if my loved one could carry on while sick during good times makes me think have many preppers thought about it to? 

New year aint starting so good.

    Ok here is the reason why I want the house cleared. It is why my projects have took so long and lost 40+ pounds since spring.

    For about 6 months I have had a sore throat and right after Thanksgiving my neck started swelling on the right side. It would come and go . I made a promise to the wife that I would go to a doctor as soon as Christmas was over. For me that is something . Well Christmas weekend the food the talking and general holiday commotion did me in. I couldn't talk I was coughing blood and it looked like I had a hamster stuck in my throat.

    Monday morning after Christmas I agreed to go to the emergency room. The blood scared me ,but what sealed the deal was what the wife said  she would do to me and what she wouldn't do for me, unless I got my ass in the car.

  

    It took 16 hour of waiting and being seen. I was X rayed , CT scanned, had a scope run down my nose and throat. Well I had a pretty good idea what the verdict was going to be.

    I have a "growth" on the epiglottis in my throat ( the flap over your wind pipe) till a biopsy then I can call it cancer. The blood was from the swelling, irritation food ,coughing and sodas. The lump is a swollen lymph node due to the "growth". I got 3 steroid shots  told to sleep sitting  in a chair for the night . An appointment with an  E N T and wished merry Christmas .

     Not having insurance it will be interesting to see what the bill for that visit will be. Since then I have gotten a form of medical insurance but that's 2 post in itself .

Strange mood.

    The kids are gone for the nite . I should be sweet talking the wife but do I want hanky panky or dinner ? As I get older the choice gets harder.

 If I have to choose a way to go I choose BOTH !!

 Cowboy acronyms

 

   Ok I can cook for myself so I am going to demand (beg) her attention .

The wife is drawing blank on the suday dinner challenge.

   Almost blank, so far she has come up with 2 dinners in my challenge. Both from shelf stable foods.

1 Loaded hashbrown casserole , its dried hashbrowns canned hamburger, dried onions and bell peppers covered in melted cheese skillet baked to golden brown. cost about 6.00 a pan.

2  hamburger helper au grotin potatoes . with 2 cans of veg all and French's fried onions on top. cost 7.50

    I got to admit it is a harder challenge than it seems . I am going to let her sweat it a while longer then give her Peggy Layton's cooking with storage to read. :)

 

 

We vanished to the lake.

   Last Thursday my wife woke up and said we were going to the lake. Ok camper is kept ready  but I have to work Friday and Saturday at the BBQ.  I got informed it was for her sister's birthday but I could come up Sunday for Father's Day .

   Ok I hooked up and drove the 60 mile to the camp site got it all set up and her settled in. I planned on spending a few hours there but it got  cut short. All I got was a ham sandwich before her daughter and grand daughter arrived then her sister and a friend of theirs . Yep I was the only male at the campsite so it was time to cut and run !!!

 

   Had a good weekend selling BBQ for fathers day dinner's. Plus my kids gave me my gifts Saturday nite and were civil to each other. I even got the items I asked for .

 I love the radio and its a 3 way chargeable . The lanterns I haven't got to play with yet.

    Went back to the lake early Sunday morning and spent 2 days with the wife.

 We had a nice relaxing time watching the sunsets and walking around the park. For a spur of the moment trip it turned out to be just what we both needed.

To ocuppy the wife on food storage.

   Ok to get my wife involved in food storage I gave her a simple task. I asked her to think of  9 different meals for 4 that  DO  NOT use rice beans or pasta. List out what ingredient's are needed for each meal and then we would price them out. She has to do this on her own and I gave her a week to think about it.

   This is harder than most people think. Most people think about a 2 week grocery bill and list at the most. True this would be just 9 days of dinners but once its listed and priced it has to be multiplied by  18.

   Why  18 ? Because 18 x 9= 162  or 3 good meals per week for a year. The other 4 days have to be beans, rice, pasta, corn and flour based meals with broths ,creamed soups, sauces for flavorings. Even if she keeps these meals at 10.00 for 4 people it will be around 16 to 1700 $ about double what the other 4 days will cost.

    You can't tell my wife it cost to much I have to show her . What I am after is 6 different meals  to multiply by 9 for 54 meals of Sunday Dinner's . This will reduce cost to 540$ plus some extra dry goods.

Food storage is low and the wife wants to help.

   With it being an election year and increased terrorist threats it is a good time to re-evaluate our food storage. I have had 30 days in active use and a 90 day pantry of can goods. Over the last year it has slipped to less than 30 days period. I still have 9 months of beans ,rice, flour, pasta, and corn. All this was put in to feed 2 people. We Now have 4 people in the house and I admit I have never increased our food storage ( I held on to they would move out soon) but with the world edging into SCARY I need to get on the ball.

    Today I went to Lowes because I needed chicken wire and I got 4 new buckets to replace 2 cracked ones I am now using as laying boxes in the chicken coup.  Yes I have 2 hens and 12 chicks penned with 6 hens and 18 chicks running around the yard with 2 roosters. I plan on keeping 12 hens and 1 rooster come fall. I was pleased to see Lowes had Gamma lids for 7.28 I got 2 of them but need 2 more next trip. I need 20 buckets just to reach food for 2 more mouths for 9 months this is going to cost.

   

   My wife has NEVER took an interest or opposed me storing food or asked what we have.  When I came in with the buckets with Gamma lids  she said she liked that .She said perfect to store dry goods in . Yep they were cheaper than amazon .

  She is scared of Clinton winning the presidency ( Trump isn't reassuring her either ) and wanted to know how we sat on food prepps and propane . So she got a tour ( after I cleared the spider webs) and she wasn't pleased. Now it seems she is worried that we need more EVERYTHING and then some. The first thing I have to get is more T.P. I think its a woman thing. Then more dry goods, it seems she feels my can good variety is lacking so she want to Help me restock and diversify (Money). Having her help will be nice (and expensive) men and women look at thing verrrry differently.

  Tonight we discussed a time frame to reach our goals on storage and naturally she wants it NOW but is willing to wait as long as its done before November 1st.  I think we will be having a lot more talks about prepping . Facebook has become a big part of her day and what she is reading has her mind going to places that scare her.

So right and proven so wrong.

     Well had a huge weekend doing BBQ. Still had customers coming to the house 3 hour after I was sold out yesterday. Total Profit was just over 1200$. That means I had money to buy 4 cases of butts and ribs plus the money for that property. I decided to walk the property before I sent off the money. Make sure it was a sure thing.

     I waked the property end to end looking for the utility connections, None to be found no where. The power pole had been dragged up at some point but no septic or water could be found. The property was nice but had a lot of scrub brush taking over , So I went up on the road to find the water meter, nadda couldn't find it. While on the road the lady across the street came out to find out what I was doing.

    I told her I was thinking on buying the property and was looking for the water, septic and power hookups. She knew the family. I was informed the Aunt lived in the house and her nephew had the mobile home on the lot I was looking at. The mobile home used the houses water and septic . So my lot doesn't have any.  She said when the aunt died her daughter got her house and told her cousin he need to get his own water and septic tank she wasn't going to pay his bills like her mom had. He moved instead.

   So I have to pass while 930$ is a great price  water and septic will cost  6500 to 7500  so no profit to be made. Glad I took that walk when I did !!!!! My wife gets her way  and I wait for a better deal.

Memorial day weekend starts early !!!!

 Monday morning I was drinking coffee at Big Lagoon in Perdido Bay and my Phone rang.  A customer wanted to reserve 2 BBQ Butts and a slab of ribs to pickup Saturday at 11. Well no problem we were leaving at 12 to head home . We broke camp got the camper set to hit the road and headed home. We ran into road paving and a 10 mile traffic jam at 2 and I had just cleared it and got going 65 mph with idiots wizzing by at 90 thinking they could make up a hour in traffic.   My phone rings again . At this point I have a white knuckled grip on the wheel and my wife say its for me.  Who? A women. I get the phone and that glare you may die from my wife. Its a customer wanting  6 Butts chopped and panned with 2 slabs of ribs single rib cut plus sauce ready to pickup Friday before 5. Its for a wedding ok no problem. I hang up and fall in behind a Snieder truck they are governed to 65 max. HOW MANY WOMEN HAVE YOUR PHONE# ?  A LOT ! women hate to cook REMEMBER. It was a long drive thank god no more calls .

  Now I have been doing this for a long time and know I will be having a big weekend. I went today at 8 am and picked up 40 butts and 18 slabs of ribs  plus reserved 20 butts and 18 more ribs to get Saturday.  While talking to the butcher he ordered a butt plus 3 others ordered butts and ribs. Pre orders I like because most of them people want them chilled so I can pre do them they are for tavaling to families or the lake. I started cooking today at 10 pm and will finish Monday at 2 . Triple A says this will be the busiest travel memorial day weekend ever. This is why I went to the gulf last week . This Summer is looking to be a blow out!!!!

Good Deals ,Mad Wife

    In my in box today I got a property quote from the state . It is one I wanted and have researched . Its in a good area on a road that is 8 miles to anything a person could want to buy or do. The property is 1.1 acre and has an old shed  a mobile home pad, water is run, septic tank and it has a power pole. The place had a mobile home on it till 2006 or 07. In research it appears the lady died in 2007 and left it to her daughter and she quit paying the taxes in 2010. The price from the state is 931.89 $  all I can see I have to get it sellable is about 1/2 acre of brush to clear and 1/2 of bush hogging. Once clear it should sell for 9 to 12,000 . This is the one I hoped to make clear profit with.

      Here is the rub I was going to pay off most the loan on my daughters property . As it turned out we just redid the loan for a shorter term. The loan is in the wife's name and is drafted from her account. Now I put the loan amount in her account every month but she is quick to point out "she pays the loan "????? I am using her check for these properties ??????? I have dragged her to the bank twice this month  for a loan and we have nothing but a payment to show ????? Women are Weird . Her CDs , my saving bought them to use as loan collateral. The cash land purchases, cash from the BBQ. Am I going to buy this lot ? YEA  cause what I say goes!!!!!!!
      P.S.  Next week I will be on the coast I may have found my balls and made a stand but it has cost me 12 days on the beach to  keep her from crushing them under her heel.  :(

Not all customers are good .

     This weekend I  was told a friend's little dinner was closed. Me and the wife used to eat there a couple lunches a week . Old Max was a fair cook that did a decent meat and 3  plus clubs and burgers. Well Max is in his mid 70s and decided to retire . I saw him about 6 weeks ago and he asked me if I would buy it, he gave me a very good price . 12,000$ and he would take it at 1000 a month for a year from me. I know it would pay for its self but he is open from 5am till 2  6 days a week. After expense's it would have been 500 to 750 a week but it would have been 60 hours a week! I told him I appreciated the offer but it wasn't what I planned on for a retirement.

    Now I know I could have changed the menu dropping some and adding others items as Max has done his thing for 15 years unchanged. My biggest problem was the hours, limited seating (40 maybe) and a Bullsitting crowd. The bane of small dinners a group of 6 or so that sit 1 to a booth or 6 out of 10  for lunch and a hour of B.S. after. I have seen to many potential customers leave because of no seating . While I want a full time food sales setup I don't want to start into it with a "gathering hole" .

   Max found a Buyer for the dinner he thought. He worked with him the last week of March to turn the keys over so he could start April 1st. The new owner was a no show and it has been closed for a week. Max gave him the same deal he offered me . I don't know what will happen. 2 friends have asked me to take it this weekend.
 
    Me and the wife talked it over and agree it is not for US. I hate it for Old Max but he has let his regulars ruin his business . I will go full time but it will be a to go with patio tables only. The wife likes what I do now but I want a bit more.

I knew i was in trouble when.

     Yesterday I smarted off to the wife. Well she is a Facebook junky now so she said see this . And think next time you smart off.

Spring cleaning in November.

     Sorry I disappeared this week but the holidays made it a busy time here at home. This year was the first time we hosted the family's Thanksgiving dinner. My wife and I are both clutter bugs but we keep the house picked up and comfortable FOR US. Well last Saturday when it was decided that it was going to be here the wife went into cleaning hysteria and I became her muscle.

     Now that its over I understand why you read story's of women stripping everything out of a house and reassemble it once everything was spotless every spring. It has been 10 years since we painted the inside's . On Monday I had to strip the dinning room, washed walls floors baseboards, clean everything wax the floor and reassemble it to my wife's satisfaction. That was the easy room . It was amazing how dirty this house was. When you see it every day its not as noticeable but once you start cleaning to a panicked woman standards its different .

   Long story short she hid my computer and drove me like a dog ( she worked as hard or harder) doing a fall spring cleaning of the house  and no room was spared. It was hard work but once put back it was worth the work. The house is brighter looks fresher and it made her happy. Come spring I will be repainting a couple of rooms but I now understand WHY spring cleaning's were done.

     A lot of folks wouldn't see the point but most people move 5 or more times before they are 50. This has been my home for 31 years now. Houses may not need a spring cleaning if you move every few years . But if you have a home and have been in it a long time it could use a spring cleaning !
      It is the same as moving but no truck needed !!! Lol

Texas logic .

  Sounds like a humane response. Made me smile.

P.S. My wife has drooled over this man since the movie Roadhouse

Vending BBQ Kitchen is framed pics.

     I felt 80% today and did a little work . My wife allowed me to work  4 hours an hour at a time with breaks of at least an hour between. She says she is to lazy to break in a new man if I stroke out. SHE LOVES ME . Before I started I snapped pictures of what I did yesterday.
  
    This is what it looked like yesterday morning.

 

 

       By the end of the day we had it to this stage.

     Not bad for a days work but still a ways to go . With my wife watching the clock I was afraid it would take a while to finish the frame . Seem I work better with supervision because I got it to this point in 4 hours work and 8 hours of breaks.

   Got it framed and the serving windows in, the door will be in the back tail end of the trailer. I should be able to have it blacked in and the sheet metal on by Wednesday . Here is a picture of the metal .

   The piece on the tongue is oxidized on the other side like the one leaned against the side. I hope it will look good enough till I can get the log siding.