Was given a pop up camper.

    Last weekend a man came by the BBQ and asked me if I wanted a old pop up camper. I  miss understood where he was going on it and told him I couldn't afford to consider buying another camper no matter how good a deal. He got a big grin and said it was free he wanted it out of his yard.

    Ok the price is right, he told me where he lived about 2 miles from the house. Now he was honest he said it wasn't in good shape but had seen how I modified other trailers and figured I could do something with it.

    Me and my son went after we finished selling to get it. Of course the only rain we got in 2 weeks started as we pulled up. It had 2 flat tires off the rims no spare and they were 8" rims which I have none. So in Redneck style I pulled it home on just rims.

 

  This is how it supposed to look . Ours was half put up with the sides hanging out but it was at the house. Sunday I decided to set it up and see where to start demolishing . With the small tires it was going to  be a nice low deck hauling trailer. But low and behold when we got it up it was in decent shape !

  Ours had some screen tears but the fabric is leather in good shape . My Son claimed it as his camper ( Funny a kid living in a camper wanting a camper to camp in) because it is light enough to pull with his car. All it needs is a little patch tape a few screws and 2 tires and it is ready to go. For a freebie it is going to get a new lease on life and if it tears up  it can still be just a low deck trailer later.

 Ps it has a stove sink the tanks, air and a 10 amp 12 volt charger that all works plus a 30 amp 25 ft. power cord.

Music from the past.

   I just finshed rendering some beer down for the 4 th  weekend so a little music seemed in order.

Dr. Ralph Stanley passed away last week , the Angles are in for a treat !

 I add this because , well its timeless.

Its hot so have a beer and some good music.

      I am in a mood . So listen and see if you can understand where I am at . :)

   One more just because it fits!!!

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.