Join the Contest, Win Great Prizes!

To CELEBRATE the posting of my first guest post at Rural-Revolution, I'm starting our contest about 18 hours early! Welcome to all of you coming from Patrice's wonderful blog!

Oh snap! Another guest post of mine popped up today at TheSurvivalistblog.net! Perfect timing! Welcome Survivalistblog.net readers!

The time has come for our FIRST EVER BLOG CONTEST! We've gathered some great prizes that everyone is sure to enjoy. Let's face it, who wouldn't enjoy:

• 6,000 open-pollinated seeds from fifteen heirloom varieties that are included in the Super Survival Pack from Seed For Security!

• An AUTOGRAPHED copy of The Simplicity Primer: 365 Ideas for Making Life More Livable from Patrice Lewis (Rural-Revolution.com!) 

• Directive 21 is sponsoring a Sport Berkey Water Bottle Portable Water Purifier - BPA Free!  

• A $10 gift card from Home Depot!

Are you excited yet? I know, I know...let's get started! Since this is our first contest, I'll keep the rules simple. Each of the following actions will earn ONE (1) entry into the contest drawing:

1. Follow this blog. (link to Follow)
2. Like our Facebook Page AND leave a comment.
3. Post a message about this contest on your Facebook wall with a link to this contest page.
4. Use our Official Contest banner on YOUR blog or website homepage and hyperlink it to this page.

Once you’ve done each of these things, leave a comment here on this blog post telling us what you did.  Leave a comment for each of these things that you choose to do (not just one comment saying you did all of them) and each comment will be treated as an entry into the contest.  Don’t worry if they don’t show up immediately (we might have to turn the filtering on if we start to get spam).

The Fine Print:

• If you have already "Liked" us on Facebook or are already a "Follower", leave a comment and it will still count. 
• All entries from each action listed above will be tallied up for each person. If Sally@mail.com has 3 entries (or 3 completed actions from above), her name will go into the Random Winner Generator 3 times. The first name drawn will receive the Seed For Security prize, second name receives The Simplicity Primer, etc etc.
• The contest will run from July 1st until July 15th.  Any submissions/actions will not be accepted after midnight on July 15th, 2011 (MST).  I will diligently read through the comments under this post to tally up the number of entries per person.  I will verify all actions claimed and will be announcing the winners of the randomized drawing no later than July 17th.
• All winners will be contacted via the provided email address you leave when you comment.
• For posting our Official Contest Banner, use the following logo (alter size if you need to):



220x220 size



A BIG Thank you to our Sponsors!

SeedForSecurity.com

TheSimplicityPrimer.com

Directive21.com

Good luck to everyone!

~OJD

SeedForSecurity Indian Corn: Quick Update

Saving kernels from Indian Corn

Part of growing your own food in your garden includes harvesting seeds for the next season. It is perpetual self sufficiency. Grow it, harvest some for food and some for seed, start over next season. I sat down this weekend and picked ONE corn cob apart.

I wondered how many kernels I would yield from one cob (or ear, which is it?) So, I counted the kernels. From one cob I harvested 243 kernels. Keep in mind that EACH corn stalk provides anywhere from 2-6 ears (in my short-lived experience.)

In my late night estimation, I bet I used around 50 kernels for my garden this season. I planted around five rows with ten seeds per row.  So with one ear of corn, I am able to quintuple the stock of corn seed from which I started my season. We've already eaten 16 ears with dinner. Another four or five were lost from drying experimentation.  There's still several out in the garden.  Not bad for 50 seeds.

Piles of 10, one ear of corn netted 243 kernels for next season.
How's THAT for an ROI (return on investment)!

Speaking of which, you must wait until the corn is matured before you should harvest for seed. . After you pick the corn from the stalk and shuck it, you have to let it sit out and dry (if you are saving the kernels for seed.) Beware not to dry it in temperatures over 100 degrees or you will damage the seeds (read Anne's comment below this post).   The stalks should be brown. Any trace of green and you need to leave it a bit longer. Often, ears that are ready to be picked will turn upside down.

 I can tell when it is done drying by how easily (or not) it is to pick one kernel from the cob. If it sort of tears where the kernel meets the cob, leaving a small portion on the cob, then it is not quite dry enough. When it is properly dried, I can pry a kernel away from the cob and the whole kernel will "pop" off the cob leaving no parts behind.

It is exciting to think we can grow our OWN food and collect MORE seed than we had to start.  This gardening thing has turned out to be a great experiment! You should try it. I recommend starting your seed collection from Seed For Security, like I did.  OBTW, here is how Seed For Security harvests this same corn.

Don't forget to check out our contest starting July 1st. One of the prizes is a complete seed kit from Seed For Security! A $75 value. It is the one we bought last year to start our garden.

Share YOUR knowledge of corn in the comment section below.

~OJD

Attack of the Tazmanian Night Gnomes

Dang Tazmanian Night Gnomes. Wifey tries SO hard to keep our home clean but after she goes to bed, that's when they strike. Nothing is safe and no barriers nor locks will stop them.  I came home from a usual night shift this morning with thoughts of soft pillows and relaxing, monotonous fan sounds whirring quietly at my bedside. I unlocked the front door and walked in through the living room. That's when I began to see traces that they had been there. Curious yet destructive little critters.

Here lies the remnants of an important letter. Scissors visible on the edge of the counter. A Gnome boot lays cold and abandoned. 

They got hungry, left the cabinet open, and left evidence of a sugary preference.

I'm guessing there's a shortage of gnome painters in Tazmania, so they used Wifey's craft resources wisely. Why worry about foam green overspray when you have tile floor to catch it?

A bloated super mega mega toilet paper roll was victim of an apparent walk-by toilet clogging.

A slap in the face: the DP was returned to the fridge with one... gulp... left. Doh!

Poor Ramen, never saw it coming. Bits of noodle still strewn about.

They sneak in at night, when no one is the wiser. No sounds of doors creaking open, no slamming cabinets. They quietly glide about the house, leaving destruction in their wake with no witnesses to call them out.  Besides, who in their right mind would be awake at the wee hours of the morn to catch such dastardly deeds? I'm surprised the kids haven't seen them. Being on summer break and all. I mean, they're up til 4am...and sleep til noon...and...hey, wait a minute!

Dang kids. Welp, gotta hurry up and get to sleep...before mom wakes up ;-)

Contest Coming Soon! Great Prizes Too!

I'm SO excited to announce that I'll be having MY FIRST CONTEST! Why am I SO excited? Check out these sponsored prizes:

• Seed For Security is sponsoring a Super Survival Pack with a retail value of $75 + s&h! Suh-weet!

From SFS's website: "The fifteen heirloom varieties that are included in this Super Survival Pack will not cross-pollinate in your garden. This will enable you to save seeds from year to year. There are over 6,000 open-pollinated seeds PLUS a pint each of Hulless Oats and Winter Rye." I have blogged numerous times about how awesome these seeds are. Check my posts for proof!

• Rural Revolution is sponsoring an AUTOGRAPHED copy of The Simplicity Primer!  Retail value (autograph=priceless) + s&h. Awesome!

From The Simplicity Primer website: "The Simplicity Primer: 365 Ideas for Making Life More Livable addresses simplicity from a concrete, no-nonsense, realistic standpoint. It offers guidelines for family life, finances, the workplace, health, relationships, spiritual life, home, recreational activities, and much much more." I personally own this book and it IS TERRIFIC! (No, you can't have mine. Besides, mine isn't autographed <sniff>.)

• Directive 21 is sponsoring a Sport Berkey Water Bottle Portable Water Purifier - BPA Free!  Retail value of $25 + s&h. Can this contest get any better?

From the Directive21 website: "The Sport Berkey Portable Water Purifier Eliminates or Reduces up to 99.9% of:

• Unpleasant taste and odors, cloudiness, silt, sediment and chlorine.
• Toxic chemicals: Trihalomethanes, VOCs, detergents, pesticides, etc.
• Harmful microscopic pathogens: Cryptosporidium, Giardia, E-coli 99.99999% and other pathogenic bacteria.
• Heavy metals: Aluminum, Cadmium, Chromium, Copper, Lead, and Mercury.
• Radiologicals: Radon 222

• ONE (1)  Home Depot card worth $10! Who can't use that?!?

From the Home Depot website: "It's a card...worth $10."  Okay, maybe that isn't on their website but it IS true!

The contest will start July 1st, so set your calendar reminders. The Rules and Regulations will be posted at that time (July 1st.)  There's lots of ways to win with activities for writers, Facebookers, Tweeters and more! All shipping and handling will be covered. It is FREE to you, the lucky winners!

Hooray for contests!

Lessons Learned Staying At Home

You used my WHAT?!...as a WHAT?!
(Image courtesy of Warner Bros.)

Wifey has our three oldest daughters on a weekend Grand Session retreat and I, lucky soul that I am, get the pleasure of spending a few days at  home with our three toddlers. Although I am getting an increasingly stronger knot up the right side of my neck, I am learning some very valuable lessons. Why not share?

Lesson #1: Diversity.
There is NO way, at ANY given time, that ALL three girls will agree on the same activity. Luckily for me, the two year old will agree with anything upon receiving Cheetos. Majority rules!

Lesson #2: Tolerance
After hugging his neck in a choke hold fashion, tugging his leg when he tries to sneak away, or being cornered by three squealing little girls, our newly adopted eight year old Cocker Spaniel has yet to even act like it bothers him.

Lesson #3: Think before you speak...er, make an offer.
On day two of our "what are we going to do now" fun-athon, I offered to load everyone up in the Orange Jeep and hit the local Sonic. Sounded easy enough...in my head...without REALLY thinking about. The girls were excited about it as well and quickly ran about looking for shoes and scrunchies.   It wasn't until AFTER I let the excitement build that I realized I had to hook in car seats...during a heat advisory. So, not only was it 105 degrees outside, it was also a seemingly 200 degrees INSIDE the Jeep where my big six foot three self had to climb in and lock the seats in place. Oh, and air conditioning helps little with a soft top. I won't be doing THAT again.

Lesson 4: Possibilities are endless.
It is, to my amazement, possible to forget to wipe, flush, and/or turn the light off...27 times in ONE day. Heck, I didn't even know it was possible to waddle from couch to toilet with pants dropped to the ankles THAT fast. These kids are adaptable!

Lesson 5: Security can be thwarted...and sometimes WAY too easily.
Even if the door is locked, with the key on TOP of the door jamb, a determined three year old can still open the adjoining window and climb into mom's craft room (we added onto the house, so once "outside" windows are now "inside" windows.) You'd be amazed at how much floor space unwound ribbon can fill.

Lesson 6: Limitations are only bound by imagination.
Just because you block off or lock up most of the house and anything that you THINK may become a huge mess doesn't mean that your toddler won't find something seemingly harmless and simple (TOOTHPASTE) and resurface your bathroom sink with it. At least my little Rembrandt left a little in the tube.

Lesson 7: You can be anything you want to be.
You can be a mermaid, Rapunzel, an Island Princess, a fairy, a Musketeer, or Thumbelina. Especially if you are Barbie. Oh, and you can have a Diamond Castle AND a Pegasus.

Lesson 8: Schedule schmedule.
Your schedule is just that...YOUR schedule. Just because it is 3am and MOST people are sleeping doesn't mean that you won't wake to a two year old needing to go potty (yay for potty training, boo for doing it at 3am.) Sleep is now considered a privilege.

I'll have to stop there. Not because the lessons have stopped but because my concentration on this posting have been interrupted for a billionth time. Now, first things first, where's that Advil...

Please Post a Comment Today

Me, trying to fix blog.

Well, Grrrr. I've been mucking around with this comment system for hours. I changed the layout of the IntenseDebate pluggin. Then I deleted it out of frustration. Now I've re-installed it again.

Can you guys help me out and post a comment. Any comment. Just let me know if it was difficult or easy to use. Slow or fast to load.

Thanks a bunch!

Jerk of the Day: Road Hog

We should have just carpooled.

I was sitting at a stop light on my way home from work this morning. It was around 7:30am and still cool enough to have the windows down. I was staring off to my left thinking about grabbing Wifey's Nikon when I get home and sneaking some pictures of the pumpkin flowers that bloom for one day before they die.

That's when I heard what sounded like... someone talking?  I reached for my radio to turn it off. It wasn't on. The voice was clear as a bell...like it was IN the Jeep with me. I looked to my right and my jaw hit the floor!  There, almost touching my passenger mirror, was a big rig. A big, shiny red 18 wheeler with a driver chatting away on his cell phone. I could hear him clear as a bell, complete with lip smacking (gum?)

Now, I'm happy to share the road with any vehicle. But my idea of sharing the road means we each get our own lane. I snapped a quick picture with my Droid to see if I could capture how ridiculously close he had stopped next to me at the stop light. To REALLY appreciate it, click on the image, then click to magnify it to normal size..

Lord, just get me home in one piece.

SeedForSecurity Sugar Pumpkin Seed Garden Upate

Flowers on our front garden pumpkins.

Man oh man are the pumpkin seeds taking off! We chose to plant them in the front of the house in anticipation that they would not only make great decorations come Halloween time but would also utilize an otherwise UNDERutilized garden area. Sure, we could have planted flowers. That's what we usually do. But since one of our new family goals is to become more self sufficient in supplying our own food, we opted OUT on the pretty flowers and IN with the edibles.

This is our first season growing pumpkins. We're trying to grow only things that we will eat. Now, I've eaten plenty of pumpkin pie (especially with whipped cream on top) but I can't say it is something I think about if I go grocery shopping. Our hope is that we'll be able to use the pumpkins for Halloween jack-o-lanterns, pies, bread and gift giving (another goal this year is to give handmade gifts only.)

One lonely bush surrounded by pumpkins.

The plants are flowering up something beautiful. The large yellow flowers are a lovely addition to our front yard. I can't wait until there are sugar pumpkins bulging out everywhere. The vines sure can "run." They're spreading out all over the garden. When it comes to harvest time,  I'll leave the pumpkin cooking up to Wifey and The Girls. I'll pitch in on the gutting, carving, and eating!

This is an exerpt from the SeedForSecurity website: "Our Sugar pumpkin was chosen because it is sweet and small enough size to cook and serve for one meal. Field pumpkins are mostly for decoration, and take up a lot of garden space. Summer squash is nice, but Winter squash and Pumpkins keep for months."

Another site tells this interesting tale: "Ten weeks after planting, the first flowers suddenly appear between leaves and tendrils. Each flower blooms for only one day. They start to unfurl just before dawn, and during a four hour period, they open into luxurious velvet bowls. By mid-day, they are on a slow course of folding in on themselves; and by dusk, they are sealed forever." Wow! Talk about the importance of stopping to smell the roses...er... pumpkin blooms.

More information regarding MY specific pumpkins (and squash) are on THIS page. I can't wait to get home and see my "luxurious velvet bowls!" Gardening has certainly opened my eyes to the landscape around me. Used to be that the only time I really paid attention to something in my landscape was when I was setting the automatic water timer. Now Wifey and I routinely walk around outside together, looking at our garden,  and pointing and smiling. Who knew gardening toward better self sufficiency could be so much fun? Not me.

SeedForSecurity Indian Corn Garden Harvest Update

Indian Corn grown of seed from SeedForSecurity.com

Quick update on the Indian Corn we are growing in one of our gardens. As previously mentioned, this is our second season at trying to grow corn. First season we planted too late. This season looks like a winner. Our first cob picked revealed "kernal gap" was occuring in our garden. With the help of some readers here and Google searching, I learned how to hand pollinate. This is a picture of some ears we picked yesterday. Not very much kernal gap on these. What a relief!

Different batch,  still in husks.

         I am fascinated by the multi-colored kernals. Wifey cooked these ears and we had them with dinner. We had to learn the hard way how to cook it, of course. Some researching shows that you cook the cobs very quickly in boiling water (some resources say just three to seven minutes in boiling water.) Believe it or not, the solid colored ears actually tasted more palatable than the multi-colored but they were a bit over-cooked. So, the next batch will be cooked perfectly.

I dried out an ear and hand pulled the kernals off for seed storage. They came of rather easily and I stored them in an amber pill bottle in the freezer (don't quote me on that one, I'm pretty sure I heard freezing is ok?)

PVC framed, bird netted, second season Indian corn.

This gardening experiment took some fine tuning but we are now comfortable that in THIS climate, with THIS seed (SeedForSecurity), and in THIS soil, we can grow a food that is delicious, nutritious, and fairly easy to grow (once you learn how, of course.) That remains our goal. Learn how to grow food that our family will eat and help reduce our dependence on grocery stores.

What's YOUR goal?

Father's Day Gift Ideas (Great Stuff They Gave Me!)

Boy, did I have a GREAT Father's Day yesterday! I had the right mixture of relaxation, thoughtful gifts, and family time. Wifey and the girls all worked together to make a terrific breakfast. The table was adorned with numerous goodies. I post this not only as a memoir but to help others who might be looking for ideas. I'll start with what was on the table.

Recognition Buttons: All six daughters wore hand printed buttons on their shirts that displayed different phrases. Lily's says "I have one fabulous Dad!" The girls wore them the entire time we were at church. Each was cut out of card stock and taped to an existing button.

Personalized Rootbeer: I was given some IBC Rootbeer and Cream Soda in glass bottles. The bottles AND the six pack holder were custom decorated with homemade labels. This bottle pictured below says "Pops, you are one suh-weet dude!"


Custom Chocolate Bar: There was a Hershey's chocolate candy bar covered with a custom printed candy bar wrapper. The front says Happy Father's Day with a picture of a necktie. The backside listed the ingredients such as "Caring, Loving, Dependable..." and other characteristics which were, of course, 100% accurate.

Candy Bar Bouquet: A bouquet sat off on the corner of the table. Four Nerds candy boxes (large, movie theater size) were taped together in a square. Some green foam was placed down in the center and several candy bars, glued to skewer sticks, were stuck down into the green foam block. The candy bars were arranged to look like a flower bouquet.

Lots of love for Daddy this Father's Day

Daddyland Coupon Book: Font that looks just like Disneyland had been changed to say Daddyland. This little coupon booklet featured goodies such as "One day of controlling the tv remote" and "A one hour nap." There were about six coupons in all. They could be redeemed at any time and the last one was a fill-in-the-blank coupon! Woo hoo!

Key Chain Memoir: Dads keep good track of their key chains. There's many an important key on there. I was given a miniature "iron rod."  I put it on my key chain and think of the daughter that gave it to me every time I see it. I like the idea of a key chain keepsake. I can easily carry it around with me everywhere I go.

Daddy Info Sheets: These just may have been the best part of all the gifts. Each daughter filled out a questionnaire about Dad. Favorite sports, best memory with my Dad, what Dad does for work, favorite food, etc. One section had a physical description of Dad. My toddlers claimed I weighed 100 pounds!

Pops soda label

Front of candy bar wrapper.

Backside of custom candy bar wrapper.

Daddyland coupon book and keychain rod.



Candy bar bouquet



This certainly has raised the bar for next Mother's Day. I better get planning now...

Don't forget:  and 

Facebook Page For Orange Jeep Dad

I'm hoping to improve my blogging skills. So, like any other college (over)educated Dad, I'm studying how to be a better blogger. It serves as a great thought release on my LONG night shifts and gives me some really good feedback from visitors that are generous enough to leave their comments.

Some folks have been so helpful, I added a Top Commentator widget to the sidebar as a way of giving them recognition (besides my heartfelt thanks, of course.)  Like Anne, PioneerPreppy, Arsenius the Hermit, Kris, Ollamha Anne, Nancy, LyndaKay, and naturegirl...THANKS!

I'm not sure what difference it will make but a lot of  the "how to" blogs that I read on being a good blogger say I need a Facebook page. I'm just trying to provide a clean, updated blog that talks about survival, parenting, DIY Dad stuff, medicine and a few other random thoughts. I'm not sure yet how I'll utilize the FB page...or the Twitter page, nevertheless, they're up.

Here's the link to my new Facebook page.

And here's the link to my new Twitter account.

We'll see if it makes any difference in my Klout scores... Ha Ha. That's a joke, since I have no Klout score. In fact, as I elude to in the prior linked Klout post, it sounds like a ton of people aren't too happy with the Klout system. Like here, here, and here. But what do I know? I'm just a Dad who blogs.

So, Like me, Follow me, Add me. At some point, if I pick up enough readers, I'll be able to have some contests and giveaways. You want that...don't ya?

Southern Border Compromised & On Fire

Living in Arizona during the largest fire in Arizonan history has me looking at fire maps lately. Now, I know we have dry spells and specific No Burn days to help quelch would-be fires from starting and/or spreading. But my latest peek at InciWeb reveals a large majority of our southern border states are now engulfed in flames.


Courtesy of InciWeb June 20, 2011

  The survivalist in me immediately recognizes that our southern border is compromised. Arizona has it's largest fire ever along with four others within our borders.  The Wallow fire, the largest, has spread into New Mexico and is now posing threats to communities there. New Mexico also has two other fires spreading up into Colorado.  Texas is riddled with around THIRTY fires right now. Florida has it's hands full with two fires and California has one as well.

I can't help but think of Sun Tzu's Art of War and how to attack an enemy with fire. Are our border states being set ablaze intentionally? Is it to weaken moral or damage supplies and infrastructure? Is it a false flag to divert our attention from the appearant Libyan ground invasion forthcoming? I'm a little concerned about the Mexico border. Why have our National Guard troop had their border stay extended?

Then I started thinking about the possibility of electrical outages. The hot summer months are upon us. More people that ever are out of work and therefore sitting at home...in their air conditioning. I see a huge increasee in electricity usage this summer, coupled with tornadoes and fires that are threatening power plants.

This might be the month I finally buy myself a generator. Anybody else concerned about this stuff?

Happy Father's Day from Orange Jeep Dad

Image courtesy of Google, Inc.

I just did a quick Google search and their daily image is a crooked Father's Day sign. There's a neck tie used to symbolize the "L" in the word Google. Wifey is herding the girls down the hall to add the finishing touches on some lucky Dad's Father's Day gifts (just a hunch.) :-)

So, I'm posting a quick HAPPY FATHER'S DAY to all you Dads out there! If you're here searching for some last minute gift ideas, see my post earlier this month on my Top 10 Father's Day Wish List or inspirational Father's Day quotes.

Happy Father's Day!

Weekend Projects and Lessons

Ribbon wall project for Wifey's craft room.

I have several projects planned this weekend. As usual, not everything goes as planned, which is why I have backup plans (hello redundancy.)

Having a four day weekend helps. Sure, co-workers called and asked for help covering shifts. I've been working a "regular shift" since the beginning of May (three 12 hour shifts per week instead of six 12 hour shifts per week) and not a week has gone by that my co-workers haven't called and asked me to pick up more shifts. Don't get me wrong, in an emergency I'll do my part. But if I'm being asked to cover someone's shift so THEY can have the day off...what's the point? I want days off too.

So back to what I do on MY days off.


Much of Friday was spent running errands to get project supplies. I consider it a good day because I got to go to Home Depot three times. Home Depot is to  me...like Michael's craft store is to Wifey. I could wander around in there for hours just looking at stuff.

My two main projects were new garage shelving and a set of ribbon holders for Wifey's new craft room. I bought the 2x3's and plywood to follow a youtube video made by NormalGuyDIY. I also bought some 1/4" wooden dowel rods and shelving supplies for the ribbon project. I was so eager to get home that I got all the way to my Suburban before I realized my plywood wouldn't fit in the truck.

Here's the bare craft room wall (pre-project.)

I pushed my boards back inside the store and sheepishly admitted to the same cashier that they won't fit. I headed back to the ripping saw only to find out it was broken. Poof! Project up in smoke. I returned the plywood for a refund and headed home.

I hung the shelving holders and used the pre-formed nooks to hold the wooden dowel rods. One of the holders was nicked beyond what I could tolerate and were set aside to be returned. The dowel rods were cut to length and loaded with spools of ribbon to check spacing. That's when I found out the dowel rods were incredibly weak. I would resolve to return to HD for some metal dowel rods.

The ribbon project was completed late Friday night after a coat of paint and Wifey was more than happy. In the top picture, you can see the slight sag in the top dowel rod. That was before I went back and bought metal dowel. rods. I tackled the garage shelving Saturday after a run to Lowe's (their rip saw was functional.) I'll try to post that project with pictures tomorrow.

Oh, and as for the lessons learned. Always buy extras and keep your receipts. If you need to use the equipment at Home Depot (or anywhere,) call ahead to see if it is working. I called ahead to Lowe's the next morning to make sure their rip saw was working. They verified it was. When I happily announced why I was there as I walked in, the cashier said it WASN'T working. Grrr. All my planning dashed to bits? Nope, the cashier was uninformed. Imagine that.

How To Back Up Your Blog

As discussed previously, redundancy is your friend. If you only have one copy of ANYTHING, rest assured something will happen to it. Do you have ONE set of car keys? Probably not. How about your house keys? I doubt it. Why? Because we've all "misplaced" them at one point or another. I told a story about a person who "lost" her keys at a gas station, somewhere between Phoenix and San Diego...with three toddlers in tow. Frantic!



Redundancy is all about having a backup. Sometimes even a backup to your backup. I wrote about the lesson I learned Three is Two, Two is One, One is None. There is supreme serenity in knowing you have a backup plan. As I was sifting through my blog posts and comments tonight, it hit me:

What would I do if Blogger crashed and all my posts and comments were lost?

Me: "*&^^%^&%^%@%@&$%*^%(*^(* !!!!!!!!!"

Don't tell me its not a possibility to lose everything, even if it IS owned by the mighty Google. I've written enough term papers to know computers can and WILL crash just when you are editing your final draft. Always have a backup of your work. So, I thought I would do a post about backing up a blog.  Fortunately, there are some easy options.

1. Email it to yourself. After completing your latest, greatest post...cut and paste it into an email to yourself. I've had the same email address for several years and being able to use a "search" function for a specific email has done wonders for my memory. This is only good for keeping a copy of the actual written post, not the comments, images, ads, etc.
   
2. Make a full copy. Windows users can use the free HTTrack, "the web site copier."  This program will create a fully working, interlinked local copy of your blog for browsing offline. Use this if you ever want to hand out copies of your blog, like SurvivalBlog does for $19.95 as a sort of archive reference. If you have a family blog, full of family pictures and stories, you can burn your copy to dvd and hand it out as Christmas presents. Mac users can use the free app WebGrabber and do the same thing. Note: these options download EVERYTHING on your blog, all your ads, images, links, etc.
3. Save it via XML. Use Blogger's built-in Export Blog feature by clicking the Settings tab once you are in your blogger Dashboard. This feature downloads your blog in XML format (aka Blogger Atom format) which allows you to upload your blog to other blog platforms (moving to WordPress or your own hosted site.) I've downloaded the file but I've never tried to upload it to another blog platform. My guess is that it will only transfer your blog posts and (maybe) images. Not your sidebar ads, layout, css, etc

You've put a lot of hours into writing down your memoirs. It would sure be a BIG disappointment to lose all that hard work now. Do yourself a favor and make it a habit to perform regular backups. Set a reminder in your smart phone alarm or write it down in your daytimer. Make it at least a monthly routine and you'll have one less thing to worry about.

Do YOU have another way of backing up your stuff? Post it in the comment section below.

Nosebleeds in the Emergency Room

This could be you...SERIOUSLY.

I am without words, once again, at the number of people that come to the EMERGENCY Room for a common nosebleed. We're not talking about trauma to the face like getting a line drive to the schnoz or a car accident.  These are simple "Oh look, my nose is bleeding. Better go to the Emergency Room" nosebleeds.  Call me cranky (and I am working more night shifts than usual this week,) but if you can't handle a nose bleed....puhleeeze!

Let's go over some basics:


Nose starts to bleed:

1. Relax! 
2. Sit down and lean your body and your head slightly forward. This will keep the blood from running down your throat, which can cause nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. (Do NOT lay flat or put your head between your legs, oh yes, it happens.)
3. Breathe through your mouth. This is a pre-warning for the knuckle-draggers out there, you're about to pinch off your nasal airway to stop the bleeding.
4. Use your thumb and index finger to pinch together the soft part of your nose. Make sure to pinch the soft part of the nose against the hard bony ridge that forms the bridge of the nose. Squeezing at or above the bony part of the nose will not put pressure where it can help stop bleeding. 
5. Keep pinching your nose continuously for at least 5 minutes (timed by clock) before checking if the bleeding has stopped. If your nose is still bleeding, continue squeezing the nose for another 10 minutes. 
6. Once the bleeding stops, DO NOT bend over; strain and/or lift anything heavy; and DO NOT blow, rub, or pick your nose for several hours. You nose pickers out there, you know who you are!

 Please, only go to an Emergency Room (when your nose is bleeding) for the following:

1. You cannot stop the bleeding after more than 15 to 20 minutes of applying direct pressure. This doesn't mean apply pressure for three minutes, then look up your nose, then apply pressure for three more minutes, then look up your nose again. Keep continuous pressure.
   
2. The bleeding was caused by an injury, such as a fall or other blow to the nose or face (AND see #1.)

Now, obviously I can't give medical advice as I am not a physician. But I can tell you that in all my 40 years on this planet, I have NEVER been to an Emergency Room as a patient...especially for one of my near monthly nosebleeds. Yes, I get them...and so do my kids. But we don't run to the ER for them. Sit down, pinch it off, and quit whining.

And yes, if we run out of the official nosebleed plugs in the ER, we use tampons. I've seen it many times.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go see a patient in my ER about a bunyon. Wait...what? Grrrrrr.

Rant over.

Homemade Dutch Oven Cornbread Recipe

Cornbread is in back, to the right. Also pictured is
our dutch oven ribs, homemade pumpkin muffins with
icing and tator tots in the oven.

Cornbread is one of our favorite side dishes. It compliments everything, tastes delicious and is very filling. It only takes about 30 minutes to make in a dutch oven (and ten minutes of that is just mixing the ingredients in a bowl.) Very inexpensive for so much food!

What you'll need to make cornbread in a dutch oven:

1. A dutch oven. We use our 4 Qt shallow dutch by Lodge Logic. Brand name doesn't matter of course...at least, not unless someone wants to sponsor me? LoL! (I prefer Lodge Logic) What DOES matter is depth. You'll want to cook your cornbread in a shallow oven for a more even cooking temperature. If you cook your cornbread in a DEEP oven, it can still be done but odds are you'll burn the bottom before the top gets cooked. (Heat has to travel farther down from the top of a deep oven to reach the cornbread)
2. Heating source. We use charcoal, both lumped and briquettes. Whatever is on sale at the time. At our last purchase, we found 40lb bags of lump El Diablo mesquite charcoal for under $8. I posted the deal here and in the future will post super deals related to survival on this blog. We loaded on up on several bags at this price. I have also used plain old wood. You just have to experiment a little to determine how much ember to use.
3. Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter; melted
• 2 cups cornmeal
• 4 eggs; beaten
• 3 cups hand ground flour (we use our WonderMill); all-purpose flour will also work
• 3 cups milk
• 4 tsp. baking powder
• 2 cups sugar



Half-eaten cornbread, gone in minutes!
Homemade brownies in background.

• 1 tsp. salt

Optional Tools: Lid lifter, thick leather gloves or a towel

Mix the Ingredients:

1. In a large bowl mix together butter, eggs, and milk.
2. In a separate bowl sift together sugar, cornmeal, flour, baking powder, and salt.
3. Mix dry ingredients into wet ingredients 1 cup at a time until well blended.
4. Spoon cornbread mixture into your dutch oven. A properly seasoned oven will not need to be greased. If you have not seasoned your oven, you can lightly grease you dutch oven and spread evenly.

Cooking:

1. Cover Dutch oven and bake using 8-10 briquettes on the bottom and 14-16 briquettes on the top. If you are using lump coal, such as the El Diablo mentioned above, break the coal into chunks. You want the chunks to fit under the dutch oven when it is placed on the coals. Place the chunks touching each other and the diameter of the chunks should not stick out from underneath the oven. Same goes for the top of the dutch oven. Generously cover the top but don't overload it. You can spot check by raising the lid from time to time and checking on the cornbread's color.
2. Cook for APPROXIMATELY 20-25 minutes or until cornbread turns golden brown. The temperature of your fire will depend on how you built your coals and how red they were before dumping them out of the chimney starter. A simple test for telling whether your cornbread is done or not is to simply stick something down into the middle of the bread. I use a fork or knife. Stick it in the center of the cornbread and push down until you reach the bottom of the oven. Then pull it out and look at it. If there is any runny or liquid cornbread on the fork/knife, then cook it a little longer. When nothing sticks to your fork/knife, and the top is a golden brown, you are done. I noticed that I can usually smell the cornbread when it is almost done cooking.

NOTE: To brown the cornbread evenly,  make sure to turn the oven and lid 1/4 turn in opposite directions every 10 minutes.

Cornbread is done when top is browned and you can
stick a fork through the middle with no gooey
batter left on the fork when pulled out.

Serve warm with honey butter (Mmmm...honey butter...hawlalallal.)  

Serves: 10-12 people easily.

Keeps fresh very nicely for days in the refridgerator. We usually put it in zip lock baggies or tupperware.








Supplies at Amazon:

How to Hand Pollinate Corn - Prevent Kernal Gap

The dreaded "kernal gap" on my unpollinated corn.

I got anxious enough to pick an ear of corn today. Not good. It appears I have unpollinated corn as indicated by the bare patches on the cob (kernal-gap.)  I've researched some hand pollination techniques. Some gardeners on GardenWeb say just to walk around and shake the stalks, allowing pollen to flow from the tassels down to the silks. They mention to do this when the plants are dry. If they are wet, the pollen may clump or the silks may stick together which might cause a problem.

Once the pollen gets on the silks, it travels down the hairs into the cob and completes the job. I won't get into all the specifics of cell biology. I will say though that you can self pollinate (tassel and silk on SAME plant) or cross pollinate (tassel on plant A pollinates silk on plant B). Either way works but some university papers I read said that you don't want to self pollinate too much (kinda like inbreeding.)

Cross pollinating courtesy of UofN.

One gardener named Chaman said the following: "You can hand pick tassels and gently rub on the silk.  Morning time around 10 A.M. is good for hand pollination. In half an hour or so you will see silk changing color to brown, sign of successful pollination.You may repeat the process for few days. Tassels remain usable for about 4 to 5 days.  In case if needed, you may pick up the tassels from any plant to use on the plant that has no tassels available.  This way corn-cobs get fully filled with kernels."

I'm not sure WHY my corn didn't self pollinate. It could be that we don't get much wind in my part of the Arizona desert. It could also be that I put a bird netting over my corn to keep critters out. I'm hypothesizing that the net keeps the stalks from swaying in whatever little wind we DO get. No swaying, no pollen sprinkling the silks.

Corn anatomy

So, what I haven't figured out yet is how long do I have to pollinate? Like the cob I imaged above with kernal gap. Could it have been saved if I had left it on the plant and pollinated it? Or can you only pollinate right when the silks emerge from the husk or what?

Wifey and I will be trying our skills at hand pollinating first thing in the morning. Wish us luck!

Oh, there's a chance of worm infestion. We saw a few last season. They lay their eggs on the silks and the little boogers travel down into the corn and feed there so you may not see them from outside the husk. There's a good article on using vegetable or mineral oil on the silks to rid your corn of worms. Sounds easy enough.

I keep telling myself this is a learning process. It is our second season at trying our hand at gardening. Last season we planted the corn too late and frost got our immature corn. This season we're learning to pollinate. By 2015, we might actually be able to grow some edible corn!

Have YOU had success growing corn?

Wallow Fire: What's YOUR Disaster Plan?

Image courtesy of hlswatch.com

Tornadoes are devastating Oklahoma, but I don't live there anymore. Riots are breaking out in some locations, but not where I live. Hurricanes hit the coasts annually, but I don't live by the water either. Actually, we're known for not having much water at all where I live...in Arizona.

So what natural disaster do I have to worry about? I thought it would be running out of water, due to a crazed city employee  trying to get some attention by blowing up the water treatment plant. Or a massive power outage, caused by any number of things, shutting off the public water system.

I never thought Arizona's soon-to-be largest wildfire would be raging two hours E/NE of my location. The Wallow fire has already consumed almost half a MILLION acres (443,989 as of 10pm, June 12th) with an ESTIMATED 10% CONTAINMENT. While I'm not in immediate danger, it does cause me to take pause. Am I prepared for a fire?

So it strikes me: What would I do? Water outage: I've stored over 600 gallons. No electricity: I have gas lanterns, stoves, etc.  Approaching fire? Uh....crap! Run? Geez, I don't know.  Images of frantically hosing the house down with my little garden hose fill my head.  Can you fireproof a house by soaking it? I don't think so.  Have NO trees, bushes, grass within 20 yards of the house?  That's not gonna happen. I planted grass for the kids to play on. I planted bushes outside their windows for security/privacy. The neighbor's wood-framed house (on both sides of me) is so close I could probably hear them snore at night, if I tried.

So, there it is: no location is completely safe. You must have a plan. Don't count on any help from the government either.  We're approaching Day 16 and not a word from POTUS about aid. We declared a STATE emergency back on Day 8.  I'm sure it has nothing to do with the fact that Arizona is a RED state, passed SB 1070 (anti-ILLEGAL immigration) and is the home of John McCain. Yeah, Obama's probably just...busy.

So take the time to research your location. Look back at history and see what has happened in the past. Are you in the 100 year flood zone? Do you live on the New Madrid, or any other fault line? Figure out what HAS happened and what COULD happen (realistically) and start researching plans. Survivalblog has several articles on Flu Pandemics, Earthquakes, and Floods, just to mention a few. These are real stories from survivors that have lived through the disasters. Here's a list of the Top 10 Worst U.S. Natural Disasters.

Remember the old saying: People don't plan to fail, they fail to plan.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go: check batteries in smoke alarms, practice fire drills with the kids, double check my BOBs, draw an inaccurate retreat map for my mother-in-law...oh wait, did I say that out loud?

OJD's Hero of the Month: Richard (Dick) Proenneke

Dick lived in this handmade cabin in Alaska for 30 years.

Survivalism, preparedness, self sufficiency...it's all over the internet today. There are scores of survival podcasts, youtube channels and blogs available at your fingertips 24 hours a day.

You wanna talk about self sufficiency and survival? Let me introduce you to Dick Proenneke. He was born in 1916 in Lee County Iowa. He served in the United States Navy as a carpenter during World War II and worked as a diesel mechanic most of his first 50 years.

What makes him a hero from my point of view?  Around age 52, he moved to a remote part of Alaska, Twin Lakes, and with only a handful of tools, built everything he needed to survive...for the next 30 years. He built a cabin by hand from local trees. He built his food storage on 20 foot stilts so animals couldn't get to it and used a removeable ladder for access. He either grew or caught everything he ate with  few exceptions. Alaskan winters came and went, but he handled it all by himself.

The unique dutch door on his cabin.

The best part of Dick's adventure is that he captured it all on his little 8mm video camera. He documented the whole experience in his personal journal. He took thousands upon thousands of photographs. You can read his writings from 1974-1980 thanks to a link from the National Park Service. He and a brother ended up donating over 90 pounds of journals to the Park Service for posterity. The cabin he lived in is now a popular tourist attraction and kept up by the National Park Service.

At the age of 82, he returned to California to live with his brother. The cold winter months in Alaska had been getting harder and harder for him to endure. He lived four more years and died of a stroke in 2003 at age 86.

A video documentary of his story can be read at IMDB and a copy shows up on youtube from time to time. I'd post a direct link but I'm sure it wouldn't last long due to copyright. I recommend you search youtube for Dick Proenneke and watch some of his life's work. If you like it, order a copy from Bob Swerer.  I recommend Alone in the Wilderness and Alaska, Silence and Solitude.

If you enjoy the outdoors, being self sufficient and prepared, or want to see how one man survived 30 years in the worst weather conditions with only a small amount of hand tools...do yourself a favor and watch Alone in the Wilderness.