Well hello dawn!
Yes...ab-normal is the new normal now. And I am still learning what that is here in SC. Last year this time, we had below -0 brutal temps. And no insulation in some key rooms we live in. Brrrrr.......... It didn't le up till March 1st!!
My mommas momma was from Noel MO area...actually...a little blip called Splitlog. Way up in the hills west of Noel. I don't even know what her daddy did. Probably just enough to get buy and feed the 10 kids.
I am from Kansas City MO...born and raised. A whole different life. Gramma stayed with us alot, as she lived in the city by then too. She did baking etc...but I don't remember her doing canning, or making soap or such. She was more into Prevention Magazine and juicing. And, our city lots were way to small for anything but a token garden.
Now, back to the present. Dehydrator. DH and I are batting around diff ideas for one to make. Right now, not very high up on the priority list. Between him working full time, and helping out his folks...and trying to survive without any health insurance.....we take things slow for now. he still has to build my counter tops and base cabinets for my 2 free standing cabinets in my storefront business. I am keeping busy with the things I need to do to get legal with that. We do keep quite busy...and try to allow for some time to rest. Rest is about all we can do.....as he will work himself to exhaustion at times. I do the same. We are both Type A personalities.
We have lists ...of priority lists.

Then, always the rotating crisis list.
We have to do things on the property
Insulate and repair the house
Add bathrooms...somehow
Finish moving DH stuff and storage shed the 10 miles over to here.
Move his other truck..non working
Move his generator..but make a pad to set it on first
Fell 2 more trees here
He has his moms "to-do" list
And...he commutes 35 miles one way to work daily. So, up at 4am daily.
My being laid off/unemployed does not help with the finances. I try to reduce/reuse/recycle...as much as possible. Making my own laundry soap now, using soap nuts in the summer for laundry, so I can reuse the laundry wash water to hose out the chicken coop. It works great..btw. And, as the water tables are getting low, our well went low 2x since we bought the place in 2010. Cannot have that. We have to have potable water. It is imperative to maintain what good health we do have. So, I do rain barrels for the garden and the laundry. Eventually, will figure out how to hook them up to the toilets for flushing. It's a shame to waste good drinking water to flush a toilet.
So, yeah...I am busy. We are busy. The proverbial hamster wheel. But, never a dull moment!!
