TanksHill...Roll on!!

[moolie]

Wow, was there a reason for the outage? So glad your family is safe!

 

[Farmfresh]

But SIL tells me that why the were getting Antie a guy was checking out the gas cans in her truck. They were still empty. She said he was looking to steal them. I hate to say I told you so.

Well I learned of a couple of preps I need to week. But over all it was fine.

Busy day today, now with 3 kids under foot.

G

Oh yes. The WONDERFUL times in which we live.

 

[framing fowl]

Glad the electrics back on for you.

I'm just continually amazed at the vulnerablity of our grid. A single employee had the ability to cause this?

Do they have generators or solar for any of the traffic lights or did they all go out too? I just can't even imagine the chaos.

 

[TanksHill]

Some of the street lights had back up battery power, from what I hear. I have two stop signs between ds school and home
Once I got home I had no reason to leave again. Dh was heading home when the power blew and because we are an hour north of SD his traffic was light.

Thank goodness. We did try to use our generator for our fridge. Dh had some idea about back feeding the panel shutting of breakers etc.. it never worked. I just turned on the propane fridge in my camper.

One thing I am hoping for are some recommendations on radios. I have a tiny wind up but with our terrain and hills reception is bad.

I also changing menu for tomorrows b day party. Not to sure I want to buy meat that sat for 12 hours with no electric. I'm going to grill some stuff out of my deep freezer. Still need to get the cake going.

Well I better get moving.

Oh, I also talked to Dace on FB. She is fine.

G

 

[TanksHill]

So I'm listening to kfmb. A conspiracy theory on the black out is evolving. A prepper from SD was just on radio. He is saying that an an electrician the excuse SDGE is not valid. He mentioned an EMP of sorts. Which considering all the radios went out before the power kinda jives.

Weird I know.

I just wanted to jot this down.

G

 

[BarredBuff]

Im glad your good. I saw that on TODAY and that of you.

 

[FarmerJamie]

How's the Freedom Ranger project coming - I may have missed an update or two in here.

 

[TanksHill]

Na, no updates. I have been thinking I need to catch up but... nothing to exciting around here.

The Rangers are good. Actually I have plans to put the boys in the freezer on Sat. It is very obvious which are which. Especially with their big old combs and mumbled cocka doodle doos in the early mornings. I have gotten a bit stingy in the feed department. Once again they are eating A LOT and I don't want to spend any more money. I have been trying to get a scale down the hill to see how much they weigh. But it doesn't really matter. They will be 11 weeks tomorrow and Sat they are heading to freezer camp. The girls will get to stay on a bit longer. Maybe 1 to 2 weeks. For the past week they all have been eating mainly 3 way. A corn, oats and rye mix with a bag of whole wheat mixed in. No particular reason, except because that what I have right now.

I will take some pics soon. I plan to move them up onto my patio. I have moved my 5 x 10 foot dog kennel onto the pavers and plan to keep them there on the night before processing. This way they will be off the grass and only with water.

Over all they have been good birds. I have only lost one out of the 51. Not sure what was wrong with it. Maybe an impacted crop from gorging on scratch?? They move around a ton and have very strong sturdy legs. I will definitely raise another batch of 50 in the spring.

I am going to try to also put a couple turkeys in the freezer. First time processing a turkey. I can't decide if I want to keep a mature tom and hen or not. I have to youngins that look promising for spring but not totally sure of their sex. One is much bigger than the other.

Other than that were just trucking along. My fall garden plot is starting to grow. The squash and such I planted a month or so ago is taking over the yard. I am thinking it is that Pennsylvania Dutch crook neck. Looks like what I was calling Cushaw last year but I'm not sure. Still picking tomatoes, pole beans and peppers by the bucket loads. Corn stalks are drying in the sun. I didn't pick as many ears as I should have. But I do plan on collecting the dry corn and saving seed for next year.

Does anyone know the best way to get dry kernels off the cob?? Or do I just save the whole thing?

oh and what about the sunflowers. How the heck do I dry them and remove the seeds?? Should I just save the heads? Lots of new things to keep me jumping...


Well I just almost lost my post. grrrr...

I will get some pics and be back.

g

 

[savingdogs]

You dry the whole sunflower head, later they are easier to get off of there. Or I heard on BYC that you can just feed the whole flower, stalk and all, to your birds, like hang it as a treat or like a flock block. I wanted to try that but my sunflowers never sprout here.

 

[Farmfresh]

Hang the sunflowers to dry and then rub them over a large screen (like hardware cloth) to get them off of the sunflower head.

As for corn shellers ... Mother Earth News had a good on line article for one of those. corn sheller