Harbor Freight Coupon Link

Here is a Harbor Freight coupon link, it has a 20% off coupon and it has a coupon for the 45 watt solar panel kit for $149.99.

http://www.harborfreight.com/fathers-day?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=landingpage&utm_campaign=fathers-day

These coupons expire 7-20-10


All written text and audio podcasts from this blog are copyrighted and owned by Wretha unless otherwise stated. All rights reserved, You may download or copy for your own personal enjoyment, but please do not distribute (text or audio) without written permission. You may post a portion of this (or any) message from this blog on another site as long as you include a link back to this site and the original message. Wretha, properly pronounced wreetha, (included for the text reader), Thanks for visiting!

Women Living Off Grid

I am trying sooooo hard not to be paranoid about the various ABC government agencies visiting my blog, I'm NOT doing anything wrong, and yet they continue to visit, I have ignored them for the most part, not posting anything about their visits, then I saw this on my tracker today, I almost missed it, it made me smile, then giggle...

...so why do you suppose someone from the Dept of Homeland Security would be doing a Google search for "WOMEN website for living off the grid"? What, they don't have anything better to do? Click to view full size.

Women are now a threat to national security?
Women living off grid are a threat to national security?
No wait, is it WOMEN with websites about living off grid that are a threat to national security?

It stands to reason that women who are willing to live off grid, poop in buckets, heat with wood and such are strong and a force to be reckoned with, here is a poem I found about strong women:

Strong women are those who know
the road ahead will be strewn with
obstacles, but they still choose to walk
it because it's the right one for them.
Strong women are those who make
mistakes, who admit to them, learn
from those failures, and then use
that knowledge.

Strong women are easily hurt, but
they still extend their hearts and
hands, knowing the risk and
accepting the pain when it comes.

Strong women are sometimes beat
down by life, but they still stand
back up and step forward again.

Strong women are afraid. They
face fear and move ahead to the
future, as uncertain as it can be.

Strong women are not those who
succeed the first time. They're the
ones who fail time and again, but
still keep trying until they succeed.

Strong women face the daily trials
of life, sometimes with a tear, but
always with their heads held high
as the new day dawns.

Brenda Hager

W:- Works for family to make them happy for whole life
O:-  Ordinary mind but extraordinary management
M:- Mother of child , role model for kids
A:-  Active, Attractive and intelligent in every field of world
N:-  Not only care taker but strength of whole family.

Here are some random pictures I found on the net showing strong women, be afraid, be very afraid...

This is by no means an exhaustive list of strong women, there are hundreds and thousands of famous, infamous and unknown strong women, I am proud, honored and humbled to add my picture to this list. :)

One of the strongest women I knew is my mother, today (June 21) was her birthday, she has been gone for many years now, but she instilled a great deal of strength in me, it's fitting that this happened today. Thanks Mom! Miss you much! 


All written text and audio podcasts from this blog are copyrighted and owned by Wretha unless otherwise stated. All rights reserved, You may download or copy for your own personal enjoyment, but please do not distribute (text or audio) without written permission. You may post a portion of this (or any) message from this blog on another site as long as you include a link back to this site and the original message. Wretha, properly pronounced wreetha, (included for the text reader), Thanks for visiting!

Say No To National/Biometric IDs

Please follow this link and read what is going on in government, it's going to affect each and everyone of us and not in a good way.

http://conservativewithlibertarianleanings.blogspot.com/2010/06/no-more-ids-for-us.html



All written text and audio podcasts from this blog are copyrighted and owned by Wretha unless otherwise stated. All rights reserved, You may download or copy for your own personal enjoyment, but please do not distribute (text or audio) without written permission. You may post a portion of this (or any) message from this blog on another site as long as you include a link back to this site and the original message. Wretha, properly pronounced wreetha, (included for the text reader), Thanks for visiting!

Contest ala Creekmore

Creekmore is at it again, this time the it's ammo, details below:

M.D. Creekmore at the The Survivalist Blog – a survival blog dedicated to helping others prepare for and survive disaster – with articles on bug out bag contents, survival knife choices and a wealth of other survival information is giving away a 1,000 round case of 9mm – 124 Grain FMJ (a $200 value – donated by LuckyGunner)! To enter, you just have to post about it on your blog. This is my entry. Visit The Survivalist Blog for the details.




All written text and audio podcasts from this blog are copyrighted and owned by Wretha unless otherwise stated. All rights reserved, You may download or copy for your own personal enjoyment, but please do not distribute (text or audio) without written permission. You may post a portion of this (or any) message from this blog on another site as long as you include a link back to this site and the original message. Wretha, properly pronounced wreetha, (included for the text reader), Thanks for visiting!

Happy Father's Day

What a special day, it's Father's Day! And I do love my Dad very much, we are very close, it wasn't always that way, there were a few bumps along the way, I am extremely fortunate that were able to work everything out, we are closer than ever.

My Dad just had knee replacement surgery, he is doing very VERY well, the therapist says he is doing better than most at this stage. I know why, he is motivated, he wants to be able to walk up the hill to my house. I am very proud of his progress!

Here is a picture of my Dad, and my Grandbaby, the oldest and youngest of my immediate family. I can't wait to see my Dad, it will be toward the end of summer.

I sincerely hope my Dad is having a great Father's Day, if you are a dad, happy Father's Day to you!









All written text and audio podcasts from this blog are copyrighted and owned by Wretha unless otherwise stated. All rights reserved, You may download or copy for your own personal enjoyment, but please do not distribute (text or audio) without written permission. You may post a portion of this (or any) message from this blog on another site as long as you include a link back to this site and the original message. Wretha, properly pronounced wreetha, (included for the text reader), Thanks for visiting!

Pictures

You can see all of my pix here:
http://offgridonthecheap.shutterfly.com/

This is an agave that began to bloom, it sent up a huge stalk, some of the pictures look like a giant asparagus! It grew about 6-8 inches per day, we took pictures most days. We estimate it is over 20 feet tall. Unfortunately, when these bloom, they die right after, the plant is slowly dying now, but there are lots of pups (babies) around it.

Click here to view the rest of the agave pix

Here are some current pictures of the Sky Castle. Enjoy!
Click here to view the rest of the Sky Castle pix

These are various scenery pictures of the high desert mountains, PB took some and I took some.
Click here to view the rest of the high desert mountain pix

This is the prototype roller wringer that PB is making for me.
Click here to view the rest of the roller wringer pix

This is Pekoe and PB, enjoying the view.
Click here to view the rest of the Pekoe and PB pix

This is what you don't want to find under the box you just picked up. It's a black tailed rattle snake, also known as a velvet tail rattle snake. This one was about 2 feet long. PB had been moving boxes out of the shed, the snake was under one box, the only reason PB didn't get bit was because the snake was still cold, it didn't even rattle. Unfortunately PB had to dispatch it, we had no good (safe) way of moving it, there was too much of a chance of it slithering away under other boxes in the shed. CraftyCountryMomma, you might want to skip this set of pix. :)
Click here to view the rest of the snake pix


You can see more pix here
http://offgridonthecheap.shutterfly.com/


All written text and audio podcasts from this blog are copyrighted and owned by Wretha unless otherwise stated. All rights reserved, You may download or copy for your own personal enjoyment, but please do not distribute (text or audio) without written permission. You may post a portion of this (or any) message from this blog on another site as long as you include a link back to this site and the original message. Wretha, properly pronounced wreetha, (included for the text reader), Thanks for visiting!

Blueberry Twig Update-Update

It would seem that my last email to the Blueberry Giant Twig company did some good, I received 3 more twigs, these were in much better shape than the previous twigs. Each twig had it's own separate clump of semi moist dirt attached, there were several leaves per twig and the leaves looked about double in size compared to the original twigs. Well, I suppose I'm happy enough with the situation, I will definitely be buying real blueberry plants next year, no more ordering from infomercials, not unless I can see it and touch it before I buy.
(UPDATE- only one out of the three plants are still alive, all of them looked just fine, but a day after I replanted them in containers, 2 of them, the leaves dried up and the plants are dead)

I have not always had bad luck with infomercial products, I had 3 different kitchen gadgets that worked out pretty well. The first is called a Turbo Cooker, it's a large, deep frying pan with a large domed lid. My mother gave it to me many years ago, I took it thinking, "Oh boy, this will take up a lot of space and I'll probably not use it..." I took it with a smile on my face, thanking my mother for the nice gift.

When I started using it, I was surprised at how well it actually worked. I did a search online for more recipes and found a busy Yahoo group, I joined and found that the inventor, Chef Randall and the infomercial queen who demonstrated it, Cathy Mitchell were both active members of this group. The group was about a year old then, the owner of the group wanted to step down and offered the group to whoever wanted it, I raised my hand, that has been over 9 years ago now, next year the group will hit the big 10.

Eventually I was asked by Cathy Mitchell to start up a new Yahoo group promoting one of her products, the Xpress 101, this was an electric grill, similar to the George Forman grill, but with a few notable differences. Since that time there has been a second generation unit called the RediSetGo. The improvements were created in part by the input from the Yahoo group. Cathy Mitchell is a very nice and generous lady, she sent me an Xpress 101 as a gift, and when the RediSetGo came out, she sent one of those to me as well.

Let's see, the next As Seen On TV item I purchased was the Pump-n-Seal, this is a non-electric gadget that pumps the air out of jars, it works pretty good. I own a PedEgg for my feet, it's OK. I almost forgot about the Slap & Chop, it's pretty good, but noisy if you do it with gusto like I do... LOL. Can't think of anything else, though I'm sure I probably have a few other items. Now that many stores have an As Seen On TV section, it's much easier to buy (or reject) these gadgets, and much easier to return them if they don't work.

A couple of As Seen On TV items I am interested in buying is Fix It Tape, it's a silicon tape with no sticky layer, it sticks to itself, it's supposed to be able to fix leaky hoses, use in place of electrical tape, it says it works on wet, oily or dirty surfaces, I look for it every time I go into a store that carries As Seen On TV items, so far I haven't seen it, but I'll buy it as soon as I find it.

The other thing I'm interested in is the Big City Slider Station, it cooks mini hamburgers, 5 at a time in just 2 minutes, the local store I go to does carry this, I just haven't been able to convince myself to spend the $$$s yet.

What As Seen On TV items have you purchased? Were you happy with it?


All written text and audio podcasts from this blog are copyrighted and owned by Wretha unless otherwise stated. All rights reserved, You may download or copy for your own personal enjoyment, but please do not distribute (text or audio) without written permission. You may post a portion of this (or any) message from this blog on another site as long as you include a link back to this site and the original message. Wretha, properly pronounced wreetha, (included for the text reader),  
Thanks for visiting!

Spam Problem

I have been getting a lot of comment spam lately, it's often from anonymous sources, so for now I am not allowing anonymous comments, sorry for those of my readers who prefer leaving anonymous comments, this is only temporary, I'll change it back soon, I just need to discourage this particular person.



All written text and audio podcasts from this blog are copyrighted and owned by Wretha unless otherwise stated. All rights reserved, You may download or copy for your own personal enjoyment, but please do not distribute (text or audio) without written permission. You may post a portion of this (or any) message from this blog on another site as long as you include a link back to this site and the original message. Wretha, properly pronounced wreetha, (included for the text reader), Thanks for visiting!

Wildfires

One of the things we have to contend with while living in rural areas is wildfires, often there is little information when a wildfire is raging nearby, sometimes the information you do get is second or third hand and becomes exaggerated over time. I found a link to a site that shows active fires in the USA, it gives the locations, size and how contained it is, if you live in an area that is prone to wildfire, this will be a handy link for you.

http://activefiremaps.fs.fed.us/

Yesterday we awoke to smoke from a wildfire nearby, we do have great volunteer firefighters in the area and they seemed to have it under control, then this morning the smoke was worse than ever, it has cleared out quite a bit, but there is still a haze in the air and we can still smell smoke, it appears that the fires are being put out, so no worries about this one, I'm very glad to have this link now, without it, we play phone tag trying to find out what other people know.

All written text and audio podcasts from this blog are copyrighted and owned by Wretha unless otherwise stated. All rights reserved, You may download or copy for your own personal enjoyment, but please do not distribute (text or audio) without written permission. You may post a portion of this (or any) message from this blog on another site as long as you include a link back to this site and the original message. Wretha, properly pronounced wreetha, (included for the text reader), Thanks for visiting!

Updates

Just a quickie update, my redneck/off grid washing machine is working great, I am able to spend an afternoon washing towels and clothes, I hang the towels directly on the clothes line, the clothes, I go ahead and place them on (plastic) hangars, this way there are no marks from the clothes pins, when the clothes are dry, I just bring them in and they are ready to be put away. I tried something a little different on my last go, I used white vinegar in the rinse, it's supposed to help remove any residual soap, and it is supposed to help keep the clothes softer. The smell is supposed to vanish once the clothes are dry, notice I said "supposed to", I found an ever so slight vinegar scent remained, it's very faint, if someone hugged me, they probably wouldn't smell anything. It may be that I used too much, I used about  a half cup per rinse, since I'm using the sink to rinse, it's not that much water, I'll try again and use less, maybe a tablespoon or two. I'll report on the results. All in all, I am very happy with my clothes washing setup, now I just have to get PB to re-hang my long clothes line.

I only have one bottle of coffee liquor left, no I didn't drink it all, I gave 2 bottles away. One friend who received a bottle came over yesterday with her hubby, she carried that bottle in her hand, she wanted to drink some with me. I didn't have any milk, so I made up some coffee, put extra creamer in it and put in some coffee liquor from my remaining bottle (her bottle is for her to drink). It was really good, and we were good, we only drank one each, though I offered to make another. LOL! I purchased some vodka so that I can make the recipe again, this time with the correct ingredients. PB has been wondering when I'll make this batch, he doesn't really like the Everclear taste, but thinks he'll like it made with vodka, I'll post the results when I make another batch.

My blueberry twigs are doing pretty well, they are putting on more leaves. I will be checking the mail today, hopefully there will be more twigs out there, though if they are, I'll feel bad as I haven't checked the mail in a few days, it's a 12 mile round trip over rough, unpaved, dirt/rocky mountain roads, so no, I don't check my mail everyday. If the twigs are in my mailbox, then they would have been sitting inside there since Thursday or Friday, I can't exactly remember the exact day I checked it. (I checked and they weren't in the box.)

My garden is doing OK, the strawberries are going crazy and the tomatoes have lots of flowers on them, it will not be long before we start harvesting those. I need to get out there and plant more stuff and soon.

Hope everyone had a great Memorial Day, we didn't do anything special, well, with the exception of sitting with our friends drinking homemade coffee liquor.



All written text and audio podcasts from this blog are copyrighted and owned by Wretha unless otherwise stated. All rights reserved, You may download or copy for your own personal enjoyment, but please do not distribute (text or audio) without written permission. You may post a portion of this (or any) message from this blog on another site as long as you include a link back to this site and the original message. Wretha, properly pronounced wreetha, (included for the text reader), Thanks for visiting!