Adventurers of the Lucky Vale IX

[Sciread77]

The 30-day county stay-at-home order went into effect today. The kids go “back to school” as their spring break is over and the real online classes begin. Jessie begins her spring break by teaching our children. I have 3-5 more days of utter work insanity before things have a prayer of slowing down. 
 

Cases of COVID-19 tripled yesterday in our county. We’re reasonably stocked on medicine, food, and supplies as well as materials for some of the projects we’ve really wanted to tackle. Now we keep going with the routine we’ve established and hope against hope that none of us were infected prior to the lockdown. Jessie went out yesterday, so -maybe- two weeks from now my anxiety will begin to abate. Being at home? No big deal. Very happy to do it and could probably do it forever at this rate. Not knowing about exposure and confirmed community transitions taking place? Hell. 
 

Goals: 

 

1. Sleep

2. Manage anxiety

3. Stay home and social distance but work outside on my suburban homestead developing my orchard trees and bushes, the veggie plots, and the flower corner. 
4. Make working from home look good to my company; maybe they will still let us work remotely after all this is over

5. Enjoy quality time with the kids and with Jessie, including figuring out a way to have us time without grandparent help or the ability to go somewhere. 
6. Keep exercising. I want to stay fit, and I want us to start up the barre classes on the iPad again. 

7. Help educate the kiddos

8. Build those bunkbeds

9. Ensure the passing of up-to-date and accurate information online

 

Maybe this is too much. I usually do better with focused goals (don’t we all). Health and family are top priority, all else is secondary. Work will likely continue to be crazy but start to drop off at the end of this week and work with more flexible deadlines comes up. 
 

I need a plan of attack on managing the anxiety. Jessie’s last trip out was yesterday to Home Depot, which was a series of nightmares to the point I think we regret even going. She didn’t make contact and has washed and disinfected meticulously but we can’t be sure any of us weren’t exposed while out. Three of us had last contact on Friday the 13th, Woody was out 3/21 with Jessie though I think that outing had a very very low chance of infection due to the almost nonexistent contact with people or things, and Jessie went out yesterday. So at best we’ll know we’re in the clear or not by 4/6. 
 

On a happier note, I’ve included a picture of the growth on my Lapin cherry tree and another photo that shows the little fence (that is as invisible as I can make it) that I put up to keep bunnies out and Daschunds in. It’s green, and invisible/strong enough that the bigger dog ran into it and bounced off. 

 

[Teros]

8 hours ago, Sciread77 said:

Not knowing about exposure and confirmed community transitions taking place? Hell. 

See for me, my anxiety spikes as I hear about it.  I just work on myself since knowing if there are 20 more cases near me doesn't really *do* anything besides add more panic.

 

How long will the tree take before it starts sprouting cherries?

[Sciread77]

1 minute ago, Teros said:

See for me, my anxiety spikes as I hear about it.  I just work on myself since knowing if there are 20 more cases near me doesn't really *do* anything besides add more panic.

 

How long will the tree take before it starts sprouting cherries?

Community cases heighten my anxiety because it has an up to 14-day incubation period. So that means there were likely a lot more people running around and feeling ok and spreading it even prior to the time we went into isolation. There’s a good chance it was already infected a decent swath of the population, including my family.

 

So my anxiety is high until we can confirm we don’t have it. Then we just focus on us and stay isolated, which isn’t any sort of problem. 
 

I’ll feel a lot better Saturday. That’s the last time any of us were in any kind of crowd, and all of were together. Then April 6 will mark two weeks from any outside contact. And after that, I’m totally good. 
 

If we didn’t have high risk people, I’d be less concerned. And fortunately we’ve not seen/exposed our parents and aunts and uncles at all since more than 2 weeks ago. 
 

They say 5 years. I’m planning an aggressive care and pruning schedule which is intended to accelerate that to about two years but with a smaller overall harvest. I don’t want or need 35-foot trees. I want small, short trees with strong limbs that are easier to harvest. The plan is to consistently add trees each year so that as they die we will only have to replace a few at a time, and I’d rather manage a larger, more diverse number of plants and get lower-end yield. We’re not gonna eat 3,000 lbs of just apples and I don’t intend to try to grow that many. 
 

I do intend to start planting a big old row of peach and plumb trees and maybe some thick thorny fruit bushes across the back to make a hedge against the nasty dog back there. I originally thought I’d put river cane, which would be terribly useful for home projects and baskets but my uncle is my source and we’re on lockdown, so... maybe I’ll go with the fruit trees and bushes instead. 

[oromendur]

Here for homesteading adventures!

[Ann of Owlshire]

Oh man, I am extremely jealous of that playground and garden right now! Following for homesteading adventures! 

[Sciread77]

11 hours ago, oromendur said:

Here for homesteading adventures!

Welcome!

 

1 hour ago, Ann of Vries said:

Oh man, I am extremely jealous of that playground and garden right now! Following for homesteading adventures! 

 

The garden is legit half the reason we bought the house sight unseen. Our last house had a bigger one, but we were built on a steep hill with hundred year oaks on it. All that grew under the canopy seemed to be hostas and mushrooms. It was a muddy mess with a steep retaining wall and we had to closely supervise the kids every second they were out there. The front was worse- still mostly covered with the canopy but with enough light for grass, but some neighbors would drive 50-60mph up and down our road that was <I>too small to enforce a speed limit</I>. The dumbest rule I ever heard of. 
 

This one is just about perfect. And it will be when we fully establish our orchard and garden.  The back will be thickly lines with trees and bushes (that’s on the right with the lighter color boards making a privacy fence, where we share a property line with violent dog) and on the left there the orchard trees should nearly be touching but not grow but another 1-2 meters higher.

 

That playground is awesome. It was a nightmare to build as the English instructions only contained SOME of the steps, with critical steps only included in the Spanish and French versions. But it’s fortunate that I’ve familiarity with those, and Jessie and I had help from my dad and brother-in-law too. 
 

I love our home. And being “stuck” here is only making me love it more. Frankly, if it wasn’t for the anxiety of possibly being infected with a terrible disease, this would be heaven. Even so, I think my anxiety is manageable and it has been better since the awful spike yesterday. 

[Stronkey Kong]

Following, also for homesteading adventures.

[Sciread77]

In accordance with homesteading goals, I am making coffee on the stove with a camp percolator. 
 

Actually, Jessie requested some of our specialty coffee and we no longer have a regular pot to make coffee. It’s just as well because the Keurig creates a lot of waste and we don’t apparently have one of the little refillable cups. This is both in accord with homesteading goals and the only option.

 

The percolating sound is incredibly therapeutic. 

[Ann of Owlshire]

32 minutes ago, Sciread77 said:

In accordance with homesteading goals, I am making coffee on the stove with a camp percolator. 
 

Actually, Jessie requested some of our specialty coffee and we no longer have a regular pot to make coffee. It’s just as well because the Keurig creates a lot of waste and we don’t apparently have one of the little refillable cups. This is both in accord with homesteading goals and the only option.

 

The percolating sound is incredibly therapeutic. 

 

Wonderful! #homesteadinggoals

 

I am culturing a sourdough starter from scratch so I don’t have to rely on the shops for yeast or baking powders to make bread. I remember the last office I worked in had Keurig (this would have been around 2011/12), and yeah, I was alway struck by how very wasteful it was. 

[Sciread77]

1 hour ago, Ann of Vries said:

 

Wonderful! #homesteadinggoals

 

I am culturing a sourdough starter from scratch so I don’t have to rely on the shops for yeast or baking powders to make bread. I remember the last office I worked in had Keurig (this would have been around 2011/12), and yeah, I was alway struck by how very wasteful it was. 

We have quite a bit of yeast on hand, on account of the bakery. But a starter would probably be a good idea. 
 

I kinda hate Keurigs, but it was a lifesaver with multiple tiny humans on those days we forgot to make coffee. But being at home, the percolator is totally doable AND allows us to dip into our massive stash of specialty coffees. I’m pretty sure we have about 100 lbs of it between gifts and souvenirs. We’ve acquired maybe 12 lbs a year since we met in 2009. 
 

I also planted some coffee plant seeds in hopes of starting my own plants. They’ll have to be indoor plants or live in a greenhouse but that’d be pretty cool too. 

[WolfDreamer]

Following. I'm proud of you for finding a way to continue what you love (spending time with family, working out, homesteading). Let me know if I can help in any way.

[Ann of Owlshire]

27 minutes ago, Sciread77 said:

I kinda hate Keurigs, but it was a lifesaver with multiple tiny humans on those days we forgot to make coffee.

 

But being at home, the percolator is totally doable AND allows us to dip into our massive stash of specialty coffees. I’m pretty sure we have about 100 lbs of it between gifts and souvenirs. We’ve acquired maybe 12 lbs a year since we met in 2009. 
 

I also planted some coffee plant seeds in hopes of starting my own plants. They’ll have to be indoor plants or live in a greenhouse but that’d be pretty cool too. 

 

I totally get those little lifesaving conveniences when dealing with small humans XD 

 

I’m not much of a coffee drinker, but I’m the same way with my tea stash. I keep trying to drink through it, but somehow it multiplies even when I’m not buying any! 

[Sciread77]

Just now, Ann of Vries said:

I’m not much of a coffee drinker, but I’m the same way with my tea stash. I keep trying to drink through it, but somehow it multiplies even when I’m not buying any! 

We love our tea, too. We had a 30-gallon storage tub filled with them when we moved! It was shocking. 

[oromendur]

4 hours ago, Sciread77 said:

the Keurig creates a lot of waste

 

I have to admit, I'm a Keurig and Nespresso girl -- but I do my best to mitigate the waste. Nespresso capsules are just aluminum and coffee grounds, and the company has a great recycling program in place (they provide free pre-paid shipping bags for the purpose on request). I also have the refillable Keurig cups for tea (works wonderfully for loose green and white teas, doesn't *quite* get hot enough for real black tea, although it works all right with lighter blends like jasmine), and I have a little contraption that slices the top off of the standard K-Cups. Once I get the thing apart, which takes about five seconds, the aluminum cover and plastic cup get rinsed off and tossed in the recycling, and the paper filter and grounds go into the compost. I never EVER need a whole pot of coffee, so I wouldn't ever get any of it without these magic machines.

 

4 hours ago, Ann of Vries said:

I am culturing a sourdough starter from scratch so I don’t have to rely on the shops for yeast or baking powders to make bread.

 

Oooh sourdough! I've been having a lot of fun with it recently. I cultured my own starter and it makes beautifully mild and wonderful bread, surprisingly not California-sour at all. Also, there are all sorts of lovely things you can make with the discard. Brownies are kind of my downfall right now (recipe; I sometimes add a scant 1/4 tsp baking soda because I use cold starter from the fridge and don't always want pure fudge, but your mileage may vary). Crackers are pretty nice too (and somewhat less indulgent). Oh, and waffles. YUM

 

2 hours ago, Sciread77 said:

We love our tea, too. We had a 30-gallon storage tub filled with them when we moved! It was shocking. 

 

Is it honestly possible to have too much tea? I don't think it is  

[Sciread77]

7 minutes ago, oromendur said:

 

I have to admit, I'm a Keurig and Nespresso girl -- but I do my best to mitigate the waste. Nespresso capsules are just aluminum and coffee grounds, and the company has a great recycling program in place (they provide free pre-paid shipping bags for the purpose on request). I also have the refillable Keurig cups for tea (works wonderfully for loose green and white teas, doesn't *quite* get hot enough for real black tea, although it works all right with lighter blends like jasmine), and I have a little contraption that slices the top off of the standard K-Cups. Once I get the thing apart, which takes about five seconds, the aluminum cover and plastic cup get rinsed off and tossed in the recycling, and the paper filter and grounds go into the compost. I never EVER need a whole pot of coffee, so I wouldn't ever get any of it without these magic machines.

 

 

We have a Nespresso machine too and I love it. We keep it for special occasions only, though. 
 

I gut the kcups and compost the innards. Rex has been particularly good about emptying the compost container in the compost pile out back. 
 

During rough times I can personally easily drink an entire pot of coffee. 

 

7 minutes ago, oromendur said:

 

Oooh sourdough! I've been having a lot of fun with it recently. I cultured my own starter and it makes beautifully mild and wonderful bread, surprisingly not California-sour at all. Also, there are all sorts of lovely things you can make with the discard. Brownies are kind of my downfall right now (recipe; I sometimes add a scant 1/4 tsp baking soda because I use cold starter from the fridge and don't always want pure fudge, but your mileage may vary). Crackers are pretty nice too (and somewhat less indulgent). Oh, and waffles. YUM

 

 

We like making bread, but we’ve never made crackers. I’m gonna save that cracker recipe because we might need it. Saltine crackers are cheap but we often run out of them when we have a lot of soup and chili... and we have a lot of that on deck as emergency supplies.

 

7 minutes ago, oromendur said:

 

Is it honestly possible to have too much tea? I don't think it is  

 

It is not.

[Snarkyfishguts]

I love this challenge. I too, love the sound of coffee percolating. We use Keurig pods because it's more accessible for Dad's blindness than a pot of coffee and all those coffee grounds. I think after a week of cleaning coffee grounds out of the crevices of the floor, we got the Keurig. 

 

That tree is awesome!

 

We're self-quarantining as well, and it's totally not the end of the world, but we're also antsy and hoping we don't have it. I hate not knowing! 

 

Will you post pictures of the bunkbeds? Are you putting together a kit or do you have to make it from scratch?

[Sciread77]

7 hours ago, Snarkyfishguts said:

I love this challenge. I too, love the sound of coffee percolating. We use Keurig pods because it's more accessible for Dad's blindness than a pot of coffee and all those coffee grounds. I think after a week of cleaning coffee grounds out of the crevices of the floor, we got the Keurig. 

 

 

I hear that. 

 

7 hours ago, Snarkyfishguts said:

That tree is awesome!

 

 

Thanks!

 

7 hours ago, Snarkyfishguts said:

We're self-quarantining as well, and it's totally not the end of the world, but we're also antsy and hoping we don't have it. I hate not knowing! 

 

 

Minus the disease part, I’d happily make this my new normal for everyday life. 

 

7 hours ago, Snarkyfishguts said:

Will you post pictures of the bunkbeds? Are you putting together a kit or do you have to make it from scratch?

 

Sure thing, whenever they are done. We found plans on the internet that are almost exactly what we designed ourselves. It’s from scratch.  The issue we have is we don’t own a circle saw or powered miter box. We have a hand saw miter box and 37 boards with about 70 cuts to make. We meant to get one at the Horn Depot run but Jessie was super flustered with how awful that experience was. And now we can’t really order anything to be delivered. So that might have to go on the back burner. It depends on how much work slows down after this week (or if it slows down at all).

 

 

[Snarkyfishguts]

That is so cool! Happy making!

[Teros]

On 3/23/2020 at 8:44 AM, Sciread77 said:

Build those bunkbeds

How's the progress?

 

On 3/23/2020 at 5:31 PM, Sciread77 said:

maybe I’ll go with the fruit trees and bushes instead. 

 

That sounds pretty awesome. If I had a 'forever home', I've wanted to have a bunch of plants.  I've grown green beans and spaghetti squash before and it was pretty awesome.  But fruit trees and bushes are where's it's at.  I went up to north conway in New hampshire last summer and went blueberry picking and I've done strawberry and apple picking as well.  I think like....2 of each type of thing is plenty.  I like the idea of staggering the planting.

 

 

[Sciread77]

11 minutes ago, Teros said:

How's the progress?

 

 

None so far on the bunk beds. Work has kept me pretty busy. Most of my online activity is done in short spurts while waiting for our system pages to load remotely. My wife is currently doing all the homeschooling this week and she’ll be doing online schooling for her job next week too. Since we only have the little hand miter box I’ll have to wait probably until today or tomorrow to start marking and sawing. 

 

 

11 minutes ago, Teros said:

 

That sounds pretty awesome. If I had a 'forever home', I've wanted to have a bunch of plants.  I've grown green beans and spaghetti squash before and it was pretty awesome.  But fruit trees and bushes are where's it's at.  I went up to north conway in New hampshire last summer and went blueberry picking and I've done strawberry and apple picking as well.  I think like....2 of each type of thing is plenty.  I like the idea of staggering the planting.

 

 

 

That’s been the goal. We don’t have plans to move from this house and it’s pretty well set up for an orchard like our grandparents always had. 
 

A large harvest with a wide variety of plants staggered over a season. Unfortunately, deer got half my trees and 70% of my fruit bushes last year. I’m hoping I’ll be able to add more to them this year. I’m a little disappointed that all this is happening now, before my orchard is mature and producing. It’d be really helpful to be home/working remotely during harvest season and helpful to have that. 
 

I’m hoping to have closer to 10 of each berry bush altogether since they produce 1-2 lbs of berries each and we go through about 5 lbs of berries a week here. Fruit is huge in this household, an overall major expenditure.

 

I keep seeing “Victory Garden Makes a Comeback” articles floating around, and my dream since owning a house has always included one. My other house got so little sunlight that almost everything just died. Things grow so very well here!

[Sciread77]

Yesterday was good. It started with a migraine, likely triggered by the dual causes of thunderstorm and lack of caffeine. I’ve been getting up and drinking coffee by 5 am the last two weeks because work has been insane and I’ve been working until midnight to get stuff done, especially with the kids at home. Normally, I don’t drink my coffee until 8:30-9:30 but the schedule has been bumped up and then I slept in today. 
 

In any case, I drank a glass of Diet Mountain Dew and slept another half an hour while the percolator worked it’s magic. Then I cleaned half the kitchen pretty hardcore on account of the ants are reinvading and made breakfast while Jessie played RDR2 with the kiddos (and kept them from making their own breakfasts). 
 

We watched Lego Ninjago and a lot of Masked Singer episodes 2. Then more RDR2. Woody is sending in an audition for a movie that requires him to sing a song so he’s been getting regular singing lessons from me and acting lessons from Jessie. We practiced while making dinner, which was about an hour because it turns out I didn’t turn the oven all the way on. 
 

After that we went to bed. Jessie and I started watching the Tiger King on Netflix and NGL, I am here for the hot messes that are everyone on the show. 
 

I have a Costco egg carton with a few rows of seeds. I’ve sort of mixed them up but there are both apple and pear seeds in there. I also have a jar of sand and soil with about 10 plum pots in it. At this point I’m planning to just plant a big old line across the back as well as as many fruit bushes as possible. I’ll have to trim them and neither the trees nor the fruit will have as high a yield as they could but those should be able to block the view for the dogs. And I’ve got Apple trees I can graft branches from if the fruit isn’t so good, and I’ve been wanting to get a pear tree too. Even if it’s not that great I suspect it’ll be better than a non-producing tree hedge. 

I wanted to do that fast-growing river cane but I won’t be able to travel to my uncle’s to get some for a long time, and I need to build an in-ground box to keep it from taking over and I do not have the supplies for that at this time. 

[Sciread77]

Deleted long rant. 
 

TL:DR (which is also long) is that:
 

1. I’m glad that people finally seem to be coming around and recognizing teachers, doctors, nurses, retail workers, food workers, and transportation workers for the value they provide. They’re absolutely critical and should be treated with respect. 
 

2.  Banks and the financial system are important too. They help us keep going, paying the critical workers and funding necessities.  But bank profits are NOT and NEVER WILL BE more important than people. 
 

3. Markets are great, and our capital market is probably the best in the world. They are good tools to solve a variety of problems. But they’re easy to break and we’re too obsessed with them here. Healthcare doesn’t work as a market because there is a lack of transparency preventing a normal rational actor from being able to make reasonably good and informed choices, on top of options being naturally limited in the case of a lot of healthcare options.  They are effective for elective surgeries and could even be possible for major surgery that isn’t time sensitive but they’re useless to you if your appendix is about to burst or you were in a bad car accident.

 

4. I feel better about my work than I have in a while. It is good work even if I don’t necessarily see the fruits of it. Being home and working remotely has been an incredibly positive thing for me even though I’m also anxious as all gets out about the coronavirus. 

[Teros]

On 3/26/2020 at 9:21 AM, Sciread77 said:

I’m hoping to have closer to 10 of each berry bush altogether since they produce 1-2 lbs of berries each and we go through about 5 lbs of berries a week here. Fruit is huge in this household, an overall major expenditure.

 

I keep seeing “Victory Garden Makes a Comeback” articles floating around, and my dream since owning a house has always included one. My other house got so little sunlight that almost everything just died. Things grow so very well here!

 

Hot damn that's a lot of fruit.  Yeah I'd assume that it would pay itself off at that rate.  I wanted to have some trees/bushes like that, and then smaller plants I wanted to have hung on windowsills and along the house via pulleys to keep ground animals from ravaging.

 

5 hours ago, Sciread77 said:

TL:DR (which is also long) is that

 

But what about Gamestop?

 

 

 

It would be nice if you told the people at my job about #1.  Would have liked to read the rant.

[Sciread77]

2 hours ago, Teros said:

 

Hot damn that's a lot of fruit.  Yeah I'd assume that it would pay itself off at that rate.  I wanted to have some trees/bushes like that, and then smaller plants I wanted to have hung on windowsills and along the house via pulleys to keep ground animals from ravaging.

 

 

It is a lot of fruit. But there’s 5 people here who eat a lot of fruit. Packing lunches, for example. Each of us gets an orange or 2 mandarin oranges, a banana, and an apple or plum or pear each day. And berries just evaporate. We don’t even get to put a container away. It just comes out and they’re gone. 

 

2 hours ago, Teros said:

 

But what about Gamestop?

 

 

 

It would be nice if you told the people at my job about #1.  Would have liked to read the rant.

They all need to hear about it. Of course, if you all disappeared (especially now) they’d be screwed six ways to Sunday. GameStop hasn’t been doing well for a while anyway. 
 

So the two things we don’t have stockpiles and don’t produce here that are an issue are milk and eggs. I regret not having chickens and a milk goat. But such is life I suppose.  Now we have to deal with the anxiety of Jessie having gone out for another supply run even if she is following safety protocols, and wearing a hat, coat, and gloves. 
 

I hate this. It spoils an otherwise epic time not going anywhere. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[WolfDreamer]

9 hours ago, Sciread77 said:

Deleted long rant. 
 

TL:DR (which is also long) is that:
 

1. I’m glad that people finally seem to be coming around and recognizing teachers, doctors, nurses, retail workers, food workers, and transportation workers for the value they provide. They’re absolutely critical and should be treated with respect. 
 

2.  Banks and the financial system are important too. They help us keep going, paying the critical workers and funding necessities.  But bank profits are NOT and NEVER WILL BE more important than people. 
 

3. Markets are great, and our capital market is probably the best in the world. They are good tools to solve a variety of problems. But they’re easy to break and we’re too obsessed with them here. Healthcare doesn’t work as a market because there is a lack of transparency preventing a normal rational actor from being able to make reasonably good and informed choices, on top of options being naturally limited in the case of a lot of healthcare options.  They are effective for elective surgeries and could even be possible for major surgery that isn’t time sensitive but they’re useless to you if your appendix is about to burst or you were in a bad car accident.

 

4. I feel better about my work than I have in a while. It is good work even if I don’t necessarily see the fruits of it. Being home and working remotely has been an incredibly positive thing for me even though I’m also anxious as all gets out about the coronavirus. 

 

Thank you for this. All of this. I knew there was a reason I liked you so much. 😁