Apocalyptic Homesteading (Day 1034)

Hello Everyone!

A rainy day, Watching the weather, A change in shopping habits & Kudzu really gets the chickens excited!

I awoke early this morning to lots of rain and found myself in short order, making some correspondences, brewing that sludge that I affectionately call espresso and then piddling around with a bunch of technological stuff as the rain kept coming down. It is actually still raining and will most likely continue to do so for several hours before it slacks off for a bit and returns later in the afternoon as another series of big storms rolls in.

As far as the weather goes it sure is a nice reprieve from that intense heat that has been going on for what seems like most of the spring and summer. The rain is nice and all but whoa it seems like each time it happens it is accompanied by some rather strong storms with lots of intense thunder and lightning.

I still get nervous when I see purple in the radar but thankfully I have yet to see any tornadoes spin up during those times. Lets hope that does not change because I really would not want to be around when all these tall pine trees start getting thrown around like matchsticks. I swear my underground house idea is looking better and better all the time!

Well, that was as far as I got on the writing earlier today and it is now getting late in the evening so I best see what all else that I can spell out here before I start getting too dang sleepy. There is not a whole lot to report since I spent much of the day communicating with various folks while it was raining the proverbial 'cats and dogs' outside.

There was however a small break in the weather late in the afternoon and I was able to slip away to the store to once again do my monthly shopping. I am unsure if it is actually a 'monthly' routine at this point because honestly I have not been keeping track of it all that well of late. It is also worth noting that I have not been buying all that much stuff in a single trip because a nearby 'dollar store' converted its inventory (sometime back) to have fresh fruits, vegetables and a whole lot of groceries that I have never seen stocked in such a store.

Long story short on that store topic. The store itself is located much closer to where I live than the other store I was previously frequenting and with the price of fuel being what it is... shopping at a small store with a limited variety of groceries... slightly more frequently is well worth the trade off in time and fuel. Since the person that drives me to the store is investing both their time and money (for the fuel) to do so I figured its best to spare them as much of both as I can.

As far as the limited selection on groceries goes I am not all that concerned over it because, hey the crazy high inflation is pretty much the same everywhere... no matter where I choose to shop. Also the little store has everything I actually need and seems to be staying stocked better than the larger store was so go figure. The only thing that they did not have this time was rice which is a bit of a bummer because I have been buying cheap bags of it and feeding it to the chickens and also using it to mix with the dog food to help stretch their actual dog food a bit further.

Something that I failed to mention yesterday is that I noticed that after feeding the chickens all those kudzu leaves they were much more ornery than they usually are. Even my mellow rooster decided to have a go at me while I was trying to talk on the phone outdoors (where the reception is better) and I promptly found myself scurrying away from him back indoors because he was so damned adamant about it!

The rooster was not the only one to do that because even the hens thought it was a great idea to harass me throughout the day! Whatever is in that kudzu really gets them fired up... which is something I should remember in the future since I plan on feeding them through the fall and winter with it. Regardless of all that I am still planning on harvesting the kudzu soon and am kind of excited about the prospect of harvesting, processing and getting it drying out... just to see how much leaf meal I wind up with afterwards.

Alright, this entry is going to be another brief one because I still need to get this edited and posted, eat dinner and unwind so that I can get to bed early. It is worth mentioning that my sleep cycle is more or less back on track and I have been pretty stoked each day to find myself waking early and enjoying the 'morning stillness' before the sun comes up.

I hope that everyone is doing well and has a nice day/night or something like that!