Apocalyptic Homesteading (Day 1080)

Hello Everyone!

Getting off track, Frigging small potatoes, Weird weather, Seasonal cleanup & Plotting the vermin rodeo!

Well, I am way off schedule on my writing routine and it is now a little over an hour after sunset... and I am just now getting the chance to sit down to begin spelling things out. Nothing truly 'untoward' happened or anything aside from a dead car battery and a short trip to a local store taking way longer than it should... but such is life!

The downside to all of that is that my 'posting window' will require getting corrected tomorrow (if I am to stay on track) but overall I guess that is small potatoes. Which is a kind of funny way to put it because I went to a slightly further away store trying to get some potatoes.

To explain that a bit, the last time that I went on an actual supply run that very same store had these tiny bags of potatoes (maybe the size of two handfuls) and even the potatoes in the bag were super tiny. The crazy thing is that they were the same price as a large bag of potatoes... so I did not buy them and was hoping that today there would be some but alas they still only had those frigging small potatoes!

Anyways, the weather today was kind of weird because I could not quite tell if it was about to rain, about to clear up... or just remain like it was... which I guess could be summed up as 'shifting towards inclement weather' with a smattering of chilly and very 'dry' wind gusts. In other words it was typical fall weather but with way more wildfire conditions than what I am accustomed to this time of year.

For the most part I stayed rather busy outdoors doing my routine chores along with what I guess that I could call a 'seasonal cleanup' of both the shelter site and the cabin itself. None of which was all that taxing or anything but it sure was tedious to say the least because I have admittedly been slacking a bit over the last few days.

On a different note. My brain must be fried from stress or something because I had this big plan to run the dogs on the vermin tomorrow morning... but the temperatures will not be dropping down to freezing for two more days. Given that I am generally pretty good about watching the weather and all... I have no idea how I confused which day that was going to be occurring on. I mean... seriously... I had just looked at the weather forecast this morning and still had the wrong day stuck in my head!

At least I have a few more days to plot and plan my strategy for dealing with the vermin in that lumber pile where most of the nests seem to be. I will not recap my previous 'adventures' of doing it but there have been a few times now where the rats ran away (as I was shuffling the pile) before the dogs could get them in time.

All of which is no fault of the dogs because the lumber itself is large... the stacks are tall... and I have to instruct the dogs to get back (so the stack cannot accidentally fall on them) while I move them around trying to flush the vermin out. I know that I have previously remarked upon how I have used one piece of lumber (stood on edge) to block them from darting into the shop tent before the dogs can get them... but that has not always worked because they can still run into the woods.

So considering all of that... I have been tinkering with the idea of using some 'chicken wire' (small mesh fencing for poultry) to create a temporary fence around the lumber pile before I pull the tarp off of it. I am really unsure if I have enough chicken wire to actually encircle the entire area... and still have enough room to maneuver around the lumber... and have enough room for the dogs to 'work their magic' but the idea is rather appealing nonetheless.

Alright, I had more that I wanted to write about but I just 'noticed the clock' and need to cut this entry short... or I will be way off track with my posting routine by the time I get this all edited and shared. Since I also do not want my sleep cycle getting skewed in the process... I will just have to call this entry 'good enough' and get the heck on with the rest of the process.

I hope that everyone is doing well, has a nice time and a very Happy Halloween!