Tuesday morning bliss

I stood outside on the front porch for a little while this morning. Talking to the dogs about life and enjoying how the yard looks. I have a couple of spots in the grass that need attention, but otherwise I'm thrilled. I don't know how people get by without a nice yard, it's therapy for me to mow, water, weed, etc. This is my Tuesday morning bliss, standing on the porch in cool temperatures talking to the dogs and staring at the results of hard work.
I spent far less on the garden this year than I had anticipated, and I will get at least quadruple returns. I'm going to can a lot of tomato's (I actually can't stand stewed type tomato's but if it's all there was I would be grateful), zucchini and squash. If the cucumbers explode like I assume, I'll pickle those. I have 3 years worth of seeds in reserve and the great grass is providing perfect soil if I ever had to make everything into a garden during hard/shtf times.

I checked on the rose bushes and I should have a hundred or more roses popping out this week. My phone camera lens is scratched and blurry but here they are starting to pop out. This bush was transplanted from the in-laws house when they moved to California about 10 years ago. While not entirely practical, my yard is full of bushes and trees that stage bloom so I have a lot of color changing for April, May and June.

I'm always afraid of giving my vegetables too much water so I just stared at them and explained to the dogs how I would water at lunch (we are dog and house sitting so it's lonely at home alone). My neighbor friend told me this garden box looked perfect, how everything was all level, packed, sloped, etc. I just want to see some life in the next few weeks, so I can get in there and start plucking the extra stuff for proper spacing.

My tomato plants are already outstanding, I should have my first pick in a few days to a week. The cherry tomato plant is huge, all that pre planting love did wonders. The sweet pepper plant is also a monster, but I won't have sweet red peppers for a while still.

The morning was great, and the counter off we submitted was approved for the oil and gas lease. Perfect.

Memorial Day photo's

I spent this weekend doing some work, a lot of house and yard work, and spending time with the in-laws. Korea and Shield/Storm were all represented for dinner last night and we talked about my Dad who was in Vietnam. We shared some pictures from my Grandfather who was in WW2 and Korea and spent some good time talking about the old days and what it means to us to be American and to protect and defend the things we hold so dear.
Even if they are being stripped slowly over time.

The entire garden is finally done and I had to replant a few things after the birds got into one large pot. Luckily it was just some peppers and I have a lot of those in. I will be overloaded shortly with tomatoes and lettuce, followed close behind by radishes. The zuch, squash and cuc's will be a few months so in the meantime I will enjoy green, red and hot peppers in about 45 days. the pre planning worked out really well.

Here are the pictures from Moab, a week or so late.

Rest stop for lunch with rig #1

#2

In-laws enjoying the view, 63 years together and still in love

Rock staring down a bunny

Luke staring down me

The end!

The counter offer

Today is the big day, for the big deal the family has been working on. Being from the woods of New Hampshire I never thought I would be involved in this kind of stuff, but it's the family I've been married into for almost 17 years.

They are an oil family from New Mexico and Texas, with large tracts of land that they have mineral rights on/in. The current offer on the table is just about all of the property not currently under contract, enough to put 40 oil wells on, in a proven area. Most of the family doesn't care about a signing bonus, that's more of an upfront rental payment for the land. What we care about is them getting production up and running and moving on to the next well, repeat. $7 million for the first oil well from start to finish, and once/if they get the money back out of the ground they will start on the next well and repeat this process. It's cheaper after the first well but still a lot of money.

The worst case is that nothing happens and we continue on perfectly happy the way we are. Worst case is $0, we have signed deals before and some of them have produced but nothing large scale.

It's exciting to think about the best case; mortgage free with a large plot of land and cabin next to a huge garden. The kind of place where a bad day is spent working hard for yourself instead of someone else. It would be several years before that happened and we have zero expectations.
When we discussed it this morning, I mentioned we had to get the last water barrel hooked up this weekend and what direction should we route the ivy that's exploding up. I'm also going to try some grape plants I found that are supposed to be hearty enough for this area.
We laughed talking about the simple things to do around the home while knowing that the best possible case in a few years could see us making around $750,000 per month (yes, each month) before taxes. We still car pooled this morning since I get free gas in my company car

Dog and house sitting for the next 2 weeks is going to kill my time but always happy to help out great friends. We have a lot of projects to do this weekend and my body is already hurting from my crazy fast downhill running last night. We are too cheap/frugal for massages.

How not to communicate in email

I just had to share, it's hard to imagine that the person who typed this out is around 35 years old. The only thing changed is x'ing out names:

so sorry, that was $ 15,000 xxxxx not $1500.00....  can I get a witness here!!!???? xxxxxxxx xxxx play.... google.... BTW... xxxxx is cratering for now.... I'm thinkin 90 days xxxxxx (xxxxxxxx) clause..... They talk the talk , maybe they walk the walk!???  Again , $225 or whatever.... WHY??????? I guess I missed th $500 deal ??? FROM FEB??????????? Where was I? In a coma????  DON"T make sense to dis nigga! yep I said it!........ Ok, an offer from FEB? at $500??? and we been stressin and pissed over xxxxxx offer at $225 ??? EXCUSE meee but HELLO??? So if we get an offer at $500  from FEB? EXPLAIN to this stupid ass cowboy (with a 3.7 gpa RETARD senior at xxxxxx) WHY???? are we fn with xxxxxx BS!!!???.... I'm done... This is STUPID! ...... Ya'll let me know... It's MFN common sense! And thanks for the $500 update from FEB... WTF? Seriously?...... FROM MFN FEB ??? WTF??? ...... Too busy for this BS! $500 and we been listening to this crap and stress over  $225... ??? Thanks again.   ;0)     unbeleivable... (sp?) whatever  pffft!


The best thing was he wondered if unbelievable was spelled wrong.
Imagine the xxxx's being people's names and it's even harder to read.

I always wanted to be a smart cowboy, now I know how to communicate like one. The figures are also ALL wrong adding to the misery.

My poor MFN head.

Picture day!

Here are some pictures from the trip, completely out of order. I will get the real nice pictures up once I get the memory card dumped into this new laptop. Work is in overload mode after being gone and having another key manager gone as well. Perhaps not so much overload, maybe more drama mode... just tell me the problem so I can fix it. I don't need the crap just state the issue and let me solve it, I don't care about the rest of the story.

 Sunrise run on an off road trail. It rained the night before for a few minutes but it wasn't enough to keep the dust down. Each step made a small cloud of dust that eventually filled my shoes with sand. 64 degrees and you can see the kind of day we had with no clouds.

Rock doesn't like to 4 wheel, he doesn't appreciate all the jostling and bumping. Even with his harness he kept trying to get up front but he did like the rides to and from the trail and chasing bunnies on breaks. Panting mode was in full effect even with cold water to drink and breeze, he was too nervous to calm down at all.

Arches National Park, the in-laws said it was better than the Grand Canyon. That's me in the distance with the A/C on, Father in-law appreciated it even with a few clouds for shade. This was the coolest day at 87 degrees and we managed to get some pics of the in-laws on an overlook for the family to see.

Turned around on one trail after Father in-law couldn't take anymore, but it was still a great time and a good spot to take a picture. 94 Degrees and no shade unless you made it.

Not the best picture, but another sunrise run. This trail has several hundred foot sections of deep sand that made the run miserable and once again filled my shoes with sand. People pay for pedicures and can go running here instead and save! I think it was 58 degrees at the start of this run and 70 at the finish.

Someone we know was in Moab at the same time, so we hit up a trail. His rig looks small but had no problems on this trail since he is a very experienced driver.

I'm not going bald, my hair is just really short, summer haircut in effect. The inner panel behind the tires was vibrating and the screw holding it busted. This caused the panel to rub the inside of the tire on curves sending out a cloud of smoke. I couldn't get the broken screw out so I removed the whole fender and tossed it in the bed of the truck. The road was covered in fire ants so I threw an old towel down to prevent getting bit, those little guys are mean.

In other news the tomato plants are planted, they survived well while I was away and are in the pots looking great. The rest of the garden will go in this weekend, in between doing a promotion event for work. I'm looking forward to the relaxation my yard and garden will bring.

Ignorance of the people

First things first, I decided to finally transition to my new laptop that I've had for 5 months, I just hate switching from a Macbook. Apparently IE isn't supported by blogger for some reason and downloading google chrome was a failure so now I have firefox up and running just like on my old laptop. Failure. I will post some pictures from the trip tomorrow hopefully, today I am in catch up and back to normal mode.

Moab was a good trip, I had a lot of time to relax and do nothing while I baby sat the dogs in the hotel room. The temperature was up to 97 degrees and with zero shade or clouds around I didn't want the dogs hanging out in a non moving vehicle. Even if it's hot, as long as you have air flow it will keep you cool enough. The in-laws enjoyed the first trip there, and probably the only time they will ever go. Father in-law is almost 83 and can only take so much bouncing around and even the drive there was hard on him on the highway in a truck. I'm glad they went even if the trip was way out of the norm from what we would do on our own.

What shocked me the most were the other people on the trails. I'm driving, with 2 vehicles behind and we are all swerving all over to avoid/go over a huge rock or ledge. I am the pack lead, so I'm keeping my eyes out for anyone coming down the trail and things the other people might not see. The tail gunner is supposed to let me know when vehicles want to go by and I'll find a place to move out of the way (at our convenience). Instead of being patient, people just go as fast as they can around you as close as possible. No patience, I'm not paying attention and there were several close calls when I would swerve left and suddenly have a motorcycle or ATV right next to my door. In such a hurry to get to the end of the trail and turn around, I suppose that's worth getting run over.

No water was also a trail issue for many people. Between our 2 vehicles we had 6 gallons of water and 2 cases of bottled water, 1/2 case of chocolate milk and some juice pouches. Each day was a new case of water loaded up and cycled into the cooler. We kept the cooler clean so we could use the melted ice if needed. Most people on the trail had zero water, including a group of 20 ATV's that went by. 97 degrees, I'm drinking a bottle of water every 20 minutes just to stay at my normal hydration level and these fools don't have any. We had plenty of water and food in case we broke down in a vehicle and had to wait for the rest of the group to go get a part and come back, or even an overnight stay.

Clothing optional... sort of. I'm wearing shorts, t-shirt and hiking boots, almost everyone else on the trail had flip flops, shorts and a wife beater t-shirt or tank top. 97 degrees and they are bright pink and cruising around on the motorcycle or ATV without water or food. It was so draining out there that I tried to run really early, or really late to get some trail running in and still got my butt kicked. I only went 3 miles one evening before I almost had heat stroke and I was 100% hydrated. My morning sunrise run was about 2 hours and I was glad the sun only hit me for the last couple of miles, it was intense and I'm prepared for this sort of thing and conditioned.

Perhaps everyone is in a hurry to die. I have never been so happy to be home after a vacation than on this trip.

The people at a baby shower

I always knew there was a reason I didn't attend such things like wedding, baby showers, bachelor parties, etc. I'm perfectly fine being social but I would rather spend the time doing other things, or things that revolve around my family.
I was introduced to a few people, and that turned into a 'oh you do X for Y company', would you be interested in sponsoring our softball team, or soapbox derby, etc. Lucky for me I had a hamburger so I could focus on eating that instead of talking. 30 minutes later I was in my car speeding away vowing to never do that again. The place was full of people overloading on soda and junk food and most of them looked like they couldn't get out of their own way if they needed to. There was no room for the baby, no crib set up, nothing. It seemed they were relying on the baby shower to provide everything they needed and then they would set something up. The baby is due in less than a month so I was/am a little confused, but then again forward thinking might be an acquired skill.
The fridge was empty at this house, they were looking for napkins and I saw the pantry and cupboards were just about empty. The had a huge TV, new landscaping and grass, and they even for the mother to be a new dress for the shower party. When I have any kind of space in my cupboard, I refill it and add it tot he list of things to get at the grocery store. I understand people don't think anything could ever happen but if we were going to have a baby I would have all kinds of things at the ready, and I would have started as soon as I got the news.

Back at the comfort of home, we assembled the front axles on a vehicle that had been on jack stands  for a week while we awaited parts. We had spare parts but the heavier duty CV's had to get rebuilt so we decided to wait, but could have easily had it up and running in the meantime. There wasn't a need and we don't leave for Moab until Wednesday so it was good timing. The clouds rolled in so we set up an awning type tent over the front of the vehicle to keep us dry while it poured rain. More snow in the hills and greener grass is always welcome, and of course the middle of May is known for 40 degree days at times. It took all day to get this done, usually a 2 hour max job, but we have a lot of things going on that really took the focus away. It's all positive and still distracting while everything gets finalized and figured out. It could mean having a nice spot of land, a cabin and being mortgage free in less than 4 years. I'll post on it once it's done.

Brownie overload

Mayan cocoa is the best stuff on the planet, $10 for 8 ounces, and I have a lot of it. I'm not shy about eating and I've had my share of brownies, but nothing beats a Mexican brownie. Made entirely from food storage as a bonus.

It's a brownie pie for 8 people

 The first batch was perfect and while it was baking I got the 2nd batch going. Swapped the pans out of the oven and cleaned up. 20 minutes later I turned the pan and knew it was a disaster. The edges of the mix were at full boil like the batter was too thin or had to much oil. That wasn't the case, everything was identical to the first batch, I don't make mistakes in the kitchen... or do I? Nope, everything was on the money when I went over it in my mind, so I really don't have any clue what happened.

Looks wrong in the picture.

The batter was a little thick, as you can see from the 2 different pictures, but thick batter would never boil, it just doesn't cook correctly and normally burns. I pulled the pan out at the correct time and it wasn't cooked at all. There was an oil coating the brownies, the edges were boiled and burnt and I couldn't cut it without a huge effort. Not in a panic I just made another brownie pie while this monstrosity cooled off.
The bad brownies are still in the pan, in the sink. I've soaked it for 36 hours and it's only now just starting to get soft. I don't want to damage the pan so I'm being patient while the water soaks in. I still can't figure out what would cause this, 3 T of veg oil is the only oil in the recipe so to have some kind of oil film and oil boil is just a freak thing that I can't understand.
The 3rd batch was perfect, but I am a little biased.

Rainy wet weekend forecast but that's perfect for my running. I'm trying for 30 miles before Sunday night on some new trails that shouldn't be muddy even with rain. I'm going to my first baby shower but was promised there will be other guys there and it will be a BBQ. I already feel like I've been tricked and apparently I'm supposed to buy gifts to bring with me. Why not just get people together to celebrate and feast.
It's tough being simple.

Snack cakes and debt

I've been lucky to have a great job and a house that increases in value instead of being underwater, dual income no kid lifestyle. My mortgage is with Bank of America so I'm going to try and refinance, but I will probably end up back with BoA anyhow. It's not that I need help or think it's unfair when others get a bailout, but I've done everything right and don't even get a thank you.
I know there are a small percentage of people who did everything right and still need help, and that's something I understand, and can work with. There are many others who got horrible mortgages they couldn't afford and a crap ton of other debt they couldn't/didn't manage. Sure, my situation isn't sensational so it won't ever hit a headline but maybe it should. Maybe doing things right should be the headline, wouldn't that be a change.

Sometimes it crosses my mind, all the things I could finish and do without caring about the consequences of debt. The solar system would be done on some new land and a cabin, a well dug there as well... another 5 years+ worth of food storage would be done, etc. Work hard, pay your bills, keep your head on straight and live under your means preparing for the future.

That's it, I'll just sit around watching TV, wearing flip flops and put on 150 pounds and go to the store each day for whatever meal I want to eat that comes from the microwave.
The American way (the original) is often very frustrating. The new American way is awful.


I went to the store and got a bunch of Little Debbie Snack Cakes for the food storage. There were some Zingers in there too, the perfect post long distance running food. This purchase was all thanks to Duke for mentioning them in a post about how no one would have them post TEOTWAWKI. Sometimes I'm such a jackass I make myself laugh, but why the hell not have a couple buckets of cupcakes. Worst case I'll toss them out in 18 months.

Ground beef madness

Adding to the food storage is always enjoyable and yet a time consuming process and test of my patience. Canning ground beef is easy and affordable compared to freeze dried or the canned meat you can get from a couple of vendors. The Ball canning book gives a few ways to can ground beef but when you are doing a lot, cooking it in a frying pan isn't going to work for me.

May 8th, fresh snow on Pikes Peak past the people dressed alike...

The solution I came up with was to boil the ground beef. This gives you small pieces of ground beef, not chunks, more like you would end up when you make tacos. In a big stock pot I put 3 quarts of water and then added 6 pounds of ground beef. With your clean arms and hands, reach into the pot and break up the beef into small pieces (gross and yet fun), boil for about 10 minutes until it's cooked.
Doing this in a frying pan would give me bigger pieces/chunks but it would have taken me over an hour to get the beef cooked. Jars and lids ready, fill em up with meat, add 1.5 cups of the water/broth you just drained into another pot and  into the pressure canner for 90 minutes @ 15 (high altitude).

I've gotten a lot of ground beef put away over the last few days. I have freeze dried as well but at $40-$50 for a #10 can, this is the best way to go for semi long term food storage. Last night I boiled up 7 pounds, made some sauce for spaghetti and vacuum sealed the rest. Sealing the meat after it was chilled still caused an issue with too much liquid preventing the seal from forming properly. I had to start sealing, watch for liquid, pop open the sealer and close it real fast (to prevent air from going back into the bag) and then hitting the seal button. This worked well but was more of a game with the machine and I.
Ground beef at Costco was $2.99 a pound for 88/12, locally it was $5.99 for 90/10 and $8.99 for 93/7. Most of the fat is drained away when you strain the beef after the boiling is done. The jars have a little fat ring on top as expected from adding some liquid back in. The beef I pulled out for the spaghetti sauce didn't seem to have any fat in it when I fried it with some onions.

I'm sure I could have found some video on youtube on how to do it, but I'm happy I came up with a solution myself. The jars I used were left outside my gate by the in-laws on Saturday after they were done yard sale shopping. I figured they wanted more peach jam, but I needed the jars for the beef. I'll make some jam this weekend while it's raining outside.

The great banana peel incident

 I'm super tolerant of people, and where I live the bicyclists zoom by as they head up for some serious hill training. I'm tolerant of them moving to the front of the line at a stop light. I'm tolerant of them getting on the sidewalk when it is faster than waiting at a light. I'm tolerant of them breaking all the road rules and then demanding I treat them like a vehicle even if they don't pay a registration fee. It's a public street, they have as much right to use it as I do, they should just follow the rules.

It takes 2 years or more for this to become one with the earth.

I was getting ready to pull into the driveway on Saturday so I didn't pass the 2 cyclists who were all over the road and not staying in the bike lane. I was tolerant and was patient for 1/4 mile as I approached home. Suddenly one of them threw a banana peel and it landed in the middle of my driveway. I stopped the car in front of my house and just stared at the banana peel for a minute, debating what to do. This was my driveway, not a trash can, and I shouldn't be expected to clean up after some moron who carried the banana in his pocket but didn't want the peel in there. Emotion got the best of me, I can only handle so much idiocy at a time so I picked up the banana peel and drove down the road looking for the bike. Several miles away I found them and instead of just tossing it out the window at the guy , I drove up the road, pulled over and got out with said banana peel in my hand. When they got close I said, "I would appreciate it if you wouldn't throw your trash in my driveway." The cyclists looked stunned and the peel tosser mumbled "sorry" but kept going, so I threw the peel in the bike lane and got back in my car.

This is where I figured it would be over, a cyclist called out for being a douche, and me heading home. I figured wrong, the cyclists turn around and ride up to my car, shaking from adrenaline and accusing me of throwing my trash at him. He was wrong, got called on it, but had to make a show in front of his buddy.

I politely told him since it's his trash, he needs to take care of it and not toss it in someones driveway. He got more irate (how dare someone point out the obvious), accusing me again of throwing my trash at him and how dare I leave it on the road in front of a school. I'm really confused at this point wondering what rules apply to banana peels, who's trash is it, school zones and cyclists. I told him it's his trash and to do the right thing, but he had told me he doesn't care where the peel ends up, it's biodegradable. 
Maybe I should have just stayed home and tossed the peel in the trash, maybe I should have taken the high road as always. Nope, not this time, once in a while I'm going to make a point that the rules apply to everyone even if they don't agree and even if that means I'm going to be confrontational.

"So if it's ok for you to toss your trash in my driveway, how about if I come to your house and take a big shit on your doorstep, it's biodegradable too you know!"

The cyclists had nothing to say and left, leaving his trash on the road (in front of a school, the ultimate trash dumping no-no!). I was the bad guy in this situation in his mind (and his buddies mind, who wouldn't shut up the entire time egging him on about how I threw my trash at them). I doubt they could remember what driveway they threw it in, and just in case they remembered my car and went looking for it, I went from the incident spot to work and got a completely different vehicle with a different color. They didn't get my license plate number since they never were behind me during the conversation (no front plate required) and I waited until they left before I turned around.

Tolerance doesn't mean I (or you) have to put up with or take crap from anyone. I'm not talking about what's fair, everyone has a limit and I hit mine. I can pretty much guarantee if I drove by his house with him standing there, and threw trash in his driveway that he would have been mad as hell. If it's wrong it's still wrong even if you think no one is looking and what you do when no one is looking says a lot about a persons character.

I changed the starter on one of my vehicles, got all the chores and housework done, got a few new magazines for one of my pistols at the gun show, picked up 500 rounds of ammo and canned 12 pounds of ground beef. I also opened some banana chips... and laughed when I did it.

bleeping sore

I simply can't take the easy route, the flat route, or the downhill route. I have to find the most challenging god awful terrain to train on. It does a lot of good, I know, but it took me almost 20 minutes to get up from the bed and to the shower this morning. Last night's run was a test of pure determination and the last mile was 100% powered by pure stubbornness.
My ultra runner friend is in Tennessee for a few weeks running a 1000 mile trail, trying to set a record on it. This is the kind of thing that motivates me to keep kicking my own ass up the mountain. I'm also hurting from other strength training, but at least with that I can just stop. When running if you stop it's still the same distance back so I just keep slugging along. Everyone has a motivation when doing whatever, train hard when you are doing it or you might as well not train at all.

Hit Costco last night and got a few things, getting some items used up in the last couple of weeks. Grabbed 12 pounds of ground beef to can this weekend and some instant lemonade for the in-laws. I picked up a bunch of cereal and stuff for my neighbors, he is finally working but it's slow still. 48 pop tarts for $5.99 was a nice bonus for their kids. They tried to pay me this morning but I just told them we can get together for dinner sometime. The job he has is slow right now, working basically part time but on call full time. They are lucky and don't have debt besides rent, food, gas, etc. No cable bill, no credit cards, car payments, etc.

My mind is battling my body right now, I want to run Pikes Peak tomorrow but my body might win out this battle. I'm also hungry and starting to get cranky. Time to find some Motrin.

Moth invasion, running and property

Godzilla no like moth.
I must have a few hundred in the yard, and they were bathing in the sprinkler last night. The dogs don't eat them, just stir them up a little, but its exciting to see them chase the little bastards around for a while. If I'm patient they will just go away in a few days, but it's hard to not get annoyed when they dive bomb you in the kitchen or land on your face when you are in bed. I have a nightlight on in the living room so they stay there and not in the bedroom.

Today I feel like an ultra runner again, it's the feeling of success on a hard trail combined with horrible aches and pains like you had sex with a sea lion. Not that I have, but I'm sore from the neck down. I forgot how hard one of my favorite trails is and it was open finally so I took it... up, down, up..up..up.. etc. I kept thinking it wouldn't end, did I miss my turn, what the heck was going on. I refused to stop, my legs almost refused to move but finally the turn off was there! I couldn't figure out why I was so sore until I got home and realized I was wearing my old running shoes. I pride myself on paying attention, but I slipped up on that one. My running shoes are the same color, the new ones are just not as dirty.... I do remember when I was walking out tot he car for the drive up I thought it was funny how my new shoes were so dirty after only 2 weeks... situational awareness fail.

I don't toss out stuff that's still good for working in the yard, or just kicking around, but this morning I grabbed my old shoes and went to put them out with the trash (a moth flew out at me when I did)... they ended up back on the porch. I'm having a hard time parting with things that cost $130 and are only 2.5 months old. I'm not a hoarder, I really don't have much of anything in my house that isn't being used and I don't like clutter.

I'm looking for some land, plan to buy some before the end of the year, something to put a cabin and well on. So far I've found some stuff close to year round running water, but nothing you can put a garden in for sustainable living. I'm going to be picky, I don't want something in the middle of the plains with constant howling wind and no tree's, and I'm also going to be cheap. It will serve as a nice get away weekend cabin and backup as a bug out location. I've been looking for over a month, I just need to be patient.... good luck with that for me.