The Fantastica Chronicles (Day 78-84)

Day 78. (TFC Getting The First Snow, Taking Some Pictures & Staying Hunkered Down In The Cozy Shelter)

I woke up early this morning to see that the landscape was blanketed in snow and that more was falling by the moment. Although I had been watching the bad weather heading in this direction for many days I was definitely a bit surprised to see so much snow especially since tonight was forecast as the coldest night.

Of course the first thing to happen when I went outside this morning was that I slipped on the muddy ground and although I took a pretty good fall I managed to catch myself at the last second and thus avoided any serious injuries by not crashing into the metal ramp that acts as the entrance to the shelter.

There are several small oak trees just outside my door and they were/are drooping (from the snow) in such a way that it makes walking anywhere around the door a bit treacherous because they are both blocking all the good walkways. I failed to notice the drooping trees when I went out the door initially and nearly ran right into one which lead me to stepping on a sloped slippery spot and busting my ass (technically I landed on one knee) all of which in turn made me be extremely cautious with my footing for the remainder of the day.

Anyway before the sun was super high in the sky I went around and looked at the trails and the creek and got some really nice pictures along the way. I wound up getting so excited about all the great photo opportunities that I couldn't quite get enough pictures and got a bit chilly walking around the place.

Mostly today I just stayed hunkered down in the shelter feeling thankful that I got the place fully insulated a mere seventy-two hours before the first snowstorm of the season arrived! Talk about timing! Seriously I am so warm inside the shelter that it seems absolutely surreal to me after the places I have wintered in the last several years. I keep having this sort of knee-jerk dread about the cold weather and then I look around inside the shelter and just go 'hmmm I do not think I have to worry about the cold this year' which is a hell of a nice feeling to say the least.

Anyway that is about it for now and if the satellite internet cooperates I will get this posted tonight. I hope that everyone is doing well and has a nice day/night.

I was a bit surprised to wake up and see how much snow had fallen.

Day 79. (TFC Staying In The Warm Shelter On Another Chilly Day, Covering The Shelter Window With Reflective Insulation, Tinkering With Customizing A Linux Distribution, Trimming The Drooping Trees Outside The Shelter Door & Insulating A Dog House)

Although it got pretty damn chilly outside last night (in the low teens) I did not even notice it while inside my warm little shelter. On top of that I barely even used the heater and when I did it was after I let the dogs out and got a little chilled from standing in the open door.

Before it got too late in the evening I used some reflective insulation (the kind with bubbles that looks like aluminum foil) to cover the window inside because I had noticed with the wind blowing that a good bit of air was coming through it. The window being an old single pane window that I found laying around the homestead I would be quite surprised if it did not leak air! As a side note today note early this morning I trimmed up the foil insulation so that it fits around the housing for the exhaust fan and the switch for the exhaust fan. I even used a scrap piece of the insulation to make a circular piece that I can cap the fan with so that when it is super windy outside I can stop the draft created by the 'open port' of the exhaust fan housing.

Since it was still very chilly today I opted for just staying out of the weather and spend nearly the entire day working on another custom Linux distribution. I won't bore you with all the details but I basically scrapped the distribution that I created the other week and started from scratch by using a much newer Linux Mint as my 'base system' (the distribution I am customizing) which has been working really well...or well enough that my first attempt failed to create a bootable system but my second attempt yielded better results and I have a long night ahead of me of continuing to work on the project. Although I did scrap that first version once again all my tedious note taking sure made the process easier!

Late in the day I decided to finally trim back those drooping trees outside the shelter door because (you guessed it) I once again busted my ass trying to avoid them first thing in the morning but this time I slid down the frozen rugs that I use on the entrance ramp. There was definitely nothing graceful about falling this time but fortunately I once again caught myself at the last moment and avoided getting seriously injured.

Very late in the day I decided to insulate a dog house that is at the homestead proper because I noticed that one of the dogs there was a bit chilly. Although possibly insulating it had been on my mind for a while I just hadn't prioritized doing it but the sight of that little shivering dog was enough to motivate me into action. As a side note that particular dog stays indoors when it is cold out (because it has very short fur and little body fat) but my fellow homesteaders had left to do some errands so the dogs were outside. Just to be clear the dog is well taken care of and would never freeze to death in it's dog house (especially with the other dog in there with it) but I wanted to make it more comfortable for it which is exactly what I did by sealing the inside with more of that foil insulation and covering the majority of the entrance with it as well. All in all it came out rather well and the little dog seemed extremely happy with how cozy I made the place.

Anyway that is about it for now and I am going to wrap this up and dive back into my Linux tinkering and unwind for the evening. I hope that everyone is doing well and has a nice day/night.

The snow did not melt for several days and I was able to get some neat pictures like this one of this quartz cairn that I made atop a tree stump.

Day 80. (TFC Sleeping In, Stocking Up On Propane & Mostly Just Enjoying My Cozy Shelter On Another Chilly Day)

Last night I wound up working on (and eventually testing) that Linux distribution very late into the evening (until just before dawn actually) and although the system works wonderfully I definitely threw my sleeping pattern way out of wake. Although I felt like it was time well spent I just never felt like I got enough sleep today.

Kind of early in the day one of my fellow homesteaders was going on a propane supply run so I went along as well and filled up one of my empty tanks. How slowly I am going through propane at this point (because of how well insulated the shelter is) I am unsure how long one full twenty pound tank will last but I figure that if I just fill one or two of my tanks at a time perhaps it won't feel like such a financial drain this year. I should probably try to keep record of how much propane that I use for heating this shelter throughout the winter so that I at least have a good idea of what it will cost each year. I think that having at least a two week supply on hand is the bare minimum for me as far as peace of mind goes and at my current rate of usage I could probably squeeze twenty days of heating out of two twenty pound tanks just because the shelter retains heat so well.

Anyway it definitely was not a super productive day but I thoroughly enjoyed the fruits of all my labors since my arrival here by taking lots of naps and soaking in a sense of accomplishment and achievement.

Well that is it for now and I am going to wrap this up but probably fall asleep before I can get it edited and posted. I hope that everyone is doing well and has a nice day/night.

The snow was really slow to melt!

Day 81. (TFC Being Waylaid By Hemorrhoidal Pain & Basically Just Trying Not To Let It Drive Me Fucking Crazy)

The title for today pretty much sums things up and I really do not know what else that I can actually write about it (without getting into graphically unpleasant details) so suffice it to say that today was literally just one long pain in the ass!

I guess that the hemorrhoids are just another thing (like my dental problems) that I need to get treatment for by a professional but the expense of doing so is just too staggering to even begin thinking seriously about. For now the best I can really do is to continue taking the Sitz baths (which unfortunately did not offer more than short term relief today) and trying to avoid eating things (like corn) that I can't adequately chew which contributes to the hemorrhoids flaring up when it is on it's way out still intact.

Since I have been here I have had a much more robust diet than I did at the last place and also a very different diet because what I was eating before was mostly food that was either heavily processed, ground up (like cans of refried beans) or both. Basically before I ate a lot of stuff that did not really require chewing which I can't really do at this point unless I get my last upper tooth pulled and an upper denture made. Although my diet now is assuredly 'healthier' I have been having hemorrhoidal flare ups almost constantly since my arrival here.

It seems like no matter what I do in life there always seems to be some sort of physical ailment that attempts to wreck my peace of mind and sense of well-being but all it really does at this point is make me feel agitated and irritated so I guess my peace of mind is ultimately winning in that regard.

Anyway I wish I had something better to write about today and I probably would have if I had not been enduring all the discomfort because it actually warmed up a bit outside today and I was pretty psyched to work on the greenhouse more. Hopefully the weather holds tomorrow and the discomfort subsides enough that I can be productive and work on some of my various projects.

Well that is about it for now. I hope that everyone is doing well and has a nice day/night.

This litle dog kept giving me this look all day because I was in pain.

Day 82. (TFC Finally Making Some Progress On The Greenhouse & Fighting The Urge To Start My Winter Hibernation)

I finally got some relief from the pain and discomfort late last night by taking a thousand milligrams of ibuprofen and falling asleep which was fine by me even though I did not actually get my daily post made until I woke up even though I somehow managed to write it before falling asleep. I slept in a bit later than usual but at least I woke up feeling much better than I did the day before.

The weather warmed up rather nicely by the afternoon so I got some tools together and did some more work on the greenhouse. I was not entirely satisfied with one of those rafters that I built the other week so the first thing that I did was add two more pieces of poplar next to it to help stiffen it up some. Overall I am not entirely happy with how that end of the greenhouse is coming out at all because I am pretty much scraping it together without adequate materials which ultimately will just lead to a bunch of maintenance later on.

Anyway I managed to get some purlins attached to the rafters and I got two sheets of old roofing metal installed which were a bit tricky to get fastened into place because the pitch of the roof is somewhere near a forty-five degree angle and I kept sliding down it while trying to get the screws drilled in.

I still have two short pieces of roofing metal to install at the top but hopefully the weather holds and I can get them on tomorrow. By the time that I got to that point today I was getting a bit frustrated with the whole project and the temperature started dropping so I decided to just call it quits.

Well I am fading fast and once again I am probably going to fall asleep before I can get this posted. I hope that everyone is doing well and has a nice day/night.

Even though the roofing metal was pretty beat up it came out looking okay.

Day 83. (TFC Learning About Various Tribe Tokens On Steemit, Spending The Day With The Dogs & Falling Asleep Before Doing Any Writing)

I once again fell asleep early and failed to get anything written before doing so. I guess that is just the price I have to pay for building myself such a warm and cozy shelter!

I spent much of what turned out to be a rather warm and beautiful day researching the various tokens used by different 'tribes' on Steemit (the Steem blockchain or what are called 'side-chains' on the Steem blockchain) and although I knew of the existence of said tokens I only had the foggiest of notions of what they actually are. After all my research (and cashing in my accumulated tokens) I have a better understanding of what they are even if a lot of the technical aspects about them still eludes my full comprehension. Suffice it to say that the Steem eco-system is much vaster than I previously thought and each time I think that I have things figured out I just find that there is more to learn!

Anyway one of my dogs had a pretty bad seizure early in the day (the one that got snake bit a few times as a puppy) and fortunately I was nearby when it occurred because she started having the seizure indoors (while I was shoveling up the dog poop from the dog yard) and just as I put the shovel away I saw her on the entrance ramp to the shelter where she was awkwardly laying on her side and obviously in the grip of a seizure. I got to her just in time to stop her from falling off the ramp which considering the drop and her state of physical distress she could have been severely injured had she fallen. I did the same thing that I always do which was just to gently pet her, tell her everything will be okay and that Daddy loves her (while watching to make sure she does not bite nor swallow her tongue) until the seizure passes which it eventually did.

After all that I spent much of the day just cuddling with her and of course the other dogs because if one of them gets attention they all want attention which is fine by me as long as they don't behave in a jealous fashion.

On a different note I have been feeling like I have not been getting enough done around here lately and all the bad weather days aside I think that part of me just wants to relax and actually enjoy the little shelter that I created because damn it has been so fucking long since I have actually been able to truly relax and just enjoy my life for an extended period of time. I am assuredly grappling with that one of late because the previous several years have left me quite accustomed to staying 'on guard' and only relaxing enough to 'take the edge off' so that I would not explode from compounded stress. Getting out of that mode is proving to be much more difficult than getting into it but as the days pass I think that I am gradually making progress and gaining some perspective on it all which is ultimately what is going to help me the most.

I am a mere week away from reaching my ninety day 'adjustment period' to a new place and although I have pushed myself really hard to get to the point that I am now I need to look at getting myself setup better especially in regards to having a place to store and prepare food and thus become a bit more self-sufficient in that regard. The folks here have thankfully been feeding me and stated that they can't feed me enough nor give me enough 'room and board' to make up for what I contribute to the homestead but nonetheless I would much rather get back to relying on myself for food because honestly my 'self sufficiency' has taken one hell of a nose dive since my arrival here.

Well that is about it for now and I am going to wrap this up and get it posted albeit belatedly! I hope that everyone is doing well and has a nice day/night.

Just a random Fall colors picture!

Day 84. (TFC Finishing The Metal Roofing On The Greenhouse, Making A Couple Of Fence Posts, Scouting For More Round Wood & Helping To Wrangle Some Construction Debris)

Today was one of those days that doing one thing lead to doing another thing and another and before I knew it I was way off the course of projects/tasks that had I set out to work on today. It was all assuredly things that needed to be done but none of it really added up to getting a lot accomplished.

Early in the day I worked on the greenhouse again and finally got the last of the roofing metal installed so I now have the entire area under the roof more or less ready for dry storage. I say 'more or less' because the roofing metal has holes and the building still lacks three walls to fully protect the interior from the elements. Getting the last pieces of roofing metal fastened on was really tricky (once again because of the drastic roof pitch) but I wound up getting the most difficult to reach areas (where I had to install screws) by tying a rope swing to the tall post on that end of the building and tossing the end (wooden seat) of the swing over the header and halfway down the roof which made it possible for me to put my feet on the wooden seat of the swing and not slide down the roof while I drove the screws in with a cordless drill.

Anyway after getting that done I got to thinking about how to do the walls on that end of the building (which I am thinking of doing with roofing metal) and decided that I needed to find some more pieces of round wood (logs or branches) to frame the walls with. All of which lead me to looking at what materials I already have on hand and how I really do not want to use any of my dwindling black locust supply on the project which meant I would need to scavenge around the woods and find some suitable material.

All of that lead me to making a few more fence posts from that same material I made the other ones with a few weeks ago and having the further realization that I would also need to scavenge around the woods for some fence post material as well.

So I wound up hiking around the woods a bit and seeing what I could find for useful material. One thing about hiking around the woods this time of year that makes things a bit easier is that a lot of the underbrush has died back and I do not have to concern myself with snakes especially when rolling logs around or inspecting fallen trees.

Although I found some 'okay' pieces of material for building with I failed to find any fence post material so I am going to have to do some more hiking around the place and see what I can find. Hopefully I can find some old black locust fence posts along the edge of the property where I previously removed the barb-wire from.

Anyway at some point after my hiking I helped get some construction debris bagged up from around the homestead proper (where a lot of improvements being done have generated a lot of construction debris) and then I road along with some of my fellow homesteaders to dispose of the 'trash' at one of the local waste transfer stations.

Well that is about it for now and I am going to wrap this up and plan on getting it posted in the morning because I am fading fast and should probably just go to sleep and call it a productive day. I hope that everyone is doing well and has a nice day/night.

The last of the metal roofing installed on the greenhouse.

Thanks for reading!

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Previous Fantastica chronicles:

The Fantastica Chronicles (Day 1-7)
https://steemit.com/writing/@jacobpeacock/the-fantastica-chronicles-day-1-7
The Fantastica Chronicles (Day 8-14)
https://steemit.com/homesteading/@jacobpeacock/the-fantastica-chronicles-day-8-14
The Fantastica Chronicles (Day 15-21)
https://steemit.com/diy/@jacobpeacock/the-fantastica-chronicles-day-15-21
The Fantastica Chronicles (Day 22-28)
https://steemit.com/homesteading/@jacobpeacock/the-fantastica-chronicles-day-22-28
The Fantastica Chronicles (Day 29-35)
https://steemit.com/homesteading/@jacobpeacock/the-fantastica-chronicles-day-29-35
The Fantastica Chronicles (Day 36-42)
https://steemit.com/homesteading/@jacobpeacock/the-fantastica-chronicles-day-36-42
The Fantastica Chronicles (Day 43-49)
https://steemit.com/homesteading/@jacobpeacock/the-fantastica-chronicles-day-43-49
The Fantastica Chronicles (Day 50-56)
https://steemit.com/homesteading/@jacobpeacock/the-fantastica-chronicles-day-50-56
The Fantastica Chronicles (Day 57-63)
https://steemit.com/homesteading/@jacobpeacock/the-fantastica-chronicles-day-57-63
The Fantastica Chronicles (Day 64-70)
https://steemit.com/homesteading/@jacobpeacock/the-fantastica-chronicles-day-64-70
The Fantastica Chronicles (Day 71-77
https://steemit.com/homesteading/@jacobpeacock/the-fantastica-chronicles-day-71-77

That Is All For Now!