Yesterday, I did a post on defending your home. One of our friends sent in a comment in regards to the article. I thought I’d share this with you today.

Gerry, is a good friend of ours, and he lives in Western Canada. He’s a great guy, and Deb and I love him to death.

Anyway, after reading Gerry’s comment, I felt I may have not clearly identified the true intent of this particular post. With that the case, I felt like I might want to do a follow-up this morning and try to clear up a little my true intention for the post yesterday.

Here’s Gerry’s comment…

Hi D @ D. read your column, I can’t Imagine living like you were saying but I suppose things are somewhat different in your country ,I can’t help but tell you this , I got up one morning and to let my doggy out and I’ll be darned the beck outside door had been open all night and the front door was unlocked all night and this is not the only time something like this has happened ,it happens mostly when I have company everybody is thinking that the other person will look after the doors.
God bless you both.

Gerry ole buddy, it’s not so much that we live like that, but it’s more of simply having a home protection plan in place. It’s much better to CONSIDER something such as this as a POSSIBILITY, and not so much as, “Man, this is gonna happen no doubt.”

In today’s world, there are a ton of people out there who have little to no regard for themselves, much less anyone else. Sad, but still true. Whether we accept this as fact is entirely up to the individual. Deb and I choose to accept it as fact, while the chances for our home being invaded may be a small one, BUT, the possibility still exists, and we treat it as just that…a possibility.

To us, it’s kinda like driving around all over the place, but not having a spare tire. The chances of you blowing out a tire may indeed be miniscule, BUT, it could happen. Once it does, how bright was it to not carry a spare?

The post yesterday was merely attempting to get people to stop and consider the possibility of their home being invaded, and to consider putting some type of plan in place…JUST in case. We shared our thoughts of if it happened to us, we at least had some type of plan in place, that’s all. Also, we feel it important to have done so.

Would we like to shoot an armed intruder? No, of course not, and we feel anyone in their right mind feels exactly as we do on the subject. BUT, would we shoot an armed intruder? You bet your bottom dollar we would! Deb included.

So once again, let me state that this is not how we’d like to live, but society itself is dictating to us, pretty clearly too, if you’ll just listen, how we live anymore. That is a fact.
Let me site you guy’s one example of what I’m talking about.

You all know we have a pretty good bunch of turkeys here on the place. We live in Central Florida, and this area was developed extensively during the housing boom…commercial buildings and housing went up everywhere.

We’re fortunate enough to have a place that is pretty much surrounded by State owned land, so we’re pretty secluded here first of all, and secondly, this insures wildlife drifting back and forth.
Today where we live this is pretty rare to see, wildlife outside your door. If they happen to get shot on State property, that’s fine, I have no problem with that at all. BUT…

Two weekends ago, on a Sunday at 12:00 noon, I was in the greenhouse watering some plants we’d re-potted into 6” pots. Deb was doing one of her soaks in regards to her cancer, which Deb’s doing great, by the way.

Anyway, I hear a 22 rifle go off and it sounded pretty close. I thought that someone may have just shot a turkey off our place, but then thought…naw.

Well, just a couple minutes later I heard it again…another shot, and I knew I’d better go check it out. So, I ran to the house, just hollered to Deb that I was going to check it out, and ran for the truck. The shots came from a spot on our property that there was no State property around us at all.

Actually it is a ten acre section that sits between two paved roads, and we own from road to road. It’s probably a quarter mile from State land.

I got to the truck, and Cheyenne loves to ride, so she was bitin at the bit to go. Well, sometimes she wants to go, but isn’t in any big hurry to get in. This was one of those times. I should have left her, but waited around another minute or so for her to get in.

That hesitation cost me. After her getting in, I took off for this particular pasture. We blew through the gap over a little dry creek bed into the pasture and just as we flew through the gap…I saw him!

The guy had shot a gobbler off a busy highway, got out, climbed our fence, walked out into the middle of the pasture, got the turkey, and was walking back off our place, nonchalantly. No Trespassing signs posted everywhere, yet he acted as if HE owned the place and it was I who was trespassing!

Well, by waiting on Cheyenne to get in the truck, he was already climbing our fence, headed back to his truck. He saw us barreling towards him, and took off to their truck, jumped into the back of the bed and laid down. The driver was waiting on him, but he had rolled up his window and I couldn’t see the driver because the windows were tinted. I was livid, screaming at the top of my lungs and they took off across traffic, ran a white car off the road, which in turn spun around and took off after them too. I’m guessing because they’d run the white car off the road.

So, by loading Cheyenne up, I missed the opportunity of catching the guy out in the middle of our pasture. If I could have come through even 15-20 seconds earlier, I’d have caught him, dead to rights, and held him until deputies arrived. This time though, they got away.

Here in Florida, armed trespassing is a very serious charge, and accountably so. Why? Because they’re on your property…ARMED!

When I went to check on it, was I armed? You betcha! Would I have shot? Only if he, or the driver intended on taking a shot at me.

Consider this. They were on our place, at 12:00 in the afternoon, had shot and killed a turkey in our pasture, with another road running parallel to the road they shot from, not 600-700 feet from where they shot from.

So, they actually shot across another highway with traffic on it. They then climbed our fence, walked out into our pasture, picked up the turkey, and until I came flying through the gap, he was acting as if once again, I was the trespasser. They then almost caused a wreck, almost a head-on mind you, getting back onto the road when they took off.

So, do you think they gave a hoot in he.. about poppin a cap in me? Probably not.

Once I got back to the house and told Deb, she stated, “No more are we ridin around our place WITHOUT a gun on us. Never again! If they had no more concern for what they’d just done, on a Sunday afternoon when most folks are home, then I feel there’s no way would they have hesitated in shooting one of us!” Again, sad but true.

But you know Gerry, one other important fact about yesterday’s post is this. The liberals in our Country today would like to see the citizens of our great Country unarmed. Sad, but true. Our Constitution clearly states that we have the RIGHT to keep and bear arms! Again, this IS our right.

We HAVE the right to protect our homes, our property, and our family. Once you give up your guns, you’ve given up your freedoms. It’s amazing to me today though just how fragile that right has become.

So, our article yesterday was once more to get people to stop and consider a plan for the protection of their own home. Deb and I by no means eat, sleep, and breathe this, or consider it very much at all. But, we still understand the possibility of it maybe, happening, and have plans in case of it becoming reality.

So, we prepare. Our home defense plan is no different than our planning for an emergency and having access to food and water. When the hurricanes of 2004 hit down here, we were without power for a total of about 30 days. No water.

So, we installed two pitcher pump wells. Now if we were to be without power…we still have water. Our economy is terrible, although our President states daily it’s improving. We put up some food, and are very glad we did. Food prices are soaring!

Through our food storage, we have food put away that was bought at a steal, when compared to today’s pricing. Deb paid $3.85 cents for a gallon of milk just yesterday.

Our juice supplies for Deb and I, which by the way have worked out fantastically in regards to her cancer, now cost us about 200 bucks a week. This figure has DOUBLED since we started this last year! So what’d we do, we’ve built a greenhouse to help offset this price! A plan!

We had a plan! Our guns are the very same…a plan. We love to shoot, target practice and enjoy doing so. But, in case of a situation of our home being broken into…they are part of a plan. That’s all.

Our Country today is faced by a shortage of jobs, inflation is looming, gas prices are soaring, food pricing is getting to the point that Deb and I don’t know how people with families are making do, and our government is spending money at record levels…in the worst economic times that I can remember.

This cannot continue to last. There HAS to be a breaking point. We have, at the last time I checked, over 42 million Americans on some type of government program. What happens if this money is cut off, which, by the way most of it should be, but that’s another topic entirely.

But once more, if these peoples aid are cut off, this indoctrination that what’s ours IS THEIRS, will lead to anarchy. It has too. They have become ENTITLED! So, when the aid quits coming, they’ll be finding other ways to get food, but in most cases it won’t be by looking for employment. Again, they believe that what’s yours… IS THEIRS!

So, because of all these variables, Deb and I do prepare for the worst, but hope for the best. We do set plans, and feel totally at ease about doing so. We hope there are many more doing exactly the same!

Well, that’s it for today guys, and to Gerry, we love you buddy! Take care, and God bless! As always, Deb wants me to close out by saying, “Keep a smile on your face, and one in your heart!”

Dub and Deb

Well, let’s change gears today somewhat. Let’s talk about protecting your home. I know, I know, this subject sparks many debates Nationwide, but I have to tell you, the liberal mindset of gun control and the arguments they present, just don’t seem to make much sense to Deb and I.

First off, if there ARE armed intruders in your home, then dialing 911 just doesn’t seem to comfort us in the least. Yes, 911 does have its place, BUT, it DOES NOT protect YOU, or YOUR family IF your home has been chosen as a mark by the criminal element.

Let’s get real here for just a second. If an armed intruder, or intruders enter your home, at night (daytime as well), one thing is completely obvious…they’re not stopping by to say hello, how are ya! If they have the balls (sorry, but nothing else seemed appropriate), to come forcibly into your home to rob you or worse, you can bet your bottom dollar they REALLY don’t want to leave any witnesses, right? You betcha I’m right!

So, with this in mind, AND intruders are already in your home, then simply dialing 911 doesn’t seem like the appropriate action to take. Again, it has its good side, and many of them as a matter of fact, but it doesn’t provide protection for you and your family at THAT moment. Your response, and your actions, both are in your hands…RIGHT THEN.

Yes, while you’ve prepared, or armed yourself to defend your home, and your own lives, you or your spouse CAN call 911 and have the police responding to your threat as well, but, I’m guessing the VERY best scenario, is them being able to get to your home in say, 4-5 minutes. It depends on their situation at the time as well.

Are they on another call, are their enough officers on duty, what if, God forbid, they’re involved in an accident in route? All these figure into a police response to armed intruders in your home. Think about that for a minute or two. Do you REALLY want to put you, and your family’s lives into everything just falling into a “perfect scenario” for the police to respond to your call? We’ve decided the answer to that question in our own regard is simply…NO, we surely don’t!

Too many times today gun control is declared, “THE ANSWER,” by our liberal counterparts. Not so says I. There is an old saying that is very appropriate at this point…if guns are outlawed, THEN, only outlaws WILL HAVE GUNS! Comprende?

Do any of you REALLY think that if our guns were taken from us, that the criminal element wouldn’t still have, or have access to guns? Gimme a break guys, if you believe no to be the correct answer here. If you do believe this, then you’ve already fallen into the trap. The trap being the proposed “Socialist Utopia” of this perfect, everybody loves everybody world. Please….

Let me say this quickly. Deb and I both were raised around guns. Our children were raised around guns, and our grandchildren are now being raised around guns. This IS our right as American citizens, no matter what ANYONE tries to tell you differently!

We all ARE law-abiding, hard-working, responsible, freedom loving, people. We like to hunt, fish, and enjoy shooting on the range. Shooting to us, is like any other sport you enjoy. Our kids and grandkids do as well.

To us, there’s not too many things we enjoy more than getting out on the range and plinking a few cans. You’re outdoors, in the sun and fresh air, and spending good quality time with just Deb and I, or our family and friends. To us, this is a way of life…

Now Deb and I are not, nor claim to be experts in gun training, nor have we taken any type of self-defense training classes, though for the most part we believe in them. Our experience and knowledge come from years of being around guns, handling guns, using guns, and taking care of our guns.

With this being the case, we’ll share today our thoughts on “protecting our home.”

If Possible, Defend on Ground of Your Own Choosing

In Deb and my minds, we believe full-heartedly that if broken into by armed intruders, our best bet is to defend our home…right in the confines of our bedroom. This has many advantages.

First off, you know the layout of your room. There are times this may not be the case, one example is simply sitting in your living room watching TV. Today, unlike in the past when people most times broke into your homes while you weren’t there, or, at least tried to break-in discreetly, by jimmying a window or door.

Not so today in many documented cases. Today they come to your home and literally kick your door in! Home invasion I believe is the correct terminology. Regardless of the terminology, it becomes instantly a life and death proposition.

Quickly, we both keep guns in hands reach after dark. We didn’t create this situation…society did. In our humble opinion, we feel it’s better to have a gun in close proximity and NOT need it, than to NOT have a gun handy, and REALLY need it. Kinda like changing the oil in your car…it’s a preventative maintenance in our opinion.

Secondly, you see on TV people going through their homes shining lights in an attempt to find the intruders…not us. We’ll wait on them…AND CALL 911! BUT, we’re for sure armed while waiting on a police response.

In our household, there’s only Deb and I at home, so if you have children you may want to have a game-plan in place IF you’re broken in to. Everybody’s situation may be a little different than others, but we strongly suggest you have a plan that’s AT LEAST been discussed in place…to suit your own needs.

We have what I guess could be described as layers of home defense. The first being our yard is fenced, and protected at night by Susie, our little yellow cur dog. Both are deterrents.

We also took out every screw that was in our doors frame. All were little 1/2 to ¾ inch wood screws. We replaced them, even the doors inside our home with 3 inch wood screws. Why? Strength! The screws imbedded deeper into the frame, or even catching studs, will give you far superior strength in case of someone attempting to forcibly enter your home.

Next, if you’re coming into our home uninvited, you will have to defeat our alarm system. Motion detection, along with entry detection, whether it be attempted door, or window entry. Yeah, occasionally you will have “false alarms” with your motion detector, but these are few and far between.

This has happened to us three times over the past 4 years. Each time, being a bug, believe it or not. A spider spinning a web in front of the detector, or possibly just a fly that happened to fly in front of it, have set off our motion detector in the past.

On each occasion, I did leave the sanctuary of our bedroom to check it out, but only after our alarm system company had called to check on Deb and I, which I have to say on each occasion, was actually very promptly!

When they’d call, Deb would stay on the line with them in our bedroom armed, while I, armed as well, would go check things out with Cheyenne, our red-nosed pit. All in all, I consider our alarm system a very important role in our home defense.

Once I had “cleared the house,” Deb would let them know we were fine, and they’d then get off the line. I have to give a shout out to ADT, our alarm company, because they have been outstanding in their service to us! Thanks ADT, you guys are great!

This brings us to Cheyenne. She is also a major player, just as Susie in defending our home. She stays in the bedroom with us, and is that other set of eyes and ears! Plus, her eyes and ears are so superior to ours as well.

This gives us two layers of protection from our dogs, inside and out. There are times that Susie barks while we’re in bed. We hear her, I mean she’s out there barking. There are so many critters runnin around out here at night, that Susie can hear or see, and her response…is to bark. Granted, and we understand that.

The point here is this though. Cheyenne hears her as well, and once more, much better than Deb or I. She also distinguishes much more so than we do, the type of bark Susie is emitting. So, if Cheyenne hears Susie barking a different sort of bark, she is aware of this, and alerts us.

Alerting us is our main reason for our dogs. We’re getting a little older, and maybe our hearing isn’t what it used to be, so, through our dogs, we can, and will be alerted. Plus, although both dogs are very good natured in regards to people, I just believe that both, if feeling that Deb and I are threatened, would probably go on the offensive against the threat as well.

Now, this brings us to the scenario that armed intruders have gotten past our fence, Susie, and gained access to our home. Whether or not they defeated our alarm system really has no bearing, because we still have Cheyenne’s eyes and ears to alert us, if all else failed. We believe she would not fail us in such a situation.

First off, we live on the second floor of our home, and by this, feel an entry from an upstairs window, or door out to our balcony, miniscule, but have taken precautions for such, regardless. Prepare…this is a key word in any type of home defense!

When we go to bed, we first lock our bedroom door, then slide TWO of the old style door stops underneath the door. You know the type, you slide them under the door, then kick em a couple times to insure strength.

We then put a metal door stop (kinda like a club on your steering wheel), for further protection. It goes under the door knob, then runs down to the floor. It is a metal bar that when installed nightly, gives your door more strength against being kicked in.

All of these can be removed in under 5 seconds if we had to leave the house for whatever reason…fire, etc.

Now for my main reason of protecting our home from our bedroom. IF, you had armed intruders in your home, no matter how many, if you’re defending from your bedroom, then numbers make absolutely NO difference!

Why you ask? First consider the statement, analyze it for a moment, then see if it becomes clear to you. Why, defend our home from our bedroom?

The doorway. It’s the only access the intruders will have to get to you…through the door. Whether there are 5-6 intruders, or only two…they HAVE to come through the door, right? So IF they have to come through the door, what does this mean? Simply, they can only come through…ONE AT A TIME!

Suddenly, the number of intruders has no bearing at all in the defense of your home. You see that now? They will have to gain entrance into your bedroom/stronghold singly! That’s just what your bedroom would be at that moment…your stronghold, and by this being the case, the odds of Deb and I, being injured or worse, has been reduced dramatically!

WE CAN, AND WOULD defend our home, but…on OUR TERMS! To get to us, you’d HAVE to come through that doorway…one at a time! So, we’d fight, but it would have been forced upon us. The moral here is simple, yet ironclad.

If at all possible, if forced to fight…then fight on your own ground of choice, and on your own terms! By this, you’ve turned the tables of POSSIBLY being successful in a fight, to PROBABLY being successful in such a fight!

By this, the odds of your survival have been increased many times over. In a life and death situation, you want to stack the odds just as highly in your favor as you can. It is…life or death.

A good point I’d like to add to this is a movie Deb and I just watched a few nights back. It re-enforces my belief in our bedroom being our stronghold, and your having to gain access to Deb and I through…the doorway.

It is called “300.” It is a story about a very inferior, in numbers, group of men from Sparta, facing a vastly superior number of Persians. Although in the movie, the men from Sparta were ultimately defeated, through betrayal, they held off the mass numbers of Persians against all odds.

How? By forcing the Persians to…come to them. Not only coming to them, but the ground they chose to fight on was of their own choosing as well!

The ground they defended was but a small gap. By this, they funneled the Persians into their trap, or into fighting once again, on their own ground, chosen for its defensive importance. This being a narrow gap, thereby the Persians were not able to unleash their hordes of vastly superior numbers, but were forced to try and enter the gap, or in our case doorway, to get to the defenders.

Numbers no longer mattered, because only so many could enter the gap, or killing zone, at a time.

I told Deb while watching this, “Now, do you see why I put so much importance into forcing armed intruders into our home having to COME through that doorway in order to get to us? Numbers all of a sudden, have hardly any, if at all, importance. We fight on ground of our own choosing.”

We hope today that you guys have taken something from this. This topic, though by no means one any of us enjoy talking about, has become a very pertinent topic today…home defense.

Again, Deb and I aren’t the cause of discussing this today, or even can we say we enjoy talking about it. BUT, in today’s world, this is a direction we’ve taken to defend our home and our family. This kind of discussion takes place simply…because of our society.

It is sad to feel we need to share this with you, but in today’s world people, you better at least consider this happening to you. You can’t pick up a paper, turn on the TV, or tune in on a radio without hearing of another example of someone being killed through violence.

As I stated earlier, it’s better to have a gun and NOT need it, versus NOT having a gun and suddenly finding that you are in desperate need of it. To Deb and I, this is a no-brainer.

We look forward to hearing back from you guys, pro or con, in regards to today’s post. This is how Deb and I intend on handling a bad situation, if forced upon us, and is not considered appropriate for all. We all have different circumstances.

We do hope though, that it will possibly awaken those who don’t have a plan, to at least consider one, from your own situation. All knowledge you guys have on this subject would be greatly appreciated, not just by Deb and I, but I’m sure everyone.

We wish you all the very best, and God Bless you and yours! Also, ole Deb say to keep a smile on your face, and one in your heart!

Dub and Deb

Well…the beds are in the greenhouse! At least I believe they are. As of now this is what we’ve decided on, BUT, you know me…this could change at any minute! For example…

We started out going to have 4 beds…there are now 3?? We were going to have 4 three foot bed widths, with two of them 50 feet long, and two 40 feet long. Not anymore! LOL!

We ended up having one three foot bed width, 50 feet long, one 5 foot width, 44 feet long, and one 4 foot bed width, 30 feet long. What made me change things around? I don’t know, just seemed like the thing to do? PLUS, it just aggravated ole Deb to no end! I love it!! LOL!

No, after getting in the greenhouse, and laying it out, it just made better sense to me, I know, I know, sense not being one of my stronger points… “GOOD sense, anyway!” So, we just fa-naggled things some. Is fanaggled even a word? If not…it is now!

Once I saw the 3 foot width of our first bed I got to thinkin, instead of havin 4 of these, why don’t we make just three beds, with the middle bein 5 foot wide, and the last bein 4 foot wide. You want to know my reasoning? You sure?

Okay then, by havin the middle bed 5 foot wide, we’ll have more room for the vegetables to grow off. Tomatoes come to mind as they are a larger plant. Although this is a wider bed, we do have a walkway on both sides of this particular row.

This bein the case, the walk on both sides allows us to set plants, work the soil, and harvest the veggies… from both sides. Ease of work, and we can reach the area from either side…only a 2-1/2 foot reach either way. So, to me, this made perfectly good sense. The “key words” here…to me. LOL!

But, this middle bed is where we’ll grow most of our tomatoes.

Now, the first bed we put in, the 3’x50’ is going to be used for mostly juice materials for us. Oh sure, we’ll eat them as well, but this will be insurin Deb plenty of juice vegetables. At this point in our lives, this is a priority.

We’ll be growin them ourselves, we’ll KNOW what has been put on them, they’ll be able to ripen on the vine to insure the good taste, and not harvested early to be shipped cross-country. It’ll be much more economical for us versus buying from the store, AND they’ll ALL be FRESH, right from the plant directly into our home!

We’ll still utilize our outdoor garden of course, but the greenhouse will allow us to grow more variety year round. This is JUST what the Doctor ordered…Dr. Deb! As usual, I’m stuck playin…second fiddle!

We also intended upon taking the existing soil down to a depth of 12 inches, then using 2×10’s as our containing wall, then filling this up with another 9-1/2 to 10 inches of good soil. This bein an average “good soil” depth of between 20 to 22 inches, but also utilizing some of the existing soil (maybe a third), along with the garden soil we’d be purchasing. WRONG!

Once more, if I decided to put in a fish farm…they drown! I don’t know what it is with me AND, my projects?? Somehow, someway, they just seem to…go over budget?? Sounds like the government, huh? Oh, BUT there is one BIG difference…it’s my dern money I’m spendin, NOT somebody else’s!!

Well, after digging the trench, removing the existin soil from the 3×50, takin a good look at the existing soil, which had a lot of rocks, blocks, and even glass, I decided to NOT use it. It made a great pad, but for gardening…it was the pits!

Live and learn, that’s my motto. Accordin to Deb though, in regards to my projects, she claims I’m doin an AWFUL lot of livin, but very little LEARNIN! To which I reply, “You know, you just might be on to something here, DEAR…how long we been married now??”

Once I say this I’ve learned to…DUCK!

Regardless of my not bein too bright in my “planning stages” of a project, it still is what it is. Cain’t stop now. So, once I realized I couldn’t, nor shouldn’t utilize ANY of the existing soil, I got to makin some changes pretty rapidly.

First off, bed number 2 and 3 immediately were excavated to a depth of 8 inches…not 12. Then, the use of 2×10’s became very quickly…2×6’s! LOL! If, I’d of continued with my original plan, we were “poor house” bound, NOW! So, being the “flexible guy” I am, we changed it around, but still used about 500 bags of material!

One reason for so many bags was we’d bought them out of the 2 cubic feet bags, and had to end up using 1 cubic foot bags. We mixed Miracle Grow Garden Soil along with Black Cow, I’m guessing about a 3 to 1 ratio.

We bought them out of the Miracle Grow Garden Soil, so in our last bed, we had to use Jungle Growth with the Black Cow. Honestly though, the store we bought the soil from did work with us pretty well, and worked with us on the price, which we appreciated very much.

I’ve got a video we’ll share with you guys today, that talks about the Jungle Growth Soil some. On the back of their bags is a picture of gorillas, and the need to save them. During the video I tell, and show this, but also add that if you guys buy any of the Jungle Growth for yourselves, you actually WON’T be savin the go-rillers…cause I already did!! LOL!

The last bed we built is a 4 footer in width, and this too allows a little more grow room for the plants, plus will still allow us to work the bed easily. This project is still learnin as we go, and I’m sure we’ll continue to tweak it from time to time. But eventually we’ll end up with a very nice greenhouse set up, that will wind up bein just what we anticipated it to be!

The 4 foot bed width as I mentioned earlier is only 30 feet long. This can allow us to grow some vegetables in front of this bed using bags or containers…just a thought we had. Also, we have to consider a few tables or benches to grow our seedlings off, storage, ect….

Once more, we’re still makin decisions on how best to do this, with the space available to us. Deb considers this on my part to be…dangerous! There she goes again! LOL!

Anyway, here’s the video… “We HAVE…Saved the Go-rillers!”

Well, this will bout wind us down for today, and we thank ya’ll for visitin with us once again! You guys are great! God Bless you and yours, and as Deb says, “Keep a smile on your face, and one in your heart!”

Dub and Deb

Rain…might have a shot at some the next few days. The percentages aren’t anything to write home about, only 20 and 30 percent chance, with a 50 percenter thrown in for good measure towards weeks end, BUT, it sure beats the chances we’d been havin!

We’ve been busy lately my friends as we’re preppin the garden and movin along with the greenhouse as well. Today we’ll try and get our lettuce, Romaine, Iceberg, and gonna try some Black-Seeded Simpson too…whatever that is! LOL! We’ll also be plantin some cauliflower.

We’ll be putting in some broccoli and cabbage once again. The cold got our first batch of these last two, so we’ll be using the age old adage…if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. LOL! Though it wasn’t all that funny while we were takin the little muthas up after the freeze!

Then, between the 10th and 20th, we’ll be plantin our onion sets, and potatoes. The potatoes though, might end up bein a problem?? Our supplier just got a batch of sets in…ALL rotten! So, I guess we’ll try and run some down in another couple spots…we’ll see.

But, like all things, gardening is not any different, you win some…you lose some!

The greenhouse. We’ll finish one bed today it looks like, in between plantin those few rows in the garden…in between rain showers! At least that’s what we’re hopin. We’ll get the bed finished for sure, but it’s the rain “we’re hopin for!”

We trenched our bed down 10 inches deep and 3 feet wide. This bed will be 50 feet long. We be filling it with Black Cow and a bagged garden soil, along with utilizing some of the soil we excavated from the trench as well.

Once we backfill the trench, we’ll literally make raised beds…we’ll probably be usin 2×6 lumber for them. We were goin to use 2×10’s…TILL I priced the dern soil at Lowes!! This will still give us 16 inches of good loose soil for the plants to root and grow in!

The existing soil actually isn’t very bad, but we’ll build a “screen box” out of 2×4’s with the bottom made out of hardware cloth, to shovel the dirt back into, catchin anything that doesn’t need to be in it. This on account we see a few rocks, AND some broken glass, but only just a very little. I sure don’t want to be digging around in there by hand and run up on a dern piece of glass!

I gotta tell you guys, this greenhouse is getting ole Deb and I excited. We know we’re goin to really enjoy this thing immensely! The bed we’ll be workin on today is actually goin to be our “juice bed,” or the one we’ll utilize for much of our juicing material.

Most know that Deb and I juice 20-25 different fresh vegetables and fruit each morning, and it is workin out well for both of us. Deb feels and looks great, and it’s such a shot of nutrition each morning…we love it, AND wonder why in the world we hadn’t started it before we did??

In all honesty, we believe EVEYONE should start juicing. Not to the extent we do maybe, but just to get some of “the goody” it provides for you! We’re total believers in it anymore!

You know, Deb and I are getting on up in age, I’ll be 27 next go around, and ole Deb is just a tad older than I am, (not really, but it makes for a better story! Anyway, with my bein “SO much younger” than her, on our first anniversary she took me down to…Toys Are Us!

Seriously though, we are getting a LITTLE age on us, but my point with this is simply we’re kinda set in our ways. Gardening being no exception. I’ve always believed that…tomatoes ARE GREEN, okra IS GREEN, etc., etc., etc…

Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds showed us that this just isn’t the case, and you know, we JUST might be missin out on some dern good vittles! So when we put our order in, we shucked off “our blinders,” and ventured out into…the real world! LOL!

Let’s take a look at our order…

Bull’s Blood Beet (we needed to try the Golden Beets but forgot to order them. Our great friends, Judi and Brian of the CFP rave about them!)

Japanese Long Cucumber

Florida Market Eggplant, Listada De Gandia Eggplant, and Ukrainian Beauty eggplant (they were out of the regular Black Beauty)

Fife Creek Cowhorn Okra, Burgandy Okra, and we still have plenty of Clemson Spineless from last year.

He Shi Ko Bunching Onion, and Crimson Forest Bunching Onion

Anaheim Pepper, Corne De Chevre Pepper, Corbaci Pepper, Tequila Sunrise Pepper, Sigaretta De Bergamo Pepper, Sweet Chocolate Pepper, Emerald Giant Pepper

Pink Beauty Radish

Beefsteak Tomato, Rutgers Tomato, Homestead Tomato, Fox Cherry Tomato, Riesentraube Tomato, Mini Orange Tomato, Green Pineapple Tomato, Isis Cherry Tomato, Black Cherry Tomato

Jubilee Watermelon, Sugar Baby Watermelon, Georgia Rattlesnake Watermelon, Honey Rock Melon

Lettuce Leaf Basil, and Lemon Basil.

We’ll be ordering more herbs in the next week or so, BUT, we’ve got our work cut out for us anyway.

Once more, checkout this seed company. I know most of you guys already have, but for the ones who haven’t…you don’t know what you’re missin!

Well, we’ll be closing out for today, but before we do, I’d like to share a video with ya’ll. It’s just showin our garden durin our preppin stage, with a little on the greenhouse.

You guys can also see ole Deb…she’s GOT HAIR!! YES, she does! Her hair has ALWAYS been straight as a dern board, but since comin back in from when the ONE chemo treatment knocked it all off…it’s curly as it can be! Looks like she stuck her finger in a dern light socket!

Naw, I’m only pickin at her, but in all sincerity, I’m glad it’s comin on back, and boy, she is too! She hasn’t wore an ole wig in a couple weeks now. Ole Deb is BACK!

We hope all you guys have a great day, and God Bless you and yours! Deb stuck her head in the door and says to keep a smile on your face, and one in your heart!

Hugs from Central Florida…

Dub and Deb

Man, it’s been windy here the last couple days, and it’s sure dryin things out…in a hurry! We’ve got a 30% chance of rain today, but maybe we’ll catch some. We could use it, but it doesn’t look promising.

Our garden finally got the last bit of cow manure yesterday. While Corey and Elmo were haulin poop (they tell me they sure take a lot of crap off this job), I was grindin oak leaves and getting them in piles to spread over the manure. We’ll then spread 2 to 3 bales of hay over this, and then till it all into the existing soil.

I’ve got until Feb. 8th, to have our broccoli and cabbage set out again, the first sets were JUST beginning to produce and BAM, 24 degrees one night, followed by a 27 the following night. Knocked those suckers for a loop, so we gave em to the cows.

We’ll now replant them, probably a row of each, then we’ll split a row of cauliflower and lettuce. Our rows are hundred footers. We have to have the lettuce and cauliflower in by the 7th. We always plant by the almanac, and these dates are moon favorable.

Then we’ll set potatoes, and our planting slot for them, is between the 10th, and the 20th. We’ll put in a row of onions, and they’re planted the same time as the potatoes. Again, these are the moon favorable dates. That’ll give us a good start in our “kinda spring garden.”

Gonna have to tune-up my weedin and pickin machine. It’s a two-in-one combo, and it’s “set-up” all winter. So I’ll have to get her out and run her some the next week or so…blow the cobwebs out, you know. The dern thing’s about 50 years old, maybe a little older, but I’ve never seen a brand name on it?? It does have the initials, D.E.B., though! LOL!

These first three pictures of the manure we’ve been putting on the garden. The fourth is a pile of oak leaves we ground up with the little mower, and we got piles scattered all over the dern place! We’ll put these in a thin layer over the manure. This will be followed by a thin layer of hay, then as I explained earlier, we’ll till this into the existing soil.

Now our greenhouse is still a work in progress, and we should have the outside all buttoned up by weeks end. We can start the beds anytime, it’s just workin them in, and we have been busy around here the last month or so.

What we’ve kinda got in our minds is to have four, three foot wide beds, with two foot walkways between each bed. The greenhouse is 18 feet wide by 60 feet in length. So this will work out as having 2 of the beds 50 feet long, and 2 beds 40 feet long. You can get a lot of veggies growin in that “mutha!”

Our intent is to dig out, and remove the existing soil of each bed to a depth of 12 to 14 inches. We’ll then fill the beds back in with good potting soil, mixed with peat. We’ll then use fiberglass panels like on the outside walls of the greenhouse, cut in 8-10 inch strips, and use these as the perimeter walls for the raised beds, or trenched beds.

By doin this, we’re HOPING that using rebar as braces for the fiberglass, and stakes every so often that we can screw through the fiberglass and lock them into place onto the stakes will to help strengthen them. We’ll soon see.

We’re also hopin that by usin the fiberglass panels as our retaining wall, it’ll last a LONG time too, plus be cost effective. If this works out, we’ll have the really good soil mix to a depth of around 18 to 20 inches. This would be plenty.

I’m goin to share a video of our good friend Bobby. You guys have seen Bobby’s video’s on here before, but this one shows kinda what we’ll be doin, as far as the beds bein built, in our greenhouse. The only difference I see is that our beds will all be 3 feet wide, and 40 to 50 feet long.

This could change though as Deb and I are fixing to be in our, “trial and error stage, but we’ll eventually get it figured out where…”it works for us!”

The first picture below is the inside of our greenhouse. This was taken for you to envision the four three foot beds we’ll have in it. Again, there’ll be a two foot walkway between each bed.

The next two pictures are of the volunteer tomato plants that volunteered out of our compost pile. Deb and I add our daily juice pulp from our juicing to the pile. Well, we were surprised to see that these guys germinated, so we planted them. They’ll be goin in the greenhouse as juice tomatoes…and I might just have to taste sample those boogers!

They are out of hybrid plants, Big Boy’s and Better Boys, so I’m not sure what type of characteristics these will have, how they’ll produce, or taste, BUT…they’re tomatoes!

The last two pictures are of a white eggplant, and a cherry tomato ole Cuz gave us. Cuz bein one in the same that catered our food for Deb’s party a while back.

Take a look at Bobby’s new greenhouse and its setup.

Boy…doesn’t that look nice? Bobby’s a dern “workin Trojan,” and we feel very fortunate to have him as “our friend.” Great guy, great Christian, and great family man…and a great gardener! To me, Bobby is…da man! Thanks for all your input my friend!

Here’s another video from a friend of ours out in Texas, ole Tim. Tim’s just showing everybody an update on his seedlings, his chickens, and what he has in his garden still, plus what he’ll be doin a little later.

Doesn’t Tim sound like a great guy? Deb and I really like watchin Tim’s videos, and you can just tell by his voice that he really enjoys getting outside and workin his garden.

Deb and I got a kick out of his chickens names, especially ole Red. We both looked at each other and declared, “Dern, Tim’s named a chicken after our youngest son… “ole Red!” LOL!!

Anyway guys, for those who don’t garden, or for some reason don’t anymore, shoot, get ya some seeds and put them in the ground. It is a lot of fun, and the rewards of watchin those little guys pop outta the ground, start growin off, and then producing…man, Deb and I just enjoy the fire out of it!

On top of that, good night a livin, the fresh vegetables you’re supplied with are just SOOOO good! You can’t even begin to compare YOUR fresh vegetables with store bought. And for those of you with children still at home, plant NOW while you still have “forced Labor!!” LOL!!

No seriously, you guys might just be amazed at how those little guys and gals take to it! I know Shelby Lynn would rather be out in the garden piddlin around with her Nana and Poppa, than eat! That little girl just loves to be out in the garden, but actually outside doin anything rather than bein cooped up inside jackin with a dern video game!

She’s got ole Deb and I right where she wants us…wrapped around that little finger of hers! The good Lord knew what he was doin when he blessed us all with grandchildren, did he not? Plus, as I’ve said a dozen times before, our grandchildren and us both have the same common enemy…their parents and our children!! LOL!

Now, before we close for the day, let’s hear from our good friend Roger once more. Bein as Deb and I, plus so many other of you guys are from the South, we understand that our Northern, but in reality “Yankee friends,” enjoy pickin at us…bein rednecks.

Many times they feel it is a “cut,” but in reality we enjoy bein hung with the handle, redneck. Here’s one such example…LOL!!

His name was Bubba…He was from Mississippi, and he needed a loan, so…….he walked into a bank in New York City and asked for the loan officer. He told the loan officer that he was going to Paris for an International Redneck festival for two weeks and needed to borrow $5,000 and that he was not a depositor of the bank.

The bank officer told him that the bank would need some form of security for the loan, so the Redneck handed over the keys to a new Ferrari. The car was parked on the street in front of the bank. The Redneck produced the title and everything checked out. The loan officer agreed to hold the car as collateral for the loan and apologized for having to charge 12% interest.

Later, the bank’s president and its officers all enjoyed a good laugh at the Redneck from the south for using a $250,000 Ferrari as collateral for a $5,000 loan. An employee of the bank then drove the Ferrari into the bank’s private underground garage and parked it.

Two weeks later, the Redneck returned, repaid the $5,000 and the interest of $23.07. The loan officer said, “Sir, we are very happy to have had your business, and this transaction has worked out very nicely, but we are a little puzzled. While you were away, we checked you out on Dunn & Bradstreet and found that you are a Distinguished Alumni from Ole Miss University, a highly sophisticated investor and Multi-Millionaire with real estate and financial interests all over the world. Your investments include a large number of wind turbines around Sweetwater, Texas. What puzzles us is, why would you bother to borrow $5,000?”

The good ‘ole boy replied, “Where else in New York City can I park my car for two weeks for only $23.07 and expect it to be there when I return?”

You guys have a great day, and God Bless! Deb’s a hollerin for me to be sure and tell you guys to keep a smile on your face, and one in your heart!

Dub and Deb

Well, first off, we had a new addition to the clan Friday. We have a cow here on the place, “Horny,” that had a new calf. Also, her name designates what’s up on top of her head, and not her disposition. LOL!

What’s so shocking is that we’ve had these cows over two years now, and it’s her first calf, and she’s just had it. She was headed to the sale-barn, simply because we thought she wouldn’t have us a calf. She was always big and pretty, actually one of the better cows we have, looks wise, but I thought it because she was never with calf.

This was the reason for her headed to the sale-barn down the road shortly. She was eatin grass, but not giving us back anything. I know, I know, there’ll be some people out there that think, oh my, that’s sounds cruel. BUT, let me put that in a different perspective.

How long ya reckon ole Deb would keep layin out the feedbag for me, IF…ole Dub wasn’t producing?? I guarantee you…not long!! So, see what I mean?

By this she always stayed really healthy and I just thought the reasoning for this was that she had no calf to pull her down. Lo and behold, we look out and dern what a pretty little black calf with a little white face. She did good!

When we bought these cows, it was one of those, hurry up and get em here deals! The county was going to take my Ag-Exempt, so we needed some cows…NOW! We wanted to put some cows on the place anyway, but just a little sooner than we’d planned, as we had fence issues.

So, we got a mixed bag. Good cows, a couple old cows, and we have two more that have never calved, so probably a barren cow or two.

But, we were happy, and now that we’re getting calves off them, we’ll start improving our “herd.” This, by keeping our good heifer calves, and working through the Mama’s. As we keep these young heifers comin on, we’ll get rid of others that need to be culled. It’s an ongoing process.

Shoot, once I get where I ain’t producing, I can see Deb cullin me pretty dern quick!

The greenhouse…

Well, we did get a little more done on it Saturday, but we set no speed records in doing so. First off, we had to taper off every joint, bolt, and anything at all that may have snagged the plastic while pulling the roof over it.

So, we took duct tape and wrapped all these potential hazards with three wraps each. I was kinda shocked at the time this took, but, we did take our time, looked hard, and we believe we’ve got it ready for plastic when that step comes.

We ran our 2×6 boards down the sides to anchor our fiberglass to, and used the closure strips to seal off anywhere air could come in. We’re also running 2×6’s on each end. We were going to use plastic on the ends as well, but I decided I’d rather go with the fiberglass. So doing this, we need the 2×6’s on each end as stringers to attach the fiberglass to. Each end will also have a 7’ sliding door. The greenhouse is 18’x 60’.

Today will be the last day we work on the greenhouse until after Deb’s shindig, Saturday. We still have to pressure wash the house, porch, and slab, so that’ll be a day and a half or so. Then Wed. I have meetings most of the day, and then Thursday we’ll turn back into the “honey-do” mode.

This being cleaning carpets, OH JOY, and in general takin Friday to prep for the cookout. Then Saturday, we’ll let her rip, tater chip!

I’m so thankful for all our friends that’ll be attending this with us. Everyone has been so helpful to Deb and I since her ordeal began. All you guys have been outstanding too! Thanks from the bottom of our hearts! You guys are great!

To be honest, we’re both really lookin forward to getting the greenhouse set up, and getting started with our seed germination, and getting those little fellers growin off. Can’t wait! This will be such a learning experience for Deb and I, and give us some very good topics by doing so.

I’m here to tell you, that this will be good for us all. By us trying to figure out the best way for us to produce good, fresh vegetables under roof, you guys will surely see some really good tips, and info, on how…NOT to do things! LOL!

Also, you guys out there that have experience in growin under roof, please don’t hesitate to chime in and share your knowledge with us. Save us “the pain,” so to speak! LOL!

We’ll be learning different mixes to add to our soil to enrich it, and give our plants the best possible chance of producing to the best of their ability. This is really going to be a challenge, but a ton of fun along the way! Deb and I are up to it…bitin at the bit, actually!

So you guys are all invited on this ride we’re fixin to climb up on. Again, feel free to chunk in any info you have, and shoot, when we mess up, give us a shout and cut the fool with us over our blunders.
In all seriousness though, I’d like to say thanks to our Good Lord for blessing Deb and I in so many ways. She’s doing so well in regards to her little ordeal, and this was not possible without him!

Our children and grandchildren are all healthy, and so far, are showing signs of having…good sense in their decision making. We’re proud of all them. Our business has weathered through this economy so far, sluggishly at many times, but we’re still plodding along.

Our having the ability to find, and purchase this greenhouse, and keep it mind we found it used. We could not have purchased it new, I’m sure. This is all because of our good friend…Bill Cook. The guy is one of our best friends, and once he found out about our juicing we do daily, and the cost of doing so, that scoundrel went to lookin around for us, and it wasn’t long before he went to hollerin, “I got ya’ll one!”

Thanks Bill!

Finally, one of the biggest blessings the Good Lord has provided us with is…you guys! All jokes aside, this is so true. The love you guys have showered on Deb and I both, has literally been overwhelming to us! What good, good people you guys are! Thank you all, and praise God, for ya’ll!

Well, we’ll close today with a couple videos for ya’ll. The first is a little update on the greenhouse. We actually did more than you can see in this video, but without bein here to see firsthand, you don’t realize it.

The second was kinda special. We’ve been doin these videos on YouTube for a while now. In the last couple weeks we went over the 100 subscribers mark. These are the people who liked our channel enough to subscribe to Deb and I.

I believe this to be over 120 now, and I think our videos have been viewed over 9,100 times??? Good night a livin…it’s hard to believe people find Deb and I…interestin?? Go figure.

Anyway the second video is of me givin a shout out to the viewers and thanking them for thinking enough of our channel to come and watch us. It also was the first time I’d shown my face, this to show them the face…behind the voice, and my, my, what a pretty face it is, huh? LOL!!

Truth be told, there ain’t no tellin how many we lose now, after them seein me!! The ones that keep watchin now have got to be designated as…”true friends” for sure!! LOL!!

Now before I forget, there are two more people we’ve GOT to thank! Judi (HEY Good Lookin…What cha got cookin), and Brian ,who after talkin with me extensively, wanted me to name our website…imadumee, of the Canada Free Press! You guys thought I was gonna forget to mention ya’ll this morning, didn’t ya?

I seen ole Judi’s face getting RED readin this, this morning, and ole Brian goin, “that dumb redneck…” Naw, I’m just pickin at you two…can you imagine such, BUT, I been “in trainin” for quite some time now. Lol!

Seriously, without Judi, Brian, and The Canada Free Press, Deb and I would have met none of you guys. It wouldn’t have happened, because, never in a million years would we have thought ANYONE would want to hear anything we had to say! LOL!

So Judi, Brian, and the CFP, thank ya’ll so much. This has been wonderful, and through you guys workin with us, you opened up a door for us, and we just can’t believe the great people who invite us to come into their home, and visit with us awhile! Thank you to each and every one of you guys!

You guys might wanna “look out” for this next video…ole Bubba gets a shout out as well…Bubba AND the gorilla that is… LOL!

You guys have a great day, and God Bless! Deb says for ya’ll to keep a smile on your face, and one in your heart!

Dub and Deb

You know, we’ve met so many people through our site, and by doing the You Tube videos we’ve made even more. We’re sharing a few more of these in the hopes that they may inspire you to plant a garden, or if nothing else, maybe even just planting a “few hills” of different vegetables.

The taste, fresh outta the garden, is hands down much better than you could ever get out of the grocery store. For those who don’t garden, you don’t have to have 3-4 acres, but your own backyard can produce all kinds of goodies for you.

Better yet, it’s something the kids may end up loving to help you with. You’d be amazed at the number of those little guys who would show interest if you’d only spend a few minutes each day with them. They too, are intrigued by watching the little plants pop up outta the ground.

Then they can see how each plant produces their own vegetables. This just astounds are granddaughter Shelby Lynn, and once they start coming in, she HAS to help you pick them. That little girl loves to be out in the garden, and boy this sure allows Deb and I to spend some good, sound, quality time with her.

She’ll be one who will enjoy us passing down to her some of the things Deb and I do, like home canning, or even how you cook each meal. I’m telling you, that girl just loves being out like that. She’s attentive and it shows how well she likes to piddle in this way.

But again, let’s get back to some videos. These friends of ours all like to garden, and it’s obvious. They have some much to share, and the best part is…they want to share with you. Once again, Deb and I are so glad of the opportunity Judi, Brian, and the Canada Free Press provided for us! It’s been really enjoyable!

Our first three videos today come from a couple friends out in Texas. They have nice gardens always, and it’s obvious they love messin around in their garden.

They’ll be showing how to make green tomato relish. They picked their green tomatoes in front of a hard freeze they had coming, so…better safe than sorry! Also, it looks as if ole Tim just might be…Chef Tim!

Look out buddy! If your wife is anything like ole Deb, you just might not want to show her just how much you CAN DO around the dern kitchen! LOL!! Good job Tim! Plus…we love your background music!

Doesn’t the relish look great? I tell you, if you have some room, the home canning products look so good to us in the jars. The colors are beautiful! The ability to share is so tremendous anymore! It just amazes Deb and I the info that’s out there…right at your fingertips!

The second video from Tim and his wife is giving you a heads up. We all know what kind of tough economic times we’re going through. With this being the case, we all are looking for ways to pinch a penny.

Today Tim and the “Boss lady” are showing you how to make your own laundry soap. According to Tim the cost per load when doing your laundry is a staggering…1-1/2 cents, again, PER LOAD!

Check them out…

Doesn’t their shed with the Dr. Pepper sign look great? Those chairs on the porch were almost hollerin out…Dub, oh Dub, don’t you want to come and sit a while? LOL!

The next video from Tim today is from right before Thanksgiving. He’s sitting out by a small fire sharing some of the things he’s thankful for.

Tim’s a great guy, and I felt you’d all like to hear what he has to say! He too talks about the great opportunity that You Tube presents for us all. It is a tremendous sharing experience! He also shares what’s going on in their garden this fall.

They’re having good success with the fall garden, but as Tim mentions, this summer was disastrous on account of drought! We’re glad to see things are better now!

Great video, huh? We think a lot of Tim, and he does a good job in regards to his videos!

Let’s close out today with a few more. I was going to share a couple of more friends videos, but I believe I’ll finish it up with Tim.

This next one is picking and canning some Jalapenos. There’s a freeze coming so he’s picking as much as they can from their garden. They also make some Jalapeno, carrot, and onion relish.

This next video we’ll be putting up of Tim’s today is showing his chickens cleaning up his garden some. This too is something Deb and I have to do, is get some chickens. We’ve got our coop built, but have yet to put the fence up. Sometime in the near future…

The thing I like so much about the video sharing with all our friends is that it’s shown to you…via video. This to me makes it so much simpler to understand, and breaks it down for the simpler minded folks…meaning, ME!

I get so much more out of something if I can watch the process while someone explains it at the same time. Again, this is such a great way to share knowledge!

Our last video is of Tim is showing something that they lacked plenty of this year…RAIN! It had been 51 days since their previous rainfall! So, don’t you know those guys were ecstatic over this!

Well, we hoped you enjoyed Tim’s videos, and we’ll start sharing more of these as they come our way. We enjoy them and I believe you guys , like Deb and I, will find them very entertaining, and helpful too.

We’ll start putting up other’s videos as well, and dern if we might notall learn a thing or two before it’s over with!

Before closing out, our buddy Roger sent us another joke. He claims this to be the FIRST Christmas joke of 2011. Whether or not that’s really the case, Deb and I both got tickled over this one!

Three good ole boys died on Christmas Eve and were met by Saint Peter at the pearly gates.

‘In honor of this holy season’ Saint Peter said, ‘You must each possess something that symbolizes Christmas to get into heaven.’

The cowboy from Texas fumbled through his pockets and pulled out a lighter. He flicked it on. ‘It represents a candle’, he said.

‘You may pass through the pearly gates’ Saint Peter said.

The logger from Minnesota reached into his pocket and pulled out a set of keys. He shook them and said, ‘They’re bells.’

Saint Peter said ‘You may pass through the pearly gates’.

The old Nebraska farmer started searching desperately through his pockets and finally pulled out a pair of women’s panties.

St. Peter looked at the man with a raised eyebrow and asked, ‘And just what do those symbolize?’

The Husker replied, ‘These are Carols.’

You guys have a great day and God Bless! Also, as Deb advises…keep a smile on your face, and one in your heart!

Dub and Debbie

Well, let’s talk about what we’ve been up to this past week.

First off, we had a nice little surprise. Deb and I went out to the compost pile, and good night, at the little tomato plants. They are all volunteers, and they’ve shot up like weeds. We guess they’ve popped up from our juice scraps each day is the only thing we can figure.

So, yesterday Deb and I got out 10 5-gallon buckets, drilled holes in the bottom for them to drain good, and set those baby’s! That gives us 11 total as my Cuz had dropped us off a plant a little while back. He gave us a cherry tomato, which actually had 2 other plants, a nice bucket with basil, and a white eggplant.

We’ve never tried the white eggplant before so I’m looking forward to tasting one of those guys! The basil’s growing leaps and bounds, and we’ll be freezing some of this next week.

We didn’t know how to freeze it, but watched one of Diane Mumm’s video of her technique, and “a light came on!” Deb was like, “How simple is that?” So we’ll put her video up of how she does this.

Diane’s video of her pentas, we put up in our last post, and Diane does a great job with all her video’s. She’s a really nice lady and is a help to all who visit her video channel. She’s very knowledgeable, very informative, and as she likes to say…”is hands on.”

When you have people like Diane out there sharing her knowledge, this makes life so much easier for the rest of us. Check her out…

We love the way she froze it in ice cube trays, dumped them out, placed the frozen basil cubes in a ziplock bag, and there you go. You doing a roast…drop a couple “basil cubes” in the pot!

We might even do this today…I’m kinda lookin for something to get ole Deb busy on today anyway!! LOL! My theory behind this is simple. If you guys (meaning you menfolk at the moment), let your wives have too much idle time, lookout! This merely allows them more time to figure you out some… “honey-do’s!”

So, if possible, you want to line them out first, or, beat em to the punch! Live and learn guys…I have!

Since we started our You Tube channel, just like our website, the people we’ve met are all outstanding. They’re all so willing to take the time and answer questions, share their knowledge, and basically try to get you on the right track in regards to your own endeavors.

Networking today, although I have to admit Deb and I both are dinosaurs in this regard, is so handy, and with the touch of a finger you can link up to basically anything you can put your mind to. We’re learning though, just not very quickly, so hang in there, eventually we’ll get the knack for some of this “networking” I’m speaking of.

Diane is by no means the only one, there’s literally hundreds, if not thousands out there like her, but she does have a really nice channel, and people are lovin it!

As we go along, we’ll share more and more of these, because sharing is probably the main reason for our site, and we’ll be passing more and more of our other friends videos and knowledge as well along to you guys!

I have told you earlier that our greenhouse startup has been delayed, probably, or more like HOPEFULLY, the week after Christmas. The main reason is that our work has taken off here at years end, although this time of the year really, no one wants us on their parking lots on account of customer interference.

You see, these malls are in their busiest time of the year as you all know. So this, along with our economy in such bad shape, I guess you’d have to consider, at least from these retail stores point of view, it’s their “make it, or break it, time period!”

Thus, if they can help it, they want no interference for ANY customer traffic, and we understand this. But we lucked out, and are making a little money that we normally don’t see coming in during this Thanksgiving through the New Year time frame.

By this, it makes not being able to get the greenhouse started not quite so disappointing, but I can still say that in reality we ARE bitin at the bit to get that mutha started! Patience Dub, patience…
Our garden is still chugging along, although in the next day or two we’ll be pullin up our okra, and feeding it to the cows. That stuff produced like a banshee, and we couldn’t have been more proud of what it produced for us. It did really, really well.

Boy the cows love it when a crop goes out, because they get it, whatever it may be…especially this time of the year. The grass has stopped growing pretty much, and they’ve began to drift out of our pastures, and getting out into the swampy areas, or heavily wooded areas.

Once the grass stops growing, we supplement heavily with range mineral, and this causes them to hunt roughage number one, and also supply’s them with the nutrients they need, but no longer get from the grass.

The mineral is also a little hot, so this makes them forage and eat many things they don’t normally eat during the spring and summer. These include tree leaves, palmettos, gall berry bushes, and cabbage palm fronds.

So, they’re just like we are…I ain’t got food on the table at my house, then shoot, I start looking other places, and they do the same. But the cows eat good here, we’re already putting out hay, just not heavy at this point. As the grass continues to go back, we begin to supplement them more and more.

Deb and I are both firm believers in the fact that if you have animals…feed em! Far too many times we see cows, horses, even dogs and cats that aren’t kept up as good as they should be, and we just don’t understand the reasoning behind such behavior?? Anyway…

Our mustard greens are coverin us up, and I don’t know how many bunches we’ve given away. They’re just now starting to come into their own, and I’m sure we’ll make a few families happy during this next week by droppin off a few more bunches for them to have during Christmas dinner.

I love those dern things and will eat em for breakfast from time to time…warmed up with a slice of cornbread and some of my Mama’s chili sauce. Wheaties cereal has already claimed the title of, but to me…greens, cornbread, and chili sauce are the real…”Breakfast of Champions!” LOL!

You know, we were talking about transplanting our tomato plants, and I know most of you already know, but for those who don’t, you can plant these in 5-gallon buckets and they’ll do well…even in winter. You just have to set them on your porch, or cover them during the cold nights. But they will keep you in some good, vine-ripe tomatoes in times you normally don’t have them.

Our broccoli and cabbage are starting to grow off now too. We don’t have any heads on either yet, but we’ll be seein them anytime now.

Also the orange season has started, and by this, it allows us to add oranges, grapefruit and tangerines to the juice Deb prepares for us each morning. This to me, really, really helps out the taste. We’re to the point anymore that our juice tastes good to us regardless, but again, to me this makes it much more flavorful, plus we’re getting mega doses of Vitamin C through their addition to our juice.

On top of this, I peeled probably 25 oranges, maybe 8 grapefruit, ruby red mind you, and probably a dozen tangerines. We then took out the seeds, cut them up in bite size pieces, added two jars of cherries, refrigerated this, and man…what a delicious fruit salad. We’ll eat what we made I’m sure for the rest of this coming week.

Well guys, that’ll bout do it for today, and we’ll close it out by wishing you all a Merry Christmas! God Bless you and yours, and Deb says to holler out to ya’ll to keep a smile on your face, and one in your heart!

Dub and Deb

The last time we talked, we were discussing the downturn of our economy, and the steps Deb and I decided to take on this account. We told of our oldest son Josh, and his family, and how their income had decreased from slowdown of their workplace along with Shelly having Gavin and being home with him.

But, by those guys having the foresight to recognize the slowdown of our economy, they started putting up some food storage. Because of this, today, even with a good bit of their income lost for the time being, they’re eating, and eating well.

By not doing as they did, at this time they’d be experiencing a “double-whammy.” This being less money available to them to buy groceries, then once reaching the stores…they’d be paying more for what they needed, plus receiving less because of the price increase. So, those two have weathered pretty well.

So you see guys, our game plan within our family is basically to prepare for the worst, but the whole while hoping for the best. Once more, what food storage we’ve put away, we couldn’t come close to replacing with today’s pricing, AND, I don’t see this changing. AND, the worst case scenario simply being…we’ll eat it anyway!

You only have to look quickly at the events unfolding in our Country, and for that matter worldwide, to understand that “we the people,” could get hung up between a rock and a hard spot fairly easily…from a number of different scenarios.

Because of this, Deb and I decided to put as much into our own hands as possible when it comes to the well being of our family. Food, water, alternative power, fuel, firewood, meds, seeds, tools, camping supplies, firewood, cookware, and even toiletries.

We both like to fish, so we have plenty of tackle, and could supplement our diet with fish or game. We put the cows on the place, and are fixing to build a greenhouse. All because of our economy, number one, and our elected leaders in Washington failing to ease our doubts of our economy turning back around in the near future…or ever, without a good “housecleaning” by… “We the People!”

I’ve touched base before on this subject, but stop for just a second or two and contemplate a remark made by our President…”We’re going to spend our way out of debt!”

As a small business owner, a family man, and a guy who is pretty frugal with a dollar, I’ve never heard of a more ludicrous statement in my entire life!

This is one of our problems…too many in our government today, with little to NO business experience. Never made a payroll, and all their decisions, no matter how asinine, financed by what they used to consider a bottomless pit, financed by… “We the People.”

Although today, “their bottomless pit,” is now on the very brink of default. We’ve let our politicians, through their power, unaccountability, and personal gain, put the greatest Country on the face of the earth, our Country, into a perilous position.

They’ve taught that you don’t have to have a work ethic! No, No! Even if you don’t, we’ll see that the ones that do, will furnish your livelihood for you. Not only that, for those that don’t, the government is going to indoctrinate you in the belief that you deserve such treatment…YOU’RE ENTITLED TO IT!

Do you remember the First Lady explaining that you DESERVE your piece of the pie too?? Well, as far as you deserving your piece of the pie, shoot, I agree with her wholeheartedly on this point. BUT, I believe we are at odds in how you get your piece of this pie.

I believe once more, that yes sir, you should have a piece of the pie, but in order to get your piece of it, there is a price to pay. The cost for this slice of pie? Hard work, sacrifice, saving what you can, and being realistic in your lifestyle. YOU EARNED YOUR SLICE OF THE PIE!

An example…a family making $25,000 a year, buying a $300,000 home. Someone please make me understand the logic behind such thoughts. But this is what our politicians today have advocated, and in many instances, FORCED lending institutions to do such as this…or else!

This is but one example of our current administration’s idea of you getting your “piece of the pie!”

Through this, with Fannie and Freddie leading the way, we almost toppled our economy with loans that they knew could never possibly be paid back, given the incomes of the people who got so many of these loans!

You know, there is a reason for lending institutions to loan money on their so called, “good loans.” COLLATERAL! By you having to put up enough collateral, this states pretty clearly that under normal circumstances, you’ll see that this money is paid back, or…you LOSE your Collateral, and whatever you purchased with the loan in the first place.

BUT, by so many of our politicians today demanding our financial institutions make loans to people who could not pay these loans back, on top of having them put into these homes with little to NO money down, they just walked off.

WHY? BECAUSE THEY HAD ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO LOSE!!

SO, what does our government do?? They start passing out billions of the taxpayer monies, or once again, money that belongs to “We the People.” Not to be given to “We the People,” but to their cohorts.

Mainly, they “bailed out” Fannie and Freddie, AIG, the Post Office, AmTrak, and the unions. The last being one of the main causes of our automotive industry’s downfall, YET, they end up with a 20% share of GM and Chrysler!

And you wonder why Deb and I decided that we just might want to start becoming a little more self-reliant?? Go figger!

Plus…these are just part of the problems we face today as a society. By you guys trying to put up a little extra each week, it may come to pass that not unlike our oldest son Josh, here in the near future, you just may be very glad that you did.

This is our point. We’re not trying to tell anyone what to do, how to do, or why you do in regards to your family. We are though, of the belief…that we are living in a very different situation as a Country today.

We’re living in a Country today that now borrows about 43% of EVERY dollar we spend. We’re living in a Country today that has debt over the $14 trillion mark.

On top of this, we’re living in a Country today that’s school systems are now “middle of the pack” worldwide. We’re living in a Country today that is slowly, but surely taking our religious freedoms away from us.

We’re living in a Country today, where a young boy in California was made to take a flag off his bicycle, for fear of it being offensive to some of the other students. His flag? THE AMERICAN FLAG!

We’re living in a Country today, where our President wouldn’t stand at attention during the playing of our National Anthem, and refused to wear a flag pin of an American Flag, for the longest time. Pressure forced him to do so, and he started doing both, BUT…it wasn’t because he wanted to! If so, wouldn’t you think he’d have done these things to start with?

We’re living in a Country today, where a gunman, a major in our armed forces, shoots and kills over 30 other soldiers on a US base… IN THE US! The gunman was Muslim, was in contact with radical clerics, and was shouting “Allah Akbar” during his massacre of his comrades in arms. Our President’s first response… “Don’t jump to conclusions.”

We’re living in a Country today, where our Speaker of the House (at one point), declared to the American people that in order for us to know or see, what was in Obama Care, we needed to…PASS IT FIRST???

We’re living in a Country today, while at probably the most lenient of times in our Country’s history in regards to racism, it is preached, advocated, pushed upon, and used incessantly by our administration, our media, community organizations, State and Local governments, and the far left. Far too many times these charges are nothing but blatant lies.

You do realize I could go on and on and on with these types of statements, but I think you see the point we’re trying to make. Also, to many I’m literally preaching to the choir, but to many more…they still seem to just…have no idea.

NO ONE, and I do mean NO ONE is better capable of taking care of their own families, than themselves! Yet our leaders have decided THAT THEY are really the only ones capable of this. My response…BULL!

Anyway, Deb and I see the goings on today in our Country, and I have to tell you all that we by NO means feel comfortable. So, these are some of the reasons why we’ve became advocates of living as much as possible in ways we can control as best we can. Self-sufficiency…that’s our goal, or as least as much as possible.

So in closing today, we’d like to ask you once more, please take a look around, and see for yourself the direction we’re headed in as a Country.

If you look long enough, and hard enough, you may decide for yourself that taking steps in your own lives to better prepare your own family may just be…the best course of action…at least for the time being!

We will continue on this topic for another time or two, then…it’s on to something else. God Bless you, and as Deb says, “Keep a smile on your face, and one in your heart!”

Dub and Deb

I don’t know about the rest of you guys, but I went to the grocery store for Deb last week and dad-gum, things sure are going up in price! I literally was astounded!

Whole chickens…anywhere from 9 to 11 bucks. I couldn’t even imagine this! Carnation canned milk…$1.85 PER can! I was like…WHOA!

These are exactly the reasons we started our food storage…availability, inflation, and concern over our own ability to purchase food, IF our business continued to experience such a dramatic slowdown, like we experienced in 08.

Back when our site was started, we talked a great deal about the state of our current economy. We explained that we are in the asphalt paving business, and what a hit we took in regards to our business back in 08.

It didn’t simply slow down…IT STOPPED! Plus, it stopped for 1-1/2 years. There was no gradual easing off, as once more, it was like you just slammed on the brakes in your car.

Well, Deb and I had seen this coming, and honestly we were already in “you better pay close attention mode,” in regards to the economy. We immediately started making, “lifestyle changes,” and today are so glad we’d done this.

We knew that without work, this could very well mean we didn’t eat as well. In our belief you can’t have one without the other. First off, our misfortune is not the fault of others, but is based upon the decisions and actions we made, not someone else!

With this being the case, after beginning to see the economic downturn, and shortly afterwards we DID see, once more, we were already doing everything in our power to become much more self-sufficient, and self-reliant than we’d ever been before in our entire lives!

Now, 2-1/2 to 3 years later, boy, are we ever glad we did the things we did!

Food storage was a big concern for us, and we started researching heavily the ways in which we could store food most effectively, as well as safely.

Our choices mainly were the home canning process, and a Food Saver system. Both fit nicely into our lifestyle, and I can’t say that we really prefer one more than the other.

From a storage standpoint we really like to home can, whether it be vegetables, fruits and jellies, or meats, soups or stews. Our big like in this regard is you CAN get by with no power, if this ever takes place.

As long as they’re stored in a fairly cool, dark spot, you really don’t HAVE to have power. This is a very big plus with the home canning process. I also have come to realize that not only is this type of storage very lenient if you were to undergo any extended period of power, but that Deb and I just really like putting food up in this fashion. We enjoy the process, for whatever that’s worth! LOL!

But let me be quite honest in another regard as well. The Food Saver system we like very well too, although we do prefer most of our food storage to be home canned.

In the Food Saver process, using vegetables or meats, it does one terrific job. We Food Saver those babies, and you have just increased the food life of whatever it was you “food savered.” I read up to 5 years, maybe even more, with no freezer burn.

Power though, to Deb and I, is really of little concern. When we built our house, we also bought a 45 KW generator that will run our entire household…electricity or not. So, in case of storms, or whatever the reasoning, we have the ability to keep all our freezers and refrigerators running, insuring no frozen food loss.

This too brings up a point…diesel fuel for our generator. We considered this too. We keep our generator topped off with fuel at all times, plus we have 425 gallons of diesel stored in a mobile tank. This can be pulled to wherever it’s needed.

Now, after letting you guys in on the fact we do have diesel stored, this indeed helps us out greatly, but without too much thought, it’s pretty obvious that if times REALLY got bad, we eventually WOULD run out of diesel.

With this in mind, WHAT IF, diesel wasn’t available after using up our supply? So as you can see, this too could present a very serious problem, and one you should not overlook…in our opinion.
Our plan, if any of this were to occur is simply…rationing our fuel. In other words, although our generator is capable of running our entire home…it would not be used in such a way.

We’d spend much more time outside, number one, and number two, we’d only run our generator, possibly two to three times a day, only for keeping our refrigerators and freezers cold enough to sustain what’s in them…that’s all.

In other words…you need to become very frugal. Now this is something Deb and I have always pretty much been, but we, unlike many others understand full well, we have the ability to continue to cut corners anyway we can.

Something else our Food Saver allows us to do, is to store complete meals in our freezers. This mainly for convenience.

If you’ll start cooking from time to time, meals that are heavy prep, heavy mess, and heavy time consuming…we make up more than we could possibly eat in just a sitting or two. This allows us to Food Saver up complete meals that only have to be taken out of the fridge, thawed, and then heated. In just a short period of time you have a complete nutritious meal! This is great for a household where both Mom and Pop are in the workplace.

Another thing we use our Food Saver for, is storing dried peas, beans, sugar, salt, corn meal, flour, pasta, and even grits.

We Food Saver these, and then we put them in food grade 5-gallon buckets with sealable lids. Each bucket we use for the storing of these items holds about 20 pounds of food. Each package we Food Saver holds about three cups of whatever item we’re storing at the time. This again is for…convenience and easy access.

Our procedure for these, are all simple, but with a few of these there are precautions to take. These mainly are your rice, flour, corn meal, and grits.

These we strongly suggest you freezing for 3-4 days. This kills any bugs, or eggs, that may have gotten into the items while they were being packaged, or even picked up through the shipping process while getting them to the stores.

I wouldn’t say that this is indeed mandatory, but it is something we practice at all times. We do freeze these before Food Savering, each and every time!

Let me give you a good example of the importance to try a pick up a little extra each week. This is pertaining to our family specifically, and shows the importance of what we’re discussing today.

Our oldest son Josh, and his family, have done really well in taking some of their income and putting up some food each week. Josh started storing extra about the same time that Deb and I did, and actually amazed Deb and I with the amount they put up in relatively a short period of time.

Josh works for a tire company, and was used to receiving bonuses on the number of new tires he sold monthly. Some of these checks were fairly considerable amounts, and supplemented their salary. His wife Shelly worked too during this time.

Well, the economy took a big hit, and all of a sudden the number of new tires being sold dropped off…A LOT! This had a big, big effect on his ability to supplement his income as he had been doing previously. Then Shelly became pregnant, and stopped working.

Suddenly they were faced with a big loss of income through no more or very little bonus, and the loss of Shelly’s income to boot. Things changed swiftly, and this had a huge consequence in their lives. BUT…they had food.

Again, those two had put up quite a bit, and what they couldn’t keep at their house, due to lack of room, the rest they brought down here to our place, and stored it in our food storage room we built.
As of today, their work has still not picked back up to anywhere near what it had been, people are now buying used tires mainly, again, this because of our economy, but Josh and family are still eating quite well.

Once more, they too had the best interests of their own family at heart, and took the initiative to do something about it. By doing so, they are weathering all this, pretty well. They did tell Deb that they had about eaten all they could store at their place, and before long they’d have to pick up some of their storage from here. This makes no matter at all, and we’re glad we had the room to store most of their food supply here for them.

But you see my point. Although they’re having it tough, they are still eating, and eating quite well to be honest. Only by having the foresight, and sacrificing many weeks I’m sure, to be able to put up some food, at this point today, they are very, very happy they had done so.

Through their own actions, they insured that they, and their three boys, had nutritious meals even though their income had dropped substantially.

So over the next few days, we’re going to drop back, and emphasis once again, the things that Deb and I have done in regards to our family and friends ability to survive, even in tough, tough economic times.

We hope that through this we may be able to help out others who aren’t sure of some of the things they need to be doing, or even why they need to be doing them. We don’t claim to know, by any means, everything you need to know, but we are pretty astute in many areas of this topic.

If you guys, during these next few conversations we’ll be having with you, have any ideas, suggestions, or experience in such as this, please feel free to express them. I know that what you have to contribute will be much appreciated by all!

In closing today, please know how grateful we are for your continuing to drop in a see us. We appreciate your doing so, and we wish each and every one of you the very best in all you do!

God Bless you guys, and Deb says to keep a smile on your face, and one in your heart!

Dub and Deb