Poking Fun, and Food Storage Room

Good morning once again, and thanks for stopping back in today to visit with us. You guys are all appreciated!

First off this morning, I’d like to tell you a story I heard over the weekend. This is about a man and his wife.

It seems the husband couldn’t sleep and he’d gotten up, went into the dining room and was sitting at the table. His wife had awakened and saw he wasn’t in his bed asleep. Concerned she got up and went to check on him.

She found him at the dining room table, and saw immediately he had been crying. She became upset that something must be bothering him so terribly bad that he was in bad shape…just a squallin’.

She asked if she could help with anything, and he looked up startled to see her standing there. He replied that he couldn’t sleep and had come down to keep from interfering with her sleep.

He suddenly wiped a tear from his eye and told her, “You know, I’ve been thinking, and 25 years ago today, we first met. Did you realize that?” She said that yes, indeed she did.

He then told her that he remembered where they met, under what circumstances, where they were at the time, and even what she was wearing at the time. He asked her if she could still remember those things as well, and by now he was crying a little harder.

She put her arms around him and told him that yes, she too remembered all those things, and pulled up a chair beside him, by now crying too.

He then asked her if she remembered her Daddy coming out to his car and catching them messing around. She said yes, she remembered, and wiped a tear from her eye, so proud that this man thought enough of their relationship, that all these things that had taken place so long ago, he remembered, just as if they’d taken place yesterday.

Tearfully, he asked if she remembered her Daddy’s words upon catching them in the car, and she said she thought so, but for him to refresh her memory. He said, “You’re Daddy had his shotgun, and told me if I didn’t marry you, he’d have me arrested and thrown in jail. Do you remember?”

She laughed out loud at the memory he’d rekindled and that yes, she did know that this was exactly what her Daddy had said, 25 years earlier.

The husband replied, now crying harder than ever, that if he had indeed gone to jail 25 years ago…he’d have gotten out today…sentence served, and a free man all the way around!

To all you husbands out there, this makes you stop and think, doesn’t it? I sure did!

We’ve talked on this before, but for the ones who aren’t aware, Deb and I built a storage room outback, and this was to store our vegetables we canned from our garden. We also store beef, chicken, pork, stews, soups, and even cakes and butter we’ve canned in the past.

The reason for this is simple…we ran out of room in our home. We started using our pantry, and out produced what it could hold. So, I told Deb, we’ll take a spare bedroom and store them in there. Well, we produced more than it held, and on top of that…I ticked ole’ Deb off…royally! I’d taken over a guest bedroom, and although she condones all of our food storage, and believes it a good, good move for our family in these tough economic times, she eventually told me…”I want my D… guestroom back, NOW!” I told her no problem, General…give us a week or two!

Dale, Creek Dog, and I went to building us this room. We made it a 12’x12’, and it actually turned out very nicely.

We used 2’x6’ pressure treated lumber, and ¾ inch pressure treated plywood. We built it off the ground, in case of high water, and insulated the room really, really well, and this was the key…heavy insulation. We insulated the floors, the sides, and the roof with first 2 inch fiberboard insulation, then came back with R-19 on top. We caulked and sealed every joint. It was built very tight, and actually could be used as a freezer if we needed.

We shelved it, slapped in a 110 air-conditioner with a thermostat built in, and we were set. We were ready for the test run. We turned the air on, and shut it up for a couple days. When we checked it out, the temperature was holding 68 degrees and the unit was hardly running at all.

The A/C has a fan that kicks on every so often, just to circulate the air, and this works great. We stocked the room, and this has been one of our better ideas. Deb got her guestroom back, we had a nice place for our food storage, and best of all…I was out of the doghouse!! Thank you Lord!

We built it between a few small oak trees that in a short time will be a big benefit for us, by simply casting shade over the roof, and helping to keep it cooler, thus keeping the A/C running even less during the hot and humid summer months here in sunny Florida. They also help to “hide” the building, and keeping it from being so obvious. Behind the building, is nothing but thick woods.

I know the first time we took our four year old granddaughter Shelby Lynn inside it, she cracked me up. She went inside, we shut the door and she was just looking around bug-eyed. I asked her what did she think, and she said, “Papa…I didn’t know you and Nana had a store!”

In case of power outages, the A/C unit is plenty small enough to keep it running with our little 6500 watt generator. The main house we have a 45KW mobile generator that will run the whole house if needed, and we keep it full of diesel, plus we have a 425 gallon tank of diesel that has that generator’s name on it.

Actually we’ll be pulling that “mutha” out tomorrow to run it some and basically just check it out. We do this several times a year. This keeps the batteries charged, and gives us a heads up if it’s not running right.

We’re checking it tomorrow because of the hurricane headed our way, but it’s beginning to look as if it may miss us and head more towards North, and South Carolina…if this is the case, Bonnie, Barbra L., George (I am one), Roger W., and any other of our readers who live in that neck of the woods, keep your eyes and ears open, okay? My sister and her family live in Concord, N.C. as well.

Let’s all hope if this storm continues to intensify that it stays well offshore period! We’d like some rain off of it, but not if it brings high winds with it.
Here’s a few photos of our storage room and how it turned out…

The Storage room itself.

As you can see this has worked out nicely for us. It made a nice little storage area. Once more, if you have the opportunity, or ability to try and buy some extra food supply, I really would do it if at all possible.

Having food available in the stores, or the ability to purchase it if inflation hits, are all concerns in the type of depressed economy we’re living in today.
We’re only trying to err on the side of caution. Once again, if everything turns out well, our worst case scenario will be for us to simply…eat it.

The backyard garden is another way to offset some food prices, and the taste doesn’t even compare to store bought.

An extra flashlight or two, a few extra medicines, etc. all could be useful one day, plus you’ll have bought them at a cheaper price than if you continue to wait. This is our thinking anyway.

Here’s three video’s you might like to see. Basically they’re just showing our garden, new compost pile, and some of the place.

Turkey’s and a new compost pile…

Fall peas and where we shoot…


Stirring the compost pile…


We appreciate you guys stopping back in to visit, and wish you all the best! Take care and God Bless.

Deb says to keep a smile on your face, and one in your heart.

Dub and Deb

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3 Responses to Poking Fun, and Food Storage Room

  1. jwlrymkr says:

    Are you sure you are not my twin brother? I started “prepping” last year and now my wife is yelling at me about our guest room having all the food and stuff stored in it. No room here for a building in the back yard, but I do have an addition on the garage with a small a/c unit. I recon it is time to clean it out and put it to use. Good job on the “store”.
    You might want to consider getting some of those Tattler reusable canning lids.

  2. an says:

    Are u kidding me!!! We live in Idaho and must be cousins, cuz we look the same!!
    Store and all. It gets cold here so in the worst of winter we do run a small heater an hour a day to keep the edge off. The olive oil gets a little cloudy from cold but everything does well. After I can in the jars I put them back in the box, with the dividers, then on the shelf. We can rotate better at end of season and keep them on shelf in case of earthquake!
    Now that We have the guest room back and were cousins, if your out this way stop in for a visit!!! Hehehe. Happy canning!!!!

    • admin says:

      HEY CUZ!!! What’s up???

      Man, I don’t know if I’d be broadcastin over the internet you look like me, or not??? LOL!

      Yep, our room does well too. I’m so glad we did this. I wanted desperately to put it underground to simply stay cool year round without havin to use electricity, but, down here our water table is just too high. Good simple suggestion on using the box with dividers to rotate! Great idea my friend, or I meant to say, “Cuz!”

      Take care, God Bless and stay in touch!

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