An online friend at cheaprvliving, reminded me today that I should update my blog. I was a little chagrin to know, he was right. I have not abandoned my blog. I have touched on this subject in previous posts, but I have only lightly glossed over everything I have been through. I've also had just a bit of trouble putting into words all of the turmoil that has been my life. Since 2011, when I lost both my Mother and Uncle, a mere four months apart, there has been no constant. Before that my life was still in turmoil, but it was a good kind of turmoil. Turmoil that I created myself. And I still had close family available. In 2009, I decided to simplify the life I was living and hated. I went through the process of shedding the house and all of the crap in my life. By mid 2010, I was about ready to start my new life. While I was in this process, I was temporarily staying with at my mothers. I had my van and was setting it up to live and travel in. At the time, I knew I had some medical problems that would not let me sustain that life forever. I had planned on a few years of travel and then a piece of rural land and an RV somewhere. Probably with me in one corner and my Uncle in the other. Especially since it looked like we both planned to be single the rest of our lives. Towards the latter part of 2010, my mother had a heart attack on top of other medical problems. At the hospital they told us to call hospice. Believe me, there were "death panels" even before Obamacare. We chose not to give up on her and bought her some more time by changing hospitals. Granted it was not but another 8 months, but without hospital intervention we would not have had that. My brother and I both put everything in our life on hold for that last 8 months. My brother owned a house in Shreveport, LA, just six blocks from LSU Medical center. We changed city and state to see that she was close to the best care she could get. And we proceeded to enjoy what time we had left with her. For 6 months we had quality time with her. For the last two it was quality but tough. My mother passed early in April of 2011.
My mother owned a 2500 sq ft Antebellum home with an equal basement below, all full of stuff. None of us cared for the house or where it was at, but we now had the duty of disposing of all that remained. Out of my Mother's four children, she had two that know their responsibility to family, one that lives in denial of bad ever happening, besides having her own family to deal with, and one that is a waste of life. My oldest, younger brother and I are the two that know that we have a responsibility to our family. We did that responsibility as best we could to take care of our mother. Once she had past, my brother was no longer emotionally capable of helping with all that remained. You see, he was her favorite. If she had decided to rob a bank, right or wrong, he would have driven the get away car for her. They were that close. For his sanity he needed to move back where he was living before and throw himself into work. I was left with all that remained.
In Aug, 2011, on what would have been my mother's 70th birthday, I was trying to make some progress in clearing out her house. The temperature was triple digits hot. Due to the extreme heat, we had a power outage. It was too hot to stay in that old house with it's 15 foot ceilings. After calling the power company to find it would be the middle of the night before power could be restored, I called my Uncle Randy. I thought I would go visit him and stay at his house till power was restored at my Mother's. Instead he suggested we go to the casino. You know the rest of this story from my previous blog post. My Uncle died that night with me just minutes behind him.
I am the oldest of the the next generation of our family. My brother, after me, is another nine years younger. I have always held a unique position in our families dynamics. I am only seven years younger than my youngest uncle. I was only nine years younger than my Uncle Randy. I spent many years with my grandparents growing up. Which in turn made my uncles more like my brothers. I also spent a couple of years with Randy as my guardian, so then you can add father figure to the list. All of that added together with the fact that Randy and I were the most alike and both single. We spent lots of time hanging out together. If I wanted to jump and run on a trip somewhere I would call Randy and see if he wanted to go and visa versa. Beside being related we were genuinely friends. Since Randy was a widower that never had children, the responsibility of his estate fell to me. So I now had two estates full of stuff to deal with. We are talking beyond an ordinary amount of stuff. Between my mother and uncles they had a running joke in the family. He who dies with the most stuff, WINS. Fortunately the winner is still alive and has his own family when that time comes. It has been just over two years and I am finally down to an 8x12 portable garage full of stuff. Everything but this last remaining bit has been dealt with. I bought this place about a year ago but this month I finally get to start living permanent in my RV. I no longer have to see to things elsewhere.
One of the reasons I skipped right on to the RV is that all of this has taken a toll on my already fragile health. I don't usually dwell on the negatives in my life or complain about my medical problems. But I will take a moment to briefly gloss over them. Barring accidents, everyone in my family, on both sides, have genetically bad hearts. They all die fairly early in life. My oldest uncle died at 56 of congestive heart failure. His first bypass was at 38. He is the most extreme case, but none of us make it to 70. My mother got the closest at 69. I personally know I only have about another 15 years, at best! Then we get to the emotional aspect of the last two years. I still have some family left, but my core family is gone. I love my kids but they have lives of their own they need to live. That is how it should be and I don't need to be trying to live vicariously through them. My brother has his life and business in a very urban city which I could never tolerate living in. My last remaining uncle has his own life and family with a wife that we have all just tolerated through the years. She has kind of alienated him from the rest of the family. When my mother and Randy died so close together. My youngest uncle made a statement to me that he felt excluded by them. What he never realized is that his wife did that for him. But if she makes him happy, I'm all for it. I am not a naturally trusting person, so the list of people I truly call my friends are a bare handful. They are scattered all over, like my family. I love where I live, but I don't know anyone. I still talk to friends and family on the phone, on a regular basis. Am I saying the problem is loneliness.... not really, I like solitude. That being said, I am not an introvert either. I know part of the problem is my limited physical abilities. But the main problem is that I'm at a bit of a lost without the family that grounded me. I find it easier to accept my mother's death because it followed through to the natural conclusion of her life. But I think, after two years I am still angry that Randy was taken before his time. Family has always been one of the most important aspect of my life. And now that it's limited and scattered, I am left wondering ...where do I go from here.
Until the events of 2011, I have always tried to keep my posts positive and upbeat. The last two years there just has not been much to say that could be considered positive, so I have said nothing at all. From here on out I will try to do better.
Friday, November 29, 2013
Monday, April 8, 2013
Single Frugality
I like being single but it is hard work. Have you ever noticed most everything in the grocery stores are designed for a family of 2.5 plus pet. And if it is not then it cost you double or more. Today I was grocery shopping and had milk on my list. For me to buy milk is a rarity. I use Nido or evaporated milk for most of my cooking. But cold cereal just doesn't work with either of those. And sometime I'd just like to drink a little cold milk. I usually buy a pint of milk, have my cereal and drink the rest. Right now in my grocers, milk is $1.29 pint. Today I realized that makes that milk $10.32 per gallon. That's a little hard to take when I could buy a gallon for $3.91. Well penny pincher that I am, I had to buy the gallon.
Now it will take me a month or more to use that gallon of milk. So my solution to preservation was to also buy 2 of the 12 oz/8pks of pepsi in bottles (on sale). Pepsi is something I also drink and would have bought it anyway. I usually buy the 16.9 oz bottles, but the 12 oz was a better size for my milk use. I am now pouring those 12oz pepsi's into a 16.9 oz bottle to drink (so I don't drink out of them) and then washing the 12oz bottle for the milk.
As each bottle is filled, it then goes in the freezer. Yes, you can freeze milk. I know this because I had an uncle that worked for Formost. I drank previously frozen milk for years. Formost milk is a little richer than most. So when thawed it tastes just like any other milk. Most frozen store brand milk will be a little richer than 2% but not quite as rich as whole milk that has not been frozen. Either way for $6.41 difference, it will work for me.
Now if you can use whole gallons but still want to freeze it when it is on sale. There are a couple of thing you should know. First you can't freeze it in it's original container. There is no room for it to expand. With the 12oz bottles I leave enough room for the liquid to expand when it freezes. Second, even if that container had room it won't take freezing well. You can freeze it, but if you bump it, it will break most of the time. Different plastic than the soda bottle.
I just spent the last couple of days re-packaging meat and canning some peach jam from a #10 can of peaches. No I did not buy a #10 can of peaches. A friend had it left over from when she sold her food concession business last year and was going to throw it away. I hate waste, but there was no way either of us could eat a whole #10 can of peaches. I took it anyway and looked at it for a couple of weeks before I decided that I would make peach jam and peach butter out of it. I now have 3 pints plus a half pint of peach jam and 4 half pints of peach butter. I will share those with her and we will both have plenty of jelly.
If you are single you can either spent more money than a family would on the same amount of food. Or you can learn to do some creative preservation. Which is work.
NOTE: ... And before I get into ecological trouble about the single serve plastic bottles. I do recycle what I don't re-use. I don't like the taste of cans and the 16.9oz bottles are cheaper than the 1 & 2 liter. Also they don't go flat before I can drink it all. I am not green or a prepper, but I am aware. If you are aware you will be a little of both. When you buy those one or two items, you will tell them to keep the bag. When food is on sale, you will stock up. If everyone would just make a little difference, as a whole it would make a lot of difference. Maybe not utopia, but better.
And Further more I also know soda pop is not good for me but we all have our vices. Pepsi is mine, it could be worse.
Now it will take me a month or more to use that gallon of milk. So my solution to preservation was to also buy 2 of the 12 oz/8pks of pepsi in bottles (on sale). Pepsi is something I also drink and would have bought it anyway. I usually buy the 16.9 oz bottles, but the 12 oz was a better size for my milk use. I am now pouring those 12oz pepsi's into a 16.9 oz bottle to drink (so I don't drink out of them) and then washing the 12oz bottle for the milk.
As each bottle is filled, it then goes in the freezer. Yes, you can freeze milk. I know this because I had an uncle that worked for Formost. I drank previously frozen milk for years. Formost milk is a little richer than most. So when thawed it tastes just like any other milk. Most frozen store brand milk will be a little richer than 2% but not quite as rich as whole milk that has not been frozen. Either way for $6.41 difference, it will work for me.
Now if you can use whole gallons but still want to freeze it when it is on sale. There are a couple of thing you should know. First you can't freeze it in it's original container. There is no room for it to expand. With the 12oz bottles I leave enough room for the liquid to expand when it freezes. Second, even if that container had room it won't take freezing well. You can freeze it, but if you bump it, it will break most of the time. Different plastic than the soda bottle.
I just spent the last couple of days re-packaging meat and canning some peach jam from a #10 can of peaches. No I did not buy a #10 can of peaches. A friend had it left over from when she sold her food concession business last year and was going to throw it away. I hate waste, but there was no way either of us could eat a whole #10 can of peaches. I took it anyway and looked at it for a couple of weeks before I decided that I would make peach jam and peach butter out of it. I now have 3 pints plus a half pint of peach jam and 4 half pints of peach butter. I will share those with her and we will both have plenty of jelly.
If you are single you can either spent more money than a family would on the same amount of food. Or you can learn to do some creative preservation. Which is work.
NOTE: ... And before I get into ecological trouble about the single serve plastic bottles. I do recycle what I don't re-use. I don't like the taste of cans and the 16.9oz bottles are cheaper than the 1 & 2 liter. Also they don't go flat before I can drink it all. I am not green or a prepper, but I am aware. If you are aware you will be a little of both. When you buy those one or two items, you will tell them to keep the bag. When food is on sale, you will stock up. If everyone would just make a little difference, as a whole it would make a lot of difference. Maybe not utopia, but better.
And Further more I also know soda pop is not good for me but we all have our vices. Pepsi is mine, it could be worse.
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Life on the Ranch
Now that I have my own little square of dirt and a mobile efficiency apartment, called an RV... it doesn't mean I am settled yet. I still have loose ends to tie up on my uncles estate and still more stuff to deal with from both estates.
Remember I said stuff owns you.... yes, well I still have stuff from both estates that needs to be stored and protected for a bit more. It sure won't fit into my travel trailer, so my solution was a 12x20x8 "garage in a box" by shelterlogic. I read lots of mixed reviews on it but it was the most reasonable temporary solution I could find. I don't know about longevity yet but I am still pretty impressed. It gets a bit windy here on the ranch and the canopy has so far withstood wind gusts up to 30 mile an hour. My ez-up is now nothing but a twisted, mangled frame but the "garage" stands there like a great green blob. I think one of the reasons for the mixed reviews, If you don't put it up correctly, it is not going to work. The advertised construction time is optimistic not factual. And you will need a drill to reline some of the misaligned bolt holes. Otherwise it was not to bad to construct it. We also added tie down straps from the top of the frame to the ground anchors on the four corners. Now we just have to wait and see how long it lasts but for 360.00 and tax, storage is getting cheaper every day.
Life on the Ranch this past 8 months has been a long series of camping trips with luxuries. Even though I still somewhat live in my uncles house. I prefer to be on the Ranch whenever I can. So I have made quite a few 100 mile trips between the two, always hauling a bit more stuff up with me. The first couple of months at the Ranch was without electricity... now that was an adventure. I had an inverter in the truck to keep electronics charged and used kerosene lamps at night. The next couple of months was on a generator and finally I now have electricity. Water for the moment is supplied by a 300 gallon water tank sitting behind the trailer and the trailer's self contained water system. I have yet to decide if I want the city water or a well. Septic was already on location.
Life here still has its day to day complications like any other lifestyle but I think they will slow down once I get everything set up and running. The trailer I bought had been in storage for 4 years prior. During that time squirrels had gotten into the storage bins and eaten into the water lines in a couple of spots, so those had to be fixed. The gas tank lines to the propane tanks work but they have gotten hard and need to be replaced. Also here lately I have had really bad refrigerator juju. The refrigerator at my uncles house has been on the fritz. It works intermittently and runs all of the time so I bought a new 3.5 cu ft as a temporary replacement. It quit 3 days later so I took it back. I did not want to replace the big refrigerator so close to moving and I still had the freezer. I decided I could live with that till I got electricity on the ranch. Once I got the power to the trailer, that fridge ran for 2 days and quit getting cold. I could not find a 10 cu ft locally to replace it so I now have a 4 cu ft left over from food concession days. So far it's working fine and surprisingly doesn't look beat up. And the one that is still in the wall makes for a good additional storage pantry.
This travel trailer is surprisingly roomy, although not a lot of storage. My friend has a 40 ft that has much more storage but it feels cramped to me. I like the more open feel of this trailer. That is too funny coming from someone who was prepared to live in a van. It's funny that I am clostrophic but I really like living in small places. I think that has a lot to do with my grandparent, who did almost the same thing I am doing now. Once the kids were grown. They got rid of the house, moved into a travel trailer with a half acre. They lived between that half acre and south Texas till they both got to old to travel. Once my grandfather died my grandmother continued on in the travel trailer. The only difference was that she would spend a little time with each of us. She spent 7 or 8 month parked at my house. It was a joy to have her there and my son got to spend quality time with his great grandmother. I don't plan on pulling this RV up and down the road, but I hope to have more quality time now that I no longer have to maintain a big hulking house, yard and all of the stuff in it.
Remember I said stuff owns you.... yes, well I still have stuff from both estates that needs to be stored and protected for a bit more. It sure won't fit into my travel trailer, so my solution was a 12x20x8 "garage in a box" by shelterlogic. I read lots of mixed reviews on it but it was the most reasonable temporary solution I could find. I don't know about longevity yet but I am still pretty impressed. It gets a bit windy here on the ranch and the canopy has so far withstood wind gusts up to 30 mile an hour. My ez-up is now nothing but a twisted, mangled frame but the "garage" stands there like a great green blob. I think one of the reasons for the mixed reviews, If you don't put it up correctly, it is not going to work. The advertised construction time is optimistic not factual. And you will need a drill to reline some of the misaligned bolt holes. Otherwise it was not to bad to construct it. We also added tie down straps from the top of the frame to the ground anchors on the four corners. Now we just have to wait and see how long it lasts but for 360.00 and tax, storage is getting cheaper every day.
Life on the Ranch this past 8 months has been a long series of camping trips with luxuries. Even though I still somewhat live in my uncles house. I prefer to be on the Ranch whenever I can. So I have made quite a few 100 mile trips between the two, always hauling a bit more stuff up with me. The first couple of months at the Ranch was without electricity... now that was an adventure. I had an inverter in the truck to keep electronics charged and used kerosene lamps at night. The next couple of months was on a generator and finally I now have electricity. Water for the moment is supplied by a 300 gallon water tank sitting behind the trailer and the trailer's self contained water system. I have yet to decide if I want the city water or a well. Septic was already on location.
Life here still has its day to day complications like any other lifestyle but I think they will slow down once I get everything set up and running. The trailer I bought had been in storage for 4 years prior. During that time squirrels had gotten into the storage bins and eaten into the water lines in a couple of spots, so those had to be fixed. The gas tank lines to the propane tanks work but they have gotten hard and need to be replaced. Also here lately I have had really bad refrigerator juju. The refrigerator at my uncles house has been on the fritz. It works intermittently and runs all of the time so I bought a new 3.5 cu ft as a temporary replacement. It quit 3 days later so I took it back. I did not want to replace the big refrigerator so close to moving and I still had the freezer. I decided I could live with that till I got electricity on the ranch. Once I got the power to the trailer, that fridge ran for 2 days and quit getting cold. I could not find a 10 cu ft locally to replace it so I now have a 4 cu ft left over from food concession days. So far it's working fine and surprisingly doesn't look beat up. And the one that is still in the wall makes for a good additional storage pantry.
This travel trailer is surprisingly roomy, although not a lot of storage. My friend has a 40 ft that has much more storage but it feels cramped to me. I like the more open feel of this trailer. That is too funny coming from someone who was prepared to live in a van. It's funny that I am clostrophic but I really like living in small places. I think that has a lot to do with my grandparent, who did almost the same thing I am doing now. Once the kids were grown. They got rid of the house, moved into a travel trailer with a half acre. They lived between that half acre and south Texas till they both got to old to travel. Once my grandfather died my grandmother continued on in the travel trailer. The only difference was that she would spend a little time with each of us. She spent 7 or 8 month parked at my house. It was a joy to have her there and my son got to spend quality time with his great grandmother. I don't plan on pulling this RV up and down the road, but I hope to have more quality time now that I no longer have to maintain a big hulking house, yard and all of the stuff in it.
Saturday, March 16, 2013
As The World Turns....
Remember that old soap opera? It was retired in 2010 as the second longest running soap opera. Not that I am a fan of soaps, but it seemed an appropriate title for my life this past two or three years. Ever changing and always dramatic. I really dislike drama. I have just a bit more to go I think and then maybe life will settle down for me. Hopefully then, I can post here more regularly.
I started this blog because I wanted to travel and live in my little van. I still do, but with rising gas prices and a steadily declining economy.. I don't think that is going to be an option. So on to plan B. Adaptability is the catch word for my life. I still want to live more simply. I still don't think I need that 1700 sq ft house that I only lived in 200 sq ft of. And I still don't need a bunch of possession that own me. Yes... truly .... you do not own stuff.. it owns you. You have to wash it... house it... protect it. All of that energy just to say you own it. After almost two years of dealing with the estates of my uncle and mother..... I am sick of stuff.
But I digress, back to explaining plan B. After much refection on what to do with myself in my declining years. I knew I just wanted to be where I would not be told what to do and when to do it. And all I needed to live in was a travel trailer. To start I found a 36 foot travel trailer with a slide. This gives me 330 sq foot of living space. Plenty for me! Next I needed somewhere to put this thing. No, I'm really am not social enough to live in an RV hell (resort). So some unrestricted rural property was what I started looking for. Even the large state of Texas, UNRESTRICTED small acreage is not easy to find. I can live anywhere, but If I am going to be stationary, I did not want to leave Texas. I also did not want the humidity of south Texas or the extreme heat of west Texas, so with my boundaries set at the northeastern quarter of Texas I started looking and looking and looking. You get my point. After months of searching, traveling to view and researching property history, I finally found a home for the travel trailer. The horror stories I could tell about some of the properties I viewed could make it's own blog. Let just say I know where there is some swamp land for sale.
The property I found is 1.52 acres.... a bit more than I needed but it fit most of my other criteria. It is only 5 miles from a grocery store. I looked at one property that was 20 miles from the nearest gas station. That one was a bit too rural. This place had been a homestead at one time before so most of the infrastructure was in place or could be brought back into use. It did not require any clearing. The towns population is around 4500, But if I need the convenience of city life there is a large one 22 miles away. The price was reasonable. I spent some time in the town before I bought the property and found the people to be friendly and helpful. After 8 months that has not seemed to change
.
So I guess my blog is now going to be about homesteading in an travel trailer. In honor of my uncle I have decided to call the place "Randy's Ranch" If he were alive now he would have been rubbing his hand together and planing which corner would be his. I think he would have liked this place.
I started this blog because I wanted to travel and live in my little van. I still do, but with rising gas prices and a steadily declining economy.. I don't think that is going to be an option. So on to plan B. Adaptability is the catch word for my life. I still want to live more simply. I still don't think I need that 1700 sq ft house that I only lived in 200 sq ft of. And I still don't need a bunch of possession that own me. Yes... truly .... you do not own stuff.. it owns you. You have to wash it... house it... protect it. All of that energy just to say you own it. After almost two years of dealing with the estates of my uncle and mother..... I am sick of stuff.
But I digress, back to explaining plan B. After much refection on what to do with myself in my declining years. I knew I just wanted to be where I would not be told what to do and when to do it. And all I needed to live in was a travel trailer. To start I found a 36 foot travel trailer with a slide. This gives me 330 sq foot of living space. Plenty for me! Next I needed somewhere to put this thing. No, I'm really am not social enough to live in an RV hell (resort). So some unrestricted rural property was what I started looking for. Even the large state of Texas, UNRESTRICTED small acreage is not easy to find. I can live anywhere, but If I am going to be stationary, I did not want to leave Texas. I also did not want the humidity of south Texas or the extreme heat of west Texas, so with my boundaries set at the northeastern quarter of Texas I started looking and looking and looking. You get my point. After months of searching, traveling to view and researching property history, I finally found a home for the travel trailer. The horror stories I could tell about some of the properties I viewed could make it's own blog. Let just say I know where there is some swamp land for sale.
The property I found is 1.52 acres.... a bit more than I needed but it fit most of my other criteria. It is only 5 miles from a grocery store. I looked at one property that was 20 miles from the nearest gas station. That one was a bit too rural. This place had been a homestead at one time before so most of the infrastructure was in place or could be brought back into use. It did not require any clearing. The towns population is around 4500, But if I need the convenience of city life there is a large one 22 miles away. The price was reasonable. I spent some time in the town before I bought the property and found the people to be friendly and helpful. After 8 months that has not seemed to change
.
So I guess my blog is now going to be about homesteading in an travel trailer. In honor of my uncle I have decided to call the place "Randy's Ranch" If he were alive now he would have been rubbing his hand together and planing which corner would be his. I think he would have liked this place.
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