Productivity Report

Working Vacation

Today was my first day of vacation.  I had planned to do a couple hours of yard work each day, but today was beautiful and the rest of the week is looking not quite so good, so I spent most of the day in the yard.

I got a lot of clean up done from fall/winter debris.  Some leaves burned, others piled in the big pile for a burn later this week.  I also got up a huge pile of brush that had been sitting since early winter.  That went in the big pile too. 

I did my first grass cutting and weed whacking of the year.  The Homelight string trimmer fired right up and worked great.  I really need to be sure to run it each month in the off season to keep it right.

I hate using chemicals, but I ran Round-Up all around the fence line of the back yard.  We have a 6 foot chain link fence, and about 2/3 of it has always been overgrown.  I tore it all down in the fall, but it was starting to grow back.  Hopefully the Round-Up will do the trick.  I plan to clear brush and leaves for a 6 foot path all the way around to really start making our woods more usable for more than blocking the view from the neighbors.

My tomato plants got a couple more hours of natural sunlight this morning.  They really look like they are thriving.  I'm waiting until May 1 to put them in the ground.

I had a pretty good size stack of 3-4 year old seasoned firewood.  I don't have a fireplace.  I loaded it in the truck to take to my pal that just put in a wood stove.  The stuff is so dry, it ought to burn real fast, but maybe he can chop it up for kindling or something.  Better he gets some use out of than it just sits and attracts critters and eventually rots.  It isn't enough to be worth selling.


The Right Clothes For The Job

I normally wear a boonie hat or cowboy hat when working outside, but grabbed an old ball cap this morning on my way out the door.  I think my neck is pretty sunburned as a result.  I switched to the boonie had after lunch, but it was too late.  I even tried to channel the French Foreign Legion and attached a bandanna to the back of the hat.  Our little desk stapler didn't have enough oomph, so I ended up using chip clips to hold it in place.  I looked pretty foolish, but it kept the sunburn from getting worse.  I will stop at a surplus store when I'm out and about tomorrow to see if I can find something better.

I wear safety glasses whenever I am doing any work outside.  I urge you to do the same, no matter how safe your task seems to be.  A pop of sparks while stirring the leaf fire, a face full of dust on the riding mower, and something hard hitting my face using the string trimmer all made me glad today I had my eyes protected.  We only have two, and they are crucial to survival.


Conference Report

A reader went to the Sensible Prepper Conference in South Carolina this past weekend and has written up a great report on the event.  I'll post it later this week.  It sounds like it was a great event with about 300 people in attendance.