Well, the hillbilly is back up, after recognizing the error of his ways. I'm glad to see he is getting more support from the people who read it regularly. I imagine he's pretty overwhelmed now. I know I would be. At last count, I saw 35 comments.



Anyhoo, we took the couch out of the escape pod yesterday. It's a lot more open now, and a heck of a lot lighter. We haven't done another tongue weight yet, but that thing was heavy. We didn't need the extra sleeping room either, so why not take it out? The more we take out the more we notice the mediocre craftsmanship. Randy was seriously disappointed, being a former carpenter and all. We've got some ideas for the new decor. We pretty much have to keep the aqua-green carpet, way too much trouble to take out and replace with anything. We lost some storage when we took out the dinette and couch. That's ok, because that way we won't pack it full of stuff (just added weight). We're planning on using the little door things that open to the outside for cat doors. We'll get a collapsible cat cage, and finagle a way for them to go outside and get fresh air w/o running off and getting lost or eatten by something. But that's not even really in the design phase yet. I'm going to try to sell what we pulled out. It's in really good shape, just heavy, and not our taste. I'm still trying to figure out what to do with the windows as far as curtains. Seems like I'm trying to do a lot of stuff. I better get up from this computer and actually do something!

That's it!

Now Ron at hillbilly2be has canceled his blog! I've always been too chicken to comment on other blogs, I didn't really have anything interesting to say. Well, if that's what I have to do, then so be it! I enjoy reading ya'll's blogs. And now, you're gonna hear about it. I already left a comment for Wretha for the first time. I guess it's time for me to come out of my little hidey hole, and let folks know I'm appreciative that they take the time to write their blogs, whatever their motive.
So watch out ya'll! Kim from Ruby's big adventure is coming over to say Howdy! You don't have to do the same. I'm not gonna quit on ya. My little blog isn't all that informative, just sometimes passes for entertainment. And that's just fine with me.

Changes are just coming up everywhere! People are changing up their blogs(me too, a little). Some folks are moving. We are doing a few things as well. While Randy was at work I read up on making changes in the travel trailer. When he got home, we took out the dinette! The plan is to put in a small table and chairs. Next on the list will be the window treatments. This is a picture of the dinette from when we first got the trailer. I'll post befores and afters when we are done with renovations. I know things are looking kind of bad, but change is good. The world may change as we know it, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's going to be all bad. We've had it pretty good for a while, now may be time to start thinking about living a simpler life.

We bought the escape pod with that in mind. I got a wild hair and bought some "cheap" land in Texas almost 2 years ago, knowing, eventually the state of Washington was going to want retribution for Randy's mother's care. I'm kind of excited about this little project. It's taken me almost a year to talk Randy into letting me make some major changes in the decor of the trailer. He's worried about resale value, but if we do it right, it shouldn't hurt it. Plus, I wasn't planning on selling it anyway.

Here are some of the things that have been going on. The phone company came out yesterday and finally fixed the line. Maybe now I can put some stuff on e-bay or Craig’s list. I’ve already got some sprouts coming up from the seeds I planted last week. We’ll have tomatoes (sans salmonella) in no time! We got the Berkey up and running. The next big test will be running this nasty well water through it. It was suggested that we just get the filter and build our own. But, we needed to see how it worked and I wanted it for the aesthetics. We may make our own in the future. For now, we’re happy with it and maybe we won‘t have to pay for our drinking water anymore. I’ve been trying to get paper work organized. It’s a constant battle. I’m also working on making a little schedule for myself in an effort to use my time more wisely.

Another busy weekend

So much for posting everyday. When the wind blows I loose my connection. We called the phone company, and of course, it was dead calm when they called back. Just another work in progress...
I started some veggie seeds. I didn’t do this sooner because I didn’t want to start a garden if we were going to be booted out at any time. Since it looks like we’re going to be here longer, and the price of everything going through the roof, I decided it was worth it. I have had great success gardening here in the past. The seeds were 10 packets for a dollar, so what the heck. Maybe we’ll get to eat fresh tomatoes again.


The Sherline tongue weight scale came in Friday. We weighed the pod Saturday. The tongue weight was 1250 lbs. That’s too much. Time to lighten up! Out go the canned goods in the pantry. We’ll weigh again later. I guess we’ll have to put together a mess kit to haul in the suburban (just like camping). We’ll just eat the canned goods and collect dry food from now on. Being newbies at towing a travel trailer, we thought it best to get the scale rather than take a chance at guesstimating. It’s a pretty cool little device.


We made a trip to town that was interesting. We got to witness lines at the pumps that were reminiscent of the ones in the 70’s. We finally broke down and got a Costco card. You’ve got to watch their pricing just like you do anywhere else. Some things are a better buy, while others are as much, if not more than the grocery store. Non-perishables were the only things I was interested in. I figure it’s worth the initial cost just in saving money on gas by cutting down on trips to the grocery store. We also went by a restaurant supply type store. They had lots of bulk items. We were pretty tired by then, so we’ll go back some other time for beans, flour, and other stuff. I noticed you’ve got to watch them too. They had the exact same taco seasoning for almost 3 times as much as Costco! Sneaky lil' buggers.

I'm going to start including at least one thing we’ve done each day to get closer to our goal. This will help me keep focused, and let anybody who cares (family, etc) know what we‘re doing. Eye on the prize and all that. I have listed the survival blogs that I read because they inspire me and give a lot of useful information about living on less. They also focus on being prepared for any kind of disaster be it financial or natural. This is important information for any and everyone. I don't always agree with their politics. I’m not big on politics or history, but I get a lesson on both almost everyday from Randy. I’m not getting into a political discussion with anyone. That’s Randy’s forte.
I have other things going on in my life besides getting ready to get out of here, so that may get posted also. If it bores you, that’s ok. I don’t enjoy every post on all the blogs and sites I read either. Just wait though, something interesting will come up soon.

Working weekend

We got lots done this weekend. We cleaned up around the travel trailer, and pulled the slide in. This was in preparation for moving it to a better location on this property. We bought the trailer before we bought the tow vehicle, so we haven't even towed it anywhere yet. I know, it's kind of backwards. But, I was freaking out at the time, sure they were going to throw us out on the street any day. I was also thinking about the land we had purchased in Texas. It's a pretty big trailer (26') and very heavy. So, we got a bigger hitch (class IV). Now it looks like we are going to have to buy more stuff in order to haul this big thing safely. Big trans cooler, dual cam sway control, and weight distribution hitch. What's next? Actually, we knew we were going to need those things. Now's as good a time as any. The prices are only going to get higher. We still need to look into getting a couple of marine batteries for the solar. Randy corrected me on using solar for the a/c, "Ha!, you're joking right?". Fans, swamp cooler, maybe. Oh well, wishful thinking on my part. I didn't know! As I mentioned before, Ruby and I spoil very easily.

Topic change:

The woman at the AG's office is coming around on how much she's willing to take for the property. The tax assessed value for just the land. Well, since she wasn't so accommodating previously, we've been spending all our money on getting the hell out of here. We had also been told earlier, we couldn't buy it even if we wanted to. I don't trust these people. I feel like we've been lied too and are now being extorted for what ever they can get out of us. I'm calling bullshit. Our friends and family think this whole thing is insane, or we are. They sound like they aren't real sure if they should believe us or not. Even the lawyer gave us a kind of cock-eyed look. Well, folks, it is happening. I'm getting ready to get a voice recorder to record what this woman is telling Randy. The only explanation I can come up with is that the state needs money, and will take whatever they can get. There is an awesome well-fare system here, and I imagine that gets pretty costly. If this keeps up you're going to get to read my rant on that. The lawyer did say that if we do manage to work out some kind of deal, come back and see him. Yeah, no kidding? It's not like we want to stay here forever, but it would be nice to leave on our own terms. That's enough for now. I'm just getting mad all over again.

Hotter than hades!

It is hot here in the armpit of Washington state (that's SE Wa) 102! I had to retreat to the escape pod with a/c. They say it's a desert here. But, with all the farmers and sheeple watering in the heat of the day, it gets pretty darn humid. Ruby the wonder dog has totally whimped out on me! She won't even come out with me when I go out for a smoke. I knew she didn't like the heat, but come on. She's going to have a hellava time if we ever get down to Texas. I may be spoiling both of us, but it's hard to even think in that kind of heat! I'm going to have to just get up earlier in the morning, get stuff done then maybe retreat.

I feel a rant coming on, but I'm going to wait and see what happens next. That being said, I'm going to try to think in a more positive direction for now. Stealth survival blog mentioned today that it seems like the survival blogs are getting kind of gloomy. I was thinking that the other day, but can you blame them? It comes and goes in waves. Linnabary reminded his readers of that today. There are others that are trying to bring us back up too. That's just the one I thought of.

I found a cool web site the other day through one of the blogs I read, and I can't seem to figure out which one. Anyway, it has some good easy and basic recipes. I grew up with a single mom who was busy working her butt off just to get something on the table. So, I don't have mom's or even grandma's recipes to fall back on. However, I love to cook. So it was exciting for me to find these recipes that use simple inexpensive ingredients. They are great for prep food too, mostly dry ingredients.
I'll warn you, it has some religious content. But, who couldn't use a little god right now?


Here's the site: hillbillyhousewife.com