THERE IS NO SENIOR DISCOUNT FOR READING THIS!!

Lying around, pondering the problems of the world, I've realized that at my age... I don't really give a rat's butt anymore.

If walking is good for your health, the mailman would be immortal.

A whale swims all day, eats only fish and drinks water, but is still fat.

A rabbit runs, hops, and only lives 15 years, while a tortoise doesn't run, does mostly nothing, yet lives for 150 years. And, they tell us to exercise? I don't think so.

Now that I'm older, here's what I've discovered:

1. I started out with nothing and I still have most of it.

2. My wild oats are mostly enjoyed with prunes and all-bran.

3. Funny, I don't remember being absent-minded. 

4. Funny, I don't remember being absent-minded. 

5. If all is not lost, then where the heck is it? 

6. It was a whole lot easier to get older than it was to get wiser. 

7. Some days you're the top dog; some days you're the hydrant. 

8. I wish the buck really did stop here; I sure could use a few of them. 

9. Kids in the back seat cause accidents. 

10. Accidents in the back seat cause kids. 

11. It is hard to make a comeback when you haven't been anywhere.

12. The world beats a path to your door only when you're in the bathroom.                                                                                     

13. If God wanted me to touch my toes, he'd have put them on my knees.

14. When I'm finally holding all the right cards, everyone wants to play chess.

15. It is not hard to meet expenses... they're everywhere.

16. The only difference between a rut and a grave is the depth.

17. These days I spend a lot of the time thinking about the hereafter; I go somewhere to get something and then wonder...what am I hereafter?

18. Funny, I don't remember being absent-minded.            

19. It is a lot better to be seen than viewed.

20. Have I sent this message to you before... or, did I get it from you?!

How To Save THOUSANDS Every Year With a Few Phone Calls!

To date this is the best video I’ve seen on how to cut your everyday monthly expenses. Worth watching. Prepper Princess is a smart girl when it comes to prepping. My neighbor and I do this continuously, it works!

Video Link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNjBjGkoZWo

Home Made Vanilla Extract Update/Results

Back in Feb 2019 I made homemade vanilla extract because of the high cost of buying those small bottles with the amount of baking I do that require this extract.

Results:

After 4 months of waiting, I taste tested it compared to one of the small supermarket bottles of extract. I measured a ½ teaspoon of the extract and tossed it into my mouth, swished it around and holding it for a ½ minute getting a good taste of it and rinsed. I then did the same thing with the homemade extract.

Honestly, as much as I tried, I could not tell the difference!

As you can see looking through the bottle it appears a little cloudy with fine particulates. The particulates do settle to the bottom and on the beans but the slightest movement stirs it up. I plan to use a coffee filter and filter the extract when I fill a smaller bottle.

Link to making this extract:

https://livingprepared.blogspot.com/2019/02/home-made-vanilla-extract.html

When first bottled.

After 4 months it’s ready to bake with.

Soil Moisture Amount Measuring, Container Gardening

Container or bucket gardening makes a lot of sense for the small gardener. I intend to continue this method. Growing potatoes in containers are just too easy, you simply plant the potato seeds and forget about them until harvest time. Harvesting is even easier, just dump the container on the ground and pick out the potatoes. No digging and no risk of stabbing the potatoes if using a potato fork like when growing in the ground.

One issue I have experienced, is maintaining the proper amount of moisture in the buckets. In loose or sandy soil water drains through and away from the roots quickly, so proper water maintenance must be measured/monitored throughout the growing cycle.

Another issue for me is the sun. Here in Florida the suns rays are intense and contribute to faster soil moisture evaporation (think of solar ovens!).

I needed a way of verifying the actual soil moisture. What I found is the Dr. Meter moisture meter instrument. Initial testing shows it does work, it’s simple to use and best of all no batteries are needed.

Here’s the meter, it comes with a 7½ inch probe length, long enough to get to the plants roots.

Checking a hanging plant.

Checking my onions in a bucket.

Close up of the meter in the onion bucket.

I drilled a ¼ inch hole about 4 inches from the bottom of the bucket and inserted the probe. This allows checking the moisture near the bottom of the bucket. I’ll probably add several more holes so I can check the moisture at multiple levels.

The moisture reading at the  bottom of the bucket.

Right now, I feel this meter is the answer to my monitoring the moisture in the buckets/containers.

Link to buy:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00PTLGKSQ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Manufacturers Comments:

Dr. Meter S10 Soil Moisture Sensor Meter Hygrometer-Garden, Farm, Lawn, Plants, Indoor and Outdoor (No Battery Needed).

This Soil Moisture Meter used for Soil moisture test not for Water moisture test. Measure soil's moisture content by just plugging in the probe

Easy to read moisture levels, including ten scales

No batteries or electricity needed, plug and read

Color coded reading system, from red, green to blue

Compact and portable design for indoor/outdoor use

All knowing, Clueless Milineals !!

Checking out at the store, the young cashier suggested to the much older lady that she should bring her own grocery bags, because plastic bags are not good for the environment. 

The woman apologized to the young girl and explained, "We didn't have this 'green thing' back in my earlier days."

The young clerk responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations."

The older lady said that she was right -- our generation didn't have the "green thing" in its day. The older lady went on to explain:

Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled. But we didn't have the "green thing" back in our day.

Grocery stores bagged our groceries in brown paper bags that we reused for numerous things. Most memorable besides household garbage bags was the use of brown paper bags as book covers for our school books. This was to ensure that public property (the books provided for our use by the school) was not defaced by our scribblings. Then we were able to personalize our books on the brown paper bags. But, too bad we didn't do the "green thing" back then.

We walked upstairs because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks.

But she was right. We didn't have the "green thing" in our day.

Back then we washed the baby's diapers because we didn't have the throw-away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy-gobbling machine burning up 220volts. Wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing.

But that young lady is right; we didn't have the "green thing" back in our day.
Back then we had one TV, or radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana. In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity.

But she's right; we didn't have the "green thing" back then.

We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blade in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull.

But we didn't have the "green thing" back then.

Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service in the family's $45,000 SUV or van, which cost what a whole house did before the "green thing." We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 23,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest burger joint.

But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the "green thing" back then?

Please forward this on to another selfish old person who needs a lesson in conservation from a smart ass young person.

We don't like being old in the first place, so it doesn't take much to piss us off... Especially from a tattooed, multiple pierced smartass who can't make change without the cash register telling them how much.