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1. Finished putting in the electrical outlets in the barn workshop. Woke up to no hot water and a split hot water tank on Wednesday morning. So had to pick up a new hot water tank and while at Lowes I picked up 5 LED shop lights for the Barn workshop and a bunch of tips that were on clearance for the cordless drill.

   Got a new 20 Volt cordless drill with 2 Batteries since my old one grew legs and walked off.

   Added several more pages of information to our binders.

   Working to buy 3 or 4, 235 Watt used solar panels. Wasn’t looking to buy any at this time but for the price I would be stupid not to.

   Dropped off the taxes to our tax preparer and had a very nice conversation about our homestead and taxes. We want to sell some of what we produce so it was nice to get some tax advice now. We are still a few years away from our trees producing any sizable crop.

2. Hunkering down in the midst of a spring nor’easterner. During the couple nice days last week I was able to replenish some kindling and use up the last of the old wood from our yard cleanup last fall. I also started packing up what I will mail back home.

   This week I took stock of the pole barn. It’s seen better days, but is still standing. The chicken coop in the barn will be re-filled with stored kindling, chicken raising supplies, gardening supplies and some rather old and rusted hand tools that I was given. I’ll be moving all my machines and good hand tools to the shed or locked garage to keep them out of the weather and nosy neighbors. A treasure trove for future farmers to be sure.

   I am starting to put together an information binder. I do have one at the Redoubt cabin, but need one here specific to this place. Since I’m leaving 2 years earlier than I expected, I’ll have to get moving because, as Lily says, time is a’wastin’.

   And, finally, I did venture out one day to a big city for a curated art tour and lunch with an old society group I belong to. Wonderful! The lunch conversation was eye-opening, however, and made me realize why anonymity is so very important. Keeping my head low and getting it done.

3. Exceptional snowfall this winter so I’ve had more time to research upcoming outdoor projects. After exploring many options for my wife’s raised garden beds we decided to make them out of concrete blocks. We can always face them with wood planks if we want to get fancy but they should last just about forever the way we have them designed.

   1. Great idea. The concrete should last quite a long time. It will crumble a bit after awhile, but will still stay sturdy. I designed a raised bed teaching garden for a school that was built by an eagle scout as his project. Depending on where you live, you’ve probably already investigated if you’ll need to use landscaping cloth to keep the chiggers from invading from the ground up.

4. I absolutely love your resourcefulness! Way to go! I m looking forward to seeing how it turns out. This “outside of the box” thinking is what will make our lives easier if our lives make a radical change in the future.

5. We have gone to full spring this week. While all the daffodils bloomed in late February, the bushes and fruit trees are blooming now. I don’t mind sharing but last season the birds got most of the elderberries so I was going to cut them back so they would be easier to cover with bird netting. I was a bit to slow and the bushes have budded already.

   This week I canned fresh meats and vegetables which I got on sale at the local grocer. My neighbor gave me three #10 cans of various vegetables which still need to be done.

   Have been moving rabbits around this week. We were given some cages and supplies by a neighbor who is getting out of the business so it means changing things up. The large meat rabbits stay outside all year but I am moving most of the small pet-sized rabbits outside for the season. Most of those will be traded to the feed store next week. The lionhead rabbits are traded with individuals/families as they are more costly.

   My dog groomer clippers went belly up half way thru a spring cut of a long haired dog. I always shave the rear-end first for health reasons but now I have something that looks like a lion mane up front and a poodle butt in the rear. Ha!Ha! New clippers should arrive today so I can finish up that chore!

   Have a great week!

6. JWR,

   Could you please explain why you chose .450 Bushmaster over .458 Socom?
   I am looking for something to replace my Mossberg during hikes here in the Redoubt.

   Your opinion is greatly appreciated,

   JM

   1. In terms of ballistics, they are similar. But I prefer the.450 Bushmaster over the .450 SOCOM because of its confirmed popularity. Because several midwestern states opened up deer hunting to this cartridge (in areas that had previously been “shotgun only”), the .450 Bushmaster has become VERY popular. Great popularity will mean long term continuity of ammo production, lower cost per round (because of larger volume production) a wider range of bullets weight ammo available, and both hypersonic and subsonic loadings becoming available from a number of ammo makers.

7. Hello Mr. Rawles,

   I have two questions.

   1. Should a buyer of private sale stripped AR lower avoid a private seller that insists upon a bill of sale?
   2. I am looking at an 1895 Chiliean Mauser that is chambered in 7.62×51 and have heard that these actions aren’t reliable in that caliber. What would the cost be to have a gunsmith rebarrel into a more appropriate caliber, and which caliber for a non-reloader?
   Thanks

   1. In answer to your questions:
      1. When you want privacy in buying a particular gun or receiver, then I’d recommend NO paper trail. If need be, buy 80% lowers and complete them yourself.
      2.) A Chilean 7.62 is NOT safe to shoot with either standard military loads or commercial hunting loads. They really should be shot only with mild handloads. For re-barreling, with a M1895 Chilean, three chamberings worth considering are 7×57 Mauser, 6.×55 Swedish Mauser and .257 Roberts. The action can definitely handle those.

8. JWR,

   Thank you. None of these excellent points were addressed in any of the .450 BM vs. .458 SC videos or articles I’ve read.

   JM

9. As far as the seller at the gun show offering a bumpstock, if I had been there I would have BOUGHT it. I, for one do not give a ROYAL PURPLE C**P about such an unconstitutional law. Of course, I would not advertise my purchase, or tell anyone about it either.
   Here’s to all the scofflaws, whistleblowers, smugglers, black marketeers, outlaws, privateers, and patriots who stand up for the Bill of Rights and the Constitution.!

10. We had another relatively dry week here in the Midlands, so we were once again able to get some things done around the farm. We continued preparing the raised beds for planting next weekend, as well as clearing and burning some yard debris. Unfortunately, a nest of fire ants has taken up residence in one of the beds, so I’ll need to clear them out before I can plant anything in it. The blueberry bushes are still blossoming and the blackberries and grape vines are putting out new leaves as well. Wife gave the dogs a bath, of which they were less than pleased. I participated in our church safety team’s monthly training, and ordered some situational shooting targets for next month’s training.

11. We used what we had for our raised beds. We built some with concrete blocks and others with 2×10’s & 2×12’s. We lined the wood ones with cut down tin roofing we had removed from another project. This prevents most of the heavy moisture from rotting the wood. Also they don’t dry out as quickly.

    1. Sis, great tip on the tin liners for the raised beds. I’ll have to incorporate that into mine.

    2. I made some raised beds a few years ago. I guess they could be called hybrid raised beds. They were rectangular made out of 2×6’s. I set the wood down and dug down about 12″ inside the bed. The result was a bed around 16″ deep. I put the dug dirt around the edge of the wood of the bed. The soil dug out was really poor Wyoming dirt. There was a spot in the yard with good quality soil. So, I dug that out and put them into the beds. Yeah, I know, it was a lot of work. But in the end there were several pseudo-raised beds with very good soil. The next hurdle was getting water to the beds in the dry Wyoming climate.

12. Prepping in Anchorage, AK (I know, but B&R here). 3 br duplex.

    Planning a level platform to put in an 8 site Alaska buckets sip system. Need the platform due to an uneven yard. Have tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers under T5’s ready to go.

    Buying a large stuffed animal tomorrow for the express purpose of using it as a “patient” to begin teaching my young boys first aid.

    Built my first AR pistol, Sig Romeo5 on it. Shoots nice.

    Need more canned meats, Israeli bandages, a couple tourniquets and some celox.

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