To be prepared for a crisis, every Prepper must establish goals and make both long-term and short-term plans. In this column, the SurvivalBlog editors review their week’s prep activities and planned prep activities for the coming week. These range from healthcare and gear purchases to gardening, ranch improvements, bug-out bag fine-tuning, and food storage. This is something akin to our Retreat Owner Profiles, but written incrementally and in detail, throughout the year. We always welcome you to share your own successes and wisdom in your e-mailed letters. We post many of those — or excerpts thereof — in the Odds ‘n Sods Column or in the Snippets column. Let’s keep busy and be ready!
Jim Reports:
This week, I built two new 16′ x 16′ sheep pens, using 5-foot-tall small mesh welded wire sheep panels, and T-posts. The panel mesh has just 4″ squares, so no little lambs will escape, and no young rams will get their heads stuck, and they can with cattle panels. Since we are planning to keep at least three rams for the two flocks, having separate pens is a must, so that the rams don’t batter each other to death, with obsessives head-butting. I left 10-foot spaces between the two new pens and the existing sheep pen that adjoins our sheep shed. That was to prevent well-timed through-the-fence head-butting. I’ve seen it happen with our adult rams, and it isn’t pretty.
Now, Lily’s part of the report…
Avalanche Lily Reports:
Dear Readers,
This week the weather was quite rainy and cool, until Friday. On Thursday we were out and about and ran into huge heavy snow showers. Ick! Winter and spring are fighting each other to see who will get the upper hand. Spring to summer will eventually win this battle. 
I did the usual animal chores and Hen house clean-out. I evicted the last batch of chicks from the inner coop sending them into the larger coop with the other adults/their parents. I then cleaned it out and transferred the newest hatched chicks out to the Hen house and into the inner coop.
Then I cleaned the Great Room, dusting, vacuuming, and washing floors.
I did yet another reorganization of our Great Room – Living Room section. I changed out a rug for different color rug that had been in storage. I took down some curtains that made the room seem too dark and kinda sloppy. We removed a side table and a lamp and re-situated a lamp. Now it seems more homey to me. LOL, I’m often re-arranging the Great Room. I’m not a person that likes to look at the same thing forever. ;-). Plus, I want it nice looking, comfortable, and easier to clean. I also don’t like looking at clutter. That is over-stimulating for me. This frees me up and gives us space, to do what I really want to do: be outside, cooking, and or doing more craft-type stuff.
I scrubbed a bunch of galvanized cans and water and food containers and mixed up three cans worth of recently purchased grains and legumes for our chickens.
I did a lot of dishes, laundry, cleaning bathrooms and our bedroom, vacuuming, and washing floors this week.
I did not get out to work the garden much at all, except to plant a small bed of Einkorn to see if it would grow here.
We spent an afternoon at the Son and Daughter-in-law’s visiting with the Grandsons and newborn Granddaughter. I gave the two oldest boys another lesson in Hebrew. It was a lovely, lovely time.
One day, an unusual thing occurred. I spent a lot of the day on the phone getting acquainted with a person who was slightly on my periphery in my home state thirty years ago. The conversation was a major spiritual thing and was very, very encouraging and spurred me on to grow closer to the Father and to His son, our savior Jesus Christ. It’s so heartwarming to find out that the Father has old acquaintances, that one hasn’t seen in thirty years on a similar path and with a similar outlook as you, in Him. Miss Eloise is to thank for this re-aquaintance. That same day was a very social day. Later, I was on the phone with our neighbors for quite a while, too. Therefore, not much else was accomplished.
I wrote out the first two chapters of Matthew and spent time looking up the quoted prophecies in the “Old Testament”. I spent quite a while in prayer walking around the ranch this week. There are a lot of things to be prayed about/for, family members, friends and neighbors, national events, and world events. I am praying this week that the Father keeps me super grounded and stable in Him and in His Word. That He keeps us hidden in Him and under His wings. That he keeps all fear from us. That when the day comes I will stand for Him with a strong, uncompromising spirit. I will not hide nor cower in the rocks of the earth when he appears! I trust the father will take care of us in all situations. Psalm 91!
May You All Remain Safe, Blessed, and Hidden in Christ Jesus,
– Avalanche Lily, Rawles
o o o
As always, please share and send e-mails of your own successes and hard-earned wisdom and we will post them in the “Snippets” column this coming week. We want to hear from you.