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 [1], 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:
Bummer! We are now in the middle of lambing season, and we’ve had to care for a few bummer lambs. Lily had poured her time into handling most of this responsibility. She is such a trooper! My part was mostly putting up more windbreaks for the in-pen sheep shed, driving to get supplies, and so forth.
Pictured above is my Great Aunt Martha Rawles, bottle-feeding some bummer lambs, circa 1948, in Mendocino County, California.
I spent some time this week buying and installing a replacement car battery and reconfiguring a spare car that we plan to give to one of our daughters, for her “Daily Driver.” (Maybe. There are other additional options available to her.) Since she is planning to get her Extra Class ham radio license, I also had to check on the car’s radio and antenna. The car is equipped with a dual-band Yaesu radio. Regardless of her choice of vehicles, we plan to give her that radio.
I’ve been busier than usual this week, with writing and editing. I recently wrapped up writing the latest issue of the S.O.S. Newsletter. Then I had to make a trip into town to get them printed. I also had to print out all of the address labels with my desktop printer. Next, I’ll be stuffing envelopes. I expect some more newsletter subscriptions in the next three weeks, so that will surely mean even more printing and envelope stuffing.
Now, Lily’s part of the report…
Avalanche Lily Reports:
Dear Readers,
The weather this week has been in the high forties and low thirties Fahrenheit. We have had a lot of snow showers that have left a trace of snow. Wednesday night we had snow, rain, and high winds. All of our valley lost power. Hundreds of trees are down. We are not sure when it will be restored since the whole region took a heavy hit. But we have Starlink and a redundant battery system to keep us on the Internet, as needed. Over this weekend we are forecasted get up to eight inches of snow. The high winds didn’t affect us too much. A few of our taller, more majestic trees had their tops knocked off. That is sad to me. Our next-door neighbor’s property (less than a mile away) took a hard hit and lost some beautiful trees at their driveway entrance and by their chicken coop. They called us to let us know how bad it had been for their property. We went over with our Chainsaws to see and to offer any help. Most of the chainsawing had already been completed by the time we arrived, so we helped them clean up branches, and stack firewood.
Last weekend we went to see our #1 Son and his wife’s new house and the grandchildren. We had a wonderful visit with them. They have a beautiful new home that has a bit of land and more living space in a better neighborhood with room to roam, explore and to play and good neighbors, some of who go to their church — with lots of other children to play with.
When we got home we found that my senior dairy sheep had birthed a ewe lamb. She was dry and running around mom who was lying down. I looked at mom’s rear and saw two hooves sticking out. I figured she needed help. I pulled and there was no budging. I reached in to feel for presentation. All appeared normal. I went in and got Jim to come out and help me pull. He had no luck. We tried together. Nope. Called the neighbor husband to come help. Nope. Called the vet. They gave turning advice over the phone. Went out and tried it. Nope. Went back to house and called back the vet and asked them to come. They came and found the baby dead, which we already knew was the case. Using their turning expertise and tools, pulled baby out. Baby’s hips and leg were turned in a way to block their exit. (“Hip lock.”) The vet then reached back in to see if another was present. Yes! There was! (The third, triplets.) Pulled her out. She was alive!! Gave her to mom, who was exhausted. Mom licked a few times. We dried the baby off. Treated mom with Antibiotics and nutrients. Gave special food and water and tucked them in for the night.
In the morning, I went out to see how all were doing. I had to help mom up. She was receptive to the firstborn but not the second. She had not licked it enough the night before. Try as we could, she has rejected her and will not allow her to nurse. BUMMER! Now I have two bummer lambs. By the way, this is the most trouble I have ever had with lambing during the five years that I’ve had sheep. So I am milking the mom by hand, every three to four hours during the day, starting at 6 AM and going until 9 PM. I refuse to get up during the night to do so, and giving it to the baby in a bottle right away. I also have frozen sheep milk for a while longer — while it lasts. Mom absolutely refuses to let the baby nurse and it’s harder struggle, because she is a big sheep, to let baby nurse than to hold her and milk her. So hold and milk it is.
So the other bummer lamb from the meat and fiber flock was a twin and mom birthed it in the fray of the other sheep and older lambs were stealing her milk. So she too probably didn’t have a good chance to bond with it and I found her rejecting him. I held mother down to nurse him and that became a terrible rodeo even though she is a smaller sheep. So I fed him the frozen sheep milk. Well, also on Sunday morning much earlier, 6AM, than Senior Dairy sheep some time after we left after 10AM, my maybe, last ewe, birthed twins an ewe and ram lambs. Well in the midst of her hormones Bummer baby “Gr”, began nursing and she let him. She thought she had three so let him nurse also. I thought all was good.
But two days later her own little ram lamb who was incredibly vigorous with nursing, late the night before, (I was keeping an eye on the three and checking their weights and tummies, was found less than seven hours later by me, lying very listless on the floor. (An aside: Last year, I lost three lambs for no apparent reason. Two, within twenty-four hours of birth and a single twelve days after birth. So it happens.)
I immediately scooped him up and brought him into the house, put a heating pad on him by the wood stove and fed him every two hours until 10 pm that night, and gave him Nutridense twice and kept him warm by the fire. But he never bounced back and died that night. Well, sadly, it is “Survival of the fittest.” Now, since Tuesday, Mom has recognized that the little Bummer “Gr” isn’t hers after all. Now I’m holding her down, she is a smaller breed of sheep, and has a better disposition the “Gr’s” mother, to let him nurse five times a day, while keeping a close eye on the welfare of her little ewe lamb. It is working thusfar. So this has been a week of sheep drama. That little “GR” is one of the most personable baby lambs I have ever met. He runs to me when I come into the shed and jumps up on me and loves to be hugged and cuddled. He is so adorable! Baby sheepies! 🙂
So also last Sunday we brought little “Gr” with us to see the Grandsons. This was so I could feed him every four hours. This allowed the newest mom to bond with her babies. When we got back home he nursed from her and she allowed it for a few days. But anyway, on Sunday we went to Coeur d’Alene to the Coin Show at the Kootenai County Fairgrounds. We went to sell some silver to raise cash to buy an important and very practical tangible for the ranch, sometime in the coming weeks. Jim said that he was “…taking my own advice” and sold about 3% of our silver to parlay it into that other tangible. And FYI, we acquired all of our silver at between $5.35 and $30.60 per ounce.)
Anyhow, the tiny lamb “Gr” was a real hit at the show with several children who were attending with their parents and several of the vendors, and also with our grandchildren. After we left the Coin show about 12:30 PM we went down the block to the North 40 Farm & Ranch store to buy some more tangible tools (Jim said, “Tangitools”) for the ranch. I needed three sturdier horse rakes than those stupid plastic ones that are $37 dollars and break so easily, and two more pitchforks. We bought wider steel hay rakes for the horse manure rakes. Surpriisngly, they were only $25 dollars each. We also bought some more colored collars so thatI know which babies belong to which moms, and some more lamb colostrum boluses to mix with the frozen sheep milk.
As we were loading our purchases into the car, we heard sirens and saw four police cars come down the road between North 40 and the Fairgrounds. We watched, wondering if they were going to the Kootenai County Fairgrounds where both the Coin Show and the Northwest Gold and Treasure show were being held. Yep, sure enough. They pulled into the Fairgrounds. We wondered what had happened? We were also super glad to have already left the grounds. Jim told #1 Son about the incident when we arrived to their home a few minutes later. The next morning, our #1 Son found an article on what had happened there and sent us the link: “Man arrested after backpack caught Fire at gold mining event at Kootenai County Fairgrounds.” [2]
I’m glad that we’d had a time constraint to get the shopping done and to meet our Son and his family after selling some silver, because I was curious about the Mining show and kinda wanted to go in, but we didn’t. If we had gone in then we would have been right smack dab in the middle of that craziness. God spared us. Thank you, Lord.
Another Sheep story: The older Meat and Fiber Flock babies this week are old enough and big enough, now, to let out into the sheep yard with their parents. Last week they were too small and I was very worried about birds of prey, but this week, I think we’re good. They’re quick little sheep. So here is a very cute story:
Their shed is on a slight hill above the rest of the run. The floor of the shed is eight inches off the ground. They have a very large heavy door that I swing open against the fence and leave it open during the day so that they all can run in, bounce and hop in, if it rains or a predator approaches. One afternoon, while I was holding down the mom sheep for the bummer to nurse, I watched the babies come running in and out of the shed. At one point, six of the seven older babies were all lined up in the doorway looking out at their parents and one lamb who were at the manger, eating hay. It was sooo cute to me to see them all together in a posse, looking out the door over the lower domain of the yard. I wish I had had my camera to get the photo from behind and then a front photo of their faces…
I cleaned the hen house.
I cleaned out the main of the Dairy sheep pen. They still have their hay island under their hay rack. Their shed isn’t too bad just now since I had cleaned it last week. But since I have been running in and out of there multiple times a day and it is very muddy with some hay mixed in that holds the water and is about two inches thick, I needed to get that cleaned up so I can move in and out of there without getting my feet wet since I want to wear my Sloggers and not boots. Of course it’s also much more pleasant for them, too.
We also emptied out our chest freezer. Some of the frozen foods went into one of our two propane freezers and a lot of it went to the chickens because it was multiple years old. Only the three skins remain in it as of now. Since we are in the midst of a power outage, I will wash it out later. Jim will hook the generator up yo the freezer for a few hours each day to keep the skins frozen.
I went through our bedding and culled all polyester fleece/plastic blankets and clothes and will give them to the thrift store. I want natural fiber bedding and clothing in our home. The exception is outerwear such as jackets, ski pants, rain coats, etc. If any relatives come for long term they need to bring their own blankets. We do have a lot of extra comforters and sheets etc. But still, best for most to bring their own
This week I also filled a bunch of seedling trays and planted cabbages, broccolis, cauliflowers, parsley, cilantro, lemon grass, cumin, basils, and put them in the greenhouse bedroom. I also planted Vit Mache, Broccolini, and some other things out in the greenhouse outside. I also began planning out the multiple gardens. I want to have plant all of the beds this year…
I spent some time studying Deuteronomy 32 and Psalm 46 . And reviewed Psalms 1, 2, 8, 19, 23, 46, 51, 91, and 121.
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.