To be prepared for a crisis, every Prepper must establish goals and make 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 the Comments. Let’s keep busy and be ready!
Jim Reports:
This week I made preparations for another gun show road trip. I love to travel in the American Redoubt at this time of year, with the Aspen and Tamarack (Western Larch) trees in full color.
My plan is to sell off all of our extra ARs and with the proceeds buy some carefully selected pre-1899 cartridge guns. I’m hoping to have this gradual process completed by April or May of 2020. This will mean making several more gun show trips, and consistently scouring the online antique gun sales listings and auction web sites. The market for pre-1899 antiques is surprisingly thin. For example, you can’t just go out on any given day and buy half a dozen Swedish Mausers that are dated 1898. There may be a total of only three or four on the market–across more than a dozen web sites–and of those listed there might be just one or two that meets all criteria for bore condition, mechanical reliability, and in some cases, originality. (I do buy some “sporterized” and refinished guns, if they are priced accordingly.) The quest continues…
I must say that having antique guns as an investing hobby is quite fun and profitable. I do love to finding a bargain. The only drawback is that I feel a bit torn when it comes time to turn over some of that inventory. I ask myself: “Will I ever be able to find another of “X” model, in this condition?” But then I remind myself: A man should never fall in love with an investment. If you can’t bring yourself to sell it, then it isn’t an investment–it has become your precious heirloom. And you have become Gollum.
Comically, some people get attached to their “favorite” stock shares, or crypto coins. I’d sell any stock or e-coin in a heartbeat to take advantage of a market move. One share is just like any other, and can be replaced on the next trading day or even intraday. I might take pause before selling precious metals–especially any silver that I’ve earmarked for post-collapse barter. But such assets can quickly and easily be replaced, identically. But there there some guns, other tools, and books that I have to consciously re-evaluate before selling. The decision is almost always to go ahead and sell, but I do recognize that these are not fully fungible assets. For these, I look both toward to my future hindsight, and to that of my progeny. Will they ask: “What was Grandpa Rawles thinking, when he sold that?”
Avalanche Lily Reports:
Dear Readers,
This week, mid week, the weather was beautifully sunny and warmish. It was perfect weather to work on outdoor projects in the barn, corrals and gardens. I accomplished a lot on the list I told y’all about last week. Making the list and sharing it with you spurs me on to do it. I have to keep my word, ya know, to the best of my ability.
I cleaned out the hen house. It wasn’t bad at all. It helps that there were only four birds living in it during the past two or so months. Four birds do not leave a lot of mess.
The mixed baby chicks arrived! Babies! We have babies in the house, again! They are so adorable! I love hearing their contented peeping and holdin’ them. They’re so soft and light like thistle down-little bundles of life.
We order chicks every two or so years. We have also incubated batches of eggs successfully on three occasions.
When they arrived, their shallow stock tank was ready, situated near the wood stove, lined with straw, with the heat lamp attached to one end of the tank and turned on. We filled the gallon water dispenser with water and enhanced it with a teaspoon of sugar and electrolytes. We spent the first hour with them, individually taking them out of the shipping box, introducing them to their enhanced water, individually making them drink at least four sips before releasing them go to find the heat lamp and the chick starter.
Soon, all of the chicks had their first drinks and were oriented to the location of the water dish, heat lamp and chick starter plate. We continued to observe them to make sure they had learned the basics to survive and thrive. During the first hour or so, whenever, a chick became too sleepy looking, or was screaming, we’d scoop it up and make it get a few more drinks of the enhanced water.
When there are baby chicks in the house there is a lot of moments when we all take breaks from our activities to stop and observe the baby chick behavior. The instinctual behavior they are born with is amazing to observe in critters so young. They can be very funny, running suddenly from one end of the tank to the other, flapping their tiny wings, pecking their neighbor’s toes, scratching for feed and nearly losing their balance because they’re still so young, same with preening, scratching their noses. When one gets a piece of straw in their beak and shakes it all the rest come running to take a share. We have already identified a bully.
Miss Violet enjoys picking up her favorites, two lavender gray chicks, and cuddling with them on the lazyboy chair.
All arrived healthy. Not one was lost in transit, except that one appears to have a bum leg. Miss Eloise is full of compassion towards it and has adopted it, named it (M.). She makes sure M. gets water and food on a very regular basis. We have prayed for it’s healing. Already we are seeing, we think, some improvement. Miss Eloise is also on goopy bottom duty. Any chick that’s bottom goops up from poop, she washes with a wash cloth and warm water.
We only name a few chicks, never all of them, only the ones that stand out to us or we feel attached to for some reason or another.
Outside work: I was able to clean out the horse/cow stalls in shorter amount of time than I had anticipated. That manure went towards fertilizing the area of the future Expansion garden.
We, the girls and I, also began cleaning (we worked on it for three days so far) our open horse arena, the corrals, and a part of the meadow, and alternated placing the manure between the Expansion and Annex gardens. We are slowly on our way to building up these garden soils.
In the garden: Because one of you intrepid readers mentioned collecting Asparagus seeds from its little red fruit, I thought “Hmm, why did I not ever think of doing that?” Therefore, I went out and collected the last four berries remaining on the fronds and saved those few seeds. Thank you for mentioning it. I will be sure to collect the seeds much sooner next fall while most of the red berries are still present on the fronds.
The girls and I finished harvesting the red onions. I finished pulling the turnips. The very small ones and all of the greens went to the cows and horses.
I rototilled three sections of the garden. I decided not to burn any more of the weed seeds. I’ll just deal with them as they sprout next spring…. I still have another three sections to rototill and the Annex garden and maybe the Expansion… We’ll see.
We began to harvest the two over-crowded carrot beds, giving the greens and the too small carrots to the cows. The horses missed out on them, this time, because they went out to the meadows, but the cows are hanging tight near me when I’m working outside, because they have been getting lots of snacks lately, carrots, turnips, and some apples with rotten spots. Whenever I have something for them to eat, I call their names and “here cows” and they come running.
Our cows were loafing in the Expansion garden while I was laying down manure in there. It’s not yet fenced. I took a moment to visit with them. Our bull SH., was laying very contentedly in the warm sunlight, chewing his cud. He is a good boy, and is only 17 months old. He knows me as the matriarch and the hand that feeds him and makes his ears and chin feel good. I’m a member of his “herd”/family, he was raised here from four months, and he respects me thusfar… I always leave myself an out when I am near him and watch his behavior like a hawk. I never let him press his head against me. Only enough to scratch his ears, but not to play. I never show fear. I’m not afraid of him. I talk to him non stop in a kind soothing voice. If he tries to press his head against me, I back up just a little so there is no pressure from him on me and say, “No” gently and quietly, then I scratch him again. When I’m done, I just step backward, a few steps and talk to him and go on my way, watching him. He usually gives me a sleepy blink.
SH. is my handsome boy. He talks to me sometimes when I approach him. I don’t know how to describe the tone, it could be alarming to someone not understanding, but I don’t think it means anything, but that he is trying to communicate something friendly to me. It’s like he is greeting me and saying what have you got for us today? The first day that he exhibits towards me or anyone else, the slightest aggression, or the warm light in his eyes changes to a cold glitter, will be the day he is locked up in our bull pen. I hope he never does. I like him to be able to roam the ranch freely with his girls.
Anyhow, all that just to say that I approached him and gave his tail a scratch and his back a good rub and his sides a lot of pats. He just laid there enjoying all of the attention. Our cows and A. our new heifer, observed all of this loving that SH. was receiving and approached me and sniffed my hand which I then held out to her. She finally, for the first time, allowed me scratch her ears, just for a brief moment. It was a sweet interlude with the cows. I love my cows.
I have two rows yet to harvest of the experimental overwintering potatoes.
I finished pruning the red and gold raspberries. This job took more than four hours! But they look super nice and will be ready to go for next summer.
In the house: I started some San Francisco Sourdough starter that I had bought from Azure Standard, a few months back. I had stored it in the fridge until such time that I was able to attend to it properly. This week felt like it was the optimal time to get it going. We made our first loaf and it was a hit with Jim and the girls.
I decided to check Carla Emery’s book “The Encyclopedia of Country Living” this week on the subject of Sour Dough Starters and recipes. I read this comment of hers, concerning making your own sourdough from the wild yeasts floating around your home, which made me laugh. She is referring to the fact that you can catch wild yeasts from the air of your home, but whether you catch a good tasting one or not is a dicey outcome. She indicated that, “Trying to work with invisible livestock can be tricky”. (See Page 233.)
Miss Eloise and I washed and processed thirty more pounds of the tomatoes. At this time we only sent them through the Victorio food mill, boiled it down and froze the sauce with the intention of doing more with it later. We also washed the last fifty pounds the apples in preparation for making more jelly, apple sauce, and apple chips. Of that gallon of cinnamon apple chips we made last week, there is only a third of a jar left. (They were a family hit, also.)
In the bedroom greenhouse, all of the seeds are sprouting well. The girls and I did go for an exercise walk together this week in our meadows.
This coming week, I want to finish rototilling the Main garden, and lay in more manure in the weaker sections of the garden. Lay down more manure on the expansion and Annex gardens, and get them rototilled.
More warnings: Ice Age Farmer talking about the crop losses around the world and the reproductive collapse this past summer in the Arctic due to excessive snow fall last winter. Stock up. It is not hoarding when you use your own money to buy a bit at a time. Keep your OPSEC on what you buy. Use cash. Do not use those store cards. Shop at several different stores. Grow your own. Get food now, because the prices will be sky rocketing soon, and there will be scarcity.
May you all have a very blessed and safe week.
– Avalanche Lily, Rawles
o o o
As always, please share your own successes and hard-earned wisdom in the Comments.
I can see having a few pre 1899 firearms in the collection and as investment. But I guess I fail to see the logic in trading AR-15’s for them just because the “law” is favorable towards these antique weapons now. Politicians could easily change that and make any firearm illegal, at that point would be just as illegal as an “assault weapon” yet not nearly as useful or practical if the time comes to truly use them.
Agreed. When The Balloon Goes Up, I don’t think “legal” will matter much. “Legal” will be determined by who holds the gun. Better to have a modern one.
Im curious as to how many of the pre 1899’s out there haven’t been shot out. I have always viewed my firearms as serving two purposes, the first being its intended purpose ( accurately ), the second to hold it’s value.
I suppose as long as it has been in some crate slathered in cosmoline or a persons collection and not actually been subjected to 120 yrs of deer hunts, target shooting or worse, it would be considered a replacement for the earlier.
My father was part of a group that shot antique guns for fun. Some are beautiful works of art. I would love to have the time to learn more about antique guns. Looks like I should investigate buying one or two sooner than later.
We continue to preserve and prepare for winter here. I’m dehydrating green peppers today. The remainder of my focus is on finishing the organizing of our house. There is just something special about a smoothly running house (and homestead) that follows my mother’s advice of everything having a place and the importance of returning things to their place. This also gives me a chance to check the quantity and quality of items. Keeping our stuff in good working order is paramount in these interesting times. This also gives me, the designated shopper in a family of non-shoppers, a list of items to stock -up on at the thrift shops or on sale.
I love sourdough, Lilly, and used it exclusively (years ago) for bread baking as well as for pancakes. The delicious tang and sweet…yum! Unfortunately, my husband doesn’t like the flavor, but I keep the knowledge of how to use sourdough in case there is ever a need. Such a joy to have a meal of sourdough pancakes with maple syrup, eggs and sausage all from your own homestead. The food just tastes better somehow!
Keeping up the walking and dog training. It’s really beginning to pay off.
We got the largest chicken coop cleaned and spread with fresh straw and DE before the rain started. We’ve had two days of solid rain, the good kind, which is steady and without thunder and lightning. All the creeks, streams and ponds are up and the forest floor is well soaked, which means no fires. I pray for those folks in fire zones; it must be a terrible thing to live in constant fear of wild fires. And now the CA utility company turning off the power! With all the problems they are having because of their state politicians and corruption it seems the people would be marching in the streets.
There’s a new cash and carry grocer in the town closest to me, which has started a price war with the existing grocer. This week I got sirloin tip at $2.99/pd and skinless, boneless chicken breast at $1.39/pd. In my area those are great prices! My pressure canners, crock pots, dehydrators and freeze dryer are in full use now.
Wanted to work on apples this week but have to process the meat first.
Have a great week!
“With all the problems they are having because of their state politicians and corruption it seems the people would be marching in the streets.”
I would love to see a million California citizens surrounding Sacramento, with pitchforks, torches, tar and feathers, AR15’s, and AK47’s. What a glorious sight that would be.
Unfortunately, being California, and as cowed as the people are out there, it is not likely to happen. Oh well, one can dream.
Sorry, I know it’s not everyone who is cowed. It just seems that way.
I have lots of family and friends still in California and they are not cowed. They are armed, trained, and stocked up. A former law enforcement friend told me that there are as many unregistered weapons in CA as there are registered, and that’s not counting the criminals. Always remember that most of California, land mass wise, is Red and patriotic. There is a huge movement to recall Governor Newsom. I do pray for them. Many think they can save the state from the reckless politicians. I have my doubts.
“A man should never fall in love with an investment. If you can’t bring yourself to sell it, then it isn’t an investment–it has become your precious heirloom. ”
This also applies to houses, cars, “your life’s savings” and every other form of baggage in this life. With the exception of firearms, none of this dead weight is worth your life or that of your loved ones.
What profit is there in gaining the whole world, but losing your soul?
I don’t fear death or those who can only kill the mortal body. I don’t fear losing all of the material baggage I’ve accumulated in this life. What I do fear is Jesus Christ saying to me “Depart from me you worker of iniquity, I never knew you.”
HI ALL ,,what a week ,,,a group member was a pud power buyer and router tells me the power outs in Kali were planned mounth in advance as a test to see the reaction ,the reason the 260 kva lines were not shut down is power was being sold to outside the system ,not hard to smell a rat,,,am told PNW is next ,Ice age farmer posted today about what’s happening with PGE a good watch about what’s to come ,pay heed ,,
JIM my gut tells me we/you will need those ARs ,i see no way out of a fight to come ,
A little bird tells me two major food store chains are planning on cutting 300 to over a 1,000 stores in Kali ,due to expected unrest , I do know the 300 is real ,
The turmoil in the food supply is unbelievable ,it’s like a perfect storm ,the USDA is miss reporting numbers on grain ,beef ,hogs ,chicken ,the packers are hurting the beef producers playing games ,you can’t stay in business running a loss year after year ,
I fed 3,000 head of beef a year in years past ,i have cut back to 20 cow /calfs to keep the grass down ,i at one time farmed over 1,000 acres of hay ,grain ,this year I’m down to 50 acres ,
Letting the rest go to weeds and woodies ,,, no extra any longer to sell ,,,,,,
The point is can you grow your own food? I won’t be doing it for you any longer. ,,,in fact all my land holdings are out of production to outsiders ,valley people only ,
Still a good time to buy silver ,i know a place that only trades with silver rounds , I recommend fraction rounds ,10th,1/4,1/2,1oz sizes. junk US silver is not used for tax reasons ,
Would recommend setting up a white wall computer for as much as you can
Sun is shining ,so out I go
Tea and chocolate
We started asparagus plant 3 years ago. We harvested some this year. Yumm. I scattered lots of the seed pods on down the long row for the last 2 years. I have Lots of baby and half grown seedlings. I want the whole row to have asparagus. I have a Back to Basics food mill. I was turning the handle by hand to make tomato puree. After 20 min or so , I asked my husband to help as my arms were tired. He did it about 1 minute and decided to get his battery operated drill. He removed the mill handle and attached the drill to the bolt that the handle attached too. Wow! Did that ever make quick work of it. You might see if yours will let you use a drill too. 39 years of doing it the harder way . You’re never to old to learn new tricks .
Has anyone else noticed that Costco has stopped carrying the bulk bags of rice and beans? they have in my area anyway.
Lily, can you explain more about burning weed seed in the garden? We had a lot of overgrowth this year, and I would love to do something other than till all that weed seed back into the soil. Thanks!
Hi Captnswife,
I have been trying to burn the weed seeds that have dropped onto the soil with a wand on a small propane tank/propane torch. The reason why I stopped, is that I mulched the whole garden with straw this year and I don’t want to burn it. I want it to rot into my soil. I have two minds about it because burnt hay/ash also adds nutrients to the soil. But I’m not sure which is the better. Finally, I decided to just rototill the straw with the weed seeds under. I will burn the baby weeds before they take over the garden, in the spring instead of pulling them and before planting the garden??? We’ll see?? It’s always a war with the weeds. Scripture does say, “By the sweat of your brow will you till the soil”
Blessings,
Lily
We are alive. We are fit. We are blessed. Take heed. Make haste. Most sincere blessings to all.
Daughter and I painted the diesel tank with two coats of paint. I also put it on cement blocks until I can get a cement pad under it next year. Put up hooks to hang 3 of my extension cord reels. Cleaned, oiled and put away items that I purchased at the Amish auction. Organized and packed away non-temperature sensitive and critter proof items in the new barn seems like I’m always doing this.
Bought a cord of seasoned and split hard wood. We do not have any woods on our land (we opted for land that was suited for food production) I do have plans to buy some wooded land very near us in the future for our heating needs.
The wife and I throughly cleaned the last third of the basement.
Went to the Monday night auction and picked up a very nice apple/fruit crusher for $40. It was not an antique so it was in better shape than most I’ve seen. I was trying to get the 2 quart lard/fruit press they had but I stopped bidding at $70. After thinking about it I should have kept going since it was in excellent condition and they run well over $125 on line. I bid on and won 2 boxes of miscellaneous jewelry for $30. There was a very nice antique silver bracelet I wanted for my wife. She loved it. We went through the rest of the stuff and found other gold and silver pieces. Will be consigning the other good pieces and selling the rest off as “junk”. With gold and silver prices up we should do well. With a bid of $20 I got 3 oil lamps, one with a clear glass chimney and a red glass shade. The third lamp had no chimney. An interesting finds was a stitching horse that I got for $5. Was thinking about using it as a pattern to make more of to sell. The BEST find and deal of the night was the Briggs and Stratton kick start engine. I didn’t even know that Briggs and Stratton made a kick start. I have been on the look out for a Maytag kick start engine (on my watch for list) but they always seem to go for $300 or more regardless of condition. I was literally shocked to buy it for a mere pittance of $25. These kick start engines ran the farm in the early 1900’s.
Watched several videos on the Briggs and Stratton WMB engine. Picked up 2 new spark plugs for it ( I like to keep several spare spark plugs for all the small engines we have). Got a muffler for it as well. I doesn’t seem to need anything but want to put up some spare parts. Looks like most parts will have to be ordered on line.
So I have been thinking about getting an ox or two for around the homestead. For one steers are cheaper than horses and from what I understand in my research, oxen are much better in rough uneven terrain and don’t suffer injuries as much as draft horses in these types of environments. One of the video I was watching the guy used his ox to skid out trees. He made his own yoke and explain how. So for some stupid reason I now want to make a yoke. While watching videos I came across the “Rural Heritage” channel and they had some great video. While picking up parts for the WMB engine at Tractor Supply, I looked for a copy of the magazine and sure enough the had it. Will start reading that in the morning with my coffee.
The wife has expressed concern that the new addition is not as warm as the rest of the house. So I bought two fans and are using the to help move hot air in the basement over underneath the new addition. Seemed to be working I will probably have to open up the spaces between the floor joist to really move any significant air.
Went through my knives and put conditioner on all the leather sheaths.
Hi 3AD Scout,
Just a comment, from my experience with steer/oxen. They are the friendliest of the bovines. Everyone of them that I have raised, have had the greatest personalities. They were curious, personable, even affectionate, and mostly obedient. If you train them well, they will work very hard for you.
You need to acquire young ones, of about four or five months old, and raise it yourself. You will need to spend a fair amount of time feeding, talking to, petting, brushing, rubbing all over: legs, back, chest, head, poll, chin, tail, etc and giving snacks, etc. After the animal has become very comfortable with you handling it, you can begin to gently and carefully train it. You’ll want to find books on ways of training them. We, personally haven’t trained any steers to work. So we are no expert in that department, but we can see just from the relationships that we have had with steers, how easy it would be. We encourage you to go for it, and then you can write another article for the Blog on your experiences with them. 🙂
Blessings,
Lily
Lily,
Thank you so much for sharing your experience with steers/oxen. Very impressive to watch them work. I have watched draft horses skid out timbers and that was impressive but the oxen, it would seem, have more ??? Horsepower??? I was shocked at watching how docile and calm they were in the videos. Thanks again for the advice!
3ADscout
For all of you folks giving JWR guff for selling his AR’s– Notice that he is selling his EXTRA ones. After the ones he is hanging on to so his great-grand-children can give one to each spouse, or something like that. In the process, he is scattering the extras into hands that can use them, and making it so the grabbers will find less in a single bust.
Dearest Lily,
I am afraid chickens will freeze this year with the deep cold expected. I actually researched the average LOW temperatures in my area, middle of Idaho here. I found records online from the local ranger station and was shocked to find out that in some years, the temperatures were: 1955 -41 degrees; 1969 -40 degrees; 2003 -35 degrees. I am wondering if you or someone else in Idaho has been able to keep chickens in temps that low. In other news, I received a side of beef from a local rancher for the freezer, as well as pig (leaf) fat. I learned to render lard (first time!). I had given up buying flour tortillas because of the preservatives, so I made flour tortillas from all organic ingredients and froze a lot. I picked up another 50 lbs of flour and miscellaneous canned goods, picked up bulk spices I was missing, and more dehydrated vegetables. Does anyone have a source for local Idaho bulk hard red wheat or soft white wheat berries? The prices I’ve seen seem high. Would love to hear from anyone who can give some instruction on how to keep chickens in below zero temps? P.S. Lily, I always use good S.F. sourdough starter.
God bless everyone!
Dear SaraSue,
Well, to be very honest, I have been paying attention to the long term forecast for our area, through MBGC Combo.(His reports are available on YouTube.) In just a few days we will see nighttime temperatures in the teens, and then sometime between now and November 8, we’re looking at temperatures below zero for a time… Usually, since I’ve lived here, we have seen very cold temperatures for a week or so in November and then the temps moderate again for most of the winter, with a cold spell in February. It so far appears that we might be continuing this pattern. I kinda hope we will. But, if this pattern changes because of the Global Solar Minimum, I’m thinking we might have temperatures as low as forty below this year. I’m thinking, I MAY have made a mistake in buying chicks at this time of the year, this year…. because now I see that in two weeks I cannot put them out in the chicken coop. They will freeze to death. I will be putting them in the garage, most likely, and during their dust molt. (Sorry, Jim!) We hate it when everything is covered with their yellow molt dust. I could put them in the greenhouse and run the wood stove in there, but that would mean going out there three times during the night to stoke it. We do have electricity out there for lamps and a heater, but that would get expensive. We will try to do what we can without using electricity, because someday we might not have it… I won’t be able to put them out in the greenhouse until they can begin to regulate their own temperatures which is around the time that they are three or more weeks old. As far as the safety of the other two adult birds, we may have to cage them and bring them into the garage during the cold snap, their hen house is much too big for them to generate enough body heat together to warm it/keep themselves warm enough.
I’ve also been thinking about what to do with the cows and horses. There are too many of them to all fit in the stalls all at once. Also, our matriarch cow is due to calve in late January/early February. She gets first dibs on the stalls, at that time.
During the past ten years, extended and seriously cold temperatures have not been an issue here. We’ve only had them for a few days in a row and mostly at night. Most of the chickens handled it quite well with a few rooster combs slightly frozen. The coldest, I’ve seen here, is twenty below, and that was at night.
We do have some planning to do in the next few weeks.
A solution that I may employ, if we were having such cold temperatures, didn’t have electricity, and had twenty or more chickens. I would put up plywood in their chicken coop to crowd the birds together in a smaller area, for shared body heat. I might also stack hay or straw bales, or loose hay, if I had them, around the inside of the coop or around the outside, etc. I have seen in other cultures that the livestock and chickens live under the house, in the “basement” of the house, or they even bring the chickens into the living quarters…Of course this isn’t sanitary, and I wouldn’t want to do this with adult birds.
With the livestock, we would resort to feeding them three to four times a day in a sheltered area. The action of eating and the calories generate heat. We would also most likely do what Pa Wilder did, when the temperatures of a winter night in Malone, New York went down to fifty below. He went out in the middle of the night and exercised all of his animals to warm them up, because even his great barns couldn’t keep that kind of cold out. 🙂
May you have a blessed day,
Lily
Dear Lily, I learn so much from you and your experiences. I appreciate your comments! Thank you, and God bless your week, Krissy
Thank you Lily for your thoughtful response. It will be great to hear your updates this winter. Hugs.
Sears and Kmarts closings have given a few deals(not like the first round 5+ years ago). Have already noticed price increases on staples and missed seasonal sales on canned goods(cannerys clear warehouses in anticipation of new crop) these sales were either very short or small
Wonderful article! We are linking to this particularly great article on our website.
Keep up the good writing.- calator.tel