Electric/oil Dependance

While yes we do use power/oil and there is not much we can due to stop using it for now. We can reduce our needs for it. We for one only fill up our gas tank once a month and if we get down to only enough gas to get us tot he gas station, well then we don't go anywhere till the month is over.

We are also not using heavy equipment to build here, the most power hungry item we use to "build" right now is our drill for the root cellar. It's slow work, but I feel good about it.

In the city when I lived near Chicago I rarely used a car. If I had to go somewhere I used a bus, that is using less as they -will- be running no matter what (just the amount of runs will change). For areas where bus/train service is spotty the more riders the more "runs" they will have.

The most electric we use during the day is maybe 2 computers and our air goes -OFF- during the hottest part of the day. It only really helps us here during the night so it's a waste of power to use it during the day.

Personally I'd love to have our home set up like an Amish home, and we are planning to buy a hand water pump next spring. Once the full house is done, hell once my cob oven and outdoor stove is done; I'm -NOT- going to be using my electric range/oven. I know of one blogger that isn't using a fridge, but she is using a freezer.

I am hoping that down the line once our chickens start producing we can reduce our fridge use, the big thing we are storing in ours right now is eggs. I know for a fact that fresh eggs can sit out for a day or 2, and with how we eat eggs here they wouldn't last more than 2 days.

I'd like to issue a challenge to all my readers out there... A ONE FILLUP A MONTH challenge! Lets see if you can manage your life and world on one tank of gas a month. I am sure to those who have to drive to work can find other methods of getting to work if they looked. I have seen small towns with bus service, if you plan your day accordingly For those of you who do it post your results!

A fun day

Yes these are eggs, and what is fun about them? Well... i'd say how we got them is the fun part. A few days before the New Year me Silver and the kids were out paying bills and doing laundry (normal pay day stuff) and we saw a sign for eggs for sale. Around here that isn't all that interesting how ever these people were selling them at $.60 a dozen. Now going price around here is about $1.00 a dozen so today when we went out for the last few bills and some minor shopping we noticed that the sign was still up. On the way home we stopped there.

Now I am not sure if these people are Mennonite or Amish, but I do know they are one of the two; so i knew that the chickens the eggs came from would be well cared for. When we stopped and asked if they still had any eggs for sale the young man said "Oh yes we have plenty of eggs for sale". So i decided to ask if he had enough for 3 dozen and he replied "is that all you need?" I would have bought more, but we only bought 3 dozen as we did not know how many eggs they would have on their farm.

We stood there for a bit with Silver chatting with the young man and we found out that they supply some of the eggs that Cackle Hatchery uses for their sales. We were also told by the young man that if we would like some adult chickens who already lay we could buy their hens off them in July for $3 per hen. It seems for the benefit of making sure the eggs laid are the best they only take them from the first year of laying.

So seeing as how it would take about that long or longer for chicks in the spring to grow to laying size this should work out well for us, and the year after we can get some chicks to add to the flock. We are also thinking of returning in a day or so to buy more eggs :D I like fresh eggs!

On another note... Silver was looking online and found something interesting sees there is a Christian group out there that thinks the "Rapture" will occur on May 21st of this year, and the man's reasoning is that the bible does not have a zero year and because God considers one day to be 1000 years and that god told Noah that the world would have 7 days till He would end the world in fire.

This made me think a minute... what about the Mayan calendar? Does it have a zero year? If not does that mean everyone is wrong about when the calendar ends? Is it this year? Has anyone asked this question before? It really is an interesting point, our calendar is based on there being a zero year; but not all civilization has the same calendar. JUst a curiosisty I thought I'd point out.

A couple of days ago two of our dogs got into I think a skunk... Silver and I had let them out before we were to go to bed just like every night and three of them would not come back in. So because we were not going to stay up forever we went to bed and waited for the youngest to bark for us to let them in. Well when I got up... half asleep mind you... and let them in I got hit with this smell as the pack of 3 dogs came running in. About 5 minutes later while I was in the bathroom my mind made the connection... skunk! So back out they went, today we have gotten the two smelly ones cleaned up; we had to get some peroxide. It does work, and it works fast. I am hoping the two dogs appreciate the "inside" time now as they spent 3-4 days outside in the cold.

Well thats it for now

Be Well and Blessed Be...