Apocalyptic Homesteading (Day 1149)

Hello Everyone!

Slipping morale, Some personal foolishness, Fire danger weather, Inbound storms & Do it like you mean it!

Alright, I am right on time with beginning my writing routine this evening... which is always a good thing in my perspective. Sticking to this routine has been working out rather well... but I gotta admit that my heart has not been into it at all these last few days.

Such is often the case when my morale slips and my belief, faith (or whatever you want to call it) is not truly 'into' what I am spending my time and/or attention on. That sentiment could assuredly be extended beyond my endeavors here on Hive... but mainly that is what I am referring to in this instance.

I guess that I am sort of 'lucky' (if you want to call it that) to have begun that morning 'Hive engagement' routine when I did... because without it said 'morale' would be even lower than it currently is. Talk about 'treading water' when it comes to all that stuff... that I am assuredly doing... but at least I am not sinking below the surface nor drowning in my loss of faith.

Like I said around the turn of the new year, I had some quite revealing dreams (about this digital community) and as a result I set a course for myself that (as I put it then) does not include 'going along to get along' nor ignoring/overlooking things that I feel worth speaking out about. In other words if it seems like I am 'calling things as I see them' more than in the past... it is because I am.

There is of course the real possibility that I will be retaliated upon (or threatened to be retaliated upon) for speaking my mind... but in all seriousness... someone needs to be doing it. It assuredly would not be the first time that I found myself amongst a group of folks... where I was the one speaking what most folks were thinking... but none lacked the courage (foolishness) to speak up about things... and yup I still have no qualms about it.

The funny thing is that 'everyone' loves that about my character when it somehow benefits them (or can be twisted to their benefit) but the moment it gets aimed at those same folks... it is a massive problem. Which of course makes total sense to me... and long ago I realized that it was always going to amount to me having to recognize those who are 'beyond contempt' and those whom are 'above contempt' so to speak... and never confuse the two.

We all make mistakes in life, we all miss our mark from time to time, we all fail at being decent to ourselves or others at some point... but some folks are just rotten to the core... and there just is not a nicer way to put it than that. To kind of wrap that all up... I should simply say that: I am not here to determine who the 'bad' folks are... I am here to determine who the 'good' folks are and align myself accordingly from there.

Anyways, I woke up not all that long after sunrise this morning... and although I did not quite feel like doing it... I got up, set the espresso to brewing... and began my aforementioned 'Hive engagement' routine in short order. One thing that stood out to me is that I really enjoy reading some folks stuff in the first few moments after waking... and find my eyes kind of 'going out of focus' when it comes to other folks stuff.

Which of course is an old tactic of mine for 'filtering out the noise' and focusing on what is actually meaningful... or albeit 'worthwhile' to spend my attention on. One thing is for sure, and that is that I really should clean up my 'friends' list on Hive... and drop a bunch of folks from it who have either never been all that supportive (and of course that I have not been supportive of), lack any genuineness to their content... or that are simply dead weight... or undead weight as the case may be!

On a different note. It was well past noon by the time that I could break away from my morning routines and get outdoors... but I eventually did it nonetheless. Thankfully, the wind had died down a good bit... but I still found myself having to bundle up in some warm clothes so that I did not 'catch a chill' while doing my routine chores.

Having taken the previous two days to 'rest up' I had a good bit of stuff to catch up on... but I eventually got everything achieved except for taking my laundry down from where I have it hung on the dog yard fence. I have no idea why doing that simple task keeps slipping my mind but it keeps happening... and now there is more rain on the way (tomorrow) so I guess it will be another day or two before I do it... since it will all need to dry out again.

The inbound bad weather that is on its way... is supposed to be packing a good bit of strong winds, thunderstorms and lots of rain... so it may well turn out to be the 'worst' weather we have had all winter (sans those cold snaps) but overall it should blow over rather quickly. I am kind of hoping that we get some rather strong winds... just so it drops some branches from the trees... because I have burned through all the ones that were convenient to gather from around the shelter site.

There were a few times over the last few days, when I contemplated burning off the rest of the material left over in the fire pit (from that new year's eve fire) but every time that I seriously considered doing so... the wind started blowing rather hard. Even though the conditions are not quite as dry as they were a while back... they still are not all that conducive to having a fire safely either.

The main reason that I want to do that is because that 'compost staging area' that I mentioned a while back... is now way too large (with compost material) and I need to first move it all to my most recent compost mound... and then get it covered with ashes. I also want to make some more of that low grade biochar to add to it all... but am unsure about putting that much effort into it just yet.

That particular compost mound will also need to get a fair amount of clay added to it... to form the encasement layer... after I add the ashes (and possibly the biochar) but honestly I will probably keep putting that off until the weather starts warming up. As long as I do it before the flies get active for the year everything will be fine... and given that I have been keeping the mounds rather small... it really will not involve an extreme amount of effort to gather enough clay, haul it over there with the wagon and apply it evenly to the mound.

Well, that is about all the effort that I am willing to commit myself to for this entry... so... so long for now! I hope folks are doing alright, treating others and themselves well... and finding interesting (and fulfilling) things to spend their time on. Ciao for now.