I know, I know – You all were starting to think that I had shut up once and for all… No such luck! I will begin my semi regular posts again and I have several committed guest writers that have promised content as well. I want to encourage everyone to start up the “Readers Questions” emails again. I have a bunch of older ones that I will answer if some new ones don’t come in but I would rather get a fresh start. Everyone is welcome to send their question a second time and then I’ll know that it should be moved up the priority list to getting an answer out to you!

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Back from the BOL

     So, I finally was able to make a trip to the BOL over the long weekend. Unfortunately, I had been restricted over the last couple months and was unable to make my typical bi-monthly visits. With much trouble and schedule coordinating, we (The Preppers) had determined that the stars would align and Memorial Day would work for all of us to make the trip. Needless to say, that plan didn’t survive contact with the enemy and I ended up making the trip by myself or I should say without my wife and daughter. My very good friend and nearly life long partner in mischief agreed to ride shotgun at the last minute.

   Good times! What could be better than just getting to the BOL…? Getting there with a good friend, meeting my brother there to help with a project, bringing a newly acquired firearm to test out and oh yeah – 3 freekin days off work!! Let’s just say, it was a much needed breath of fresh air and I actually got a lot done to boot!

   Besides the catalyst of a rare three day weekend, the main purpose of the trip was to drop off a lot of business materials that are currently going to be stored on the property. Mrs Prepper and I have made a few changes in our business and once again made a further downsizing to attempt to stay competitive in this tough Real Estate market. This left me with less office space to store old files and a whole bunch of various file cabinets that weren’t going to be needed any longer. Initially I was going to run an ad to try to sell the used cabinets but then it dawned on me that these could be used at the BOL inside the cargo containers to organize my ever growing piles of supplies. I took a few photos but they didn’t come out real well? The idea was to make a MAN sized version of those plastic organizer drawer units that many of us use to store nuts and bolts, etc. in, I think the fuzzy picture will at least give you the idea of what I’m trying for… I didn’t end up having time to do any real work in getting stuff organized this trip but I can see that once complete this will be a big help!

   Now for the real achievement though… I think I’ve mentioned before that I have a brother that owns a landscape irrigation company? Anyway, he generously installed the first stage of our irrigation system a year ago, so we could get those first fruit trees planted last summer. We had been planning on him making a second trip over to finish laying out the infrastructure for a much larger area. Well, this weekend happened to work in his schedule as well and I now have a 10 zone irrigation system that will cover us for nearly any future expansion we might conclude to be necessary. As usual when you bring in a professional they can make short work of a big project. Fully automated irrigation for at minimum several of our 10 acres, big improvement! We could even realistically keep a garden going all through the summer, as long as we can stay on track to be on site every other weekend.

   The irrigation system was the BIG project for the weekend but the thing I’m the most excited about is the addition of 8 more fruit trees. This brings us to 16, along with a couple of raspberry bushes and a blueberry bush. As if the family rate on the irrigation work wasn’t gift enough, the bro shows up with the blueberry bush as a late birthday present? If you can’t tell, I have a GREAT brother! Truth is I have been excessively blessed in the family department! Just for clarification the family rate is usually something close to a loss for the giver as they tend to not want anything in return for their generosity? Crazy people – if your reading this, thanks again brother!

   I feel like a first grader coming back from summer break and giving the “What I did on my vacation” speech… With the single exception of not having the family with me, this was an exceptional holiday weekend. A great way to kick off the summer projects that have to be done at the BOL, actually a big jump ahead on a couple! Lot’s more to do and you guessed it, I will be reporting on all progress. No, not to brag but hopefully to get a dose of motivation into some reader that has been putting off their own projects. A freedom lifestyle is available to all of us, if we are willing to take the steps to provide it to ourselves. Get off the couch and get moving, don’t forget to take a few pictures while your at it… Then just fire off your own motivational “Guest Article” and you too can become a highly paid internet writer… Just teasin but do consider documenting the stuff you’re working on, I know we all would like to see your projects and progress!

Prepper