How blessed I really am

Posted on by Posted in chickens, Medical .

Last night was a pretty scary medical situation. My blood sugar plummeted to very unsafe levels. We were only a few minutes away from calling an ambulance before things started to turn around.

My new diet (of three weeks) is certainly making my blood sugar (and my weight) lower. In just 22 days, I have dropped 19 pounds. My average blood sugar has went from 144 to 93. The diet in combination with medications made it fall too low last night.

Luckily I am married to the best nurse ever. Ranae has been a nurse for 34 years and is very well versed in caring for my crazy situation. She keeps an extremely close eye on it.
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My generation sucks as parents!

Posted on by Posted in Uncategorized .

This mass murder in Florida today really has me upset. All senseless killing upsets me, obviously. But this one in particular on Valentine’s Day… it just has me torqued today like none other.

I remember back when I was in high school.. we actually had a “Firearm Safety” class with real firearms and live ammo. There weren’t any mass shootings at least not on the scale of like they are today.

So what changed? Society is what changed. Sadly, my generation blew it (speaking in general). My generation failed to raise decent children for the most part. My generation raised a bunch of self-centered entitled little shitheads that think they are above everyone else and above the law. They really don’t have a moral compass. They have no belief in a higher power LIKE GOD! They are sick and my generation allowed it to happen! Continue reading →

Your Facebook account has NOT been hacked

Posted on by Posted in Uncategorized .

So many people get upset by evil doers on Facebook. You can solve 99.99% of the problem yourself by simply setting your “friends list” visibility to private so only you can see it.

It is very very rare that a Facebook account was actually “hacked”, unless you used a poor password or were tricked into giving your password to an app or some bogus website. If that’s the case, you really shouldn’t be on Facebook anyway. At least not until you figure out why and how this happens.

But the chances are, you were not hacked. You were likely “cloned”. Cloning means the bad guy created a new account using your profile photo. Remember, your profile photo and your cover photo are visible to anyone who can see your profile. It’s simple for a bad person to download your photo and then create an account that LOOKS LIKE YOU.

If the bad guy can see your “friends list”, he can then use this newly created clone account to send your friends stuff including friend requests BECAUSE HE COULD SEE WHO THEY ARE. Set you privacy correctly and this NEVER happens.

Protect not only yourself, but your friends as well! SET YOUR FRIENDS LIST VISIBILITY TO PRIVATE. Just do it and avoid 99.99% of the problems so many people have on Facebook. It’s frustrating, but it’s the safest thing to do. Your friends will thank you!

Below are the steps on how to do it. These steps below assume you are using the Facebook app on your phone.
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I’m back

Posted on by Posted in Uncategorized .

It’s hard to believe it has been nearly a year and a half since I wrote for this blog. A lot has happened and I guess I should explain that absence and what y’all can expect from me going forward.

In September 2016, Ranae and I went on a vacation in Colorado. We rented an Jeep Rubicon and went 4×4 off-roading in the mountains near Creed. It was a lot of fun, but I overdid it just a bit. I felt like I pulled a muscle in my groin.

After returning home to Texas, on the morning of September 17th, 2016, I literally crawled from my bed and managed to drive myself to the emergency room. Something was wrong. Very wrong.

When I made it to the little country hospital nearest me, I was pretty much ready for someone to shoot me. The pain was so intense.

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Yaupon Holly (the vomitting plant) makes a great tea

Posted on by Posted in DIY, foraging, guineas, Natural Cures, Self-Sufficiency, tea .

yaupon-hollyWith spring here, Ranae and I have been outside a great deal lately. The cool evenings are a great time to sit in our favorite lawn chairs and enjoy a glass of tea. It’s a time spent together discussing the plans for the summer and improvements we intend to make around this little homestead.

The guinea eggs have been ordered and we are anxious for their arrival. One night this past week we were sitting outside and discussing how nice it will be to have the guineas running around foraging for bugs, etc. We discussed the various types of bugs the guineas would be searching for and what plants if any they would consume.

The conversation turned to our own interest and experiences with foraging. I was first exposed to foraging for food when I went through the Army’s survival training. I always found it amazing how many plants are edible if you simply know where to look. Continue reading →

Raising Guineas – Part Two

Posted on by Posted in chickens, guineas, pests .

keetWell, there I was all ready to go buy our guineas, when what do you think happened? Poor customer service happened, that’s what!

We had recently attended a seminar on raising Honey Bees at a farm and ranch store near us (about 60 miles away or so). While at that seminar I noticed this store having a wide selection of freshly hatched guinea keets (that’s the name for a guinea chick). I struck up a conversation with the store manager and was absolutely assured that we could buy guineas up to April 1st. When we called last week, apparently that information was incorrect. Ugh! Continue reading →

Starting a guinea flock

Posted on by Posted in chickens, gardening, guineas, pests, Remote Living, rodents, snakes .

Guinea-fowl-with-chicks jpgI have to have silence when sleeping. Ranae and I often joke that I can hear a cat walk across the yard 200 paces away from the bedroom window and it will wake me up. This sleeping issue of mine is, in no small part, a major contributing factor as to why we live in the country. I could never tolerate the noise of the concrete hell known as city life. If I lived in the city I would be back to countless sleepless nights in a row until I finally pass out due to total exhaustion. Been there, done that. No thanks.

So what in the world are we doing but getting a flock of guineas? We must be off our rockers. Hopefully it won’t be too bad, but guineas are some of the loudest birds ever. The good thing is, they are typically quiet until something startles them. Then it’s one bird screeching that sets of a different bird that sets off another and so on. Once they start screeching, it can take a long time for them to calm down. Which probably means, I will have the pleasure of working many sleepless nights and asking myself “What have I done to my peaceful nights?” Continue reading →

More things to consider when raising chickens

Posted on by Posted in chickens, gardening, planning, Self-Sufficiency .

I always find it funny how people react to the printed words in articles and on the internet. The last two articles I wrote about chickens have caused the single largest number of emails I have received on any subject I have written about to date. In just the last two weeks I have received over 400 emails from readers. Most of those emails have been yelling at me saying I was “down on raising chickens”.

I assure you, nothing could be further from the truth. I love our chickens and I find it difficult to think of not having them here at Six Acres. I’m a realist too however. In my experience talking with hundreds of other self-sufficiency enthusiasts and even preppers (sigh), several people go into things with little knowledge or incorrect beliefs that this lifestyle is somehow a cakewalk. Continue reading →

Chicken Problems

Posted on by Posted in chickens .

pasty-buttWhat a weekend. I normally write my articles on Sunday morning before going to church, but this weekend we were crazy busy with family events out of town. As I write this, it’s about 5am on Monday morning… Pi Day. While I might be a trained survival expert and a self-sufficiency advocate, I am a nerd first. Pi is cool. http://piday.org Look it up.

Last week I started talking about our chicken flock. There is little that gives me more pleasure than to see daily the animals we have here at Six Acres. The hens are full of personality and are about as much fun as watching an aquarium full of fish in many ways. I can literally sit and watch them for hours. A lawn chair; a glass of sweet tea; a handful of chicken treats and I’m content for hours. Continue reading →

My pet makes breakfast for me

Posted on by Posted in chickens, compost .

chicksI apologize for not having an article last week. I had some technical issues and had to devote my day taking care of those last Sunday. I ultimately had to break down and buy a new computer and you know how much I hate spending money. 🙂

On the drive home from the Texas A&M Horticulture Club’s annual plant sale yesterday, I saw a great bumper sticker that I am going to have to buy. It read “My pet makes breakfast for me.” It was, of course, talking about chickens. I laughed right out loud when I read it.

It is chick time again. I love March. All the local feed and supply stores have baby chicks and it’s a great time to get started in this awesome hobby. Raising chickens is also a great self-sufficiency skill. It costs very little and the benefits are great. Continue reading →