Making use of Leftovers

Hi Everyone,

Here in So. PRC we're having some actual fall weather for a change. For us that means nights in the low 40's to high 30's. For those of you in the North or East, you probably think of this as a spring day, but here....

It's during this time of the year that all those comfort foods come into play. Stews, soups, breads, anything to warm the innards. With all the left over turkey, stuffing, mash potatoes and gravy to use up, making use of them can help stretch the food budget.

Some of the usual things to do with left overs are Turkey sandwiches, good but not comfort food. Hot
Turkey sandwiches, better, and the usually Turkey soup. But let's look at a couple of quick and easy ways to tweek this. 

Instead of hot Turkey sandwich, how about heating up some of the left over mash potatoes, heat up some turkey, cubed, in gravy and serving that over the mash potatoes. Yum.

Or you can make a variation of Shepard's Pie. Mix some gravy, cubed turkey, and frozen mixed veggies in the bottom of a casserole dish, layer on some stuffing, and cover with mashed potatoes, or skip the stuffing if you like. Place in the over at about 350 until warmed through. If you like, during the last 5 minutes you can put some grated cheese on top.

Add a little variety,changing up the Turkey soup by using some different veggies in it.  In addition to potatoes, add some yucca. You can buy this frozen or fresh. It is similar to potatos, but with a firmer texture and doesn't break down like potatoes when reheated. A little okra, frozen, adds a pop like crunch and the frozen kind tends not to have that sliminess okra is famous for.

Nopales, which is available in Mexican stores as fresh, and I've seen it in cans, but I don't know how the canned stuff is. This is another thing that if you use too much could turn slimy, but in small amounts it is flavorful and helps thicken the soup like okra.

Squeeze juice from half a lemon into the bowl just before you eat it. You'll be surprised how good this is.

Or how about some chopped cilantro. This is one of those things, people either really like or not. I LOVE cilantro and can't seem to use enough of it.
Chopped cabbage, or radish are also good additives.

Using different veggies are a way to add variety and nutrition to an old standard for Turkey left overs.

If you want quick and easy, you can still have that wonderful left over Turkey soup without all the work. Use chicken broth, add your chopped up Turkey, some frozen mixed veggies, dehydrated onion, and frozen country hash browns for potatoes. Make small portions this way and you have a satisfying healthy meal and no leftovers.

Well, that's it for today. Hope you all enjoy your leftover turkey and maybe get a chance to experiment with some new things. Trying new things help keep us young. See you next time. Until then, keep prepping, because what you do matters, and remember, "Just 'cause there's snow on the rooftop, doesn't mean there ain't a fire in the fireplace."

Candy

The Importance of Community

Hi Everyone,

Well, with Thanksgiving weekend over, the Holidays are officially on us.  The holidays are a time for joy, giving and family. But what do you do if you are isolated during this time?

As we get older, many of us have lost spouses, friends, even children. The holiday season, when we're supposed to feel joyous, often is just the opposite. We feel alone, isolated. We've lost the sense of community that is so vital to each and everyone of us.

We need to reach out, become involved either in our church, or local community. But how do you do that?

One way is to volunteer at your place of worship. There's a saying in the religious community that 10 percent of the congregation does the work for the 90. Well, become part of the 10 percent. Churches always need people to help with anything from welcoming people as they come to services, to cleaning up afterwards.

If you have physical limitations, maybe you can help in the nursery rocking a fussy baby, or reading to toddlers. Gentlemen, how about you? Babies aren't your  thing, I get it. But you can still read a book to the youngsters. Even if you have to sit, you can greet people when they arrive. A smile and a "Glad to see you here today" can do wonders especially for someone new. 

Maybe you're not a church goer. Okay. How about volunteering at the local elementry school or library? Reading to children gives you as much as it gives to them. With many schools and libraries cutting back services, they are always looking for help. If you have transportation problems maybe someone can car pool with others. Maybe you're more active. How about trying to start a gardening program at the local school as an after school project? It might be hard to get something like this going, but afterschool programs are some of the first things to go with cutbacks, and are missed the most with so many latch key kids these days.

What if you're confined to a home or convalscent hospital. Here's some food for thought. Many high schools require that students preform community service hours to graduate. See if you can get arrangements made for students to volunteer where you live. High schoolers can be a challenge. If they come there thinking they're helping you, it might give you a chance to help them in return and develop relationships. 

Remember visiting you grandma or grandpa when you were a kid? Wtih so many divorces and families separated by long distances, kids often lose out on having that relationship with a grandparent. It's a special relationship.  

There are also youth organizations that need help. Boy scouts, girl scouts, Naval Sea Cadets, Young Marines, Civil Air Patrol. Gentlemen, and ladies, if you've had military experience, Sea Cadets, Young Marines and Civil Air Patrol always need volunteers who have a military background. Share your knowledge, your experiences. Let these kids have the benefit of all you're learned. 

Use your imagination. What do you love? What is your passion? Do you like history, gardening, movies, crocheting, books, puzzles, politics, whatever. There are clubs and organizations for just about anything you could be interested in. Even if you are homebound, you must have internet access or you couldn't be reading this blog. There are online sites for any interest you can think of. Get involved there if you can't manage some face to face relationships. Most sites have forums that are designed to develop community. Get involved.

 Remember, what you do matters. No one is going to beat down your door to get involved with you. You have to do the reaching out, and in that reaching out you will help yourself and... help someone else in the process.

Just some food for thought. Feel free to contact me with any comments either through the comment section on the blog or via email at team_effort@att.net. I look forward to hearing from you.

Well, got to run. See you next time. Until then, keep prepping because what you do matters, and remember, "Just 'cause there's snow on the rooftop, doesn't mean there ain't a fire in the fireplace."

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone.

Just a quick note to tell you all to have a very Happy Thanksgiving. Take time between the turkey and the football games to think about all you have to be thankful for. Not just the usual things like the food, a roof over your head, your friends and family, but for the freedom we still have in this great country and those who have sacrificed so much to preserve that freedom by serving in our Armed Forces.

So a special Thank You and Happy Thanksgiving to all those who are serving or who have served to guarantee that we can sleep in freedom at night.

Sorry to make this so short, but got to run. If you get a chance be sure to check out www.thesurvivalpodcast.com for the Thanksgiving Day rebroadcast.

If you're traveling today, have a safe trip and enjoy this special day. See you next time.

Until then, keep prepping because what you do matters, and remember, "Just 'cause there's snow on the rooftop, doesn't mean there ain't a fire in the fireplace."

Candy

Beginning to shoot

Hi Everyone,


In a previous post I talked about how much fun it was to shoot trap. For those of you who are shooters, whether for hunting or sport, you know what I'm talking about. But, if you've never shot a gun before, how do you get started?


There are several programs out there for first time shooters. First Shots, Women on Target and the Appleseed Project. First Shots is a part of the National Shooting Sports Foundation. Women on Target is sponsored by the NRA and The Appleseed Project by the Veterans of the Revolutionary War.


I have never participated in a First Shots Program, but I have heard excellent things about it. First Shots seems to be very similar to Women on Target. Both emphasize safety, responsibility and enjoyment of the shooting sports with either handgun, rifle or shotgun. The Appleseed Project emphasizes marksmanship with the rifle. All of these programs give new shooters an opportunity to sample shooting in a safe environment.


I'm going to make this a short one today. Please check out these programs by googling them or check out Freedom First Firearms School if you are in the Inland Empire area of Southern People Republic of  California.  
 http://www.freedomfirstfirearmsschool.com/   I'd love to see you there.

Got to run. See you tomorrow.Until then, keep prepping because what you do matters, and remember, "Just 'cause there's snow on the rooftop, doesn't mean there ain't a fire in the fireplace."

Using Vertical Space

Good Morning Everyone.


We had a wonderful rain the last two days, which will be great for my garden, but it kept me from accomplishing anything as far as the latest secession planting of spinach, peas and lettuce goes. Oh, well, everything grows better after the rain.  


I've been talking with several friends about getting started with a garden of their own. A few of them have very limited space. It got me thinking about some of the Permaculture principals on the use of vertical space. On a small balcony, gardening in containers can be a challenge. But if you put a couple of trellises against a sunny wall you can espalier a dwarf fruit tree or two. Apples, pears and plums work well this way.  Pomagranates also espalier well.

Something new that make excellent use of vertical space are columnar fruit trees. These trees produce on the central trunk of the tree. They can easily be grown in containers or planted directly in the grown as close as 2 feet apart, though some sources say they should be 4 feet apart. I haven't grown any of these myself, but I have seen them at some of the local nurseries. It seems really strange to see the fruit on the trunk, but it makes it easy for picking. There are apple and peaches available in this form. And I imagine more will be developed as time passes.

Although they are considerably more expensive than comparable dwarf varieties, they do have a couple of advantages for seasoned citizens.  These varieties often produce fruit in their first season, instead of the third or fourth like the dwarf varieties. I don't know about you, but I tend to be somewhat impatient about things like that.

They also produce much smaller harvest. To me this is a disadvantage, because I like to can and share my production with friends. But for a single person or a couple who don't want to be bothered with more fruit than they can eat fresh, this could be just the thing.

They do reach the same height as other dwarf fruit trees, 8 to 10 feet but only about 2 feet in width. Because of this is it necessary the thin the fruit to avoid breaking branches.

They also must have a second variety that flowers at the same time in order to pollunate and produce fruit.

There are also quite a few berries and grapes that can be trained on a trellis or at least be grown in containers. See my previous posting on container gardening to get specific varieties.

Balconies have railings and I know many of you might be tempted to plant vines using these for support. But remember that this will shade the rest of the balcony during the biggest part of the growing season. This would severly limit growing anything else in containers unless they were elevated above the level of the railing. Also, if you are renting, this should be cleared with your landlord.

I've seen the columnar trees at Lowe's and at Home Depot in my area. If you have trouble finding them, Raintree Nursery also carries them. They can be found at: http://www.raintreenursery.com/catalog/emptycart.cfm.

Well, got to run. I'll be back tomorrow. Until then, keep prepping because what you do matters, and remember, "Just 'cause there's snow on the rooftop, doesn't mean there ain't a fire in the fireplace."

Candy

Rings of security

Good Morning, Everyone,

I've noticed a disturbing trend in the news recently. There has been an increasing number of home invasion robberies, especially those targeting seniors. Officials are attributing this to the problems in the economy. Some are saying it's related to the drug war on the border. Whatever the cause, we need to do what we can to keep ourselves safe.

Though most communities have 911 service, there's an old saying. "When seconds count, the police are only minutes away."  This is not a reflection on our law enforcement. They do the best job they can, and each day they put their lives on the line doing their job. But they are only human and can only be in one place at a time.

The national average response time for a 911 call is 6 minutes and 42 seconds according to USAToday. This is after the call is completed and the police have been dispatched. Add another 30 seconds, assuming you get your information to the operator quickly, and now you're at 7 minutes and 12 seconds. Plenty of time for some criminal to do you harm.

Most times the police never get the opportunity to stop a crime in progress. They arrive and are stuck with the unfortunate task of making a report on a crime that has already happened.  We can make it less likely that the police will have to fill out all that paperwork for us by making the job of the criminal harder.

We can start by making rings of security around our home. Think of this concentric circles starting at the outer most limits of your home and moving inward.

If you have a house, it starts in the yard with a fence. Criminals are generally cowards and lazy. This doesn't mean they won't do what they feel they have to do to take your stuff or do you harm, but they will look for a target that makes it as easy as possible with the least likelyhood of getting caught.  A fence is a small deterant. But put a dog inside that fence. Ah, now we have a second deterant, one that not only might bite, but acts as an alarm. The last thing a criminal wants is the home owner to know he's coming. Though I personally prefer a larger dog, sometimes those little yappers make the best alarm systems. I know that many of us live in apartments or condos where we can't have a dog and that's unfortunate, but you do the best with what you have.

Next, be sure to lock your door.  So many of us grew up and lived in the days when no one locked their doors. I know I did and I have really had to retrain myself to get out of that mindset. Also, never leave a key under the mat or the "garden gnome". Criminals are well aware of all the normal hiding places. 

Don't answer the door, that reads unlock the door since it should be locked even when you're home, unless you know who is there.  If you don't have a peep hole to look through, call out and ask. If you are really not expecting someone, it might be a good idea to do it in that Clint Eastwood, "Get off my lawn" voice. The worse that could happen is you might have to apologize to a friend, the best is that the criminal rethinks which door he should have knocked on.

One of the most common rues I'm hearing about is criminals knocking on the door and when the resident starts to open the door to see who's there, they push the door open, knocking the homeowner down, putting you at a definate disadvantage. So don't open the door until you know who is there. Ask to see identification through the peep hole of anyone who says they are there in an official capacity, for example telephone or electric personel, police or delivery people. If you don't have a peep hole, you can ask them to move to a nearby window.

Next, keep some sort of self defense device handy. For those of you who have concealed carry permits, this means keeping you weapon on until you go to bed and keeping it handy after that. For those of us who, for one reason or the other, don't have a firearm available, there are other options.

Pepper spray is a good option for many. It's small and requires basically no training to use. One of the best pepper spray devices I've seen is called TigerLight. This little device is a high lumen flash light with built in pepper spray. I love dual purpose things. They have an excellent video showing how it works. Check it out at http://www.buytigerlight.com/ . Tigerlight is rather expensive, so if price is an issue, get what you can. It is better to have a cheaper tool than no tool at all.

Other options for self defense are baseball bats, knives, or anything you can think of. The problem with most of these is that they can only be used at close range, which gives a younger and stronger criminal a definate advantage.

So let's do the "what if" scenario. You're asleep and you hear a loud noise in the living room. Don't do the typical horror movie thing of walking out there, unarmed, to see what it is. Don't you scream at the tv when that happens. I do.

First thing, call 911. Tell them there is someone in the house NOW. This will put you in a priority cue for response. Next have your defensive tool of choice at hand, be it a handgun, shotgun, pepper spray or baseball bat, along with a good, high lumen flashlight. The flashlight serves two purposes. Firstly it momentarily blinds the subject when the room is dark. Secondly and most important, it helps you identify who is there. You never want to accidently protect yourself against your spouse who just got up the get a snack at 2 am.

At this point you hold up in this "safe room" until the police arrive. If the criminal comes in your room before that, you do what is necessary to defend yourself. Hopefully the police arrive before that is necessary. If you are armed when the police arrive, put the weapon away. Police have no idea that you are not the criminal so never greet them with any form of weapon in hand, this includes the baseball bat.

Man, it is later than I thought. I have to run. Hopefully some of this will be useful to you. For those of you who are into the self defense thing, I know I left out a lot. But I'm working with limited time this morning. And I've made a commitment to myself and to you all, to do my best to get out something everyday. So please bear with me. We'll go over this subject in more detail another time.

Well, got to run. I'll see you next time.Until then, keep prepping because what you do matters, and remember, "Just 'cause there's snow on the rooftop, doesn't mean there ain't a fire in the fireplace."  
Candy

Keeping things in Perspective

Hi Everyone,


Well, fall is definately here and I can't believe that Thanksgiving is just around the corner, literally. The stores are packed with all the fixings for Thanksgiving dinner. All the grocery stores have sales on turkey and dressing. 


It's far too easy to  get caught up in all the hustle and bustle and forget about the real meaning of Thanksgiving. It's not  just about eating turkey and stuffing or spending some time with realitives watching the bowl games. It's about taking a day, and making a conscience effort to remember the things and the people for which we are truly grateful. Sometimes it's the smallest of things that reminds us of our humanity. And recently I learned about another meaning of Thanksgiving. One I had never thought about before. One that really made me appreciate this holiday even more. 

Since I'm been an adult, Thanksgiving has been my favorite holiday. Before that, as a kid, it was a toss up between Christmas and Halloween. I love cooking and sharing the food with others. I love inviting any of my friends who had no family in the area so they didn't have to spend the holiday alone. Before dinner I always asked everyone to gather around and share a few things they were thankful for.

After dinner all the ladies would pitch in and help with the clean up: packing up the left overs, standing around the sink washing dishes, drying them and putting them away. As silly as this sounds, this was my favorite part. We all talked and shared stories about other holidays, our kids, our grandkids, anything. We laughed and joked and had a great ole time almost like taking a step back in time.

The last few years, since I went back to working a regular job, I haven't been able have the Thanksgiving I like. But I've been blessed to still have that sense of community thanks to two wonderful people, Dave and Linda Bruce. It is the same wonderful Thanksgiving sharing, except I don't get to do all the cooking and they have a dishwasher. So after  dinner, people watch the bowl game, shoot pool or sit out back talking. It great time for all. A wonderful chance to reflect on all we have to be grateful for: everything from the roof over our head to the fact that we live in a country that affords us so much freedom, and everything inbetween. That was what Thanksgiving meant to me, until now. Recently, I learned another meaning of Thanksgiving.

But did you ever wonder why we have a huge meal to celebrate Thanksgiving? Most of us were raised with the story of the Pilgrims. We probably never thought about the fact that the original Thanksgiving probably happened much earlier in the year, because by the end of November, the Pilgrims were way past harvest time. But besides that, what is the real significance of having a feast? 

I recently learned the answer to that question and it is something that never occurred to me before. Today, most of us take for granted that we'll have food throughout the winter. If you run out of something, you run to the store and get what you need. Right? We forget that it wasn't like that as little as 80 years.

The average American before that time relied on their garden and what animals they raised or hunted for the majority of their food. Thoughout the time of harvest they would can and store as much as possible the get them through the winter. There was little or no running to the "store" to get more food if your ran out so whatever you could store up was all there was till spring. A large feast could seriously deplete those stores. By having that Thanksgiving dinner, our ancestors were saying, we have faith that we will have enough, that we will be alright.

For me it was a new way of looking at my favorite holiday. Once again I have to credit Jack Spirco and his "A Survivalists View of Thanksgiving" episode at www.thesurvivalpodcast.com  for this insight. Give that episode a listen. You'll learn much, and be inspired even more.

For me, that insight brings a spirit of hope to Thanksgiving that was lacking before, a spirit of faith and joy that can so often be missing in our daily lives. I know that with so many people struggling, it is even more important than ever to keep things in perspective. I hope you find that spirit of hope and future promise in your Thanksgiving this year.

Well, that's all for now. Next week is going to slammed at work, but I will do my best to keep in touch. Thanks for letting me be a part of your live. I'll see you next time. Until then, keep prepping because what you do matters, and remember, "Just 'cause there's snow on the rooftop, doesn't mean there ain't a fire in the fireplace."

Candy