Kaleva
Kaleva's JournalIt's your right to have a don't give a fuck attitude about gun safety.
I and many others feel otherwise and believe that anyone who handles a gun, regardless of the situation, ought to treat it as potentially dangerous (hundreds killed every year prove that to be true) and follow simple to understand and life saving safety rules.
For the sake of those around you, I do hope you don't ever hold a gun, even for a brief moment. If you do, I beseech you to take some training first.
I vow not to say anything critical about any candidate running in the Dem primary
I also vow not to say anything critical or negative about any candidate's supporters or members of the candidate's campaign staff. I further vow that if I have an issue with where a candidate stands on any particular issue, I will only talk about the issue itself and not mention the candidate.
Trump, in his own mind, is not lying and is telling the truth.
And his supporters agree with him.
Humans are creatures that are capable of rationalizing their beliefs and actions but we are not rational beings.
I'm not condoning Trump or his supporters but am pointing out that people of average intelligence or higher are quite capable of filling their head with utter bullshit that supports their world view and believing, without question, every smelly ounce of it.
Homemade antacids and gatorade
In a thread in the Lounge about indigestion, DUer Denninmi posted this:
"Any eggs in the house? You can take an eggshell, boil it clean, dry it, and powder it completely then mix in water and drink it - it's pure calcium carbonate, chalk, same active ingredient as Tums.
Baking soda works, too, about a quarter teaspoon in 8 ounces of water. "
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1018504979#post2
Rather then throw eggshells away, the above would be another good use for them.
As for homemade gatorade, here is one recipe:
"Homemade Rehydration Drink Recipe Homemade Gatorade or Laborade
1 cup lemon juice (approx 6-8 lemons)
1/2 cup honey or maple syrup (purchase raw honey here)
1 teaspoon sea salt (purchase unrefined salt here)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
Place in a pint mason jar and stir to combine (the lemon juice and baking soda will react, so stir it down), keep concentrate in the fridge. This can be added to 1 gallon of filtered water, or add 1-2 tablespoons to each 8 ounces (1 cup) of water."
http://www.healthhomehappy.com/2013/04/gaps-friendly-gatorade-alternative-healthy-rehydration-sports-drink.html
A very basic rehydration recipe is:
4 1/2 C. water
1/2 tsp. sea salt
8 tsp. sugar
Basic food and water supply for 1 person for approx. 30 days
First the list for a 2000 calorie daily requirement and water:
380 calories provided by 4 tablespoons of peanut butter
100 calories provided by 1 5 oz can of tuna in water
490 calories provided by 1 16 oz. can of pork and beans
400 calories provided by 4 cups of Cheerios or other cereal such as Total, Raisin Bran or Chex. Eaten dry.
600 calories provided by 2 cups of rolled oats (makes 4 cups when prepared)
60 calories from 1 tablespoon of honey
13 cups of water for drinking
3.5 cups of water for cooking
2030 calories total with 16.5 cups of water
For a 30 day supply, I'd need the following:
30 5 oz cans of tuna
2 40 oz containers of peanut butter
30 16 oz cans of pork and beans
4 42 oz. containers of rolled oats
7 18 oz boxes of Cheerios
1 32 oz container of honey
6.5 gallons of water for cooking the rolled oats
24.5 gallons for drinking
The above is a bare bones list for which items could be added to for variety. I do have a LP gas stove which is supplied by a 500 gallon LP tank. In case of a power outage, i could not use the oven but the stove top would be functional. I'd just have to light the burner(s) with a cigarette lighter or match.
My cheap coffee making system
1 stock pot with cover
1 hand held fine mesh strainer
1 1/3 measuring cup
1 2 quart pitcher
In the stock pot, I pour in 2 quarts plus a couple of cups of water and 2 close to full 1/3 cups of coffee ( I use the 1/3 measuring cup 'cause it's smaller and it's easier to get the coffee out of the can)in the stock pot. Put the cover on the stock pot and heat on the stove till boiling then simmer for another 5 minutes. I let the coffee cool down to room temp in the pot before placing the sieve over the opening of the 2 quart pitcher and pouring the coffee into the pitcher.
As I drink my coffee room temperature or colder, I use a plastic juice pitcher. The reason I add a couple of extra cups of water is that the coffee grounds will retain some of the water. If you use just 2 quarts of water, you'll not end up with 2 quarts of coffee.
This method of making coffee is pretty much the way my parents made it and pretty much everyone else I knew when i was young made it although they had regular coffee pots while I'm using a stock pot.
Electric drip coffee makers last about 1-2 years in this area because of the hard water even with regular cleaning. The one I have is getting very slow and rather then go out and buy another, I spent $1 on the hand held strainer and another $2.50 on the plastic juice pitcher. The stock pot and cover I already had. And because I have a LP gas stove, I can make coffee even if the power goes out.
Update 10/02/13
It's taken awhile to get into a groove here but enough time has passed where I now have enough info to get a good idea of the costs here.
Water is cheap here compared to the other town where I lived last year and without even really trying to save on water, I'm using less then 1000 gallons a month and the bill is still $10 less a month then at the other place.
I have the Rheem heat pump water heater set at the lowest setting and the water is warm which is good enough for me for taking showers and for hand washing the dishes. I've started keeping track of the electrical consumption by reading the meter last week and this week. I've used 57 kWhs in the past 7 days. Electricity is expensive here and it looks like my monthly bill will run about $60. Which really isn't bad considering the that I have an electric heat pump water heater, a chest freezer and a electric dryer.
I haven't turned the heating system on yet and I don't intend to until the middle of November and then I'll keep the t-stat set at 55. I'll shut the furnace off again about the middle of March.
Mowed the lawn for the last time this year last week. The reel mower worked very well. Considering what I used to spend on gas for the riding lawn mower we once had, the reel mower will probably pay for itself in 2 years.
The scooter has worked out very well for transportation and I'll keep on using it as long the weather allows. It's nice being able to travel about 80 miles on 1 gallon of gas.
Been spending less then $100 a month on food for myself. I'm going to increase that amount though so I can restock the shelves here.
Heating, electricity and water I'm estimating will run me about $300 a month this winter. Utilities run about $100 a month now but there will be a jump when I turn on the heating system.
The phone, internet and Netflix cost $68 a month.
Called the local VA clinic yesterday and the nurse said they'll get back to me about setting up appointments. I'm on blood thinner medication and I'll be going to the VA for all my medical issues and prescriptions now.
I qualified for a reduced rate dental plan and I pay 40% of the bill. It looks like I'll have enough money within a month or two to set up an appointment for a cleaning and checkup. It also looks like I'll have enough money for an eye exam and a new set of glasses. I'm years past due for that!
Edit:
Was outside doing yard work and thought of a few other things while out there which I'll jot down here while taking a break.
Garbage pickup cost me $25 a month at the other place but it's free here. With a burn barrel in the back yard, I have less then a 13 gallon bag a month of non burnable garbage and I bring that down to my ex in-laws and put that in the pickup. When my former father-in-law wants to make a run to the landfill, I go with him and do the unloading.
Fall is here and the leaves are changing color and beginning to drop. I have the compost bin made and have been adding to it. A step-son has my mulching mower and I'll get that back to mulch up the leaves here to work into the vegetable garden, the flower gardens and a bunch in the compost bin.
The initial plan for my 2013 garden. Edited 1/9/13
Got my first seed catalog in the mail recently and I've been excited about what to get. Have a few areas worked up last year already but only had a vague idea about what to plant and where to plant them.
The areas I have worked up are as follows:
(A) 2'X24 plot on south side of the garage wall. Gets full sun from morning till sunset.
(B) 1'X9' plot on east side of garage wall. Gets part sun from morning till very early afternoon.
(C) 3'X8 plot. Gets part sun from morning till very early afternoon.
(D) 3'X8' plot. Gets part sun from morning till very early afternoon.
(E) 2'X13' plot. Gets full sun from noon till sunset.
(F) 2'X14' plot. Gets full sun from noon till sunset.
Spent a good part of the day looking over blogs and website covering the square foot gardening method and at the seed catalog and this is what I've come up with so far (subject to revision):
(A) will be planted with 6 Beefsteak tomato plants with red onions planted in between. There is a 9" overhang from the garage roof which I'll run wire up to to train the tomato plants to climb.
(B) will be planted peas with the trellis being two 5'X160" mattress spring pads I salvaged
(C)will be planted with a combination of bush beans and radishes
(D) will be planted with a combination of beets and radishes
(E) & (F) will be planted with bush cucumbers for fresh eating and pickling
Notes:
(B) I have it marked on my calendar when to plant the peas so that I have an early and then later, a fall crops of peas.
(C) Will be divided into 6 1'X4' subplots so that I may succession plant radishes and bush beans. I have it marked on my calender when to plant what so that I have a continuous crop all growing season right up to first expected frost.
(D) Will be divided into 6 1'X4' subplots so that I may succession plant radishes and beets so I'll have a continuous crop all thru the growing season until first frost.
At my ex-wife's garden will be planted tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, red onions and green onions. There are already chives and strawberries planted there. At my former in-laws will be planted tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, cabbage (of which I'll make homemade sauerkraut) and peppers.
Edit: I have two other small plots worked up (about 2'X4' each) where I think I'll plant daylilies.
Helping agriculture go green
Over the past months I've been reading about solar, bio-gas and geothermal off and on and also about how some farms are installing such. With that, I've been kicking around ideas how the federal govt. could greatly assist farms in going green and how to fund such a national project.
I live in Michigan so almost all my research on agriculture is on this state so I'll use Michigan as an example of what could be possibly done. Most of the numbers I'll be citing is from memory so I could be off. Maybe even way off and it's also possible that some of the articles I read contained inaccurate information so bear with me on that. Michigan ranks 22nd in agriculture output which makes it about average amongst all states and that works out quite well here.
There are about 100 farms in this state that produce enough animal waste where it thus makes economic sense to install a bio-gas electric power plant on site. The approximate cost for a bio-gas plant is about 2.2 million for a total of 220 million.
Dairy farms are energy intensive because of the need to cool the milk and power the milking equipment. There are about 2500 dairy farms in Michigan and the average herd size is 114 cows. The approx. cost to install a solar system that would provide enough electricity for dairy farm with an average size herd is $80,000. The approx. cost to install a geothermal heating cooling system for a home is $30,000 for a total of $110,000 which I'll increase to $125,000 to take into account potential unforeseen expenses.
Hog farms and poultry farms are also electrical energy intensive too. There are a little less then 500 hog farms in the state and I've never been able to find out how many poultry farms there are here but I'll use the figure of 500 for a total of 3500 dairy, hog and poultry farms. Multiplying $125,000 by 3500 gives a cost of $437,500,000.
There are about 56,000 farms in the state. The majority of which are small or part time. Subtracting the number of farms already mentioned gives a total of 52,400. Installing a 5kw solar system and a geothermal heating /cooling system would cost about $75,000 each for a total cost of $3,930,000,000.
Adding it all up comes up with a total cost of $4,587,500,000 just for Michigan. I'll round this up to $5 billion to make my calculations on the back of an envelope easier and to provide a cushion to account for extra costs. If one agrees that Michigan is about average, the total cost for the entire nation would be $250 billion..
That's a great deal of money but the way to pay for it would be to eliminate the home mortgage tax deduction or cap it. The home mortgage deductions costs the federal govt. about $80 billion a year and even if one just capped it so the revenue was $50 billion, that be way more then enough to fund such a project over a ten year period of time as it'd be impossible to accomplish such a task in just a few years. The extra money could go to fund the construction of large scale solar farms in the South West on military bases and Indian reservations and for the construction of high powered transmission lines to transfer that power not just west to California but as far east as Atlanta, Georgia. And I believe there would be enough money left to also fund the construction of desalinization plants in California, Texas and Florida. Agriculture requires a great deal of water and the three states I mentioned are ranked 1, 2 and 10th respectively nationwide in agricultural receipts.
Dehydrating apples today
The plan to make apple sauce and apple butter with my ex hasn't panned out yet but when I was over there a couple of days ago, her parents were also there and we got to talking about it. They, the parents, said that they had a dehydrator that I could use it for as long as I needed it so when my ex was bringing me back, we stopped at her parent's house and got it. Yesterday I made a batch and it took about 12 hours. Enough to fill a quart size freezer bag and part of another. I got another batch going this morning. I may be dehydrating apples for some time as I do have quite a few. I still want to make applesauce and apple butter and that may happen yet.
My ex's niece who stayed at this house for a few months last year left a number of bills (most of which I had to pay) behind and I saved them. Yesterday I was doing some paperwork and came across the gas bill for last November when she was here and she had used 76 therms that month. I'm positive I'll be using much less then that but then again, she didn't have the furnace shut off during the night and much of the day like I'm doing. It's about 40 degrees outside right now but a balmy 62 inside even with the furnace off. The dehydrator itself is putting out some heat.
Got a letter from SS explaining the extra payment I got at the beginning of the month. The letter also said that my regular monthly benefit will be $1103 in December and not $1071 and there will be another increase in January for cost of living adjustment. How much of an increase in January will not be known till it is determined how much is deducted for my Medicare premium and that won't be done till sometime in December. So the monthly budget I posted here will have to be tweaked a bit when I get the info.
