As the weather gets nicer (sort of, Spring is slow in coming to the Northwest) we are spending more time outside. Last Sunday was the first time we ate outside this year (on the picnic table Ryan built last summer). Alison asked if we could have a fire that night in our outside portable fireplace, and I said sure. As it was starting to get dark I had Alison, since it was her idea, gather up the needed items to start the fire. From the kindling box she got small twigs and kindling. She assembled her kindling teepee over a vaseline cotton ball, with her larger kindling nearby, and lit it with a lighter –  we’re still making it easy, trying to guarantee success. There was a little bit of pressure, because the whole family was watching her, but everything caught fire nicely. She slowly added in the larger kindling until we had a good fire going. Sarah, Alison and I ended up sitting out there for a while enjoying the fire, night air, and somehow stumbled into a physics discussion explaining to Alison the relationship of the sun, moon, Earth, atmosphere and gravity (keep in mind Ali is 10 y/o). It was a nice night.

Sarah took the day off on Monday and we borrowed my friend’s truck and headed for the hardware store; we needed to get all the things, that wouldn’t fit well in our subcompact car, for our ongoing/upcoming projects. We got polycarbonate panels for the outside of the greenhouse; not only is this greenhouse taking longer to finish than planned, but has the added benefit of coming in over budget. We also got lumber for a rabbit hutch and a potato box, and bought a half whiskey barrel to move our live christmas tree into. The truck bed was pretty full. I now have the materials I need for my next several projects.

We hit Costco on the way home (early this month, but we had the time). We didn’t really get much special, mainly just replaced what we had used in our SWYE and got a couple of OTC meds and, of course, Costco pizza for lunch.

When we got everything unloaded from the hardware store Ryan, Sarah and I went out to put up the polycarb panels. They were more work than we anticipated, go figure, and we only got one half of the roof done. But that part was the hardest part because it had to be done on ladders. The rest should go faster and we hope to have it done this weekend during the predicted sunny weather.

I got together with a couple of my prepper friends, Rick and Mike, this week for coffee. Rick and I try to meet on a regular basis, and this was the first time Mike joined us. I’ve met both of them through the online prepper community. It was nice to just sit for a couple of hours and discuss projects we’re all doing, our families, the progress we’re making, and the goals we have as like-minded friends who “get it”. We each have our strengths and weaknesses, skill-sets and experiences. Again if things ever do go bad we can’t do it alone; take the time now to develop your personal (regional) community before “it” happens. If anyone lives in/or is visiting in the Seattle area, get ahold of me and let’s meet over a cup of coffee.

What did you do?

(Monday: DIY Potato Box)