Mid March updates

Mid March Updates!

Sunday it's March 1st, I picked up a heat n Eat corned beef and cabbage for dinner at MB. I love corned beef and cabbage!  A few years back we picked up several packages of corned beef at Market Basket for less than $3 each, I'm scared with St. Patrick's day coming up, the last year or so corned beef has been $11-14 each!  I didn't manage to see if they had any yesterday, fingers crossed.

Monday, we moved the side table back into the kitchen off the island, Rose has been busy getting the kitchen back to normal, then we worked on putting the ceiling lights back up. I struggled mightily getting one fixture put back onto the screws that hold them to the ceiling power box.  The last two lights went up easier.  I screwed the bulbs back into the fixture, one had a bad bulb, looking at the other lights I noticed another dim bulb, we ended up replacing 3 bulbs.  Rose found some more 15 watt LED 1600 lumen bulbs designed for enclosed fixtures boy were they bright, with the newly painted white ceiling the kitchen looked brand new.

Full moon last night, known as the Worm Moon, coinciding with a total lunar eclipse, creating a blood moon. 

We're always looking to solve small problems before they grow teeth and bite us, such as it is on this old homestead.  This world may change around him, but he just can’t change no more. It pretty well sums up my feelings on the way things are today.  But if God says slow down, I will respond "Not Yet."

The solar power bug has claimed another victim!  There's no cure and the symptoms can only be relieved by buying more panels, batteries or inverters!

We move our clocks ahead one hour next Sunday, March 8, 2026, at 2:00 AM local standard time and the sun won't set until 7:30 pm EDT! Personally...I CAN'T WAIT!

Tuesday 3/3 - Gas prices went from $2.87 Monday to $2.90 Tuesday morning, by Tuesday afternoon it was $3.00 a gallon. Wednesday morning $3.10 a gallon.

We got 4-5 inches of snow overnight and a thin crust on top of that.

Thursday James came over for dinner, twas good to see him and catch up!

March 7th Saturday morning started with a bang, at 1AM Manchester production line went down due to a network issue, then at 4AM my Kenosha site went down due to a local power outage, getting all server systems and network back up has been real slow, 11AM and we're still at it. Gas was up to $3.50 in town, they're saying $4.00 soon!  

We went over to Mom & Dads to drop off some lunches and dinners, Nance had been there and Sheila arrived as we did. Dad and I went over his paperwork and answers a lot of questions, we'll stop over again next week as I left him some homework. Saturday I've got a couple of things to fix over at Mom & Dads, kitchen cabinet door is broke I'm looking up the part on Sunday. I'll put batteries in Moms stair lift this week if I can get over there.  Rose mentioned that the dryer was drying real slow, I'll check their dryer lint trap outside again that was the problem last year.

It's supposed to be 71 Degrees on Tuesday! 

Evening In A Sugar Orchard
by Robert Frost
From where I lingered in a lull in march
outside the sugar-house one night for choice,
I called the fireman with a careful voice
And bade him leave the pan and stoke the arch:
'O fireman, give the fire another stoke,
And send more sparks up chimney with the smoke.'
I thought a few might tangle, as they did,
Among bare maple boughs, and in the rare
Hill atmosphere not cease to glow,
And so be added to the moon up there.
The moon, though slight, was moon enough to show
On every tree a bucket with a lid,
And on black ground a bear-skin rug of snow.
The sparks made no attempt to be the moon.
They were content to figure in the trees
As Leo, Orion, and the Pleiades.
And that was what the boughs were full of soon. 

Sunday 3/8 was a fill up the grain barrels day, we went for a drive, and put out a new deer block.  Rose emptied the freezer and reorganized the contents.

As we drove by the pond I noticed that the water level had come up quite a bit. 

Monday Rose made up cheese stuffed burgers, peanut butter cookies and some brownies.

The birds are already fighting over the birdhouses, there were 3 sparrows camped out at the martin house all day today.  The Bluebirds are checking out houses as well. 

Tuesday it's supposed to get up to 71 degrees today. I'm taking the day off, going to get a haircut too.  It got up to 74 degrees, it was nice. We cooked up a couple of steaks with peppers and onions on the grill that Jarrod gave us, they were great!  We have the house doors and windows open!

We looked for Crocuses popping up around the house foundation, but alas there's still too much ice and snow to melt yet. 

Wednesday 3/10. With spring almost here it's a time for firsts, the first birds nesting or at least scouting houses, the bluebirds are looking at new homes too. We'll be hearing Peepers soon enough once the ice is out, the first reeep' from the woodcocks, maybe even some bare earth out in the fields.   Hah, I came home from work Rose said come see...  Yup both the Crocuses and the Daffodils had poked up an inch or so.  For now we're still knee deep in mud season and it'll get worse before it gets better. 

Rose baked up a bunch of cookies on Wednesday!

Sunrise Saturday morning

Saturday evening 3/14, we headed over to the KofC Irish dinner in Merrimack,  Sheila & Rick, Joe and Amy, Rose and I and Jarrod & Crystal, we had a great time it was great to see everyone and catch up!

The 1-2" of snow we got Friday evening had all melted by Saturday night, the dogs were very restless.  I walked around the house to see if I could see what was lurking about, I saw nothing but the dogs knew better, Winston came back in with the hair on his back standing up on his spine.  Coyotes maybe?

A Beautiful fiery sunrise on Sunday morning!   Moments later, It was gone the sky turning gray.

Sunday Rose and I went out and put some more LED lights on the other big blueberry bush in the field out back. 

Almost Skunked Again Monday morning!  I heard Winston whining at the back door, I went downstairs and without thinking opened the door, both the dogs went tearing out the door, then I smelled skunk, crap, I grabbed the remote for Winston's training collar and beeped him thankfully he and Zebulon came running back right away, I didn't smell skunk on the dogs so all's good, we've been through this before, I don't want to go through that again!

Monday into Tuesday we've got a bunch of rain coming through and some high winds are expected. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This week’s faux outrage promised to be tasty. Lobster! Rib eye! King crab! Millions spent lavishing such delicacies on the troops when all that money might have been spent on poor working stiffs like members of Congress. Outrageous! 

Iran says it's ready for a long war that would 'destroy' global economy

Democrats are desperate for something that will destroy Trump. They have no accomplishments, no new ideas, no policies or any personalities that can compete with him. All they have are lies. They can’t even criticize the actions against Iran without being anti-American. Trump is accomplishing so much good for the nation that any criticism of him is anti-American. 

The poll indicates that voters trust Republicans over Democrats to handle nearly every key issue, including inflation, tariffs, foreign policy, and most significantly immigration, where Republicans hold a staggering 24-point advantage. 

Trump is rewriting the rules of politics, economics, and culture—and no one, not even the experts, knows what happens when the old orthodoxy finally breaks. 

Cleanup on the Propaganda Aisle
“A post regarding the two individuals arrested for throwing homemade bombs outside of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s home failed to reflect the gravity of the incident thereby breaching the editorial standards we require for all our reporting. It has therefore been deleted.” —CNN 

“It’s just crazy how difficult it has been to get Congress to care about secure, legitimate elections in the United States. For the record, elections in America are conducive to mass fraud. Although Democrats and Establishment Republicans say stupid and fundamentally dishonest things, such as “America’s elections have never been more secure,” American citizens know they are lying.”  Twelve states (California, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania, and Vermont) plus Washington, D.C., essentially allow people to vote at the polls without documentation.

If anyone doubted that the traditional Democratic Party is a dead empty carcass that has been filled by the America hating, antisemitic, Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), look no further than the response of Democratic elected officials to the joint American Israeli attack on Iran.

• Rather than celebrating the defanging of a regime that has been at war with the United States since 1979 and is responsible for the deaths and maiming of 1000s of American service members, Democrats (other than Senator John Fetterman, a true profile in courage) are blaming Donald Trump for “starting a war of choice.”
• Rather than rallying behind our troops, praying for their safety, and promising to give them everything they need to ensure an American victory, Democrats are telling our troops they will “fail” and that their cause is “unjust.” 

“If you agree with this statement, then stand up and show your support,” he said. “The first duty of the American government is to protect American citizens, not illegal aliens.”
Republicans stood and applauded. Democrats didn’t budge from their seats. It was a striking contrast. “You should be ashamed of yourself, not standing up,” he told Democrats.  

• That’s not just a rhetorical question. Democrats have moved so far to the left that many voters simply don’t believe Democrats could hold the positions they do. In October 2024, Tablet magazine had an article on this phenomenon entitled “The Democrats’ Insanity Defense.”
• A GOP staffer said, “that one problem his campaign regularly faces is that aspects of Democratic governance are simply too insane for voters to find credible, even when they are documented as official U.S. government policy,” the article stated.

The daily news cycle around President Trump moves at a pace that buries accomplishments most presidents would tout for weeks. Several developments in late February fit that pattern. The headlines fixated on Iran, but other wins piled up in the background.

• On February 22, CNBC reported that the average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage fell to 5.99%, its lowest level since 2022. A year earlier, the rate sat at 6.89%. That drop matters because mortgage rates drive affordability. When rates fall, more families can buy a home, refinance, or move without swallowing a punishing monthly payment. Home ownership still anchors the American dream for millions of households, and lower rates expand access.
• In Trump Time, one week can carry the weight of a season.
• The news barely lingered there. 

A paid representative for the designated terror organization and Islam-pushing Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has called for Texas, in its state education system, to teach that one-third of all slaves in America were Muslim, enslaved, and killed for their Muslim faith, erase the Mayflower Compact, eliminate Columbus Day, teach that the Alamo was influenced by Islam and honors Islamic architecture and more.

• Not happening, at least according to two members of the state Board of Education who challenged the accuracy of the claims, openly opposed a “jihadist agenda being forced on our children,” and were skeptical about the benefits of teaching children about Muhammad’s decision to marry a six-year-old and consummate the marriage when the little girl was just nine. Pickren’s conclusion: “We’re going to teach Christopher Columbus. We’re going to teach the 10 Commandments. We’re going to teach Thanksgiving. We’re going to teach George Washington’s Thanksgiving prayer. And we are certainly NOT going to teach that the Alamo was designed and built to honor Islam! 

The problem is not that weather varies. It always has. The problem is that whatever happens is now cited as evidence of climate catastrophe.

• If it snows less than average — climate change.
• If it snows more than average — climate change.
• If temperatures rise — climate change.
• If temperatures plunge — climate change.
• If drought hits — climate change.
• If floods come — climate change.

At this point, climate change has become less a scientific hypothesis and more a theological doctrine: omnipresent, unfalsifiable, and invoked to explain all things. 

THREE major pharmacies are set to close hundreds of locations, suffering from industry problems and economic pressures.  CVS Health, Rite Aid and Walgreens have announced plans to close pharmacy locations across the country.

Rep. Mark Harris sounds off on Senate inaction over DHS funding and election integrity legislation. He criticizes Senate leadership, including Chuck Schumer, while also urging Republicans to push harder for a talking filibuster to advance the SAVE America Act. Backed by Donald Trump, Harris argues voter ID and proof of citizenship requirements have broad public support and should be a top priority for the 119th Congress.

 

And it's March 1st

Quick get to the store for Bread and Milk, save yourselves. There's a Blizzard coming in on Monday expecting 10-15" of snow here.  Predicting 25+ MPH winds, white out conditions!  Yet another snowpocalypse!

Work was cancelled last Monday! 

Woke up Monday morning to 3-4" on the ground, winds picking up. Jarrod called around 6AM to see if we thought we'd need plowing at some point Monday, he's off work today too.

Yesterday marked one of the most significant Olympic victories for the United States: Team USA defeated Canada to win the gold medal in hockey. 

By noontime the winds were blowing pretty good, we ended up with a good 8-9" of snow.  Rose and I snowblowed the deeryard, the front yard and driveway.

Boston Globe postpones printing of paper for first time in 153 years, due to blizzard 

Six planets in the solar system are going to align in the western sky just after sunset. Those planets will include Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.

• The latter two planets, Uranus and Neptune, will need binoculars or a telescope to be seen. The others will all be visible with the naked eye.
• This alignment of six planets is already moving close to its position. The best alignment date will be Saturday, February 28. From Earth’s perspective, the six planets will not be in a perfect straight line, yet will appear close together. 

Loyalty doesn't always shout.

Sometimes, it remains still… even if staying might cost it its life.

Because true love isn't an emotion.

It's a decision.

More snow and rain in the forecast Wednesday it started about 6AM.  Not much about an inch.

Thursday evening; "did you see that" Rose said staring out the dining room windows into the darkness, I stared out, the moonlight reflecting off the snow, shadows and light, something moved fast across my view, was that it? "There Rose said, see 'em?" I saw something, the warped window glass distorts your vision, playing tricks, then there were two shapes not moving, just standing there.  I stared for a while and slowly into the twilight the shapes morphed and appeared to move, barely but I saw it this time.  The glass messes with your eyes making you doubt what you see when you look. There were definitely two figures in the darkness swaying slowly, I could use more moonlight, it was deer, not the cryptids my mind had imagined.  Maybe I've been reading too much horror lately?

 

                                                     For Rose!

Friday evening before it got dark I went out to the edge of the deer yard with a shovel and started clearing the snow off the solar panels, there was two feet of snow piled up at the base of the panels, with several inches covering the panels. I went back into the house, pulled up my solar monitor and the panels were once again producing power. 

It's Saturday morning 2/28, two deer came in to the deer yard for a snack before bedding down for the day.  Rose happened to see them marching through the 18+ inches of snow out in the field.  Normally I receive alerts on my phone that a deer is out there, but I need to replace the Lithium batteries in the two camera's in the yard today both cams are dead until I do.

Rose has plastic up, she finished cutting in around the edges with primer on Friday, priming the kitchen ceiling for paint.

Saturday it's supposed to be 51 degrees today. Rose primed the 2nd half of the kitchen.

I changed the batteries in the two deer yards.  Snow was deep!

 A bunch of deer came in Saturday evening!

Sunday it's Pellet stove cleaning day today too.  And it's snowing!

 

 

 

WAR with IRAN has started! Iran has launched retaliatory missile strikes against Israel hours after coordinated attacks by the United States and Israel on key strategic targets inside the Islamic Republic.

On Saturday, Israel confirmed it had launched a pre-emptive strike on Iranian territory, joined by a broader U.S. military offensive targeting military and nuclear sites across Tehran and other major cities, including areas near the office of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

While President Donald Trump was on Capitol Hill on Tuesday night delivering a powerful, commanding State of the Union address that laid out a vision for a prosperous and secure America, the radical Left was busy hosting what can only be described as a fever-dream circus at the National Press Club.

• While the adults were discussing policy, the “State of the Swamp” counter-event, hosted by the anti-Trump group Defiance.org, descended into a literal “Animal House” scenario.
• The optics weren’t just bad; they were humiliating.
• The event, hosted by the anti-Trump group Defiance.org, featured a “who’s who” of people the American electorate rejected or tuned out years ago.
•     Robert De Niro: The actor, who seems unable to speak without veering into a scripted rage, called the President a “lunatic” and claimed the country is “imploding.”
•     The Media Gaslighters: Jim Acosta, Don Lemon, and Mehdi Hasan were all in attendance, presumably to console each other over their plummeting relevance.
•     The ‘Lawfare’ Brigade: George Conway and Glenn Kirschner showed up to continue their endless, failed predictions of the President’s “imminent” demise.
• 
  

Susan Rice’s stark warning to the other half of the country that is not crazy. Her message to Trump supporters: We’re coming after you when we’re back in power. “Revenge is a dish best served cold.”  It telegraphed the fear running through the Lefty-left that their crimes against the country are being tallied, carefully catalogued, and presented to a grand jury in Florida. The crimes are bundled as a multifaceted conspiracy to overthrow the US government. Pretty serious. Sedition and Treason. Susan Rice knows what she (and others) did.

Seriously, both my wife and I were joking about this the other day. Liberals will go on and on about women's rights, and then insist that men be allowed in women's sports, locker rooms, and prisons. They will scream about terrorism just before they call people Nazis, mime shooting people in the neck, and cheer on assassinations. 

The latest absurdity is the claim that voter ID is Jim Crow 2.0 and the claim that women are incapable of getting IDs. 

This, in a world where, by laws that Democrats have passed, it's impossible to do just about anything else aside from voting without an ID. No bank accounts, housing, jobs, travel (you need a DL to drive and a RealID to fly), leave the country when you decamp to Canada or Ireland, buy alcohol, or God knows what. 

Democrats also hand out IDs to illegals like they are Obamaphones, allowing them to kill people on the roads in massive trucks, totally untrained. 

Apparently, in New York City, you cannot shovel snow with several forms of ID, passport photos, and a Social Security card. No doubt this is a union rule or something, even if you are doing it for free, since you are impinging on their overtime.  

The LARGEST vaccine–dementia study ever conducted (n=13.3 million) found common vaccines dose-dependently increase risk of dementia/Alzheimer’s for a DECADE. A MAJOR Cleveland Clinic study (n=53,402) found −27% flu shot effectiveness during 2024–25 flu season.

• Unvaccinated Are the Healthiest People According to Cohort Study Looking at “Unvaccinated” Americans “There are approx 100,000 adults in America who’ve never received a vaccine in their life…the data is clear, showing the unvaccinated are the healthiest people 

Thanks to a lawsuit against TSA, disturbing new details are emerging about how illegals without traditional ID were allowed to board commercial flights during the Biden era. And buried inside the paperwork is the detail that has many Americans downright furious.

• According to the lawsuit and supporting documents, illegals who were flagged as sex offenders were able to travel by presenting official paperwork related to their sex offender status.
• Yep. Let that sink in for a moment. The Biden regime welcomed in and carted around illegals who were known sex offenders.
• At a time when Americans are routinely told air travel security is tighter than ever, the idea that illegal sex offenders could waltz onto commercial flights using administrative documents is raising even more serious concerns about basic public safety and the rights of American citizens.
• Why would any sane government do this to its people? The only rational explanation is what many Americans have suspected all along: this was about creating a new voting bloc, no matter the cost.
• Experts across cable news and immigration policy circles have argued that the Biden regime’s approach was driven by the belief that mass migration could reshape the electorate. Of course, the regime has strongly denied that, but the perception has taken hold, and for many Americans, not without reason.

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz wants you to know he is furious about the massive fraud scandal plaguing his state. He also wants you to know that the federal government’s efforts to do something about it amount to political punishment. He delivered both messages at the same press conference on Thursday, apparently without noticing the contradiction.

 

 

 

February 2026

 

I knocked a lot of the huge icicles off the house, this weekend I'll put some salt pucks up near the edges of the roof to melt the ice dams in strategic places. 

We're watching BEAST GAMES on Prime, Beast Games follows 1,000 contestants—the largest cast for a reality show—as they compete for $5 million, advertised as the largest single cash prize in reality television history.very similar concept to the SQUID GAMES series show we watched 2021-2025.

Rose has been busy painting the kitchen ceiling, it's looking great. We picked up some ceiling paint that goes on pink then turns white.

We put more rock salt on the roof edges trying to melt a path for the water to go.

Friday Feb. 20th, we've got more snow coming in, we ended up with6-8 on Friday-Saturdays storm. And now they're saying another 4-8" wallop on Monday coming in.

Homesteading isn’t a brand. It's not a costume.  It was simply people like me learning how to do stuff. People trying to feed their families in a more human way than stale, industrial life had ever offered. People resurrecting old skills and sharing what worked—not because it was trending, but because it woke something in them that had been sleeping for a long time. It’s seasonal. It’s complicated. It’s monotonous. It’s one step forward and three steps back. It’s failed loaves of bread and storm-torn vegetable plants. Every once in a while it’s stunningly aesthetic with all the warm-and-fuzzy-feels. But the rest of the time, it’s gritty and dull and raw.

More Snow, I'm tired of snow blowing the stuff!

Sunday Sunrise

 

Sunday/Monday another 4-8" 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not too long ago, Texas State Representative Gene Wu (D-Houston), chair of the Texas House Democratic Caucus, jumped the shark to say out loud what is usually left unsaid about the Democrat agenda:

• The day the Latino, African American, Asian, and other communities realize that they share the same oppressor is the day we start winning, because we are the majority in this country now. We have the ability to take over this country and to do what is needed for everyone.
• The same unapologetic left-wing weaponization of illegal immigration is occurring in Europe. Sheer numbers there have already radically changed the demography—and political constituencies—of the continent. 

Word of the day:  kak·is·toc·racy
[kakɪˈstɒkrəsi]
kakistocracy (noun)
kakistocracies (plural noun)
    Government by the least suitable or competent citizens of a state:
        "the danger is that this will reduce us to kakistocracy"
    A state or society governed by its least suitable or competent citizens:
        "the modern regime is at once a plutocracy and a kakistocracy"
        "the man in the street must share part of the blame for allowing such a kakistocracy to entrench itself" 

And here’s where it gets even more inconvenient for the Democrat talking points:
    95% of Republicans support voter ID laws
    71% of Democrats support voter ID laws
    85% of White voters support voter ID laws
    82% of Latino voters support voter ID laws
    76% of Black voters support voter ID laws
 

VANCE: "AOC is somebody who doesn't know what she actually thinks. Politicians are given lines and when you ask them to go outside the lines they're given, they fall apart... This is a person who is mouthing the slogans that somebody else gave her." 

Is the weather warmer? That is your fault. Is the weather colder? That is also your fault. Better give up all your freedoms, pay more taxes, live in the pods and eat the bugs.