Sunday, October 30, 2011

BOB Test Run - Report #3 (Final)

Even though this test run on the Bug Out Bag was not a full 72 hours (thank goodness), it was still long enough to see where I was lacking in my preparedness for such a time when I might need to do a full 72 hour or longer run.

The food held up well and could have gone further, but with an end in sight and knowing this was a test, the portions were a little larger and we ate more frequently than if we were in a real life situation.

This is what this weekend was all about so I paid special attention and documented the things that were missing and that made me say, "I wished I had..." or " I should have brought..."

These are the things I will be adding to the BOB;

  • 2-LED head lamps.
  • Baby wipes.
  • Serving Spoon. 
  • 2-Trash Bags 
  • 2-Two man dome tents. 
The items I will be adding to the truck will be;
  • Sleeping bags, mainly for warmth and comfort.
  • Compact cook stove, because tending a fire all day was energy draining. 
  • Extra collapsible water bottle, so I don't have to refill the one I have every couple of hours.
  • 2 more thin blankets, It got down in the 30's and the tin foil blankets were not enough.
  • A larger water boiling pot, The small one in the BOB I have does not hold enough.
  • A 1'X1' piece of Diamond grate, to set the pots on over the hot coals so I can cook like on a grill.
  • Empty pillow cases, They can be used to carry items when my truck has to be abandon and to stuff with leaves for pillows at night. 
The area we were at was a camp ground. We did cheat by using their water, but hauled it to our camp site in the collapsible bottle. I felt there was no reason to waste our water tablets or use the filters on just a test. We have them and would use then if need be. 

Another good thing about this weekend was we had the time as a family to go over our evacuation plans and meeting places. We discussed many "What if's" and worked on several issues we could foresee if the need was to happen. With one girl being so far away a college, this was a must.

There was one point as the kids and wife were listening and looking at me while I talked, I paused and asked myself, "What are you doing?" 

I stopped and looked around at some of the other campers that were close by and they were having fun. They had nice campers or huge cabin tents with all comforts of home. This is the way we like to camp but, here we were with flimsy tube tents held up by a string, cold, dirty, eating food from a box and not really enjoying it at all talking about a doomsday that might not ever happen. 
As people walked by they would stop and stare, some even pointing. I felt like I was an exhibit at the zoo. 
I almost threw in the towel right then and drove the 30 minutes back to get the camper.  

"Daaaad, you were saying?" One of the girls said snapping me out of my defeated trance like state. 

Without pause I said "Do you see them over there?  They have it 100 times better than us right now, but believe it or not if the situation we are testing for was real, we would have it 100 times better than them".

Then I asked "Do you know why?"

Without hesitation one answered back, "Because we would be alive".

After that we started to have fun. There was always something to do, something to clean, something to cook, the fire needs wood, my tent is falling down, why don't we have a hammock, lets go down to the water, I want to go hiking. 
Then it felt more like camping and not so much as survival.

It was good, but next time I am going to be sleeping in the camper with the heater.  

Saturday, October 29, 2011

BOB Test Run- Report #2

 Ok, tube tents are defiantly out. I can pick up a couple of cheap dome tents that would be a lot better than a piece of thin plastic that does not even have ends. Plus a good sleeping bag would be worth it. I could roll it up and attach it to the bottom of the bag.

Tonight I plan on cheating a little.
Well, I guess it is really not cheating. I have stuff in the truck that I always keep like blankets and tarps folded up under the back seat. So to use them would not be cheating I don't think. Because if we had to bug out, more than likely the truck will be with me anyway, right? 

Breakfast was easy. Breakfast bars, vitamins and instant coffee. For the 10:00 AM snack, protein bars and hot chocolate.

For lunch, Vienna Weenies and Mexican Style Macaroni and Cheese and flavored water. Yum, Yum.

One thing I am adding to the truck innovatory is a my thin compact camp stove with 2 packs of fuel bottles. Heating everything off the fire is a pain and it takes more energy to gather wood and keep a fire going during the day than what it is worth. Plus the fire takes longer to heat the water than a stove. A small two burner camp stove would do the trick. I know they sell those little compact single burner cooking stoves, but I do not have the room in my bag for it.

Light is another problem. Flashlights are good for moving about and the fire gives off enough light right around the fire area. The main problem I am facing is the food prepping or staging area. I either have to hold the flash light in my mouth or have someone hold the light for me. A couple of LED clip on hat lights or head lamps will be added to the Bag.

This is good.

Friday, October 28, 2011

BOB Test Run- Report #1

It is 11:25PM and everyone is bedded down for the night, It is cold and the thermal space blanket things are not giving the warmth we are accustom too. There is nothing like a warm comforter tucked in on all sides to keep you warm on a cold night.
Only a few hours in and I have already started to miss the comforts of home.
Tonight we had Spanish rice in the form of an MRE and pound cake for desert.

The tube tents give little shelter to the elements and are not as roomy as they show on the package.

I can see the hand warmers already being used up quickly. The good thing is, it will be in the low 70's for tomorrow.

The only electronic devices we brought along is the wife's cell phone and this lap top so to keep y'all informed. No way to charge either so this will be short to conserve power.

Note to self: Buy a real tent and warm sleeping bags. 

Off The Grid

I will be off the grid till Sunday afternoon.
It is too wet to do any work anyway so this is a good weekend for what I have planned.
The oldest girl is coming up from college as well so this will be even more fun.

We are doing a "Bug Out Bag" test run to see where we need to improve on our 72 hour preparedness pack. I have been wanting to do this for some time now to insure I have the right stuff just in case we have to survive out of the bag in an emergency.
The weather will be in the 70's during the day and mid 40's at night.
Crazy you say, yes it is, but it will be fun.   

Great book if you ever get the chance.
I hope y'all have a great and safe weekend.  

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

For Sell

I have had some requests to post pictures of the car I am selling so here it his.
2001 Chevy Malibu SL 4 door V6
I have put on many, many new parts. Needs a little AC work, but for the price I am asking, it is worth it.

Any questions just e-mail me.  

Welcome

I want to give a big welcome to Jay, Texan and KWF.
Plus I want to say thank you. I had a goal to reach 100 family members by the end of November and y'all helped me get that goal.
Please feel free to leave comments as I will do my best to respond as soon as I can.
Again, welcome to the Modern Day Redneck family and thank you for hitting the little button.
My email is on the side if you need anything.

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Fresnel Lens

I got to play with my Fresnel Lens today after work. I ended up burning some plastic, paper, wood, corn stalks and also my hand, leg and almost the dog.
I still need to put it in a frame to get it's full potential, but it was still fun.
 

Monday, October 24, 2011

It Runs In The Family

The wife was out garage selling with her girl buddy and came across an old wine press.
I don't know if the first thing she thought of was me or the wine I could make.
The lady was asking $60 for it and the wife did what she does best, started talking.
All the parts are there. The outer tin, the inside screen and even the wooden handle. It all works too, it just needs a little cleaning.

After the wife was done, she talked the lady down to $10 and took it home.
I checked on ebay and found the same ones for anywhere between $125.00 to $185.00

I hear Watermelon wine calling my name.

Around the Garndens

Several plants of winter squash that have already started producing. Another week and we will be eating good.
 Three foot tall corn. I don't expect them to make but it sure makes good feed for the animals and if they do then that is a bonus.
Who said you can't grow peppers in the Fall? I guess with the warm days still in the upper 80's the peppers are going hog wild.

I still don't have any beans yet but the plants are getting ready and the salad bed, wow. There is so much we have started to clip and feed some to the chickens.




The wife had a heck of a find this weekend. Check back later and I show you what she found while garage selling.

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Good Production

I felt I made some good production on the two projects I had going at the same time this weekend.

First off Friday night I did get the oldest girl's car put back together with the help of three other friends and everything looks and sounds good. Now I just have to clean it up and out then try and sell it.
 On my way home Friday I stopped off at the big box store to get a price on shingles. You are not going to believe this, but a bundle of shingles was $25.00 and that was for the cheap ones.
Frustrated and trying to figure out what I was going to do because I could never afford or see myself buying shingles at that price I walked to the back to check the price on tin.
Guess what, there was a pallet of culled items stuffed in the back under a shelf and guess what was on it, yup shingles. With one eye on my prize I found a manager and took him back to the pile of cull items. He pulled everything out and this is what was there, 3 1/2 sheets of OSB decking, 1X6X8 Facer boards, a roll of tar paper, 10 bundles of shingles, a bunch of 1X2's and 1X4's, 10-6" fence pickets and some more 2X4's.  
He priced it all out to be almost $400.00 dollars. By this time I was sweating it and I asked him how much for the whole thing and to make it cheap or he would have to take and put it all back. He said "Give me $30.00 and it's yours". I himhauled around for a second trying not to look too eager and said, "Well, I guess so".

The youngest girl was happy to get up and do the roofing for me while I started on the siding. I am using 6" fence pickets lapped 1". I like the look so I will go with it. These were in the cull pack as well.  


I used a couple of the warped up culled 2X4's to frame in the where the toilet is going.
The 1X6 culled facer board looks great. I also used old scavenged 4" fence pickets for the soffit. You can barely make it out in the picture. If you don't know what the soffit is, it is the underside of the overhang.

A huge storm blew through Saturday night making Sunday a wasted day. It was so muddy that no work was able to get done. The mist and light showers did not blow out until mid afternoon leaving me pretty much looking out the window all day thinking of what I could have got done.

The winds lastnight were horrible and when the youngest girl got up she asked "Well, how did my roofing job hold up?"
"Like a champ" I answered back.    

Friday, October 21, 2011

Weekend Look Ahead

This week I was not able to get as much done as I had hoped for. I was wanting to at least get the roof finished on the Solar Bathhouse and also get the oldest girls car running and start trying to sell it.
I have had some really late evenings at work this week so all I was able to accomplish was getting the rafters on and getting the car almost back together.
If by chance I can get out of here at a decent hour today, the car will be running tonight and listed for sale by Sunday.

Tomorrow I plan to dedicate most of the day to the Bathhouse, or until I run out of material.
As far as Sunday goes, I don't have a clue yet, but I bet it will consist of work of some sorts and then watching the Cowboys loose to a team that has not won a game yet this season.

Oh, How bout them Rangers!     

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Night Off

I put in a very long day today so I decided to take the night off.


I found this picture on Facebook and thought you would enjoy it.

Robins Junque Art

This is for Robins Junque Art. Thank you for hitting the follow button and welcome to Modern Day Redneck. Feel free to comment on anything and like I have always said, I will respond as soon as I can.
Thanks again and welcome to the family.


I did do a little work on the Bathhouse last night but it got to dark to take any photos. It would have been boring anyway. All I did was build the eves and overhangs in the front and sides. Tonight I will finish the overhang in the back.
Next up is the roof decking and shingling.
Y'all have a good day.

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

I Broke Down


Here is the way I look at it. A man that works for a living should not have to fight with old, used, rusty screws. Yes they have saved me money, but they have also made me loose my religion from breaking or stripping out before they are screwed all the way in.
I have had enough and broke down and bought a box of good square bit screws. After I sunk the first new screw tonight I whispered, "Oh, how I love you". The wife was standing near by and ask what I just said and I told her I was not talking to her, I was talking to the screw. She replied, "Oh"    

While I was at the big box store last night I eye balled a stack of cull lumber they had bundled up sitting off to the side. The bundle consisted of 10 2X4X8s so I asked them how much for the cull wood. They said take it all for $5.00 and I said ok. That is $0.50 a board that regularly sells for $2.44 each. How could I pass it up.

Tonight after work I was able to put up all the rafters before dark using new cull wood. Even though the new wood was twisted and bowed a little, it was a dream to work with compared to the 100 year old wood that I have been using.
It all boils down to a man needing good wood and some good screws and he will overcome huge obstacles. (Keep it clean fellers)

I can no longer say I built this bathhouse with 100% recycled materials. I have now bought screws and culled lumber so I guess I am at 99% now.

Total cost to date is $14.00 and my religion.  

Sunday, October 16, 2011

A Little Of This And A Little Of That

First off, I know I plug my oldest daughters blog more than others, but I can tell you this, her newest post is a master piece. If you are into prepping or a survivalist you would want to read this one. This post justifies that I am doing and have done the right thing to prep my girls. If you want, go check her out at  BlueEyedBaby

It has been really hard lately to blog everyday. All summer I complained about the heat and not being able to get out and do anything. Well, now it is just the opposite, I am project heavy so to speak.

 I was able to get the oldest girls car rebuild underway so that is good and I also was able to get the walls framed up on the outdoor solar bathroom.

This old wood and rusty used screws are giving me a real fit, but so far the cost of the project is still at zero.
 My helper is really not into it today. She kept saying she needed a shower and I kept telling her it was me that was stinking not her. In the end I can tell you that this girl is the best help. She knows when I am about to mess up and is not afraid to tell me.

I hope to get the rafters up this week.

 If you were wondering, I have not forgotten about letting you know the results of the home made powdered eggs.
The thing is, I am not ready to give them. I am doing the eggs several different ways. First I cooked them with butter then dehydrated them, next I cooked them without butter and dehydrated them, now I hard boiled them and dehydrated them. Next I will try them raw and dehydrate them. I am trying to do it every way there is so I will know the right fit for what I am looking for and need.
Like right now, The hard boiled eggs were sliced thin and dried for 18 hours but when I powdered them, they felt moist. So now they in the oven on a cookie sheet at a low temp to finish them off. Once re-dried, I will run them through the blender one more time.    

I found the time to start a new book. So far this one spot on and has some real good advise.

Oh, did you get the chance to watch the Texas Rangers last night. Oh yea, The boys are going to the big game for the second year in a row.
The cowboys play at 3:00 and I just looked at the clock and seen I missed the kick off.

That should cover it.
Building, cooking, reading, prepping, sports. Now that's a blog post right there.  

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Shade Tree Mechanic

First off I want to say a thank you and a welcome to Kate for hitting the follow button and becoming a family member of Modern Day Redneck. Feel free to leave a comment and you can bet I will respond as soon as I can.


The term Shade Tree Mechanic is used to describe a person that is a Jerry Rigger, Greases Monkey and one that does not have a nice garage to work in and rolls around in the dirt while trying to fix their automobile. Most of the time when you find a Shade Tree Mechanic you will also find a Redneck. The derogatory terms go hand and hand. They both are there to degrade the person that is trying to save money and do the work himself. I personally would rather be called a shade tree mechanic and spend a hundred dollars to fix it myself than to pay someone nine hundred to do it for me.
Most of the people that have called me that are the people that take their car to a garage to get the oil changed and have a AAA card because they can't change their own tire and probably don't even know how.
OK, enough with the anger issues,

 Last night I finally got to work on the oldest girls car. Last weekend I had to make a trip to Waco to pick it up and trailer it back. The real mechanic who looked at was asking a fortune to fix it and the car is not even worth what he was going to charge. So instead I will do it.
Sorry for the bad pics but it was dark and they were taken from a phone.
This motor is one of those sideways V6 and I have tried to avoid working on it as much as possible. I just don't know where all the stuff goes. Give me a old Ford Pickup any day and I will make it run, but this little car is a headache. 
The lower intake gasket blew out in three spots. This was caused from overheating. It is a good thing the heads are not warped. Plus the water pump is leaking and the idler pulley is broke.
Just to get the gasket off, you have to have to pull the rocker arms and push rods. This picture shows how the gasket snaps around the push rods and I am pointing to one of the places where the gasket failed.
After getting into it I noticed this was not the first time this has happened.

I hope to get it back together Monday night and if you are wondering, she will not be taking it back to A&M.







     

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

First Attempt

 I was rained out today so I came home at noon and had time to try something I have been wanting to do for a while now.
This is my first attempt at powdered eggs and with doing hours of research I am now ready.

Some say you can cook the eggs and some say you can just pour them right out on the sheet to be dehydrated. I am afraid of salmonella so I chose to cook the 4 dozen eggs as I would scrambled eggs to just under moist with salt and pepper added.
Then I crumbled them up and put them on the dehydrator trays. It should be ready in about 12 to 15 hours.

If successful I will run the dried eggs through the food processor until they are powder.
After that, I will put them in sterilized 1/2 pint jars and vacuum the lids on.  

I figured why not and if it works out then I will do enough to last a year.
Next on the list is to can butter.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Fall Is In The Air

 You know fall is in the air when all the little towns start having their fall festivals.

We went to this one this weekend and their clam to fame is when Bonnie and Clyde robbed the bank. So now they have Bonnie and Clyde Days with, yes reenactments of the robbery. No really, I'm not lying. 

The best part was the soap box derby. Great entertainment you don't see every day.   
You know you are in Redneck country when the Soap Box cars look like tractors.

Monday, October 10, 2011

Fresh As Can Be





My broadcast salad bed is really taking off. This pic is from last week and now with the rains it has doubled in size. You can see there are several different types of leaf lettuce plus spinach.

Every night we go out and cut from the top all the salad we can eat. Sprinkled with a little cheese, bacon bits and dress with 1000 Island and that right there my friends is some fantastic eating.

Sunday, October 9, 2011

What A Ride

First off I want to howdy and welcome to Jim Bob, the newest member to the Modern Day Redneck family. Thank you for hitting the little follow button and please feel free to leave comments. I try real hard to reply to each and every one.
Thanks again for being a part of MDR.


I know we all needed the rain and believe me I am not complaining about the it, but why did it have to rain the whole way to and from Waco today. From 5:30 AM this morning to 2:30 PM it poured.

I picked up my dad and the trailer this morning to take the drive and pick up the oldest girls broke down car. I was lucky enough my nephew went and picked it up at College Station last night and pulled it to his house in Waco. That took about two hours off my round trip.
On top of it pouring down rain, it was Texas and OU weekend and all the foreigners from the the bordering state were driving home.
Apparently they have not had rain up there in a while either because the highways were littered with Oklahoma cars either spun out or tangled up in wrecks with the words "Texas sucks" or "Tuck Fexas"  wrote on the back windshield in shoe polish as they stood outside of their wreaked cars in the rain. (That made makes me smile a little)  

Next time I would rather someone take me out back and beat me with a 2X4 than have to do that again, but we did get a good amount of rain and I got the car home.

Oh, if you were wondering, as soon as I got home it stopped raining.    

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Progress On The Solar Bathroom

Just as I had planned, I was left alone to do what I wanted to do for the day. By 8:30 AM I had reached my weekend goal for the bathroom. So I decided to push on.

Leveling the bricks for the foundation was not near as hard as what I thought it was going to be. I had to dig out and strategically place each one where the weight was going to be so the floor would not sag.

This step is where I enlisted a hand from the girls. Last week I was able to rebuild the old salvaged wall into a  floor and to the dimensions I was wanting. The hardest part was dragging it into the garden area and placing it on the bricks.

That was it. This is all I had planned.
 Here you can kinda see the first thought on the layout of how I was wanting it. The old horse trough is the bathtub, the salvaged sink and the chair is to represent where the composting toilet will be. The shower will go to the left of the bathtub and the tub will drain into the shower and out.  
 With time to spare and everyone gone, I decided to drag another old wall section up from the back and start working on it for the back wall.

Just as I finished it everyone got back home so again I enlisted the help from the girls and we drug this one in place as well.
Ok, I thought I had it all figured out until the wife came out. I set everything up for her and in detail described how it was going to look.
When I was talking to her about how I was going to build the shower she said "Why don't you just use the bathtub as a shower / tub combo". I had been figuring on this shower deal for a long time now. How it was going to drain, how it was going to look and so on. After she said that I scratched my head and tried to come up with a reason why it would not work, I couldn't.
Now with the design change, I have the room for the dressing / sitting bench I was wanting and maybe a potbelly stove to heat the place during the winter.

The next step is to clean a bunch of that old barn wood and frame in the remaining three walls and gable roof.

In case you are wondering, the drain to the tub/shower will be externally piped to the left in the picture above with the sink connecting into it finally dumping out on some little trees off to the left of the pic.

More about the composting toilet, It will not be urination purposes because with a sawdust toilet you have to keep the liquids to a minimum. Being this is a mans mans bathroom, I plan to build a home made urinal and the urine will be diluted and poured on the fruit trees. (Read up on it, it works)

That's all I got for now, the wife is hollering at me, something about spending time with her or something, I don't know.

Later

Friday, October 7, 2011

What A Week

This is Friday and I am happy about that. I do not have to work this weekend and I am even more happy about that.
I have all day Saturday to work on the Solar Bathroom so maybe I will at least get the floor done. Working with old wood takes a lot longer to built because of the nails and extra cutting you have to do. If I get to it, I will have photos to show.

My Sunday is a bust. I have to drive down and pick up the oldest girls car she HAD to take to college with her. We all told her not to take it, but we are old and do not know what we are talking about. It has some major problems I hope to patch up so we can sell it. That way she can have some money for another car when she comes up for the Christmas break.

That's all I got for now.

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

More On The Solar Bathroom

I still have tons of old wood from the barns that blew down during the storms before summer. I intend to use as much as possible because it is free wood just like I did with the wood shed.
Even though it is about 100 years old, full of nails and hard as a rock to put a screw in, it is still free.

Saying that, I was able to salvage some pieces of walls with tongue and grove siding on them. I have three pieces that are about six and a half feet tall and ten feet wide. I will use one as my floor and the other two for the front and back walls
.





I was also able to scrounge up enough blocks laying around to set for the base. These blocks still have to be leveled. I set them out where they needed to go with more under where the bathtub will be.
The bathroom will be 6'6"X10'





I had to work late so that was all I could do before dark.

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Getting Started With The Solar Bathroom


 If anyone tells you it is easy to strip an old water heater, they just lied to you.

I got started on the outdoor shower and the first thing I chose to do was to get the tank ready. I took an old water heater and stripped it down to the bare metal tank. The foam was a challenge to get off because it was glued to the metal so I used a sawzall with a long flexible blade to cut big chunks out of it and then came back with the saw again and ran it all over the tank taking off any that was left.  
The youngest girl took 60 grit sandpaper and a palm sander and really shined it up for the final step of painting it all black.
This tank will go into a insulated wood box with a glass top tilted at a 30 degree angle to the sun.




My next step is to start on the main structure itself. When completed it will have a bathtub, shower, sink, with cold and hot running water and a composting toilet.
This my friends will be a real mans bathroom.

Take Shelter

I have not seen this movie yet but was told it has some real good ideas on shelters and prepping. If you have seen it let me know what you think.

Monday, October 3, 2011

Back To Living

It was good to have a couple of days where there was no worry in the world except for being with family and just living. It was a good weekend, one that does not come often enough.
The oldest is back at college today and it was just as hard to say bye this time as it was before. I can only hope to get a little callused so it does not hurt as bad. Her next visit will be either at Thanksgiving or Christmas Break.

The food storage got some good use Sunday. It was the oldest girls bedroom and now it is lined with shelves running down the walls and through the center creating isles. The store room has a pharmacy and toiletries down the North wall, bulk storage, pasta and lay down freezer across the back, canned goods and box foods up the South wall, drinks, breakfast and lunches line the West wall. Through the center is all the home canned foods, soups and stews, cooking ingredients, baking goods, deserts and much more.
Sunday before the oldest left, I told her to she could go shopping if she needed it. It was really cool to see her grab a little basket and walk up and down the isles. She laughed and said it was just like at the grocery store. That made me smile.
I am so glad I had it there for her to take.

Sunday, October 2, 2011

Birthday Post

I want to thank everyone for their understanding while I was down. Yesterday was the first day I felt well enough to get out and do anything. Saying that, I had no choice in the matter.

Yesterday was the big day for the wife. My oldest girl, Blueeyedbaby came up from college for the wife's birthday so if I felt like it or not, I was at least going to fake feeling good for the girls.
I can say this, I have had the best sleep this weekend knowing all my girls were under one roof again.

Ok, on to the birthday post.
I just want to say we have some really great family and friends. The wife turned 40 this weekend and I racked my brain on what to do for her with a very small budget. I posted an "idea" post on here and y'all came up with some really great ideas. I had decided to Redneck it up and go with the movie night on the side of the barn. Within a couple of days that idea had spiraled out of control with me cooking for two days. As much as I love cooking, I decided to cancel because I wanted to spend time with mamma and the girls instead of hosting a huge party.

So this is what happen.
First off, a good friend of ours is a photographer and said she would do a photo shoot with the family for the wife's birthday present. You can check out her blog and her work at Photos By Laura. Please stop by and tell her who sent ya and what a great person she is.

I don't think she knew what she was getting herself into with this one because she had never done it Redneck style.







There are many, many more but these are all I will bore you with for now.
During my codeine induced state of mind this week, I came up with some weird settings. Here's one. 

I call this one "Living On The Road"
LOL, what was I thinking?








After the photo session another friend of ours owns a day spa in town and she said that being it was the wife's birthday and the oldest girls birthday in two weeks, she would treat all the girls to a day at the spa. They all got massages, manicures, facials and what ever else girls like, I don't know. All I know it took over four hours.
They stashed me away in the back in what they called the man room and it still was not man enough. When they said man's room, I thought big screen TV, hunting and fishing mags laying around, maybe even a game station or something. Oh no, it was a massage chair, calming music and incense burning. Man's room, ha, if they wanted a mans room then they need me do some major redecorating.
    
After all that, the wife said all she wanted was friends and family to come over, sit by the fire, visit and have a good time.
She got just what she wanted. About 20 friends and family came over for cake and ice cream, a good fire on a chilly night and a great time.
Man that's living right there.