Started the day off by paying bills; did it before breakfast and more or less lost my appetite. I really dislike paying bills. It’s a good exercise since it forces you to examine your expenditures monthly, but it’s chore that costs me valuable time that I cannot get back. I’m glad that I don’t have an excessive number of bills to pay.
It’s important though that you and your spouse are together when it comes to prepping. I’m blessed that Laura feels at least as strongly about prepping as I do, probably even more so. And as such, our financial discussions are less about need than priority. What should come first – a root cellar or rain collection system? A new rifle or a grain mill? A new rifle or a new chicken tractor? A new rifle or a…
This past weekend, I tried to sight in a scope that has been on my .22 calibre rifle for 25+ years. I wasn’t successful. I think the scope originally came with a pellet gun, but as a young man I repurposed it for the .22 rifle. I spent quite a bit of time trying to sight it in but eventually just gave up. The fine calibration just wasn’t there. During my lunch break today, I went to a big box store and bought a new scope for the rifle. It’s an inexpensive Bushnell made for rimfire rifles. It should be much better.
I also did some research on Red Dot scopes. I’m not very familiar with them and how they are better than iron sights; I still need to do more research on that. I’m considering getting one for my Saiga .308 (an AK-47 variant) since it’s shooting left about 6 inches at 100 yards with the iron sights. If you have any experiences with Red Dot scopes that you’d like to share, I’d appreciate it. Or how I can adjust the iron sights horizontally.
Late this afternoon I talked with a guy who owns a back hole. He’s going to come out later this week to give me an estimate for digging a root cellar. I had been planning to contract the digging and do the rest myself, but I’m rethinking that now. I’ll probably hire someone to lay the block. I’m just not sure when I’ll have the time to do it myself. That and I’d like for it to be done well.
PreppingToSurvive.com 
September 6, 2011 at 9:02 pm
A root cellar is one of the projects I’ve put on hold until I get the roofing on my place fixed. Contracting out the back hoe work and the block will cost a bit, won’t it? Still, if you can afford it it beats doing it yourself.
September 6, 2011 at 10:16 pm
We were in the same boat, Arsenius. We were hoping to have put in the root cellar last summer but our roof needed replacing. We replaced it this spring and we’re hoping to get the cellar in this fall.
We’re feeling the need to get some of these items taken care of pretty quickly so that’s why I’m considering outsourcing the construction. But we’ll have to see what the quotes are before we can make a decision.
Joe
September 7, 2011 at 4:19 am
With so many folks out of work, and others needing work, hopefully you can get a good price all around from labor to materials.
September 7, 2011 at 6:15 am
Thanks, Rob. Labor maybe. But materials seem to be holding high.