Prepping Diary: 09/08/2011

I started the day by ordering four extra magazines for my Saiga 308. I also ordered a red-dot scope and mounting hardware for it as well. I’m looking forward to their arrival. It’s a fun weapon to shoot. I’m going to take it deer hunting this fall. I’d love got put some meat in the freezer with it.

I typically do most of the home repairs and improvement projects myself. I enjoy doing it. But work has been so busy recently that I haven’t had the time to make as much progress as I feel we should be making. So I’m doing my part to get the economy working again and hiring out some of the work.

This morning a plumber came by to take care of a couple of projects for me. The frost-proof lawn spigot near the barn has been leaking from under ground for a while now. The water bill has slowly increased each month and I know it’s not because of longer showers or more dishes to wash. Time to get that fixed.

The second plumbing project is replacing some drain pipe under the house. The prior owners of the home installed a garbage disposal in the kitchen sink. That’s not a good idea when you have a septic tank. But what was worse is they apparently made it a habit of pouring grease down the drain. The two-inch drain from the kitchen sink is absolutely full of the thick, white fatty substance now. I’ve cleaned it all out the best I can but I’m going to need some professionals with better tools or who can get to places under the house that I cannot.

This afternoon the backhoe guy came to gather information so he can give us an estimate on digging the root cellar. We’re considering using a design that we found in a root cellaring book. But we’d like to make it larger, perhaps twice the size. I think we can do that without compromising the structural integrity of the cellar. We’ll see what the estimates look like.

I still have to get a building permit before I actually start work. Seems over-reaching and invasive to me that I have to ask permission from the government to build something on property that I own and that will affect no one but me. Such is the state of the land of the free.

Took my oldest son to his Tae Kwon Do class this afternoon. It’s good for building strength, self-confidence, self-defense skills, and self-control. He has a good instructor.