I lived in Maine for several years. My mother and I both loved lighthouses with Mom taking her fondness for them to great lengths, collecting just about anything and everything that represented her love of lighthouses. When Mom passed away I inherited her boxes and boxes of lighthouse knick-knacks, furniture, Read more…
One of the picture-perfect entrees I made for the Doomsday Preppers filming were salmon cakes made from shelf-stable foods. Unfortunately though, they were adequate at best…definitely missing something. Thanks to wonderful friends who didn’t see fit to make it known on national TV that the salmon cakes were probably not Read more…
The other day a friend of mine gave me a tip that you can obtain an entire case of bananas from most Wal-Marts in the nation simply by contacting the Produce Manager and asking them to take their old bananas off of their hands. The standard cost is only $5! Read more…
If you’re a beginning prepper you may feel the need for a clear road map or checklist. If you’re currently striving to be ready for life’s curveballs, you may benefit by taking stock of your efforts with the following fundamental tips in mind
The fact of the matter is, I won’t be doing much of anything until Monday because I’m just plain worn out! While the filming for 
National Geographic’s “Doomsday Preppers” was an amazing experience (Nothing negative to say about that) it was grueling and it absorbed much more than just a couple days of my life as there was much to get ready. Suddenly I’m actually grateful for the experience I had with TLC’s “Extreme Couponing” even if I wasn’t a fan of their show and didn’t want to be a part of it. Why? Because doing their show made me get my supplies totally organized and cleaned up AND it helped me to be so much cooler with the camera and even able to anticipate what National Geographic would need for their shoot. (Apparently that’s an unheard of benefit to the field producer, so he was pretty pleased.)
I’m not writing these words with any presumption that there is some sort of a preparedness rule to be followed; rather I do so in hopes that my rationale may cause you to think strategically on this matter in a way that benefits you and your family.
Well, I’m back from playing around and taking some time off, so your update is coming on a Wednesday. 🙂 Hey, better late than never I suppose. 
Wow. Can you believe it’s June already? The weather sure isn’t manifesting that. We’ve got record levels of rain, snow, and even low temperatures here in the West. Record dry weather back east. And record number of tornadoes and devastation as a result of said tornadoes. Think Someone is trying to tell us something? Wow. What a way to start off the summer season. These records aren’t just for the decades. Some of these are records for the last 150 years! It will be interesting to see what the hurricane season is like this year.
As I’ve been venturing out a bit more each year in the area of gardening, I find I am surrounded by well-meaning, encouraging 
friends. I’ve heard more unusual remedies for a great garden over the last several years than I ever thought possible. Who knew that so many people had such diverse opinions about gardening? But when I began mulling over some of this well-meaning advice, I decided the best thing to do is what I always do…research. As a result, I discovered that when it comes to all of these ways to get more out of your garden with the fewest problems, there are all kinds of myths out there. How they got started, I don’t really know. But I found it interesting that I found a kernel of truth in nearly every bit of advice I was given. The problem, though is that much of the advice comes at the cost of unnecessary expense, physical exertion, and perhaps even a risk of ruining a perfectly good garden.
Ravensara essential oil? You never heard of it? Or perhaps you’ve heard of it’s evil sister RavenTsara essential oil? No worries. I’m going to show you the ins and outs of Ravensara Essential Oil today.
In my previous article about essential oils I addressed some of the scientific reasons why essential oils work on our body. Today I’m going to continue that bit of information and also address how best to use essential oils.
First of all, I think I should make it clear that essential oils are not oils at all. They are simply the extraction of a cold expeller process (which IS commonly used for extracting oils.) But essential oils—if they are pure and haven’t been contaminated by cutting in other ingredients such as genuine oils—should not leave a stain on your clothes, clog up your humidifier, waterfall, etc. I’m not sure who the person was who started using the “oil” terminology, but the term oil is misleading in this case. Mind you, the contents in a pure essential oil are not the same consistency as water. Most weigh more than water, actually.