Adventures In Homesteading (Day 625-626)

Hello Everyone!

A coffee fueled few days, Water rationing, Some bare black locust saplings & More gardening and less chatter!

Well, I finally got some coffee today but wound up getting so jazzed on the stuff... that I skipped my late day nap altogether. Hahaha! Well, that last sentence was as far as I got two nights ago, when I began making this entry... and thought that I could 'hammer it out'... but wound up going way down a rabbit warren working on one of my projects instead.

I should avoid even attempting to write about all that jazz for now, given that all I have really done the last few days... is read and frigging write about/for things to do with that project. As with most of my projects, there is plenty of overlap with said other projects in regards to the one that I am currently attending to... and more often than not (if I am not meticulous with my attention) I can wind up 'reworking' (or refactoring) way too many things all at once... and lose my original direction altogether.

Anyways, as stated at the start of this entry... I finally got some coffee the other day and although I sacrificed getting drinking water to do it... I do not feel all that bad about it since I collected a fair amount of rainwater the last time that it rained. It really is far from ideal to be drinking that water a lot... but I had reached a level of 'personal dysfunction' (because I could only sleep for three hours at a time) that I 'had' to make an administrative decision... and correct the matter at all cost!

Seriously though, drinking the tea made with the stove-top espresso maker (especially with some real cocoa powder in it) was not all that awful of an experience... and it did stop me from getting headaches from caffeine withdrawal... but it just was not coffee. As I have noted before, I also had zero ability (self restraint) to stop myself from drinking a lot of it... which of course not only threw my water rationing way the heck off... but it also left me in a state where I felt like I needed to urinate entirely too often.

I know that drinking more fluids (aside from coffee) and urinating more often all sound like 'positives' and sure they are... but none of it left me 'feeling any better' and if anything made me stress more... because I burned through my water supply way too fast. In the end, I am just happy that I was able to scrape enough together to get dogfood, a small bag of coffee, one gallon of water... and an incredible amount of peace of mind in doing so... because I was starting to feel more than a little frayed around the edges.

In other news, my foot has at long last finally been giving me much less trouble when I am walking around (especially on sloped conditions) but the other parts of that foot are super sore now after putting so much 'compensating load' on them over the last week... or however long it has been since the injury first occurred. I was also finally able to gently 'massage' that foot... and whatever got injured in it is not very close to the surface and definitely still sore when pressed upon... so going forward I need to take it easy on to insure that part can fully heal without further injury.

Having been in one of my more 'fugue-like' states over the last seventy-odd hours, staying off my feet has not been all that challenging... but I still feel pretty bent out of shape over being cooped up during all the nice weather that there has been. On the other hand, I am (and was) proud of myself for (whether hobbling around or not) taking brief hikes as much as I could... without over doing it... and knowing to stop when I might overdue it if I continue.

On a different note, I am unsure about how well I have previously expressed that the 'watering holes' (and the trellises) have done wonders for the birds around here and the squirrel population seems to also be gradually improving. I still keep seeing what looks like the same rabbit... and now it has apparently figured out how to get up on that 'table' where the black locust saplings are and eat their foliage.

As of the other day, it (or whatever has been doing it) had stripped two of the saplings completely bare of leaves... and since the saplings were next to each other I am assuming it was the same critter that did it to both of them. I guess that the best course of action going forward, is to either raise the current 'table', build a taller actual table... or see if I can find just enough fencing to surround that area with.

My mind is all over the place with what to prioritize over the coming weeks, because although I am not going to try to 'make up for lost time'... I do want to maximize my gardening/farming efforts as much as possible. Ever since I started seeing those squash (and/or pumpkin) plants doing so good... I have been excited about growing things in a way that I have not been for what must be years now.

Alright, I think that I am going to wrap this entry up and see if I can get it all edited and posted before the sun comes up. I hope that everyone is doing well. Ciao for now.