Un-guarded

Un-guarded retreat.

I have been looking for out side employment because I just dont have the energy to pursue the self employment  hassles, Contrary to popular belief self employment is very hard work. A job is more dependable and much less work. In a job a person arrives at a given time then dose his desired function and goes home. Then you get payed on a certain day guaranteed. In self employment land you may go months with NO pay some times you may never get payed or there check bounces and your only recourse is to file a law suit, and if your strapped for cash that's not a viable option....Even if you win you still need to collect and that's what you sued for in the first place.

But I haven made any iron clad decisions yet, I would just like to get more money flowing before the sky falls if in fact it does fall. But I was thinking, if the misses were home when SHTF, and if for some reason she had to leave the retreat/house. (remember we live on the retreat) if she needed to evacuate in my absence we should have a place to evacuate to. A predetermined location that she and I agree on. This way if I were to come home and find mutant zombies or other undesirables inhabiting my place, I would have a fall back location to regroup with the misses. Its not a likely problem given that I would only be gone for a day at a time but worth the planing, just-in-case. Otherwise there is no plan and one could loose another, for a life time. On the other hand I could loose here and find one better!!!(kidding)

I am thinking of a location near here on a mountain top, maybe I could stash some provisions there. Nothing fancy just food water blankets and a tent. Just another edge to insure we die with our boots on.

Invest?

Invest?
I was reading on a BLOG several months back, I cant recall the name. But, they were talking about wise investments (most of us dont have money to invest- Ill get to that too) The BLOG author was thinking commercial property would have a positive return. It will not !

We need to stop thinking in those terms, rental property only worked well in an inflating and vibrant economy. We will inflate but the vibrancy isn't there to support a need for commercial property. I have had rentals before and honestly I spent most of the time chasing tenants to get paid. These were low end houses so that was a large part of the problem. A lot of times a tenant would move-in pay for the first month, and then didn't pay for the next month. It would take most of that month to kick them out. Then another month to haul off all the crap that was left behind, and to get a new renter. So each three month cycle I collected one months rent and spent a huge amount of time to go broke. Its not a direct comparison to commercial property, but the risk is huge when your returns are dependent on people as tenants that aren't very reliable. It would be more dependable if I had been more selective...It is a lesson to me, giving people a chance to prove they can be responsible in the future is a loosing deal. I got screwed every-time. Most people wont utilize opportunity, to propel forward. Its the same reason welfare doesn't work.

Here is some figures to mill over, when pondering investments. A house costing 60k will return about 500 a month in rent, this doesn't include costs of maintenance. But lets just give it the benefit and say your tenant is a good one and pays every month, and nothing breaks. So 60k in cold cash will net you 6k a year.

When I got a judgment from child support, the judgment was illegal but trying to prove I wasn't served was imposable. Among the first things they did, was to lien all my property. So the property was completely locked-up with no warning...I was cash pore my money was all in property. With a lien showing on my credit report a loan was imposable, banks cant loan to you without paying all judgments. Not only can your property assets get locked up. But the first thing an attorney will do when filing suit against you is check to see how much property you own. Remember, people have the mind-set that property holdings, equate to wealth. So the county property records are strengthening there resolve to sue you. They think you have money and there coming to get it.

Real estate is not liquid at all. And its a huge target to get sued, by opportunists. Now, here is a better Idea! Cows. 12 cows will costs around 12k sometimes they are bread for this price, the offspring will net you 500 each. that's a return of 6k per year.

So the house rental is 60k to net return 6k and not liquid and lien-able.

The cows are 12k to return 6k and very liquid, and nearly imposable to lien. Also the auction houses don't report payments to the IRS.

Sure you need land for the cows, but range land is cheaper than buildings, and with our curnt melt down any thing agriculture is a very safe bet.

We had our property up for sale a while back and the highest offer was 6 times what we payed 6 yrs before. Its funny today houses prices are still falling but agriculture land is rising. We were looking at walking away with 200K in our pocket after the sale. But the child support Nazi's would have taken half. And we couldn't find anything we liked better. We decided to stay where were at. In fact our plan now is to retain the property as a safety net for our old age.

There are still deals to be had on vacant land, they are going up in price so get yours now, or you will be left in the dust.

More on the infrastructure

More on the infrastructure. I have been getting the power system working better. And I have been redesigning the trailer, so its cheaper to keep warm and improved living convince. A 75 foot long trailer is a pain, its tough to heat a long narrow space with the walls in-between. My heating is with a wood-stove and a propane space heater as back-up when the wood burns-out.

The trailer house is a 2 bd one bath. The kitchen is at the front then a bed room then the bath and the last bed room. With the kitchen and bath at nearly opposite ends frozen pipes during winter is a constant problem. Also a long trailer is annoying, every-time I need something its always at the other end of the house. I've logged many miles walking back and forth.

So to remedy the above problems I am down sizing the house to half the living space. In the end it will be a 16 by 40 one room house (the bath will be a separated room). Eventually I will remove the unused half of the house and build an insulated exterior wall. I have knocked out all the interior walls in the back half of the house. I moved the bath room and plumbing to the very back and the wall is up. The cistern is buried under the back half of the house. So that makes it more practical to limit the living area to the rear. I'm in the process now of moving the water heater to the space under the house. This will make room for the sink and counter in the main space, being the kitchen and bed room.With the kitchen and bath near plumbing lines will be shorter and less problems for freezing will occur since the space for accommodation and heating is smaller.

I have a dug-out area under the house large enough to stand in. Yesterday I was cutting the axles from under the house to make a larger area to increase the dug-out. I reached to the floor to toss a rotten board out,and I heard a steady hissing rattle sound. At first I thought I was hearing a gas leak, but the propane was off. I was pinned between the tank and wall with the hissing in the way of me and the exit. It was to dark to see clearly but by this time I had deduced the noise was from a rattle snake. The other way out was behind me through the outside crawl space.I had set the rotten ply wood in that exit, now knowing of the snake I was worried I had uncovered a snakes den and I feared baby snakes my have somehow stayed on the board.

I crawled over the water tank and in-to the house. I reached my trusty 10/22. Then went back down and killed the snake.It seams odd a large rattler would have chosen the dark and muddy conditions to perhaps hibernate, but who knows what goes on in the mind of a snake.

This is the crawl space from the house. I am cutting the axle with a blow torch. I had to cut them in half to lug them out from the top. The sides of the house are burred with 3 feet of dirt.

I ran out of oxygen so the remaining axles will have to remain for now. I have the plumbing to keep me occupied for a while.

Infrastructure

Infrastructure

I have been devoting my days lately to improving infrastructure around the compound. The logic being that by spending the time now to save time later, and making life more comfortable will bring greater productivity in the future.

Power is the focus point of the last few days. Since we have returned from our fruitless stay in California (attempting to negotiate, were not successful with the child support Nazi) ( no oppressive regime ever gave up control voluntarily). Our power inverter has been unable to power the things it had in the past like the fridge and water pump. The batteries had also baked so keeping a charge for long is not happening. During our year long absence we left the lights on for security.

My system is basic, its a 400 watt air-x wind generator two solar panels (I cant remember the size but they are small). And several heavy duty batteries. With a gas generator. The system at its original costs was around 2500.00. to date (not including generator fuel). Batteries replacement and with one inverter replacement over the last 6 years I would estimate 6k has been lost to our power system.

Despite the push for renewable energy it is not a cheap alternative. It works well for us because we are 7 miles from line power. Batteries are the weak link, I keep bulk battery acid to replenish the cells, sometimes they will run dry and then its life is much shorter. In addition to the dry cell problems. Montana is a severe climate area, arctic cold winters and baking hot summers, not Ideal for a long battery life. Also the dry dusty conditions are not good for electronics, like the inverter and wind generator.

Prior to my recent changes the power system was housed in an enclosed back porch. Now I have replaced the batteries and the inverter. I have moved the system to the inside of the house. This I am hoping will extend the life of the power system, by protecting it from the elements. I'm still in the process of wiring things up and I'm running more 12 volt lights. I'll get some pictures and explain my system in more detail.

So far its much nicer having a fridge again and not needing to get the generator started for water pressure.I just remembered to mention the generator problems, Prior to having the solar panels and wind generator, we used the generator to charge the battery bank allowing enough power to run the house on the inverter. Needless to say we wore out several generators. So this was another huge expense that could have been avoided by better planing.

My problem was lack of capital to build an efficient set-up in the beginning. Now with infrastructure improvements and part of the system in place the costs from here should be financially able to bring the system to a more efficient design.

Snake

Snake

I sometimes have trouble with rattle snakes. This year is terrible. I have seen more snakes than I can count. The problem is (other than the normal problem of getting bit) The weather has been much wetter than normal and the snakes rattles haven't hardened. So sometimes the rattle is barely audible (Normal for a very young snake, not for a grown snake). I wear boots ALL the time. The higher the shank the better. I literally stepped on a young snake on the driveway...Never did hear it rattle. Now he is the headless snake, and will probably haunt me come Halloween. The swollen part in the middle, is where I think I stepped on it. I stepped down it felt funny, I looked down, saw the snake under my boot and I jumped.

Here are some tips I will pass on: Walk cautiously and listen carefully. Give the snake a chance to warn you. Never reach down quickly to grab something or to pick something up, from the ground. If possible step on  the area that you are going to reach to (better to get bit on the boot shank, than the hand). Even if you were just there,  a snake can appear in an area it wasn't a moment before. I was fencing and walked fifty feet down the line, I walked back to put on a clip I had forgotten, and there was a rattler waiting at the post. Remember, rattlers are in the open in the mornings and a afternoons, getting sun. In the heat of the day they are under sage or other shrubs and things providing shade.

If you get bit,Use a tourniquet and calmly seek medical attention.


Don't use a snake bite kit. You are likely to cause more harm than good..You may even bleed to death.

If you get bit post-collapse, I dont know what to tell you........But, people rarely die from a prairie rattler.

Sign

Sign

I have signs on my property to identify it as private, and to warn against trespass. The signs take a beating from the wind. If I hang a sign the wind will tear it of before the months end. Here is my super-duper cure all fix for wind molestation of signs.

I think its very important to clearly post no trespassing signs, If a person were to trespass, and I perceived them as a threat, then dealt with them accordingly. The fact that they were beyond the boundary of posted property, would definitely help in a justifacatin for use of force.

Here is the makings of a sign, they are for sale signs, that I will hang on equipment to sell. Of course the making is the same as a trespass sign.

Its pretty basic but since blog ink is free, Why not!

I get the signs at the farm supply store, I prefer the metal 2.50 dollar  type, But they only had the plastic 1.09 dollar type in stock today. (I just took what they had ..And I liked-it... That's the breaks of living in a  socialist country).

Above you will see a board cut to the size of the sign, ply-wood will work I used OSB because that's what I had in the scrap pile. Caulking and gun, doesn't mater what type even in-door cheap caulking is fine for this job. A staple gun and hammer.

The caulking serves as glue to keep the wind from working under the sign, and separating the sign from the board. Construction adhesive would also work, but I have caulking on hand for weatherizing. So I just use what I had on hand.

Next press the sign to the caulked board then use the staple gun and put the staples in the corners, use the hammer to tap the staples flush. Then drill holes in the top and bottom of the board-sign and secure with wire. The lettering will fade in the years to come, but the sign will be there till you remove it.

Goats

We got some goats the other day. I wanted them for weed control, as a stroke of luck we found a milk goat with her 1yr old kid for 100 for the pair. The kid is half meat goat and half milk goat. Both are so nice I would be hard pressed to eat ether one. We put them in a horse coral the first few nights, just to get them conditioned to the new home, confinement is a good practice with all new animals before giving them room to roam. They need time to understand you are the new owner, and this is their new home.

Here is a horse checking out the goats in the pin. Another good reason to pin-up new animals, the other resident animals could harass, or run the new comers off.

Now the goats are roaming free, they are much more friendly than expected. The last owner did a good job with them, as they are accustomed to being handled. They haven't roamed far yet, most times they are lurking near the house, and they have walked inside when the door is open. Usually when I go from the house to the shop they're on my heals.

I'm Going to use portable panels to pin them up in the areas that have weed infestations. For now they have to find there own weeds.

Fencing

Well I Completed the fencing along the rail road. I moved the cows to the new pasture on Monday. I have been working on fencing the back side of the property, bordering BLM land. I use a GPS to locate boundary lines then I drive in a stake with a flag taped to it. Here is a skull I found during my boundary search.

Here is the homested From one of the rear boundary lines.

Subsidize me

Subsidize me

The illusion of a subsidy is a helping hand to a person or industry that needs it. Generosity is fine as long as its genuine. A subsidy by design is for control.

Farming and ranching is so burdened with government intervention that it is not a viable operation without government money, Behind every successful farm is a subsidy. For example you can't buy a farm for the current market price and run it at full capacity and make enough from your crops to make the payment. It doesn't matter weather its crops or livestock or a combination of both. The numbers don't work. Its not that farming has failed but government price fixing has tightened the a grip, giving them total control over the farming industry.

On the other end of the spectrum an industry with no government subsidy is the repair industry. I was a heavy duty mechanic for many years. I have on several occasions opened a shop and made money the first few months of operation. Basically you lease a building and hang up a sign, its more involved but the idea is no government intervention and the market adjusts itself. It has to, otherwise there would be no trucks to haul food to the stores or fuel to the gas station.

The government doesn't pay shops NOT to work on trucks, They do pay farmers not to farm, programs like CRP and several other similar programs do just this. Every industry is like a chain, if one link is disturbed it will affect the entire chain.

An appalling example of farm subsidies is during the great depression. The farms were being subsidized not to grow crops, Thereby decreasing supply, since demand stayed the same, it caused prices for crops to raise. The stated reason for subsidized farming was to allow them to remain in operation making enough money to afford the payments. For the man working in the city (if he was lucky enough to have a job) the taxes deducted from his pay were spent to insure his food prices were high. Artificially inflated beyond what a natural market would bear. Since food is a necessity he had little choice but to survive as best he could.

The key to successful farming or ranching without the controlling hand of uncle control freak is to own your ground outright, and creative income tax (no income tax is better, Wink-nudge) angles.

Barter

Barter

I'm a big fan of trading for goods. One needs to proceed with caution before agreeing to anything; also I think a person should always follow through with a commitment. If the other party brakes their part first, all bets are off. That being said, barter is a great tool for self progress.

Sometimes large companies will be glad to barter, if you find the right person to talk to. I have a rail-way that runs through my property. It needs to be fenced off, Montana law says they have to fence me out, Also they have to pay market price for any livestock they hit. They're a union outfit, so rapid response is not gonna happen. Its been two years in the works to do the fencing.

When I first moved here I built and repaired one mile of fencing (this was before I knew they were required to do it. Ignorance is expensive ( I may be able to collect for this its in the air right now). They contracted out for another section a mile long, but they get fined by there union for contracting outside their work force. Here is where the barter comes in.

I offered to build their mile of fence, with their materials in exchange for materials for another mile of fence. So they give me two miles of materials (costs is around 8000.00) I build a mile of fence and keep the materials for the other pastures I need to fence off. So basically I get payed 4k to do a 4 day job! They dont get fined this way, and I get what I need. WIN WIN!

A change of pace, or rather content.

A change of pace, or rather content.

During the course of the ranch work, my mind drifts to other subjects. The work is labors and I can preform the functions as though I'm programed. When digging a hole or stringing fence wire it goes faster if I let my mind wander.

Anyways the thought I had was, to change the content of the blog. I'm going PRO. Obama!!!
Just kidding! Seriously though, I'm a survivalist I have been since I was a kid, I got in on the tail end of the cold war. That's the war Reagan won. Rather than survivalisum for the topic of my discussion or even plitics, the subject I could cover with a greater good, is ranching.

I noticed on other blogs people are miffed by retreat living, and supporting themselves after moving to a retreat. Here is the answer: dont move to a retreat. Move to a ranch.

I have been living on my place for 6 years now and for the last 4 years I have been able to scrape by with ranch earnings. I dont have to commute and the live stock is better company than coworkers.