Hey, we're back to having Thrifty Thursday again! YAY!
Med skills: Our preschooler was sick this week, so I had a chance to use some of the medical equipment I've acquired over the summer. I used a thermometer (which I've always used), and added the stethoscope and pulse oximeter. I did an assessment once a day for three days, and it was very interesting to see the vital signs move during her sickness—which I presume was only a bad cold. On the first day her temperature was 99.7 and heart rate was higher than it should have been at 135 bpm. On the two consecutive days, her temperature and heart rate went down steadily. Thankfully her O2 saturation was good during all three days, and her breath sounds were normal. She, too, enjoyed doing the assessments. I let her use the stethoscope to listen to her own heart and digestive sounds, which she got a kick out of. Right now I'm reading through a cheap ($4.89) Jarvis Physical Assessment book that I got off of Ebay. There is so, so much to learn, but I love it. Herbs: I gathered quite a bit of red clover this week, and identified a new herb growing on the side of our road; a variety of Lobelia. Every other day, when I harvest garden produce, I try to gather some red clover and/or other medicinal herbs to stockpile for winter. Garden: I harvested two ripe butternut squash this week, along with a whole pile of beans and lots of tomatoes. I've been freezing the beans, and at this point also letting the big ones grow into dry beans. I've been dehydrating the tomatoes, which are small. I learned this week that tomatoes can sometimes be small when you plant older seedlings (which I definitely did this year). Next year I will make an effort to start the tomato seeds later. The cucumbers are on their way out, but I'm still picking some. The long beans are on their way in, it seems. Next year I will plant more bean seeds; both green and long, as I didn't get as many as I could have hoped for this year. I've hardly had enough long beans to freeze any at all. The squashes are doing well, for the most part. My hubbard squashes did not make it to maturity before the vines died. I've harvested one out of three available pumpkins. Since the pumpkin seeds were free, I think three pumpkins is sufficient. The Jack-Be-Little pumpkins are numerous, and I may have enough to sell some. And lastly, my butternut squash did very well. We'll have plenty of butternut squash for winter. I plan on storing all of our pumpkins and squash in the garage. Steer: we are sending in our steer to be butchered next week. Hurrah!!! I think it will be several years before we keep another steer. This one wasn't a whole ton of work, but I didn't enjoy having him in the same way I enjoy having chickens and a garden. He mangled several (expensive) hog panels, just as the sheep and larger goats mangled the orchard fence that worked fine for our smaller goats. I've also had to fill his water container every other day, and it was a big hassle to water him in the winter, and it was also a hassle to find and stack hay for him. The upsides to keeping a steer were: 1) he kept the deer away, and 2) he pooped a lot... compost galore! The downsides were: 1) we had to put up a new paddock and electric fencing system, 2) he was a hassle to water, 3) he mangled our goat fence (hog panel), 4) I wasn't comfortable with having children in his pen, 5) when he got out, he ate my strawberry plants, 6) when he got out, I could not get him back in by myself... i.e., I couldn't man-handle him. While we may have another steer in the future, I'm definitely ready to NOT have one for a while. I may buy some small milk goats at some point in the next year. Bottles: I cleaned two essential oil bottles, a roller bottle and a salsa jar to repurpose. I spray painted the salsa jar lid black so it will match all of my other repurposed jar lids. Fitness: I know I haven't been posting regular fitness updates in a while. The other day I weighed myself on the Renpho scale, and the results were better than they've been since November of last year. Recent changes to my health routine have been: I quit intermittent fasting, but try not to eat after it gets dark. I've reintroduced eggs for breakfast; something I wasn't eating before because I was skipping breakfast. Another change recently is that I began running again. My goal is to run a 10 minute mile, which was my best time back in the day. At first it took me 20 minutes to "run" a mile, because I walked for half of it. I felt like I was going to suffocate. Then I cut it down to 15 minutes. Today's run time was 14:13. I have a long way to go, but it's more than I've done in probably five years. I feel like running one mile is something very doable for me. I can squeeze it in early enough in the morning to where my husband is still at home to babysit, plus it is only 15 minutes. I can do 15 minutes. It gets me up and going in the morning, plus I have some time to myself before the day starts, and when I get back after that 15 minutes, I feel like I've already accomplished something for the day. This is something I want to keep going until it gets too cold and snowy out. That's about all for now, folks! See you next week, ~Prudence~
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About PrudenceI am a Christian homemaker who lives in the Midwest. I enjoy sewing, gardening, reading and thrifting. Archives
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