tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23063033061349566072024-03-08T13:24:27.959-06:00Wretha's Adventures Living Off GridLeft the city, going to a mountain in the high desert of far west Texas, built a castle, completely off grid, this is the story of the rest of my life, it starts today. Email me here: wretha @ gmail. com (just remove the spaces)WrethaOffGridhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04941116263529261885noreply@blogger.comBlogger518125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2306303306134956607.post-79080670797284430112024-03-08T13:23:00.003-06:002024-03-08T13:23:41.284-06:00Friday, it's time to do stuff!Things to do today... First thing was to wake up early enough to attend a Zoom meeting from the company I'm part of. Next had to feed the puppies, well they aren't exactly puppies, Mr Pups is 12 and Sweet Pea is 8 according to the vet. I have to sneak in their antibiotics before giving them breakfast so they will actually eat it. Next was to feed hubby, since it's the end of the week, all the funWrethaOffGridhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04941116263529261885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2306303306134956607.post-72950556828191988252023-05-11T11:11:00.000-05:002023-05-11T11:11:09.679-05:00Fresh water kefir grains instructions
FIRST FERMENTLarge glass container, 1 quart or larger, wide mouth preferredNon metal strainer and stirring utensils Coffee filters or cheesecloth or other clean breathable cloth to cover the lidRubber bands to hold it in place1 qt water, room temperature 1/4 cup sugar (white, brown, raw.. No honey! No artificial sweeteners!)1/4 cup kefir grainsOptional1 t unsulphured molasses ----WrethaOffGridhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04941116263529261885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2306303306134956607.post-78862260926246104542022-10-24T15:57:00.002-05:002022-10-24T16:00:34.352-05:00Kefir, second fermentWell, I have exceeded my expectations with my kefir! I am so glad I purchased fresh kefir instead of dry, I'm sure I could have succeeded with the dry, but it would have taken me longer to get to the finished drink.I think it took me an extra day at both ends, the first and second ferment, the reason being because the SkyCastle is on the cooler side, and cold temps slow down the activity of the WrethaOffGridhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04941116263529261885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2306303306134956607.post-61144900778859361632022-10-17T14:28:00.000-05:002022-10-17T14:28:02.765-05:00It's Alive!I am a strange combination of healthy eating and eating absolute garbage, well not actual garbage, but snack foods and less than healthy foods. I like to feel that I'm making up for the less than foods by consuming much more healthy fare.My healthy food of the week (hopefully it will last more than a week though), I'm doing water kefir now. I am somewhat familiar with commercially available milk WrethaOffGridhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04941116263529261885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2306303306134956607.post-67428732057367845552022-10-04T20:46:00.000-05:002022-10-04T20:46:10.331-05:00It's October!!!! Dogs and wok..Can you believe it's October already????? I just don't know where the summer went, but in all honesty, fall or autumn is my favorite time of the year, our rainy season has pretty much ended, there is still some greenery around, but grasses and other plants are starting to get that golden tinge around the edges. Our trees don't really change color, we have mostly pines and oaks, the pines pretty WrethaOffGridhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04941116263529261885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2306303306134956607.post-4328321396441554412022-09-10T22:04:00.001-05:002022-09-10T22:08:32.222-05:00I've got a running buddy!Well, it's more like I ride my ebike and my 4 legged buddy runs along side of me. The new additions to our family, Sweet Pea and Mr Pups have merged with us in such a perfect way, it's incredible, almost unbelievable, it's almost like they have been with us for their whole life. A few weeks ago I needed to take a run to the church, it's a couple of miles up the road from me, it was a semi-sunny WrethaOffGridhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04941116263529261885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2306303306134956607.post-91382949132472332272022-09-04T02:52:00.004-05:002022-09-04T04:24:26.270-05:00What a wet couple of weeks!The seasonal creek in front of the property and the bridge that PB built.It's been an eventful couple of weeks, first of all, rainy season, our monsoons have hit full blast, it seems to have come a bit late, but in fact, as it has been pointed out by a good friend just up the road (thanks Robert!), it's normal for the wettest part of rainy season to hit in August. It's just that the last few WrethaOffGridhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04941116263529261885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2306303306134956607.post-8998120492648026542022-08-23T01:12:00.003-05:002022-08-23T01:12:44.226-05:00Cha, cha, change...Change, I know it's necessary, but I've never been one to really like it, I tend to like things to stay the same, somewhat predictable, I have a bit of a loyalty streak that runs pretty deep inside of me, so that when I get a job and I like, I tend to stick with it for a long time. I know that is not the way of things today, but it's who I am and what I do. With that being said, I just madeWrethaOffGridhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04941116263529261885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2306303306134956607.post-10098788412484924862022-07-24T02:29:00.001-05:002022-07-24T15:10:59.759-05:00The SkyCastle has dogs againIt's been a year and a few weeks since my baby girl Zoe had passed, she was my dog, and so much more than that. She was a rescue, and absolutely everything I didn't want in a dog, I wanted a long hair female chihuahua like I had when I came out to far west Texas. That little chihuahua Pekoe is buried next to the garden in what has become our pet cemetary. I knew after Zoe had passed that I WrethaOffGridhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04941116263529261885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2306303306134956607.post-60904815324956699162022-07-05T08:58:00.003-05:002022-07-05T10:40:44.600-05:00Saying goodbye to an old friend... I am saying goodbye to an old friend, we brought this with us from Irving (near Dallas for those who don't know where that is)... It's our original water tank, it is a 300 gallon white/translucent cube with a metal cage around it (if you know what these are called, leave a comment and let me know, thanks!). We started out our life out here very much on the cheap, and this was about as WrethaOffGridhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04941116263529261885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2306303306134956607.post-24820971309209951022022-06-16T14:13:00.003-05:002022-06-16T18:54:16.534-05:00What is BBQ sauce made of? Another food post? You betcha! I have been craving some BBQ sauce, normally I'd just grab a bottle from the condiments section at the store, I don't eat it enough to warrant keeping a supply at the SkyCastle, it just goes bad before I can finish it... So as I was saying, I normally just grab a bottle from the store and run with it. And by running, I mean I soup it up. I add my own touches to it, WrethaOffGridhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04941116263529261885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2306303306134956607.post-19742890725502195962022-06-12T18:27:00.000-05:002022-06-12T18:27:00.811-05:00Salad in a jar
Salad in a jar, have you heard about this? The deal is it's supposed to make the salad last longer, and it's prepped ahead of time, making life so much easier. I'm going to be honest, I'm not a big salad eater, it's not that I don't like salad, I in fact love salad, especially if someone else made it, LOL! While I love to cook and bake, I've just never been a big salad maker, it's always WrethaOffGridhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04941116263529261885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2306303306134956607.post-41140870278651505392022-06-09T18:00:00.001-05:002022-06-09T18:00:00.170-05:00Waste not, want not...Everything is costing more and more, fuel where I live is currently close to $5 a gallon, and since everything where I live is far a part in distance, averaging around 20 miles between our towns, it is really making me think a lot about not wasting anything. I also am a child of a parent who was born and raised during the Great Depression of the late '20s and early '30s, you'd better believeWrethaOffGridhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04941116263529261885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2306303306134956607.post-38707676443627893272022-06-08T16:24:00.003-05:002022-06-08T16:27:41.266-05:00Going LED in my truckSeems I had to change out my headlights, again... Let's go back in time, March of 2015, I had an encounter with an elk cow, did a bit of damage to the front of my truck. PB managed to get everything put back into place, mostly. Of course after damage like that, unless you are willing to get things professionally repaired ($$$), things are never really back where they belong, and the fact that I WrethaOffGridhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04941116263529261885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2306303306134956607.post-27252715595443638772022-05-23T05:20:00.003-05:002022-05-23T05:20:37.526-05:00The calm before the stormThis week is literally the calm before the storm... It's about to be rainy season, something that officially begins late June-early July, but overnight we have been having the promise of rain, I've heard a few sprinkles and seen some lightening flashes, it's supposed to rain later today and I think it's actually going to happen. We really REALLY need this rain, I'm hoping it's just a nice rain WrethaOffGridhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04941116263529261885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2306303306134956607.post-14223247394007666862022-05-21T14:45:00.010-05:002022-05-23T05:53:03.879-05:00I'm a member...Spring has sprung, it almost feels like summer, getting into the upper 90s during the day, but it will not really be summer until it stays warm overnight. Currently, it still drops down into the upper 40s and 50s during the nighttime. I really love that about where I live, being in the high desert mountains of far west Texas, pretty much no matter how hot it gets during the day, it cools off WrethaOffGridhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04941116263529261885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2306303306134956607.post-16315780863182977242022-05-21T14:11:00.000-05:002022-05-21T14:11:43.154-05:00New Digital DevicesWell I hope everyone is doing OK today, I did something kind of fun, my devices have been aging, some well, some not so well, so I decided to upgrade to the newest Samsung phone and tablet. I have the phone now, I've had it a few days, it was real easy to transfer everything over from my old Samsung phone, it was funny, it seems that all of my Samsung devices knew I had a new phone, it was very WrethaOffGridhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04941116263529261885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2306303306134956607.post-67073561949842652892022-02-21T01:45:00.000-06:002022-02-21T01:45:14.908-06:00Being a night-owl is cold business...How is everyone doing? Well I hope, things are going well here for us, the winter weather is beginning to turn, I can detect spring in the air, the days are getting longer and warmer, even the nights are not as frigid as they have been. I've been dealing with nights getting down into the mid 20s most nights, but on occasion getting down into the teens and even single digits for a couple of nightsWrethaOffGridhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04941116263529261885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2306303306134956607.post-72251107859066228722022-01-15T02:19:00.003-06:002022-01-15T02:23:52.037-06:00First sick of 2022Dang I hate being sick, I've managed to not get sick for almost two years, I've had little scratchy throat here and there a couple of times, but not a full out, full blown sick. Well that all changed this week I've basically been in bed since Monday, it did go to work on Thursday, only because I have pretty much had no choice, I had one day's worth of work to do and all my stores, had to get doneWrethaOffGridhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04941116263529261885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2306303306134956607.post-57570931880765972222022-01-01T23:47:00.001-06:002022-01-01T23:47:26.693-06:00Happy New Year!Happy New Year!!!!! 2022 is finally here, woot! Hope you had a great weekend, today I spent a great deal of time with an old friend, well she isn't "old", just someone I've known for many years, I am so excited, she and her husband bought the house next to me. It's always a scary thing to have the house/property right next to you on the market, you just don't know who might end up living next to WrethaOffGridhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04941116263529261885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2306303306134956607.post-64979889490616152842021-12-29T14:44:00.002-06:002021-12-29T14:44:18.417-06:00Whew!!!!! What's Happening??????Hey y'all!!!!!!! Lots has happened since I wrote last, PB and I are still living in our off grid castle, aka the SkyCastle. We have upgraded quite a bit of our off grid stuff, if you have followed us in the past, you know we started out very small, we are now running 3 separate solar systems, the biggest change is going from regular flooded lead acid deep cycle batteries to full on lithium WrethaOffGridhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04941116263529261885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2306303306134956607.post-72948902677786464792018-06-01T16:15:00.001-05:002018-06-01T16:15:15.947-05:00One More RadiatorI had an "encounter" about 3 years ago with an elk cow while driving my truck at about 50mph. Fortunately the damage was not severe and I was able to drive home. It did rearrange some of the front end of my truck, my air conditioner condenser was ruined and it pushed my radiator about 4 inches back toward the engine.
My original radiator wasn't damaged to the point where it wouldn't work, PB didWrethaOffGridhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04941116263529261885noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2306303306134956607.post-31401143379214411762018-05-29T02:34:00.003-05:002018-05-29T02:42:41.946-05:00Memorial Day, family and heat!
Holy moly it's hot! OK, I really can't complain, much, our summer is honestly pretty mild, and the heat doesn't last that long, about a month to month and a half, then the rainy season hits and just like that, summer is over. And it's "dry" heat, being in the desert, there isn't much humidity which makes the heat we get much more bearable... And the fact that it almost always cools off at nightWrethaOffGridhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04941116263529261885noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2306303306134956607.post-282656557760868872018-05-24T21:47:00.000-05:002018-05-24T21:47:05.598-05:00I'm back! It's been a rrrreeeaaaalllllllllyyyyy long time since I've posted here, no excuses, but I will tell you what I have been up to...
I'm still living off grid, and life is still good! PB is expanding our living space, finishing the lower parts of the SkyCastle, this space is partially underground so it stays cool in summer and warm in winter. Concrete is the building material of choice, it doesn't WrethaOffGridhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04941116263529261885noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2306303306134956607.post-51279318449706760242015-01-10T16:48:00.002-06:002015-01-10T16:48:47.885-06:00CRE8365Hey y'all! I joined a group the beginning of January, the site is http://cre8365.com/, the purpose is to create something, anything everyday, or nearly everyday and post it there, it's art/drawing/painting related and such, but anything creative is allowed, it can even be something you cook, write or make.
I have been having such a good time with this, I am a creative person, but like many otherWrethaOffGridhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04941116263529261885noreply@blogger.com0